I made you dessert

There are very few characters in the Mass Effect series I don’t like, so be prepared to see posts about them all eventually.

I really wanted to try a dessert that I’ve never thought of making before. Ice cream definitely fell into that category, as I don’t have an ice cream maker, and really can’t justify buying one, since I don’t eat a lot of ice cream anyways. My friend Sean was nice enough to lend me his, and now that I’ve given it a whirl, I’m not so sure I want to give it back to him…

When deciding what kind of dessert to make Tali, I knew it had to fall into the strict eating habits of the quarians, who are basically vegan. Luckily, I follow the amazing baking blog Take A Megabite and was able to find the incredibly easy recipe of Chocolate Coconut Milk Ice Cream. It has THREE ingredients. I’d be stupid NOT to make it.

On Friday night after work, I prepped my ingredients and put them into the ice cream maker to mush together and eventually turn frozen for about 30-40 minutes. Ice cream makers are not quiet, just FYI. 

After the batch was complete, I put it in a freezer-friendly container and let it freeze fully over night. At 11 am, I peeled back the lid, looked inside the container in delight to see my first batch of ice cream! I scooped out a small spoonful to try. I was not disappointed.

This is the perfect dessert for Tali. It’s sweet, like her. It’s decadent, like her (especially if you’re romancing her, amirite?). This is an ice cream that won’t let you down, just like Tali. 

Tali is one of my favourite squad-mates to take on missions. She’s handy with a shotgun, has a killer droid, and one of Shepard’s crew from the start of the whole Reaper mess. Plus, she could share this ice cream with Garrus if she was inclined to. Though it’s almost too good to share with anyone. 

Samuel: So, what you’re saying is…there’s NO whale meat in this?

Me: Eat your damn cupcake, Samuel. 

I bought Dishonored on a whim after Christmas. I had heard some rumblings about it on twitter and decided, hey why not?

Best decision ever.

I spent the rest of my holidays GLUED to my PS3. I’ll admit, my first playthrough was an ugly mess, because I was not very good at being stealthy. There were a LOT of panic-stabs.

It is ridiculously satisfying to play through a level where you don’t kill ANYONE, alert any guards, or set off any alarms. It’s hard to do, and you have to save A LOT, but so worth it.

There are a lot of interesting characters in Dishonored. And I won’t talk too much about them, lest I drop some spoilers, but hands down my favourite NPC is Samuel Beechworth. I like to think of him as my boat-driving grandpa. He’s pretty great! And depending on how you play the game, he’s either your biggest supporter, or…not. 

I never want Samuel to be mad at me, you guys.

I decided on Red Velvet cupcakes because a) cupcakes are easy to make and you can find a million recipes on how to make them online and b) the food selection in Dishonored is awful. Whale Meat? Jellied Eels? Rats on sticks (Plague rats on sticks, maybe)? There were some fruit tarts hidden about the game, but only in the high-class houses. I think Samuel might be a little suspicious about eating something not filled with whale meat, but he’d come to like it eventually. We could munch on these tasty treats while waiting for Corvo to return from his latest mission.

One of my favourite games to play is Fable II. I LOVE it. I love the beauty of the Albion landscape, the awesome Will powers (I always max out Inferno right away—-insta-death to all my enemies!), and as always the amazing characters. While I’ll always have a special place in my heart for Reaver (who will feature on this blog in the future), my true Fable love goes to Hammer. She is the Hero of Strength and she is a powerhouse. 

I like Hammer because she defies the average female representation in video games. She towers over all the characters, she’s muscular, she’s strong, she’s fierce and she’s not afraid to just say whatever she’s thinking. No one needs to save her, she’ll manage on her own, thanks. She’s the only true friend my Hero had in the game. Garth was too reserved, and Reaver tried to betray me every five minutes.

She’s a fiery redhead who could probably bench-press me. She is the warrior monk of my heart.

I decided to make this Lemon Bread after stumbling across it on the Tasty Kitchen blog. My batch just came out of the oven 20 minutes ago, and a) my apartment smells delicious and lemon-y and b) I’m nomming on my piece now and SO GOOD. I think the only adjustment I’ll make in the future is to add more lemon juice. There’s not quite enough tartness in it for me. But the bread is like biting into the lemon-y cloud of your dreams. Really top notch. I think Hammer would like it quite a bit. It’d probably go well with a nice glass of wine at the pub, while planning the next adventure we’re going to have. 

Nathan: Crapcrapcrapcrap!

Jill: Must you hang off of EVERYTHING? 

I just recently started playing games on PS3 (after being a long time Xbox user…still am, but nice to have another console to game with), and the first series that I wanted to check out for the longest time was Uncharted. Playing through the three games were equally hilarious, stressful, heartbreaking, more stressful, frustrating (ALL THE CLIMBING), and ridiculously fun.

I am hard pressed to find a character in Uncharted that I love above the rest, since they are all so great (Sully, you silver fox), but ultimately I decided on Mr. Drake. I like Nathan’s character because he’s has flaws, he can be a jerk, he tries to do the right thing, and sometimes can’t believe the situations he’s gotten himself into. He’s not superhuman, he’s just a regular guy. Who has a combination of the best AND worst luck known to man.

The dessert I made for Nathan Drake is based off a recipe I found off of Crepes of Wrath and it is a winner. Quick to make, and delicious to boot—if you are a fan of peanut butter, you’ll love it. I think it compliments Nate’s personality quite well. Plus, he’s pretty delicious, am I right? (I am right)

Now, if only he’d stop hanging off of everything. 

(I know, Commander Shepard dessert was supposed to go up today, but I lack a necessary piece of equipment, which will hopefully be delivered sometime next week, so the Commander is just going to have to wait it out).

Playing through the three Mass Effect games, it took me until Lair of the Shadow Broker to fully realize what an utter bad-ass Liara is. In ME1, she’s still kind of unsure, kind of shy, not really…noticeable. My Shepard was too busy worrying about KILLING ALL THE GETH to make conversation with her, but by ME2 and into ME3, Liara had transformed into a hardcore, kick-ass squad-mate. And basically is my Shepard’s BFF. They like to gossip about Garrus and Javik. 

I’d like to think that Liara would enjoy this human treat. I grabbed the recipe off of http://www.sauceome.com/?p=2139 and holy heck, crazy delicious. I haven’t made a lot of pumpkin desserts, but this had a nice balance of pumpkin spice/tart with the smoothness and decadence of chocolate, and seems a lot lighter and more moist than the regular brownies I have made.

These brownies are not going to last long in my apartment.

I have a lot of favourite characters in Mass Effect (and Bioware games in general), so expect some more familiar faces! ;)