Asuna's Bistro

[Asuna]

Aspiring Chef de Cuisine, Bartender, and Server

Twitter | YouTube | Twitch | Spotify | FFN | AO3

Spoiler: Gaming Setup

Spoiler: Specs and Peripherals

Computer Specs:
NZXT H200 Mini ITX case
Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz 6-Core processor
GeForce GTX 1050Ti 4GB Mini Video Card
ASRock B450 GAMING-ITX/AC Mini ITX AM4 Motherboard
Team Vulcan 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2666 RAM
Kingston - A400 120 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

My Peripherals:
Razer Blackwidow Chroma V1 Full Keyboard
Razer Mamba 2018 Edition Wireless Mouse
Razer Firefly Hard Mat
Blue Yeti Compressor Microphone
Razer Nari Ultimate Headset
Standard 8-port USB hub
Razer Headset Stand/3-port USB hub
3x2 HDMI Splitter
Elgato Game Capture card (original, not the HD60 one lol)

​

Alias: Asuna
MK8D Clan History:

Currently in アн - Pirate Hackers
тνg - Tailored Vengeance (Team Founder and Leader)
sтс - Souls of the Circuit (Member)
ᴍ¢ - Merciless (Member)
AU - Aurora (Co-Leader)
cз - Cherish (Co-Leader and Co-Founder)

Favourite Tracks:

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Country: Canada
Switch FC: 2642-6673-8119
Discord: Asuna#9628
Hobbies: Singing, Magic the Gathering, filthy FanFiction writing, watching anime, cooking
Other games I play: Racers, rhythm games, sandboxes, anything in the Mario Series, and Magic the Gathering

Yo!

Most people know me as Asuna from MKBoards, but I changed my pseudo to Din upon the release of MarioKartCentral and then switched back when I realized it didn't really change much at all. Here, I am a Site Moderator, MKU League Staff and the lead figure of the Media Team around the site, and I play MK8D for Aurora when life permits. I'm a 24 year old gal from Ontario, Canada, and in the irl I'm a graduate of Culinary Arts and Restaurant Management to become a professional cook, bartender and front-of-house manager. Currently, I work in catering and food production for the local college, and I volunteer my time as a Tournament Organizer for the local fighting game community. I've been in the Mario Kart scene for five years and still striving to improve my game and support the folks around the place, with some help of my fiancé who tags along to make sure I don't do anything crazy!

No friend roster here, too much time to write out a pointless list of people when I host wars on the regular, but I got some stuff that you'll likely find exclusive to my player hub! Enjoy some of my food [pictures] and stay a while! Thanks for your patronage

Spoiler: Asuna's Culinary Works

Cauliflower Salad with braised apples, bacon, and blue cheese

Chicken chasseur au jus with duchesse potatoes

Gluten-free chocolate square with fresh assorted berries and creme anglaise

Creme Caramel with brandy soaked cherries and a langue-du-chat biscuit

Duck terrine with dried cranberries and pistachios, vanilla parsnip puree, cherry gastrique and microgreens for garnish

Potato gnocchi bolognaise with shaved parmesan

Steak frites with terragon mayonnaise

Sweet potato tart with crumbled pecans, creme anglaise and chocolate caramel tuille

Veal burger with gruyere cheese, crispy friend onions, garlic and peppercorn aioli, and thyme scented fries

Beef liver tartare, scrambled quail eggs, fried julienne potatoes and shaved parmesan

Carrot cake with creme cheese icing

Salad assortment (left: Italian pasta salad, top: Greek vegetable salad, bottom: Potato salad, middle: Shaved cabbage with parmesan and ranch)

Sweet potato tart with crumbled pecans, creme anglaise and strawberry gastrique

French baguette with various designs

Angel Food Cake tarts with vanilla custard and strawberries, double dipped in milk chocolate and white chocolate

DISCLAIMER: I'm not responsible for making you hungry

I currently don't have a bartending portfolio because I'm either too busy tending the bar or my drinks are kinda lackluster

 

[Asuna]

My Magic: the Gathering Card Collection

Aside from Mario Kart, my Magic collection is one of my prides and joys of a hobby. It's safe to say that between my fiancé and I, we have at least 10,000 cards kicking around the apartment in random places. We both play it actively at a casual level, but the decks we pilot aren't strangers to the occasional tournament. Here I'll be posting some of cool stuff that I have and explain why I think it's cool, along with a bit of a crash course on some Magic terminology and how stuff is played. Quick spoiler though - card value means a lot of me, as every collector loves knowing the value of their stuff!

Spoiler: Magic lingo that I'll end up using

+1/+1 Counter / -1/-1 Counter: +1/+1 Counters can be placed on a creature to add additional power and toughness, typically though card abilities. Adversely, opponents may try and reduce the power and toughness of a creature by putting -1/-1 counters on them. -1/-1 counters are seen less in Magic.
Battlefield: The "board" in Magic. Permanents in play reside on the battlefield.
Colourless Mana: Mana that has no colour associated with it, therefore any colour of mana qualifies as its cost.
Commander/EDH: Gameplay format. 100 card format, every card needs to be unique, with the exception of basic lands, and 1 card is promoted as your commander/general. A Commander deck can only include the mana colours that are in the Commander's mana cost.
Converted Mana Cost (CMC): The accumulative total amount of mana required to cast a spell, adding the amount of colourless mana and coloured mana together.
Flying: A creature ability. Creatures with Flying are able to fly above all creatures on the ground, allowing them to deal damage more easily. Creatures with Flying can only be blocked by other creatures with Flying, or creatures with Reach.
Instant: Card type. Instants can also refer to the speed of which a spell is cast - Instant spells and abilities interact with the "stack" or queue of spells immediately, or in response to something else coming into play. Typically, an Instant-speed ability is denoted a the card by a cost, whether it be a mana cost or a required tap ability, followed by a colon. Instant spells are the fastest speed a spell can be cast, with the exception of Split-second, an ability that very few cards in Magic have.
Game Day: Special tournament that is run 1 month after a new set's release. Game Day tournaments use Standard format.
Land(s): Card type. Lands are used to produce mana. Nonbasic lands tend to have additional abilities or are more powerful in how they interact with the battlefield. Players can play 1 land from their hand each turn, unless stated otherwise by a card in play.
Mana: Your source of magical power in the game. You need mana to cast spells. You obtain mana through your lands, as well as creatures that allow you to use them for mana.
Mana Cost: The amount of mana required to cast a spell.

Spoiler: Mana Cost

Mana costs are denoted as followed, found at the top right corner of a card:

This card's mana cost is 1 of every colour, with a converted mana cost of 5.

This card's mana cost is 1 colourless mana (any colour can be used) and 1 green mana, with a converted mana cost of 2.

Permanent: Cards that remain in play after being cast. Creatures, Enchantments, Lands, Artifacts, and Planeswalkers are all permanents.
Power: How strong a creature is. When a creature attacks, damage is dealt equal to the power of the creature on the card, in addition to any +1/+1 or -1/-1 counters it may have.

Spoiler: Power

A creature's power is denoted by the first number (left) on the bottom of a creature card

Sliver: Creature archetype

Spoiler: Sliver

You can distinguish Sliver creatures as followed, found in the middle of the card:

Standard: Gameplay format. 60 card deck, maximum of 4 copies of a single card are allowed in a deck. Standard decks can only use cards that have been printed or reprinted in the past year, averaging out to the 4 most recent sets of Magic. As new sets come out, older sets fall out of the Standard rotation.
"Tap": Term used to change the state of a card. For the most part, to "tap" a card, you turn it sideways (similar to "Defense Mode" if you've ever played or watched Yu-Gi-Oh as a kid). Tapping a card can have several uses; some cards have abilities that require you to tap it to pay for its ability, other cards give a group of cards the ability to tap themselves to do a thing, and much more. Tapped creatures can not attack or block.
Toughness: Denotes a creatures ability to block. The higher the number a creature's toughness, the more damage it can be dealt without dying. When a creature blocks, it blocks damage equal to the toughness of the creature on the card, in addition to any +1/+1 or -1/-1 counters it may have.

Spoiler: Toughness

Toughness is denoted by the second number (right) on the bottom of a creature card

Tribal: Deck theme that involves creatures sharing the same creature archetype (Slivers, Elves, Goblins, etc)

My Magic: The Gathering Waifu - Chandra, Torch of Defiance

Spoiler: Chandra, Torch of Defiance

A lot of people may recognize her as past profile pictures or discord pictures of mine, but Chandra has always been my favourite character in Magic lore. She's a super spunky gal with a ton of attitude, and her temper is as hot as the fire she wields. When this version of a Chandra planeswalker card was released, I absolutely had to have it. It's the first Chandra planeswalker card to have 4 abilities on it, the artwork on it is probably the best I've ever seen on Chandra's cards, and to top it off, my copy is a foil, promotional (means it was a date stamped onto it in gold foiling), misprint. There's a chance that I'm the only one in the world that has this exact printing of the card on it, because the datestamp was placed on the card crookedly! You'll notice that the date on the card is slanted compared to the rest of the lines and such on the card, when in reality, it's supposed to be in-line with the rest of the lineage on the card. See below for other examples of promo cards that I managed to find in my collection.

Spoiler: Some other promos

Pulled this one over the summer at a Pre-Release event for Magic Core Set 2019

Fun fact: I pulled this card at my very first Magic event, which also happened to be my first date with my fiance! I refuse to sell or trade this card away because of its sentimental value to me

Slivers - My Most Prized Deck

Spoiler: "Slivers - Deck and Card Analysis"

A lot of Magic players really hate Sliver Tribal themed decks - they're mean, aggressive, hard to manage control over, and can become very powerful as more Slivers come into play, often one-by-one. My Sliver deck is the first deck I've ever made, starting off as a Standard legal deck that I used in Game Day tournaments as a newbie, and eventually turned into my first Commander/EDH deck. Running a really good Sliver deck is tricky and is difficult to balance on a low budget. Being a deck that runs all 5 colour sources, you need a good mana base and a good awareness of what your ratio between colours in the deck is.

As mentioned, Slivers are pretty powerful - Lorewise, the Slivers act as a hivemind, allowing them to share abilities and evolutionary tactics with each other. Every Sliver card in the game gives either "all slivers" on the battlefield, or sliver creatures the owner controls on the battlefield some kind of ability.

For this deck, I use Sliver Overlord as my general. He's seen a lot of play and a bit of an oldie, so naturally he's a little banged up, but I try to keep my cards in protective card sleeves, and for this deck, I have them double sleeved (I have tighter fitting sleeves encasing the cards themselves, and then regular sleeves encasing the sleeved card). Currently, he's sitting at around a $12 value, but because my copy is a bit damaged, it's sitting around $10.

Spoiler: Sliver Overlord - my physical copy

Starting out, he costs one of every colour, so getting him out can be a little slower than most slivers in my deck, and more difficult because I need to make sure I have at least one mana source of every colour available to cast him. His abilities are the most versatile of all of the Slivers in the deck - allowing me to search for any Sliver from my deck, at instant speed, for the small cost of 3 colourless mana. If I have another multiple of 3, lets say I have 6, I can use it twice once right after the other, without the need to tap Sliver Overlord. Given that Slivers have traits that give all of my Slivers powerful abilities, this means I can pick and choose which Slivers I want to have available to me at any time. His second ability is also really helpful - in the case of one of my opponents trying to take one of my Slivers away from me, I can pay 3 colourless mana, at instant speed, to return him to my control, OR, if someone else is playing a Sliver deck or is running Sliver type creatures, I can take them and bring them under my control. Pretty busted, right?

Slivers really are, in a weird sense, my babies. Slivers have been a theme I've always enjoyed playing, as well as most tribal themed decks in general, so I put a lot of love (and money) into them. Most of the cards in the deck are foil (or as some call it, holographic), and others exceed $100 in value by themselves, so needless to say I wanna bling them out and keep them looking pretty. I keep them in an Ultra Pro - Satin Gold Deck case, and the deck itself is sleeved in Dragon Shield - Clear Perfect Fits and Dragon Shield - Gold Matte sleeves to match the colour of the box. In the bottom compartment of the case, I keep my favourite dice, which have nice gold accents to match the deck as well. And to top it all off, I even have a Sliver themed playmat that I had commissioned from a local artist that I shamefully spilled curry on while I was playing Magic at a restaurant.

Spoiler: My Gear

Spoiler: Deckbox and Dice

I had it commissioned back in 2015, but the mat still has some of my favourite Slivers on it, Sliver Hivelord (middle), Manaweft Sliver (bottom right), and Galerider Sliver (top right)

Here are some of my favourite and highest valued cards in the deck:

Spoiler: Slivers - Favourite and High Valued Cards

Sliver Queen:
Value when Purchased - $110
Current Value: $90
Set Printed: Stronghold (1998)

Probably my most expensive card in the deck, other than my Scalding Tarn. The value comes from the fact that its on the Reserved List - a list of cards that are guaranteed to never be reprinted. Really powerful card, love the artwork and the old style of border on her.

Scalding Tarn:
Value when Purchased - $100
Current Value - $100
Set Printed: Zendikar (2009)

The most expensive Land card in the "Fetchland" cycle - one of the most sought after Land bases in the game for their ability to search for any land that has the same subtypes as the basic lands in the game, such as the "Shocklands". There are 10 fetchlands (1 for every dual-colour combination) and 10 shocklands, and I run all 10 of both lands in the deck. I also just really like the artwork!

Galerider Sliver:
Value when Purchased: $2 (realistically, I pulled the original copy during the release draft, and this is a commissioned altered card)
Current Value: $7
Set Printed: Magic Core Set 2014 (2013)

One of my favourite Slivers since I discovered what Slivers were. The ability to give all of my Slivers flying is a huge advantage, and can turn the tables in a game really quickly if my opponents have no flying defenders. I own a copy of the original card, but this is one of the cards that I had commissioned. As you can see, the black borders around the card have been painted over, and the artwork has been extended to the edge of the card. Absolutely beautiful work. If you like his work, check out Fivecolourmtg on Facebook, he does alters of all new cards when they are released!

Sliver Hivelord:
Price when Purchased: $15 (I pulled my copy out of an M15 draft I had done at the time)
Current Value: $14
Set Printed: Magic Core Set 2015 (2014)

Another one of my favourite Slivers, an indestructible board state is one of the hardest things to deal with in Magic. Like the card says, any kind of damage dealt to an indestructible creature won't kill them, and all of the cards in the game that say "destroy target creature" are useless against them. This is one of the Slivers I summon later on in the game, typically after pulling it out of my deck with Sliver Overlord, and go in for a ton of damage without the worry of having anything die in the process.

Cavern of Souls:
Value when Purchased: $95 (its slightly damaged so I paid a bit less than the actual price), full value would be somewhere at $105.
Current Value: $105
Set Printed: Avacyn Restored (2012)

Another one of my really powerful Lands, having my Slivers unable to be countered (prevented from being played by another spell) is huge against a lot of control-based deck mechanics. In my playgroup, there are a ton of control decks amongst us, so I almost intentionally put this card in for them but its a staple in most high-tier Sliver decks as well.

 

[Asuna]

Cities: Skylines - MKCentral Edition

Spoiler: City of MKCentral - at a glance

On the side, I play a lot of sandbox games because I enjoy the building and the freedom. As a small project for myself, I've decided to create a city that incorporates everything about the MKCentral community. I still have a ways to go, and I still have a ton to unlock for this file, so if you don't see something that you're either in or a part of, that can easily be fixed or changed down the road.

Some of the stuff that I can do is name buildings and roads, I can place parks and statues (and name them as well), and so much more all the way down to food trucks and park benches.

As I go along, I'll update the post with what I've customized so far, along with stuff I may not be sure what to name after which clan or community member.

Some things I don't have names for:
- the Science Center
- the Transport Tower
- the Airport
- about 5 elementary/primary schools, 5 high schools, as well as 1 university
- tons of parks and plazas
- cemeteries
- industrial buildings, such as dumps, water treatment facilities and power plants
- bus routes and metro lines
- all of the individual houses and roads

Spoiler: Major Roads and Intersections

The "Main Strip" of the city, you can find everything from malls to high density residence on the Parkway. MKCentral Parkway has immediate connections connections to the Amplify Loop, and the MKU Bridge, and is the major highway in and outside of the city.

The Amplify Loop is one of the major intersections of the city, connecting the main level of the city's inhabitable land to the MKU Escarpment, an extension of the city limits that sits on top of a mountain. The Loop acts as one of the heaviest deterrents of traffic jams within the city. At the top of Amplify Loop, the intersection merges into the MKU Bridge, the main access to the escarpment.

The MKU Bridge's sole purpose is to provide a double access to the MKU Escarpment, an extension of the city that lies on raised land atop a mountain, all the while handling heavy traffic in style. Connected to the Amplify Loop, the Bridge is one of the major highways for the City of MKCentral.

Spoiler: Unique Buildings

A little ways off of the main strip for the sake of privacy, Vertex Stadium meets all of your sports entertainment needs. When the Vertex hockey team brings it home, the stadium lights up so you know exactly what the score is at any game.

Before you flame me for the in-game flavour text, I can't change that and its the first mall I unlocked so please don't kill me lol

The Banana Legion Supermarket is notoriously known for its sale on bananas, regardless of what season it is...

A building as high as their MKU Division, High Definition means business, no matter what the cost.

The Arcadia Convention Centre suits perfectly for everything from friendly get-togethers with your clanmates to being able to house the masses after a good laugh over some drinks. Being one of the major tourist attractions in the City of MKCentral, there are close connections to a shopping mall, and various methods of public transit. In case you laugh a bit too hard, we have a hospital for your convenience on the same block, as well as the xi Fire Department if there are one too many roasts.

What better way to watch your favourite Mario Kart personalities than on a giant flatscreen? The RK Cinema has viewings of all of your favourite Spanish clan wars, as well as their featured presentation of Sliver in the IMAX theater.

Spoiler: Service Buildings

Can't have a city without one of the best knowledge bases MKCentral has to offer: The Rookview.

There is no higher education in the City of MKCentral than being mentored by Xander himself.

Sitting on the MKCentral Parkway, the xi Fire Department is on the scene for every roast and flame war in the City of MKCentral. With several wards scattered across the city, in the case of any fire, they'll be on the job within a hot minute.

If you're ever in the mood for some fine dining on the waterfront, stop into Din's Bistro for some great food while enjoying the view of the SNL Coastline. With it's own fishing island and the Banana Legion Supermarket just on the shoreline, Din's Bistro has nothing but fresh food (and a lot of bananas...)

Sitting just inside of a bay off of the SNL Coastline, Toad Harbour handles all shipments for the City of MKCentral.

 

[Alex]

that food looks so good nice

 

[Asuna]

that food looks so good nice

Thanks! It's what I do

 

[Asuna]

Keeping it casual with some pasta for dinner, posted it in other places, might as well do it here too

Put way too much beef in this pasta. Like, double the amount I wanted. Silly me didn't read the package for the beef I was using, so I ended up with 2 pounds (1kg for clarification) of beef in here rather than the 1 that I had planned for. Tried evening it out with penne, didn't quite get to the point where I'm satisfied.

So now I have like 6L of pasta.

I'm eating pasta for a week.

 

[duncan]

i dont see the issue with eating pasta for a week

 

[Asuna]

i dont see the issue with eating pasta for a week

I'm gonna get fat

 

[Purple]

Yukihira Din

 

[Asuna]

Yukihira Din

I'm more of an Erina fan myself

 

[jxesenee]

not a fan of the celine dion sig

 

[Asuna]

not a fan of the celine dion sig

Thats okay, I'm not particularly fond of yours either

 

[Zebe]

DINner

 

[Asuna]

DINner

Spoiler

@shiiguy look what you've started

 

[jxesenee]

Thats okay, I'm not particularly fond of yours either

im giving you the look in my gif rn bitch

 

[Asuna]

http://instagr.am/p/BnWl3y0nzgT/
Warning: photos contain unprepared cuts of meat. Some people aren't into that kind of thing.

Well, it's back to school for everyone. For me that means I do a lot of labbing in kitchens due to my field.

This week we're doing the prep for a sandwich booth we do in the college cafeteria. The upper year students that have more advanced knowledge of cooking do the prep work of the deli meats and condiments, and the little baby first semesters stand at the booth with all the stuff prepped and learn how to sell food for the first time and make some awesome sandwiches to order!

- Did up some turkey and beef brisket in some brine, gonna sit for a week and it's getting smoked for some quality deli meats.
- Cured a full pork belly. It's also gonna get smoked and sliced into bacon.
- Did up a large batch of pestou (variation of Italian pesto with no nuts for the sake of allergies)
- Did up a pickle brine to pickle some, uh, pickles.

Next week we break down a full lamb from scratch.

 

[Asuna]

WARNING: Full animal carcass in the last couple pics, looking out for all you PETA people out there...

http://instagr.am/p/BnpL-uyHN7Z/
Not particularly a fan of any of these photos but I was in a rush lol

So yeah, we cut up a full lamb from scratch. Some of the stuff we cooked off was the rack (ribs), sirloin, tenderloin, leg, shoulder and some other tasty bits that we grinded up into burgers.

Didn't get as much time as I would have liked to organize some of the plates better and get better photos, as it was, the class ran an hour later than scheduled and it caused a bit of a stressful environment. Proper timing and prioritization of individual items would have likely prevented it from happening, but regardless, the food tasted good and we had a good time (for the most part).

Next week, we do some work with duck!

 

[Tea]

food looks good!

 

[Asuna]

food looks good!

Thanks! Lots of work but it pays off!

 

[Asuna]

Been a bit since I've posted some new food stuffs so what better a time to do it than after I've been food poisoned after a family Thanksgiving dinner haha

Anyway, had a pretty sweet class on Veal and butchering. Got some good photos of the head chef doing a breakdown of a hind back quarter. This portion of the animal has the tenderloin, the most prized piece of meat on the animal, as well as some good cuts for flank steak, leg roast, eye of round and sirloin.

Spoiler: If you don't like raw meat you probably shouldn't open this

http://instagr.am/p/Boexl_CHsfx/

Did some nice work on plating. Had a pretty stacked kitchen team so I had more than enough time for photos and editing.

http://instagr.am/p/BoezOUzHj-Z/
Some stuff we ended up doing:

- Veal Saltimbocca: Pan fried veal cutlet seared with a piece of prosciutto and sage leaves
- Veal Parmigiana: Breaded veal, pan fried and topped with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese
- Veal Zurichoise: Classic Swiss stew with veal, mushrooms, various vegetables finished in a meaty cream sauce
- Veal Scallopini: Pan fried veal cutlets. Essentially the basic way to cook thin pieces of veal.
- Wiener Schnitzel: Breaded veal, pan fried, topped with a soft poached egg, lemon, and capers. Since I was tasked with the schnitzel, my final graded plate is below:

Spoiler: Wiener Schnitzel, Din's Plate

Underneath the schnitzel I have some risotto alla parmigiana (fancy terminology for risotto with Parmesan cheese in it), and on the side I have some roasted winter vegetables; garlic clove, parsnips, celery root, carrots, shallots, turnips. The oven was a bit too high for the vegetables so they did char a bit more than I would have liked...

Typically schnitzel is done in a deep pan of oil so the breading really crisps up and has a nice texture to it - I had been using a saute pan for the majority of my work so the breading didn't quite crisp up to a crunchy texture...

The hardest part of the plating for me was probably the poached egg on top - I was tasked with making about 10 poached eggs en masse so I had to physically pick up the egg after I had placed it down on a plate once already, balance it on top of a pointed lump of food and make sure it didn't break at the same time.

Overall, I'd say it turned out alright, but it definitely could have been better.