Bridal Bites

Plus my case for corporate mandated Dungeons & Dragons

Prospect Park Hits The Culinary Mark

Justine and I were invited to Prospect Park’s Boathouse this past week by our vendor to test out their Spring menu as we are getting married this May. They had some really solid bites that I want to talk about, but we’ve got a custom menu in mind that we are going to ask for. If you want to see the concept, then keep reading below!

They started out the menu with a set of appetizers. They were all little bites and we aligned on most of them with some exceptions. First up was a plate with pupusas, which were these little crepe wraps, then a cauliflower taco and a tomato tart. Of these, the tart was easily the best of the bunch. There were two others that I took notes on, including a smoked salmon gateau that Justine was not the biggest fan of, but I swear was a culinary masterpiece. The other was a braised short rib polenta bite that we both really enjoyed, but Juice had the inspired idea of making it with a shrimp instead as a little shrimp & grits bite.

Next up was a pea soup. I consider myself a bit of a soup minimalist, meaning I can only handle so much soup in a season and I’m about tapped out this year. Then they served us a spring grain salad. Justine really liked the salad dressing, but wanted a more stabbable green. There were two pasta dishes, both of which featured mushrooms, and I could’ve easily had 14 of ‘em. Other than that we had some of the standard fish, chicken, and steak with varying sides.

We had a great time at the dinner. It had an open bar, but I’m doing dry January, which is my excuse just to have 27 diet cokes in public and then drink in the comfort of my home. This was all really nice and the venue is beautiful, but we have our own idea. Justine threw together a mock menu to share over to the vendor, so what I’m about to show isn’t fully approved yet, but I think it’s pretty great.

Starting out we want a salad with a crisp green that is good at getting forked (sorry). Serve these with some buttermilk biscuits and caviar at the table. The combo sounds odd when you first hear it, but I promise there isn’t a better vessel for caviar than a good flaky biscuit.

Next up we break the menu down into his & her favorites. For me, we are looking at fried chicken, roasted potatoes, and a bourbon cocktail with mint. The cocktail will likely use lemonade, but they also offer white peach so we may go a little crazy. J-dog wants to go with shrimp & grits with a side of roasted cabbage with salsa verde. Unlike the salsa verde found in Taco Bell packets, this one can be found on Justine’s website and adds a fresh green flavor that is a great addition to everything. Justine plans to make the cakes herself, with the chocolate chip bourbon pecan pie being my most anticipated.

Our menu is still in draft mode, so we must wait and see what we can do. However, one thing is confirmed for the day: regardless of the food and drink, I’m lucky to have found someone with whom I can laugh and love through life. In this case, the meals don’t matter; it’s all about my Snack.

Desk Jockeys need Fantasy

Picture this… you, 31M, get off work around 6pm. You eat dinner, you watch some TV while checking Slack for anything else coming in, then you go to bed. Rinse, repeat daily and you’re just looking for the weekend. Now imagine an oasis in the middle of your week. A time to hang with your buds, haggle with half-orcs, and knockout some gnolls. That’s right…

I’ve been playing Dungeons & Dragons for awhile now PST (pre-Stranger Things). The group I play in at present is full of other guys who live in New York along with some others that used to but moved for various reasons. The group has been going on for almost a dozen years, and I was lucky to join about five or six years ago. Every Wednesday, we get together on Discord for three hours and are led through whatever campaign we are playing at the moment. Our last campaign was Dragonlance, where I played as Torrent Skyblade, a human fighter with the cavalier subclass. Torrent sided with the bad guys at one point, so I created a new character named Pip Squeak who was an arcane trickster rogue multiclassed with a swarmkeeper ranger, which let him summon spectral rats to pick locks (rad). We’re currently in the last few sessions of the Phandelver & Below: The Shattered Obelisk sourcebook. I started with a halfling monk in the Way of Mercy subclass named Gilligan Crustywater. However, Gilligan was tragically consumed by a Behir, so I now play as half-ef Arthur Rycoril (who was actually my old character in our Acquisitions Incorporated game). Arthur tells everyone that he is a necromancer to sound more official, but he is actually just a wild magic sorcerer who, for various reasons, was forced into a warlock pact with Asmodeus. His pact magic manifests through being a Hexblade, which allows him to use a big sword that he can swing pretty well.

I love Dungeons & Dragons and often use it as my “get to know you” fact in work bios. I do this as I firmly believe it is one of the best parts of my week. I, like a lot of people in Corporate America, work in a job that doesn’t require too much imagination. I work for a company that, like many others, has creativity as one of their values. Typically, this means think outside of the standard box when you’re trying to solve the weekly problem. Out of the group of guys I play with, four of them are theater technical directors and one works in film. These are true creatives, and the roleplay that we get to do is incredible. I frequently am on the edge of my seat in combat, have been torn over the campaign's decisions, and have been emotionally distraught to see a beloved character cut down while fighting for what they believe in.

Jokes aside, my job can actually end up getting some complex problems, so when I tackle these I’m not using the garden variety creativity prescribed in the culture deck. Instead, I use the creativity and imagination that I’ve learned through hundreds of hours of dungeon diving with some of my best friends. Meeting with a VP at work is nothing when I just had negotiations with a pack of Githyanki inside a Mindflayer’s lair as we race to stop the ritual that is threatening to destroy Phandalin the night before (Arthur teleported behind and killed the Githyanki leader cause he didn’t want to give up her sword that he found in the previous room… it was a really cool sword). Juggling a few tasks to complete by the end of the day is a joke compared to getting into a flanking position to use elven accuracy on my attack, where I spend two sorcery points to quicken an action spell, green-flame blade, to a bonus action to then attack twice with my sword. Can’t forget the -5 attack penalty from the Great Weapon Master Feat to then get +10 to my damage roll on each attack. This is also ignoring haste, which I got cast on me last session by our warforged fighter/arcanist, and the million other possibilities I could have done in a turn. That is just one turn, and I’ll get another one in five minutes, which I need to start thinking about. The game breaks up my weekly monotony and forces me into situations that, before Dungeons & Dragons, I would’ve been uncomfortable in. It sounds corny, but just a few hours each week keeps magic in my life that would otherwise be absent.

This is all to say that companies should drop the holiday parties and pick up the dice. Their workforce, and citizens of the material plane, will thank them. This is also just the case for Dungeons & Dragons. There are several other popular fantasy table-top Role Playing Games (TTRPG). We played a short campaign of Hunter: The Reckoning last April, a monster of the week style game à la Supernatural. The LFG subreddit can be a solid place to find virtual games to play with people. Most are looking for DnD, but you’ll find some people looking for Pathfinder, Cyberpunk, and others. This is Reddit though, so mileage may vary. My best advice is make sure the group has a Session 0, which is typically the chance for everyone to meet and go over ground rules to make sure everyone is comfortable. If you aren’t comfortable, drop out and try searching again. Local game stores in your area may also host TTRPG nights through Adventurers League., which can be a good way to meet new people around you and play games in person.

While my political campaign for Ice Elementals over Icebreakers is ongoing, I suggest checking those resources out. Also feel free to drop questions in the comments if you’d like more advice on how to get started! If you’ve read to the end, congrats! You get a picture of a snuggly Gladiator (Tabaxi, level 7 Gloom Stalker Ranger) who just got back great bloodwork from the Vet.

Weddings & Wyverns,

Eric