Jenn Dolari @dolari@driveinsaturday.org

My Gerudo Bestie

#tearsofthekingdom

In Texas and Florida, this is illegal.

#tearsofthekingdom

I've actually been here in real life. :)

#tearsofthekingdom

I FOUND ZELDA!

Multiple times!

Then proceeded to eat everything I had on hand, and burn through every weapon I had on me. BUT I DID IT.

I also loved how the game tries to trick you into picking up the Gloom swords which do damage, but take your own life as well.

Love that there's still more story coming. I'm glad the theory I had in my head about Zelda was wrong, too. I can buy a more "Puppet Zelda" than "adopted by the Demon King after a mind wipe" which is a theory I've had since the first story-line trailer appeared.

And all this cause I figured "I remember how to get to the throne room really easy, the Champions shirt won't be a problem.....

#tearsofthekingdom

"You're 120 hours into Tears of the Kingdom, you don't have the Master Sword yet, you don't have hardly any of the tears, you're still missing maps of areas...how are you playing this game?!"

I kind of have a way that I'm playing the game.

First off, I stay away from the sky because I have a fear of heights. I'll go there if I'm directed to, but I don't explore it much yet. I will, but not for a while yet.

Secondly, I havetn' gone underground. Not confident enough with the number of hearts I have. But I will eventually.

Thirdly, I rarely fast travel and talk to EVERYONE. I tend to ride Eopna to destinations, talking to everyone along the way. Quick way to get clues and learn about quests to go on. If the trip is a long way off, I'll try to glide there instead of fast travel. But I will fast travel if it's an area I've covered a lot or is a LONG ways away.

When I start the game, I look at my map. Any marks I've made of stuff that caught my eye, I'll visit now. Like Korok puzzles, shrines, that President Guy. Usually these are quick puzzles. I'll clear all those out.

After that, I go through my Adventure Log, from the bottom up, and finish/update as many as I'm able (skipping sky/underground stuff unless necessary or a main quest, or quests that take me to areas I've not opened up).

After I've done that, I'll try to unlock areas I've not opened up (I still have the Lurelin areas to map.

At the end of my day, I trade in all my korok seeds, trade out any poes I may have, grab any stamina/heart vessels I can, do a run through of all 26 of my amiibo, cook food, and stay at the Gerudo spa to get all my hearts back and some extra stamina. And spend time with the gals. :)

It's led to a lot of stuff done, but not a whole lot of the main game finished. But I'm not tired of it, or getting bored (minus the busywork scouring for caves, which I've started cheating on with walkthroughs).

#tearsofthekingdom

Today's completions (2/2):

Today's completions (1/2). Haven't been able to play much lately, so I actually sat down and played for most of the day.

I feel like the game is nearly over for me, as everyone is guiding me towards Hyrule Castle. At one point, I landed on the castle and a cutscene launched telling me to go find Zelda.

I still have a lot of stuff I'd like to do just yet first, mostly seeing all the tear memories and mapping all the areas. I don't even have the Master Sword just yet. But the end is in sight.

#tearsofthekingdom

Just two gals enjoying the warm breezes of Gerudo Town....

#tearsofthekingdom

No.

#tearsofthekingdom

Colgera: Cleans and Whitens Teeth

#tearsofthekingdom

The Hyrule version of Little Caesar's Crazy Bread....

#tearsofthekingdom

Eww....

#tearsofthekingdom

I dunno if it's because I'm entering week 4 of neck pain, but I'm feeling surly today.

Wao-os Shrine should be retitled "A Monument to Bullshit." I solved it in a few seconds. Knew exactly what it wanted. The next 25 minutes were having to fine tune motion controls to get the incredibly exact solution it wanted.

It made me, the gal who got hired at Nintendo in the Wii era, the last champion of motion controls, hate motion controls.

#tearsofthekingdom

I'm not putting this behind a spoiler tag, because I'm sure most everyone playing Tears of the Kingdom has run into this, but I'm really getting fed up with the "busywork" stuff.

Not really the quests or siude adventures or what not, but the "scouring." Trying to find the caves so I can get to the underground shrines, or looking for the tears in the geoglyphs with only "They're in the appropriate places" for a clue (they're not).

I don't mind exploring when it's productive, but I've taken to looking at guides for those, cause I'm tired of wasting time running up and down things for a long solution to something that's RIGHT THERE.

#tearsofthekingdom

That was the saltiest hamburger patty I've ever had.

Recipe: "Whataburger uses a 5 to 1 ratio of salt to pepper in its patties."
Jenn: "At one tsp salt per pound, for two pounds of ground meat at 5 to 1, that's 2 tsp salt and a half of pepper."

Jenn: ::puts in 5 tsp salt because she got fixated on 5 to 1::

This Week's Fancy Pants Meal: Tamatar Shorba (Garden Tomato Soup)

Dunno if I'd make this again, and absolutely not on a budget. There's a lot of food that goes into this, but you end up wasting the bulk of it. This is less a soup and more a tomato/apple stock so you cook the heck out of the ingredients, then throw the bulk away once it's cooked out.

It's good, though. Really good. And now I know how to make something I order at Indian places. But this is definitely something for when money isn't as much of an issue.

# Tamatar Shorba (Garden Tomato Soup)

Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking

4.0 tbsp unsalted butter
8.0 whole tomatoes (cut into 8 slices)
1.0 whole apple (peeled) (cored) (cut into 8 slices)
2.0 whole red chilies
0.5 whole bay leaf
5.0 whole peppercorns
4.0 grams ginger root (peeled) (sliced)
0.5 tsp cumin seed
0.25 cup water
2.0 cups vegetable stock
2.0 tbsp flour
0.25 tsp sugar
1.0 tsp salt
0.5 cup cream
1.0 tbsp butter
2.0 tbsp cilantro

1 - Melt a quarter of the unsalted butter in a 3-quart/liter saucepan over moderate heat.
2 - Add the tomatoes, apple, hot chilies, bay leaf, peppercorns, ginger and cumin seeds and cook for 1 to 2 minutes.
3 - Pour in the water, cover with a round of buttered parchment, and place the lid on the pan.
4 - Reduce the heat to low and gently cook 30 to 45 minutes or until the tomatoes are very soft and puply.
5 - Rub the tomato mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a bow! with the stock and mix well.
6 - Melt the remaining unsalted butter in a saucepan over low heat.
7 - Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes.
8 - Pour in the tomato-vegetable broth stirring as you pour, and bring to a simmer.
9 - Add the sugar and salt and continue to simmer for no more than 5 minutes.
10 - Before serving, add the cream and again heat (the soup will curdle if it is boiled).
11 - Place a dab of salted butter in each katori or warmed bowl, ladle in the hot soup and and garnish with a little circle of fresh cilantro.

#thisweeksmeals #cooking

@zx3 - "Of course I'll give you a waiver to run a night of cartoons without me. And all it will cost....IS YOUR SOUL."