The wintry land of Skyrim stretches before us, and I’ve decided to spend the coming months wandering it at my own pace.
This year, I’m replaying my favorite game Skyrim with a roleplaying focus. My ranger has a bow on her back and a handful of ingredients in her pack… ready for adventure, but taking it slow. For an extra cozy adventure, I’m also cooking my way through The Elder Scrolls: The Official Cookbook all season long!
Here’s how our first days went.
Cooking Adventure: Saltrice Porridge
While I enjoy cooking, I rarely make complicated recipes—so I am proceeding with caution here. I’m easing myself in. I’m starting simple. That’s why I went for what looked like the easiest recipe in the book: Saltrice Porridge.
This is basically a traditional rice porridge, with no special flavors needed. In Skyrim, it’s a Dunmer dish made with saltrice from Morrowind—easier to find and cook than oatmeal, in these parts. The simplicity made it easy to whip up using ingredients I already had in my kitchen.
My Experience: I simply cooked rice on the stove (I only had brown rice, so that’s what I used), then starting stirring in milk a little at a time, letting it simmer. The rice gradually absorbed the milk. And I mean really gradually. I’d never done this before, and the recipe said it would take 45 minutes, but it took me far longer. From start to finished meal, I spent well over an hour cooking this thing.
But it turned out to be a delicious, cozy meal! I was pleasantly surprised. After checking a Youtube video about cooking rice porridge to know how soupy vs thick it should be when I took it off the stove, I removed it from the heat when it still had a tiny bit of liquid left. The rice absorbed the milk pretty well after that, and made a nice gooey meal.
I topped mine with some dried berries, walnuts, cinnamon, vanilla, and honey, just as the recipe suggested. It tasted a lot like my usual morning oatmeal, which uses the same toppings. It just took… let me do the math… about 18 times longer to make. Literally.
Final Verdict: I would make this again based on how easy and yummy it was, but not based on how long it took. Oatmeal is way too similar and so much quicker to whip up, I’ll probably just do that from now on.
Skyrim Adventures: Whiterun Blues
Every adventure has to begin somewhere, and for Aslaug, it begins on the road to Whiterun. She’s a hunter, an alchemist, and—at least for now—just another adventurer trying to make her way in Skyrim.
She decided to head to the cozy town of Whiterun first, hoping to learn a few things and earn some coin.
For me, going straight to Whiterun made this Skyrim adventure feel familiar, since that’s where the vanilla game typically takes you first. But in this case, I’m playing with the mod “Skyrim Unbound,” which lets you spawn anywhere; I’m also using it to turn off dragons. This makes my character less of a Dragonborn and more of a typical adventurer (although I can do the main quest later if I want to turn that on).
In Whiterun, Aslaug met Danica Pure-Spring at the Temple of Kynareth, who told her there was a tree that needed healing. To help, Aslaug tried to snag a special dagger called Nettlebane from some pretty nasty witches, but they kept killing her. (Don’t do that quest when you are only Level 2.)
Aslaug actually had a friend following her—a man from the temple who was interested in the tree—but I guess my “Skyrim Unbound” no-dragons wasn’t working, because a massive dragon found Aslaug and her traveling companion and he just disappeared. Aslaug didn’t see what happened, but when she ended up with those witches later, she was sadly on her own. Rest in peace, good fellow.
Feeling outleveled, Aslaug took a break in Riverwood, where she helped some gentlemen sort out their romantic entanglements. She also met a trader named Lucan Valerius who wanted her to track down a Golden Claw from Bleak Falls Barrow. (Classic first quest time, yay!) That ended up being the perfect adventure for Aslaug. There’s nothing like some Nordic ruins.
After that, she was feeling more confident getting that dagger from those witches! She even took a new friend along, a Bosmer named Faendal. (She helped him with his romance problems.) They headed to Eldergleam Sanctuary (which is gorgeous, one of my favorite spots in Skyrim) and scooped some sap to save the tree in Whiterun. Although, again, I’m pretty sure she lost him on the way, because he was not with her when she got back.
Since Whiterun feels like home already, Aslaug tried to buy a home there—only to discover it’s well out of her price range. Perhaps someday.
In the meantime, she hired Jenassa, a Dark Elf ranger who feels like a spirit sister, to travel with her on some odd quests and explore a bit. Perhaps they will become hunting companions. She’s already winning me over with little gems like this:
“I thought about becoming a bandit. I decided I liked clean clothes and fresh mead.”
Like I said, she’s a spirit sister.
Here’s how my bingo card is going:
You are welcome to grab your own here if you want to try it (just scroll down and drag the image to your desktop or right-click to download):
Quests Completed:
- Bleak Falls Barrow
- The Blessings of Nature
- a few small side quests
Current Level: 5
That’s it for this week’s adventures! If you’re playing along, let me know what you’ve gotten up to in the game. If you’re cooking along, I’d love to hear how your recipes turned out.
Next time, Aslaug will be finding out more about the Companions who founded Whiterun. I hope they’re friendly.
Until our next adventure,
Ashley
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