After a long hiatus, I’m back! And I bring offerings of cookies. Oatmeal raisin cookies, to be specific. Hear me out before you click away!
Mom’s Cookies from Stardew Valley
Fiddlehead Risotto from Stardew Valley
I don't care what this game says, homemade risotto is anything but bland! You get springy and grassy tastes from the fiddleheads, fresh tang from the lemon, and nutty, chewy rice in a savory sauce. The flavor may be mild, but it is pure spring comfort food. It definitely explains why Clint and Kent love this recipe.
Cheese Reviews: Witcher Cheese Pairings
Behold, a new project: pairing cheeses with popular characters! This time we’re pairing cheeses and accompaniments with some of the main characters from the Witcher franchise.
Cheese Reviews: How to Make Homemade Ricotta
Ricotta means “recooked” in Italian. It’s a fresh cheese made from cow, goat, sheep, or Italian water buffalo whey leftover from cheese making after curd gets strained out; most American ricottas are cow-based. Italian ricottas come in many varieties and some are even protected by law. Milk can be added during production or replace whey in some cases, but the recycled whey is what gives ricotta its name.
Yakuza 0: Kamurocho Style Ramen
The Yakuza series! It’s a Japanese video game franchise that combines high melodrama and low-brow goofiness with lots of surprisingly sincere moments and I love it. My husband and I enjoy playing games together, especially RPGs, and Yakuza 0 was the first Yakuza game we played. This recipe is a tribute to that experience and a nod to the love of food, including ramen, you can find in the games.
Cheese Reviews: Cassola-Inspired Cheese Latkes
Well surprise, surprise! Original latkes were actually made from cheese, and their inspiration comes from Judith’s murder of Holofernes, a story associated with Hanukkah in Medieval Mediterranean Europe.
Stardew Valley Recipe: Pumpkin Pie
Marnie the rancher LOVES pumpkin pie in Stardew Valley. It’s a favorite treat of hers, and after trying this recipe I can absolutely see why—with a sweet and spicy pumpkin custard surrounded by flaky pie dough, it’s hard to resist even in the real world.
Stardew Valley Recipe: Blackberry Cobbler
Stardew Valley’s blackberry cobbler isn’t a very Halloween-esque recipe, but it is the recipe that won the October poll over on Patreon. The cobbler does show up on the feasting tables at Spirit’s Eve, a festival in the game that takes place at the end of fall and appears inspired by American Halloween (or certainly has similar spooky elements). In the real world it would be a perfect addition to upcoming holiday menus as it’s both delicious and incredibly easy to make.
Dead by Daylight Recipe: Survivor Pudding
Oh Dead by Daylight, you weird lovechild of slasher movie aesthetics and Lovecraftian horror tropes. You are a game of teamwork and survival of the fittest, of both fearing death and relishing murder, of trying to fight a system in which you are eternally bound and trapped.
You are also a game of teabagging and “please stop touching my stuff.”
Stardew Valley Recipe: Blueberry Tart
This is the only recipe you learn from Pierre the general store owner in Stardew Valley. It doesn’t take too long, either: you only need a 3-heart relationship before he sends it to you in the mail!
Even more surprising, this is one of Linus’s favorite treats. I didn’t think a man living in the wild would love such a bakery style sweet.
