Elsweyr Fondue, Grilled Leeks, and Black-Briar Mead

So much has been going on lately!  I've been taking all kinds of trips all over the country and am planning more soon.  I wish I could talk about all of them in detail, but I will just say that I'm preparing for something, and I'm very excited about it.  After traveling to different states, I've been daydreaming about traveling to different states and different countries almost constantly, and I've been trying to come up with a Travel Bucket List.  Here's what I have so far:

1. England.  Not just London either, but Oxford, the Cotswolds, the Yorkshire Dales, Birmingham, and many other places I haven't even realized are there yet.  I've been to England twice already, but I need to take Kyle with me this next time.  I just love being there.  Having lots and lots of ancestors that are from there, I feel like I'm making a pilgrimage to the Motherland each time I go.

2. Argentina.  I have been infatuated with South America ever since I got the Amazon Trail CD-ROM game in like, 1996.  Argentina has always held a sense of mystery and exoticism that I've always been attracted to.  So much so that I did my 5th grade project on it.  I secretly want to hang with South American natives, drinking maté and dancing the tango.

3. Prince Edward Island, Canada.  If only because Anne of Green Gables was set there, and it looks gooorgeous.  My trip would, of course, be during the summer and not during the butt-ass-cold of winter.  And then I could pretend I'm Anne Shirley, traipsing about the countryside and getting into Scooby-Doo scrapes, turn-of-the-century style.

4. Washington State, USA.  I never had a huge burning desire to go there until Kyle's mom and brother moved out to Puyallup, WA, and I started to see pictures of lush, green forests and majestic mountains.  It looks like a beautiful place to be (almost reminds me of the Alps), and it has an alternative side, too - with lots of unique shops and cool, organic and ethnic restaurants - which is right up my alley.

5. Iceland.  Maybe it was seeing it from an aerial view as we came into the airport for our flight connection, but there's something other-worldly about Iceland.  It actually looked a lot like Mars from my IcelandAir jet.  And their language!  So alien and beautiful to my ears.  I want to hear moar.  Also, they have crazy Northern Lights, as seen in this picture.

 

6. Arizona, USA.  I went once in elementary school, and absolutely loved it.  There is a very quiet, serene beauty in the deserts of Arizona.  Once again, it appeals to my sense of mystery and exoticism, and I don't even need a passport to feel like I'm in a different world.

7. Cairo, Egypt.  Another childhood fascination of mine was ancient Egypt and its culture.  Seeing the pyramids at Giza and experiencing that culture firsthand would be an experience I don't want to miss.




These are just a few places, of course.  There are many others that are on my much longer list.  But one of these days, when I have the time and the financial resources, I will get on a plane and go!

Anyway, back to food!  In this entry, you will find the bulk of the Skyrim meal I made.  Not featured here are the Sweet Rolls I made to go along with it.  All the recipes are from the same lovely blog as last time, Gourmet Gaming, and all the food is inspired by the video game Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and is reminiscent of something a Viking would have eaten long ago, in a galaxy far, far away...

Skyrim Sweet Rolls

A while back, I discovered a wonderful fantastic blog called Gourmet Gaming.  The girl who runs it posts a recipe every Wednesday.  Unlike most food blogs, each recipe must be for a food featured in a video game.  Every recipe is an original creation by her because, with very few exceptions, video games don't include nutrition facts and ingredients.  She does a phenomenal job recreating foods no one has ever seen before, let alone tasted.  Personally, my favorite part of each entry is seeing the side-by-side comparison of her food with a screenshot from the game, such as:

Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep - Spark Lemon

Yoshi's Cookie - Yoshi Cookies

And of course...

Portal - The Cake Is A Lie

But the food that I was most excited to make was from Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.  Mainly because I had fallen in love with the Elder Scrolls universe when Kyle and Wil had me make a character in Oblivion a few years ago and roam around the gorgeous scenery and meet all the fantastic creatures.  It's like WoW on steroids, with prettier graphics and more features.  And then Kyle got Skyrim when it came out in November, and I fell in love all over again.  With the sweeping mountainous scenery, the animation and interactions with the people, and the food!  Food fit for a viking, which Kyle loved.  So I was joyfully overwhelmed when Gourmet Gaming posted Skyrim recipes.  And not just the sweet rolls, but an entire Skyrim meal!  I had to save up my gold to get all the fixin's for it, but I ended up making it just before Christmas. (Yes, I'm aware that Christmas was many days ago.  But I'm actually, legitimately going to try to post once a week again, yay!)

But let's start out with the sweet rolls.  This was dessert, but I made them first, because, as I suspected, they took the longest to make.  Many steps.  None of which I had ever really done before.  But so worth it.

Catch Up With Kale Chips

As the title of this post suggests, I'm playing "catch up" now that I have a leeeettle bit more free time.  As of right now, there is only a very small amount of work left to do on my grad school applications before I just sit, wait, and relax.

I say "relax," but it's actually quite nerve-wracking to have absolutely no idea where you're going to be in six months, and how things are going to play out during that time.  When will I move?  To where?  When will I start school?  How much financial aid will I get?  What will the area be like?  How will I get to visit someplace far away like Texas or Indiana?

These are the kinds of things that are always picking at my head like an angry bird.  No, not the kind on your cell phone.  Maybe more like an annoying bird.

But in the mean time, I'm still cooking, trying to save money and eat healthy at the same time, which is a large feat in and of itself.  Most days I'm not doing either particularly well!  But I try.  And I exercise!  Zumba is so. much. fun.  It gets me home late, which is the only reason why it's hard to make myself go, but once I get there, I have a blast!  There's no way the chicks on the ellipticals look forward to working out as much as I do.

Without further ado, I made kale chips a while ago now.  They came out a little oily, and very fragile, but for the price of 1 bunch of kale, I made the equivalent of like, 10 of those $5 bags of kale chips you see at health food stores.  AND Kyle and Jim, who are normally averse to eating healthy food, like them too.  Whoo!

Shrimp Scampi Pasta

This post is long overdue.  I know the one hard and fast rule of blogging is like the most important rule of poop: stay regular.

But, I do have a fairly good excuse.  I've been applying to grad schools for the past two months or so.  To Masters programs in French education, to be specific.  I'm applying to five schools, in all different states across the eastern half of the country, so I have no idea where I might be this time next year, and that's quite scary and exciting!

In the past two months or so, I've taken the GRE, the OPI, and the PRAXIS tests, all of which are either long, exhausting, or, as Kyle would say, a super-special combination of the two.  And then I've been editing my entrance essay, my personal statement, saying why I would be an awesome candidate and teacher and outlining my unique and interesting journey to where I am today.  And then getting together the mounds of extra paperwork to send to the various schools.  Honestly, with grad school applications AND Christmas gifts, I don't think my mailbox has had this much activity since... ever.  So.  That's what I've been up to.

How about you?  What are you up to?  What did you do (and eat!) for the holidays?