Coming Soon: Video Games Live 2015

On June 15th, 11to11 Events Sdn Bhd announced that they will be bringing the biggest regional cosplay competition to Kuala Lumpur at Video Games Live 2015. This is a concert featuring music from famous video games which will be held on 29 August 2015 at Stadium Putra, KL.

Twenty talented and skilled cosplayers will be chosen to go on the red carpet and there's up to RM10,000 worth of prizes to be won! Each of these cosplayers will be given a free ticket to attend Video Games Live 2015 as part of their prize.

Aspiring participants would register at this site by uploading an image of themselves in cosplay. People can register easily using Facebook. Candidates will be judged by video games music composer Tommy Tallarico, 11to11 Events director Leslie Jeyam, cosplayer Allen Yap and a mystery judge! The judging criteria includes the following - how the cosplay ties in with the theme of the event (video games), the intricacy and detail of the costume and the number of 'likes' the cosplayer receives on the website.

There was a short cosplay showcase to show everyone what to expect from the competition! There were 11 people in full gear and I managed to snap a few pictures of the beautiful cosplayers, who had dressed up as characters from the popular video game series Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts.

An emerald Sharpshooter

Ladies spanning genres

The heroes of Kingdom Hearts

Scythe-wielding badass

Riku, the Redeemed

The organisers also launched the 11pass11 mobile app which people can use to purchase their tickets and even lead people to their seats via bluetooth.

At the Video Games Live concert, other than the cosplay competition, there is also a Food Truck gathering and merchandise booths to visit! After the event, if you are still have the energy, there is an after party at the Stratosphere (The Roof)! So buy a ticket quick and don't miss this fantastic event!

Pork Roast, Just Kidding / Shokugeki no Souma Review

Pork Roast?

I would have never expected a dish from a Japanese animation (anime) to be so good. I would have never guessed that such a combination of flavours would harmonise so well, especially if the recipe is based off a work of fiction.

Totsuki Culinary Academy Crest

Today, I tried to make the "Pork Roast, Just Kidding" (or "Gotcha Pork Roast", depending on translation) from the anime Shokugeki no Souma. The anime is rather new and follows the story of a diner owner's son who is forced by his father to go to Japan's top culinary school - Totsuki Culinary Academy.

The dish in the anime

This dish comes from the very first episode of the anime. The premise of this is that the titular character, Souma, has to make a meat dish for a realtor who wants to put the poor kid out of business. This is because he had previously promised that if he was unable to satisfy a customer, he'd gladly close down the restaurant. The realtor had hired some men to destroy all the meat in the restaurant, ruining any possibility for the 15-year-old to serve a juicy meat dish. How Souma overcomes this unfair action is due to his ability to improvise.

He relies a lot on what he has, not letting the unfortunate events hinder him in his quest for cooking the dish. The dish he created, which is the subject of this blog post, came from a mistake he made in plating. He found that meat juices would end up soaking the potatoes if they were too close together. Therefore, he decided to make a whole dish that is based on that concept, creating a juicy potato dish that incited an interesting response from the realtor.

The visuals of the food in the anime are commendable as they fully use visual effects to portray the deliciousness of the food. Albeit a tad exaggerated, they have wonderfully portrayed how great gourmet food can feel on a person's palate. Most of the reactions (if not all) are portrayed really sexually with knees being buckled, blushing and moaning. I am not a 100% fan of that style of portrayal as it is mostly fan-service but I think that it is a rather unique way of expressing their dishes.

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Now, onto the dish itself. I made some minor changes to it as I wasn't willing to risk sake or red wine for the sauce. Therefore, I had to find an alternative way to make the dish more flavourful.

The ingredients include:

• 5 potatoes, peeled, diced into 4 cubes
• 250 g of Smoked pork bacon
• 1 large yellow onion
• 3 caps of small portobello mushrooms
• A pinch of Himalayan sea salt
• A few stalks of lemon thyme, plucked from the stem
• A stalk of rosemary
• A few drops of lime juice

The first order of business is to boil the potatoes until they are soft. Avoid over-boiling, always observe the potatoes and test for firmness with a fork after the water has boiled.

While the potatoes are softening up, start to finely chop up the mushrooms and onion. Do not worry about consistency of size, just make sure they are chopped up into tiny pieces.

When the potatoes are ready, strain out the water and place the potatoes in a large mixing bowl. If you have a potato masher, get mashing. Otherwise, use a fork or hands to mash. Mash the potatoes until they are finely mashed.

After mashing the potatoes, add some olive oil to the pot and throw in the onions. Cook them until they are golden brown. When they are, put in the mushrooms and add more olive oil. Continue stirring in the simmering heat until the aroma of the mushrooms stand out.

At that point, mix in the potatoes and stir. Continue stirring until the potatoes are cooked well enough and don't forget the lime juice and lemon thyme.

Once the mash is cooked, remove it and place it into a serving bowl. Lace the top with bacon and garnish it with some rosemary. Then, place it into the oven and let it bake at 200 C for 15 minutes before gradually lowering the temperature for 5 minutes.

Let the mash sit for half an hour to an hour to continue cooking on its own but do not take it out of the oven. After that short waiting period, serve it with apple sauce and sour cream.

An alternative way to cook this dish is to add sliced bacon cubes into the mash and to also place some apple slices at the top to add more fragrance and flavour to the dish.