Halloween - Hot Apple Cider

Hello!
Today I decided to make a drink to go with the spooky food. I know this is not a spooky food but it is a hot drink that is commonly served during this time of year. What else could it be? Hot Apple Cider - A soothing sweet cider made of fresh apples.
You might think it's strange but I really had a good time preparing and making this drink. I'm not usually into drink making (although I did have practical subjects on this) but maybe it was the fact that it was made on the stove top that made me really enjoy it :)

I have never made apple cider before so I have absolutely no idea what it's supposed to taste like but, if it tastes like this, it is practically just like drinking a slice of the most delicious apple pie ^_^

Now, I must confess I am not very fond of hot drinks, only when I'm cold (or if I need my sinusitis headaches to get better, I don't really have a choice on this one -_-), so although this is a very comforting and cozy Fall/Winter drink, I had to chill it overnight so I could have it really cold the next day to enjoy it to the fullest :D

Some details I would like to point out (according to my taste, of course): this would have been probably better if I had used a mix of Royal Gala apples and Granny Smiths. It could also have more orange and lemon juice in it and, considering how sweet it was, maybe the sugar should be adjusted or even left out. So this is my take on Hot Apple Cider. Enjoy!

The food will be rated from 1 to 5 stars, meaning:

⭐ - This could be part of gross foods! Ugh :(

⭐⭐ - Waste of ingredients but edible...

⭐⭐⭐ - Ok. Not my favourite thing but also not that bad

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Now this has a lot of neopotential :D

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Wow! Was this created by fairies?! Yummy!

Now remember that this is, obviously, my opinion only ;)

Hot Apple Cider - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Four stars for this amazing, heartwarming and comforting drink. This tastes exactly like apple pie, which is sooooo delicious. But I have a confession to make, I just don't give this drink five stars because hot drinks are absolutely not my favourite. I prefer very cold drinks to be honest ;) Still, it doesn't take away its deliciousness :D

*This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.

Halloween - Spooky Food - Count Cross Buns

Hello!

I'm really running against time making these Halloween/Spooky foods!

Today I'm showing you the Count Cross Buns - Eat these delicious buns and repel vampires all at the same time. 

Well, these buns were fairly easy to put together and even easier to eat :D Spiced buns still warm from the oven??? Come on!!! ^_^

As this was a quite easy recipe, I'm struggling to get some brains for another recipe, most butchers simply won't get me any, which is really a bummer :( oh well...

Enough talking, on to the video :D

Enjoy!

The food will be rated from 1 to 5 stars, meaning:

⭐ - This could be part of gross foods! Ugh :(

⭐⭐ - Waste of ingredients but edible...

⭐⭐⭐ - Ok. Not my favourite thing but also not that bad

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Now this has a lot of neopotential :D

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Wow! Was this created by fairies?! Yummy!

Now remember that this is, obviously, my opinion only ;)

Count Cross Buns - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐- I rate this with five stars because I love all things seasoned with Fall/Winter spices: breads, buns, cakes, cookies... you name it! :D

*This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.

Halloween - Spooky Food - Ghost Pancakes

 Hello!
Continuing this adventure on Spooky Foods just because it's Halloween time, here you have my take on Ghost Pancakes - These pancakes taste delicious, providing you can stop them floating around the room long enough to eat them...
Making the pancakes was fairly easy but shaping them... good gracious! :P
Anyway, you already know that if you want the full recipe, just let me know and I will gladly give it to you ^_^.

On to the video and enjoy!

The food will be rated from 1 to 5 stars, meaning:

⭐ - This could be part of gross foods! Ugh :(

⭐⭐ - Waste of ingredients but edible...

⭐⭐⭐ - Ok. Not my favourite thing but also not that bad

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Now this has a lot of neopotential :D

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Wow! Was this created by fairies?! Yummy!

Now remember that this is, obviously, my opinion only ;)

Ghost Pancakes -⭐⭐⭐⭐- I rate this with four stars because nothing beats a classic like this: pancakes and honey. I don't care if they are angry ghosts or not, they are delicious! :D And, come on... look at that cutest shape!

*This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.

Halloween - Spooky Food - Pumpkin Pie

 Hello!

Halloween is a pretty busy time of the year for me. And now even more with the pandemic new rules that we have to follow. I want to make Neopian recipes that relate to the Halloween theme but it seems like I'm just soooooo busy :P

Anyway, even if I don't post any more Spooky/Halloween foods, at least I made one: Pumpkin Pie - Legends say that they used to make these pies out of something other than pumpkin in the past...

And this is a fairly easy thing to make and oh so delicious. 

I usually only bake pumpkin pies during Fall and it is a very recent thing that I bake because in Portugal we don't have the pumpkin pie tradition. But, as you know, I am a kitchen/food/gastronomy lover and I have a big interest in food all around the world! And I was just so curious about pumpkin pie that I obviously had to make it and it rapidly became a favourite of the house ;)

But, anyway, here you have it, the video for Neopian Spooky Pumpkin Pie.

Enjoy!

By the way, just a note on the video: you might notice that I don't present any quantities in this video. This is because I realised that the people who asked me to make videos only wanted to see me making the food and not exactly make the food themselves so... that's that :) if you want any recipe, just let me know :)

The food will be rated from 1 to 5 stars, meaning:

⭐ - This could be part of gross foods! Ugh :(

⭐⭐ - Waste of ingredients but edible...

⭐⭐⭐ - Ok. Not my favourite thing but also not that bad

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Now this has a lot of neopotential :D

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Wow! Was this created by fairies?! Yummy!

Now remember that this is, obviously, my opinion only ;)

Pumpkin Pie - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I rate this with five stars just because I absolutely love pumpkin pie! ^_^

*This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.

Carrot and Pea Omelette

Hello.

As some of you may already know, I had a friend who was hospitalized dying with cancer. We heard about this on September the 23rd (we had absolutely no idea she was battling cancer) and my friend passed away on September the 29th. This was a real shock to me. She used to spend every Halloween night with us, she absolutely loved Halloween. We never knew she had cancer a few years back to begin with so when we got this information it was like "no, we must not be talking about the same person, this has to be a mistake!" It turned out it wasn't. I wasn't able to see at the hospital due to covid, and I actually didn't see her after last Halloween and this, happening so close to the date, just made things so much more difficult to deal with. I can't grab a Halloween decoration without thinking of her, it's been really hard on all of us :(

I was able to go to her wake ceremony with my sister and another common friend, and this gave me some sort of peace of mind, like a last farewell, otherwise it would have felt like... unsolved business or something.

For just a moment I actually thought the universe would gather the necessary conditions for a miracle to happen, the doctors had given her a few hours left on the 24th of September and as the days went by and no one would tell us anything... I really thought that by some magical, impossible chance she would pull through it.

But she didn't and now she is part of the realm of the ghosts. Lets hope she can visit once in a while.

Now, despite all bad situations in my life happening during Fall season, and it does seem like there is a huge force somewhere trying to make me loathe this season, I'm still pretty much in love with Fall and Halloween, and with the 31st of October approaching, I couldn't help but feel the need to cook again. I am planning on some spooky foods briefly but today is still not the day.

Today I have an omelette to show you. And the chosen one (because it had to be, sooner or later XD) is the Carrot and Pea Omelette - A strange combination, but nevertheless tasty.

I did not have the chance to taste this omelette but my boyfriend gave me his rating on it. 

I hope you like this!

Enjoy :)

The food will be rated from 1 to 5 stars, meaning:

⭐ - This could be part of gross foods! Ugh :(

⭐⭐ - Waste of ingredients but edible...

⭐⭐⭐ - Ok. Not my favourite thing but also not that bad

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Now this has a lot of neopotential :D

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Wow! Was this created by fairies?! Yummy!

Now remember that this is, obviously, my opinion only ;)

Carrot and Pea Omelette - ⭐⭐⭐ - My boyfriend rated this omelette with three stars for obvious reasons (for him though). He said this is worse than a plain omelette 😅 I cannot confirm that but I do know he doesn't like peas that much... nor boiled carrots as a matter of fact so, I think we even got lucky to not get a one star rating XD.

*This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.

Rainbow Hot Dog

 Hello!

Bad news to me: I left the job I had accepted just about two weeks ago. I was really starting to enjoy it! I'm not going to deny it, it was hard work! But I liked it so much! I was cooking, I was at my environment! Unfortunately I was betrayed once again by my body. My tendinitis and carpel tunnel syndrome won. After only five days of working there I felt it, my hands going numb, waking up at 5 am with extreme hand pain from the numbness and at that point I thought that maybe, only maybe, I would be able to continue the work. Three more days of work and a major accident didn't happen because... well, because I would not let it happen due to my stubbornness. I got a major burnt on my hand because I lost my strength on it, the cloth I was using to hold a big ass pan (with the hep of a co-worker - we're talking about 30 kgs) slid down the side and the pan's handle was getting support directly from my hand and my belly (thank the lord for my thick apron!). I held it like this until we reached a safe surface, otherwise me and my co-worker would have gotten a serious injury from boiling water and potatoes. That was the exact moment I made the decision of quitting. I can not let these accidents happen. I work with 40 cm sharp blades, giant pots of boiling content, industrial tipper pots... imagine if my hand goes numb while chopping an onion with a chef's knife... 

So, that's that. I am frustrated to a level I never thought it would be possible when it comes to professional matters. I am also frustrated because my hand hurts like crazy and I am not able to cook the way I want to, not even at home. Easy everyday tasks are a pain to execute, like brushing my hair or teeth, doing the dishes, doing laundry... please, excuse me if I'm not posting as regularly as I wanted to.

Now, this is the Rainbow Hot Dog - Each bite reveals even more amazing fruity flavours!

Thanks to Rhenn Rainbow I felt really inspired to cook rainbow food and so I am trying my best :D

The description says this is a fruity hotdog so I went for a dango hotdog. Dango is a Japanese sweet, very neutral when it comes to the base, we can pretty much flavour it however we want to. The base is a dough made of water and glutinous rice flour and then the world is our pickle :) I tried to colour and flavour it naturally but clearly it wasn't enough.

All in all this was not my best work but it does have a lot of potential if I use just food colouring and pieces of fruit wrapped inside the dango balls or even fruit extracts.

Now, onto the video.

Enjoy!

The food will be rated from 1 to 5 stars, meaning:

⭐ - This could be part of gross foods! Ugh :(

⭐⭐ - Waste of ingredients but edible...

⭐⭐⭐ - Ok. Not my favourite thing but also not that bad

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Now this has a lot of neopotential :D

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Wow! Was this created by fairies?! Yummy!

Now remember that this is, obviously, my opinion only ;)

Rainbow Hot Dog - ⭐⭐⭐ - I decided to rate this hot dog with three stars because it was mainly a fail. I love dango, just for the records, but I didn't think it had the right texture for a hot dog. Dango is very very chewy and this, along with the bread, becomes extremely chewy and dense and we can actually choke on it. It was also a very major fail concerning the flavour. I tried to flavour it just by using fruit juices or purees and the required quantity just wasn't enough to give it any flavour. At this point you might be asking if it wouldn't be better to rate it a two stars. My answer is: not really because I really know I can do better by using pieces of fruit and fruit extracts. It might even make it less dense ;)

*This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.

Edible Smelly Gym Socks

 Hello!
I've got some news for you! I got a job as a cook in a senior care facility. I've been there for two days and tomorrow is my day-off. It's a very heavy job with a lot of responsibility. I must confess I wasn't ready for this kind of weight on my shoulders but I think I can manage. I arrive really sore at home, all I wanna do is get my feet off of the floor and put them on my back XD and my arms and cervical are just killing me! But I really think I can manage (I am trying to convince myself I can :P).
With this said, I'm not really sure about what kind of time I will have to keep posting about Neopian food. Not that I don't want to but I have other things to do at home and usually I never get out of the job on time (a cook usually never does), which leaves me with very little time between dinner and going to bed. But I'll try to keep posting at least once a week (so I have time to edit and do all that fun stuff). It's not being rude or inconsiderate to you, it's just being kind to my body and to my physical condition :)
So, enough babbling, on to the food!

Today I'm bringing you a food suggested by Amy Zielke, Edible Smelly Gym Socks - These socks are lucky enough to be quite smelly. Those who like socks are drawn to them.

This was a challenge but it turned out delicious! Unfortunately not very smelly though which really bummed me because my plan was so good! :P

Anyway, without further ado, here you have the video ^_^

Enjoy!

The food will be rated from 1 to 5 stars, meaning:

⭐ - This could be part of gross foods! Ugh :(

⭐⭐ - Waste of ingredients but edible...

⭐⭐⭐ - Ok. Not my favourite thing but also not that bad

⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Now this has a lot of neopotential :D

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Wow! Was this created by fairies?! Yummy!

Now remember that this is, obviously, my opinion only ;)

Edible Smelly Gym Socks - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ - I rated this recipe food with four stars because I like bread, garlic, onion and blue cheese. Dude... you gotta love a very good blue cheese! :D

*This image was taken from and belongs to Neopets.