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Browns Tailgating Recipe: Backwoods Bannock Bread - Dawg ...
Dec 06, 11:46PM
Sep 9, 2012; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland fans T.J. Velez (left), D.J. Fletcher (second from left), Bo Lehman (third from left) grill hamburgers in the parking lot before a game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cleveland Browns at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Greetings from the Backwoods!
I hope y'all have enjoyed my recipes thus far and this one carries quite a history. The word "Bannock" is a Celtic term originating from Scotland, Ireland and Northern England. The first noted mention of it was over a thousand years ago. Nowadays, it is also commonly called "Survival Bread" as it is simple to make and can be wrapped around a sturdy marshmallow stick and cooked directly over a fire, although I prefer a large cast iron skillet. This is a basic recipe, meaning you should add whatever flavorings you would like. It is fantastic with almost any variety of flavors and I encourage you to try a few and create your own favorites. It may take a couple of attempts to perfect your method.
Backwoods Bannock Bread
Base Recipe:
2½-cups flour
2 eggs
1/3-cup lard (or butter)
2-tablespoons sugar
6-teaspoons baking powder
½-teaspoon salt
1-cup water (adjust for desired batter density)
Add-Ins: (my favorites)
Garlic and herbs (oregano)
Cinnamon and raisins
Apples and cinnamon
Blueberries
Also Try:
Any variety of fruits and/or flavors to your liking. I plan to attempt a pizza variety with cheese and pepperoni, although I have not as of yet.
Prep:
Mix all ingredients except water. Once combined, add small amounts of water and mix to desired thickness.
Note: If cooking this over a fire, you may want to keep your batter thick so that it does not drip or pour off your stick.
I prefer a warm, well-oiled cast iron skillet. Pour the mixture into a large circle, leaving a gap around the edge of the skillet and a hole in the center of the batter (like a large donut). I have had good results by simply pouring it in as well, but it tends to cook more evenly when used as described. Keep in mind that this was once commonly made in the Scottish Highlands on a stone placed over a fire, so an exact method is not crucial.
Cook:
It usually takes fifteen minutes or so per side, depending on heat. I give it the good ole jiggle test until the batter is firm enough to flip without making a major mess. If you do make a mess the first time, feel free to blame me. After flipping and cooking, take a toothpick and poke it in the thickest part, if it comes out dry, it is done.
It can also be baked in the oven at 350-degrees for 25-30 minutes or as mentioned above, on a stick directly over a fire.
I encourage you to do some research on the multiple methods and varieties of this bread. I have found it a fantastic treat while tailgating or camping, although I often make it in addition to my family dinners at home. Thank you, enjoy!
Topics: Bannock, Cleveland Browns, Recipe, Tailgating
About the Author
I am the author of fictional works including Unremembered, Off Grid and Stronghold. I am a life-long Browns fan with a love of writing and I look forward to sharing my views with you. Feel free to add your own comments, as your thoughts are always welcomed and appreciated. More information on myself and my other works can be found on my website at: http://booksbybackwoods.weebly.com/
Vanilla Mulled Wine Recipe - YumSugar
Dec 06, 11:28PM
Vanilla-Specked Mulled Wine
December 6, 2013
When it's completely frigid outside, nothing is more inviting to guests than entering a heated home filled with the scent of mulled wine. Possibly easier to pull together than any punch, mulled wine consists of apple cider, spices, red wine, orange peel and juice, and . . . this particular recipe calls for a secret ingredient.
Vanilla paste, or vanilla beans infused in a thick, sugary syrup, is a crucial ingredient to this recipe. It brings the flavors of the mulled wine together, rounds out any harshness from the wine and the spices, and adds beautiful black specks to the brew. It's easily found at Williams-Sonoma, but if you can't find it, I've included a few substitutions in the recipe below.
I recommend doubling or even tripling the recipe, so guests can have seconds and thirds. Mulled wine soothes sore throats, warms even the chilliest-to-the-bone, and tastes delectably seasonal (without the sugary overload).
From Anna Monette Roberts, POPSUGAR Food
Vanilla Mulled Wine
Notes
If you can't find vanilla paste, substitute with 1 vanilla bean pod (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract) and sugar to taste.
Ingredients
1 bottle red wine, such as Cabernet Sauvignon
2 cups spiced apple cider
1 orange, peel and juice
2 cinnamon sticks
10 whole cloves
4 whole star anise
1 tablespoon vanilla paste, such as Nielsen-Massey
Directions
- In a medium-sized pot, combine all ingredients. Cover with a lid, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes before serving.
Information
- Category
- Drinks, Hot Drinks
- Cuisine
- English/Scottish/Irish
- Yield
- Serves 6
print recipe
Cooking with Kelly: Candy Cane Crunch Fudge Recipe - Kelly the ...
Dec 06, 11:15PM
'Tis the season to be sugar high! When Cabot Creamery agreed to sponsor me for this weekend's meeting of the Chicago Food Swap, I knew exactly what I wanted to make: fudge! I used the company's butter and sour cream to craft this creamy, crunchy concoction to swap with my closest 85 friends on Saturday. Unfamiliar with a food swap? Read my food swap posts now.What I love about this recipe is the texture of the final product: it's creamy smooth thanks to the marshmallow fluff and melts in your mouth because of the white chocolate. The crushed candy adds texture to the end result with the crunchiness offsetting the tendency of fudge to just melt away and gunk up your mouth. Basically you get the meltiness of an after dinner mint, the crunch of a candy cane, the flavor of white chocolate and the airiness of marshmallows. Divine.
Another reason I love this recipe is it's so fast and easy. The most time-consuming aspect of the entire affair is crushing the candies. You do need a candy thermometer to pull this one off, but once the mixture reaches the right temperature, the tough work is done. Stirring in all the ingredients is a bit of a workout, but you'll need it because you won't be able to resist eating this white chocolate peppermint fudge.
A word about setting and serving this fudge: It's best to not rush the process and allow it to set up at room temperature overnight. If you stick it in the fridge, you risk this stuff getting rock hard. Only after it's set up for a few hours should you use the aluminum foil to remove it from the pan, then employ the services of a large, sharp knife to cut it into manageable pieces.
I'll be displaying and swapping my fudge in sleeves that started their lives as CD holders. I ordered these online for super cheap and like that you can see what you're getting. If that's not a concern for you, these can be gifted in tins or stored in airtight containers. I'd go with a container over a plastic bag because you don't want it to get mushed up or for the flavor to leak out into any surrounding food. Peppermint-flavored cheetos are not delicious; I've tried.
Candy Cane Crunch Fudge Recipe
1/4 cup Cabot salted butter
1/2 cup Cabot sour cream
2 cups sugar
12 ounces white chocolate
7 ounces marshmallow fluff
1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
You'll need a candy thermometer, a silicone spatula, offset spatula and an 8x8 pan for this recipe. Start by lining the pan with aluminum foil and spraying with some cooking oil. This recipe goes fast, so prep and measure all your ingredients and have them at the ready.
Place the butter in a nonstick pot and melt, then add the sour cream and sugar. Stir to combine. Bring to a boil and cook until the candy thermometer reads 234 degrees (also called the soft ball stage).
Remove from the heat and stir, then add the chocolate and marshmallow fluff. Stir until combined. Add the extract and candy, folding to combine, then pour into the lined baking pan. Use the offset spatula to level the mixture, and add any extra candy, sprinkles or sugar for decoration at this point.
Allow to cool at room temperature until set, which will take a few hours. I left mine overnight. To complete, remove the fudge from the pan using the foil, then peel off the foil from the bottom of the fudge. Use a very sharp, large knife to cut into squares.
Dragon City: The recipe part 2
Dec 06, 10:52PM
Note: due to my home language, I had to provide screenshots in spanish, though I do think the content helps answering any doubt about what is inside the boxes. Any doubt, yell, claim or shout do not hesitate in commenting below!
In this new recipe we will dig deeper inside which patterns does the game follows in terms of monetization, social interactivity and user retention: the three pillars of social games and F2P which ensures their stability and progress, for both users and the company. The first part, tackling Mechanics, dynamics and flow system is also on this website. Both were originally published on my game design page of Games for Breakfast.
Social Interactions
What makes a game social is the insertion of game mechanics in a community template made out of the friends' circle of any player. Dragon City boosts through Facebook in order to grant an increase of the viral spread value and player retention. Depending on the effort the player has to do, and how hardly the game imposes interactions (or by its contrary suggests to do them) we can identify such interactions as soft or hard.
The game allows the current soft interactions:
- Exchange presents with friends: choosing from a list where to aid other friends with presents, expecting as an exchange another one from them, encouraging the transactions between participants of a social circle.
- Use friends for gathering resources: inside the Tavern, an specific building, players can gather friends to help them receive a number of resources directly proportional to the number of friends selected.
And the hard interactions:
- Using friends for opening buildings (previously purchased with ingame soft currency): once the player unlocks higher buildings and obtains them, he will need the approval of other friends in order to open them; otherwise he will have to break this "locks" by using hard currency. Placing a constraint of such dimensions makes the player forced to seek out for his friends favor in order to continue progressing, or else purchasing real currency to avoid pushing friends to aid him.
A wide set of cool looking dragons is available to those players who willingly would act as aspokesman of the game, inviting new players to test it out.
-Earning new players for unlocking dragons: as any social game, capture new users is always rewarded in a profitable and attractive way for the player. Dragon City allows players to unlock unique dragons (impossible to access by any other means) by making new players out of his friend list, increasing viral spread through a reward system.
Retention Techniques
Ensuring the continuity of play is a core feature of social games: the longer the player keeps on the game, the more a he is able to deliberate about making a profitable purchase, coming out as a result of a moderate up to deep engagement. Retention techniques as long as monetization tricks are widespread alongside each titles, even though there are notable similarities between different companies' games, but there's also differences which makes them more sustainable in terms of catching the player's attention in precise moments.
Retention works in two ways: short termed, where the player keeps engaged during a simple play action from when he opens the game until he closes it and long termed, where the player feels the urge to come back to the game because there is an extrinsic motivation coming from the game, or the medium (social network), for doing so. Here are a set of what Dragon City makes most use of for having the player engaged in both sides:
Campaigns
Campaigns (Missions) are side events which last for an specific amount of time, usually 7-8 days, where players are granted the chance to obtain unique units (mostly themed, such as Medieval, Halloween, Egyptian, etc. dragons) by doing a different set of activities which report a side currency. Dragon city offers two prizes inside each campaign, one obtainable through a completion of the collection of the required items in a 60/70% and the other one at the 100%. Usually, an standardized play behavior will provide the first prize in time, but the large one will usually require a huge effort or purchasing it with hard currency, being a powerful monetization trick, while suggesting indirectly the player to finish all his hard work after retrieving it from his hands, in the so called Reward Removal coercive monetization model, but we'll discuss it later on when we'll dig deeper on the monetization techniques.
Lancelot would be proud with such Medieval Monsters about to be unlocked inside this campaign
For completing campaigns, the player must gather an specific resource that we can refer as a side currency. Usually the side currency is rewarded by performing the standard flow loop and play ritual of the game (building, gathering, farming, fighting or breeding) and a lesser amount is rewarded by unique actions which require fighting in an specific league or just clicking a button each amount of time. This last activity is triggered usually between 8 or 12 hours, and forces players willing to earn the huge prize (the ultimate dragon) reconnecting into the game the specific hours to fulfill this requirement.
Catch activity
Something missing to be successfully deployed inside the game is the catch activity: an event triggered in a short period of time in order to fulfill the player's possible state of idle (when he has run out from things to do). This idle zone, in Dragon City, is currently reached when the combats have run out and the player has successfully set every available task; needing a boost of hard currency to keep the game flow.
Dragon City allows gathering resources each time a player desires to click each building, but they aren't triggered each time they have something to be taken, just when their capability is higher than 80% and such thing takes more time than what a player's time of single play does. A better boosting of this activity will manage to increase significantly the amount of time a player spends in each play time, making him release his idle state and reloading the engagement state.
Monetization tricks
Inside Dragon City there is a major monetization model that impulse the game's revenues by microtransactions held inside. By such implementation, the game ensures its revenues in a profitable way, offering players purchasable assets which will help progress them better through the game or provide a with unique features forbidden on the free side.
Layering
Layering refers to the trick of replacing real world currency (money) for an ingame currency (hard currency) in order to diminish the negative reinforcement that using real money has to the player, rather than the virtualization (or blurring) of it. Though layering is a feature that is included in every free to play game (if found the contrary, we could presumably assume something isn't going pretty well in terms of design), we could identify how it is implemented in the game.
Dragon City uses Gems for Layering, and offers them inside packages through the shop in amounts of 25 up to 1.700, with some interesting offers (bonus gems) the higher the spend is. Gems are as well able to be exchanged for gold or food, up to inmense amounts which will cost high times to earn for any player, making a re-valorizing switch inside the player's brain, thinking about if the best possible outcome is to farm or to use a hidden and comfortable currency which solves pretty much all the pain tricks.
The model: Progress Gates
The monetization mainframe held inside Dragon City is the so called Progress Gates, specifically a transparent type. Is a common scheme used in social free to play games, but it has slightly different changes.
The system works by offering the player an stage where, in order to advance, there has to be a purchase (using hard currency), and once unlocked the gate, he will soon face another demanding an increased purchase. But being a transparent type of Progress Gates, which means the player actually is granted the entire progression through the game without making any purchase to get through the doors, but he will have to hold and resist all the constraints which will challenge his pain tolerance.
Constraints alongside the game will turn in slightly more aggressive in order to incite more experienced players, which of them, due of its progression and weakened tolerance, will be able to end up purchasing (all of this statement taken, of course, in a perfect testing ground, though the psychological and cultural action of purchasing differs from every player). The main constraint inside the game is Time, used in farm games globally. Time makes users wait for a completion of any task as a direct feedback once they choose to do any action, translated in the ratio of how much gradually a player can be engaged in the game and how much is left out by standing in a tempting queue. Time toll can be up to 72 hours, even though it's a pretty specific case (farming food)
The Progress Gates model also holds inside the famous triad of Unlocks, Boosters and Skips (though boosters aren't inside Dragon City), powerful assets unlocked through hard currency which will make the game pace to be faster, avoiding time constraints, therefore augmenting the player's experience (engagement) obtained through the game:
-Unlocks: though the player can advance through the game, there are premium items only available through purchase. From specific assets which deploy a new dynamic to the game pace (breeding more dragons at once, getting more exotic mixtures out of it, raising the dragon level capability, etc) up to unlocking dragons faster, specifically the hard-to-get ones which usually will require the player to breed and to succeed inside the ratio of obtaining one.
Skipping is effectively suggested in long term actions, and with lower (expendable) amounts of hard currency.
-Skips: allows the player to avoid waiting times, making the progression continuous until he runs out of hard currency. Skips couldn't be simpler: each action takes its time toll or its hard currency toll, but to skip is attractively suggested (wouldn't be clever not to boost it) and moreover, each purchase is significantly low in terms of costs to the player. Provided small amounts of Gems are obtainable through playing inside the game, players can actually skip waiting times with the saved ones they have, making the purchase of an small amount of gems lasting way more than expected.
Purchasable items weighing and balance
How assets are weighed inside the game is another feature to review inside our recipe. For every freemium game, tagging each article is done by taking into account several decisive factors, which vary from the reliability up to the aesthetic value they have to the player.We can identify 3 weighed elements inside Dragon City, which differ from a decisive expense up to an affordable one (for the standard player which actually takes the free way, or just a Minnow which spends the lesser amount possible):
-Dragons: Dragons are the most expensive asset available to purchase. They usually range between affordable amounts up to highly expensive ones. The increasing factor depends equally on the versatility of the dragon (though as a powerful one, more reliability in terms of stats and abilities), and the price mean that dragons are the result of a clash of multiple forces and resources (that causes a huge pain relief) such as time, gold and food. Dragons are usually a claim for whales, meaning they're just as valuable as what the community think they are: the more intense and lasting an experience is for the user, the more value he gives to the whole system in which he plays, being directly proportional to retention. Therefore, if there are dragons whose prize tags gets up to 2.5k gems (we could be just talking of an amount of 70EUR /85 USD), we would presumably assume that certain investors will specifically purchase such dragons, but those low ratio players (minnows) will definitely feel an incredible constraint when it comes to get a new powerful unit by this way.
Expenses get serious when it comes to purchasing exotic high-end dragons.
-Specific Buildings: Buildings are set in the middle value of the expense meter. They're usually only in need of soft currency to be purchased, but some of them develop more intense and dynamic activities, which are translated into hard currency as exchange value. Premium buildings can breed more units at once; increase the ratio of obtaining a more valuable unit and so on. They usually increase the experience of the user making the sense of fulfillment more stable and less constrained by low ratios of success, whether he is merging different units to obtain a new one, his chances are slightly powered up for a greater success. With such feeling come the offer and the user strategy. Though its price is tagged as medium (affordable from a whale up to a minnow) it allows the reliable theory of the basic user strategy to grow up: if there is enough room to place a clear offer telling the user he will get more with less, making things perform better in a long term and benefit his all progress, then there are more chances to make him suggest inside his brain to easily calculate the greatest benefit and end up in purchasing such element. Even though this equation is not safe as math, minds will always be handling thousand variables, from what so far we known the half and use a third.
-Skippers: skippers are the lowest possible expense in the game, making every player able to purchase it one or more times during its whole playtime. Moreover, the tutorial insists and suggests players the importance of relying in such boosters, provided the starting amount of hard currency that is given allows for a few quick purchases like this one. Although the longer the player reaches, the higher this purchase gets, it still keeps being cheaper than any other product. Its purpose is to create a cycle where in which the player tends, little by little, to prioritize the spending loop relying on such small bonuses. That means that with the lowest possible amount affordable in the game, there's a guarantee that it will allow to make some of this skips, lowering the feeling of expending higher amounts on single products with pure cosmetic or collectible-related purposes.
Conclusion
The transparency of the model makes monetization a clever move, benefiting players and the developer: while it doesn't force constantly players to keep on expending money in order to advance; it suggests the optimal performance for doing so, reaching higher places in less time. Provided such technique, nobody has the clear advantage and nothing is camouflaged as a pay to win, the model itself is clearly understandable and it brings a whole new items where the player can choose to tune the experience in a way different than the one offered by free.
Though it would be perhaps benefited by an addition of some catch activities for increasing retention and avoiding player idle situations, and a perhaps more detailed or meaningful social interactivity (outside from just using friends to progress, but to create boundaries or helping links); Dragon City proves to be an powerful and solid Social Game, with lots of features nicely implemented and lots of available things to do.
Thanks a ton for reading, if you found it interesting, I usually write about social game design at Games for Breakfast. If you're looking for techniques, design theories and tricks for taming such wild genres, you should probably land there.
Bill Mattos: Heavenly recipe for turkey, Salvadorian style
Dec 06, 9:56PM
Well, readers didn't bombard me with entries featuring your favorite turkey recipe, but one woman certainly sent a turkey day bird recipe that sounds delicious, and provocative. It's worth trying unless few in your family like some spice with their meals. This recipe comes from a Salvadorian inspiration, and many of the items would fit well in our popular California cuisine, since we offer something for everyone in the Golden State. Food from El Salvador certainly meets the requirement of California ethnic and diverse dishes. Gail Poveda of Newman sent me this inspired dish (now I'm waiting for her to actually make me one), and I'll be sending her $100 for her winning entry.
Here is the recipe in Gail's own words:
"You have never, ever eaten a more delectable turkey than one prepared Salvadorian style. The flavors assault your nose and tongue until you feel like you've floated up to Heaven and come back down. Just imagine… a sauce that begins with a dozen on-the-vine fresh California tomatoes boiled with three white onions, five-eight dried pasa or ancho chiles (depending on how spicy you like your sauce), bay leaves, salt, green pepper and garlic until everything is soft. Meanwhile, an incredibly delicious concoction of slivered almonds, peppercorns, bay leaves, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds and oregano are all toasted on the stove top and ground together to make a paste. Then those scrumptious boiled vegetables and the paste are all blended to make a sauce. Say gobble-gobble and clean out your chompipe (pronounced chome-pee-pay, this is the word that they use in El Salvador for turkey). Make a paste with two cups of yellow mustard and one cup of minced California garlic and spread it on the inside and outside of the turkey. Pour the sauce over and stick in the oven. Don't forget to check that bird and baste it with the sauce from time to time. Serve it with all your favorite side dishes and use that wonderful sauce over your turkey as a gravy. Call me when you get back from Heaven and tell me how you liked it."
Gail has lived in Newman for 23 years with her husband, Amilcar. She teaches at Sacred Heart School in Patterson, and has two children, Kevin, 26 and Raquel, 20.
Michigan Apple Recipe Contest
Dec 06, 9:45PM
With the popularity of the Applefest in Fenton and number of local orchards, there are bound to be some really good apple recipes out there. If you think you have a great recipe featuring apples, you will want to enter it in the Michigan Apple Recipe Contest for Zehnder's Snowfest event in Frankenmuth on Jan. 22, 2014. The Michigan Apple Committee (MAC) sponsors the contest. A new grand prize will be awarded for the 2014 contest — a round trip flight and entry into the World Food Championships in Las Vegas (location subject to change) to take place in November 2014. Contest registration forms can be found at www.michiganapples.com. Forms are to be mailed to Zehnder's Snowfest, Michigan Apple Recipe Contest, 730 S. Main St., Frankenmuth, MI 48734, by Dec. 20. Recipes must include Michigan Apples. Some varieties, such as Granny Smith, are not grown in Michigan. The 2014 Apple Recipe Contest will include four new categories: apple pies, apple breads and muffins, apple cobblers and crisps, and miscellaneous apple dishes. Prizes are awarded in each category for first-, second- and third-place winners. For more information, visit www.MichiganApples.com.
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