The Sims 2 – Love Potion #8.5

I’ve posted this weeks Gourmet Gaming a day early so you can enjoy it on Valentine’s day!

Is Valentine’s Day usually a total failure for you? Are you left bitter and alone, ranting about the commercialism and inherent flaws of the day to faceless people on the internet when all you really want is a hug? I know how you feel (I really don’t). If you’re looking to captivate a boy or girl this evening or you simply need someone to play co-op with because sometimes achievements demand you play a game with another person, then this is for you. Allow me to be your Gypsy Matchmaker. One sip of Love Potion #8.5 will ensure love at first sight and will only set you back a meagre §350! Can you really afford to put a price on true love? Fruity, fizzy and optionally intoxicating there’s no better drink to enjoy with the Sim you love this Valentine’s.

This recipes makes 1 drink.

What you will need: A tall glass.

Ingredients:

8 Raspberries

Crushed Ice

10ml / 0.33oz. Chambord Raspberry Liqueur (Or Raspberry Juice)

50ml / 1.5oz. Raspberry Lemonade

100ml / 3.3oz Champagne (Or Tonic Water)

Top Up with Lychee Juice

Mint Sprigs

Fresh Lemon Juice

Making Love Potion #8.5:

1. Crush the raspberries and press them into the bottom of the glass then pour the crushed ice on top.
2. Pour in the Chambord, followed by the raspberry lemonade, champagne then top it off with lychee juice. If you do it right you can create an impressive ‘layered’ look to the drink.
3. Garnish with a sprig of mint and a twist of lemon juice.

I’m not sure I could have picked a cornier thing to make! While I think Valentine’s Day can be a bit shallow I do enjoy the excuse to be overly romantic and indulge a little more than usual in treating my significant other. In saying this, every relationship faces hard times. Ours was definitely when we played Borderlands together and he earned the name “Loot Hoover”. It nearly ended in divorce. 

Like this? You might also enjoy the Diablo - Health Potion.

Presenting Loading’s 9-Bit Mega Coffee! Pre-order now from Firebox.com!

Gourmet Gaming was fortunate enough to beta test it just for you! Smooth and light; 9-Bit Mega Coffee boasts a quality first person flavour experience unlike any other. It even comes with it’s own instruction manual!

Loading is the UK’s foremost gaming café/bar and is responsible for these incredible gaming cocktails.

Drink, Relax, Play | Loading on Facebook

Bastion – Leechade

Bastion was the impressive and visually stunning Indie hit of 2011, if you’ve not played it yet I recommend you pick it up right away on Xbox Live, Steam or Google Chrome! One of the most awesome things about the game is the Distillery where The Kid can choose all sorts of interesting potions to help him on his journey. Each one has a unique effect, taste and appearance – I just wish I had the amazing bottles to do each spirit justice. “Leechade’s so sour, it’ll perk you right up when you’re feeling low”.

This recipe makes 1 drink.

Ingredients:

1 Measure Advocaat

1 Measure Dry London Gin

0.5 Measure Triple Sec

0.5 Measure Blue Curaçao

Top Up Cloudy Lemonade

Lemon Wedge Garnish

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Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door – Zess Frappe

There’s no denying how suspiciously like the Snow Cone from Paper Mario the Zess Frappe looks… But I got some stunning ice-cream bowls for Christmas by my favourite home-ware designers Alessi and I wanted an excuse to use them! With Christmas comes a lot of heavy, rich food and drink and Sambuca is often praised for its digestion benefits (at least in this household). I thought as a twist on the cocktail idea to serve one up as a frappe/granita inspired concoction for a light and refreshing distraction.

This recipe makes 1 drink.

Ingredients:

Ice-cubes

50g / ½ Cup Sugar

60ml / ¼ Cup Water

60ml / ¼ Cup Raspberry Sambuca

Raspberry Conserve / Jelly

Making the Zess Frappe:

1. Add the water and sugar to a pan and bring to the boil. Stir occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat, cover and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
2. Uncover then add the raspberry sambuca and stir, place in a pouring container and allow to cool to room temperature before placing in the fridge to chill.
3. When the syrup has chilled, using a blender with the appropriate setting, or a food processor, to grind up the ice until powdery. Scoop the ice into glasses, pour over the raspberry sambuca syrup, top with a little raspberry conserve and enjoy.

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Diablo – Health Potion

The red health potion, stored in a mystical apothecary vessel, is incredibly iconic in gaming and is found in many a dungeon crawler. Since I’m so excited for Diablo III I thought I’d focus on the most famous and original version as found in the series (though I’m aware that health potions are not being used in Diablo III – boo!). So in the spirit of Christmas and New Year being a time for relaxation and recuperation I thought this surprisingly sweet and refreshing health potion is just what most of us are looking for.

This recipe makes 1 drink.

Ingredients:

1 Measure Cranberry Gin

0.5 Measure Żubrówka (Buffalo/Bison Grass Vodka)

0.5 Measure Amaretto

Squeeze of Lime Juice

Top Up Tonic

Many people have been asking where to get the flask from - it was a lovely gift from a friend who picked it up at http://www.demijohn.co.uk/. For people outside the UK I came across this site which has a great selection http://www.specialtybottle.com/. Found somewhere better for the US? Let me know!

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Gourmet Gaming Drinks Special

Well it was my birthday last weekend. I threw a party, invited some of my favourite people around, drank copious amounts and then everyone embarrassed themselves by playing Rockband, others gained new respects as the master of Dance Central and some became my enemies when they preformed a Fatality on me.

Unfortunately between sorting the party and being at the party I had no chance to make the gaming based cocktails I wanted to. The booze was there, wedrunkenlyhalf-heartedly attempted some creations (the act of shaking a shaker became very dangerous very quickly) and eventually we receded into simply serving drinks with glow sticks in them. How futuristic. 

These recipes make 1 drink each.

Nuka-Cola Quantum - Fallout 3:

1 Blue Glowstick

Soda Water

1m De Kuyper Blue Curacao

1m Spiced Rum

1m Amaretto

1m Cola-Bottle Infused Vodka

Infusing the Vodka:

1 Empty 250ml Bottle (with a cap)

250ml of Vodka

100g of Cola-Bottle Sweets

1. Fill the bottle with the vodka and add the cola-bottles.
2. Seal the bottle and leave to infuse for at least a day - the longer the better.
3. Strain, then refill the bottle with the cola vodka and seal.

Mix the spirits in a cocktail-shaker and shake, pour into the bottle, top up with soda water and garnish with the glowstick.

Lon-Lon Milk - Legend of Zelda:

2m Amaretto

1m Vodka

0.5m Hazelnut Coffee

1.5m Double Cream

1.5m Milk

Shake all the ingredients in a cocktail-shaker and serve over ice.

Adam and Eve - Bioshock:

1.5m Vodka

1.5m De Kuyper Blue Curacao

1m Lemonade

1m Tia Maria

Cranberry Juice

Drop of Red Food Colouring 

Mix the vodka, blue curacao and lemonade for an Adam and Tia Maria and cranberry for an Eve (I added a drop of red food colouring to give it a denser colour.)

Definitely worthy of the mid-week hang-over I’ll be suffering with tomorrow. Just don’t ingest any of that tempting florescent glow-stick juice. 

Like this? You might also enjoy the Diablo - Health Potion.