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I make! Fudge fish pops edition

So recently, I may have purchased a this:

Links to Amazon.

Links to Amazon.

Yup.  I may be the proud owner of a fish pop mold.  Zoku makes them and they are entirely amusing to me.   But fish pop molds are not useful unless you’re actually molding fish pops.  Enter the fudge pop, in particular Alton Brown’s recipe for fudge pops.  That I am making in a fish pop mold.  Thus making them fudge fish pops.  In case you were wondering.

Here is the recipe.  I did make modifications to use what I had on hand and also because I have stress-brain which makes me forgetful.

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I probably should put him on a plate next time so you can see his tail. But don’t worry, it’s a complete shark.

  • I replaced the bittersweet chocolate with semi-sweet chocolate morsels.  Because I always have those on hand.
  • I didn’t add vanilla.  Because of stress-brain.  You should add vanilla.
  • I added 1-2 tablespoons of sugar because I was going to be serving these to kids.  The recipe will be quite bitter if made as is.  It’s going to be bitter even if you make it with semi-sweet chocolate.  This is not your childhood fudge pop.  You’re using fairly dark chocolate and not adding any sweeteners.  It’ll be wonderfully chocolatey, but if you also want something sweet, sub out the bittersweet with milk chocolate or something.  Or dump in a bunch of sugar.  And taste it before you pour it the mold!  If it’s already bitter and gross to you when it’s warm, you’re more than likely not going to like it when it’s cold.
  • If you have issues with your ganache (which is more or less what you’re making) being grainy…well, there are a lot of reasons for that.  What’s likely happening is that you’re stirring too vigorously.  Or possibly that your cream mixture was entirely too hot.  At any rate, just strain it if you don’t like the grainy texture.  It’s not the end of the world.

The Room games

I recently played through The Room and The Room Two, available both on iOS and Android.  Aaaand…wow.  I like them a lot.

The Room and its sequel, The Room Two, are puzzle games developed by Fireproof Games.  They were released in 2013 and early 2014 respectively (for Android, because I am against Apple).  They’re relatively short puzzle games (I beat them both within a few hours of continuous play) set in a slightly dystopian, slightly horror, kind of steampunky era.  (And you know how I love dystopian, steampunk things.)

There’s is a broad storyline to the game where you are following a friend and his research on the Null element.  He leaves notes and clues to help you solve the various puzzles, first in the form of puzzle boxes and then whole rooms, in the game that allow you to see more of his research and mental state.

The puzzles are solved by manipulating various on-screen objects.  The touch control is intuitive and well-executed.  The puzzles themselves are also well crafted, graphics and all.  They’re moderately difficult and when you’re stuck, there’s an optional hint system that will provide hints in degrees to nudge you in the correct direction instead of giving you the answer outright.

Atmosphere control in the game is quite good in terms of what is revealed as you progress in the game as well as the accompanying music, especially in the second game.  There is a definite sense of unease and suspense as you find new clues and solve new puzzles.  But it’s not so bad that the panicky ones can’t handle the game.

I played The Room on my first gen Kindle Fire and The Room Two on my brother-in-law’s (henceforth known as the bil) Kindle Fire HD.  I definitely recommend going with a Kindle Fire HD if you’re going to play on a Kindle.  My Kindle struggled to load some of the puzzles and would crash opening some rooms.  Restarting my Kindle would fix the problem, but it’s annoying.

Also, The Room Two isn’t even available for the first gen Kindle Fire.  It makes sense considering how my Kindle struggled with the first game and the second game is much more involved graphically and otherwise.  Fireproof Games says it’s working on trying to make it available for all versions of the Kindle Fire, but I doubt that the first gen Kindle Fire would be able to provide as good as an experience.

So, The Room and The Room Two.  You definitely should play.