The Cosplay Kitchen Pilot

Episode 1- Seras Victoria
The Costume

This was one of the first complete costumes I made entirely on my own. Hellsing was such an awesome anime and when I saw Seras with her Harkonnen I knew I had to make it. The blue base fabric is a cotton/nylon blend, nice and stretchy for the active Police Girl on the go! The top was a basic button down shirt pattern, I had to widen the sleeves so I would be able to roll them to the elbow, otherwise they were much too tight. The skirt was a shortened pencil skirt pattern, I made the skirt slightly longer in the back to accommodation my bottom and avoid unnecessary panty shots. The Hellsing patches were made of felt, each was stitched by hand. The gloves are from the Army Surplus and I added the cuffs to the wrists. The leggings are a stretchy polyester custom fit to my legs and held up with the help of some elastic. The boots are by Rampage and I made partial covers for them to make the boot cuff and line designs on the base. The cannon pictured in the video is actually Harkonnen 2.0. The first I was never 100% happy with as it lacked many of the small details that I later felt were very important.  Harkonnen 1.0 is now retired and resides happily in the garage along with two large Buster Swords which are a story for another day. My husband made Harkonnen 2.0 with all of the minor details I felt were lacking in the first and with a bonus of moving parts! I can actually load the gun! This costume is always a blast to wear and it never gets old seeing peoples reaction to the gun. It will be a long time till this costume hits the retirement bin.

The Episode
I am often laughed at for my love of almost raw steak and have on more than one occasion been called a wild animal or zombie when ordering at a restaurant. When I decided to turn TCK into a reality and decided on Seras as my first costume, my rare meat obsession sparked my recipe ideas. The 'blood' soup is one that has been in my recipe book for many years, although it usually goes by Strawberry Bisque. I added extra balsamic vinegar to darken the color and to balance out the tartness I added the sugar. Strawberries are my favorite fruit and I love to come up with new ways to feature them! The black tea is because the boss made me... I say stick with wine!   

Here is the Pilot episode of The Cosplay Kitchen! Seras Victoria will teach you how to make Strawberry "Blood" Soup, a cut of Filet Mignon with a Garlic Wine Sauce, and a pot of Black Tea.

Strawberry Soup
Ingredients-
1/2 pint Strawberries
1/4 cup Sugar
1/2 Orange
2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar Glaze (can be found at most grocery stores)
1/4 1/3 1/2 cup Red Wine (Merlot or Cabernet work best)
Directions-
Place all ingredients into a large blender or food processor and blend for about 2 minutes or until smooth.
Serves 2

Filet Minion with Garlic Wine Sauce
Ingredients-
2- 4 ounce cuts of Filet Mignon
2 strips of Bacon
2 tbsp Butter
1 tbsp Fresh Minced Garlic
1 cup Red Wine
Salt and Pepper to taste
Directions-
Wrap the filets with the bacon and secure with a small toothpick. Heat up a stainless or cast iron skillet to medium high heat then add 1 tbsp of butter, careful as it will melt quickly. Immediately add your filets and cook to your desired done-ness. (About 5 minutes per side for rare, 6 for med. rare and 7 for medium. I refuse to tell you the times for well done.) Season with salt and pepper during cooking. If you do cook your steak to medium, after the first 5 minutes turn your heat down to medium to avoid burning. Place them aside, turn the heat down to medium and add the remaining butter and garlic to the pan. Gently brown the garlic, this will happen quickly, garlic burns easily, then pour in your red wine. Watch out for Flames if you are using a gas burner! Swirl or stir to avoid burning and let the wine reduce to about half (5 minutes or so). Pour over steaks and enjoy!
Serves 2

Black Tea - 1 Pot
Ingredients-
2 tsp of Tea per 8oz of Water placed in a teabag or tea ball
Lemon
Sugar
Directions-
Bring water to a full boil (nice big bubbles). Pour water over tea and let steep for 5 minutes, remove tea and serve. Lemon and sugar optional.



Hope you all enjoyed the episode! Thanks for watching!

Ralenta