A Grimm Feast: Adalind’s Zaubertrank Cookies (S1E15)

Click here to jump to the recipe.

Ah, yes…the magical cookies that drove Hank to obsession and madness.  They’re a fairly basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, with a few diabolical additives.  For the sake of hygiene, we’re gonna skip using blood of the deceived and blood of the deceiver.

Instead?  Jam.

A Grimm Feast: Bud’s Cherry Pie (S1E15)

Click here to jump to the recipe.

Before he joined the Scooby Gang, our favorite refrigerator repairman—Bud the Eisbieber—ran screaming for the hills the second he laid eyes on Nick.  And by “hills,” I mean “local bar.”  There he proceeded to brag to his buddies about the Grimm he saw, then had to prove it by showing them Nick’s house.  Nick did not take kindly to these late-night tire-squealing visits, and made sure Bud spread the word that the Grimm’s house was to be left alone.  Bud, being the adorable nervous wreck that he is, apologized not by giving Nick and Juliette space, but by showering them with please-don’t-decapitate-me gifts.  One such gift was his wife’s cherry pie.

The Legend Sleepy Hollow S1E01 Pilot

We open with history, which gives us a good sense of how much that history will impact the present-day events. We also open on a battlefield, which sets the story of what-will-be pretty damn emphatically. And we open with Ichabod Crane, the revolutionary soldier, no more a schoolteacher who's scared of his own shadow than anyone else on that field. Sure, he flinches at gunshots. That's what you do when people are shooting at you. So right away we've established some points of congruity but also some significant points of discrepancy between this and the story we (all? what do they teach them in schools these days, anyway) grew up with. I can't venture a guess offhand as to why Crane is checking pulses on the redcoats aside from ensuring that they're really dead and can't be used as POWs; there's nothing to imply he's a medic in any case. More common battlefield practice would be an extra stab or slice to ensure they're dead and not going to attack you, but I suppose that would conflict with our image of Ichabod as Our Hero. Oh, and here comes the Horseman. Who is not at the moment headless, but he is indeed faceless, wearing something that looks like a reject from Man in the Iron Mask. (K: Or any Jean-Pierre Jeunet movie.) Oh goodie. That's always a positive sign, doncha know. Combat! Combat combat and there's something even now about the Horseman's attitude and body language pointed toward Crane that suggests familiarity or at least recognition, meaning that yes, Ichy, you're the target. Judging by the shout from one of his compatriots, safe money is that they expected this on some level, even if it's just Murphy's Law level. (Why nobody has introduced Crane to Murphy's Law onscreen, I do not know. I think he'd get a kick out of it.) So we have the Horseman taking one shot somewhere in the torso, Crane taking an axe to the chest and that is not something you recover from on an 18th century battlefield, generally speaking, and oh, there goes the head.

A Grimm Feast: Introduction

Greetings, Murderlings!

Welcome to “A Grimm Feast,” where we’ll be exploring the various culinary curiosities featured on Grimm over the seasons.  (What did Monroe and Rosalee serve at the Most Awkward Dinner Party Ever?  How about the dish that Juliette made for Nick when she was trying to recover from amnesia?)  These may not be the most perfect reproduction recipes, but they should be pretty tasty.

Now, a traditional food blog would be all shiny and professional and stuff.  (Seriously, do you have any idea how much work goes into a real cooking blog?  The resources, the practice, the presentation…it’s practically a full-time job for some people.)  At the very least, the pictures would be properly composed and the chef would probably have tested the recipe once or twice before documenting it in front of all of you.  Not so in my case.  While I tend to do a fair bit of research and planning, most of what you’ll see here will be my first attempts at these recipes.

Why such an unpolished approach?  Because this is not a traditional cooking blog; it’s a fan blog.  My posts are side dishes as opposed to the main course, so to speak.  Also, imperfection is fun.  I embrace the fun.  Let’s be honest, here: I am not some 6 foot tall French pin-up who can sculpt 40 dozen flawless pastries in a row and top it all off with a buttercream rose and a grosgrain ribbon.  Besides, that shit’s kinda scary.  I am here to geek out over recipes; I am NOT here to intimidate people with my massive macarons.

Anna, why are you laughing?

That said, I’ll also do my best to include links for those who want to cut the crap and just get to the recipe already.  Trust me, I know…there are few things more annoying on a cooking blog than when you just want to know what the ingredients are and the author spends 20 pages rambling about the inspiring roadtrip they took when they were 16.

First up: Bud’s Cherry Pie.  Coming next week!