Posts with tag cooking

When last we left our heroes, they were derailed by Diablo III. Because that certainly hasn't happened to anyone else. Unfortunately, their erstwhile trip to Sanctuary means Miranda remains in captivity.

"Your friends are taking a long time to mount a rescue," the shadowy man said. "I expected them by now."

"This is going to start feeling like filler," Miranda muttered to her raven. "I'm hungry. What've you got to eat?"

The man returned to Miranda's cage, sliding a bowl under the door. "I've made something very good for you. Black Pepper Steak and Shrimp."

"Black Pepper Steak? Really? We're going there? That's how this is going to be?"

"Black Pepper Steak is awfully good, young lady," the man said. "The amount of health and mana you gain from it is mindblowing compared to your feeble, contemporary food."

Miranda chewed slowly. "Wow, yeah, it really is, isn't it? So, why aren't you Pandaren? That seems like the most likely villain to advance the st... range events we've been suffering."

"I'm an old friend," the man answered. He pursed his lips for a moment. "I'm surprised you haven't escaped."

"How do you know I haven't? You could be looking at an illusion right now or a doppleganger. You have no way of knowing."

"Hm. That would explain why no rescue has appeared. If you'll pardon me, I need to check on things."

When the man had left, Miranda used to the chopsticks to continue picking the lock.

Item Notes: Pepper steak, y'all. So good. I've been craving it all week, now.

[Image credit: Stu Spivack]

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Phat Loot Phriday brings you the scoop on some of the most ... interesting ... loot in the World of Warcraft, often viewed through the eyes of the stalwart Throgg and indelible Lolegolas. Suggest items you think we should feature by emailing mikeg@wowinsider.com.

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This article has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

Read the entire WoW Insider Cataclysm Daily Quest Guide series!

Since their introduction in the Netherwing quest line in The Burning Crusade, daily quests have become an integral part of World of Warcraft's design. Chances are you're familiar with the concept of dailies themselves and probably did your fair share of them during Wrath of the Lich King, but it's a whole new world out there. In this article, we'll go over the new daily quests in Cataclysm, their rewards, and how to get the most out of them.

To make sure we're all on the same page, let's go over the basics of daily quests. In addition to or instead of normal, one-time-only quests, certain NPCs throughout the world will offer "daily" quests. These quests are repeatable and bear a blue exclamation point rather than a yellow one to indicate their status. In the quest log, they'll be marked (Daily) and once you complete one, there'll be a counter at the top of your quest log showing how many daily quests you have completed that day.

When dailies were originally introduced, it was only possible to complete 10 per day, which meant you had to pick and choose which ones you'd complete. The limit has since been raised to 25, meaning you can spend a far greater amount of time on daily quests and also reap greater rewards. To break up the monotony somewhat, many daily quest givers will change their quests each day, picking from a set table of quests they offer. Generally speaking, the number of dailies offered by a particular quest hub will remain the same from day to day, though the specific quests may rotate.

This article is part of our Countdown to Cataclysm series -- preparing you for Cataclysm launch one day at a time.

Cataclysm is going to change the world of professions -- so without any further ado, here are the most important changes.

General

• The skill cap for all professions is now 525.
• There is a lot of content locked behind a phased area you can not unlock until you're level 84.
• The new elemental trade goods are called Volatiles.
• Herbing and mining now provide experience.
• Archeology will be trainable.
• Guilds can see links for all members' available professions.

This Breakfast Topic has been brought to you by Seed, the Aol guest writer program that brings your words to WoW Insider's pages.

With the massive number of players logging in every day to WoW, there's an equally expansive amount of art and media coming from that player base. Very few games have ever brought out such a community of creative minds showing the rest of us their vision of a fantasy world. From machinima to custom WoW dolls (I mean action figures -- right, guys?), to Horde/Alliance-themed cakes, there are a ton of different venues for artists of all varieties to express their passion for the game.

I've just recently begun to start watching WoW-based machinima and have discovered there are quite a few masterpieces out there from people who seem talented enough to write or direct feature films. After the Cataclysm launch, I'm going to start an ongoing fan fiction story about a rogue and what his life is like after Deathwing ravages Azeroth. It should be plum full of adventures and high jinks! Although I'd love to include custom artwork with that story, my drawing skill ends at stick figures, so I'll have to use to screen shots.

Out of all the different art, videos, and other "warcrafts," are there any you'd like to participate in? Or maybe you already check out great fan art, make custom troll outfits for cosplay, or bake cupcakes shaped like murlocs. What are your favorites?

Every Thursday, The Overachiever shows you how to work toward those sweet achievement points. Today, we're running a special holiday guide for all those interested in stuffing themselves on turkey.

The Pilgrim's Bounty holiday was introduced to World of Warcraft just last year, so it's still fairly new. This year, the event will run from Sunday, November 21st through Saturday, November 27th. On my EST server, the start and end times on both dates will be 4:00 am, but you'll want to check the times on your own realm.

Pilgrim's Bounty is not part of the yearlong meta What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been. That's not to say that the holiday's without its share of rewards, though; doing the Pilgrim meta will grant both the Pilgrim title and the plump turkey pet. However, the holiday has an unbeatable side benefit; it's the fastest, easiest, and cheapest way to level cooking to 350. Pilgrim's Bounty is tailor-made for anyone who needs to level cooking on a bunch of alts, or anyone who never got around to doing it on his/her main.

Pilgrim's Bounty hasn't appeared at any point on WoW's PTR or beta since last year, so we're assuming for the moment that the holiday hasn't changed from its 2009 incarnation beyond a few bug fixes (that and the developers are probably working at breakneck speed on Cataclysm still). I've updated and clarified our 2009 guide past the cut, and will also be around as the event goes live to ensure all the information here is accurate.

With all of the leveling changes throughout Cataclysm, one that hasn't received much press is the availability of cooking and fishing dailies in your capitals starting at level 10. However, these currently give no experience or money for turning them in. They appear to be there strictly to both help you level your profession as well as give you faction tokens for purchasing additional supplies for cooking or yet another bag of random stuff for fishing. Yes, I said these are there to help you level up, as each daily gives you one additional skill point toward the appropriate profession for doing the quest.

These quests are still pretty early in development, as the tokens that the cooking quest gives you currently can't actually be spent on anything. This is either due to the vendor's not being implemented or that Blizzard just hasn't stocked that particular vendor with items yet. In either case, we'll have to wait a build or two to see what happens.

If you're looking to try out the cooking daily, then you can go see the quest-giver Marogg just outside the cooking trainer's place on the Drag in Orgrimmar for the Horde, or Robby Flay, just outside of the Stockades in Stormwind, if you're Alliance. For the fishing daily, you'll want Catherine Leland on a dock in the canals of Stormwind between the Stockades and the trade district, for Alliance, or Razgar, sitting on the shoreline of the little pond in The Valley of Honor in Orgrimmar, for Horde.

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it; nothing will be the same! In our Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion, from brand new races to revamped quests and zones. Visit our Cataclysm news category for the most recent posts having to do with the Cataclysm expansion.

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Welcome to your daily dose of The Queue. With Mike, Alex and Adam busy, their precious Queue was left unguarded and captured by Fox Van Allen. All members of the Van Allen faction shall enjoy a 5% buff to damage and experience for the 24-hour duration, and Spirit Shards may now be collected.

Before I start the queue in earnest, I shall innaugurate the first ever Fox Van Allen edition of The Queue with a question I want to clear up once and for all: "Is Fox Van Allen your real name?"

Yes. That's totally my name. For serious. We all blog under our real names here, and I'm no different. The ladies at Panera never believe me, though. "Well, you know, people sometimes give us fake names."

They think they're so hot just because they have, like, six different kinds of soup. Well you know what? They're not. They're not hot at all. Hmph.

hp1 asked:

My understanding is that there won't be a new neutral city in Cata, a la Shattrath or Dalaran. So where will all the lvl 85's be hanging out? I didn't play in Vanilla but heard most Horde "lived" in Undercity because of it's proximity to Scholo, Strat and to a lesser extent Blackrock. Do you think we'll all be parked in faction-specific cities or someplace new?

World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music, fan fiction and more.

I've been reading an anthropological analysis of the World of Warcraft for an upcoming 15 Minutes of Fame that talks about the game as an "active aesthetic experience," a collective expression in which the participation of all is key to the entire experience. One of the things I'm most looking forward to talking about with the author is the incredible creative energy that WoW breathes into so many talented artists, writers, crafters and musicians. From WoW-themed arts and crafts that tickle our fancies to re-imaginings of the very artistic underpinnings of the game soundtrack and art itself, the World of Warcraft has inspired so many people across the world.

While obviously we could invite you to scroll through our backlog of World of WarCrafts columns (and indeed, if you're interested in any sort of creative effort, we think you should), we decided to make things simple. We'd like to invite you to our new resource guide, Arts and crafts in WoW. From how-to instructions for arts and crafts, to recipe "strats" bringing you the flavors of Azeroth, to soundtracks and artwork and fan fic and more, we've gathered the best of our galleries and in-depth features together in one place. We hope you find it as enjoyable and inspirational as we do ... Welcome to the sights and sounds of the community of World of Warcraft!

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World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including arts and crafts, fan art, WoW-themed recipes, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by emailing lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.

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World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself; email lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.

The Fourth of July. Fireworks. Barbecued Buzzard Wings and Ogri'la Chicken Fingers, Oronok Tubers, Rock-Salted Pretzels and some Delicious Chocolate Cake. Or maybe Mok'Nathal Shortribs, instead, and a cold beer. Or something even frostier to drink, like a tall glass of Essence Mango. Oh, and chocolate: freshly dipped Tauren Toenails, or maybe some Maiev's Grudge.

If you're not hungry for this holiday weekend to arrive, we have no idea why. We couldn't even manage to hold this installment of World of WarCrafts until its usual Monday slot -- it's time to celebrate, and we demand to be Hugely Well Fed! Join the party with recipes from the archives of World of WarCrafts and the retired Well Fed Buff (now a part of the World of WarCrafts column). It's festive and fun to share good food with friends -- and it's even more special when the recipes offer WoW-inspired strats all their own.

Enjoy -- we'll see you all next week!

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World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself by emailing lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.

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Step aside, class changes. Back off, world revamp. Now it's time to put what everyone really wants to see into the spotlight: trade skills. MMO-Champion, which is having some difficulty staying up and stable this evening, has what you're looking for amongst its Cataclysm information.

Blacksmithing Tailoring Jewelcrafting Alchemy Enchanting Leatherworking First Aid

Mining Fishing Herbalism Inscription Engineering Cooking Skinning

Okay, trade skills aren't the most exciting thing in the world, but these previews give us a glimpse at what sort of stats we'll be dealing with on our gear in this expansion. Just look at the Elementium Poleaxe, Bio-Optic Killshades and the new gems. If those MMO-Champion pages aren't your style, there's also a good unofficial trade skill compilation on the Cataclysm forums.

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World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From goblins and worgens to mastery and guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.

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World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music and fan fiction. Show us how you express yourself; email lisa@wow.com with your not-for-profit, WoW-inspired creations.

That's right, people, you read it here first: WoW.com is running articles on how to make your own pet food. The end days have arrived. If filler articles aren't your thing, scroll on by ... But if filler for your pets is where it's at, then you've come to the right place. While the pets shown here are neither rats nor turkeys (as recommended in the original recipe), we feel certain that common household critters such as dogs and cats will equally appreciate the merits of this delectable delight. But hey, if you prefer lobbing meat pellets at rats and turkeys in your living room (and then having them follow you around for three minutes) ... Well, to each his own. WoW.com would never judge you for your choices.

Insider Trader, when written by Basil (also of outdps and Call to Auction), will be all about how to use tradeskills to make money.

Cooking is one of those secondary professions that anyone can learn, even if they already have two primary professions. Because of this fairly low barrier to entry, there are a lot of cooks around. So many that I've actually never leveled it myself! I just rely on the generosity of friends for my cooking business.

How profitable is cooking? That all depends on what you cook. I got into this because I once paid 100g for five Spiced Mammoth Treats for my hunter's raid night. Why was I buying them on a Tuesday? Poor planning. What did I learn? The value of planning. We're going to start with a very important concept for auctioneers, here: tenacity.

Not long ago, a friend of mine from college asked me to resurrect his WoW account so he could get back into the game before Cataclysm comes out. The first week that he was back, he messaged me quite frequently with various questions about trends in raiding and PvP at level 80. I answered his questions without much thought until one afternoon, he sent me a different type of message.

"Did you notice there is nothing but meat in WoW?"

My thoughts stumbled over the question for a moment before he continued. "There is meat, fish and fruit, but no vegetables." (My friend became vegan since the last time he played WoW -- thus his sudden epiphany.) He then proceeded to tell me about a quest in Teldrassil where you gather spider meat for a kabob recipe. He said something along the lines of, "They're on a big freakin' tree, full of plants and they're eating spiders! Spiders!"

I'll admit, he had a good point. Curious, I decided to start looking over the types of food in WoW to see just exactly what Azerothians eat.

I used to work at a sandwich shop.

Yes, I've heard the "make me a sandwich" jokes already.

I worked the lunch shift and I had this regular customer who came in a few times a week to get a hummus pita. If you don't know what hummus is, it is a delicious and flavorful spread made of mashed chickpeas and spices. It's often served with pita bread as an appetizer, or as a side or dip for various Middle Eastern or Greek dishes.

Anyway, after a few weeks of making the same pita for this woman, she told me "you know, you make the best hummus pita here." I smiled at the compliment and responded, "Well, I just make yours the way I would make my own. I really like hummus IRL." As the last letter of the acronym escaped my mouth, it twisted into an awkward tone as I realized the error in my sentence. Immediately flustered, I stuttered, "Err-- I mean... I like hummus... Uh..." She laughed at me with a smile and replied, "Don't worry, I know what you meant." But my nerdiness was already exposed; I was prone. I sensed an incoming AoO. It never came.

At the time I was probably overreacting, granted. The usage of net speak is pretty acceptable and easily understood to the average person these days. "BRB" doesn't bewilder most people, for example. On the other hand, I find myself telling my friends once a month, "I don't feel like going out: girl debuff," always getting mixed responses.

Recently, a friend of mine going off to college soon came to me for some advice on dorm living. I told him, "if you want more privacy, just bunk the beds." Before I could continue, he followed up with "oh yeah, that'd block LoS." I stared at him, dumbfounded. Had someone just out-nerded me?

So what WoW terminology do you use in your everyday life? How do your friends who don't play WoW react?

With the Light as his strength, Gregg Reece of The Light and How to Swing It faces down the demons of the Burning Legion, the undead of the Scourge, and helps with the puppet shows at the Argent Ren Faire up in Icecrown.