Swedish Meatballs (Patreon)

Tonight is D&D night and I’m getting ready to do some cooking. We usually play on Sundays, but schedules didn’t allow that this week. This will probably be our last game before Vani and I head off to Japan next month, so we want to make sure we get in a good session.

I’m making Swedish Meatballs and mashed potatoes, some good ol’ comfort food to kick off fall. I think Swedish meatballs are the king of cocktail hors d'oeuvres and any chance to turn them into a main course is a welcome one. The best part about them is they are super easy to make. If you need to simplify it even further you can use frozen meatballs, but making them scratch is easy and will elevate what is otherwise a simple meal. The sauce is just a combination of cream, stock, soy sauce, and a little dijon mustard. Throw it on top of egg noodles and you’re ready to go. I think the lingonberries on the side are key. Get it on the table and there you go, you’re the embodiment of IKEA.

I’m going to throw an apple or two into the mashed potatoes tonight. Both my father and my friend Jon swear by it and I’m too curious not to give it a go. They both say the sweetness is super understated and this feels like a good meal with which to try it out. I’ll roast some garlic to throw in there as well.

I’m sure we’ll be crushing Nerds Gummy Clusters again as they have become our pary’s candy obsession. I talked about them a lot in this week's bonus segment for Patreon members so I’ll spare talking about them again here, but it’s interesting how much one new product changed a candy company.

In game news, I’ve begun playing UFO 50. I love Mossmouth so I’ve been looking forward to this for years now. So far I love it. I love seeing how the games incrementally advance in chronological order and I enjoy the flavor text blurbs for each one. It’s easy to treat the game as it wants you to: as a lost collection of games for a forgotten about system. I like the shared color palette and the way the games contain cameos from the other games in the collection. I’m enjoying the difficulty and the use of random generation in some of the games. The abundance of games that can be played with a second player also make it a good party game. It’s a very unique release and I hope a lot of people get a chance to enjoy it.

-Ian