Learn how to braid your hair in a style that honors the heirs of Durin! Check out Lilla…
Continue ReadingLearn how to braid your hair in a style that honors the heirs of Durin!
Check out Lilla Rose’s awesome clips here!
Note: My apologies for posting this late on TORn! Sometimes real life gets in the way of being a volunteer at TheOneRing. If you would like to make sure you get our videos and posts as soon as they’re up, please like our Facebook page and subscribe on YouTube. Hannon le! ~Kili
Learn how to (and how not to) make strawberry wine worthy of the Woodland Realm with Kili!
STRAWBERRY WINE (1 gallon)
Ingredients:
3-4 lbs of fresh, ripe strawberries
2.5 lbs of sugar
1 gallon of pre-boiled water
2 tsp citric acid
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp yeast
Instructions:
Mash the strawberries. Add mashed berries and sugar to a crock pot. Add 2 tsb citric acid. Pour the boiled water over the mixture and dissolve the sugar as much as possible.
Once the mixture cools, add yeast nutrient and yeast. Stir.
Let the mixture sit for a week, stirring every day.
After one week, strain the strawberries and squeeze out the juice into a sanitized glass carboy. Good luck. If needed, sterilize more water by boiling. Allow it to cool then add it to your wine. Attach an airlock and let sit for 4 weeks.
After a month, rack your wine (siphon it into another sanitized carboy).
Rack once a month for 4-6 months.
Bottle. Enjoy!
When Fili decides to bake a surprise to celebrate the release of Kili’s latest book, her sister catches wind and tries to spy while wearing a certain hoodie…
Kili’s (K.M. Rice) books can be found here, and check out LOTH Hoodies here! Recipe below.
SARUMAN’S SECRET SURPRISE CAKE
For the cake:
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter (plus more to grease with pans with or you can use a baking spray!)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for the pans
1 cup of milk
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (or a little more!)
For the frosting:
8 ounces white chocolate, chopped, plus shaved chocolate for topping
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
A small amount of cocoa powder for dusting!
Make the cake:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Butter two 8-inch-round cake pans and dust with cocoa powder, tapping out the excess.
3. Combine the butter, milk and 1/2 cup water in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.
4. Transfer to a large bowl, add the cocoa powder and granulated sugar and whisk until smooth. Let cool slightly, about 5 minutes.
5. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
6. Whisk the eggs and vanilla into the cocoa mixture then stir in the flour mixture until just combined (it’s ok if there are a few small lumps in this Saruman pool!).
7. Divide the batter between the prepared pans.
8. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out with a few moist crumbs, about 35 minutes.
9. Let cool 10 or more minutes in the pans then run a knife around the edges and invert onto a rack to cool completely.
Make the frosting:
1. Put the white chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring, until smooth; let cool.
2. Beat the butter and salt in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
3. Beat in the melted white chocolate until combined. Gradually beat in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth and fluffy; beat in the vanilla. (If the frosting is too soft to spread, chill 15 minutes or more! This makes a LOT of frosting so you may not end up using it all!)
4. Place one cake layer on a platter and spread with one-third of the frosting. Top with the second cake layer; cover the whole cake with the remaining frosting.
5. Top with dust of cocoa powder and enjoy a bit of Saruman’s surprise!
Join Kili and Mike the Guide for a tour of several Lord of the Rings filming locations, including Isengard, Anduin, and Rivendell!
Book your own Middle-earth adventure with Mike the Guide, recommended by not only Kili but Ian Brodie, author of the official locations guidebook, himself! Click here to learn more.
Enjoy the photos below and remember to check out our Happy Hobbit YouTube channel for many more videos from New Zealand and the California shire! A great place to start is this playlist:
As some of you may have noticed, my March madness really was spent in Middle-earth! In the month I spent in New Zealand, I had the immense pleasure of visiting the Hobbiton Movie Set in Matamata. Journey with me now to the Shire to experience your own adventure in Hobbiton!
And please feel free to peruse the photos below!
Join Farmer Maggot, Dis, and special guest Tom Bombadil to learn a little about mushrooms!
