20 Days of WoW – Day 08: 10 things we don’t know about you
This week I’m theoretically on vacation, before I start my new job on April 2nd. But isn’t it awesome – I’m sick. I got the worst flu ever. I didn’t even feel like playing, let alone blogging. I had many plans for this week – but all have been postponed now because I was feeling so crappy. Anyways. Let’s proceed with the 20 Days of WoW.
- I live in Switzerland. (ok, you probably already knew that…). There are four official languages in our country – German, French, Italian and Rumantsch. Ha, you were guessing English, right? 😉 Rumantsch is a very old language that is basically only spoken in the canton Graubünden. There are many different dialects of it. It sounds very beautiful, like a mix of Italian and French, and the “R”s are rolled deeply in your throat. Unfortunately, I don’t speak it. I remember only one word: Marente. It means taking a break during a hike and having a little picnic.
- I speak three languages – German (Swissgerman is only the spoken dialect, so doesn’t really count as a language), English and French. Though I lost a lot of my speaking French due to lack of use. I understand quite a lot, though. Random fact: Having four languages in our country, we learn a second foreign language (French, if you live in the German part) at a very young age in school.
- Late last year I was levelling a hunter on Horde side from 0-85 for the sole purpose to make gold and buy my boyfriend a Vial of the Sands and a Chopper for Christmas. I managed.
- I detest brussel sprouts and green peas.
- I was once on a spiritual retreat in Sedona, Arizona for one week.
- Eventhough my Mom is a chef, I didn’t learn to cook myself until I moved out from home. Having watched her cook all these years, though, helped a lot.
- I used to write real bad erotic stories as a Teen / Twen.
- I’m horribly afraid of snakes but do not mind spiders at all.
- I love watching cartoons when I’m sick or the Sunday morning cartoons.
- I know how to drive but I do not own a car anymore.
Öpfel-Biire-Waihe
In Switzerland, we love Waihe or – as it’s also called – Wähe. The closest thing to translating would probably be Gateaux aux fruits or Fruit Tarte. Only – it doesn’t only come in the sweet variation, there are also savory kinds.
Today I’ll present the sweet kind with apples and pears. Swiss people love to eat Waihe as a main dish, for lunch or dinner or even breakfast. You can buy pre-packaged slices in almost every grocery store or bakery. It’s relatively cheap and great to use up those not-so-fresh apples or other fruit. My mom would make Waihe a lot during summer as a light dinner and my grandma always brought me some when I was sick. My personal favourite is the one with apricots or plums. However, I’ll show you the one with apples and some pears today, since I had those at home and they needed to be eaten. 🙂
20 Days of WoW – Day 07: The reason behind your blog’s name
I’ll have to skip “Day 06 – Your workplace/desk (photo and/or description)” for now because I have to tidy my work place a bit before I take a picture. 😀
That is an easy one. Anka is my nickname in my Alliance guild and Huntress – Well. My favourite class of all times is the hunter. And since Tanyanka is female; Huntress. Actually, I’m not even sure that’s even a word. But it sounds nice. 😀
The subtitle “ Panem et circenses” is latin and refers to the gladiator games of the old romans. The Cesars believed that if they gave their people Bread and Entertainment, they would be distracted and content. Since I write about both food and games, I first called it “Food and Games” (duh…). It sounds better in German, though, (Brot und Spiele) and the German term refers directly to the latin saying. So I settled for Latin. It sounds so sophisticated. *grin*
Random thoughts and Ramblings about WoW
Have you seen the pictures of the girl Pandaren? OMG they are SO cute! I went all *squeeeeeeee* when I saw the pictures. And I also spoilered myself a bit by watching the Video where you can see quite a bit of the landscape in Mists of Pandaria. Up until now, I wasn’t really THAT excited about it. But now I am, the way I was before Cataclysm. It’s really nice to be excited and looking forward to the expansion! It looks so damn pretty!
I didn’t realize that the gold you could take with you when you server/faction change is limited to 50 k. Boo. Will have to work on getting to the heights of my old riches again. However, I do understand why Blizzard has to do that. It’s legitimate.
Also, I had to re-do parts of the quests in Vash’jir and Twilight Highlands to activate the respective portals. However, I enjoyed it tremendously to see the other side of the story. It’s fantastic how the Horde and Alliance quests compliment each other. I’m a nut when it comes to questing and stories in game. And I think I will always at some point play the quests of the other faction, just to experience them.
I’ve quested through Azshara. I love Goblins, they are hilarious. I love the stories. Remember Azuregos, the big blue dragon? He’s in love with Anara, the ghosthealer. Yes, there are physical difficulties apparently, but never you mind!
I also came across this item for the very first time: http://www.wowhead.com/item=68806/kalythas-haunted-locket (if I’m not mistaken, it should also be available to Alliance players). At the beginning of the quests in Azshara, you witness Kalythas story. This Locket turns you into her – a ghostly nightelf. It even transforms your mount when you’re flying, like the priests shadowform does. Neat, isn’t it?
I love how my Tanyanka looks now. It feels right for her to be Horde again. I love my old alliance guild – you guys are awesome! But it was time for me to move on. Does that make sense? Sometimes you have to leave something you love to find happiness. I’m just glad that there are no harsh feelings.
I hope I don’t annoy you too much with my ravings about playing Horde again. *chuckle* I think there might be some posts in the future that go on and on about how awesome this or that quest or event was. 😀
20 Days of WoW – Day 05: Favourite item(s) in game
I’m a Mount and Vanity Pet Collector. So all of the special ones or the ones that were especially hard to get are dear to me, like the Swift Zulani Tiger. Oh, I’ve faithfully ran Zul’Gurub pre-Cataclysm change every week in the hopes to receive the tiger or the raptor. Since the tiger is not attainable anymore these days I’m pretty darn proud to have gotten it. Or the Dragonhawk you get for 100 Mounts. I’ve worked on a Mountain o’Mounts during Wrath and a couple of Mounts were forever unreachable for me. For the longest time I was sitting on two or three mounts short of the achievement. I remember the 100th Mount. It was the White Chicken from Magisters Terrace.
My next favourite item would be Thunderfury. Unfortunately, I only get to wear it for style reasons and come MOP, I won’t be able to wear it at all. But Thunderfury is my first and only Legendary Item and it took me forever and a day to aquire it. For over a year I would go into Molten Core almost every week and try to get a hold of the second binding from Baron Geddon. But he simply wouldn’t hand it over to me! Imagine the joy and utter excitement in the house when it finally did drop! I scared the cats real hard with all my cheering.
Does a title count as a favourite item, too? Then it would be my Insane-title. When achievements were first introduced (when was that… pre-Wrath?) I’ve found out about this hidden achievement. And I started to work on it. Let me tell you that I know every single Ogre in Dire Maul by name and know every dark secret of trolls, orcs and ogres alike in Lower Blackrock from pickpocketing them repeatedly. I’ve killed Rivendare countless times when I was running through Stratholme and he never dropped his mount for me. I’ve picked hundreds of herbs and ground them into fine powder to craft an endless supply of Darkmoon Cards to hand them in for reputation with Mr. Silas Darkmoon.
Come to think of it – my favourite items are usually connected to a fond memory. And lots of grinding. 😀
Screenshot Madness and Mogging Fun!
I put together a new outfit for Tanyanka. The AQ-Set just doesn’t look so good on a Troll. So here’s the brandnew Lady in Red, to kinda fit the Horde-Theme a bit more. Of course, Miss Tanyanka also had to go to the hairdresser to get a matching hairdo. Fire red it is!
And just for the fun of it, this is Arbor – my boyfriends’ char – being brave and riding a rocket together with a Goblin. Well – Tauren on rockets were not meant to be, really!
I am Troll, hear me roar
So – after some careful thinking and consideration, I decided to change server and factions again. There were several reasons for that, one of the most important ones being that I wanted to spend more quality time online with my boyfriend. The second important one being, that I was having language issues during raids. I had a real hard time understanding instructions, tactics, even jokes during raids. I was fine in small groups, but was having increasingly more issues in full raids. Yes, the woes of not having English as a first language. Besides – I was yearning for the War Drums of the Horde. 😉
(my boyfriend mentioned that another reason would be that Horde Merchandising looks way better than Alliance Merchandising. *grin*)
So I faction changed back to Horde onto my old server Kil’Jaeden, where I will also join my old guild again.
Tanyanka had to be slightly re-named to Tanyankâ and is now a Troll Huntress (again…) with big feet and pink hair matching her outfit. The hair might change again. 🙂 For now I like the chop-sticks-pre-MOP hairdo.
This is the new-old Anka:
The outfit needs some work – I’ll think about that.
20 Days of WoW – Day 04: Your best WoW memory
Hmmm, that is a tough topic. There are so many great memories!
One of my favourite memories is for sure from my old server and guild. There was this Tauren Warrior called Asasino. We happened to play together quite often. And then he gave me his cell phone number, in case I ever needed a tank, I should just call him. And then we started to Email. And talk for hours over Skype.
We’re a couple now for a bit over two years, we live together and he even moved to my homecountry with me. Yes, it’s love – we’re one of those WoW-couples and we’re proud of it. 🙂
Something more game-related – well, that’s hard to pick. My very first raid-experience was Karazhan. I was so excited and curious, that I first facepulled some spiders and right after some skeleton horses. Until I was firmly told to just stay put and not wander around. I was always like that, I would be all enthusiastic and had to watch and see everything! I’m not as bad anymore nowadays, but still very much on the curious side.
Another great memory is when I finally transferred my main Tanyanka to my current server and guild, the guild would run ICC again to get me the Kingslayer title. That was awesome!
Also, when I finally FINALLY got the Insane in the Membrane achievement. I did it before the nerf – and it was a grind fest like I’ve never seen one before… or after, for that matter. I’m still wearing my Insane-Title with great pride.
There are many awesome memories and I’m sure there are many more to come!
Spinach-Feta-Pie with Cucumber-Tomato Salad
I’ve seen a couple of Jamie Oliver shows lately and I love his ideas. I was especially impressed by his 30-Minute-Meals. So I gave in and ordered the book Jamies 30 Minute Meals. While I knew from the beginning that I won´t be able to cook the meals just as he describes them, the recipes sure give me inspiration and I adapt them to the possibilities of my kitchen and my skills.
So here comes a freely adapted recipe for Spinach-Feta-Pie:
Ingredients:
- 100 g Pine Nuts
- 5 eggs
- 300 g Feta Cheese
- 50 g Cheddar (or a similar cheese)
- dried Oregano
- 1 lemon
- 400-500 g fresh leaf spinach
- 1-2 onions, diced
- some butter
- 1 rolled out puff pastry
- cayenne pepper, nutmeg
Roast the Pine Nuts with no fat in a pan until they are golden brown. Beware – they burn quite fast all of a sudden if you don’t pay attention.
Beat the eggs in a bowl, crumble the feta in and grate the Cheddar in. (we hardly get Cheddar around here, so I used Gruyère – but basically any cheese will do). Add a dash of cayenne pepper, dried oregano (not too sparsely) and grated lemon zest. Add the pine nuts and stir everything together.
Wash the spinach and dry it. Add butter to the pan, wait until melted, then add the diced onions and fry until transparent. (Note: I love cooking with onions, but you can choose to leave them out of the dish if you want to. It´ll work without, too.) Add some of the spinach until it collapses, then add the next part etc. until all the spinach is in the pan. Stir regularily until it’s done. It never ceases to amaze me that this huge bag of leaf spinach ends up to be just a handful after being cooked. Drain any excess liquid, then add the spinach to the egg-feta mixture. Grate about half a nutmeg into the mix, add some pepper and mix well.
As you can see in the picture above, I used a round baking tray. And a squarely rolled out dough. 🙂 It doesn´t really matter, use whatever baking tray you have at hand and put the rolled out puff pastry in there. Sprinkle with a bit of cayenne pepper. Add the mix and spread evenly onto the dough. I folded any excess dough there was over the mixture.
See, I usually don´t go for pretty, but tasty. 😀
Bake in pre-heated oven at 200° C for approx. 20-30 minutes. You’ll have to check, depending on your oven, it may take a bit longer. You want the filling to be firm and the dough to be golden brown.
I made some cucumber-cherry-tomato salad to go with it. For the sauce, I mixed some fresh garlic, lemon juice, approx. 1/2 fresh chili, olive oil, mixed salad herbs and a bit of salt together. When it comes to salad sauces, I usually throw together what I have at hand, taste and adjust. Oh, and there was some left-over mozzarella cut in the salad, too.
In any case – the Pie was really good and I will most definitely make it again. Even my boyfriend who was not fond of Feta up until then really loved it.
Enjoy!
20 Days of WoW – Day 3: Your first day playing WoW
There’s a bit of a story involved here, so let me elaborate a bit.
Back in 2006 I was one day having lunch with a co-worker. I was very much into PS2 Games at the time, my favourite being Kingdom Hearts. Anyways, my co-worker told me about this fantastic online game her boyfriend had shown her, it was called World of Warcraft. You could create Elfs and choose to play a druid or a warrior or anything else to your hearts’ content. Oh, and you could download it from the website and test it before you bought it!
I was intruiged. So once I got home, I visited the website. And started the download of the game. Yes, it took all night long for it to download… The next day after work I rushed home to see if I could finally install the game and I could! I’ve downloaded the US-Version of the game, because I didn’t know there were differences and that Europe had their own servers. I chose to play on an “Oceanic” server, because it sounded so pretty and created a Nelf Warrior. I forgot what I’ve named her – but it was something suitably elvish.
The toon was created and I was anxious to enter and discover the world. But what was that? No picture? Only shadows? There was sound, beautiful music, but no real picture. What rubbish – there I created this really cool character and I can’t see it!, I thought – until someone (I sadly don’t remember anymore who!) hinted, that maybe my computer wasn’t up-to-date with its graphic card. So, the next Saturday, I took my computer, drove to the next computer store, put it on the counter and told the guys that I wanted to play WoW and it didn’t run on my computer. What could they do about it? They had a hard time not laughing in my face. I mean, if I think back – there was this chick with her complete docket station under the arm, declaring she wanted to play World of Warcraft and needed an upgrade to do so! – I would’ve laughed at me, too! 😉
They installed more RAM and a new Graphics Card. Happily I took my computer back home and hooked it up. I logged into the game and…..
There was colour! And shapes! And textures! There was so much to see!
Coming from console gaming I was used to hit stuff with my sword until it was dead. That’s why I chose a warrior. Big Sword goooooood. Little did I know about etiquette or how to play back then, let alone what a tank was. I happily wandered around Teldrassil and eventually learned how to pick flowers and brew potions. When I first set foot into Darnassus I was awed. So big! I even discovered the auction house, but thought it was stupid. Who would spend so much gold for a couple of herbs? Little did I know that I would become some kind of AH Goblin myself in the future…
When I told my cousin very proudly that I was playing WoW, he asked me very interested on which server I was playing, because he was playing, too! My answer back then: “Well, I’m currently on Teldrassil in Kalimdor. “ Very carefully and patiently he began to explain some basics. And then he convinced me that I should go out and buy the European Version and come play on his server on Horde side, which was in German and called Kil’Jaeden. (Back then I thought that name was a Hoot – I pronounced it wrong and roughly translated it meant “Kill everyone”) Thank goodness I listened to him.
So, there was a second first day in WoW when I created my huntress and a love story began. Why I chose to create a hunter? I’ve seen them before when I was running around Teldrassil and thought it was so cool to have a companion. And those kitties were so pretty! It was very clear to me that I wanted a tiger. Tigers are cool.
So there I was, little pink-haired Troll Huntress, just about to discover more of the World of Warcraft. I’ve just finished a couple of the first quests, when an Alliance player was riding through the Troll/Orc starting area. I think it was a warlock, I remember a huge black and flamey horse. I felt I needed to defend my home, after all this was Troll territory, what was he doing there! So I ran up to him and hit him. With my stick. I’m pretty sure he didn’t want to kill me, but I was persistent and kept hitting him. Until he hit back and I met the Ghosthealer….
Fun times! 😀
Anka Huntress 