2018 has been an amazing year and it is time to take a look back at the year.
State of the Blog
This year, Pixelated Provisions has seen the most growth ever. A huge thank you to everyone who has visited the site. All of you have kept me extremely motivated and kept my blog posting schedule the most regular since I’ve started. Late last year, I was given the opportunity to work on Fallout: The Vault Dweller’s Official Cookbook. The book was released in late October of this year. I am extremely grateful how much people are enjoying the book! Seeing others around the world making recipes from the book makes me super excited. I love that my cookbook is reaching out to gamers and convincing them to give home cooking a shot. That has always been my goal and I hope more projects like this happen in the future.
During the later half of the year, I decided to start some streaming on Twitch. I tend to play a lot of multiplayer games to include Jeff and my friends. I’ve also played a bit of Fallout 4 and The Witcher 3 to get used to streaming some solo player games. I’ve really enjoyed using streaming to connect with people who have enjoyed my recipes. I’m by no means a professional gamer, but my goal is to create a comfortable environment for people to come in and hang out. If anyone has a cooking question and you see me online, feel free to drop in and ask for help! I hope to continue streaming and improving over the next year with you all.
I’m hoping next year will be as awesome as this past year for Pixelated Provisions. One of my major goals is to set up live cooking streams on Twitch. My plan would be for you to cook along with me. I will announce the recipe we will be working on a week in advance. These recipes will be ones found on my site or the Fallout cookbook. During the stream, you will be able to ask questions or have me go into more detail about techniques used to complete a recipe. This has been something I’ve wanted to do for a bit but was worried about performing live and setting the kitchen up. With my current streaming, I’m getting more comfortable with the performing part and I now have a few pieces to start setting up the kitchen.
Another goal for next year is to try and post a few more bonus posts throughout the year. Currently, I’m working on the first one with Jeff and he is really excited about putting this together. With his help, I think we will be able to give you all some more content that will always be video game or culinary related. My goal is for at least one extra post a month.
Food and Games
Let’s take a look at a few of my standouts from the year.
Most Visually Appealing Video Game Food: Monster Hunter World
Everytime you prepare for your next hunt in Monster Hunter World, it is important that you are well fed. Each meal the canteen prepares for you has made me drool. It was wonderful to see the new dishes each holiday event would bering as well. I am currently concepting a few more recipes from this game and really can’t wait to make them. I hope I can make the Meowscular Chef proud!
Runner ups: Overcooked 2, The Witcher 3
New Food Experience: Gummy Hog
This was an experiment Jeff decided to pursue and I had the joy of watching it all. I’ll let him describe this one:
I had a random idea about a year or so ago when I saw the Gummy Hog spray added to Overwatch. I remember getting Victoria’s attention and saying “look, more food!” but she wasn’t sure how to manage a gummy bear recipe. I figured it was crazy enough that I might as well give it a try and see what I could come up with.
I made a 3D model of the Gummy Hog. I think I got pretty close but I had to make some adjustments to the back of the shape to make sure the gummies would be straight back and easy to remove from a mold. I sent the model off to shapeways and in a few weeks got a 3d print back. After some experimenting and a little bit of fun with legos, I created a mold with 4 Gummy Hogs! The silicone mold kit I used was easy to work with, but since I only had one 3d print, the mold took almost a week to make. I certainly learned a few lessons from the whole experience and would do some steps differently, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
After he made the molds, it was my turn to attempt a recipe. The end result was a tasty Gummy Hog but the amount of work needed to put the molds together made me hesitant to post a recipe. One of the silly side effects of the recipe I toyed with was after letting the gummies sit in the refrigerator for 2 days, they began to shrink. I didn’t put them in an airtight container so they began dehydrating. It gave me a great chuckle when I saw them.
Best new Restaurant: Din Tai Fung in Los Angeles
This category took me a bit of thinking and I really should start keeping a list of all the new places we visit throughout the year. The top spot here has changed several times and honestly any of the ones listed here could be at the top. Din Tai Fung was one of the more unique foods I’ve had. I’ve never before had a soup dumpling and wasn’t really sure what it was. How could you get soup in a dumpling? Well, I have eaten and learned the magic. Everything I had on the menu was delicious. After eating here, I know I will be starting to experiment on making soup dumplings at home!
Runner ups: Anju in Calgary, Don’s Cafe in Houston, Backstreet Cafe in Houston
Favorite Recipe of the Year: Yakuza 6: Galbi
Korean food is something that I’ve recently started exploring. Growing up, I never had Korean food. Over the past few years, I’ve been making an effort to try different foods from around the world. After eating some galbi at a restaurant, I began researching and figuring out how I can make my own version at home. This galbi recipe inspired by Yakuza 6 is the recipe I’ve made the most in my house. I actually just made a whole batch of it for Christmas. There is a lot of meat and I’m still enjoying it!
Runner ups: Divinity Original Sin 2: Poutine, OWL: Houston Outlaws Popsicles, Breath of the Wild: Egg Tart
Game of the Year: Golf Story
This was a hard one this year. I’ve played many games this year and many of them were releases from last year. Golf Story is a game I probably would have completely passed if my friends didn’t start playing it on their Switch one weekend. After watching the first hour, I wanted to try my hand at it. The story and humor of this game is perfection. I’m not a fan of golf at all but this game presented it in such an amazing way that I couldn’t get enough of it. I’ve posted several recipes from the game and have raved about it each time I wrote about it. It is honestly a game I think everyone should give a chance and check out.
Runner ups: Yakuza 6, Monster Hunter World
Game I Should Have Played More Of: Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
This was a pretty recent purchase and unfortunately got shoved to the side by all the other games we recently had come up. I have completed the first chapter and really enjoy the game. I love that I can pick up the game and play a few levels in between other things I’m doing during the day. I know once Jeff and I put down Smash Ultimate I’ll be spending a lot more time with Captain Toad and Toadette.
Most Anticipated Games of 2019: Warcraft III: Reforged
I got to attend Blizzcon this past year and was extremely excited when Warcraft III: Reforged was announced. At least once a year, I will open Warcraft III and spend a few hours with friends playing custom games. I got a chance to try out the remastered edition while at Blizzcon and the game is beautiful and the UI is a huge upgrade! Count on a few streams next year as I replay through the story and play ridiculous custom games with friends. There will be a many Burbenogs and Castle Fights.
Runner ups: Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition