Hunger inducing, Finger licking, Goodness Gracious, oh George Martin!

Hi. My name is Gabi Gutz, and I'm... a Foodie.

I want to share with you something that blends three of my passions into one. Not only am I a "foodie" - a lover of everything and anything edible - I am also a literary lover and a very avid Old to Middle/Medieval cultural adventurist. I may be Asian, but I love my European histories, literature and cultures. There is one place online that I have fallen in love with, and if I wasn't in California, I'd rush my little Asian ass to the Northeast and tie my bib that shall reach down and around my toes, just to eat to my little heart's content.

What in all the kitchen heavenly bread crumbs am I talking about? I'm talking about the wonderful, creative and ever so drooling...

With the explosion that is known as HBO's Game of Thrones, I must declare this site a MUST BOOKMARK, MUST FAVORITE, MUST TASTE for all the new George RR Martin followers. For those who have been following A Song of Ice and Fire, this site is your haven, your tavern, your... cookbook for the dishes you've read, dreamed and (if you're like me) drooled over as the pages of A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, (and A Dance with Dragons - I have yet to get myself a copy...) continuously flipped over and over and over.

Dornish Dinner

The Inn at the Crossroads is a blog of sorts... no, it's not just any blog of sorts... Inn at the Crossroads is a tour guide to the foods of Westeros. Created and helmed by Sariann and Chelsea. Though I know extremely little about these two wonderful women, I draw a connection with them through their Westeros' based foods.

How did I find The Inn? I was doing one of my tri-monthly check-ins on author George RR Martin's Not A Blog and noticed something different and tasty looking as one of his entries. I clicked and pretty much instantaneously fell head over heels at what I was seeing: Food, recipes, food, recipes, food, recipes.... All based from meals I had only read about in A Song of Ice and Fire books. Though I was tight on money at the time (still am), I could at least see the ingredients, the cooking, the end results of dishes that I drooled over late at night, early morning, mid-day... rather than just use my bloody imagination trying to come up with how to cook the ingredients in the books!

Breakfast at Winterfell

They don't touch on just 1 type of food, The Inn at the Crossroads ladies cover all corners of Westeros and all meal times: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, appetizers, entrees, desserts, side dishes, drinks! Many of their entrees (I mean, entries! Blog entries!) use very basic ingredients, especially the breakfasts and some of the side dishes. They do get into some more complex, not necessarily complicated ingredients when it comes to the main event entrees. With the complexity comes the reality of "omg! I'm eating like the Starks, the Lannisters, Danaerys, Little-Finger...." However, with the depth also comes the price tag. Lamb is not necessarily the cheapest meat in the market; same for goat and bison (in some markets). Some times, though, you can get lucky and catch a store having a decent "sale" on the lamb, goat, bison that'll drop the expensive tag down to average price of steaks and pork chops. I know here in Central Coast, California, meat is actually pretty cheap; with the exception of chicken. I'm not saying that lamb, goat and bison are really easy to come by, but beef steak and pork chops are pretty even on the price tag scale. Have I scared you out of trying out the recipes?!?

Quail in Butter

I hope not! For several of the recipes, the ladies of The Inn give you ideas on how to and what to use as substitutes for harder to find ingredients. I can't honestly think of a perfect example right now, as my brain is going dead looking at pictures of their food. However, never fear! You can always, always substitute certain items to fit your budget, and you know, there's always coupons to snip and/or print!

One thing I do love about The Inn at the Crossroads: They give two versions of almost every dish; one "Medieval" style, one "Modern" style. They also include "end product" pictures of both versions. Yes, there are slight differences between the two styles. Not only the appearance of the dish, but the taste, texture, smell can differ between the two. I know you're probably thinking, you're bullshitting me, but I speaketh the truth. It's almost like my grilled cheese sandwiches versus my other half's grilled cheese sandwiches. He claims I make it better than him.

Sansa Salad

Back to The Inn! The two variations they cover includes recipes for both versions, and though I tend to drift to the side of the Medieval recipes, the Modern recipes tend to be (maybe it's just me) cheaper to make.

Any way, the flavors (mind you, I'm going by the ingredients and my knowledge of how the cooking process works - yay for being a foodie!) of most of the dishes on The Inn's site have seemingly beautiful, culinary balance between salty and sweet. Lots of foods actually do that, but the fine balancing act is really captured by many Middle Ages cuisines. Boy, am I grateful to the women of The Inn for showcasing the blending and meshing and harmony of sweet and salty!

Breakfast at the Wall

As I'm beginning to hear my stomach rumble, and my mouth is starting to water, I must begin my final thoughts. I have tried only three dishes on my own, and all three were extremely heart-warming and food coma inducing. I am hesitant about the lemon cakes, simply because I have five different versions of the cakes, and I don't know which/where to begin! All five are easy to make, the ingredients are easy to find, but each recipe is slightly different than the other. Decisions, decisions, and when it comes to food, I just can't settle for one!

Casual Meal at the Inn

To conclude, I'd like to repeat the motto of The Inn at the Crossroads, as I truly do agree with it! "In the Game of Food, you win, or you wash the dishes...". Too true for its own good! Also, let's not forget my personal food motto: "Food is a global culture. Try everything once. Then, eat to your heart and stomach's content."

Now, go and seek the knowledge of food with the ladies of The Inn at the Crossroads! Eat, Drink, Enjoy! Oh! And tell them that Gabi Gutz sent you!

Until next topic --