For last week’s game group, we had an epic space game, a ridiculous push your luck game, and a very silly race, paired with some super sweet and delightful snack bars. This evening had a little bit of everything! Read on for the details, and don’t forget to check out those ‘at a glance’ tables for the quick stats.

At a Glance…

Almond Croissant Bars

I looovvvveee me a good almond croissant. It’s become especially precious since I became vegan, since they’re a lot harder to find. When I lived in France, I’d get almond croissant, regular croissants, pain au chocolat, and pain aux raisin all the time as I did my afternoon commute from classes in the morning in France to internship at the UN in Geneva. So when I can find a recipe that gives me that same nostalgic goodness, I’m all in.

There were 10 of us expected that evening, so of course I doubled it. I had regrets halfway through, but you press on with your life. The frangipane did not fit well in my blender, and I had to switch mixing bowls halfway through when I realized at my fifth cup of flour things were not going to work lol. Eventually it all came together, baked delightfully, and tasted scrumptiously. I forgot to sprinkle it with powdered sugar, which might have made it a little prettier and more photogenic, but honestly it did *not* need more sugar lol. This dish is basically “butter”, sugar, and almonds of various forms (flour, extract, & sliced), so prepare yourself for the richness. If you’re like me though and love a good almond croissant, you should definitely try these, and then attempt to restrain yourself from doubling the recipe haha.

The Hare & The Tortoise

For the games, we played Deep Sea Adventure, previously talked about here, Galactic Cruise, previously talked about here, and the Hare & Tortoise, who finally gets some more deserved love. For such a simple game, it has some delightful fun.

In it, you are placing bets and helping to facilitate a race of animals who all move in slightly different ways. You take turns playing cards to the middle, up to four of one kind, and when four of a kind or eight total are played, the race phase triggers. Some animals move super fast like the rabbit and sheep (but he then has to stop for water). Some are straight forward like the wolf and fox, and some are slow and steady (the turtle of course). The game is all about hand management and timing your plays so you keep your animals moving while ditching the cards you don’t want at opportune moments. Whoever finishes first, second, and third scores 5, 3, and 2 points respectively and that’s it! There’s some other little things like the wolf howling cards (all the other animals are scared to a stupor and don’t move), and the rabbit not moving if he gets a bunch of cards while in first. This game always brings up questions like, “what is in the fox’s bag”? And, “why does the sheep look like he’s in a crazed panic?”. There’s a simple kids mode I haven’t tried, and though the main mode is simple enough it’s a great end of the night kinda game to end things on a high note. Definitely give this one a chance!

Want to buy these games? Check out your friendly local game store (FLGS), Amazon [here], or get a first-order discount at Board Game bliss [here].