Kodama

The latest game I backed on Kickstarter was Kodama. If you've seen Princess Mononoke, the name might ring a bell. Kodamas were those cute little forest spirits with rotating heads that became extremely popular. In this game, your goal is to grow a tree so that these cute spirits have somewhere to play and stay over the winter. Thanks to the wonderfully cute creative direction and novel gameplay mechanics that are easy to grasp and still pose a nice fun challenge, Kodama quickly became my favourite game to bring to my friends for gaming afternoons.

The central mechanism of growing a tree is brilliant. Each player has their trunk card and every round they add a branch card to expand the tree. A branch card may only be laid over one existing card in a fashion that the connection of the branch looks natural. Especially in the later parts of the game, this makes players position their branches carefully so that there is still room for future expansion and still look for a way to connect the cards so that they look natural.

Firefly: The Game

You could hardly find a universe that is loved by geeks around the world more than that of Firefly's. Joss Whedon's short-lived sci-fi/western TV series's cult status was partially caused by the cancellation of the show after the first season but the truth is, its premise and cast was so exceptional, strange and yet well-done to just make it work. Cowboys in space became a defining moment in Nathan Fillion's and Summer Glau's careers and they had to work hard to get out of the same role in their following projects.

Anyway, Firefly is dead but it doesn't mean it is really, really dead. The fanbase of all things Whedon is strong and still growing and geeks everywhere are quite probably still finding about the show even now. It is a bit weird that the board game came out last year, ages after the cancellation. Is it worth joining the crew of Cap'n Mal and others or should we stop beating the dead horse?

Banana and Chocolate Bábovka

Bábovkas are one of the simplest things you can whip up in a short time and have it served in about an hour. Generally, there is nothing difficult about the recipes but if you are not careful with the amount of liquids, you can end up with a bábovka so dry that it could be as well made from the sands of Sahara, or worse, a bábovka with gooey center.

The specific shape of bábovkas is achieved with a traditional form that has a funnel in the center and ribbed outside. In theory, the hot air in the funnel should prevent the centre from getting gooey, but anyone that ever tried baking one with cream cheese or bananas will agree that is not always the case.

I've tried to make a banana bábovka several times and failed more often than succeeded. The right balance of flour, sugar, milk and bananas seemed crucial and it wasn't until my latest attempt that I finally struck gold. Eventually I decided to add melted chocolate into the batter because bananas and chocolate just work together in terms of flavour and it gave the final result a very nice tint and aroma.

Apricots Stuffed with Marzipan and Covered in Chocolate

Since it is past the whole Christmas thing, I can now reveal something that I prepared as a Christmas present for my brother and his girlfriend. The last time I made something covered in chocolate was in January and I completely forgot that it was actually pretty easy. I wanted the present to be quite different from the classic Christmas cookies and feel like something better than just chocolate covered fruit.

Taking the recipe from Delicious Gifts by Jess McCloskey that I got last year, I knew that the extra marzipan and cognac will make my present special. I didn't know though that the result of such a simple recipe would make a deliciously chewy chocolate treat that will put any store bought box of chocolates to shame.

In the end, they were a great success. Their only flaw was that they disappeared too quickly and that there was only 20 of them but since they are so easy to make, I might just make some more in a very near future :)

Pistacio-lingonberry Sugar Cookies

The Winter is Coming.

It's been coming for some time and I hear there will be dragons. In any case, it meas that Christmas is coming too and there is a need for Christmas cookies at such time. I liked the mince pies I made last year so I will be making those again but I wanted to bake something easy as well. Sugar cookies are practically the easiest type of cookies but for the special occasion I wanted them special too. Using a lot of pistacio nuts and dried lingonberries made the plain chewy cookies special and added great mix of flavor to the usually plain sweetness of sugar cookies.