A Bluestocking Knits

It took me a while to get the hang of cooking in the “Tales of the Shire” computer game, not so much the actual techniques — though of course that is at times not at all like real-world cooking! — but of balancing ingredients and seasonings for the optimal flavor combinations that the game developers have set up for each dish. The hardest thing for me was to not think like I do in my own kitchen, where I would never add, say, garlic to my raspberry jam (!!), but in the game I might actually want to do that if I need a spicy jam and garlic is the best choice at hand. And so, because I depended rather a lot in the early days on more-experienced players’ advice — and all of the resources I found were beginner TotS cooking tips, not advanced — I want to return the favor as well as give some tips to those players who will come after me!

Enjoy!