a new game in my collection: At the Gates of Loyang

I bought a new game from my first pay. Its name is At the Gates of Loyang and it is considered another entry in so-called Harvest Trilogy by Uwe Rosenberg, the same guy who is behind Agricola.

The game is based on the plant-sow mechanism of Agricola with some additional tweaking. Since it lasts only 9 turns, the game is much much quicker than its more famous sister.

So far I've played it only once after some heavy studying of the rules. However, the game is actually not too difficult to understand once the player sees the cards and stuff. It seems to be heavy on math skills and  future planning.

I really like the graphic design and the veggiemeeples are a nice and cute touch. I bought the game in German so I have some difficulties understanding Helper Cards but I plan to print out translated versions and glue them on the cards.

Nevertheless, I'm gonna write a longer post once I play it couple more times. So far it seems like a game that even my parents might enjoy.

Plum and Ginger Cobbler

Autumn! The season of plums! I made this cobbler about a year ago in Barcelona but I didn't have the "advanced spices" there - cardamom and star anise. I used clove instead and it fit perfectly with the taste of plums, I decided to add it to the original recipe.

When I baked it on Saturday, I inadvertently bought plums that were a bit too ripe. When I cooked them in a pan, they actually dissolved into a purée so I'd recommend using plums that are not too soft. While the purée wasn't bad at all, cobblers should contain pieces of fruit. Anyway, purée or not, the cobbler was delicious and Especially when it was served still warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Fruit & Nut Muffcake

I made a batch of these for an afternoon picnic and an interesting discussion arose. What's the difference between a cupcake and a muffin?

In my opinion, look-wise, muffins have a puffed head, cupcakes are flat and so they allow for being topped with forsting, icing, anything. Ingredient-wise, you use milk or at least buttermilk for muffins. Also cupcakes are supposed to be a bit thicker while muffins are fluffier.

Plum crumble cake

Still no finances for my planned plum surprise. however, as it is a plum season, my mom had her own way with a plum cake and let me share her recipe. I've tried my best to substitute her "finger width of butter" and "just enough plums" with real numbers based on some serious scientific calculation and observation, but since it's a pretty simple cake to bake, the amounts aren't as strict as with more complex cakes.

My mom bakes this cake in remoska (look here if you're interested http://www.remoska.co.uk/, remoska is the best thing since... umm... microwave oven?) but I'm quite sure you can make it in a standard oven.