Website Feature: Gourmet Gaming

Games like Cooking Mama really get my appetite going. Here you are preparing delicious food and you can't even eat it. It's like composing a symphony and not being able to hear how all the parts finally come together - I'm talking to you Beethoven. One gamer has the food creativity of a culinary master and has figured out how to make out favorite in-game treats into real life products.

Daniella - the creator of Gourmet Gaming - takes the concept way farther than the simple Cooking Mama recipes you could easily find around the internet. She has created recipes for Costume Quest's Mossy Log, Pokemon's Poffins and many more. This gamer gone food artist has crafted some of the most delectable desserts and snacks I've ever seen. Maybe it's just her amazing photography skills, but all the food she puts up on her website looks amazing.

Kingdom Hearts - Spark Lemon via Gourmet Gaming

Looking at the recipes and delicious food is one thing, but making them is a whole different story. Each recipe is rated on a scale from one to five hearts to show the level of difficulty. In addition, all recipes include the metric and customary units - a nice gesture for all her American fans.

Out of all her recipes, I decided to take a stab at making her recipe for The Sims  Goopy Carbonara. With a two heart difficulty rating, I figured it would be an easy dinner dish and a good place to start in all of her crazy foods.

Video Game and Reality Carbonara via Gourmet Gaming

For the recipe, click here!

Mine didn't turn out so pretty, but my tastebuds were pleased. The next time I make this recipe there are two things I plan to do differently.

For one, I wasn't able to find cubed ham the recipe called for at my local Fiesta - the Mexican food store my friend insisted we go to for ingredients - so I just used flat lunchmeat ham instead. It worked just as well but because it shriveled so much, it resulted in a frugal amount of ham in the overall dish, leaving it tasting a little bland. It's a good cheap replacement, but if you do use this substitute then make sure you add a generous amount of it.

One other thing I would do is make more of the sauce. The amount the recipe makes just didn't create that 'goopy' feeling for me. It still tasted great, but it would have tasted fantastic if there was just a bit more.

My take on the Goopy Carbonara

I plan on returning to her website for many more dinner recipes. I'm hoping she does a recipe for Fallout's Surgar Bombs next!

Yours truly,
HavokRose

Magazine Clipping Art

Over my spring break, I got a little crafty. Sometimes it's hard to find the perfect mashup of your favorite games/movies/books/cartoons, so I decided to make one of my own.

I am a diehard Moonie (Sailor Moon Fan) and Zelda fan, so I decided to bring those two loves together in this unique piece of art: 

I made this little beauty out of magazine clippings that gives it a unique shine and texture. I absolutely love how it turned out. While I was at it, I made this one for my boyfriend: 

Interested in making your own magazine masterpiece? Here's how you do it: 

1. Sketch out a draft of the image you want to make. But keep in mind, curves can be difficult if they are small and take more time to fill in. 

2. Layer the scratch sheet on top of the card stock and retrace the image, making sure you press hard enough so there are imprints on the car stock. 

3. Trace the imprints with your pencil. 

4. Look through your magazines and find colors to fill in your picture. Then, cut them out.

5. Try to find patterned colors as well, such as fluffy pillows for white or a fading background. Patterns will give texture to your pictures. 

6. Begin gluing your clippings onto the card stock. If you have a lot of background area, try covering that first, but try to keep some space around the drawn image. You'll fill those spaces in later.

7. After filling in the details (Like I did with the moon and triforce), fill in the blank spaces with the background color. For curves and straight lines, try to cut background pieces to help form the borders of the image to make clean edges and smooth curves.

 8. Once the image is filled in, add details. I cut out stars with my mom's precision scissors. Adding words also make for a nice touch. 

9. After adding the details of your choosing, find a frame, put in your masterpiece and hang it up. 

10. Take a picture of it and post it here. I'd love to see what you create! 

Yours truly, HavokRose