I always thought caramelizing onions involved actual caramel, but I guess not. Shows how much I know! (Now that I think about it, that sounds disgusting).
As I said in my other post, this is kind of like pizza’s weird cousin. The addition of the pears is probably what pushes it over into “tart” territory. I felt kind of weird placing a bunch of dry(ish) ingredients on the puff pastry, it felt like there should have been some sauce or something to hold it all together, but it all works out in the end. It’s one of those “trust the process” kinds of recipes.
For an extra bit of pizzaz, I recommend a drizzle of honey and sprinkle of salt before you bite into this. Also, if the gorgonzola turns you off, I think you could substitute a milder cheese. I’m thinking of trying goat cheese next time.
“Caramelized Onion & Pecan Tart” is the tenth recipe I’ve done from Ghost of Thornton Hall and the 4th I’ve pulled from Jessalyn’s wedding menu. The other nine GTH recipes I’ve done can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here,here, and here.
This one was a bit obscure. When I went searching for a recipe I found a lot of pecan tarts and a lot of caramelized onion tarts, but not a lot of tarts with both ingredients. I always wonder if these in-game menus are just made up on the spot or if the staff at Her had real life food in mind. I did eventually find a good fit, which was a puff pastry, gorgonzola, and pear pizza-like thing, pictured above. A sophisticated mixture of savory and sweet. I think it fits in with the hoity-toity image they were going for.
I went a little out of my comfort zone with this recipe because I’m not the biggest gorgonzola fan. Luckily, I think its strong flavor was nicely balanced/complemented by everything else on the tart. Melting the cheese also mellowed it out a bit. This tart is a bit too heavy for an appetizer and too savory for a dessert. I think it would be best served as part of light lunch with some salad and tea. Easy to throw together, but definitely for a more adult palate.
I’m always excited to work with something new! I’ve never purchased or cooked okra before. This actually gave me an excuse to go my local Japanese market which was fun to explore. I wanted to buy fresh okra (as opposed to frozen) for the full experience.
I nibbled a little bit of the raw okra and, to me, it tastes similar to green beans. Very unoffensive, mild flavor. I know some people are freaked out by its sliminess, but the slime actually came in clutch when I was coating the okra rounds with corn meal and flour. The slime (mixed with buttermilk) kind of worked as a glue to help the breading stay on.
As is typical, I think the sauce took me longer to make than the main dish. It was the perfect, creamy accompaniment with a slight zing. Don’t be fooled by the “hot sauce” ingredient, I didn’t find it spicy in the slightest. Definitely the kind of recipe you can tweak to your tolerance level.
“Fried Okra” is the ninth recipe I’ve done from Ghost of Thornton Hall and the 6th I’ve pulled from Charlotte’s masquerade invitation. The other eight GTH recipes I’ve done can be found here,here,here,here,here,here,here, and here.
I’m very pleased with how this came out! I was apprehensive because I’ve never been okra’s biggest fan, but I think I like it in its fried form best. It tastes very similar to fried pickles and would make a great appetizer at a BBQ restaurant. Not pictured is the remoulade sauce I made with it which is basically a spicy mayo. Honestly, the fried okra held its own so I only dipped each bite ever-so-slightly into the sauce. The darker pieces were the tastiest because they had a crunch. Don’t be like me and take the okra out of the pan too early because you’re afraid of burning it.
Recipe #102 -Fried Green Tomatoes with Vidalia Relish
Another recipe that takes nine-million pots, paper towels, bowls, and assorted whisks, and measuring cups. Phew!
The difficulty level for this one was relatively low but I did struggle with two things: slicing the tomatoes and getting them breaded. The recipe called for 1/3 inch thick tomatoes but, without a slicing machine, I can’t really slice tomatoes with such precision. As a result, my slices might have been too fat. Next, breading them wasn’t so fun since tomatoes are slippery by nature and I was trying, and failing, to find a good way to do it without my fingers getting in the way. In the end, frying is a pretty forgiving method of cooking and everything worked out fine.
The Vidalia relish recipe was WAY more involved then the tomatoes, even though it’s just a condiment. So many ingredients and spices I’ve never used before (turmeric, celery seed, mustard powder). It’s definitely yummy with a very powerful mustard zing to it, but I also definitely made way too much. If you attempt it, I’d recommend halving the recipe for sure.
-4 large Vidalia onions (I only used 2, no idea where they got 4 from)
-2 cups shredded cabbage
-¼ cup salt
-4 ½ cup water
-2 bell peppers
-½ cup light brown sugar
-2 cups apple cider vinegar
-1 tablespoon dried mustard powder
-¾ teaspoon turmeric
-¼ cup flour
-1 teaspoon mustard seed
-2 teaspoons celery seed
That’s all for today, folks. Best of luck to Her Interactive with the big release of Midnight and Salem. I really hope we can relive the glory days of two games a year soon.
Recipe 102 - Fried Green Tomatoes with Vidalia Relish
“Fried Green Tomatoes with Vidalia Relish” is the seventh recipe I’ve done from Ghost of Thornton Hall and the fifth I’ve pulled from Charlotte’s masquerade invitation. The other six GTH recipes can be found here,here,here,here,here, and here.
This was a wholly new experience for me because I’ve never had fried green tomatoes nor Vidalia relish. I actually wanted to make this recipe a long time ago but I wasn’t able to find any green tomatoes anywhere. I stumbled upon some at a farm stand last weekend and knew it was time. The result? Well, not my favorite fried thing on the planet. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I found the tomatoes to be pretty bland. The relish, on the other hand was delicious and tangy. I just wish I was using it to complement something more interesting.
Let me know if you ever eat/make fried green tomatoes. I’m from Massachusetts and to me they’re completely alien. I’m wondering if I just made them wrong and normally they taste amazing? Anyway, happy to be back at it with the ND recipes :)
Ah, it feels good to be cooking again. I really thought I’d be doing it all the time when I got out of school, but it’s tough. You really need to plan your whole day around a recipe sometimes, especially if you’re going to document the process. Anyway, enough of my whining: mac & cheese!
As I said in my other post, this is some DENSE mac and cheese. Since GTH is a southern-based game I wanted to make sure I was using an authentically southern recipe. The one I ended up choosing (source below) was intriguing because of the essay attached to the recipe. It breaks down why each component is important and why YES you do need to use 5 different cheeses, apparently.
I found this recipe kind of disappointing from both a texture and flavor perspective. Since it’s casserole style, each serving was like a brick of pasta (almost like lasagna) and the cheese just didn’t have that sharp kick. It could potentially be improved with more spices, but I couldn’t really pin-point what kind. If anyone has any baked mac & cheese tips, I’d love to hear them. One thing I was hoping for, that I didn’t achieve, was that “crust” that forms on some cheesy dishes and adds some crisp to the dish.
Whenever I go to BBQ places and get mac & cheese as a side, it’s usually pretty bland too, so maybe it’s supposed to be? Or maybe I just need to go to better BBQ restaurants. Ah well! Until next time, y'all.
“Baked Mac & Cheese” is the eighth recipe I’ve done from Ghost of Thornton Hall and the 3rd I’ve pulled from Jessalyn’s wedding menu. This is another food option written in the margins of the menu and described as a crowd pleaser. The other seven GTH recipes I’ve done can be found here,here,here,here,here,here, and here.
I decided to make this for my family’s fourth of July cookout since it goes well as a side dish to grilled food. As usual I made about 4 times as much as I needed, but the leftovers were welcomed by all. I think this might also be my first time using gluten free pasta, so that’s exciting.
This is definitely a “casserole” style mac, very, very dense and loaded with like 50 kinds of cheese. I think I actually prefer the lighter, creamier variety, but I grew up on Kraft, so what do I know? If I were to make this recipe again, I would go much heavier on the spices because I actually found it a little bland.
Hope everyone’s having a nice summer! It’s been a long time since I’ve played any Nancy Drew games tbh, but I still love the franchise just the same.
the thing about doors though is that they can just be removed? taken off completely? clara especially - you own the house, and it’s already in ruins. pay someone to take the fucking door off if it matters to you so much. or, idk, hire a locksmith.
so you guys know how i have a cat named charlotte? a few days ago we got a little ash gray kitten to foster. her name had already been chosen by the lady who found her and we can’t officially change it because it’s on her vet records
i love this image a lot like you have colton looking like he just remembered that he left the stove on; wade is in some high-octane fantasy that he’s living an action movie and he just escaped a threat on his life except he was in the cemetery like half a mile away so he was absolutely never in any real danger; jessalyn is looking pretty suspicious with her posture like ‘oh how about that the house is on fire wonder who did that’; clara can’t believe she associates with any of these people
Today hits the mark as the first day that we begin some serious testing for Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall! We brought in our full-time testers today because we now have a “playable” game build. There is a 75% chance that the game will crash on you if you try doing something (like play a puzzle) before you are supposed to. There are still a gazillion bugs and lots of incomplete art in the game, but at least it’s stubbed and there are placeholders to pretend with, for the time being.
An example would be a male character in GTH…when he’s done talking and moving, a female character appears in his place. Then, when you ask “him” a question, you see him animate again. Little things like this are all over Thornton Hall. Character appear, then reappear.
This week, we are bringing in our regular Focus Group testers to try out a few of our puzzles… I wonder what Designer Cathy has in store for them this time…
I was thinking about the ranking of ND suspects by @aniceworld (if you haven’t seen it then go check it out because it’s the best) and felt inspired to do something similar.
Methodology: I included characters who left us puzzles to solve. I judged STFD, CRE, VEN, TOT, and ASH as not having characters who met those criteria. CAR was the only game with two. I lumped all the Penvellyns together because ain’t nobody got time for that. If I forgot anyone, let me know. All rankings are personal taste.
28. J.J. Thompson (FIN) Does he count? Between fucking over Louisa Falcone and betting against Harry Houdini pulling off a trick, ol’ J.J. just can’t overcome his P.T.-Barnum-knockoff origin story.
27. ??? (CAP) To be honest, I spent this whole game trying to figure out how I could break up with Ned and ask Frank out, so I don’t remember who put the puzzles here. They were stupid, though.
26. Ezra Wickford (TRT) You can’t just adopt a kid and then disown him if he has behavioral problems. And I frankly don’t believe your claim that you invented chocolate milk. Enjoy your hidden sadness shrines, you sack of shit.
25. Lizzie Applegate (MHM) I guess I’m just not sure why she left the treasure in the floor instead of using it at any point. Sorry your outlaw husband ditched you, though. Dirk Valentine would never do a thing like that.
24. Trapper Dan (ICE) Apparently Lizzie Applegate is the one who told Dan to riddle the Lodge with puzzles: a pointless callback in an overwhelmingly frustrating game.
23. El Toro (RAN) The hourglass puzzle makes me cry, but he deliberately died in a ridiculous position so his corpse could trigger a booby trap, which I respect.
22. King Pacal (SSH) The scribe’s desiccated corpse has haunted my dreams for years, so while I appreciate Pacal’s level of loopholed pettiness, I hate him.
21. Ramses II (TMB) I’m not particularly impressed by anything Ramses set up to guard Nefertari’s tomb, but at least his actions were justified in-character, and I minored in classical civilizations so he gets an automatic bonus for Ancient Egypt.
20. Rita Hallowell (WAC) Her motivations are unclear at best, but she gains rank for clearly being an emo lesbian cat lady.
19. Kasumi Shimizu (SAW) Maybe just tell your daughters that they can leave the family business instead of making them solve a nonogram to find out. No wonder your family fell apart.
18. Kate Drew (SPY) Many parts of this game are beautifully, emotionally moving, but up until the new engine fuckery, Nancy’s mom being a spy was the dumbest idea HER has had since RAN.
17. Rolfe Kessler (CAR) I’m sorry that neither your wife nor your era could handle your mental illness.
16. The Forgery Ring (LIE) I love the culprit in this game, but everyone’s first clue that they weren’t a real theater troupe should’ve been their requirement to solve complex puzzles to do a goddamn set change. Hire a prop manager to keep all those dumb pieces in order.
15. Charlotte Thornton (GTH) The audacity of entrusting a vital clue to finding her will to an approximately five-year-old child just proves that Charlotte was not fit to run the family business. It’s hard to like her when all she does is murder me while I am actively avenging her.
14. Jin Soo Seung (MED) I don’t know how or why Sonny’s grandpa hid these artifact pieces all over this specific area of New Zealand. Unfortunately, I am one of those people who loves Sonny Joon enough to put up with a fair amount of bullshit.
13. Captain Lawrence (SEA) Like the Penvellyns, it is amazing that his treasure-hiding gambit was even marginally successful. However, that skeleton hands post helps him skate all the way to spot #13 on my list.
12. Brendan Malloy (HAU) His double-agent scientist backstory is the only redeeming thing about this absurd game.
11. Noisette Tornade (DAN) Great name, cool job, noble deeds, but did you need to lock me in the basement after I went to all the trouble of solving your encrypted clues?
10. Jake Rogers (SCK) Jake Rogers decided to be a blackmail kingpin at the age of 17. Minus points for being skeevy about Connie (her secret is that she can beat the shit out of you, dude, please have more foresight), props for sheer ballsiness. Is he the one who left all the weird rhyming clues everywhere in SCK1? Because if so he would shoot up at least five spots.
9. Penvellyn Family (CUR) Props for dedicating their lives to continuing this convoluted, pointless gambit. It’s just impressive none of them fucked it up over the last few centuries. However: if the point was for your family members to solve an elaborate series of puzzles to find the treasure, why trap them in a box to suffocate at the end?
8. Darryl Trent (CAR) He clearly made a lot of poor decisions in his life, but leaving his daughter a baffling robot to remember him by makes up for most of them.
7. Jake Hurley (TRN) I need a private sadness train with a mystical gemstone contraption, like, yesterday.
6. Bruno Bolet (CRY) What a fucking weirdo. If it weren’t for the crystal skull thing he might rank higher, because all of his other obsessions are positively delightful.
5. Josiah Crowley (CLK) I have a bunch of nerdy internet friends who use nicknames for each other, so I appreciate his group of radio Mechanicals. Also disguising yourself in drag to mess with your friends and neighbors is hilarious. Truly a man ahead of his time.
4. Niko Jovic (DED) Turns out that he was kind of an asshole, but I’ve got to love him for the steampunk lair he built under a privately-owned facility.
3. Dirk Valentine (SHA) If I were Frances Humber, I would’ve left Shadow Ranch the day after I met Dirk and had like eleven outlaw babies with this king of romance.
2. Hilda Swenson (DDI) When I’m a bored widow, I hope I become so disillusioned with the rest of the world that I fuck off and force anyone who wants to talk to me to solve a bunch of puzzles I scattered around my old town.
1. Mickey Malone (DOG) All I aspire to be is a 1920s gangster who owns a private speakeasy under my cabin in the woods and hangs out with my four giant dogs whom I adore.
they really just sent their intern out with a shitty camera (like below even an old-Iphone quality) to find something that has 1) trees and a 2) fountain and then to slap GTH music on it with a quote and act like that’s promo for yet another sale.
What about that house that’s on Ellie’s wallpaper in DED? That’s clearly what was used as inspiration for the game itself? Why can’t you have one of the developers of that game explain what that place is and why it stood out to them and how they used that in making the final GTH game that we played?
Oh wait, because they don’t work for you anymore. So you have to resort to getting interns (who are probably unpaid) to basically create fanfiction content of vague notions of what your company used to create
