A farmers market from the 60s!

I'm back in business, and there's lots to discuss from the last couple of weeks.

There were two updates while I was away on a break. The first was a Farmers Market theme released on Wednesday 25th June:

Notification for Farmers Market update

The items added were the Organic Table, Organic Stool, Fresh Produce wall decoration, Farmers Market Stand, Vegetable Display, Organic wallpaper and Organic counter. It's all unlocked at level 72.

I think this is a really nice update. The stuff has a place in a restaurant and could make a great enhancer to Autumn themes in a couple of months time. My favourite of these decorations is probably the Organic counter, which is ironic since I've been mouthing off about the glass counters with something inside recently. However this one I like because it would look good in a kitchen area as a storage unit for fruit and veg. I'll have to shoehorn it in at some point.

Let's take a closer look at the 37 gem Farmers Market Stand:

Preview of Farmers Market Stand

It's a 3x3 sized piece and is pure class in my view. Lots to look at including two people and a whole load of food. The inclusion of the pumpkins in particular pleases me as it gives the stand a good tie-in throughout the Autumn months. Once Summer is behind us I may well add this to my outdoor area.

As well as all those items, there was a new recipe added in this update:

Farmers Market Salsa

The Farmers Market Salsa is found on the Basic Oven and is an unusually long non-goals dish, but the variety is satisfying. As are the statistics...

Farmers Market Salsa
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
9	10	7	9	3	8.6

The salsa scores well across most of the factors, and sets a new benchmark for XP gain. It's 175 XP is a massive increase on the previous duration leader - Tiramisu (Basic Oven) - which only yields 118 XP. The third best profit figure and joint third highest number of portions also help propel the Farmers Market Salsa to the top of the charts as the best all-round 12 hour recipe in the game.

Moving on, last week's update took us back to the 1960s with a range of new content released on Wednesday 2nd July 2014:

Notification for 1960s themed update

This time everything is unlocked at level 73, continuing the current TeamLava strategy of creating stuff for the upper levels which don't currently have much to unlock upon reaching them.

The new items were the Tie Dye Table, Tie Dye Chair, 60s Plates wall decoration, Tie Dyers at Work, Groovy wallpaper, Groovy floor tile and Tie Dye Counter.

Not being an oracle of history I did a quick bit of research to discover that tie dyeing is a process used to create a particular pattern on a garment. This method came to prominence in the 1960s, hence it's inclusion in this update. However the process has been around for many centuries. So there you have it!

There's something quite nice about the bright colours of these items. The 60s were a time of the hippies, and that's very much reflected here. The Tie Dyer's at Work is the headline addition, and is surprisingly available for coins. Being 3x3 and including people it looked a shoe-in for a gem purchase but it just goes to show that the gamemakers do have hearts after all!

The high level of unlock is reflected in the 96,800 coins required to buy the Tie Dye Table. This is bordering on the ridiculous now, but as we continue to see new content for the upper levels expect to see the first six-figure table soon. Another observation I'd like to make is that there is a floor tile. Not a revolutionary statement at a glance, but this is actually the first new flooring outside of a goal week since the end of April!

Now all that's left to ask is why we didn't get this update the week before the 1970s update in February? I mentioned at the time that it would be cool to get a series of updates taking in different decades, and it looks like the game's developers have done that, except they're proceeding to release them months apart!

Before I sign off, there's another recipe to discuss:

Technicolor Cake

The Technicolor Cake is another Basic Oven addition, and is really ugly. In all seriousness I'm too much of a perfectionist to like the appearance of this cake, but I guess it's a fun design.

Regarding the numbers, I have some breaking news. Any regular readers will recognise the 258 XP for 6 hours work as incredible. But I can reveal that you are NOT getting that amount of XP for cooking this dish. In fact only 123 XP is rewarded, and thus the recipe ratings will reflect this. I assume TeamLava have made a mistake with the graphic, although after almost a week it's yet to be fixed.

Update: This is incorrect! You do indeed get 258 XP for cooking the cake! See this post for more details.

Anyhow, here are the scores on the doors:

Technicolor Cake
Profit	XP gain	Portions	Profit per plate	Availability	Rating
6	10	6	10	3	7.5

The XP is still excellent and only falls just short of the leading Escargot (Basic Stove). Decent profit and portion numbers mean the cake is a solid player, but does trail the Fish Sticks (Orange Deep Fryer) and Kiwi & Cake (Basic Oven) overall. It's the incorrect information displayed which this recipe will be remembered for!

So that's it. Two updates summarised in one post - in effect a trip to a farmers market in the 1960s! Who'd have thought I'd be saying that upon my return!