Well Fed Buff: Fizzy Faire Drinks

Every Thursday, Well Fed Buff will be serving up the tastiest dishes to boost your HP and stats, just in time for your weekend gaming.

In honor of the impending Spring season, and the traveling Darkmoon Faire, this week's Well Fed Buff will feature an improved version of [Fizzy Faire Drink "Classic"]. Don't worry, we won't be going anywhere near 'New Fizzy Faire Drinks'.

The Improved Fizzy Faire Drinks can be prepared in a variety of styles and flavors, with fun colors and yummy garnishes. As such, several different combinations will be featured, and their mysterious buffs revealed.

In fact, I wanted to create a purple and green float as a symbol of the Darkmoon Faire, but all my local grocery store offered would have made a grape-mint combination. If any brave souls try this, or can snag lime instead of mint, send us a screenshot!

If you're curious, and itching to start off the ice cream season a little early, hop on through the break.

Because of the varying ingredients used in the drinks featured, this week's column will be formatted somewhat differently, beginning with the basic recipe and followed by the variants in detail.

The basic tools and mats:

• One glass, preferably chilled in the freezer at least 15 minutes prior to use.

• One flavor of soda.

• One flavor of ice cream, sherbet, or frozen yogurt.

• One spoon.

• One straw.

The basic how-to:

The key to making Improved Fizzy Faire Drinks is speed and organization. For every glass you are making, you are going to need to plan ahead. Try to keep the glasses and ice cream in the freezer until the last possible second. Ideally, you should freeze the spoons as well, and ensure that your soda is very cold. This recipe works best with fresh, fully carbonated soda.

Before you begin, you have to make your decisions regarding color, flavor combinations and toppings. For the purpose of the basic float, we will use standard vanilla ice cream and root beer.

If you would like a super frothy concoction, add all of the vanilla ice cream into the bottom of your glass. While the

amount of ice cream you choose is a matter of personal taste, I find a full scoop in a standard tall glass is a sufficient amount. Immediately pour in your soda, topping it up. Pop in your straw and spoon, and serve immediately.

If you would prefer your float to be more segregated and less frothy, fill up your glass first with root beer, and add your scoop of ice cream last. Be careful not to overflow the glass! Tip: for a middle of the road effect, put half your ice cream in the bottom, add soda, and top off with ice cream.

If you are making more than one glass, be ready to hustle, as they melt quickly and will be less fizzy over time. If you can involve kids, do so; extra hands are key when working with extra glasses!

If you're curious to learn about the drinks featured in the main photo, read on! From left to right:

Featured Fizzy #1: Root 'n' Raspberry
To create this bold but delicious flavor, I used raspberry sherbet in place of the classic vanilla ice cream, and combined it with root beer. I was somewhat weary at first, but it tasted phenomenal, and I highly recommend it. It is also an appropriate flavor for kids.

I opted out of toppings, and gave mine a medium amount of froth. If you look at the photo, you will notice that the froth is beginning to turn pink like the sherbet, and by the time I began drinking it, perhaps two minutes after photographing, it had blended quite nicely, producing a nice pink froth on top.

Featured Fizzy #2: Citrus Raspberry

If your tastes run with the citrus crowd, you'll enjoy this combo. I used a generic but potent-looking citrus soda, and added the raspberry sherbet. Although I tried to be quick with all of my drinks, this one was admittedly fiddled with first in terms of toppings, and is a great example of a less frothy version of the drink.

Sporting a layer of whipped cream, sprinkles, and three green candied cherries, this one was a real hit. The sprinkles actually acted a bit like Pop Rocks, which was fun and surprising. Another winner for parties.

Featured Fizzy #3: Creamy Orange
If you are suspecting that this is a classic orange soda float with vanilla ice cream mixed in, you are almost right. Some people simply don't like too many toppings. The main difference here is that I used frozen yogurt made organically using real vanilla.

This drink would also have been great with whipped cream and/or sprinkles, but my test subject was a minimalist. Creamy Orange is a prime example of full froth.

Featured Fizzy #4: Fizzy Cola
Using a generic cola, I blended in the organic vanilla to make a full-bodied, extra frothy drink, topped with whipped cream, sprinkles, and more candied green cherries. It turned out well, although had it been my drink, I would have used the raspberry. In fact, there would be no one stopping you from using both!

Off-spec variants:
Considering the versatility of this drink, there are almost endless possibilities, limited mainly by your willingness to try new things. Of course, for me, I am limited by severe food allergies.

Of course, my drinks were fair-themed, but other themes for parties can be achieved using colors, toppings and accessories. Banana or orange ice creams/sherbets/frozen yogurts could be combined with citrus, orange or ginger ale sodas for a pirate party or beach/tropical theme. Blueberry sodas could be combined with vanillas and berries or berry flavored ice creams for patriotic themes.

Aside from whipped cream and sprinkles, you can use chocolate, strawberry or caramel syrups, candies, and even pieces of fruit like pineapple, berries or lime.

Why this is a great gaming snack:
Improved Fizzy Faire Drinks have some pros and cons in this category. They do take a bit of finessing to make, and they won't last you through a raid. Fortunately, they can be made very quickly, with almost no mess or dishes. I recommend making yours while you're waiting for the rest of your raid to get their butts in gear.

This snack is highly repeatable. Just run upstairs, throw a scoop into your glass, pour in the soda, and run back. When it comes to seconds, the details just don't matter so much.

This is also great for gamers because you can choose your rush. Use a caffeinated, sugary soda with candy on top for the boost, or use diet soda, something without caffeine, and a healthier frozen yogurt if that's more your style.

Buffs:
This will take some calculation!

• Each concoction grants 5100 happiness and win over 30 seconds while sitting at your computer.

• Each flavor of soda per glass grants +10 morale.

• If you use caffeine, you receive an additional +10 stamina.

• For each sugary item, you get +8 silliness, which can affect your raiding and chatting in a variety of surprising ways.

• For each healthy choice, you get +20 intellect.

• Whipped cream enhances your ability to listen to your tanks by 50%.

• Sprinkles add +450 to breathing out explosions! Has a 72% chance of exploding in the face of an engineer. May not work if character is wearing pants.