Heroes-feasting - Hello Bonjour

dishwashing affirmations

the dishes are more scared of you than you are scared of them.

if you put on a little song you can have a dish washing party.

washing dishes is a great way to make new friends (e.g. frying pans, cups, etc.).

despite any misinformation you may see online, a fork has never bitten anyone. they are gentle, even-tempered creatures that often just want to nap.

Delzoun "Tide-Me-Overs"

“While these are customary consumables at Hornmoot, the traditional human-dwarven trading festival that marks the dawn of Spring, there isn’t a holiday on the eventful dwarven calendar that doesn’t feature these scrumptious meats on the menu.” - Heroes’ Feast, p. 90

Personally, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more dwarven food than the good old-fashioned meatball. 

Heroes’ Feast’s Delzoun “Tide-Me-Overs” bring dwarven kitchens to life with these extremely tasty and juicy meatballs! Leagues better than anything you’d buy at the grocery store, I would absolutely suggest making these yourself.

This recipe is also ridiculously forgiving. Once, I doubled nearly all the ingredients by accident, aside from the meat, and they still came out amazing!

If you don’t eat pork, no worries! They’re just as tasty using only beef!

Check out below for tips and tricks when making this yourself! Get Heroes’ Feast here: https://dnd.wizards.com/heroes-feast

Prep: 15 mins            Cook: 1h 30 mins            Total: 1h 45 mins

Ingredients:

¼ cup (60 ml) heavy cream*

1 egg

2 slices dark bread (such as rye), crusts discharged, remainder torn into pieces**

3 tbsp. (43 g) unsalted butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

Kosher salt

¼ tsp. (2 g) ground allspice 

8 oz (225 g) ground pork

8 oz (225 g) lean ground beef

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp. (8 g) all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups (350 ml) low-sodium chicken broth

1 tsp. (4 g) light brown sugar

1 ½ tsp. (7 ml) soy sauce

½ tsp. (2 ml) fresh lemon juice

3 tbsp. (12 g) finely chopped fresh dill or parsley

* I’ve used both heavy cream and half-and-half with no issues.

** I used Vienna-style Pumpernickel Bread, cut into standard ½ -inch sandwich slices at the thickest part of the loaf.

In a large bowl, whisk together the cream and egg (top-left).

Add the bread, mix well, and set aside, stirring occasionally, until the bread is softened, about 20 minutes (top-right).

Using a fork or sturdy spoon, mash the bread into a paste and set aside (bottom).

NOTE: Apparently, the bread is not what binds the meat/other ingredients together, but works with the milk to give the meatballs moisture and texture! The eggs are the only binding ingredient.

In hindsight, this makes sense, since in baking eggs are a binder…

Meanwhile, in a skillet over medium heat, melt 1 tbsp. (14 g) of the butter. Add the onion and ½ tsp. (3 g) salt and cook, stirring, until softened, about 4 minutes (left).

Add the allspice and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 40 seconds (right).

Remove from heat and let them cool to room temperature. Laying mine in a single layer in the skillet, it took about 10 minutes.

TIP: Don’t be afraid to eat some of the onions to see if they’ve softened enough.

TIP: Cooling my onions in a single layer in the skillet took about 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 475℉ (245℃) with a wire rack in the middle of the oven. Coat a large wire rack with nonstick cooking spray and set it in a large, rimmed baking sheet.

Add the cooled onion mixture, pork, ground beef, baking powder, 1 tsp. (5 g) salt and ½ tsp. (1 g) pepper to the bread paste and, using a large spoon or your hands, mix until well combined and uniform.

TIP: To save yourself time when doing the dishes, line the baking sheet with aluminum foil so you don’t need to scrape any burned bits off.

NOTE: Personally, I didn’t run into this problem while making mine, but it’s important to only mix the meat mixture until everything is just combined. Overmixing will result in stiffer, tougher meatballs.

With moistened hands, form the mixture into generous 1-tablespoon-sized balls (left).

Arrange the meatballs on the rack in the baking sheet and bake until lightly browned, about 20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through (right).

NOTE: I had to make double the amount of pork/beef meatballs since 8 oz packages of each ground meat were not available. Expect about half the amount of meatballs that you see here if making this yourself.

NOTE: The meatballs will sag through the wire rack a little bit when placed, this is fine!

NOTE: The ones shown above are the size Heroes’ Feast recommends. I wanted them to be a little bit larger the second time I made them, so I went for golf-ball sized. The cooking time stayed the same, but I found the weight of them might have been a bit too much and they lost way more structure than the smaller ones. 

However, that was also the time I accidentally doubled all the ingredients aside from the meat, so I’m sure there was more at play there. Just something to keep in mind. They still came out great though! In fact, they’re the ones shown in the final picture.

Wipe out the skillet used for the onions to remove any stray onion bits, set it over medium heat, and melt the remaining 2 tbsp. (28 g) butter. Stirring constantly, cook until fragrant and a shade darker, 1 to 2 minutes.

Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, until golden, 2 to 3 minutes (top-left).

Switch to a whisk and, whisking constantly, gradually add the broth. Continuing to whisk often, cook for about 2 minutes (top-right).

Add the brown sugar, soy sauce, lemon juice, and ¼ tsp. (0.5 g) pepper and continue to whisk and cook until thickened, about 2 more minutes (bottom).

NOTE: The Heroes’ Feast “cook’s notes” mentions that the sauce will thicken quickly as it cools, and to add extra chicken broth to loosen the consistency.

They’re absolutely right! It’s more obvious in the next pictures but the sauce thickens a lot. It’s also a lot darker than what’s shown in the preview image in the book, so I’m not sure how much extra broth they had to add, but it seems like quite a bit.

Add meatballs to the sauce and simmer, stirring occasionally, until heated through, about 4 minutes (left).

Stir in most of the dill or parsley and taste and adjust the seasoning with additional salt and pepper, if necessary (right).

Transfer to a serving dish, sprinkle with remaining dill or parsley, and serve hot.

Overall, I would give this recipe a 5/5. It was a little daunting since the ingredients list was so long, but once I got started making the meatballs it was actually remarkably simple! They’re really juicy, have great texture, and the allspice-seasoned onions are so tasty!

The sauce is a little awkward to make, but it does add amazing flavour. But, again, the meatballs retained so much moisture you don’t really need a sauce to enjoy them!

Honestly, if you have the time and are sick of store-bought meatballs, definitely give these a try. 

Finally, as I mentioned earlier, you can totally make these with only beef (shown in the final picture above)! They’ll still retain quite a bit of moisture and be super delicious.

haven’t seen this posted here yet

the ‘dragons’ part of dnd got me interested originally, but it was the fan creations like taz and critical role that really drew me in and kept me around

what a god awful decision

How the commercial is shot

Become a Coffee Mug.

Feywild Eggs

(w/ my favourite add-ins)

[Feywild Eggs are] a delightful presentation of creamed, herbed, and fluffed eggs, completed over even heat for a golden crisp finish. Some have even claimed this simple recipe descended from the leShay, an immortal breed of fey “elves” with incredible, godlike powers. - Heroes’ Feast, p. 58

Eggs are one of the most versatile foods around. Scrambled with cheese, added to rice, mixed with greens - there’s nearly no limit to the variations. Easy to pick up the basics, they make a great introduction food for anyone looking to start their cooking journey. The only trick to these eggs is to make sure you have the proper pan for the job!

The Feywild Eggs frittata in Heroes’ Feast makes a great base for any number of combinations you can think of, anytime of the day. Due to all of the possibilities, I couldn’t possibly cover all options in this post. So, I’ll be covering the base recipe through the post and will discuss my favourite add-ins and how I cooked them in the results section!

For a complete feast, eat them with the Yawning Portal Buttermilk Biscuits (p. 31) and Otik’s Skillet-Fried Spiced Potatoes! (p. 20)

See below for my notes on the results and for some helpful tips and tricks when making this yourself! Get Heroes’ Feast here: https://dnd.wizards.com/heroes-feast

Prep Time: 10 mins             Cook Time: 35 mins               Overall: 45 mins*

* Will take longer if you are preparing and cooking add-ins.

For the ingredients:

9 eggs

¼ cup (23 g) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

⅓ cup (20 g) finely chopped mixed fresh herbs (ex. parsley, basil, dill, mint, tarragon, lovage, or celery leaves

½ tsp. (3 g) kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp. (30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

1 yellow onion, finely chopped

5 oz., about ½ cup, (140 g) Fontina, Colby, Monterey Jack, Havarti, or Gouda cheese, finely diced*

* If looking to reduce the fat content, feel free to use half the suggested amount of Parmesan cheese and cubed cheese.

Warning: Make sure the skillet you use is oven-safe to 400℉

NOTE: The cook’s note in Heroes’ Feast gives suggestions for veggies and meats to use with the frittata (asparagus, sautéd bell peppers, sliced mushrooms, etc. and cooked crumbled bacon or sausage). The only point of concern is to make sure they have all been seasoned and cooked through in the pan before adding the egg mixture.

First, I preheated the oven to 400℉ (204℃).

Next, I beat together the eggs, Parmesan cheese, herbs, salt, and some pepper until the mixture was uniformly blended.

After combining the egg mixture, I heated my 10-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and warmed the olive oil until shimmering. Then, I added the onion and let it cook, stirring frequently, until it softened - about 3 minutes.

REMINDER to cook all of your add-in veggies and meats in the skillet before adding the eggs! See the results section for my favourite add-ins and how I cooked them up.

Once the onion softened, I added the egg mixture to the skillet and let it cook, undisturbed, until the edges began to set and bubbles appeared in the center - about 1 minute (upper-left).

Then, I sprinkled the diced cheese evenly over the eggs (upper-right).

After assembling, I transferred the skillet to the middle oven rack and baked the frittata until the center had set and it puffed up - about 14 minutes.

NOTE: The frittata will puff a lot in the oven, so make sure your oven rack is in the middle!

After taking the skillet out of the oven, I ran a flexible nonstick spatula around the edges of the frittata to loosen it for transfer onto a serving plate.

I let it cool for about 15 minutes then cut it into wedges. It can be served warm or at room temperature.

NOTE: Don’t panic when it deflates as you loosen it from the skillet and transfer - it’s meant to do that!

Overall, I would give this recipe a 3.5/5 on its own and a 4.5/5 when you include add-ins. As stated in the introduction, the base Feywild Eggs recipe is a great starting point to build on but really needs the extras to not taste bland.

For my personal favourites, I used Italian parsley, 1 cup (130 g) chopped asparagus, and 1 cup (70 g) sliced mushrooms. Like the original recipe, I mixed in the finely chopped Italian parsley with the eggs. To cook veggies, I heated 2 tbsp. olive oil on medium heat until shimmering and then added the onion, asparagus, and mushrooms at the same time. I seasoned them with salt and pepper in the pan then cooked, stirring frequently, until the asparagus softened and the onions were a translucent golden brown - about 5 minutes.

Fun Facts About Honey

- Honey is mostly sugar (WoW!) it is 80% sugar and 20% water (double WoW!)

- There are over 20,000 species of bees, but only 4 make HONEY

-Honey is the ONLY food that contains all the substances you need to survive (Including WATER)

-Children under the age of 1 should not eat honey… why? because sometimes it contains bad stuff called botulism and can cause them to get botulism poisoning (that sucks, even infants should taste the deliciousness that is honey)

-Honey will crystallize under optimum temperatures (this has a lot to do with how you store it)

-Bees produce honey to eat during the winter when there are no flowers and no nectar for them.

-A honeybee would only need an ounce of honey to be able to fuel a flight around the world (this makes for a very cultural bee!)

-A typical beehive can make up to 400 pounds of honey a year! (Wowza!)

I love mangoes your honor

Decided to do something fun with my copy of Heroes’ Feast to mark the occasion!

Tasty! I hope they turned out well :D

Earl Grey Cookies

“[…] a combination of shortbread and jam thumbprint cookies, made all the more interesting by the addition of tea - something different for a cookie exchange, or package them with a fancy cup and extra tea as a gift.” - ~mystery book~, p. 227

Sugar cookies are a staple of the holiday season. Whether decorated with frosting, cut into festive shapes, or sprinkled with powdered sugar, they are the go-to cookie for gifting!

When I first decided to try this version of sugar cookie, I wasn’t sure what to expect. But, I figured I’d give them a shot since it uses my favourite tea. In the end? Best. Decision. EVER! I’ve made them for myself and friends in past holiday seasons and I constantly get asked for the recipe and/or when I’ll be making more (the answer is always December, guys).

Like the Soul Cakes marking the overlap of four different holidays at the end of October, these cookies offer a twist on the traditional treats served this time of year.

Consider baking them with the Cranberry Banana Muffins to really spice up the holiday season!

(This recipe is an adaptation from a cookbook my grandmother has tucked away. However, I don’t have the title of the book and I can’t find her copy anymore so it’s of ~mystery origin~.)

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