I keep working on longer posts and getting stuck in rabbit trails. Trying to put together observations that aren't inane, but let's be honest, I'm not exactly a govt analyst, am I? And I balance on that edge of 'let's communicate' vs 'why put more clutter on the internet'.

I am, admittedly, stressed out a bit. Just the double effect of pandemic and unpredictable times. I'll feel better on the other side of inauguration.

Spouse sent me a picture of him in what he calls his "fun ruining outfit". It's riot gear, awesome. All his days off got cancelled for a while and he bought an air mattress for sleeping at work. The city is locked down so tight he won't be able to come home on a couple days. On the plus side, I'm thinking it's unlikely anything will happen. He's probably safer now than on a normal work day. Apparently they've been giving him free food and treats at work.

And to think, in November I thought spouse and I could take a nice walk around the monuments the day before inauguration. I've been ribbing spouse: '"Let's move to the east coast," you said. "There's museums, how bad could it be?" you said. Now the museums are all closed and you're in your fun ruining outfit. This sucks.'

Our friend stayed with us a second time and over several days I made a bunch of stuff from the cookbook he gave me for Christmas. The cookbook is Heroes' Feast: The Official D&D Cookbook. (Nevermind I've played very very little actual D&D - I have read the Dragonlance Chronicles and watched LOTR a million times so that's good enough, right?)

I have made:

Hardbuckler Stew (lamb stew with mushrooms, potatoes and turnip) - delicious, but I made it with half the suggested mushrooms and that was a mistake, needs all the mushrooms

Gurdats (stuffed mushrooms) - best stuffed mushrooms I have ever had, will def make again

Tavern "steak" (hamburger & lamb patties with yogurt-dill sauce and a black olive-fig sauce) - delicious, fancy sauces make it fancy

Greenspear Bundles in Bacon (asparagus with bacon) - easy and amazing, great everyday veg side

Fire-Spiced Abyssal Chicken Kebabs (chicken skewers with a spicy marinade) - everyone agreed these were fantastic

Delsoun "tide-me-overs" (meatballs in sauce) - everyone loved these

Deep Gnome Trillimac Pods (mushroom and cheese pies) - really really good, and a recipe with great creative possibilities

Mindflayer (alcoholic beverage) - this one suffered because we don't have a blender and had to make do with ice I crushed with a hammer. Was still delicious.

I have two thoughts on this book. Most of the recipes are medium difficulty, with a few fancier ingredients and cooking tools required, but nothing super exotic or difficult, just time consuming. They are real recipes, not shortcuts for fantasy gimmick food. Do not buy for someone who lives on boxed mac & cheese or what can be heated in a microwave - it will be above their skill level. Buy for someone who is already attempting real food from scratch.

1) If you are looking for recipes to make specifically for a gaming group, it has some options, but most take more resources than I would be willing to expend for a larger group. Some younger dudes we've gamed with are clueless of how much trouble cooking is. I guess they figure anyone who identifies as "girl" has a natural compulsion to toil in the kitchen, so it's no big deal and they can just gobble it up and not say thank you. I'm a little sour about it. I don't enjoy cooking. I think even our friend who gave me the cookbook doesn't get this - just because I have the job of food making doesn't mean I like doing it. I got in the habit of cooking for gaming because a weekly junk food binge makes us feel physically awful and is expensive, and it would be rude to cook for just us two and exclude the others. If I leave the cooking to one of those dudes, they will show up with a package of white bread and boiled hot dogs (true story, happened a few times). I wouldn't go to the trouble of buying lamb for people who don't say thank you, and these recipes do take an extra investment of time and money. So, your cooking mileage may vary depending on how considerate your group is and how nice you are feeling.

There's stew, soup and chili recipes, always great for gaming sessions, but the preferred tool is a dutch oven. Including tips for using a crock pot or instant pot would have been nice, because they work so well for making food ahead of time and keeping it hot during hours of gaming. A beginner might be put off by the dutch oven investment. Access to a quality grocery store is necessary. The recipes are divided into human, elven, dwarven, halfling and uncommon sections. The elven section, for example, is almost entirely vegetarian. There are things that work for low-carb or paleo (not as sure about vegan or gluten free, but there's at least a couple). The recipes are perfect for a special occasion, like a gamer thanksgiving, or a birthday session, or a LOTR marathon.

2) The book is beautiful, with lavish art and photos that will make you want to run out and get some rustic platters. You'll want to make a copy/take a picture of a recipe beforehand to use in the kitchen, because the book doesn't lay flat and is too pretty for dribbles and greasy fingerprints. I could nitpick about how it lacks a plain list of all the recipes organized by dish type with page numbers. There are faux tavern menus with unknown dishes scattered in for atmosphere, which is frustrating when you are looking for a simple list of what you CAN make. The recipe instructions are clear, easy to follow and include helpful tips, like threading the kebabs on two skewers to keep from rotating. They didn't just find generic recipes and bolt funny names on them, they put some love in it. The portions and cook times were accurate. No surprises. There's 13 drink options from non alcoholic to mulled wine to mixed drinks and they almost all sound good (I dunno about that mushroom tea tho). Everything I made was tasty and would definitely make again, and I am likely to try more recipes.

So overall the book is pretty great. If I were to give it as a gift, especially to a less experienced cook, I would include a dutch oven. That would raise the cost, but it would be a very practical pairing that would almost certainly get a ton of use (and it would make it much more likely to get tasty stew at a future gaming session). Would make an amazing housewarming gift.

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We also had a try at making spotchka (adult beverage from The Mandalorian) from a fan recipe. It was okaaaaaay, not great. It was blue. Just not very tasty. I feel like I can do better.