Primrose vs Harrier - Troll Challenges

Originally posted by Harrier88

Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the Week

During a summer holiday in the early to mid 90's in Halkidiki, Greece, little Harrier loved to watch the games in the resort's video arcade in the evenings.

After being a spectator for many days, his parents finally gave him some drachmae to have a shot at a Tetris machine. Little Harrier...

1) Broke the high score
2) Damaged the cabinet
3) Froze up in panic

Solution:

Spoiler

3) Froze up in panic

Are video arcades even still a thing? Back then, they often were a feature in these resorts, and during that vacation, I don't think there was a single evening where I didn't stop by in that arcade, usually after dinner and before going to the balcony to chill and maybe play some cards.

It felt almost like an early version of Twitch. People came both to play and to watch, and if players were doing well, they would surely attract an audience of spectators gathering around them. The most entertaining game to watch there for me was probably Ms. Pac-Man, it was exciting to see how far people would get with their three lives (plus one bonus) - decent players would beat the two levels in the first pink maze, very good players would make it past the following three levels in the cyan maze, and lasting four more levels in the orange maze was so hard that I never saw anyone pull it off to unlock the third and final cutscene and the fourth maze, which I now know would have been dark blue - but whenever anyone got close, it was time to get hyped.

Other games I remember from that arcade were Pinball Action, some gambling themed game I couldn't find now that featured slots and poker, and what I think was the Tengen version of Tetris - I only know that this is the game I played. And after spending so many evenings watching sick runs as a spectator only - heck, I could spend hours just watching the attract modes of some games when no one was playing - I was quite nervous.

So nervous, in fact, that I practically froze up in place. I watched the pieces fall down, I knew that I should do something, I knew what it was that I was supposed to do... but I just couldn't bring myself to it. I was only 4 or 5, after all. The only audience I attracted was one kid perhaps slightly older than me, who wasn't impressed by my showing. And in typical "Harrier on a downswing" fashion, I broke down in tears right afterwards, ashamed of my failure.

I gladly returned as a spectator again in the following evenings, but that was the last time I ever tried my paws at a real arcade cabinet. I would love to try it again nowadays if I had the chance. At least I had a good game of Tetris with the grindette last Friday, which even had us dancing around my living room.

Maybe those video arcades aren't the best place for a 4 or 5 year old kid to hang out at anyway. Rest assured that I was wise enough to spend my daytime at the beach and at the pool. Here's a picture of little Harrier in his swimmies - I'm not 100% sure if that one is from the same vacation as the one with the Tetris incident, because we went to that place more than once during the first half of the nineties, but I think it was.

Mind you, Primrose was a proficient swimmer at that age already...

Congratulations to Saffo!

I should have known you'd freeze! Young Harrier has let me down!

Originally posted by Primrose6789
S̶U̶N̶D̶A̶Y̶ FRIDAY HORSE race!!!

Ooopsie! I suddenly remember the Sunday HORSE race, and reg'd before I checked to see if it was really a race.
I reg'd late too, so I'm playing it for good or ill.

Originally posted by UPAY4DINNER
I should have known you'd freeze! Young Harrier has let me down!

Young Harrier used to be a nervous little chap. I guess I'm still a little on the neurotic side.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Ooopsie! I suddenly remember the Sunday HORSE race, and reg'd before I checked to see if it was really a race.
I reg'd late too, so I'm playing it for good or ill.

Actually, I first understood Primrose wrong too, I thought we would continue with the Sunday HORSE races until moving them to Fridays in April. But no, Sundays are off for the grindette as of now when it comes to poker, so the HORSE race will be on hold until being re-introduced as the Friday HORSE race. We won't start on April 7th, though, as that's Good Friday. April 14th is our planned starting date.

I have your table open, you were doing pretty well just a while ago. I see you have lost a few chips by now, but ITM should still be within reach.

Best of luck from both of the Trolls!

Troll Trivia of the Week

The Trolls are a sporty bunch, especially Primrose. She loves many kinds of sports, but there is one she can't stand, which is...

1) Soccer
2) Volleyball
3) Artistic gymnastics

Originally posted by Harrier88
I have your table open, you were doing pretty well just a while ago. I see you have lost a few chips by now, but ITM should still be within reach.

Best of luck from both of the Trolls!
Congrats on ITM! Next stop: FT!

Update: 25th place finish, nice one! Way to carry it for Team Troll, even when we're not playing.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the Week

The Trolls are a sporty bunch, especially Primrose. She loves many kinds of sports, but there is one she can't stand, which is...

1) Soccer
2) Volleyball
3) Artistic gymnastics

Soccer

Originally posted by Harrier88
I have your table open, you were doing pretty well just a while ago. I see you have lost a few chips by now, but ITM should still be within reach.

Best of luck from both of the Trolls!
Thanks for the rail — I did mincash.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the Week

The Trolls are a sporty bunch, especially Primrose. She loves many kinds of sports, but there is one she can't stand, which is...

1) Soccer
2) Volleyball
3) Artistic gymnastics

I'll go with 3

3) Froze up in panic

It can happen, even my nephew had the same reaction, when he can't or fails due to insecurity or shyness, he bursts into tears and despair🤦‍♂️

Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the Week

The Trolls are a sporty bunch, especially Primrose. She loves many kinds of sports, but there is one she can't stand, which is...

1) Soccer
2) Volleyball
3) Artistic gymnastics

I would have chosen 1 but I throw myself on 2
🤞

Originally posted by Saffo7
It can happen, even my nephew had the same reaction, when he can't or fails due to insecurity or shyness, he bursts into tears and despair🤦‍♂️

Yes, I was very shy as a kid, but I got over it as I was growing up. What really got me out of it more than anything was playing soccer as a goalie in my late teens - both your individual triumphs and failures are in plain sight for everyone to see, you soon get used to having nowhere to hide. I'm sure we'll have a bunch of Troll Trivia questions about that chapter in the future.

It's that time already. Primrose and Harrier are returning to Europe for their first Scandinavian stop. Let's get gøing - horned helmets are optional.
Which were most likely not a common Viking helmet style, as it is popular assumed, but also not entirely fantasy, as others claim.

Today's burgers will be inspired by two famous Danish dishes, frikadeller and smørrebrød. Frikadeller will form the basis for our mixed pork and beef patties, and I will use this recipe for reference.

The meat will be mixed with a little milk, onions, breadcrumbs, flour, seltzer water, and an egg. Also some pepper and salt. The texture is a lot more moist and squishy than you are used to from most kinds of minced meat, but it is supposed to be like that.

This also didn't make it to easy to transfer them to the pan after they spent their 15 minutes in the fridge, but they held together with some effort.

I will be using some store-bought spelt hamburger buns - for the very first time, actually. They are supposed to strike a balance between regular burger buns and the dark, hearty rye bread typically used for smørrebrød.

For the sauce, I was considering plain old remoulade, maybe with a twist, but I decided to take the easy way: My local store had some bottles of "Danish burger sauce" on their shelves - good enough for me. It appears to be based on remoulade anyway, with some hints of mustard, pickles and the like.

Butter on a burger? Well, smørrebrød tends to be generously buttered, so I wanted to add a little, at least. I even have a Danish brand at home - all the better. I didn't plan to use salted butter, but it's the only type I have on hand right now.

Now we are going to top it, smørrebrød style. This allows for a lot of variations, but what I ended up going for was this: Lettuce, hard boiled eggs, radish, onions and some fresh dill weed.

Then we add our frikadeller-style burger patty and put some of that "Danish sauce" on the top bun, along with some roasted onions.

Our Denmark-inspired burger is ready.

Nothing is rotten in the state of Denmark, as far as the Trolls are concerned - both Primrose and I approved of this burger.

I first thought the patty was a little weak compared to the straightforward meaty ones I'm used to, but I learned to appreciate it. One negative point was that it got a little messy to eat because the patty started falling apart. The taste wasn't bad at all, however. A little more "sophisticated" than many of the other ones, maybe, it even felt more healthy, in a way, probably because of the fresh ingredients, or maybe it was the spelt buns.

This was also probably one of the more creative entries to the series, so it gets props for that too. It ranks highly, but it is really hard for me to find it a good place in the ranking... Let's put it slightly above Korea after all, just because the second one of those burgers got ruined by becoming drenched in kimchi juice.

1st Switzerland
2nd Greece
3rd Denmark
4th Korea
5th Spain
6th Germany
7th Italy
8th Texas
9th California
10th Mexico
11th England
12th France
13th Canada
14th Hungary
15th The Netherlands

I would try it! Looks good!

Just out of curiosity, why seltzer water?
What would happen if plain water was used?

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Just out of curiosity, why seltzer water?
What would happen if plain water was used?

I don't know, it's the first time I have used that recipe. I'm sure it has its specific purpose. I have read, for example, that the carbohydrate in the seltzer water will result in a fluffier texture for many meals when it gets mixed in.

Before we will solve this week's Troll Trivia question, let's have a nice dessert, shall we? And let me tell you, the Austrians know a thing or two about good desserts.

We will make Kaiserschmarrn, a dish I have only ever made from packaged mixes (and even that was decades ago), but never from scratch. This is going to change today. If you're not familiar with it yet, you can think of it as a shredded pancake.

Remember how during our Trollsmas Market challenge, Primrose was once joking about accidentally having made this dish when she was trying to make gluten-free churros? We are going to make the real deal today, though.

Today's Dish: Kaiserschmarrn
Cuisine: Austrian
Recipe: https://www.einfachbacken.de/rezepte/kaiserschmarrn-das-einfache-original-rezept

The link is once again in German, but not to worry, we will make it right here. The amounts in the original link are said to be for four servings, but they seem a little low for that, we're not dieting, after all (except for Prim... and UPAY... okay, I guess some of us are dieting). I will use the suggested amounts for four servings in this recipe, though I adjusted them a little when I made it.

We will start with 80 grams of raisins, and while it's not mentioned in the recipe itself, someone in the comments recommended letting them rest in some rum first. Well, gladly.

Then we will separate four eggs. The yolk will go into this bowl, together with 125 grams of flour, 125 ml of milk, 40 grams of sugar, a teaspoon of baking powder, and a pinch of salt. Mix until smooth, and let it rest for about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, we are going to beat the egg whites stiff.

Then mix them in with the rest of the dough...

...and finally add the raisins and mix them in as well.

Now we will heat some butter in a pan (the recipe is inconsistent about whether it should be 2 or 4 tablespoons - I just eyeballed it).

Then simply pour in the dough. My induction stove top has an auto-cooking setting which I have used here, for about 10-12 minutes. You may have to experiment, the recipe simply says to use medium heat until you get a crispy pancake.

Along the way, you would have to flip it, of course, and another useful tip I found in the comments was to cut the dough into four quarters before doing that, to make it easier. The whole thing is going to be shredded anyway before serving, so no need to get fancy with the flipping.

When it's done, simply rip it into little pieces...

...then serve it and add some powdered sugar on top to your liking. I recommend a cup of coffee or cocoa along with it.

It's very good. To make it even better, try pretending that your enjoying it in a fancy café room with a view of the Alps.

Originally posted by Harrier88
Troll Trivia of the Week

The Trolls are a sporty bunch, especially Primrose. She loves many kinds of sports, but there is one she can't stand, which is...

1) Soccer
2) Volleyball
3) Artistic gymnastics

Yes, that´s absolutely right, Harrier! I had ZERO talent for that sports, I hated it, the coaches were yelling at us and even body shaming us all the time!!! I hated artistic gymnastics deeply and passionately!!! So, I was not sad at all when I turned out to be WAY too tall for that sports :nh::mdr:

Originally posted by Harrier88
It's very good. To make it even better, try pretending that your enjoying it in a fancy café room with a view of the Alps.

Soaking the raisins in anything is a good idea — but I too like the rum idea.
I will also add butter and real maple syrup. Just 'cuz

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
I will also add butter and real maple syrup. Just 'cuz

The classic butter and maple syrup combo is also my preferred way of topping a stack of regular pancakes.

I have been wondering myself if adding syrup to Kaiserschmarrn could be a good idea, since it is basically just a shredded pancake anyway. The raisins and powdered sugar add enough additional sweetness already, though, and they are one of the things that make this dish unique compared to other kinds of pancakes.

Not sure about adding additional butter. It works on a standard pancake stack, because it is easy enough to spread it around the whole thing, but that wouldn't be the case with a plate of Kaiserschmarrn. You would have to wait for the butter to melt and then mix it around, which would be overkill, in my opinion, considering that the entire dish has already been fried in butter.

For Recipe Raiders - Prim proudly presents ......

Okroshka

Okroshka is a Russian summer soup, served cold. It´s made of radishes, cucumbers, eggs, sausage or meat, potatoes, dill, parsley, onions, sour cream and water. You can also use Kefir (which I did, Kefir is fermented and thus, contains less lactose). I made this one with a little bit of sour cream and Kefir. I used poultry sausage and the left over potatoes from yesterdays cheat day (we had Raclette). I somehow got the suspicion that Okroshka may be a typical mussgo-soup. :f_biggrin::f_ugly: But it´s nourishing, healthy and makes you feel full very quickly.

I got the idea from the game "Cook, serve, delicious". You can find a recipe for Okroshka here.

Prim´s verdict: Cooked, served and absolutely delicious!! ♠_thumbsup:♠_love: