Thanks to @skquill for inspiring me to make another video game inspired food. Today's special is... Manana's battle soup! I took a crack at this and basically combined two soup recipes of mine into one, those being a hearty meat and veggie soup with a cream of soup recipe to create this one. The result is a very savory and filling meal that you can pair with rice or toasted bread on the side. So let's begin!
Ingredients:
1/2 pound of ground beef ( This was inspired by the ingredient bunnit meat from the game, though personally you can omit from recipe if you want a meat free soup OR for higher quality add braised beef, cut into chunks and simmer for 25-30 minutes in the pot during the step where we combine the flour and broth together before adding the veggies in)
4 large potatoes peeled and cubed
½ tsp salt
3 teaspoons dried basil
2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon of Italian seasoning
5 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 med onion finely chopped
2 garlic cloves minced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups whole milk
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup mild or sharp cheddar cheese shredded
3/4 cup sour cream
¼ tsp ground black pepper
3 celery ribs chopped
1 daikon sliced (used for the glitter radish)
3 carrots sliced (used for the comet carrot)
1/2 cup of mushrooms
Optional ingredients: 2 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, 1 tbsp of brown sugar, a pinch of salt and pepper
INSTRUCTIONS:
In a large skillet, cook beef and 1/4 of onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain excess grease. Bring back the meat to the pan to season with a pinch of salt, pepper and add in the listed Italian seasoning, dried parsley, onion powder and basil for taste. Set aside.
OPTIONAL STEP FOR PRESENTATION PURPOSES: chop mushroom heads and slice carrots long ways, cook in a frying pan with 1 tsb. of butter and a pinch of salt. Leave on frying pan for 6 minutes untouched, in the meantime prepare vinegarette by combining balsamic vinegar, pepper, and brown sugar, stir and set aside. Go back to the veggies, stir to make sure they're an orange/brown color, turn stove to low and slowly add vinegar mixture on top. Turn off heat completely after 30 seconds more of stirring. These veggies will be nicely glazed and perfect for your toppers. If you do not wish to do this, skip this step and add mushrooms and carrots at the same time you would the celery and potato to the stew.
Next, Peel and cube the potatoes into small pieces. Add the potatoes into a pot and cover with water. Season with salt and cook for about 10 minutes or until potatoes can be pierced through easily. Drain and set aside. (Similarly, for the daikon do the same, but chop it into the star shape recognized on the top of the soup in game before boiling. It will be used as the topper. IF you do not have daikon in your local store, slice one of the potatoes into star shapes instead and boil accordingly and chop the rest to add to the soup).
Into a pot, add butter and chopped onions and sauté until onions are tender. Add the minced garlic and cook for an additional minute. Whisk in flour until incorporated. Add in the milk and chicken broth and bring to a soft boil. Add the potatoes and chopped celery (if you skipped the balsamic vinegar step also add in the carrots and Mushroom now), add in the cooked ground beef. Give it 10 minutes on medium heat to simmer and taste, if need be, season the soup with more salt and pepper. Mix in the sour cream and shredded cheese next. Bring the soup to a boil and remove from heat once a creamy consistency is achieved.
Serve into serving bowls, top with daikon stars and (if you did it) balsamic glazed mushroom and carrots. ENJOY!
Optional: serve with green onion on top for extra flavor!
Favourite ship(s): Brenda x Gally (in au's I do like Brenda x Teresa too though)
Brotp: Frypan and Brenda. I see a lot of really good friendship potential between these two somehow
Notp: uhh Brenda x Newt? (yes I'm coming up with very random notp's probably no one ships because I don't wanna make anyone upset if they ship something)
A random headcanon: Just got thinking about this today because of a fic I read. The kids she saves with the bus? All her unofficial children now. You better not mess with them, they're under her protection. Gally and her at times are like very exasperated parents. Jorge laughs about it until one of the kids calls him "grandpa" and he has an existential crisis
General opinion: I love her. She's very badass but also clearly has a caring side. Brenda is just an overall amazing and kickass character and just, she's great 💖
Hi! So from your love of troll hunters I’ve decided to get into it. But before I do that I wanted to read that big post you made about Why You Should Watch Trollhunters. And I went though your tag and couldn’t find it. So... could you possibly link it?
I just finished watching a playthrough of kingdom hearts re:coded with my bestie here @skquill and when I saw this I thought, hey lets talk about yet another symbolism we find in the kh lore revolving these two boys. CAUSE I THINK WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT.
Though this series created virtual copies of our beloved characters who don’t have the memories of their counterparts, they still feel and react to the given circumstances and the events in Jiminy’s journal like they would if it was them. What caught me off guard in the beginning was that digital Riku was confirmed to be the keeper of the journal, the guardian angel if you will of the information and to an extent memories of everything real Sora has been through.
It’s never explained why the journal takes the form of Riku, only that it simply exists as so. And though there is a sense of difference between data and real (Data is more soft spoken, apologizes frequently, and doesn’t want Data Sora to get hurt in ANY sense be it physical or emotional. Yet he still retains the sarcasm, calculative nature, and fondness for Sora as the real Riku would.) He’s also the main one in story to follow Data Sora into defeating all the “bugs” that are corrupting the journal as well as stopping Pete and Maleficent from doing further damage. I did quite enjoy this scene of Data Riku asking Sora to stay away when Pete corrupts him with said bugs:
Data Riku takes his role seriously, even if he knows they aren’t the real deal, he has the instinct of keeping the face of the one he cares about alive at all costs, even if it means he goes corrupted. Huh, kinda reminds me of KH2 when Riku is ashamed at the thought of his friends looking at his Ansem form when he assists in Sora’s awakening. And we see another parallel again of the extent of Riku’s sacrafice:
And what I absolutely adore is that Data Sora is always there to tell him he’s not alone, he has his support, and that self sacrifice is in vain if they don’t have each other or their friends. It grounds them, helps them get where they need to be and eventually helps them open up to each other a lot more easier. I joked in my watch through that “Oh, this Sora is the Chaotic good that we would’ve gotten if Sora never experienced Trauma and this Riku is the one that we would have gotten if he trusted in Sora and blocked out the control of Maleficent’s darkness!” But in reality, these two are the just purest essence of their true selves, its the sora and riku we should have ended with when all was said and done, just two people who look out for the other and confide about their fears, their strengths and weaknesses, and give each other the strength to move on.
I also would like to point out that with Riku’s more mellowed attitude in this version, Sora takes charge in bringing up his self esteem, and in turn comes off as though he has grown more mature with each world they pass. But really the only difference is that this Sora is taking every bit of advice he’s taken from his peers and rewording it to fit the situation at hand. Riku’s down? Use a friendship quote he picked up from Donald/Goofy. But he is also sincere with it, where he doesn’t boast about being right or tease Riku when he feels insecure about a statement made, he genuinely wants Riku to feel worth and understand theres no need to apologize as nothing is wrong and what matters now is how they move forward.
And after this set of pictures where Riku is about to send Sora to King Mickey to finalize their mission after they realize “uh oh, Sora’s heartless got illegally downloaded and is causing another virus!”, it brings us back to the top image...waaaaaay back in the beginning of this long post of a pretty little glass stained door. And BOY do I have thoughts on this sequence! Riku’s instinct is to summon a portal specifically for Sora, his priority is to keep him safe as usual. But out of all the doors hes created thus far in game, this one is the most detailed and symbolic. He MADE THE DETAILS INTO ROSES. A flower well known for its tie in with romance. And the colors? Blue, Red, Lilac, and purple; with a few accents of pink and lighter blues. Do you know why the colors matter? BECAUSE THEY ARENT FRIENDSHIP BASED. THEY ARE AS FOLLOWS:
- Red roses: passion, desire, romance, eternal love (also Sora’s color)
- Blue roses: Mysterious, Extraordinary, Unattainable Love (also Riku’s color)
-Lilac: A promise to a future together
-Purple: love at first sight
-Pink: Appreciation, Gratitude, Admiration, unconditional love/affection
See, personally if I would’ve wanted to express a “friendship” between the puppet apparatuses of “real” individuals who carry very similar ideas of their counters, I would have gone with maybe a design that looks less like overlapping rose petals that concave into a secret tunnel, and gone more with a design thats like a forget-me-knot and stuck with blue for it as it IS Riku’s doing in this situation. He’s opening an escape for Sora. We don’t see a special portal like that when he teleports Mickey and co out the second time, its just bright light. So why give such a great detail to supposed best friends? On top of the design, it looks like stained glass. You know, like the ones used in churches? Typically meaning hope, togetherness, and love? Not to mention that the structure of the portal looks like a wedding arch, you know, the ones where people stand under to say their vows? SPEAKING OF VOWS! Don’t Sora and Riku in DDD create a heart song literally called “Dearly Beloved”, you know, the phrase said before wedding vows, and coincidentally with these characters creating the same colors we see in the portal. Listen, I couldn’t make this up if I tried. But at this point I will yell at the skies that Sora and Riku love each other in every form they take and are quite frankly married. Sorry, don’t make the rules, but this is def. beyond friendship.
In conclusion, um...Riku and Sora? Yeah if their digital versions understood that they can be separated from their friends but live on in their memories as long as they have each other just through the sheer shared experience of a walk through memory line of Sora’s past....then what is stopping the real ones from realizing this? And the thing is again, we got something very close to this realization when real Sora and Riku were trapped in the darkness and just kinda kicking back contemplating life and how glad they have each other at least. But in this iteration, its a lot more than just giving in to the fact nothing else can be done, its honoring the adventure, the time spent, and the amount of growth they’ve gone through. This iteration understands their work is done and its okay to find solace in the other when all the rest of their memories from those not in the digital world will erase, yet never truly be gone because THOSE friends on the other side will always have them in their hearts. This was supposed to be how in my eyes KH3 ended and why after seeing this, I know that we need to get back to this point, because OUR story with OUR Sora and Riku has yet to aquire this level of understanding. I’m expecting a sorta, KH 3.5 in the future or some spinoff to tie their stories up and to have them be at peace that they probably will never return to the world they grew up in, but thats fine because they have each other and a whole new adventure. And thats what I enjoyed about this part of re:coded. In summary I guess, Sora and Riku are destined to end up in the same realm helping the other, thats their fate, reaching contentment in the others presence and to stop feeling like its their job to save everyone out of their reach. The heroes journey is over, its time to find the conclusion of their own inner turmoil and remember who was there since the start for them.
