Happy weekend!

Hello, everyone! I hope your weekend has gone well! Welcome to the Hobby Haven.

April is almost here, and that means two things: warmer weather and Persona 5! I'm pretty excited, since this will be the first time that a mainline Persona game has been released while I've been a fan. (I came on board the Persona train a few years ago, so...)

I bought some fun stuff not too long ago, so hopefully these will arrive soon-ish for me to review! You'll just have to hang tight until then.

Oh, and in some fun news, Atlus just had a livestream with some game announcements! They will be re-making two of their RPGs from the Nintendo DS: Strange Journey and Radiant Historia. I'm really excited! Radiant Historia was on my radar, but I just never got around to finding a copy. And then it went out of print and used copies were only available for exorbitant, jacked-up prices so I gave up. I did buy a copy of Strange Journey a few years ago, but I just never got around to playing it. And this remake ("Deep Strange Journey") is supposed to have tons of bells and whistles: fully voiced, cutscenes, a new character, a new ending, "gameplay enhancements," you name it. I'm pretty sure I'll play the remake first and then get around to the older version at some point. There isn't any further news, by the way, about the new SMT title that they teased for the Switch. Atlus did show a clip during their livestream--a very short clip--of a desolate, abandoned city swathed in sand, with an enormous stone hand protruding from the ground. I can only hope that there will be more news soon, seeing as this is SMT's 25th anniversary.

In any case, have a great weekend, everyone, and I hope to see you soon! Miss Scarlett, signing out!

Figure review: "Magic Knight Rayearth" Hikaru Shidou Figma

Hello, everyone! Long time, no see, eh? Welcome to the Hobby Haven!

I've been MIA for a while, mostly due to fun (not really) RL stuff, but also partially because I didn't have much to post about. But finally I do, so here I am! Today, I've got the first in (hopefully) a short series of figure reviews for you guys. (This is, of course, assuming the rest of the figures get shipped here in time.)

Our figure today is a figma of the character Hikaru from the manga/anime series Magic Knight Rayearth, by Clamp. It's an older series, vintage the mid-1990s, and it's one of my two big favorite series by Clamp (the other being Tokyo Babylon, which I would kill to get figures from). We got an announcement at WonFes a few years back that we would get figma figures of all three main characters from Rayearth, but there's really been no timeline provided on when. Lo and behold, several months ago, I discovered that our favorite peppy Magic Knight of fire was going to be released in February; so with any luck, the rest of the girls will follow suit soon.

I picked mine up from HobbyLink Japan, where you can still buy her! (I've checked other retailers and haven't had much luck finding other copies for sale.) I pre-ordered her and paid about $50 before shipping. HLJ, like BBTS, offers a "warehouse" option where you can have purchases held and then shipped together to save some money. The big draw is that like Amazon, HLJ doesn't charge you until the item is in stock; so if you pre-order something, you have time to save up. Prices are also given in Japanese yen, which is great when the exchange rate is favorable. (Of course, I'll keeping shopping around to see what retailers offer me the most flexibility and best deals, but for now, I'll stick with these folks.)

Let's take a look and see what's in the box!

Miss Scarlett Cooks! Coconut Lemon Zucchini Bread

I'll make a confession; I love zucchini. It's one of my favorite vegetables, and it's so wonderfully versatile. You can put it in TONS of things, although my favorite has to be bread. Savory, sweet, it doesn't matter because it's all delicious. Welcome to the Hobby Haven.

So now that I've confessed my zucchini love, it's only fair to share one of my recipes, right? This is my favorite way to make sweet zucchini bread. The lemon and the coconut give it a sweet and rich flavor that can't be beat. Protip: you have to use pre-sweetened coconut! I made it with dry, unsweetened coconut flakes once, and they absorbed all the moisture. And given that this is a very moist bread, that was pretty shocking.

I should also add that my parents get tons of zucchini during the summer from friends and coworkers; more than they and I can eat, honestly. I end up shredding the zucchini (with a box grater) and freezing them. It keeps very nicely, honestly. This way, I can make zucchini bread all year long without running to the store!

The ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup oil
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 tsp lemon zest**
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp coconut extract
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup sweetened, shredded coconut

**If you don't have fresh lemons and thus can't get any zest, substitute an additions 2 teaspoons of lemon juice instead.

The tools:

• An oven
• Measuring cups
• Measuring spoons
• Two large bowls
• A mixing spoon
• Cooking spray
• 2 loaf pans

How to make it:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• While the oven is coming up to temperature, place the eggs, oil, and sugar into a large bowl and mix until combined.
• Add the lemon zest and juice and the coconut extract to the bowl.
• Add the zucchini to the bowl, then combine.
• Set the bowl with the zucchini mixture to the side and take out the other bowl. Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into the empty bowl and stir together with a fork. Once combined, add to the zucchini mixture.
• Add the coconut to the bowl. Mix together until just combined.
• Spray the loaf pans with the baking spray.
• Pour the batter into the loaf pans, taking care to add an equal amount to each pan.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes.