Looks like you have a nice week of plans. Have fun.
Notifications
Clear all
Live Challenge No. 11 - Sports Heads
Fall is here, our sports seasons are over, and the Trolls are looking forward to take it a little slower in the colder seasons. Our Live Troll Challenges will probably involve some more nice and comfy indoor stuff too, compared to all the outdoor fun we had in the summer, so I thought, why not celebrate the end of our sports seasons with a couple of sports themed games?
There are plenty of video games available, of course, and if you have been following for a while, you may even remember Primrose and me playing some Lego Sports against each other last year. but for today, I had something different in mind:
Surely you guys remember Adobe Flash, which got discontinued not too long ago? You may even remember a couple of flash games online, of which there had been a plethora in the last two decades. It's what we used for today's Troll Challenge, we played a few games from Mousebreaker.com's Sports Heads series, featuring simple collision-based games of several sports (usually ball games) involving characters with big heads. This video should give you an idea about the gameplay:
I would link to the games, but since Flash is officially discontinued, they wouldn't normally work without some tinkering. I will link to BlueMaxima's Flashpoint, though, which is a collaborative project dedicated to preserving all those flash games and animations of yesteryear, as well as other pieces of web history from the past decades. It also played a big role in making our Live Challenge today possible. If you have any memories of those games and animations, I strongly recommend checking it out, and if you can even contribute yourself, then all the better.
Since we were playing with some preserved offline versions, I even put in the effort to edit our Troll likenesses into the game, and also modified the background to contain some references to the forum and our challenge thread. 
Also, one of the possible obstacles in the game, the "streaker" which would move across the field, potentially deflecting your shots, has been replaced by a flying Trollface. 
I also hooked up my laptop to my TV screen and added gamepad support via a tool called JoyToKey, so we could comfortably play it on my couch rather than huddling around my computer. The result looked like this:
There were versions available based on soccer, hockey, basketball, tennis and volleyball, and I intended to play through them all in a series of best of five. Unfortunately, after I secured wins in both soccer and hockey, and then narrowly lost at basketball - mostly by somehow deflecting my shots into my own basket - it became clear that Primrose was pretty frustrated with those trolly little flash games and wasn't enjoying herself very much at all. I was hoping that she would like the tennis version better, but that wasn't the case either.
We soon decided to continue playing some Overcooked on Steam instead, and I also introduced the grindette to some mead later on. 
So it was an enjoyable meetup all the same, even though we had a Live Troll Challenge that fell flat, for the first time in about a year. Sorry, Prim...
I could count it as a win for me, but... considering that we stopped earlier than planned, I say we just forfeit the challenge.
Those games were really weird :f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly::f_ugly: But I enjoyed the mead very much 
That was pretty obvious. After a long time with no drinking, healthy foods and a lot of sports, the alcohol was a little "shock" for my body, so I got ...urm..let´s say .... pretty drunk! But as Harrier always serves the good stuff, I can happily announce, that there is no hangover today. None at all! 
I enjoyed our meetup a lot! :banana::f_love::f_love:
Troll Grand Prix??
Remember slot car racing? I remembered it yesterday, when I was visiting my brother and his family, and my little nephew was playing with some toy cars.
We did have a Carrera Servo 140 racing set back in the 90's when I was a kid, and I remember that even back then, it was a little touch-and-go. If we could get it to work, though, it would surely be something for the little ones, and possibly even a fitting Troll Challenge for the bigger kids around here this winter.
Here's what could be salvaged from the basement so far. Obviously, much more sophisticated track designs are possible, even with what little we have right now, but this was just to check functionality. As expected, it did not work right out of the box - I would have been very surprised if it did.
There are many possible reasons. The cars, those controllers, the power supply, that starting lane where the power supply gets connected, any of the contacts... but so far, we did not manage to get any response out of it.
I'll have a look around if there are some functional spare parts still available from private sellers. Maybe this thing can be restored after all, but I won't sink a lot of money into it.
SNG Duel
Primrose still isn't quite feeling it when it comes to poker. It's time to get her enthusiasm back, and I personally believe that she would be well-advised to look past PLO. Maybe Five Card Draw could be a good choice for some quick and fun games? Those SNGs could use a little extra traffic anyway, so let's just play a few.
This could be a new series, but for now, we just started two of those $2 6-max 5CD SNGs. I gave the grindette a little crash course before our first game, but I thought she played a pretty solid game already. The cards didn't quite come her way in the first game, unfortunately, so she still had to settle for a 4th place finish, while I went on to finish 2nd.
In our second game, our little puppy even tried to get cheeky with me...
PokerStars, $1.76 + $0.24 - 5 Card Draw Pot Limit - 50/100 (10 ante) - 6 players
Hand delivered by CardsChat
UTG: 1,485 (15 bb)
MP: 2,137 (21 bb)
CO: 648 (6 bb)
BU: 1,650 (17 bb)
SB (Hero): 1,455 (15 bb)
BB (Prim): 1,625 (16 bb)
Deal: (210) Hero is SB with 5♠ A♦ 6♣ A♥ T♥
4 players fold, Hero raises to 200, Prim 3-bets to 660, Hero calls 460
Draw One: (1,380) A♦ A♥ 3♠ 3♥ 4♦ (2 players)
SB (Hero) draws 5s 6c Th, Prim draws 1
Hero checks, Prim bets 955 (all-in), Hero calls 785 (all-in)
Total pot: 2,950
Showdown:
BB (Prim) shows Q♠ 6♠ 2♣ K♦ 8♥ (high card, King)
SB (Hero) shows A♦ A♥ 3♠ 3♥ 4♦ (two pair, Aces and Threes)
SB (Hero) wins 2,950
Sorry, Prim, but not this time. 
I ended up finishing 1st in the end.
That gives me the win for the challenge too, but the important thing is that Primrose was enjoying herself again. 
... and I'm sure she won't let that win stand for long.
Hey, at least it was a nice try! :mdr::f_ugly:
I´m still not really feeling it when it comes to poker, that´s why I remain a "just for fun"-player at the moment. During the BR challenge, hitting the tables was a kind of a "must" a duty and besides, times was not on my side either, so I focussed completely on sports, which was exhausting enough. I think I have to get into it again and slowly I´m re-discovering the fun and motivation I had, but in only in small steps.
SNG Duel
Another quick one. We wanted to play some Courchevel, but couldn't get a game going. We decided to simply switch to 5CD again. Only one game, nothing fancy.
What happened at the table was also nothing fancy, both Prim and I were pretty card dead, as you can see from our chip graphs. In the end, I was the one to shove a two pair into a pat hand, giving Primrose the win, though neither of us cashed.
Not much else to say... congrats, Prim. 
Originally posted by SDK1987
Time for round 3 I guess.
Maybe - but not today. We will probably get to it next weekend, or possibly some time during the week. We are also still on the lookout for new poker challenges that will work for both of us.
I also plan to introduce another burger creation next week, but until, we still have some running cooking challenges from earlier this year. Time to finally get to that vegetarian fake chicken.
I've had another look at my recipe, and honestly... it seems a little intimidating. But I have all those ingredients at home now, some of which were tough to get - it's use it or lose it.
Let's see how this will turn out...
Okay, update:
The dry ingredients: Two tablespoons nutritional yeast, a teaspoon of onion powder, half a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of prepared poultry seasoning, and probably enough wheat gluten to kill Prim (that would be a cup of gluten, in case you're cooking along at home).
The wet ingredients: 3/4 cups of vegetable broth and 1/4 cups of tahini.
Here they are combined...
...and here they are kneaded and formed into 24 little nuggets.
I had to prepare some additional broth, because I needed almost another liter of it (the recipe calls for 3-4 cups).
And then I put the broth together with one chopped onion over those nuggets.
It's currently in the oven. Fingers crossed...
Until then, I have some cleaning to do, and I also need to prepare the breading.
I can already say that just based on the effort and the hard to get ingredients, this is not something I'm likely to make again. But if I do like the result, I will consider this challenge passed.
Next update:
The nuggets left the oven after one hour at 180°C. I flipped them after 45 minutes.
Now I need to bread them... have I mentioned that I have never breaded anything before? I'm a breading virgin. 
I prepared three eggs in this shallow bowl...
...and here are 2/3 cups of flour, 1/3 cups of tempura mix, two teaspoons of salt, a little pepper, a teaspoon of onion powder and a teaspoon of garlic powder, all in a ziplock bag.
First, I dropped one of those nuggets into that bag...
Then I shook it and put it into that yolk.
I coated it from both sides, put it back in the bag, and shook it again. After a while, I figured that I should do this with several nuggets at once, or else I might be doing this all day... well, I kind of already am.
The nuggets are in the freezer now. I will keep them in there for half an hour or so, then repeat the breading process...
I used the time to do some cleaning. I don't think I will get to actually eating those nuggets until at least tomorrow. I think I'll have something simple like a frozen pizza for dinner tonight...
Actually, never mind...
I noticed that this breading stuff in the bag is almost used up now, so I would just be "spinning my wheels" if I were to do it all over again.
Those nuggets will get back into the freezer, and that's it. I won't make any additional breading.
I plan to cook them tomorrow - in my air fryer. I'm aware that the original recipe calls for deep frying them in hot oil in a pot, but whatever - it also calls for egg replacer instead of actual eggs, since it's originally vegan.
If this turns out less than great, I therefore already know that it may not be the recipe's fault, but this doesn't matter, because those nuggets can be as amazing as they can possibly be - I most likely won't make them again, after all this effort. 
That being said, I may try a similar version for McChicken burger patties, simply because I still have ingredients left, and because it should be less cumbersome to do, since it has fewer, bigger pieces. And as you may remember, those patties were an additional step in my challenge.
Let's see how those nuggets will turn out tomorrow.
Okay then, the moment of truth...
Here are the nuggets that stayed in the freezer over night. As I pointed out yesterday, I intended to air fry them. Here they are right in my fryer's basket:
How long exactly should I fry them, and at what temperature? Heck, if I knew... my recipe calls for some pan frying, which is not comparable (air frying is more similar to baking in an oven). I tried 180°C and 15 minutes, flipping them at around half that time.
After that time, they were at least quite hot, so I guess they could be considered ready. And they look pretty much the same as they did before the frying...
I served them with some store-bought curly fries. But how do they hold up?
Honestly... they were not very good at all... They tasted like dumplings, and I don't even like dumplings. They certainly didn't taste anything like chicken at all, or like the nuggets at McDonald's - not that they tasted anything like chicken in the first place. The consistency was a little spongy too.
They don't even look like chicken, do they? Well, except for the inside, which does have some resemblance, I believe.
I had plenty of sauce ready for dipping, of course, but even with that included, I only ate about half of those nuggets and chucked the rest in the garbage. Sorry, challenge failed...
I pointed out before that this wasn't necessarily the recipe's fault. Maybe deep frying those nuggets in oil really is essential. Maybe my improvised vegetable broth or poultry seasoning weren't up to the task. Still, I imagine that those rave reviews I heard about it were from newly-turned vegetarians who have been kidding themselves into liking it, in a subconscious mental trick to help them abstain from the meat they've been used to. Sounds oddly specific? Well, I've met those kinds of people before...
But as I wrote yesterday, even if those nuggets had been perfect, I likely wouldn't have made them again, because of the effort and ingredients that are required. Now that they turned out so poorly, I certainly lost interest in the chicken burger patty version too - or any other kind of home-made meat supplements (some store-bought ones are good, but the majority of those are lacking too, as far as I'm concerned).
From collecting those hard to get ingredients all the way to the final product, this project has been a flop from beginning to end. I'm still glad I tried it - and now I can put it to rest, together with the rest of my part in this cooking challenge.
New challenges are on the way, though, and I also plan to introduce another burger from "around the world" this week - with real meat.
More experimental cooking. Last time, we went to Primrose's homeland, so it's only fitting that we stop by at Harrier's country now too.
Let's just be all efficient and jump right in, shall we?
I'm using some pork again, the kind you would normally use for some meatballs over here.
Also mushrooms.
What else? Cheese is good. Here is some "mountain farmer's" cheese. The package makes a big point that the cheese is made from the milk of cows from small Bavarian ranches with an average of only 30 cows each - I guess that works for our "German-style" burgers.
Look, they even included a picture of one of our supposed mountain farmers. Hey Albert. Once again, it is stressed that every cow has her own name and distinct personality, and a special connection with their mountain farmers. How mooooooooooving...
Let's put one of those slices on our bun, ignoring its bigger size.
Then the pork patty. Normally, I'd remove some excess fat after frying at this point, but nah... the burger is supposed to represent Germany, might as well stay a little fatty.
A dot of herb butter...
Spreading it out and letting it melt a bit - no need for any other sauce anymore.
And finally, some sautéd sliced mushrooms.
Our "German" burger is ready.
Wow, I'm impressed! I expected this to be some novelty food at best, but it was really good! I'd say it's #2 for me after my "Greek-style" burger. Maybe that pork is just tastier than beef...
This really was a lot better than I expected it to be, and even Primrose approves - I thought she'd consider the mushrooms on my burger "banhauser" for sure.
Lovely stuff. I'd say my personal ranking so far would be:
1st Greece
2nd Germany
3rd Mexico
4th Hungary
How about you, Primrose? And what are everyone else's favorites so far?
No Troll Challenge this weekend. Primrose was away in Switzerland from Friday to Saturday, and today, we were both a little busy.
There won't be much time until next weekend either, but our "Burgers around the World" tour should continue.
No Troll Challenge today either, because again: We´re invited to a birthday party and it´s time for some social life - off the tennis court this time. :f_biggrin::f_ugly:
Indeed, there will be no Troll Challenge today. We're not sure yet about tomorrow, but we do have some burgers to show.
I actually made those last Monday, because I still had some mushrooms to use up. And this time, our trip took us across the channel to Merry Old England.
I heard some rumors that the good old Full English breakfast is slowly dying out? I can't imagine why... but I did have an idea for a burger variation based on it. We started with 375 grams of beef, perfected by adding about 1.5 tablespoons of Worcester sauce. It was enough meat for two patties, as usual.
I added some slices of cherry tomatoes, which I shortly sautéd in a pan too, like you would do with proper tomato slices in a Full English breakfast.
... and we must not forget about the baked beans, of course.
I was debating whether or not to add egg patties, but ended up deciding against it. I figured it would make the burger too much like a breakfast item.
Let's go on, then. We start with a patty...
some mushrooms...
tomatoes...
bacon, which was prepared in my air fryer to conserve some space in the frying pans...
and finally, some baked beans. I still had plenty left afterwards, which I served with some fish fingers in the evening.
There's our Full English inspired burger:
I thought they were just okay during my first few bites, but I believe I just happened to get too many beans that time. As I was continuing, I actually thought this was a pretty interesting combo. Not bad at all, I liked it.
Primrose, on the other hand... Well, I already knew that she doesn't even appreciate real Full English breakfast, I would have been surprised if she had liked those. I briefly showed her the finished burger on Skype, and she immediately panicked.
Honestly, I was starting to get worried about Prim liking all my creations, now we had a different reaction for once.
My new ranking:
1st Greece
2nd Germany
3rd Mexico
4th England
5th Hungary
Not much point asking Prim about her ranking, I guess...
