In case you missed it, Blizzard has announced a new date for the release of Shadowlands: 11/23/2020. This comes after they pulled the original date, set for October 23rd, in favor of (hopefully) providing a better experience. I’m really excited to see what new pets, toys, and mounts will be available and how everything in the World (… of Warcraft) falls into place. You can view the story trailer here. Will you be joining us in the Shadowlands?

Happy Hallow’s End! Today also marks the end of the in-game event (okay, technically it ends tomorrow morning). I hope you and yours are enjoying the day, even though things are a bit different this year. I meant to photograph the Hallow’s End table, but didn’t get around to it. How about I tell you about it? Grab your favorite nighttime beverage, and cozy up while I tell you all about it. I made a version of Dragonbreath Chili with ingredients that were already in the kitchen as well as Cornmeal Biscuits, and for dessert: Sugar Dusted Choux Twists. There was Cherry Grog to drink (sans the rum). Those in my household loved the chili. I used leftover shabu-shabu meat, chopped it up to almost a mince, and used Aleppo pepper and Urfa biber (aka Isot pepper). A couple of years ago, when I first made the chili, there was something about it none of us liked. Taste is very subjective, and while I get that this chili should have had, with each bite, the flavor of char from a fire-breathing dragon, it was too overwhelming. I used plain tomato (instead of fire-roasted), some smoked paprika, and Isot pepper. The Isot was soaked in some water, which I did before prepping everything else. Both the paprika and Isot gave the chili the smokiness reminiscent of cooking over a campfire, or wood-burning stove, rather than eating spoonfuls of smoke. Long story short, make something according to a recipe, but make sure to taste as you go. Recipes are wonderful frameworks for creating dishes you’ll love. The biscuits I made exact because baking isn’t always as forgiving. They were incredibly dry. They tasted nice in the chili, but were not pleasant on their own. The batter was very dense, yet the biscuits were relatively light. Would I make them again? No. For dessert I made the Choux twists. I was so looking forward to these, especially since the picture in the cookbook looks so tasty, and made them according to the recipe. The first batch came out of the oven beautifully golden…and floppy. Yes, like a beautiful, floppy doughnut. I opted to bake them as you would for a creampuff, and they were much better. Perhaps it was the star tip I used; I’m not sure, but the puffs turned out great. I would absolutely make them again. My partner ended up eating over half the batch. Cherry Grog is probably one of my new favorite drinks. You get the tart, fruity flavor from the cherry juice, a hint of refreshing citrus notes from the lime juice, and sweet heat from the ginger beer. If you aren’t into the heat, you could always substitute for a lighter ginger ale. This is one of those drinks that is great any time of the year. For a holiday twist add a cinnamon stick, and/or a couple of cardamom pods, to the pitcher. It may not sound appealing, but it adds the spirit of the holidays in a deliciously comforting way.

November is tomorrow! Where has this year gone? Next week I will be testing out some recipes. The second WoW cookbook won’t be available until May of 2021, so until then, I’ll be creating some of my own. I’ll also have a Pilgrim’s Bounty table up (with pictures this time), featuring the recipes from the first cookbook.

Peace & Love, always!