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capybaraonabicycle · 3 years

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A Family Wedding - Part 4

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Rating: Teen

Summary: Jenny meets her mums’ friends and the wedding is drawing to an end

Warnings: Some innuendo and the dagger makes another appearance, also consummation of alcohol

Words: ~3000

AO3

Eventually, they made their way back to the party. The Doctor wanted to introduce her daughter to some of her friends and the Ponds had agreed that her and River couldn’t completely ignore their duty as hosts. Thus, Jenny spent the rest of the very long night talking to an endless number of people who were important to her mum in one way or another.

Bill and Heather immediately decided they were basically cousins and had to get together for space trips some time. Bill wrote her number onto a napkin and made Jenny promise she would get a phone so they could stay in contact. She also talked a lot about the eyebrows-version of her mum, saying it was a shame Jenny missed him. But at least now she got two badass mums and according to Bill, that was pretty perfect when it came to parents.

Missy, her mum’s best woman, casually mentioned she should abduct Jenny, as it would be the perfect leverage over her mum. This remark made Amy threaten her with the cake knife while Rory protectively put his arms around Jenny. Missy made a point of ignoring Jenny’s grandparents, promising Jenny would meet one of her regenerations again soon.

“Your mum is obsessed with me, Honeybunch” she said, trailing her nails over the blade of Amy’s knife thoughtfully, “I’m sure she will come running again with you in tow to foil my next brilliant plan. She can’t let me be on my own for a second. It’s quite embarrassing, really.”

She gave a little dramatic sigh at this, pushing the knife away to move past Jenny. “She just loves me so much.”

Kate Lethbridge-Stewart and Petronella Osgood were luckily part of an earlier version of UNIT than the one, Jenny had enraged. They were fascinated by her and she had to describe in great detail how the machine worked that had birthed her.

“Now, Kate” the Doctor warned her when she walked by and overheard, “Don’t you dare try building that device. I will come and destroy it, I promise you.”

Prompted by Jenny’s heartbroken gaze she explained why she was against the machine, recounting how it had been used to produce soldiers, dispensable to die in a day.

“Maybe I should build one then, the next time you are not traceable, Doctor” Kate joked to the Doctor’s affront, “Just so you’ll come running.”

Clara tried teaching Jenny the names of her Gallifreyan relatives. Apparently, she had met some of the Doctor’s family when she had been something she called an ‘echo’. It was quite confusing, really, because the Doctor kept contradicting her and neither of them were really sure how many siblings, nieces and nephews Jenny had in total. It was still great fun to see them argue whether the people they remembered actually existed and how they were related to her.

Captain Jack Harkness got as far as introducing himself to Jenny, when the Doctor already shot in between them.

“Back off my daughter, Jack” she growled, pressing both her palms into his chest to physically keep him from touching Jenny.

“Your daughter?” Jack asked, his eyebrows wandering up to his hairline.

“My daughter, Jenny” her mum presented proudly, just to return to her strict voice the next second, “And you are not to flirt with her.”

“I was just saying ‘hello’!” Jack complained which made her almost strangle him.

“Ianto Jones” the man next to Jack presented himself to Jenny very softly, considering the wrestling couple with quiet confusion and some distress, “His boyfriend.”

“Ah” Jenny said, grimacing, “So sorry for this.”

That made Ianto smile.

“Right back at you” he murmured.

Martha and Mickey found Jenny, when she was sharing a piece of wedding cake with River, expressing their relief that Jenny seemed welcome in the family. They talked about Donna for a while and Jenny learned that their friend had lost her memories after saving the Earth from Daleks.

Her mum recounted how when the Doctor first met her, Donna had been there, too. They exchanged a few stories about her, unanimously deciding they would have loved to know her better. Martha and Mickey said they sometimes checked up on her.

"Only from afar, though" Martha sighed. "She can't see us or else her memories might get triggered."

She and Mickey then told Jenny about their job, how they were freelancers now, hunting hostile aliens.

"Sounds fun" River commented and Jenny had to agree.

"You could join us some time" Martha offered, "Both of you."

"Really?" Jenny asked delightedly, grabbing River's arm in excitement.

"Of course" Mickey grinned, "It always pays to have some backup."

They added their phone number to Bill’s on the napkin and promised to let Jenny know the next time they had an interesting assignment.

“How is everyone immediately adopting me?” Jenny asked Yaz, Ryan and Graham, when they had proclaimed her part of the ‘fam’ as soon as they heard she was the Doctor’s daughter.

She had already gotten the invite to travel with Bill and Heather, Clara and Me and to live with her grandparents, Martha and Mickey, Jack and Ianto, Sarah Jane Smith and even the Paternoster Gang, although she had tried to avoid them after the pudding incident.

"The Doctor is family" Ryan shrugged. "Which means you're family, too."

The other two nodded in agreement.

“And we all know you can use the support with her being your mother” Ryan continued with a low chuckle, and Jenny stared at him with wide eyes.

“It’s nothing bad” he hurried to appease, “The Doctor’s great, she’s just…”

“The Doctor” Graham finished, and Ryan nodded as if all was said now.

“She’s a little chaotic” Yaz tried to explain.

Graham snorted, “Yeah, right, a little.”

“And irresponsible” Yaz added, “And most of the time you can’t understand a thing of what she’s doing or saying. And the things she does…they tend to go wrong.”

“But she’s wonderful” Ryan said and the other two nodded again.

“‘Brilliant’” Graham said with a low chuckle.

“She’s the best person I know” Yaz ended with a smile and Jenny found herself returning it.

“And you’ll have River and me travelling with you” Yaz concluded, gently nudging her with her elbow, “We’ll take care of you and among the three of us, we’ll also manage to take care of her.”

Jenny was just talking to a head in a box and a nice couple owning an antiquarian bookstore, when her mums approached her. They were exchanging conspirative glances and the Doctor was hiding her hands behind her back, so Jenny immediately decided whatever they were up to was more interesting than the blonde guy’s obsession with easter eggs. She excused herself and made her way over to her mums.

“River said you might still feel insecure about whether the TARDIS is your home” the Doctor said without greeting, “So, I got you a gift.”

She revealed a tiny package from behind her back with great flourish. It wasn’t much bigger than her thumb, obviously wrapped in leftovers from her own wedding gifts. Without knowing what was inside, Jenny decided it couldn’t have been more perfect.

“Thank you” she beamed and hurried to open her present.

Unfortunately, that was almost impossible for the amount of tape her mum had used. Now that she paid attention to it, it became apparent the Doctor had fought quite the fight against the tape - strips of it were also sticking to her suit jacket and her forearms. One even made its way into River’s hair and Jenny dreaded the moment she would find out about it. Luckily, she missed it when she wordlessly reached into her hairdo upon seeing Jenny struggling. She pulled out the mini dagger again, handing it over to her. With its help, the tape and wrapping paper soon were torn, and a silver key fell into Jenny’s hand.

“It’s for the TARDIS” the Doctor explained. “Now you can come and go whenever you like and stay as long as you like.”

“And once I’ve shown you how to fly her you can also use it to take the TARDIS out on your own whenever you like” River supplemented, and the Doctor glared at her.

“Don’t you dare encourage Jenny to steal my TARDIS!” she grumbled, “It’s bad enough when you do it.”

Then she turned and beamed at Jenny again. “But yeah, pretty much: Welcome to the TARDIS!”

Jenny felt herself tear up a little, clutching the key tightly. It was real! She had a family and a home and she was welcome.

She pulled both her mums into a hug, smiling when they embraced her tightly.

“Thank you so much” she murmured.

Suddenly, an aggressive flash blinded her.

“Oops, sorry” Bill said, lowering a vintage looking camera from her face. “It wasn’t supposed to do that.”

She fumbled with the flash a little bit until Heather took over and switched it off. When Bill raised her gaze again and noticed the whole family was still staring at her, she blushed.

“Don’t mind me”, she said. “I’m just repaying a favour. Have been taking pictures all night. You will want something to remember this day by, Doctor. And yeah, I recalled what you did for me with my mum and thought…I should do that for you, too.”

She smiled sheepishly and the Doctor looked like she was about to melt.

“That is a lovely idea, Bill” River found, pulling Jenny and the Doctor close again to pose for another shot, “You know what? We should get my parents and do a proper family photo!”

“Did I hear family photo?” Jack said, miraculously turning up behind Bill with Ianto in tow. “Can’t do that without uncle Jack!”

“Oh, they most definitely can” Missy chuckled, appearing next to him. “This is not about you, puppy. It’s just for real family members. Like me.”

She pushed past him, positioning herself next to the Doctor and facing the camera with a thin but content smile. “I’m ready when you are, Loves.”

“Uh, yeah, that’s not happening” Jack decided, joining River’s side and slinging his arm around her waist, pulling Ianto with him into the frame.

While Bill shot the photo, Jenny could see more guests taking notice, some approaching them fairly quickly.

“Seems like everybody wants to have their picture taken with you” River whispered to her and Jenny chuckled.

“I am 100% certain it’s about you and mum” she answered although she couldn’t deny she felt important in the middle of the frame that more and more people crowded into.

“You should be in the picture, Bill” the Doctor called out when Sarah Jane was ushering a couple of teenagers and a metal dog to sit down in front of them. “If anyone’s family, it’s you! Just give the camera to Nardole.”

“Yeah, thank you, Ma’am” Nardole frowned. “Always a pleasure to know how much you appreciate me.”

He still took the camera from Bill and she and Heather hurried to the space the Doctor and Jenny cleared between them. It was a little tight now as Missy refused to budge but Jenny just threw one arm around River and the other around Bill and smiled for the photo Nardole shot of them.

It took a while until everybody who wanted to be in the photo had found their place and someone had tracked down a waitress to take the picture. In the meantime, a lot of quirky photos were shot by and of various combinations of the Doctor’s friends. Later they would be glued to the walls of the TARDIS hallways and Jenny would come back to them often to trail the faces of her mums’ loved ones and remember the night.

There would be a picture of Mickey and Martha kissing with Amy photobombing behind them, a picture of Wilf and Rory having exchanged their suit jackets and beaming like idiots and a picture of Jenny, Bill, Heather, Nardole, Yaz and Ryan in a group hug that Graham took as a very blurry selfie. There would be a picture of when Jack had decided to hoist Jenny onto his shoulders and another one of when Clara, Ryan and Yaz had followed suit, respectively carrying the Doctor, Graham and Bill on their backs with varying degrees of success.

Then there would be a picture of Jenny with her namesake which had made them giggle way too much, and another picture that the other Jenny had taken of her with Vastra and Strax, because ‘no-one would see the difference’. Which was an even sillier joke but made Jenny understand how much she liked the Paternoster gang after all. Especially because Vastra and Jenny had promised her fencing lessons between the shots.

There would be a picture of her mums kissing both of Missy’s cheeks simultaneously while Missy wore a decidedly unimpressed expression, a picture of Kate, Osgood, Martha and the Doctor trying to evoke an air of semi-professionalism as ‘UNIT-representatives’ that was completely ruined by the mess of people goofing around behind them and finally the Pond family picture River had asked for. They had to take three versions: one featuring Missy, one Jack and one on which both had begrudgingly left them alone.

But Jenny’s favourite photo would always be the one they took in the end, before everybody dispersed and went on to enjoy the party. The big group photo, with her mums in the focus and everyone surrounding them. The photo they took while she was standing right beside them, between her grandparents, Rory’s arm around her shoulder and Amy’s hand in hers and the happiest smiles possible on all their faces.

Then it was finally time to leave. Almost all the guests had gone and Clara and Ashildr were collecting the last of them in their diner-shaped TARDIS. All that was left now were Jenny, her parents and her grandparents.

“We’re taking…the kid…with us” Amy said. She was slurring and Jenny presumed she had found another bottle of vodka.

“No, why?” the Doctor complained, clutching at Jenny’s arm. She seemed a little drunk as well, although Jenny couldn’t fathom how. There had been next to no alcohol in the pink drinks. “I’ve let you have her the whole evening already.”

“Jenny will come visit us soon” Rory tried to reassure Amy. His ductus was considerably clearer than hers, but he was swaying a little as well. “She has promised, remember?”

Jenny’s hearts swell a little when she understood Amy must have recounted their discussion on the balcony to him. They’d been talking about her!

“We’re still -taking her” Amy decided, “Or do I needo…- do I need to remind you …what happened in our wedding night?”

“I did” River supplemented smirking. Rory went very pale while Jenny shrieked, hiding her face in River’s shoulder.

Her mum chuckled, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

“Go with your grandparents, Love” she advised, pulling her into a hug and kissing her cheek, when Jenny looked up at her, “Have a splendid night at their place and we’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, mum” she grinned, returning the kiss to the cheek. Then she turned around to the Doctor.

“We’ll come pick you up first thing in the morning” her mum said, holding her tightly, “I promise.”

“I know” Jenny murmured, amazed by how sure she was of that now, “Have a good night, mum.”

“Oh, she will” River said. The Doctror spluttered and Jenny tensed.

“Mu-um!” she complained, giving her a stern glance. Still, she couldn’t help smiling, when she added: “I hate you!”

River threw her head back laughing.

“No, you don’t” she said.

“We’ll be there tomorrow” the Doctor repeated when she let Jenny go.

“For once…-I am hoping, sh-she will be a month late” Amy murmured, pressing Jenny to her side and thus swaying her lightly.

“How about breakfast at the Ponds together? As a compromise?” the Doctor offered, and Jenny nodded quickly.

“That sounds perfect” she said, and her mum beamed at her.

“Breakfast it is, then” she decided, “Don’t you lot worry, I can bring the custard creams.”

“Yeah, give us till noon, though, Doctor” Rory mumbled, “I’ll need a lot of sleep now.”

“We’re not goingdo - going to sleep” Amy complained, “We’ll have an afda-afterparty. Movies,… facemasks, goss-gosspip.”

She pulled a face at her own slurring which made Jenny chuckle.

“Yeah, you don’t really b-believe that either” Rory commented, gently taking her arm and steering her towards Clara’s TARDIS. He stopped himself to yawn loudly and reach for Jenny’s hand. “Let’s get all of us to bed.”

They waved goodbye and then Jenny took Rory’s hand and followed her grandparents to the diner. Before they passed the TARDIS, she turned around one last time, seeing her mums standing in the ever-setting sun on Darillium. They were facing each other, River’s hand cupping the Doctor’s cheek, the Doctor’s hands on her shoulders and talking in quiet voices. They seemed perfectly comfortable with each other, exhausted, but happy, like they had finally arrived home after a very long journey.

‘We all have’ Jenny thought, when they started slowly kissing and she turned around to her grandparents again, ‘We’ve all come home now.’

Hey :) Thank you so much for reading this series! This is the end, at least of the wedding and of the story, but I’m sure Jenny is about to have many adventures with her mums. Thank you so much to everyone who has left comments, you are all incredibly kind! <3

And thank you so much @elsaistherelifeonmars for letting me play with your story! <3

This fic is inspired by ‘The Wedding of River Song’. Go, check it out, if you haven’t already :)

#dw #doctor who #fanfiction #a family wedding #thirteen/river #the doctor/river song #thirteenth doctor #river song #jenny #the doctor's daughter #amy/rory #amy pond #rory williams #alcohol #daggers

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missweber · 5 years

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Here’s the final part of this story for Day 7 (Free Day) of @lardo-week! Please excuse any typos, but I am falling asleep as I type. AO3 version goes up tomorrow. I had good intentions, but Benadryl.

Read the entire thing on AO3

Chapter 7 - to arrive where we started

"We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time"

–T.S. Eliot

A year after Lardo graduated, her bà ngoại moved into a retirement community. It wasn't quite assisted living, but assistance was available.

At first, Lardo's mom looked at it as a failure on her own part. As a dutiful daughter, she should be the one to look after her mother in her old age just as her mother had looked after her during infancy.

Lardo knew all too well what it was like to struggle with the idea that what you thought you should do wasn't always the right thing to do.

Bà ngoại had laughed aside the idea as she patted mom's hand. "We would murder each other, my precious girl. Besides, I'm going because I want go and before I have to go. And all of my friends are there. I'll be able to play cards every day, if I like."

Oh, yes. Cards. Lardo had seen bà ngoại at the card table. Bà ngoại at the card table was like Lardo at the pong table.

It didn't take much imagination to see a younger bà ngoại kicking everyone's asses at flip cup.

Scratch that. It didn't take much imagination to see bà ngoại kicking everyone asses now.

"What are you smiling at, child?" Bà ngoại asked with an innocence that fooled absolutely no one.

"The way you're going to totally dominate the canasta table. So, do you need any help moving? I know some big strong guys who owe me a favor or five."

And so it was that all four foot ten of bà ngoại led a procession of current and former hockey players down the halls of the Fern Hill Retirement Community. Lardo wasn't sure what grapevine had been called into play, but all of her bà ngoại's friends had found some reason to pass through that part of the building.

Later, Lardo would swear she saw one woman fan herself like she was Blanche from the Golden Girls.

If the smugness radiating off of bà ngoại could be converted into energy, all of Boston would be shining like the sun.

Bà ngoại had few enough things that none of the guys had to make more than two trips. Ransom and Holster took their leave as soon as they were done, as did Snowy, but from the look of things, Tater had gotten himself adopted by a couple of elderly Russian widows, while Bitty had locked in on the community's most avid bakers as if he were a butter-seeking missile. She wasn't sure where Jack and Shitty had gone off to, but they could look after themselves.

The larger pieces of furniture had been set where they needed to be with little fuss (except for one carved wooden table which had to be set just so), and all the boxes were placed in the appropriate spots as decreed by Lardo's clipboard.

"Do you need any help unpacking, bà ngoại?"

Bà ngoại waved her off even as she dug into the one box that she had carried herself. "No... actually yes. I would love it if you got my bed made up. I have a few things I need to do before I can call this place home, and then I think I will take a nap."

It didn't take long to find the sheets and make the bad, thanks the clearly labeled boxes. When she returned to the living room, she smiled to see the old photo of her ông ngoại already set up on the carved wood table, right where it belonged, surrounded by the familiar vases, bowls, and incense burner.

But bà ngoại wasn't done with whatever it was she needed to make this place a home. She held a large framed picture to her chest and was clearly deciding between two possible walls.

"There, I think," bà ngoại said, pointing to the wall next to the kitchenette. "Can you help me hang this?"

This was a framed picture of a blobby, spiky animal—supposedly a triceratops—in faded pinks, yellows and oranges. It was an unskilled drawing, but Lardo could see the beginnings of a sense of color, of form, of light.

"Yeah," she said, voice thick. "Let's do this."

There was measuring, and marking, and squabbling, and a couple of bent nails, but eventually the picture was up.

"There. Now this is home," bà ngoại declared. Her late husband's photo and her granddaughter's drawing were both where they should be, and apparently that was all it took.

Lardo hugged her gently, remembering when bà ngoại had been the taller one and she was the smaller one.

Lardo had been Larissa back then, a little girl who had loved dinosaurs almost as much as she loved her bà ngoại.

"Do you remember how you always said you wanted to be a paleontologist when you grew up?"

Lardo sort of remembered that, but what she actually remembered was—

"You always used to get so mad when your parents told people how you used to pronounce it!" bà ngoại said gleefully.

"Arrrgh!" Lardo cringed in embarrassment and tugged at her hair. "They said it was cute! I hate being called cute!"

The way bà ngoại smiled said that she knew damned well just how much Lardo hated it—and found it cute.

"I remember how much you loved making up stories with your toy dinosaurs. Do you still have that big plush one?"

"Mr. Steggy?" She scoffed. "Heck yeah I still have him!"

"Good. I thought it was a little sad when you stopped being so interested in dinosaurs."

"Mr. Steggy is forever. And now I'm into ducks, which are, like, stealth dinosaurs."

She still remembered the little thrill when she learned that dinosaurs were still around in the form of birds.

They hadn't gone extinct.

They just weren't what you expected them to turn out to be. But they were still there.

She hugged her bà ngoại goodbye and went to collect her boys.

The others assumed that her thoughtful mood on the way home was due to the idea of moving her grandmother into a retirement community, but that was only part of it.

She thought about all the times her family asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up.

At first, she had wanted to be a paleontologist the way other kids wanted to be astronauts, back when it wasn't the reality of the job you wanted but the cool factor of ACTUAL MONSTERS or SPACESHIPS.

Then, there was the dream of being an artist.

And fuck it, she was an artist. She just also happened to be an equipment manager for a professional hockey team, a job that wasn't in any way, shape, or form on her list of dream jobs at any point ever.

But, via a 'happy accident,' George had mentioned something to Thirdy about needing to train up a replacement for Stu, and Thirdy had said something to Marty, and...

And because a previous 'happy accident' had led her to Jack and a job that got her away from that miserable deep-fryer, here she was.

She had taken to the job like a duck-billed dinosaur to water. It hadn't taken long for the team to take to her. Of course it helped that Jack already loved her, Tater already adored her, Snowy already admired her, and Poots already (rightfully) feared her.

She was jolted out of her musings when Jack pulled up in front of Haus 2.0.

"Later, gator?" Shitty asked. Lardo didn't say anything, but gave him a lingering kiss.

With training camp starting up soon, it made more sense to crash with Jack and Bitty during the week. In another year, she and Shitty would probably be ready to find a place of their own, so it didn't make sense to move into our out of either place completely.

Jack and Bitty had to go on a grocery run, which Lardo suspected was an excuse to give her some alone time.

Jack was a good bro, really he was.

Lardo let herself into the condo. The picture hanging next to the kitchen pass-through was familiar enough that she didn't usually notice it anymore, but now she stopped to look at it.

Bitty had declared that Still Life With a Fuckton of Jam was one of his favorite graduation presents, and the fact that he hung it by his beloved kitchen said more than a 'thank you' ever could.

She passed by her Junior Show sky-scape as she cut through the living room. She loved that it was owned by someone who saw it being made and who wanted to hang on to the memory of the making of it.

No, this wasn't what she pictured when she thought about being an artist when she grew up, but that dream was still very much alive. Just not in the way she had expected it to be.

It was better. She would never say this out loud, because it would completely nuke her cred, but it was all tangled up in love.

Even when she was doing work for hire, it was still about the people. She still went to the Macey's used bookstore where the steps she had painted enticed young readers up to a nook furnished with cushions and hidey-holes. And every time, Macey still gushed about how she had wanted a staircase like that in her bookstore ever since she saw one as a child, and now she had the store of her dreams, and wasn't it wonderful?

She was halfway through another commission, this one for a friend of Snowy's who needed a re-do on his mask after getting traded to the Aeros. Jukes was super-psyched about the retro-futurist space-themed design she was doing in the Aeros' silver and red, so psyched Lardo half-suspected that kid-Jukes would have said he wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up (possibly a hockey-playing astronaut—he was Canadian, after all).

Snowy had taken one look at the design and had declared that by the end of the season, Lardo would have a three year waiting list, and that if he weren't so superstitious about his current mask, he'd be next in line after Jukes.

Having another job (one that she loved) gave her the freedom to pick and choose the art she wanted to do the way she wanted to do it and for the people she wanted to do it for. One day, she might be able to do it full time and she really hoped she would get there.

The important thing was, she was an artist. It was an essential part of who she was and who she would be, just like Bitty didn't need to own a bakery to be a baker.

She flopped down on the bed in Jack's guest room (which was already halfway to being 'her' room). She was exhausted enough to want to nap, but too keyed up to do so.

So, she picked up her bedside sketch pad, flipped to a mostly empty page, and began doodling.

She started with a triceratops.

#omgcp #omgcheckplease #lardo duan #shitty x lardo #my fic

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bibliophilicwitch · 6 years

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Alright, enough of you would like to see my likely long rambly post about my 3-day weekend away so let’s do this.

About a month ago a friend of mine connected with me and asked if I would be interested in a girls’ weekend because there’s a loud music festival that happens practically in her backyard every year and she didn’t want to be in town for it. This friend lives in Appleton nearly 2 hours away from me and we rarely have reasons to be in each others’ neck of the woods anymore so I don’t really visit with her much anymore. So when she asked I really wanted to say yes, but she just so happened to be suggesting a 3-day trip the same month as my 6-day vacation to travel to North Dakota to see family and attend my cousin’s wedding. We planned a budget accordingly and I just gotta be conscious of money the next couple of weeks.

The music started on Thursday and ideally we would’ve left town that evening, but I ended up being scheduled to work until 9 PM closing time at the pharmacy that night… of course. We had plans already scheduled for midday on Friday, so I had to pack everything before work and then left immediately from work for my nearly 2 hour drive and arrived at her house at about 11 PM. I listened to some of the first campaign of Critical Role - time well spent.

So our Friday morning was spent running a few errands and finishing prep to leave Appleton before heading out to Milwaukee including running her pup to a friends’ house, getting groceries, and picking up coffee to fortify ourselves. We headed out around 11 AM I think and arrived early for our massage in a Milwaukee suburb with time to spare. It was my first massage and it was pretty good other than too much on my neck which led to a light headache. I really should’ve said that it was hurting too much, but I wasn’t sure if it would or would not be beneficial as I had never had a professional massage before.

Our hotel was in Wauwautosa and we arrived a good two hours before check in so we went and got food at Dave and Busters which, for those that don’t know, is an arcade for adults - meaning there is a bar. It was fun, but 3 of the 5 games we played didn’t work correctly or at all and then it was time to head out. Kinda wish we had had the opportunity to go back for another hour since I had plenty of credits still and would’ve really liked to play Mario Kart and check out one or two more games. I did play a Star Wars game with the wrap around screen which was pretty wicked cool.

That evening, after we checked into our hotel and washed off our oils from the massage, we went to a suburb to participate in a Paint and Sip class - this one was a paint your pet class and they even had little gift bags with goodies for you pet. I picked a picture of Binx that was low lighting which they oversaturated so you could see both his eyes, but since they oversaturated the picture he no longer looked like a true black and white tuxedo but like he had shades of grey and black all over which would not have been my kitty. Since I was not following the picture exactly it was proving impossible to distinguish his features, so I gave up and just used my time to fill in the areas I knew I could and plan to ask another of my friends, who works with me for the library Paint & Sip classes, to help me finish it some time. No idea when that may actually happen since she is super busy, but I have plans that meant I was okay with my experience. Not thrilled since it was a $35 class not including our wine, but eh. Meanwhile my friend was frustrated because even though she asked a few times for help with colors she never got close enough to be happy with her picture. On top of that she had chosen a picture of her goofy dog with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, but they CUT OFF HIS TONGUE and then didn’t make the picture as large as they could’ve so she had a lot of negative space. She was unimpressed to say the least. At least our wine was good. Really the class should’ve had prerequisites such as having participated in their other classes to be sure customers would get the best out of their experience. They did see that I had not finished and were offering a free session to join their free paint classes for help finishing… which we couldn’t do since we both live too far away (in my case a good 4 hours). I do really wish it had been a more standard paint class with the fast blended background and straightforward foreground. Ah well.

We finished day one at the Cheesecake Factory, a first for me! My friend commented that she was never very impressed by their food and she wasn’t surprised do be unimpressed yet again (though I didn’t mind my food at all), but we finished off with cheesecake, obviously, and that was delicious. Unfortunately I forgot my leftover cheesecake at her house in Appleton.

Saturday was our busiest day. We started at the Milwaukee Public Museum which was excellent though it really is a whole day affair not the two hour filler we planned for it. About halfway through my friend started to get anxious about her car and concerned it had a ticket or had been towed and I think she was also just getting tired of being on her feet. I think I was overall more interested in the exhibits too and she seemed to only be truly interested in specific things. I’m also a reader and wanted to actually read some of the shit while she just breezed through exhibit after exhibit. Like I said, we really didn’t have the time, but it was disappointing to be rushed so much.

Then we went downtown to The Safe House which she had wanted to check out. She did not realize it was literally right downtown and there was some anxiety, but we made it! For those that have not heard of Safe House, it’s a restaurant where the servers are in-character as secret agents and guests are also secret agents. There is a password to get in and if you don’t know it you have to prove you aren’t a spy by acting out some silliness. The interior is a wild and zany pieced together hodgepodge with references to spies in popular culture. Guests are given a list of missions (clues) to wander about and try to figure out the password. If you figure it out you are able to get a discount on their merchandise.

It was more confusing than my friend was expecting and not as engaging as she had expected either. She was pretty sure she figured it out, but neither of us were really worried about the merchandise, so we just didn’t even bother. They had a pen listed that we both kinda wanted, but they didn’t have any in stock.

After that we went to the North Point Lighthouse which is a lighthouse museum and I really enjoyed that little attraction. After that we finally headed back to the hotel for a short break and to get bandages because she wore strappy shoes that were trying to eat her feet. We discovered there was some sort of convention going on so the hotel was packed and TOO busy for only two slow elevators.

Next we went to Water2Wine, a winery in a suburb that imports their grapes and then makes their own wines in house. It was cute and pretty decent, but we weren’t overly impressed tbh. Next door to the winery was a Half Priced Books which my friend suggested instead of going to Barnes and Noble in the mall. So we wandered around, which was the first time I’d been to a Half Priced Books, but she got bored relatively quickly and dragged me out well before I would’ve like saying I could go to Barnes and Noble instead and then if she got bored she could wander the mall. So then we ended up at the mall and I was ready to settle into browsing for nearly an hour before wandering around the rest of the mall until close, but again she dragged me out likely because it isn’t that fun to wander by yourself. I did pick up a book at both places, Of Fire and Stars and Spinning Silver. I could’ve stayed in the bookstore all evening and likely only bought the one book, but nooooo, I ended up in the game store and bought an expensive gorgeous metal dice set. Pft. I also bought macarons which I had never been able to try and the ones I got were disappointingly too sweet for me to enjoy. We were both ready to be done, so we grabbed Chipotle, another first for me, and just curled up with a little TV before bed.

Sunday we got brunch at the ludicrously hipstery Cafe Hollanders. Very good and excellent atmosphere, but I couldn’t get over how chique it was being. The cafe was located in this ritzy area filled with high end stores that neither of us could afford, but we wandered around and gawped at insane prices before heading out to the Milwaukee County Zoo which I have WAAAY too many picture of to share here, so just check out my Instagram. I mentioned a few times, because I was seeing merchandise, that we hadn’t seen the red panda and my friend said she thought it might be a seasonal exhibit. After I was home I checked… it wasn’t. We literally missed it and I kinda wanna cry tbh.

We left Milwaukee around 4 and I ended up home around 7:30, but I tossed some gas in my car, washed it, and ran to the grocery store first so idk exactly how long my drive was. Though not everything was amazing I still had a pretty damn good time, my friend on the other hand seemed to get bored and/or impatient and/or disappointed/frustrated on a regular basis and I swear she didn’t enjoy the trip nearly as well as I did which just makes me sad. I also realized that since the last time we had really hung out we have both changed. Whereas I am online a lot and am fairly socially conscious she was not and she made a few borderline racist jokes (okay, not really borderline at all). Nothing nasty, just those ingrained stereotype jokes that are just not funny when you recognize how hurtful they can be. It also became more apparent that our interests do not overlap much at all. Which is another post to ramble about later. I loved the lighthouse and the zoo and wish I could’ve had just a bit more bookstore time and arcade time. It was nice to get out of town and not think about work while getting to catch up with an old friend though.

#text #personal #general related #milwaukee trip

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aerialflight · 6 years

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chasing smoke (The Flash fic) Part 2 of meta!Mick fic

Summary: Len was a pro when it came to the art of adapting.

He just never expected he would have to adapt to Mick.

(Part 1, we are all supernovas)

It had started small, barely noticeable to anyone who didn’t know Mick. Hell, Len had initially dismissed it himself at first, letting it bypass all his internal alarms in favor of being busy integrating Mick into his plans. They were partners on and off for twenty years, but nobody knew how Len worked better than Mick.

They’ve had their fights and tense silences, but they always somehow drifted back to each other. He heard all the arguments over his life whenever people snidely commented on their relationship. Mick Rory was dangerous, teetering on the edge of madness, and an unpredictable flight risk on jobs.

But Len knew better. There was no one in the world he would trust his back to other than Mick. Someone who saved a scrawny teen stumbling his way through juvie the first time with a mouth that couldn’t shut up. Someone who didn’t give a damn that he was corrupt policeman Lewis Snart’s kid, telling him straight in the eye that he didn’t give a crap. Someone loyal and crazy enough to put up with Len’s bullshit, aware yet unafraid of Len’s cold ruthlessness.

Knowing Mick as long as has, he should’ve paid more attention. Nothing about Mick was subtle, and that should’ve been the first sign.

Mick was always, for lack of a better word, loud.

He’s never really been the chatter between the two of them, preferring to answer in grunts and let his partner do the talking and long-winded speeches. Len was aware of his own faults, no matter what Lisa said. It never does any good to be in denial when reality wasn’t going anywhere. (He learnt that the hard way.)

But Mick was always quick to throw out a quip, to react before thinking. The man of action next to the man who never ran out of words. Hot-blooded and always rearing for a fight with snarling grins and growls in spares. He may not be as much of a talker, but nothing about the man could be described as quiet.

Yet over the past year, something about Mick has shifted.

When they kidnapped Caitlin Snow, Mick couldn’t stop staring at her with intense, hungry eyes. It had worried Len, made him tense at the idea Mick would cross that line Len never thought Mick would’ve ever thought to cross. Consent, choice, it was important to Mick.

But Mick never had to cajole a person into bed, willing partners flirting with Mick’s surprising charms. Not to mention, Mick had a temper like nothing else, an inferno of rage that wildly got out of control, especially when people looked down on him. And Len had done the unthinkable merely half a year ago, deciding to cut his losses because he couldn’t stand to be around his own very visible mistakes on Mick’s burnt body. Who knew what the incident could’ve done to Mick mentally? Len wanted to kick himself now for being such a coward for running away.

So Len, acting like he wasn’t carefully observing, listened to Mick as he gave his fervent rant about fire to one terrified scientist.

It was a pretty standard scare tactic playing up Mick’s insanity, all things considered, until Mick hummed and commented idly, “I wonder if by burning you alive, it’ll melt some of that ice stuck on you. You wanna tell me what froze your heart?” he grinned, something sharp in his burning eyes. “I bet it’s cause of a sweetheart, ain’t it? Did he die, or leave you?”

The way Snow paled white as her namesake at Mick’s words definitely pinged Len’s attention. The once diminutive woman now looked ready to commit murder, some invisible string that represented her patience or sanity snapping.

“How dare you-” she hissed, eyes flashing and enraged. Mick merely stared, looking absolutely fascinated.

“Mick.” Len barked, demanding for Mick to stop whatever he was playing at. “Time to go.”

To Len’s hidden relief, Mick actually listened with one last contemplative glance at the tied up furious Snow before following.

Things didn’t end there.

After they escaped arrest with Lisa’s help, Len decided he would stick around for Mick this time. A case of making up to the man for ditching. And also, of course, for the sake of trying to figure out what Mick’s deal was.

The next morning, Len casually declared they should stick together. That Len had plans for Central City and he didn’t want his partner to be too far out of reach. Convenient excuses, but valid ones. Mick had rolled his eyes, seeing right through him so easily that it was kind of scary, not even protesting against this invasion of privacy like he used to. It was the closest either would ever get to admitting they didn’t like the idea of being alone again.

Lisa cheerfully enlisted in this move and the three now ended up sharing one place, coexisting in a way they haven’t done since Len and Mick were teenagers with no one else to turn to but each other.

It was… oddly nice.

He didn’t forget about his main reason for staying though. With this opportunity, Len now had a close up view to how Mick was operating. He could find out himself what happened this year to have Mick change so much. So he lied in wait, vigilantly trying to piece together the picture as little instances started piling up.

For one, there were the books.

Mick, as it turned out now, bought books. In an actual bookstore. Second hand, but still.

And it was accumulating in number as the weeks pass by. They were all lined up on bookshelves that, apparently, Mick decided to build into the wall himself.

Len stared at the psychology books and… A color thesaurus?

When he asked, Mick just nonchalantly shrugged and said, “Gets me to fall asleep. And it’s interesting.”

Interesting?

Len shook his head, baffled, and mentally added this firmly to the Mick observation folder.

Second, were the trips.

Len watched as Mick put on a jacket and, curiously enough, a baseball cap before grunting he was heading out without so much as a by-your-leave. Len wrestled with himself as he stared at the closed apartment door before standing up from the worn out couch and deciding to follow.

The man’s been too calm these days despite Len never seeing him take out his lighter. And the vanishing acts have been increasingly occurring, Mick coming back every time looking in control, content even.

It was strange, and Len was determined to find out the reason behind it.

It wasn’t that hard. Mick was a giant among the crowd no matter how much the man purposely hunched himself over, head low with oxymoronic humble behavior the older man used on undercover jobs. Mick knew that Len knew Mick learnt how to act like such by watching Len over the early years. The show of being carefully subservient whenever Len was around Lewis in the house.

People who’ve said Mick was dumb as a brick wall were fucking idiots.

Mick took several buses, making a confusing trail that Len couldn’t help be impressed by with how easily Mick seemed to be able to keep track that led them to Mick’s destination which was, of all places, the public park in Central City.

Len crept behind his partner whose back was to him and watched as Mick shuffled to a bench, sat down, and did… nothing.

He sat there peaceably, the back of his head swerving around as if he was casually looking around. Len automatically thought Mick was surveying the place from the movement, maybe for a job though god knows what kind of job would involve a public park, but his body language was all wrong.

His shoulders were low and relaxed and he was leaning his entire weight at the back of the bench, a sign he wasn’t planning on going anywhere. Len’s curiosity burnt to know more, but this was the best view he could get. There was no way in hell Len was going to manage better than this, Mick’s instincts were just as sharp as his own.

So he watched from afar, waiting for something, anything to happen.

Three hours later when it was dipping into evening, Mick got up and simply walked away.

Len thought he missed something that first time, so he followed Mick a few more times to see if anything would change.

Nothing happened.

Len was almost tempted to think that Mick was messing with him, knowing he was following him. But no, Len knew he had been careful, he was a thief damnit. He always knew when a job’s gone bad and he was caught.

The only conculsion Len could come up with was that Mick spontaneously goes to a park, without any reason at all, then comes back home right before night hits like clockwork.

Len had to admit defeat in that instance, and it ticked him off more than he’d like to admit.

And the jobs. Fuck, the jobs.

Mick wasn’t as quick to irritation whenever Len reminded him not to kill anyone. Instead of being annoyed, an almost pensive look would cross his face, as if he was really considering following the one rule he always had trouble understanding. Len knew Mick didn’t think like most people and honestly, Len’s morals weren’t that sparkly clean either. Len just didn’t want to be more like his father than he already was. But to see Mick actually hold back, thoughtful as he rolled it over through his mind was a staggering development that Len somehow had missed.

It was, admittedly, driving Len a little insane trying to solve the mystery.

Len was a pro when it came to the art of adapting.

He just never expected he would have to adapt to Mick.

The thing that broke the camels back though was brought to his notice by Lisa.

“Lenny, what’s going on with Mick?” she point blank questioned, getting to the point instead of toying around the issue. She always did when it came to family.

“Don’t know what you mean.” He drawled, glancing up from the blueprints scattered on the rickety dining table. Their next heist was happening in a week and he was swamped at the moment preparing for it. Half his mind was still focused on it, mind whirling as he accumulated the information into a formidable plan.

All of that faded away though when he took in the rare frown lines wrinkling her forehead in a way she always hated. Said it made her look unattractive, something Len couldn’t see no matter how much she whined over it. Right now, she was genuinely worried.

“What happened?”

“More like what’s not happening.” Lisa bit her bottom lip, a nervous tic she never completely gotten rid of from childhood. “He’s not burning anything.”

Len nodded, already aware of that.

“No recent fires have been reported in the newspapers…” he trailed off when Lisa started shaking her head, uncharacteristically serious.

“It’s more than that. Lenny, he forgot where he put his lighter.”

“What?” Len blurted out, straightening up instantly in alarm.

That wasn’t possible. Mick literally couldn’t function without something that could produce fires on him at all times. Lighters, matches, you name it. The one time he didn’t have a lighter with him was in their early twenties when a job went pear shaped, Mick ending up losing it in their rush for escape. The bigger man had a goddamn anxiety attack when he realized it was missing, breathing fast and eyes darting everywhere as he curled up and tried to calm down. It had been terrifying to see someone Len saw as physically unbeatable break down so badly.

Lisa hadn’t been there to see it, but she knew what happened. She knew how serious this was.

“What happened?” Len already felt himself standing up, tense and ready to dash out the door. He had to find Mick, had to make sure he was okay-

“He’s fine,” Lisa said quickly before grasping his shoulder, the weight of her hand grounding him. “We were at the club and a girl was asking for a light. Mick searched his pockets and,” Lisa let a little bewilderment and wonder color her next words. “he apologized and said he didn’t have it. He was fine.”

Both Snart siblings looked at each other, feeling like a rug has been pulled right underneath them.

Len couldn’t deny any longer that this was just a small thing now. Something happened to Mick when he wasn’t here, something serious and life-changing from the looks of it.

“I’m going to talk to him-” he halted in his tracks when Lisa shook her head.

“Lenny, I think we should leave it alone.”

Len opened his mouth because why the hell shouldn’t he demand an explanation-

But then he stopped to think, to really ponder the changes themselves.

He didn’t know what was different with Mick, but there was no denying the man was, in lots of ways, happier.

He wasn’t burning things as often as before, not as prone to being lost in flames which would definitely make him less of a hazard to jobs. Ignoring the fact that all the changes were baffling and strange, it was relatively harmless to both Mick and other people. Was this, maybe, a sign?

A sign that Mick was getting better?

Was he getting help? What if the disappearances weren’t all going to a park? What if he was seeing a competent shrink – a novel idea – and it was working? Hell, maybe going to the park was even an exercise for all Len knew. And it would definitely explain the psychology books’ existence, though he still wasn’t sure what the color thesaurus was for.

Maybe the no-killing rule and not depending on the lighter as much were symptoms of him improving?

If that’s the case, Len shouldn’t interfere. Mick was always touchy on the idea of shrinks from bad experiences, and wouldn’t want Len to know about it until the man knew for sure it was working. Neither of them trusted the idea of false hope, this could be Mick’s way of protecting Len in his mind.

Len should probably respect that. He still owed Mick for cutting the man loose and he didn’t want to push him. He didn’t have the right to force the man to talk, he was going to have to earn the right to know. Later.

He sighed, running a hand over his scalp before shooting his sister an assenting look.

“I’m not good at waiting, but fine. I see your point.” He reluctantly admitted.

Lisa smiled, relief in her eyes.

They’ll just have to wait.

Part 2 of the fire in my breath and soul series

#fanfiction #ao3 #dc comics #the flash #mick rory #meta!mick #au plotline #chasing smoke #fire in my breath and soul

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youspoketome · 6 years

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DC TALK - FREE AT LAST (1992)

One year at camp they started showing music videos before chapel started. I really liked TV, so naturally I made it a point to get to chapel as early as possible all week in order to watch as many videos as possible. I’m hoping this was winter camp, so I can tell myself that I was really just trying to come in from the cold, but let’s be honest, it was probably summer camp and beautiful outside.

Anyway, I watched a lot of music videos that week (or weekend! We can always hold out hope it was winter camp.), but only retained two of them… And one I promptly forgot all information about. (Years later I would discover that it was “PDA” by Audio Adrenaline.) The other video though, was “Walls” by DC Talk. That song blew my mind, and the first thing I did when I got home was rush to the Christian bookstore to buy the album if came from, NU THANG. (Ok, full disclosure: it probably wasn’t first thing. I was very bad at saving money. I’m sure there was some delay while I amassed enough money to buy a cassette tape.)

Once we got to the store though, I ran into a problem. DC Talk had already released a new album called FREE AT LAST. So I had to decide whether to get the tape with the song I knew I wanted, or to get the newest one. Throwing another monkey wrench in the situation was that there was also a featured tape on display called NO ROOM 2 BREATHE by a group called Dynamic Twins. I had never heard of them before, but my brother must have heard them somewhere because he was pushing hard for me to forgo DC Talk altogether and go for NO ROOM 2 BREATHE. After an extended period at the listening station switching back and forth between the three of them, I decided on FREE AT LAST.

I don’t think I’ve heard Dynamic Twins mentioned again since that day, but I just googled them and apparently that was their second of three albums. I like to imagine there’s a timeline out there where I bought their album instead and then proceeded to become a huge rap fan. In that timeline I never cared about JESUS FREAK when it was released and so never made the transition from rap to rock along with DC Talk. I never go on to discover the other bands that changed my life, never got a job at Hot Topic, never met my wife at work and my entire life is different. This may be the darkest timeline.

As it was, DC Talk always had that rap/rock/soul combo, even dating back to “Walls.” So even though I thought I was getting into rap, I wasn’t.

It’s funny to me to talk to other people my age about music from the mid-90’s, because I have no idea what anyone else is talking about. I didn’t even know who Nirvana was until after Kurt died and people started wearing those white t-shirts with his picture and dates on the front and that quote on the back. My only knowledge of Madonna was that she was the reason I wasn’t allowed to watch Dick Tracy because “she wore underwear for clothes.” I honestly just didn’t have a clue about any mainstream music; I was living in a different world. FREE AT LAST led me to Audio Adrenaline’s DON’T CENSOR ME (and eventually back to their self-titled first album which contains “PDA”), Carman’s ADDICTED TO JESUS, The Newsboys, Geoff Moore and the Distance’s HOMERUN, SPACE by Bleach, and Skillet’s first album. If that tape had the Forefront Records black and yellow spine, I was there.

It’s hard to put into words how important DC Talk was to me. Garth Brooks was the first thing I connected with, but it was still my dad’s music. DC Talk was mine. They were the first thing I discovered for myself. I’m fairly confident that my first concert was DC Talk at the Billy Graham Crusade at the Metrodome, followed pretty closely by DC Talk’s Welcome To The Freak Show Tour at the Target Center. The first song I ever wrote was a blatant ripoff of “Walls.” (I still remember the hook, but there is no amount of money you can pay me to share that with anyone.) My little brother, cousins and I literally spent hours lip-syncing and dancing together to FREE AT LAST. I at one point in junior high definitely made the statement “DC Talk and Audio Adrenaline are there two greatest bands of all time.”

And I absolutely believed it too. Which is why it’s odd that to this day I have never listened to all of SUPERNATURAL. FREE AT LAST was my gateway album. JESUS FREAK was my first CD, which really redirected my musical direction. NU THANG (along with HOMERUN) was my first CD purchase. But I never even bought the WELCOME TO THE FREAK SHOW live album until I found it used on clearance probably 5 years ago and bought it for nostalgia’s sake. By the time SUPERNATURAL (and especially SOLO) came out the world had moved on. But to this day I have not taken those other three out of semi-regular rotation.

• Note: At some point I misplaced my original cassette tape. This is a photo of the CD I upgraded to.

#you spoke to me #dc talk #free at last

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jillmckenzie1 · 5 years

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Cookbooks, What Should You Look For?

While proper knowledge on which knives to buy is essential as there are so many choices in today’s society, knowledge of the food you are making whether it is at home or in the restaurant is easily of the utmost importance. A good portion of the list provided below is based on books I use at home and at work, and I have included a few suggestions by Chef Dylan Montanio and Jeremiah Gray; to make the list easier to follow I have broken it up into the following categories:

Essential References- 4 books

Alternative Cuisines- 2 books

For The Advanced Cook- 3 books

Others Worth Noting- 7 books

The books provided will not only help elevate your home cooking, but also help you generate your own unique ideas that will surprise your family and friends. Not to mention these books can be found through Amazon or your local bookstore, so you won’t have to go on a scavenger hunt to try to locate them. This list covers a number of examples, they are not superior to other reference sources, as you will most likely find books that work better for you than the ones below.

Essential References

The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg:

While I am more partial to The Flavor Matrix written by James Briscione with Brook Parkhurst due to the accompanying visual charts of flavor approximations, The Flavor Bible is a fantastic reference that will help with any dish you are making. Let’s say you don’t know what to pair with some nice dates you picked up at the local market, turn to page 146 and you will find a list of items that go well with dates such as: almonds, buttermilk, caramel, coffee, lamb, black pepper, and the list goes on. The book also gives a couple examples of dishes you could try making with the provided list, which definitely helps the gears grind out new ideas. This book costs approximately $24 dollars through Amazon, so it isn’t going to break the bank.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Flavor-Bible-Essential-Creativity-Imaginative/dp/0316118400

Herbs & Spices The Cook’s Reference by Jill Norman

Let’s say you are browsing through your favorite cookbook and you come across a herb or spice you are not familiar with like Hyssop (herb, page 84) or Cassia (spices, page 140), this book not only supplies pictures of these herbs and spices so you know what you are looking for, but also cooking tips, harvesting, storing, and which parts to use. With over 200 herbs and spices provided, this book is a must for any serious home cook or professional, and at $24, this is a steal.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Herbs-Spices-Recipes-Marinades-Spice/dp/1465435980/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544648514&sr=1-2&keywords=dk+herbs+and+spices

The Complete Book Of Sauces by Sallie Y. Williams

This book is one of a few that floats around my house multiple times a year when it comes to writing recipes, with over 300 recipes this book covers the classics and some unique ones that might not immediately come to mind. The recipes are thorough, but also easy enough to comprehend that you get confused; which is also made easier by the categorization of white sauces, red sauces, wine sauces, and so on. Depending on where you go this book will vary by a couple dollars, I paid $17 for my copy, but at the link below you will find it for $16.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Sauces-Sallie-Williams/dp/0028603605/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544648720&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Complete+book+of+sauces+sallie+williams

Vegetable Literacy by Deborah Madison

This book is the equivalent to a dictionary entirely about vegetables, it is extremely thorough and nothing is forgotten, this is another one that floats with me around the house or out to my car for some reading before or after work. This book, aside from general info about the vegetables provided, gives examples of how to use the plant, and notes called “kitchen wisdom” that explain how to process and treat the vegetables. This book is especially good for learning about new vegetables, and how to use them in your cooking, recipes are also provided; just like the rest of our Essential References so far, this book is on the more affordable side as it sits around $25.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Vegetable-Literacy-Gardening-Families-Deliciously/dp/1607741911/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544649140&sr=1-1&keywords=vegetable+literacy+deborah+madison

Alternative Cuisines

The books provided in this section are based on the recipes they provide.

Vegan Recipes and Preparation by Sashia Fraser

I bought this book a while back when I first started working at a local vegan restaurant, it helped me acquire more knowledge on a cuisine I was not familiar with at all. The book provides easy to follow, home style, recipes that would easily please anyone, vegan or not; if you are not familiar with some of the vegetables provided a search through the internet or a reference book would help a lot in this circumstance. This book sits around $22, so it is worth a look if you are interested in vegan cuisine, or you are looking to cook for some friends or family who don’t eat meat.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Vegan-Food-Preparation-Saskia-Fraser/dp/1786644789/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544649671&sr=1-3&keywords=vegan+recipes+and+preparation

Two If By Sea by Barton Seaver

Let’s say you know someone who doesn’t like to eat red meat for their own reasons, this book provides plenty of examples of various seafood based dishes like fish tacos, a scallop ceviche, and a seafood risotto. The author is very personable in this book as he also gives examples of occurrences from his own life, and even dives into which knives, pans and cutting boards to buy; the recipes are easy to follow and no doubt delicious. While you might not be able to find some of the seafood mentioned at your local market, it is easy to find a replacement that might even save you a little money. This book runs around $19 to $20 dollars, so maybe this would be a solid gift idea for someone in your life who loves seafood?

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Two-If-Sea-Delicious-Sustainable/dp/1454917873/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544649997&sr=1-1&keywords=two+if+by+sea+barton+seaver

For The Advanced Cook

Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn

If you have followed Michael Ruhlman’s books such as The Soul Of A Chef (another excellent read), you will no doubt recognize Brian Polcyn’s name from the content exploring the world of the Certified Master Chefs. These two teamed up to write an entire book on the art of charcuterie; if you are unfamiliar this family of food can span from sausage, to soppresata, to braised sweetbreads, and so much more. I put this book in the “advanced” category because it is an extensive read, and might not interest the casual home cook, no offense to anyone; the recipes are outlined in a list format so it is easy to follow, and elaborates thoroughly on the recipes provided. This book sits around $24 dollars, and is definitely an interesting read.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Charcuterie-Salting-Smoking-Revised-Updated/dp/0393240053/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544650525&sr=1-1&keywords=charcuterie+michael+ruhlman

Basic Butchering of Livestock and Game by John J. Mettler Jr., DVM

I placed this book in the “advanced section” because of the subject matter, butchering, and most home cooks find it easier to buy cuts of meat that have already been broken down so they have less to worry about, just the cooking. This makes sense as not everyone has the room or the tools to break down fish, rabbits, or half of a cow- if you do, good on you. This book is extremely thorough, providing in depth explanations of the process, diagrams of the animals, figure drawings of how to process an animal, etc. The practice of butchery is definitely more hands on than a book can give you, but the information is no doubt valuable, and worth reading, especially since it sits around $16, and knowledge is invaluable.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Butchering-Livestock-Mettler-Paperback/dp/B00IJ0BU4I/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1544650945&sr=1-1&keywords=john+j+mettler+basic+butchering

Any Old Cookbook

This section might seem silly, but it will make sense by the end. For this section I am using my copy of Gourmet’s Basic French Cookbook written by Louis Diat from 1961; this book makes it very apparent that certain techniques we are unfamiliar with nowadays were common knowledge back then. For example, the recipe of Sauteed Chicken Francaise, the recipe requires you to “prepare a 2 ½ to 3 pound chicken for sauteeing”. This is not knowledge a lot of people have in today’s society unless your parents prepared whole chicken at home, or you worked in a traditional French kitchen; but, nonetheless, older cookbooks are really fascinating to flip through, so if you ever find one be sure to scoop it up. I can’t really provide a price for this book as I paid $5 for it through OfferUp, I am not sure how much this book cost back in 1961.

Others Worth Noting

Chef Recommendations:

Chefs Dylan Montanio, Jeremiah Gray, and Tommy Graves were more than happy to offer a few suggestions consisting of: The Soul Of A Chef, The Devil In The Kitchen, The Joy of Cooking, Mastering The Art Of French Cuisine, and LaVarenne Pratique. The books recommended by Chef Tommy, The Soul Of A Chef by Michael Ruhlman, and The Devil In The Kitchen by Marco Pierre White and Anthony Bentinck, are books written to serve as a look into the culinary world. The stress, the triumphs, the determination, everything is brought to the front on these books and they are both excellent reads. Chef Dylan suggested The Joy Of Cooking by Irma S. Rombauer , and Mastering The Art Of French Cooking Julia Child, these are both excellent books in the way of being thorough reference books for those who love French style cuisine; one note to make on The Joy Of Cooking is the author was kind enough to include an altitude adjustment chart, which is essential when doing anything like baking. Chef Jeremiah suggested LaVarenne Pratique as, in his words, “it is an entire library in a book”; while I am not too familiar with this book, the reviews are almost all positive, the biggest complaint being the near $80 price tag. Thank you, Chefs, for your contributions to the article!

Links: https://www.amazon.com/Joy-of-Cooking/dp/0743246268/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544656189&sr=8-1&keywords=the+joy+of+cooking

https://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Art-French-Cooking-Vol/dp/0375413405/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1544656228&sr=8-2&keywords=mastering+the+art+of+french+cooking

https://www.amazon.com/Varenne-Pratique-Anne-Willan/dp/0517573830/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544656262&sr=8-1&keywords=la+varenne+pratique

https://www.amazon.com/Soul-Chef-Journey-Toward-Perfection/dp/0141001895/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1544656304&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Devil-Kitchen-Madness-Making-Pierre/dp/B004HA4F7I/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1544656342&sr=8-2&keywords=the+devil+in+the+kitchen

Michael Symon’s Playing With Fire

As I have mentioned before, we all love a celebrity Chef, so it only made sense to include a book written by one, but still different enough from the rest of our list to stand out; Playing With Fire was written by Chef Symon due to his pure love of barbecue, and the recent opening of his restaurant, Mabel’s. With a $21 dollar price tag this book is not only affordable, but full of knowledge regarding the best techniques for your grill, and a number of recipes ranging from his beer can chicken to fireplace potatoes.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Michael-Symons-Playing-Fire-Fireplace/dp/0804186588/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544656403&sr=8-1&keywords=playing+with+fire+by+michael+symon

The Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook

Janet Anderson, an avid home cook, recommended this as a book everyone should look at because of the amount of information provided, and the easy to follow instructions. The book is priced at $40 dollars, which looking through the book does not seem far off from accurate given the information provided being thorough recipes, kitchen tips, and sections called “why this recipe works”. There are recipes ranging from home fries, to stuffed chicken breasts, to barbecued salmon; easy to make dishes for any home cook looking to make an amazing meal for their family.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Americas-Test-Kitchen-Cookbook/dp/1933615559/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544656770&sr=8-1&keywords=the+complete+america%27s+test+kitchen+tv+show+cookbook+2001-2010

Ad Hoc At Home

This is the last inclusion for this article, I am sure there will be other lists in the future, but this is a good place to wrap it up. Ad Hoc At Home was written by a small group consisting of Thomas Keller, Dave Cruz, Susie Heller, Michael Ruhlman, and Amy Vogler; the goal of this book was to bring Thomas Keller’s famed restaurant, Ad Hoc, from Napa Valley to your kitchen with a number of family style dishes ranging from fried chicken, to crab cakes, to a cream of cauliflower soup. Keller was not short on the information he wanted to convey as he provides pages of information on how to break down whole chicken, a section called “becoming a better cook”, and “be organized”, elaborating on the use of different tools and certain techniques you should know to be successful. Each recipe is thorough and fit into categories of poultry, beef, salads, desserts, sides, and so on. With a price tag of $38, this book would be a strong addition to any home cooks library.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Hoc-Home-Thomas-Keller-Library/dp/1579653774/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1544657187&sr=8-1&keywords=Ad+hoc+at+home

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