samwise bass

Join our big brother Samwise to learn how to clean and gut a fresh-caught bass before turning it into a delicious garlicy meal! (Squeamish hobbits — ye be warned! This episode contains the gutting of a fish).

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Shortbread Pie

Join Fili to learn how to make a sweet summer treat that even elves will devour… or will they? See recipe below!

STRAWBERRY SHORTBREAD PIE

For the crust:
Remember — this exact recipe may end up being a little more than enough for just one pie. If this happens, use the extra dough to form shapes to decorate your pie! This makes a great cookie, too!

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup confectioner’s sugar

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350º F.
2. Mix together the cold butter, flour, and confectioner’s sugar. Using a pastry cutter to mix it all together will help. Once it is mixed together into an even crust, take the amount you need to evenly cover the bottom of the tin. Make sure it is not too thin on the bottom or else it will burn, and not too thick on the edges.
3. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Always set the bake time lower in case your oven is acting up!
4. Remove from oven and let it cool completely before you dress it up with the berries!

For the filling:

Ingredients
1 quart fresh strawberries (or more!)
1 cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3/4 cup water

Instructions

1. After the crust has baked and cooled, arrange around half the whole strawberries until the crust is covered.

2. Mash the remaining berries in a bowl before adding the sugar. Once mixed, cook it together in a medium saucepan over medium heat until it boils. Be sure to stir it the entire time!

3. On the side, whisk together cornstarch and water. Once the berry mixture is boiling, stir the cornstarch mixture in and reduce heat to low. Stir constantly until it thickens into a gelatin-like substance. This could be 5 to 10 minutes depending on how your stove cooks, eyeball it!

4. Once it is ready, pour it over the strawberries that are already in the crust. Place any decorations such as the hearts we did above on the pie before it sets up too much. Then last, put it in the fridge for several hours before eating!

5. Eat it all! Whip cream or not, this pie will be gone in a night! Especially if you have Legolas around ;).

Enjoy!

Kz0snprSAN DIEGO — Warner Bros. definitely has something up its sleeve for Saturday at Comic-Con, but Thursday was left to the fans.

Staffers of TheOneRing.net were invited to to take the stage, in what has become a Comic-Con tradition, to talk Middle-earth movies from Peter Jasckon, and this year for the final Hobbit film. It was extra pleasing to follow the fantastic and ever-more-popular George R.R. Martin after his panel. Clifford Broadway made sure to sit in Martin’s chair.

Panelists were:

Chris Pirrotta — Co-founder of the site and a big part of TORn conventions for years, Calisuri was on hand to finish what he started.

John Tedeschi — A long-time staffer from New York, Thor moderated the panel keeping the rest of us in check.

Clifford Broadway — The site’s Quickbeam, Cliff adds a depth of knowledge or all the adaptations of Tolkien’s works, not just the latest from Jackson.

Kellie Rice — As a writer and unabashed fan known as part of the Happy Hobbit, Kellie added a feminine touch to the proceedings.

Larry D. Curtis — With several trips to New Zealand and five weeks on set during filming of the films, MrCere is a convention vet but was also silent during certain portions of the proceedings.

We hoped we were a fun and diverse group and we tried to strike a conversational balance on the panel. We also knew we had a little extra time because of the cancellation of the panel following ours. We focused on where we left off last and then went deep into spoiler territory with a lot of speculation but also content taken from clues from interviews, official photos and rumor.

The conversation also generated some laughs when members of the audience had not read the books and learned the most elementary of spoilers, such as about who lived and who died.

Our audience polls also highlighted the popular opinion of fans on many fronts. Forged by and for fans, TheOneRing staff was honored to be a part of the programming at San Diego Comic-Con. We were also honored to have LOTR guru Jim Rygel stop by to say hello to the audience!