Culinary Cosplay: Nancy Drew & the Haunting of Castle Malloy

So as the title of this post implies, today's post is going to be about food (more specifically, drink) instead of clothing or accessories. For those of you who don't know me personally, I really love cosplay. I love the creativity of it, the artistry and elements of acting, essentially everything about it. Lately though, I've been wanting to do more casual cosplay projects, ones that don't require as much of a commitment and that I can do on the spur of the moment. Enter culinary cosplay.

I was playing Nancy Drew and the Haunting of Castle Malloy a couple of nights ago, and I got to the point where you have to make dear cranky old Donal his favorite drink at the Screaming Banshee Inn. (For those of you who haven't played any of the Nancy Drew games, you can pull up a game play video on YouTube, or better yet, play the games yourself. You can find them for sale at http://www.herinteractive.com/) Anyway, as I was flipping through the recipe book to find the right recipe, I couldn't help wondering how the different drinks were in real life, and what the best drink the Screaming Banshee offered was.

 Which led to my sister and I making, sampling, and documenting each of the 12 drinks in the book that offered a recipe. For photos, recipes, and ratings of each one, see below. 

 

(Compiled ingredients)

These recipes do not give specific amounts, instead they tell how many parts of each ingredient to use. I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup as my default 1 part amount, and for any recipes that called for 1 part mint extract, I used 3 to 4 drops.

Green Isle ☆☆

Green Isle was essentially a natural pineapple soda, which would have won points with me, if it hadn't been for the mint extract. Since I didn't add much mint, this one was drinkable but still had a rather odd flavor that won it the lowest rating.

Connolly's Folly ☆☆☆

Connolly's Folly was a light sparkling lemonade with a hint of orange. Definitely an improvement on Green Isle, but since the flavor is pretty light, only 3 stars for this one. However, this would probably be a nice drink for summertime when you need to drink a lot of liquids & need something light.

Bleeding Horse ☆☆☆☆☆

 We loved the Bleeding Horse! With the addition of a splash of sparkling water, it's a wonderfully tart/fizzy and grown-up feeling take on the classic strawberry lemonade, and this drink disappeared VERY quickly. Next time I'd put just a splash less lemon juice, but even as tart as it is, it's great. 

Smuggler's Gold ☆☆☆☆

If you want the perfect tropical breakfast juice, Smuggler's Gold is a winner. Because this one doesn't have sparkling water like many of the others, the fruit flavor is bright and strong. The only reason it didn't get a higher rating is because it's a pretty basic juice blend.

Peat Bog ☆☆☆

Points for the lovely color and smell, but that's about it. Peat Bog essentially tastes like milk, with the faintest of fruit flavor to it. However, it smells great and is a very pretty shade of pale pink, so if you were already planning on drinking milk, this is a fun alternative. 

Fairy Drink ☆☆☆☆

Again, very pretty to look at. This one makes me think of a sparkly tingly milkshake with hints of pineapple, but in soda form. However, if I was to make it again, I'd do 1 (possibly 2?) part less sparkling water and 3 parts ice cream instead of 2, because for something so reminiscent of a milkshake, I feel like it should be a bit sweeter.

Leprechaun's Lunch ☆☆☆☆

Oh, for the milkshake we were nearly granted! With one less part milk and one or two more parts ice cream, this would be a lovely vanilla minty milkshake, and a solid 5 stars. As is, it's a great sweet minty milk.

Mean Fiddler ☆☆☆

The Mean Fiddler would be the classic natural orange soda, if it had one or two parts less sparkling water. As is, it's not bad, but it isn't anything special either. 

Brown River ☆☆☆☆.☆

For all lovers of sweet fruity drinks, this one is for you. Brown River is the younger sweeter sibling of the Bleeding Horse, and has a definite pineapple note to it. Smells fantastic and looks delicious, just isn't quite as developed of a flavor as the Bleeding Horse. 

Bog Punch ☆☆☆☆

Has a lovely color that reminds me of pink grapefruit juice, and a well balanced flavor. It is a little tart, but in a good way. While it isn't as strong of a juice as some of the others, it isn't watery, and it is nicely refreshing. 

Afterglow ☆☆☆☆

Not tart or too weak, the Afterglow is a nice basic breakfast juice with prevalent notes of orange and pineapple.

Crow's Nest ☆☆☆☆☆

As Donal's favorite drink, it's pretty easy to understand why. The Crow's Nest is a wonderful fresh summery juice with good flavor balance. Due to its simplicity it can't quite beat out the Bleeding Horse for the spot of my personal favorite, but I still would definitely make this one again. 

And that's it! Comment and let me know which ones look the best to you, and how you rate them if you try the recipes. I'd love to hear other people's personal favorites. Until next time, stay sleuthy!