#treasure in a royal tower
Recipe #116 - Chocolate Mayhem
The simplest foods are definitely the best, I gotta say.
Death by Chocolate (this recipe’s real name) has it all: fluffy, crunchy, creamy, and chewy. It’s essential to get every layer in each bite to experience the synergy of the ingredients. The crunchy toffee on top really pulls it all together (I discovered I like heath bars thanks to this!)
Although this recipe was very easy from a baking perspective, assembling it was tricky. I’ve experienced this issue before when making the parfaits from Danger by Design, it’s difficult to get a clean layered look, especially in a narrow glass. It requires a steady hand and patience. I kind of felt like I was building a ship in a bottle with the miniature coffee cups I bought. That was definitely the downside to downsizing this dish. I imagine if I made it in a giant bowl, it would have been pretty simple. My 2nd attempt was better than my first as I got the hang of things. The cool whip right out of the freezer was especially hard to work with.
This is a good dessert to make if you want to impress people with something visually interesting, but you’re not an experienced baker. If you can make brownies, you can make this.
Recipe:
-1 Package brownie mix (requires an egg and vegetable oil)
-1 Package instant chocolate pudding (requires milk)
-English toffee, crushed
-1 Package frozen whipped topping
The weather is finally warming up where I am and I’m so here for it. Bring on the cookouts and picnics! :D
Recipe 116 -Chocolate Mayhem
This recipe is yet another dish pulled from Wickford Castle’s menu in Treasure in a Royal Tower. The six other menu items I’ve made so far can be found here,here,here,here,hereandhere.
Just like “Odyssey to Bananaland” I had to kind of guess what kind of dessert “chocolate mayhem” would be. I knew that “death by chocolate” was a thing so I googled what dessert had that name and found this trifle! Trifles are usually huge and serve up big punch-bowl like dishes. Since I’m just one girl, I opted for a miniature version of that.
This dessert is light and decadent at the same time! It seems like it’s going to be a lot, but then you realize it’s mostly pudding and cool whip and you’re ready for a second round. It seems like it would be a fun recipe to assemble with kids because all of its components are very basic. Highly recommended for parties!
Recipe #111 - Anchovy Heaven
I know people are probably thinking “Just a caesar salad?” but, no, this actually took me almost 2.5 hours to make. Not a difficult 2.5 hours, but just a lot of time to devote to a salad. In the end I think it was worth it.
The most time consuming part of this recipe was definitely the dressing. As the dish’s name suggests, and in case you didn’t know the main ingredient in caesar dressing is anchovies. This was actually my first time working with anchovies and, although they definitely looked pretty nasty before I mashed them into a pulp, they actually smelled and tasted really good. It was interesting to see all that goes into making that caesar flavor (I didn’t expect the egg yolks).
The chicken and the croutons took very little time to prepare. Both were basically two steps: toss in seasoning and cook/bake. The chicken came out very juicy so I made a mental note to use that technique again (1.5 tbsp veggie oil > don’t flip for 5 min > flip > add 1 tbsp butter to pan > 5 more minutes > done!) The croutons were, of course, amazing, but I’m convinced it’s impossible to ruin croutons so I’m not going to toot my own horn too much.
Recipe for the chicken:
Here is my source
-3 tablespoons vegetable oil
-1 lb boneless chicken breast
-salt and pepper
-½ tsp garlic powder
-½ tsp onion powder
-½ tsp dried basil
-½ tsp paprika
-2 tbsp butter
Recipe for everything else:
Here is my source
-6 anchovy fillets
-1 small garlic clove
-salt and pepper
-2 large egg yolks
-2 tbsp lemon juice
-¾ tsp dijon mustard
-5 tbsp olive oil
-½ cup vegetable oil
-3 tbsp finely grated parmesan
-3 cups bread pieces
-3 romaine hearts
Glad to get another salad on my blog. I think I can count all the ones I’ve made so far on one hand. Random side note: I’m realizing that this is a very non-vegan salad with there being eggs, fish, AND cheese in the dressing. I bet a vegan caesar dressing would make for an interesting challenge. Anyway, until next time, clue crew.
Recipe 111 - Anchovy Heaven
This recipe is yet another meal pulled from Wickford Castle’s menu in Treasure in a Royal Tower. The five other menu items I’ve made so far can be found here,here,here,hereandhere.
Probably the healthiest option at Wickford, this is a simple caesar (hardest name to spell) salad with some garlicky croutons. The game didn’t specify whether or not it comes with chicken, but I wanted that extra kick of protein. I’ve never like caesar salad, I’ve always thought it was one of the more boring salads, but I knew this was going to taste good because when every component is homemade, it’s a different story. This was salty, creamy, crunchy and delicious. I think the croutons are actually the MVP; which is fitting because they’re a selling point in the in-game menu.
I would definitely consider making this again in a big batch because it’s so easy to assemble for a quick meal. Plus, I could definitely use the greens.
(P.S. Shout out to remove.bg. I’ve been manually editing out the backgrounds of these images for years now and it always takes at least an hour. Using that website saved me so much time! Honestly, a game changer.)
Recipe #104 -Professor Hotchkiss’ Couscous
Confession time, I had to make the couscous twice because I forgot the whole “boil and then simmer” thing and just flat out boiled it for like 5 minutes straight…whoops. In my defense, the recipe’s instructions were very poorly written. My second batch came out perfectly.
This is a nice and easy-to-make recipe where most of the time and effort just goes into chopping. I highly recommend you chop everything before you start boiling/cooking or else you’ll be scrambling back and forth. I kind of followed my own advice, but made the mistake of waiting until the end to chop the sun dried tomatoes, which I regretted. After everything is prepped, putting it together is a breeze.
I was really excited to find this recipe because I was able to use the golden raisins and slivered almonds leftover from my Dundee cake. Don’t you love it when you can actually use the stuff you buy? According to the original poster of this recipe, it’s based on a dish you can get at the Cheesecake Factory. I would describe it’s mix of ingredients as “hearty” and it has a wonderful combination of soft and crunchy textures as well (thanks to the almonds). It seems like it would be good for any season so it’s definitely one I’ll return to in the near future.
Recipe:
Here is my source
-1 cup pearl (Israeli) couscous
-1 tbsp olive oil
-½ cup chopped yellow onion
-1 shallot, chopped
-6 cloves garlic, quartered
-½ cup golden raisins
-½ cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
-½ cup slivered almonds
-½ tsp salt
-½ tsp ground black pepper
-3 tbsp lemon juice
-1 tbsp butter, softened
I’m so glad to be cooking for this blog again. I only have one semester of grad school left so after that I think I’ll be able to post more consistently. I plan on posting some non-game recipes (books, movies, comics, tv shows) every now and then so look forward to those as well. Happy holidays, Clue Crew!
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Recipe 104 - Professor Hotchkiss’ Couscous
“Professor Hotchkiss’ Couscous” is the eighth recipe I’ve done for Treasure in a Royal Tower and the first recipe I’ve made that’s not based on the in-game menu. Instead, I decided to make a couscous salad based on a line Hotchkiss says to Nancy about having a “powerful craving for couscous.” You can find the other TRT recipes I’ve made here,here,here,here,here, here, and here.
I feel like early on in this blog I limited the recipes I made to food that actually appeared in-game, whether physically or on a menu. I forgot about food mentioned in-dialogue and now I feel like I need to play all 33 games over again to make sure I’m not missing anything. Anyway, I was really excited to make couscous because I’ve only ever had the premade kind and even then I haven’t eaten it in forever. I had kind of forgotten what it tasted like or what it was made of. Turns out it’s kind of like a cross between quinoa and risotto, both things I’m a fan of.
Since couscous is kind of like a “base” there’s pretty much infinite options for what you can add to it! I went for a Moroccan version because it had all the ingredients I love (olive oil, lots of garlic and shallots mmm) and seemed just complicated enough to be fun to put together. I can confidently say it was a great success and very versatile! This dish can be eaten as a side dish or a main dish, cold or warm. I would recommend it for situations where you need to pack a lunch.
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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.
