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#and usually end up freezing half of them for banana bread
grandmascookbook · 3 months
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New Recipe- Banana Blueberry Bread
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(Recipe as always in the image desc.)
When my husband went to mail the cookies for my dad and brother, the kind lady at the UPS store asked him to pass along the message I bake some for the employees. I know she was just being cheeky, but the idea of baking a bunch of cookies and walking them through the local businesses was too exciting. I don't drive, so the shops I can walk to mean a lot to me. Besides, what's the harm in giving back to my community?
But before I could delve too deep into that, I had to do something I'm very bad at: taking care of my own first.
So that meant taking care of the overripe bananas in the kitchen and baking something for me and my husband to enjoy. I never eat the cookies I bake for others usually- this year only differs because I've never MADE these cookies. But banana bread is one of my favorite baked goods to keep in the house as it makes a fantastic breakfast and freezes wonderfully. So I popped up Grandma's book and found this recipe! The type face and paper quality hints this was either my young grandmother's but more likely HER mother's recipe!
Everything came together well but I have to admit... my brain was scrambled. I was already thinking three recipes ahead. Ended up putting in an extra half cup of flour and only 1 and 1/4 tsp of baking powder. The flour issue seems entirely negligible thankfully- I get the idea maybe my grandma and her mother were packing in flour when measuring it, not scooping. Not sure where the lack of baking powder is going to show...
Banana bread can be finicky with me sometimes but this came out looking STUNNING. Easily the prettiest loaf of anything I've made before!
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I can see little banana chunks through the seam and the cooked loaf as well. Now the recipe instructs me to wait before trying it, a whole day even, but we will see how long my restraint lasts... in the meantime, I've got more dough to make.
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icarusbuck · 3 years
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A 6? Who eats a banana at 6? (Affectionate)
i dont like when they're too soft! leaf me olone!
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jungshookz · 3 years
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teeny tidbits: namjoon’s hot & y/n’s nervous
someone requested a swimmer!joon drabble many moons ago and i started writing it but then never got around to finishing it,..,. and honestly the only reason why i wanted to write it was so that a shirtless namjoon could do the whole ‘lemme squeeze past you here’ move to y/n so after i wrote that scene i was like well. my work here is done. time for me to leave!!!!! 
admittedly this is a pretty boring drabble but i hope u enjoy it nonetheless <33
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                                        »»————- ♡ ————-««
let’s be clear here
the only reason why you took this job was for the money but even now you’re starting to wonder if maybe you should’ve applied to work at starbucks instead even though it pays way less
you HATE swimming pools!
why are you here?!
why did you take this job?!
you’ve always thought that swimming pools were literally just giant pits of other people’s dead skin cells, slimy snot, and not to mention… actual uRINE
disgusting!!!
absolutely revolting!!!
and the thought of accidentally swallowing some of that makes you want to projectile vomit from the ceiling to the floor
in fact, you don’t even remember the last time you dipped a toe in a swimming pool and you’re not planning on evEr dipping any of your toes in a swimming pool for the rest of your life
thankfully, you don’t actually have to get into the swimming pool (so you’re not sure what you’re even complaining about) because all you have to do is keep it clean and sanitized
you’re in charge of skimming, brushing, and vacuuming the pool which is definitely as boring (and as tedious) as it sounds
you also have to take care of the pH levels, the alkalinity, and the sanitiser levels
even though it’s a lot of work for one person, it’s a pretty easy job anD it makes you feel like a chemist when you’re collecting water samples and clinking test tubes around >:-)
with all of this being said, even though you don’t have to get in the pool you always end up leaving absolutely reeking of chlorine and there’s not enough bath and body works warm vanilla sugar body spray that can save you
“good morning, kook!” you chirp as you shut the little metal gate behind you separating the pool area and the office area, “they were out of those cake pops you liked - which is good because you shouldn’t even be eating cake pops for breakfast - so i got you a granola bar instead.”
jungkook blinks down at you from where he’s perched up on his lifeguard chair before plucking the bar from your fingers, “you- you got me a granola bar… a cranberry-raisin granola bar… to replace the double fudge cake pop i usually have for breakfast?”
“…yes?”
he frowns
“do you hate me?”
you smile sheepishly before raising a smoothie cup for him to take as well, “i also got you a kale-cucumber smoothie because they were having a 2 for 1 special on smoothies!”
“how come i get the sewage green smoothie and you get a cool purpley one??” he pouts as he points to the other one in your hand, “what flavour is yours??”
you press your lips together as you look down at your much more appealing looking smoothie,“blueberry banana-“
jungkook resists the urge to pop the lid off and dumP it all over your head
he’s at the perfect angle to do so
“yoU get blueberry banana and i get KALE-CUCUMBER- again, do you hate me???”
jesus
jungkook is a great pal but good goD he can be annoying sometimes
there’s nothing wrong with a kale cucumber smoothie!
…you personally wouldn’t want to drink it because it smells and looks and tastes pretty nasty BUT there’s still nothing wrong with it!!!!
“you know what, fine-” the echo of a locker slamming from the changing rooms has you pausing for a second before you continue, “i’m only going to do this because i know that you’re going to somehow use this smoothie incident against me in the future- you can take my smoothie and i’ll just go up and get another one.”
“thank youuuu…” jungkook grins as you take the cup from him and you can’t help but roll your eyes as he sips on yoUR smoothie happily while kicking his legs
big ol baby
“and, by the way-” you push the metal gate open before turning to look up at jungkook again, “i hope there’s an unblended frozen blueberry in there for you to choke on, you-“
“good morning, namjoon!” jungkook interrupts you before you get a chance to cuss him out and you immediately feel your entire body freeze up
you manage to swivel your upper body around just a little to double-check that namjoon is actually here and jungkook’s not playing around with you
he’s done that to you more than a couple times just because he likes messing with you >:-)
ah
yep
namjoon is definitely here
in all his shirtless glory
you’ve seen a shirtless namjoon a countless number of times but the view just never fails to make your tummy flutter
his golden, sun-kissed skin.,.,
the ridges of his abs and the faint outline of his v-line.,,.
his broad, broad chest that look like the ends of two perfect loaves of freshly baked bread-
“morning!” namjoon beams at jungkook before looking over at you with a tilt of his head, “good morning, y/n.”
“good morning!” your grip around the cup is so tight you’re surprised the lid hasn’t popped off yet
you’re fully aware that you’re standing in his way but you truLY are unable to move
“the pool’s nice and warmed up for you, man!” jungkook gestures to the pool and for the first time, you’re grateful for one of his interruptions because after ‘good morning’ you can’t think of anything else to say
“that’s what i like to hear-” namjoon laughs, “-lemme squeeze past you here, baby.”
he places a hand on your waist from behind and you feel your heart skip a beat at how big his hand feels on you
you feel the warmth radiating off of his half-naked figure as his bare chest skims your back
the smell of his cologne lingers in the air after he slides past you and your nose twitches slightly 
you take your bottom lip in between your teeth as you watch namjoon saunter off to the other end of the pool, a dreamy little sigh leaving your mouth
“…oh my god, what the hell is wrong with you?” jungkook snorts as you slowly make your way over to him, looking as dazed as ever, “could you make it any more obvious that you have a big fat crush on-”
“would it kill you to be a little more quiet??” you hiss before whacking his foot
“oh, sorry, lemme just-” jungkook straightens up in his seat and clears his throat, “say, it looks like the water isn’t the only thing here that’s WET-!”
your eyes widen and you give his leg a harder whack this time
namjoon turns to glance over at you two and you give him a sheepish smile and a little wave
phew
that was a close one  
“how would one go about respectfully asking someone else to rail them?” you ask wistfully before bringing your straw up to your lips for a sip of your smoothie
your nose immediately wrinkles at the bitter zing of pureed kale
yuCk
who thought putting kale into a drink would be a good idea??
“just add ‘please’ at the end of your request. here, let me demonstrate-“ jungkook clears his throat and straightens up in his seat before beginning to speak in a higher-pitched voice that you’re assuming is an impression of yoU, “oh, namjoon… i want you to flip me like a pancake and slather me in your melted butte-”
“jungkook!”
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tightwadspoonies · 3 years
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The Joy of Raising (and eating) Your Very Own Yeast Child(ren)
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I know I am, statistically, late to this bandwagon.
Once a mysterious realm that only seasoned bakers would dare enter, the world of baking with a home yeast starter has become much less foreign to the scores of reluctant public health enthusiasts trying to find a way to use their sudden increase in free time.
It’s also because yeast is both reasonably expensive (like $5 for a jar that lasts a while, granted, but if you make all of your own bread, it quickly becomes the expensive ingredient) and frankly when everyone is making yeasty baked goods and supply chains are disrupted due to a pesky global pandemic, you want to have a backup. Discard also makes the food you eat just a little better for you (see below), and if you’re relying on more starchy things like flour in your diet for budget reasons, why not get everything you can out of all the other ingredients?
I, like everyone else, made like three sourdough starters in the last 12 months. I then let them die because holy crap those things 1, ate way more than I expected them to, and 2, I kept ending up with this stinktastic, slowly-fermenting glob of goo (the discard) in a takeout container on my porch because otherwise my entire apartment would have smelled like it.
I know I’m not doing a great job of selling it, but I wanted to make a post that showed it really was possible to not only sustainably and economically grow and maintain your own edible bacteria-and-yeast colony in an old jam jar, but really make it a part of your family.
1- How to Make a Starter:
Before we can really get into the joys of raising a pet sourdough starter, you have to actually get your hands on one. It’s actually way, way easier than I thought:
First, you get the following:
A jar with a lid (preferably glass- my first one was a pasta sauce jar from Aldi, but anything that’s clear-ish and around a pint/500ish ml will work great)
A half cup or so of whole wheat flour (if you don’t use whole wheat flour often, it will only be a few cents if you buy it in the bulk section)
6-7 tablespoons of tap water
A clean spoon
A rubber band or dry erase marker (optional but recommended)
All-purpose white flour to feed
Second, you put the flour and water in the jar and mix until it forms a thin, sticky paste
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Third, cover loosely with the lid, and mark the level of water-flour paste either by putting the rubber band around the jar or marking it with a dry-erase marker.
Fourth, wait like 24 hours for bubbles to appear. These are CO2 bubbles released as the wild yeast and bacteria that is naturally present in whole wheat flour eats the wheat starch.
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Fifth, once your flour-water-yeast goo doubles in size, scoop out half of it and discard (it should be stretchy, sticky, and bubbly in texture and smell pleasantly yeasty and ferment-y), place a quarter cup of all-purpose flour and 3 tbsp of water in the jar and mix with the remaining starter. Repeat every time the mixture doubles in size.
Note: if you go too long without feeding your yeast baby, it will form a watery layer and start to stink. All you have to do to save it is get as much of the watery stuff out as possible, discard half, and feed it until the smell and texture return to normal.
Once you start having to do this multiple times per day, congrats! You have a live and active sourdough starter!
2- What to Do With All That Goo (or ”discard”):
So basically now you have a boring, hungry toddler that really likes flour and outputs a lot of gooey discard.
First, don’t think of discard as a waste! You should think of your starter as a yeast farm and the throw-away portion (the “discard”) as the product.
Using discard in recipes not only lends a deeper flavor and chewier texture to baked goods, but helps partially digest the wheat starches (making discard slightly lower in quick carbohydrates than traditional flour), acts as a prebiotic (the fiber in discard-laden baked goods is better for feeding your gut bacteria, which helps you digest things more thoroughly), decreases the amount of gluten, and the lactic acid bacteria in discard increases the amount of nutrients like folate, potassium, and magnesium that the body can absorb during digestion. Basically, it lets you get more out of the food you eat and makes baked goods (slightly) better for you!
Here’s how you can use it (remember that measurements shown below are “stirred down” discard, meaning you have to stir the bubbles out of your discard before measuring):
Bread/bagels/english muffins- replace the active dry yeast portion of the recipe with a quarter cup of discard, and let the dough rise 12 or more hours after kneading. This longer rise time is required because the wild yeasts are not quite as active (or voracious) as their cultivated cousins, and you want time for the whole thing to get nice and sour from the lactic acid bacteria.
Crackers/thin-crust pizza dough- replace half the flour in a cracker/pizza dough recipe with discard and omit yeast.
Crepes/pancakes/waffles- replace up to 3/4 of the flour in a crepe, waffle or pancake recipe with discard, and omit yeast.
Quickbreads- replace up to 3/4 of the flour in a quickbread (pumpkin, apple, zucchini, banana bread, etc...) with discard and adjust liquid to desired consistency.
Brownies- replace as much as all of the flour in your brownie recipe with discard and adjust the liquid to the desired consistency.
Granola- replace the binder (usually honey or sugar) in granola and granola bar recipes with discard, and sweeten to taste.
Pie crust- replace half the flour in your pie crust with discard, add the discard when you would normally add the water, and omit the water.
Batter for fried fish/chicken/potato wedges/veg, etc...- water down the discard with some beer or water, dip your fried things, and fry.
3- Preserving Your Starter Colony When You Have More Bread and Crackers Than You Can Comfortably Eat:
As much as you’d like to think you’ll use discard for every recipe, you might find that your creativity (or just your tolerance for discard-flavored things) gets stretched a little thin over time.
That’s okay!
Here are a few great ways to save your starter without needing to feed it every 12 hours:
Fridge it- If you just want less discard, put your whole starter colony in your fridge- the cold slows down the yeast’s digestion so you only have to feed it once per week.
Freeze it- if you have a few days that you don’t have anything to do with your discard or want to save up for a bigger recipe, portion it into greased ice cube trays, freeze it, and then pop the discard chunks out and store in a ziploc or jar. Thaw it to use in larger recipes down the line.
Dry it- spread your discard on parchment paper-lined baking trays and let it air out at room temperature for a few days, then chop it up and store in an airtight container (with some burnt flour in a little cloth envelop if you live in a humid climate).
Gift it/sell it: You’d be surprised at how many people feel the need to buy an existing starter. Feed your starter and then portion it into small jars (baby food, etc... with labels removed), then freeze the jars. Gift or sell these frozen portions by tying a little ribbon around them (feel free to name them and write the parent starter’s date of birth on the ribbon) and sending them off with a little printout of how to care for them.
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msbarrows · 3 years
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Since my dad died last summer, I’ve been having to adjust from cooking for three people down to cooking for just two, my youngest brother and I. As much as we love lasagna, baking an entire pan of it was usually waaaaay too much for even three people, much less two. So a few months back I started randomly googling to try and find a good solution to the problem, and immediately tripped over the Chicago Metallic Trio Pan, pictured above. They market it towards, among other things, being able to make three different lasagnas at once, useful if you have a vegetarian or picky eater or whatever to provide for.
One third of a lasagna is actually pretty much perfect for just two people; enough to get a meal and leftovers out of, unless you’re really big eaters. So I eventually decided to buy one; it arrived about a month ago.
My first few things to cook in it were actually big batches of quick breads, like banana bread and gingerbread. It worked out well for those; I’d freeze one loaf of it and leave the other two out in an extra large ziplock bag. We’d typically eat the first loaf within a day or two, so no real point in putting the second in the freezer.
This past weekend I finally had enough room free in the freezer to try making a pan of lasagna and freezing it uncooked. I didn’t bother with experimenting with making different lasagnas, just assembled it all and froze it. I was using those noodles you don’t need to cook before using, but because I’m forever paranoid about the top noodles drying out - and them being easier to work with, imho, when not hard and brittle - I half-cooked them before assembly. And I did make sure to make a very moist lasagna - it used up 4 cups of homemade meat sauce plus an entire jar of Classico tomato and basil sauce - both to make sure the layers would stick together well and that there’d be sufficient moisture for the noodles to absorb while cooking. Covered the pan with foil, stuck it in the freezer.
Turned the logs of lasagna out today; had to let the pan sit in a couple inches of warm water in the sink for 30-40 seconds, then place it upside-down on a cookie sheet and give it a couple hard thumps on the counter before they released. Wrapped two and returned them to the freezer, while the third went back into the centre channel. Put about 1/2″ of water in the two side channels - I don’t like heating empty pans, it’s rarely good for them - covered loosly with foil, and baked at 300F for 1.5 hours, then removed foil and upped the oven to 375F. Checked after half an hour and the top was nicely browned, while my instant read thermometre said the inside was far from frozen, so out it came.
The couple of cons of the pan I can think of? First, finding out where the heck to store something that large in the kitchen. It’s ended up living on top of the fridge in a clear plastic bag because it won’t really fit anywhere else. Second, having enough room free in the freezer; I’d meant to make that lasagna a week ago, and then my brother brought home groceries that included a bunch of frozen stuff, and I was right back to needing to use some stuff up before I could fit it in (and yes, I’m talking about a chest freezer, not a fridge freezer).
Overall I am very happy with this pan. I am patting myself on the back for buying it. Good decision, past-me.
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elizawright · 3 years
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My experience with Aspergers
OCD and Anorexia 2/2:
Right now the painful part, this is probably the most difficult to talk about because it’s still so fresh and still very much active in my daily life. My Anorexia story I would say officially began around December 2018 however as I’ve mentioned before I’ve always struggled with eating. It started as just being a very fussy kid, in my early teen years I used to obsessive compulsively diet extremely strictly for periods of time. I think this in itself could be considered Anorexia or at least I was at the very edge of being. A year later I would completely 180, over eat and put on a lot of weight. A year later from that I would once again strictly diet this time making myself throw up if i “over ate” in my mind or ate something “bad”. I distinctly remember being 14 on holiday in Florida. My family kept encouraging me to eat fruit loops for breakfast (I would only eat bran flakes) and of course I desperately wanted to but it was very scary to me. So I did eat them one day and being 14 and uneducated on food I had a panic. Though I was panicking I didn’t ever tell anyone Insted I hid away, found a toilet and forced myself to throw up. Now this is years before I was officially diagnosed with an eating disorder but to me, this doesn’t seem healthy. Looking back I feel quite sorry for little me feeling I had to hide away and be sneaky, I wish I had told my mum how I was feeling, but I didn’t. Anyway, back to my official timeline. So 2018 was the year I did my gcses, it was a different year, I was so focused on my studies I began to over eat as a coping mechanism, this caused me to put on quite a bit of weight. Now I was never really fat but i was overweight, I would guess 13 stone (to put in comparison, when diagnosed with anorexia 6 months later I was 7 stone something, that’s a loss of 5 stone). In November that year I got my lovely boyfriend. When we first started dating I felt quite ashamed that I weighed more than him. Of course he didn’t care, I don’t think he even ever thought of it, he just liked me for me, but the intrusive thoughts which are oh so common to me told me otherwise. I began to notice in the morning my belly looked it’s flattest which I figured was because I hadn’t put any food in my stomach making it bloat so I began not eating in the mornings. If I was going to see my boyfriend who obviously as a young teen at the start of a relationship I wanted to impress I wouldn’t eat. I wouldn’t eat while I was around him then as soon as I got home I would eat as normal. This is where it all began. My boyfriend used to recall to my mom “she never eats breakfast and never eats at my house! I try and feed her but she just won’t eat.”
So like I said life carried on like this for a few months, I didn’t loose a massive amount of weight, maybe half a stone, but things changed drastically after a holiday to Egypt. On the first day I was struggling and obsessing over my appearance as usual, obsessing over every roll I could see. Looking back now I looked great! I had big boobs and hips, but at the time I didn’t see any of that all I saw was fat. Well the next day after this I caught a really bad case of the flu. I was bed ridden for the entire rest of the week barely well enough to get home. As we were in Egypt we had no way of getting any medication at all not even paracetamol so I was completely wiped out, it was the worst illness I’ve ever faced were literally everything that could happen, happened. Now because of this I didn’t eat for the entire week.
Once I arrived home and I began the process of analysis of my body as per usual I noticed I had lost weight. I put two and two together realising a week of not eating made me really quickly drop a ton of weight. The cogs began turning and I told myself the short amount of pain (being the hunger) my future self would thank me for. So I began restricting. Using the bike analogy it began at a quick pace but slowly got faster and faster. Soon I was eating no more than 400 calories a day, anymore than that and I would get depressed and anxious and stressed (for comparison the average women needs 2000 calories a day just to maintain weight) I was terrified of nearly all foods. Butter, bread, literally everything I can think of. I weighed out everything out to the T never eating a full packet of something. Which if I’m honest, I still do weigh everything, I also still count calories obsessively. This is what I mean by I’m not fully recovered I’m a lot better, but still suffering and fighting.
Now at this point my mental and physical health began to really suffer. I was normally really good at school getting outstanding grades in gcses but now with a levels I wasn’t able to get work completed or done, I couldn’t concentrate, I would fall asleep in class because I was tierd constantly, I wasn’t my normal talkative enthusiastic self because I was so drained of all energy I’m honestly so shocked my teachers didn’t make more of an effort to help me. I remember one time a teacher telling me I looked very ill and pale so forced me to eat a banana they had brought for their own lunch which was a struggle for me to do. Luckily for me a teacher i still dont know reported to the head of sixthform about being worried for me. They had been gone 3 months and within coming back had noticed the drastic change in weight I had had. It goes to show how much weight I lost as I was always wearing baggy clothes to hide it and she still noticed. Now that I’m mentioning it all my clothes were massively oversized because I no longer fit my entire wardrobe. I would try and wear stuff like leggings as they made me feel comfortable and happy in myself but my head of sixthform would shout at me and force me to change. I recall a few teachers and students coming to me asking if I was alright as they had noticed my rapid weight loss, I told them it was just stress. I was completely in denial I had tricked myself into thinking it was normal, I have no idea how I even lasted as long as I did at sixthform like this. So as the story goes I got taken into the teds team which is a recovery center for children with eating disorders
I was extremely reluctant to go, I was stand off ish and rude to the doctors and my family which is something that is not in my nature at all. Looking back all they wanted to do was help me but at the time I thought everyone was against me were trying to trick me into being fat. This was clearly the anorexia talking and not me, it was completely in control. While there I was freezing cold so they had to turn the fan off. I was honest as I could be and told them most of what I previously told you but it still didn’t actually sound like a concern to me. I down played it as much as a could because I didn’t want anyone’s help. I can still remember that horrible feeling of being so stubborn and refusing to even acknowledge what the people around me were saying I was so caught up in the anorexic trap. Now about a year ago from this I had been previously weighed as I had started a new version of medication, like I said I weighed in at around 85kg, 13 stone. I got weighed again on this day and was in the 7 stones, I had lost nearly 6 stone in 3 months. That’s crazy looking back at. I was told if I didn’t turn myself around soon my periods would stop and I would have to go into hospital to be force fed. They warned me as I was in the hight of my teenage development i was right at the edge of doing permanent growth, brain and fertility damage. I love children and can’t wait to be a mother someday and I really highly value my intelligence so this was the kick up the bum I needed to start my recovery. I came back a week later to create an eating plan and in that time I had dropped another couple of pounds in just a week. I was very stubborn during the hour we spent making an eating plan, we pretty much fought back and forth me and the doctor disagreeing on everything, the eating disorder had complete control over my mind and I was pretty much in auto pilot. Eventually we came to an agreement which I still was very reluctant to follow, but I had worked out the calorie intake and it felt at level that was “safe” for me. I was also just happy to not have to worry about making food anymore as my mum was now in charge or making everything I eat. Before this I was eating on average a banana, half a packet of cuscus and a plain piece of brown bread without butter and a spoon full of baked beans with no sauce. On top of this I drank an unhealthy amount of coffee, so much I became addicted, to help me loose weight, keep me full and give me the energy I didn’t have.
I remember so vividly the first day I followed this new eating routine my stomach had shrunk so small I was physically in pain by the end of the day. I was to eat 2 spoons of yogurt in the morning, an egg sandwich at lunch on brown bread, an apple, half a dinner and one weatabix at night. By the weatabix I was in physical pain from being so full. But I pushed through it. A week later I had still lost weight but not as much as the normal rate went. This is when I was told I had to add in extra and I reacted terribly. I flat out refused to follow it anymore and said I was quitting the program. For a few months I refused to follow the new program sticking to the old one I felt safe with and still lost weight with. With things like anorexia it’s something I feel can never be solved by anyone else it’s something you have to do yourself. I think I improved just overtime by chatting with the teds team and the dietitian and educating myself. This next part of my journey is kind of difficult to talk about as I don’t remember it much, I was so tired and drained it’s all kind of disappeared from my memory. Eventually through education I began to slowly add things to my eating plan. I added crisps (but only under the condition they were healthy ones under 100 calories) changed the yogurt to 2 weatabix as it was easier to measure and less of a “scary food” to me.
So yeah, since this is just a short (at least as short as I can make it) synopsis of my journey I’m just going to skip to now. Some day maybe I’ll talk about the one and a half year gap there is between then and now but that would take too long for the moment. Now I am still suffering with eating. I’ve put on a bit of weight but I’m still classed as underweight. I still follow a very strict daily routine with what I eat, I still weigh things out, I still calorie count, I still analyse my body but I am a hell of a lot better than a year ago. I still struggle when it comes to eating “fatning” of “sugary” foods but on occasion I do eat them. I try and eat something every day like a breakfast bar or granola bar. Although I am a lot better now, I’m mostly tortured by the anorexic intrusive thoughts.
I struggle oddly with extreme hunger! Something I hadn’t felt at all while I was in critical condition. I did some research and I found out this happens to most recovering anorexics and their body is literally starving and desperate for food. I have been left with loose skin which makes me extremely embarrassed and unhappy, I hope someday to get rid of it as it’s a big factor of my destress. I hope this story can help educate people without eating disorders and give you an incite into our minds. Someday I will go into more detail.
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deadmomjokes · 5 years
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Adulting 101: Grocery Shopping, Smarter
I have roomed with way too many freshmen who lived on fries and takeout because they, per their own admission, had no clue how to buy groceries. And I know a bunch of people are probably in the same boat. So I’m going to take you through the issues I often had to help my tiny baby roomies with, and drop some extra tips on you that I’ve figured out while living away from home. Feel free to add your own!
PRODUCE BUYING (yes, you need to eat a plant every now and then)
Canned and frozen veggies are just as nutritious as fresh, sometimes moreso. Nutrient content degrades as the vegetable sits after picking, and if you live somewhere that your produce has long shipping times, it’s actually less nutritious than canned or frozen. In canned vegetables, look for the “low sodium” marker. Canned and frozen also last a million times longer than fresh, and are WAY cheaper. Buy the frozen broccoli and thank yourself later when you have Netflix money left over.
Pro tip: when using canned veggies, rinse them a few times. They now taste fresh, ready to cook or ready to eat straight. You’re welcome.
When shopping for canned fruit, pick ones that are packed in 100% juice, not syrup. That syrup not only makes things way less healthy, it makes it pretty slimy too. Plus the juice is nice in smoothies, if you choose to save it.
If you buy fresh, do so in quantities that look too small. Get what you think you need, then put a little back. You always need less than you think. If you DO buy large quantities and they start to look funny, cut them up and freeze them.
When buying fresh, get some that are ripe now, and some that need a few days. This way you have some that will last a bit longer rather than trying to scramble to eat 3 avocados within 24 hours.
Buy onions in bulk, chop them up all at once, and freeze them. Only cry once, my friends. They cook much faster when they were previously frozen, and they last ages. Plus a sack of chopped frozen onions makes a good makeshift ice pack for twisted ankles and sore backs, and it won’t hurt to thaw and re-freeze a few times.
Here’s a cheat-sheet for how long produce lasts and how to store them. This should give you a good idea of how much to buy. It is very conservative, tho, so don’t panic. For instance, it says tomatoes only last about 3 days, but I’ve gotten a week and a half out of them if you don’t refrigerate them and keep them away from other fruit. Use it as a guide, and google some other “produce cheat sheets” to get an idea of your time window.
When buying frozen vegetables, get the big resealable packages. They’re cheaper per ounce, and you don’t have to worry about whether you can eat all of it at once. If you have limited freezer space, however, just get some freezer ziploc bags and store the extras in that. Twist-tying the opened, non-resealable bag will just freezer burn your food.
I know you think you eat a lot of potatoes, but you, an individual, do not eat enough potatoes to warrant that 5 or 10 pound sack that’s always on sale. Pass it by and go to the individual, select-a-piece display. You’ll thank me when you aren’t cleaning up rotten potato goo in a few weeks because you only got halfway through the sack and just couldn’t eat any more potatoes.
MEAT BUYING
Buy in bulk, keep out only what you’ll use within a day, and freeze the rest into individual serving size packages. You can get SO many meals out of a tray of chicken breasts, so buy as big a package as you have freezer room for.
Check the yellow-tag/clearance section. You find amazing deals there! Just freeze it right away if you aren’t cooking the whole thing for dinner that night. Yellow-tag is always because it’s nearing its sell-by date.
Don’t feel like you have to cook meat in whatever size or form it comes.  Buy big honking roasts and cut your own chops/steak from it. Buy that tray of chicken breasts and cut each piece into stew chunks or strips . Get the bone-in stuff and fillet it yourself. Think big when buying, small when storing, and then use that knife block your mom gave you and slicey slice things down to an individual size, or into something new. (Pork roast into chunks makes for a great, cheap stir fry.) Pop the rest into freezer ziploc bags and take it out the day before you need it. (Thaw in-fridge, please, it’s much safer.)
Ground turkey acts the same as ground beef in most recipes, and is generally cheaper unless you live in beef country. Substitute and save.
GRAINS
As with produce, buy your flour and sugar in much smaller quantities than you think you need. That 2lb sack doesn’t look like very much, but it’s a lot less likely to attract pests if it’s not sitting there for months while you struggle to use it, and it’s also much more manageable so it doesn’t get everywhere while cooking or storing. (You’ll also make fewer sweets if you don’t have a huge bag of sugar sitting in your cabinet getting clumpy and worrying you.)
Mac-and-cheese IS a viable grain option, and if you dump in some broccoli and/or chicken chunks, it’s a full meal. It’s cheap, but less sodium than ramen, so try switching it up. Also try to look for mac-and-cheese made with whole and/or enriched flour if you eat a lot of it, you’ll be slighly less likely to get constipated from it.
Premade loaf bread has a butt-ton of sugar in it. This is not only not as good for you, but makes the bread more likely to mold quicker! So look for low-sugar options. (Or make your own bread, it’s not too hard.)
DAIRY
Unless you’re like me and drink a crapton of milk (doctor’s orders, don’t judge), buy your milk in half-gallons. You can always grab another one if you run low between regular grocery shopping days, but you don’t want to have the experience of going to pour your cereal and getting your appetite ruined by the smell of rotten milk.
If you can’t or don’t want to drink milk, most milk alternatives are now fortified with the same nutrients that animal milk has. Don’t skip the dairy recommendation because you don’t like animal milk, get yourself some soy or almond milk and get your daily calcium intake!
Cheese lasts a long time, but will get dry, hard, and powdery if not stored properly. Look for, you guessed it, resealable packages.
Most of the time, block cheese is cheaper than grated and you can just grate it yourself at home. But always check the price-per-ounce, it’s usually located in the corner or on the side of the tag.
Yogurt lasts longer than you think it will. Buy in the big tubs, not individual cups. It’s cheaper, and you can pick how much you want.
SHOPPING TIPS
Shop by what’s on sale to save money. Have an idea of what you want when you go in, but be flexible with your choices. For instance, I would go in with a shopping list that had an item that was simply “sale meat.” I had meal ideas planned out that I could replace or alter based on what was on sale at the store. No chicken on sale, but the tofu was marked down? We’re having tofu stir fry on Wednesday instead! Apples on sale? You had planned to get bananas, but if the apples are cheaper you can either get some of both or just do apples. Check the sale papers or online ads beforehand to see what kind of specials they have, and try planning meals around that.
Speaking of, CHECK THE SALE PAPERS! Save those mailers, compare prices, and see which store has what you’re after. Google the store’s website and see if they list their specials online.
Have a basic plan for what you’re going to do with your purchases. Don’t just pick up a bunch of kohlrabi “to try” if you don’t have a plan. It could be as simple as “I’m going to look up a recipe later today and I’m moving Tuesday’s dinner to next week so I can make this new thing on Tuesday.” But don’t just go “huh, that’s neat” and buy it without consciously planning when to use it. Or you’re going to end up with rotten kohlrabi and money wasted. Be aware of what you’re buying, and tell yourself how you’re going to use it before you put it on your list, or in your cart if it’s a last minute decision.
Don’t shop hungry. Simple idea, you’ve probably heard it before, but you’ll come home with impulse buys and a headache if you shop on a very empty stomach.
Make a list. You ARE going to forget that you really needed rice if you don’t put it on that list. I know you think you’ll remember, but you won’t. Crossing the threshold of a supermarket completely wipes your RAM. Write that stuff down somewhere and take it with you.
Be willing to shop around. I know Walmart is convenient, and it has asparagus on sale, but if the Kroger also has an amazing sale on the salad greens that you were planning on buying, try to make the effort to get to both stores. Nobody said saving money and eating well was easy, but it is worth it. Unless one store has price match, then just take your ad in and do the shopping at that store.
Try to have a buddy. Grocery shopping can be exhausting and stressful, but a friend can make it easier, and keep you sane. They can also help steer you away from impulse buys just by their very presence. It’s a lot harder to justify the checkout candy bar when your friend is right there, even if they don’t say anything. (Or you could get both of you a candy bar, if you’ve got the cash for it.)
Try to pick a single grocery day and plan for it consistently. Weekly, biweekly, whatever is best for you, just plan a day to do your in-depth shopping. Shopping piecemeal is a good way to spend more money than necessary, and to make sure you forget stuff. (You may have to make fill-in trips between big shopping days, but plan the big ones and try to put off as much as you can until then. But stopping for milk because you ran out won’t break the bank, so don’t worry about doing an occasional quick-stop.)
STORAGE TIPS
Ziploc bags are your friend, but make sure you know what kind you’re getting. Only specifically labeled “freezer bags” should be used in the freezer, or you risk your food getting icy and freezer burnt. Also, look for the store-brand zipper bags, they work just as well.
Label everything you put into the freezer if it’s not in the original package. You’re going to have days where you can’t tell if that’s chicken or tofu. Most freezer zipper bags have a space just for labeling. Keep a kitchen sharpie handy and label stuff. Also put the date on it, and use things within a year of freezing.
Get canisters. There are some cheap ones, even, but get SOMETHING. Put your flour and sugar in the canisters. It will last longer, and you don’t risk the bugs. You may think your apartment is safe, but bug season comes for us all in the end, and those little turds go right for a folded-over sack of flour, I swear.
Keep a list on the front of your freezer of everything that’s in there. Add to the list as you put stuff in, and cross stuff off as you take it out. That way you don’t have to dig to know if you have any more of those frozen peaches you like in your smoothies. Nor will you forget for a million years the bag of stew meat you had intended to use. Small magnetic whiteboards are particularly good for this purpose. (Also consider doing that for each major storage area--fridge, cabinets, pantry, etc-- if you routinely forget what’s in there. You could even tape it to the inside of the cabinet door so nobody else sees your bad memory.)
Don’t store potatoes and onions next to each other. They’ll both sprout.
Keep bananas away from all other produce. They’re naughty ethylene fiends that will spoil your tomatoes just for fun. That said, stick a banana in with an under ripe fruit and it’ll be ready in a day or two.
Take your produce out of the little plastic bags unless they need to ripen a bit more.
Go through your fridge completely once a month. Take everything out, check the dates, sniff it, and throw out old/rotten/nasty stuff. Go through your freezer once every 2 or 3 months. Reorganize your stacks, and double check your content list is current.
I know this is long, but I hope it can be helpful. Please add on any tips you have, at the very least I’d love to read them!
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hkbingo2000 · 5 years
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1) 家電用品Household Appliance
飯鍋Cooking pot/Rice cooker The cooking pot is a crafting station used to make the Bowl of Soup. 壓力鍋Pressure cooker You use a pressure cooker to save lots of time and energy cooking delicious food. 燉鍋Stew pot Stewpot is often used to cook stew meat. 電水壺Electric kettle I don't know how I ever lived without an electric kettle. 電磁爐Induction cooker oven The basic difference between an induction cooker oven and an oven is that they are used for different types of cooking. 烤箱 Oven Place the cake in the oven at 200°C. 抽油煙機 Extractor hood / range hood An extractor hood or range hood is a device containing a mechanical fan that hangs above the stove or cooktop in the kitchen. 消毒碗櫃Disinfect cupboard The utility model relates to a cupboard with damp proofing and disinfecting functions. 冰箱 Refrigerator/ Fridge Don't forget to put the milk back in the fridge. Top
2) 食材處理Process Ingredients 放入冰箱冷凍Chill Chilled foods, for reasons of safety or quality, are designed to be stored at refrigeration temperatures at or below 8ºC. 冷凍 Freeze Freeze dried vegetables are often found in food for backpackers, hunters, the military, etc. 解凍 Defrost Defrost the chicken thoroughly before cooking. 水漂洗 Rinse First apply shampoo to hair and then rinse thoroughly. 削 Shave Shaved ice is a large family of ice-based dessert made of fine shavings of ice or finely crushed ice and sweet condiments or syrups. 剝皮 Peel We should be eating our fruit and vegetable peel instead of throwing it away, experts say. 去鱗 Scale Mahalo cooking expert Eric Crowley shows you how to properly scale a fish. 去核 Core Core an apple and make apple rings with just a knife. 切除不要的部分Trim Trim off the leafy ends of the vegetable before cooking. 填裝Stuff He stuffs dumplings with meat sauce. 倒入Pour Pour the honey into the bowl and mix it thoroughly with the other ingredients. 瀝乾 Drain Drain off any liquid that is left in the rice. 瀝出 Strain Pour the sauce into a sieve or strainer and strain back into your saucepan.
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3) 切片處理 Cutting
切 Chop Chop up the onions and carrots roughly. 切成小塊Cube Cutting cheese into little cubes creates morsels just the right size for snacking or to use in salads and soups. 切丁 Dice Peel and dice the potatoes. 切片 Fillet fillet of beef 切薄片Slice Slice the mushrooms thinly and fry in butter. 切成細絲 Julienne Julienne-cut vegetables is just a fancy way of saying very skinnily-cut vegetables. 切成碎末 Mince Mince two pounds of chicken finely. 切碎 Shred Shred the lettuce and arrange it around the edge of the dish. 磨成絲或粉狀Grate grated cheese 絞Grind Shall I grind a little black pepper over your pizza? Top
4) 醃製處理 Marinate
攪拌 Stir Stir the egg yolks into the mixture. 翻面 Turn over/Flip Fried eggs are usually cooked without turning over. 調味 Season Drain the rice, stir in the salmon and season to taste, so that it has the taste you like. 醃泡 Marinate She marinates pork in vinegar and white wine. 浸泡Soak Leave the beans to soak overnight. 醃漬Pickle Grandmother knew how to pickle cucumbers. 搾Squeeze Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the bowl. 搗碎 Mash Mash the potatoes and then mix in the butter and herbs. 壓碎 Crush Add three cloves of crushed garlic. 弄成醬狀Puree Puree the strawberries in the liquidizer and add the lightly whipped cream. 裹上麵包粉 Bread She breaded the pork chop before frying it. 勾芡Thicken Thicken the sauce with a little flour. 撇去液體表面的漂浮物 Skim Skim the grease from a soup. 篩Sift When the cake is cooked, sift some icing sugar over the top of it. 打到起泡Beat To make an omelette you must first beat the eggs. 發泡Whip Could you whip the cream for me? 使混合Blend Blend the egg yoke and butter. 攪打Fold Fold whipped cream into custard 揉捏Knead Knead the dough until smooth. Top
5) 烹調方式 Cooking Methods
烹調 Cook Let the fish cook for half an hour before you add the wine. 水煮 Boil I've boiled some potatoes for dinner. 川燙 Blanch He blanches a tomato to peel its skin. 熬煮 Braise Once you learn the basics of how to braise meat, you'll be able to make braised beef. 滾煮 Poach Poached eggs can be eaten as they are, on salads or bread or made into eggs Benedict. 炒煮出水分 Sweat When sweating onions or mushrooms, you need to put a lid over the pan in which you are frying them in order to trap the condensation. 炒 Fry A basic recipe for fried rice is load up with meat and vegetables. 煎炒 Pan-fry Pan-frying beef is one of the quickest and easiest ways to prepare meat. 快炒 Stir-fry A quick stir-fry is one of the fastest, easiest, tastiest ways to make a last-minute vegetable side dish to suit any meal. 油炸 Deep-fry Deep frying a turkey may sound like a strange concept, but trust me, it doesn't come out like you'd think. 裹粉油炸 Fritter Banana fritters are good served with melted red current jelly, or toffee sauce. 切碎後再炒 Hash Hash Brown Potatoes are easy and delicious. 嫩煎 Saute Saute the shrimp 5 to 7 minutes, until they turn pink, while turning the shrimp over to cook them on both sides. 煎至金黃色 Brown Transfer to oven and roast chicken, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about 35 minutes. 炭火燒烤 Barbecue Their traditional sausages are delicious grilled or barbecued. 火烤 Grill Dad was grilling chicken in the back yard. 煎烤 Roast He roasts a chicken at 300 degrees for an hour. 以武火烤 Broil They broiled a turkey over charcoal. 煙燻 Smoke She had champagne and smoked salmon sandwiches at her birthday party. 燉 Stew This traditional stewed chicken dish begins with a browned, cut up chicken, that is slow cooked in a roux based gravy. 蒸Steam When I go home to visit my Mom, I always ask for this dish, Chinese Steamed Fish. 塗油脂潤滑Grease Grease the tins well before adding the cake mixture. 預熱Preheat Preheat the oven to 180°C. 凝固成形Mold Mold mousse in the fridge Top
6) 最後裝飾 Garnishment 搭配Garnish Garnish the dish with parsley before serving. 裹上糖衣Frost Leave the cake to cool before frosting it. 淋上糖漿Glaze Glazed carrots with honey. 淋醬汁Baste Baste the turkey at regular intervals. 浸泡醬汁Dip Dip the fish in the batter, then drop it into the hot oil. 塗Spread Spread bread with butter 灑Sprinkle Sprinkle a few herbs on the pizza. 加Add Beat the butter and sugar together and slowly add the eggs.
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solis88kline-blog · 5 years
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Your Diet And Reactive Hypoglycemia
Keto Boost Slim Try to organize some 'leftover dishes' within your menu. Is usually a on a spending budget means you have got to go with almost everthing. If half a cup of vegetables are left, don't throw out. They can be put in a stew or a soup. Doable ! toss them into a frittata or even omelet. Or freeze the leftover foods like nuts, stock, bread heels, gravy, bacon grease etc. Things can provide later products and are other crockery and utensils.
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When endeavoring to build muscles quickly, really should definitely add lean red meats (steak), lean chicken, turkey, tuna, salmon, and eggs back to your ketosis diet plan menu for women. Necessary that you consume lean healthy proteins. Although, salmon and red meats have fats in them, they will help you increase your testosterone levels, which will allow with muscle growth, fat loss, and tremendous grow in your sturdiness. Are the foods on strategy easy for you personally personally to find at the local markets? Can you afford folks? Changing your ways of eating does have never to hurt your wallet. And make sure that there a variety of things of the diet which usually are familiar a person. Higher intensity exercise, alternatively hand, hastens your metabolism without the attached increase inside your appetite. Links . actually experience a reducing of their passion. It's important that you get inside your mileage, but what you may consider is continuing with one "long run" each week, good meal a few of your other weekly workouts, decrease your mileage so itrrrs possible to increase the intensity (and therefore, calorie burn)! The case is different between a bodybuilder or athlete and the children afflicted with epilepsy. Messy has been used towards keto guidelines prepare for about these two years and ending a cyclical ketogenic diet may have drastic effects particularly when perhaps not performed carefully. Just like when you obtained with the diet, the weaning period also demands a lot of guidance and support coming from a parents. You ought to make your youngster recognize that you have going always be changes once more but this time, your son or daughter will more time go to be able to the keto guidelines package. Ask your physician about so it. The truth of the matter is generally there are more diet plans available about the then a person ever presume. And almost all of them, for example low ketogenic diet are should truly ways to loose weight when followed properly. May well be instances when you make a mistake and eat too to a great extent. The actions you take afterwards just what matters. Make any difference how dedicated you are or how easy concept . is, slipping up can be something that will happen. Nobody is wonderful. If you can get rid of the make a mistake and correct your actions, then you can put yourself onto the most effective path for successful reduction. FRUITS. Exactly like vegetables, fruits can be eaten as frequently during the day at 3-6 servings. Most fruits are natural detox for your body wonders. Apples, bananas, kiwi, papaya, watermelon, and yams are also delicious. Avoid grapefruit though as by simply to contain an element that wait and see the liver functions.
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sidespromptblog · 6 years
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Who’s She? Never heard of her...: Part 4
Part One, Two, Three, and Five 
It took a lot of coaxing to get Deceit to leave his room for the rest of the day, and it took even more coaxing to get him to stay downstairs where he could be with everyone. Or rather, where Logan could stop him from picking at the gauze around his knuckles, where Patton could curl a massive blanket around Deceit, and where Roman could sit next to the deceitful side letting the other flip through the different channels on the tv before finally settling for an episode of some cartoon that they had already seen.
But that hardly mattered, as Deceit sank back into the cushioned and weighted blanket that Patton had curled around him like he must have been freezing or something. Even the weight of Roman leaning against wasn’t something that he was totally against right now, he continued to watch the cartoon as Patton eventually vanished back into the kitchen the sounds of something clattering against the counter going with him.
He returned soon enough, holding a dish of something that most certainly smelled pleasant, a proud grin could be seen on the moral side’s face as he thrust the plate into Deceit’s arms making him unconsciously grasp onto it much tighter so that it wouldn’t g tumbling out of his hands.
Looking down he saw seven crumbly slices, with seven neat thin squares of butter cut on top of each one of them, the warmth of food making it slowly melt. Glancing back up at Patton, Deceit did nothing for a second. Were they...for him? Or was Patton just showing him the food that he had just cooked because he was proud of it? Nevertheless, Deceit didn’t make a move to eat one bite until he was absolutely certain of it.
“It’s banana bread! I’ve never made it before, so I want you to try it!” Well, that answered his question.
Balancing the plate on one hand he broke one of the slices in half watching the better slice slowly drip off onto the other half before he shoved a massive bite into his mouth. It was...really really good. Deceit decided, so warm crumbly and it just had a perfect taste that he couldn’t pinpoint, it was better than good. It was absolutely amazing! Before he even knew it he had shoved the rest of the half into his mouth, heartily chewing it and swallowing it down before he grabbed the other half on the plate.
“It’s so good.” He managed to mumble through the sea of crumbles on his face, all while he tried to chew enough to make his words legible, the smile that lit up Patton’s face was better than any banana bread that the moral side could offer him, and any that he would ever get in his lifetime. It made him feel warm inside, so warm that his insides must have been melting.
Of course, he was completely distracted from that train of thought the moment that Roman slung his arm over Deceit’s shoulder picking up one of the slices before shoving it into his mouth like a heathen, the crumbles cascaded down the creative side’s chin and onto Deceit’s shoulder like it was storming crumbs instead of normal rain. Thankfully the crumbs were hastily swept off as Deceit brushed them off with the side of his hand.
“You’re right, these really are the best! The best thing you’ve ever made Padre!” After swallowing down the food Roman attempted to swipe at another slice, just for Deceit to intentionally hold them out of his reach. A tiny sly smile, but a smile nonetheless curled onto the deceitful side’s lips as he listened to Roman whine, for just a second before relenting and passing the plate over to the creative side letting him scarf down the food.
It took nearly an hour for him to be left alone again, as Roman had fallen asleep on the couch curled up with his own blanket by the armrest as the tv continued to play another show. Patton had gone off sitting at the dining room table coloring as Logan sat next to him a book in front of him as he slowly turned the pages.
Just about all of them were off in their own little world, all except for one.
Ever since they had cornered Deceit in his room Virgil hadn’t said a word to anyone, he had lingered around in the other’s messed up room and once it had become obvious that he was finally alone Virgil began to sweep. There was a lot of glass on the floor, and it took a lot of time to make sure that he wouldn’t accidentally cut himself on it when he finally got rid of it all. Once he was done though, Virgil took a good long look at what remained of the mirror that had seemingly caused Deceit so much paint. So much of the mirror remained as cracked and destroyed as it was, and looking at his reflection as the spider webbing cracks could be seen running over his face.
Virgil’s jaw clenched his hands that were still holding the dustpan and broom started to shake, the longer that he looked at the mirror and at himself the more he felt it. This wouldn’t stand any longer, and without a second thought, he dropped the broom and dustpan the two items vanishing as he summoned something else.
“This will not stand for a second longer…” Virgil growled to himself, his dark eyes glaring balefully at the mirror before attacking it with vigor.
Downstairs, however, Deceit felt his body shoot up from where he had been sitting, he had almost been asleep comfortably laying against Roman as the creative side snored so deeply that it almost felt like a purr to him. But that was before he felt it, it being the fact that someone was tampering and changing up his room.
Within seconds he was up, his eyes darted around the living room before he was peering into the dining room as well. Roman, Patton, and Logan. They were all here, all three of them, except...except for one person in particular…
Deceit took the steps two at a time in his rush to get upstairs, and grabbing ahold of his doorknob he slammed it open making it bang and bounce against the wall as he rushed inside.
It was lighter in his room, so much lighter than he’d ever had it in the past. He could actually see his dark red oak floor that was now littered with scratches thanks to all of the glass, all of the glass that was now gone. His room didn’t appear to have changed all that much, until he shot an accusatory look over to Virgil, just to feel himself stiffening up at the sight of the other side standing by where the mirror had once stood.
Once, as in the entire mirror was just up and gone, and in its place was Virgil standing there with paint brushes poking out of his pockets while he had been mixing paints on a palette. He’d already done a small corner of where the mirror had been, and Deceit couldn’t exactly tell what on earth he was painting, but what he did know was that it was impossible for him to feel this touched all in one day.
“You...what you doing?!” He blurted out, watching Virgil reflectively wince at the unintentional harshness of those words and even Deceit felt himself internally flinch at just how rude he had sounded.
But he didn’t have time to worry about that, “I…” Virgil tapped the paintbrush against the palate before dipping it into a mason jar that was full of water and setting the paint palate down as well, the water turned a dark murky green as soon as the paintbrush became submerged.
“I know that this sounds crazy but…” Virgil brushed his bangs back with his paint-stained fingers, accidentally getting a smear of red along his forehead. “But, I know what you’re going through, I know how you feel. Because..because I’ve been through it before. And I know that the best way to help...is change.” He tried to explain giving a half-hearted shrug towards the mural he had been painting when Deceit had barged in, letting out a deep pent-up sigh the anxious side took a step closer to Deceit.
“I misjudged you before, I never even stopped to consider that you might have been going through what I have already been through. In the end, I..I made you shy away from all of us and do things. So...So…”
Virgil thickly swallowed as he held his hand out to Deceit, “So with your permission, I’d like to help you with that.”
The air felt thick and charged between them, as Deceit just openly stared at Virgil’s hand like it was some foreign object that could turn into a beast and attack him. He held his own hand close to his chest, his breath felt bated for some reason as time felt like it had slowed down for them. When he finally reached forward, he felt his fingers brush the palm of Virgil’s hand before he finally clasped it.
The smile that he was rewarded with, made him feel all too similar to when Patton had smiled at him. Only this time, it felt more deserved as Virgil took him in the opposite direction, leading him out of his room and towards...his own room?
Pushing open the door, Virgil barely offered the contents of his room a glance as he pushed open another door located to the far right of his bed. Peering inside Deceit’s nose was instantly assaulted by the smell of roses, peaches, and cream. The air felt..calmer almost and even cleaner somehow.
The room itself was massive and spacious, with a couch that looked more like something you’d see if you were in a therapist's office. Even so, Virgil still didn’t look at that as he finally let go of Deceit’s hand venturing over to a neat line of cabinets that had a line up of pictures on it. New pictures judging by the clarity of them, of Virgil hanging out with the other sides. Some of them had Virgil a Christmas looking sweater while most were in his usual garb, pulling open the cabinet Virgil rifled through a few things before glancing back over to Deceit.
“Take off your cloak and sit down on one of the mats.” He easily told the other, and glancing around quickly Deceit saw the mats that he was referring to.
So unclasping his cloak and tossing it onto the couch he dragged a deep purple mat out from where it had been rolled up and stowed away, before Virgil finally came back over to him carrying an entire armload of things.
“Starting today Deceit, is a day where you can relax and let go of your old self,” Virgil explained as he set everything down onto the floor.
A face mask, scented body lotion, a couple bath bombs that were sparkly and scented, some shirts and pants, and...some hair dye of various colors.
His confusion must have been obvious as he picked up one of bottle tilting it as his eyebrows scrunched together, just to stop as Virgil’s hand rested over his own. Looking up he saw the anxious side’s sympathetic gaze that only made him more uncomfortable.
“Deceit…” Virgil murmured, “If you aren’t comfortable in your body..or with how you see yourself...you are allowed to change that. If you hate...anything about yourself, you don’t have to stay the same. You can be someone else, and you can…”
Virgil blinked a few times obviously tearing up, he’d had to learn this by himself. He’d had no one else to guide him, but Deceit...he could help Deceit.
“I can...change?” The uncertainty of Deceit’s voice shook Virgil to his core. “I don’t have to feel disgusting?” That, however, was the kicker for him, as Deceit grasped one of the bottles a little tighter. A lone tear dripped down Deceit’s cheek, but before Virgil could freak out or wipe it away, a smile took to Deceit’s face as he looked back up at the anxious side.
“I think that I’d like that…” He murmured, a bright smile lighting up his face, and with that, he began to shed his old self.
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megwritesfanfiction · 6 years
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Let Go, Chapter 3/?? (Raven/??)
Disclaimer: I do not own Teen Titans. This is a work of fiction that I am not making a profit off of.
A/N: Here we go update! Here we go!! 
Did you miss the first two chapters? I got you, fam!  Chapter One Chapter Two
Flashback
Her nose wrinkled as she tried to hide her amusement. “That isn’t cliche.” Raven spoke as she turned to hide her grin, but the sarcasm was evident in her voice.
“Oh, really?” Beast Boy laughed, following her down the aisle of the bookstore. He tucked the graphic novel he’d selected underneath his arm as he followed her as if she were prey. “Really now? You wanna go there?”
“I’m just saying.” Raven’s voice was light and teasing as she picked up a novel. “It’s cliche. The whole superhero story?” They lived it. She never understood why he wanted to ready about it.
“And that isn’t?” He eyed the romance novel in her hand. He plucked the book from her hand, placing the book against his forehead. “Don’t tell me…” Beast Boy’s brow furrowed in mock concentration, “Boy meets girl. Boy likes girl, and girl likes boy. There’s mutual attraction and chemistry, even if it’s the love hate thing or friends to lovers, but…” He paused dramatically as he pretended to struggle, “enter conflict. Boy and girl are separated by conflict, but then are somehow brought back together in a whirlwind of emotion.”
“You know-“
“Or one of them dies,” he smirked, handing her back the book, “and then there is some bullshit sappy, light hearted feel good ending that eases the main character’s suffering.”
Raven nudged him, turning her back to him as she focused on the selection of books.
“Don’t hate the player, hate the game, mama,” Beast Boy spoke, flashing a brilliantly flirty smile at her as he moved rested his chin to her shoulder.
“That’s fair,” She nodded, looking at another book and ignoring the blush creeping up her neck. “But your comics-“
“Graphic novels.”
“Graphic novels,” she corrected as she continued to shop for a book, “are just as cliche as any romance novel.”
“No, it is no-“
“Name one superhero who doesn’t have a tragic origin story,” Raven smirked. She casually picked up a book, reading the summary on the back as she waited for a response. The empath felt him stiffen behind her. “I’m waiting…”
“Mama…”
She hated that pet name. “I thought we agreed Rae was acceptable,” Raven murmured, more to herself than speaking to him.
“Babe...”
She also hated that pet name.
“A tragic origin is absolutely an essential catalyst in the creation of a hero.”
He never ceased to amaze her. Only Beast Boy had the ability to speak so eloquently about comic books. She loved it. “I get that, but it’s cliche.”
“Nooo…”
“Yea…” Raven teased, imitating his tone.
“It’s not the same thing.”
“Well you can’t have a great love story without conflict,” she argued, picking up another book.
His eyebrows raised. “Disagree.”
“I mean,” she shrugged. “I don’t mean fighting-“
“Yea.”
“I mean, love isn’t easy. In reality, there are ups and downs,” Raven told him. “I feel like great love stories have challenges. Things like separations, fights, death, break ups, whatever… makes the love story more meaningful.”
“I get it,” Beast Boy sighed as he nodded, leaning against the self in front of her, “but…”
Raven stopped. Her arms wrapped around the novel she picked as her eyes rose to meet his gaze. For a moment, his eyes were too green and too vulnerable.
“I’d like to think not all love stories are complicated.” His smile was soft.
She nodded, returning his smile. “I’d like to think not all heroes are broken.”
Flash Forward
“Do you care if I smoke?”
She wrinkled her nose in surprise. “You smoke?” Raven was really in no position to judge him, but she couldn’t help her initial reaction of surprise.
“I know,” Roy smirked, placing a cigarette between his lips. He rolled down his window and hoped to bypass the ‘smoking is bad’ lecture. “It’s bad for me,” he murmured, lighting it. “I am well aware that it’s disgusting, and it’s going to kill me.”
Raven smirked, fingers wiggling a bit as she continued to drive. “I don’t care,” she shrugged. “I’m basically the patron saint of the goth scene in Jump.” She was practically immune to it.
“The patron saint of the Jump City faction of goths,” Roy repeated with a snort. “I love it.”
“What?”
He inhaled deeply as laughter bubbled from his chest. “That is probably the greatest thing I’ve heard all week.”
“Not to brag-”
“Please,” he gestured graciously. “I need to know about your journey to canonization.” He couldn’t stop laughing. “Brag.”
She shrugged keeping the smirk from her lips, adjusting the rear view mirror. “It’s not that exciting.” Her eyes drifted to the clock docked between them. They were only a few hours into their cross country drive, and she welcomed the mindless conversation.
“I beg to differ,” Roy disagreed taking a puff. His head and eyes tipped in her direction as he wiggled his eyebrows. “I have to hear this.”
With a chuckle, she exhaled loudly as she adjusted herself in the driver’s seat. “Okay.”
“Excellent,” he grinned.
“There’s a club in downtown Jump called Nyx and Erebus that, I may or may not have frequented regularly.”
“I honestly can’t decide what’s more amusing,” his grin grew wider than the Cheshire Cat. “The fact that the goth club is named after the Greek deities for night and darkness or that you go clubbing.”
“I don’t go ‘clubbing’.” She rested her wrists against the wheel to ensure she could quote him properly. Raven didn’t even have time to express her delight and shock at his Greek mythology knowledge.
“Regularly attending a venue for the purpose of debauchery-“
“No!” Raven laughed. “No debauchery. Just a bunch of goth kids raving with glow sticks and smoking.” Not mention some drinking and drug use.
Roy sighed, his smile ridiculous. “I gotta say,” he gave her a little shrug as he leaned toward her with a pout. “I’m hurt that you’ve never mentioned this to me or haven’t taken me.”
Whatever.
“I mean,you let your team know this part of you, and I get it they’re your team, but,” he paused dramatically as he took another drag. “I am your grilled cheese buddy. We’ve broken bread together. The fact that you’ve never shared this information with me hurts.”
“Actually,” she corrected, eyes glancing to the GPS for a second as she continued her drive. Raven couldn’t help but wonder how their conversation drifted to this randomness, and she wouldn’t admit how much she was enjoying this. “My team never went to Nyx and Erebus with me.”
“Seriously?”
She nodded. “Seriously,” Raven confirmed.
“How?”
Her shoulders shrugged as she turned onto the interstate. “Honestly? I didn’t think they’d be into it.” Her teammates had nothing against clubs. The often frequented bars and clubs during their team nights, and Raven knew they wouldn’t object in joining her at her usual venue.
“Bullshit,” Roy chuckled. “Starfire finds the delight in everything, so the fact that Starfire is happy would make Nightwing happy. Cyborg wouldn’t complain even if he wanted to…”
“That’s fair.”
“And I’m sure Changeling and Terra would all over the dance floor…”
Raven felt her heart sink at the mention of that particular couple. “I know, I just-” The thought of those two evading her personal space made her irrationally angry. For a brief moment, the easiness of their conversation caused her forget some of the things that plagued her. “I just-“ What would be safe answer?
Roy’s eyebrows raised.
“Nyx and Erebus is my place. It was something away from the tower and the team. I was some girl with purple hair would just wanted to dance.” Partly true.
“I dig that,” he nodded, eyes examining her closely. He pushed his questions back and favored optimism. “We’ll find you a place all your own in Steel,” Roy smiled.
“I can’t wait.” Her excited smile was accented with sullen eyes.
Hell was freezing over.
Or had already frozen over.
Green eyes darted around the kitchen as he slowly brought another mouthful of cream of wheat to his lips. Still observing, he reached for another piece of toast as he tried to process the scene.
First, he’d woken up at a reasonable hour.
Early.
Changeling, by some miracle or divine intervention, managed to open his eyes before the chime of his alarm. He’d kissed the sleeping blonde next to him and gotten an early start on his day. After a refreshing shower, he made in record time to the kitchen.
NIghtwing was up, no surprise there. He was at the kitchen table brooding over what Changeling could safely assume he was on his second or third cup of coffee judging by pile of newspaper in front him.
He gave the masked Titan a little nod, before getting a large pot of water on the stove for breakfast. Since he managed to beat Cyborg to the kitchen, he figured he might as well make breakfast for everyone.
He smirked curled on his lips as he pulled the ingredients for breakfast.
Cream of wheat, toast, and fruit sounded perfect to him.
While he waited for the water to boil and the oven to heat, Starfire and Terra entered the kitchen. Starfire greeted him with a seemingly half hearted chirp,and Terra kissed him sweetly before taking her seat. Changeling finished cooking and promptly served breakfast before taking his own seat. With a happy sigh, he tossed some blueberries into his hot cereal and buttered his toast.
“Looks good.” Terra smirked, placing banana slices in her own bowl.
Starfire gave a smile smile as she nodded in agreement. She sprinkled a bit of sugar in her bowl before stirring it absentmindedly. “Indeed,” she added.
The changeling hadn’t even noticed when Cyborg entered the kitchen; but when he saw the gleam of metal from the corner of his eye, Changeling couldn’t help the devious smirk curling on his lips.
“I already made breakfast,” he tried to keep his tone even in the midst of him intentionally antagonizing his friend.
Changeling was surprised at the metal man’s silence when he approached the stove, and he was down right bewildered when joined them at the table with his own bowl. Changeling watched wordlessly as Cyborg ate the cream of wheat without complaint.
He counted on him at least making a couple slices, or a pack, of bacon to go with the meal. But, Cyborg settled for a few slices of cantaloupe and some raspberries to go with his hot cereal and toast.
Unsure of what to think or say, the Changeling kept eating in the silent kitchen. The scratch and squeak of spoons against the ceramic bowls echoed off the walls and unnerved him. His eyes settled on the empty chair across from him as slowly realized they were short a Titan.
“Where’s Raven?”
“That’s gross.”
Roy raised an uninterested eyebrow as he took another bite of the massive sandwich in front of him. “It’s delicious,” he told her, mouth full of melted cheese as he stuffed a few ketchup soaked fries in his mouth.
Raven shook her head, eyeing her own sandwich strangely. How the hell was she supposed to eat this thing?
The sun had just started peeking over the horizon when the bright neon lights of the diner came into view. They’d been on the road for a little over six hours, and Roy insisted this place had the best grilled cheese sandwiches in town.
Raven looked at the long stretch of empty road, darkness, and dust around them. She quickly insisted that this diner must be the only thing in town. Placing the car in park, her violet eyes looked at the diner curiously. The seafoam wood panel walls were weathered and faded below the bright pink neon sign. Raven noticed small signs in the window hanging in front of discolored blinds. There were a few trucks parked in the dirt lot and lights on inside.
They were open, but would they serve grilled cheese at this early hour?
Her question was quickly answered. Before they could settle in booth, Roy flashed the waitress a dazzling smile and ordered two grilled cheese specials with extra cheese.
The grilled cheese special consisted of several selections of cheese melted between two thick slices of bread with a large serving of fries and coleslaw.
“My arteries are clogged looking at this thing,” Raven sighed wondering how her companion was able to unhinge his jaw to bite his sandwich. How many much cheese did they use?
“You’re being dramatic,” Roy smirked as he continued attacking his sandwich. “What the hell are you doing?”
Raven looked down at her sandwich, gesturing with the knife and fork in her hands. “There is no way I can bite into that thing.”
“You haven’t tried,” he dismissed, taking another bite to finish off the first half of his sandwich.
She dropped the cutlery with a sigh. “I’m gonna be covered in cheese.” Raven delicately dipped a fry in ketchup, nibbling on it.
“Rae,” Roy started, messily eating his own french fries covered with ketchup. “We’re on a road trip. Calories don’t count, and junkfood is a must.”
Raven gave a theatrical sigh as she picked up one of the halves of her sandwich. “This is going to be messy.” Her lips twisted into a little frown.
Roy shrugged with an obvious lewd smirk. “Some of the best things in life are messy.”
She took a large bite in the sandwich, struggling to catch and control the strings of cheese that stretched.
She shrugged. “It’s good though,” she decided, chewing as delicately as she could. “Crap,” she commented, rushing to chew. Dropping her sandwich to her plate, she picked up a napkin.
“What?”
“Phone’s ringing,” she informed him, pulling out her phone. “And my hands are covered in grease.”
He shook his head. “No phones during grilled cheese breakfast time,” Roy told her. “If it’s important, they’ll leave a message.”
True.
Ignoring the screen, she placed her on on silent before sliding it back into her pocket. She picked up her sandwich resuming her breakfast. “This is a lot of cheese,” Raven commented, hand covering her full mouth as she struggled to chew. “Probably too much cheese.”
“No such thing,” Roy told her seriously pointing one of his fries at her.
To be Continued... 
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shtcablogs · 5 years
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Fall is Overrated
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Fall... everyone’s favorite season. But why? I’ve never understood the hype. Maybe it’s just an attempt at straying from convention or trying way too hard to not fall into “basic bitch” territory, or maybe I’m actually onto something. Either way, I subscribe to the idea that fall is extremely overrated, and here’s why.
Pumpkin flavored anything is not good.
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Pumpkin spice latte? Not as good as a regular ol’ latte. Pumpkin bread? Banana bread is better. Pumpkin Oreos? Now you’ve just ruined a good thing. Pumpkin Spice Cheerios? I tried them, not a fan. Pumpkin spice cinnamon rolls? Don’t fuck with my cinnamon rolls. Pumpkin pie? Have you ever even tried apple pie? Does anyone like the taste of pumpkin? Serious question. Stop making everything pumpkin flavored! I’d rather drink a nacho cheese latte than a PSL.
The weather is bi-polar.
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Winter is cold. Spring is cool. Summer is hot. Fall is unpredictable. On a normal day, it’s freezing in the morning and hot in the afternoon. How do you dress for that? “Layers!” they say, but who wants to lug around a jacket all day? You also have to check the weather every single morning. You’re a fool if you get dressed based on what the weather was like yesterday. It’s completely possible for the weather to drop 40 degrees in one day, and vice versa. I don’t mind cold weather or hot weather. I mind the constant back-and-forth. I don’t want to wear a coat and scarf to an early October football game, and I don’t want to wear shorts on Thanksgiving. A little stability would be nice, mother nature.
Halloween movies/TV episodes are cheesy.
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Where do I start? “Halloween” is the cheesiest movie I’ve ever seen. The only scary thing about that film is Jamie Lee Curtis’s man voice and feathered bangs. Halloweentown is weird. It’s like if Edgar Allan Poe and Dr. Seuss had a baby, and then that baby took a bunch of acid and made a movie. I could go on and on here roasting Halloween movies, but that would be a blog post in itself. Just because you liked a movie as a child doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily like it as an adult. Why do people feel the need to rewatch these movies every year? I’d rather keep my fond memories of them in the past instead of revisiting them as an adult, because I’ll undoubtedly spend the whole movie picking out plot holes and making fun of the characters. Also, what’s up with every TV show doing a Halloween episode? They’re always out-of-place and have nothing to do with the season’s plot line. Stop doing that. We know it’s almost Halloween, we don’t need Grey’s Anatomy to remind us.
Fall clothes aren’t flattering.
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Bulky sweaters add anywhere from 10-40 pounds. Boots make your feet and calves sweaty when the weather rises 30 degrees later in the afternoon (see my point above on weather). Fall colors are ugly and don’t suit anyone. I have no interest in wearing anything burnt orange, brown, or burgundy. Jeans are kind of uncomfortable, and it’s pretty hard to find leggings that are acceptable to wear as actual pants. I’d take my summer wardrobe over my fall wardrobe any day.
Football takes over.
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I like football just as much as the next broad, which is not very much. I don’t HATE it, but I certainly don’t want to watch it for 48 hours. I have been an NC State fan my whole life and went to college there, so don’t get me wrong, I love watching my Wolfpack play. Every other team on the planet, however, I’m simply not interested in. Football is on ALL DAY every Saturday and Sunday from September to January.  And when it’s not on, it’s all any straight male talks about. “Did you see the Patriots game yesterday?” No Greg, I didn’t. The closest thing us females have to football is The Bachelor, and it’s only on for two hours a week maybe 4 months out of year. I’d like to propose an experiment: let’s air multiple different Bachelor/Bachelorette seasons from January to June. Have it on all day Saturday and Sunday. Play only The Bachelor on all TVs at restaurants/bars. Let’s all buy t-shirts and jerseys with our favorite contestant. And let’s talk about it NON-STOP to EVERYONE. Wouldn’t that be lovely? The patriarchy would never allow that happen, but one can dream.
You can get candy year-round.
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I’m going to let you guys in on a well-kept secret. You can get Skittles and Reese’s year-round! I know, the thought of eating a fun-sized candy bar outside of the month of October is insane, but it is 100% possible! What about October suddenly makes everyone start craving candy? I don’t know about you guys, but I crave candy 12 months out of the year (for about one week a month if you catch my drift). I don’t buy any more or less candy in October. If anything, I buy more candy in November because it’s half priced. Huge life-hack: wait out the peer pressure to buy Halloween candy in October. I know it’s difficult, with the giant store displays and everything. But if you just wait until November 1st, you can get that EXACT SAME CANDY FOR HALF THE PRICE. Pretty stupid to pay full price for something you know is going to go on sale in a couple weeks in my opinion. This is not to say you shouldn’t buy Halloween candy for trick-or-treaters, because that is just cruel. I’m saying as an adult, you can wait until after Halloween to indulge in a little candy. 
Pumpkin carving sucks.
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Carving pumpkins is difficult, disgusting, dangerous, and time-consuming. I’ve never carved a pumpkin and then taken a step back to admire my work and thought, “Wow, that looks good!” Quite the opposite, actually. It’s more like “Why the fuck did I just spend an hour hacking away at this pumpkin for it to look like it was made by a blind five year-old?” Not to mention pumpkin guts are gross and get all up in your fingernails. Let me also drop this bomb on you. In 2013, there were 3,500 reported Halloween-related injuries. The most common Halloween injury? You guessed it: lacerations from pumpkin carving. Think about that the next time you pick up a kitchen knife and a stubborn pumpkin.
Halloween costumes are stressful.
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My friends and I always talk about how Halloween is our least favorite holiday. Halloween costume pressure is real no matter your age. When I was 6 years old I dressed up as Britney Spears from the “Oops I Did It Again” music video. The extent of my costume was a red shirt and a headset microphone. Did I look like Britney Spears? No. Was I pissed at my Mom for not spending way too much money on a red latex jumpsuit? Absolutely. My costume-related perfectionism has only worsened as I’ve aged. If I’m going to wear a costume, it’s going to be the most creative and thought-out damn costume you’ve ever seen. This is why I usually don’t dress up for Halloween. I’m too lazy and too poor to put that much effort into something I’m going to wear one night a year. I won’t dress up again for Halloween until I can think of something to top my 2016 costume: Kris Jenner (see photo above).
Wake me up when November ends, am I right? Stay spooky.
- CA
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Dill & Butter Soup
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The best of this was the ‘Freezing in Tblisi’ version, where the beef I bought was about 30% fat, and the dill stalks were cartoon humongous, lush, forearm-length mini fir tress. And the bread was a fresh shoti. I probably would have glorified this dining experience less if it was not 4C in the apartment, with one old and ineffective heater, and freezing wind blasting through the appliance pipe wall-holes and keyhole. 
This specific meal, the massive amount of bread and oil consumed daily, the sugar from Russian apricot yogurt with hot-pocketed bananas and apples, and my improvised hot water bottle, kept my increasingly grey toes from falling off. Yay. 
Paltry posh people supermarket version - just cant compare, but I make do. 
300g minced mutton
My never measured water. DO your best, dear. I guess it’s double the volume of meat? 
Big fat chunk of salted butter. um. 20g? I have no idea, I go by scent and colour. 
1 beef and 0.5 chicken stock cubes / whatever concentrate you prefer
[ If you have a lot of a very rich and fatty beef, you don’t necessarily need a cube but it adds oomph and MSG factor ] 
As I do this from frozen, I put the meat in the pan with room temp water on low heat, and let it heat up very very slowly. Could be wrong but I think the slow pace and duration of cooking make a poor quality mince a lot more tender. So, if done properly, especially if it’s a half kilo of meat amount, it can take around 1.5 hours. 
2 tbsp paprika powder, 1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper or chilli, 1 tbsp corainder seeds powder, some black pepper, and at the end, >2 tbsp of dill leaf tips dried or whole stalks finely chopped fresh if you can get it for a reasonable price. 
[ Tblisi version: Paprika, salt, pepper, 1-2 big fat fresh parsley stalks, 2 big fat dill stalks, whole body finely chopped]
Cut carrot into coins - 3 small ones used - and microwave for a minute before adding to soup for final 2-3 minutes. This is if you want them a bit crunchy, if not, around 20plus minutes straight into soup. 
Usually I would also use 2 young potatoes (1 minute microwave, final 2-3 minutes in soup), but this time, a handful of red lentils. 16 minutes in there to cook. 
[Tblisi version includes only carrot and former-communist potatoes.]
Bok choy slices for final 4 minutes. 
Obviously bread is required for dipping. Would be a waste of the glorious butter content if neglected. 
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Corn and coconuts: week of 3/1/21
A prolific week despite business at work. Cornmeal and coconut flour experimentation galore. Successfully avoiding the usage of butter. Figured out that the key to not using eggs for coconut flour is Greek yogurt. Participating in King Arthur’s baking contest.
Sourdough mung bean paste braided bread
Grade: A-
Made this for the #extraordinarybread contest. Conversion to sourdough isn’t perfect and affected the rise, just like the condensed milk bread rolls. I thought I was using coconut filling, but I actually ended up using (unsweetened) mung bean paste that I squeezed some honey onto last minute.
The braiding was a mess too because the braids were too short for the center section. On the bright side, the taste of the bread was nice: a bit gummy because the rise wasn’t great (next time I’ll add a bit of yeast for my crazy conversions) but a subtly sweet flavor.
Recipe: braided lemon bread from King Arthur Baking Company
Modification: sourdough starter instead of sponge (had to adjust hydration); coconut oil instead of butter
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Sourdough healthy cornbread
Grade: B+
Made this to use up some sourdough starter. Messed up proportions and added flour even though Puffy should’ve taken care of it. Tasted fine though, undertone of Puffy, but not overpowering.
Recipe: the ultimate healthy cornbread from Amy’s Healthy Baking
Sourdough shrimp chives buns
Grade: B+
I bought frozen shrimps so I wanted some chives as I like the flavor combination. Tasted okay, but the dough wasn’t good - too wet and not extensible. Almost all the buns broke open despite my attempts to seal, and my wonton wrappers that I used for the leftover filling were ripping all over the place. Kind of looks like a cute savory tart.
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Chocolate coconut raspberry quickbread
Grade: B+
Used up the last of coconut flour and the freeze-dried raspberries with this recipe. The batter turned a bit lumpy so the resulting cakes aren’t the most aesthetically pleasing, but wow, they tasted amazing after some chilling in the refrigerator.
I kind of wish I experimented more with coconut flour, because I think there is much potential. Maybe I’ll actually buy it again. 
Recipe: chocolate coconut quick bread from King Arthur Baking Company
Modification: 300g of Greek yogurt + applesauce in place of eggs for a 3/4 recipe
Spider cake
Grade: B
I find the idea of a custard cornbread without heavy cream to be fascinating. Way too liquidy thanks to imperfect buttermilk powder conversion and too much buttermilk powder that burned but surprisingly baked up into nice cornbread with custard. Might try this again with kefir.
Recipe: spider cake from Serious Eats
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Coconut flour vanilla cake
Grade: A-
Olive oil taste but otherwise the best tasting coconut flour cake I’ve made. Slight grittiness from the flour but a lovely taste with the maple syrup and vanilla extract. Much better than the eggy coconut flour cake I made in the past and something I want to try again..
Recipe: fluffy coconut flour cake from Detoxinista
Modification: 1/3 cup Greek yogurt for 1 of the 2 eggs (half recipe)
Cornmeal Greek yogurt cookies
Grade: B+
Puffy and texture soft from the Greek yogurt but nice subtle sweetness. More adventures in me trying to use up (past best by date) cornmeal. I’m sure it will taste a lot nicer with butter.
Recipe: perfect cornmeal cookies from Sweetest Menu
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Sourdough beef tallow cornmeal biscuits
Grade: A
One thing that I’m grateful to cornmeal for is that I discovered this recipe. The subtle corn taste just pairs so well with the biscuits. Maybe a bit more salt again (and I still end up burning the botoms) but so good. Smells like oxtail soup from the beef tallow. And Martin Philip actually responded to my story tag.
Recipe: cornmeal drop biscuits from Baking Bread by Martin Philip
Modification: beef tallow instead of butter; 50g sourdough starter in a half recipe; kefir instead of buttermilk
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Flour Bakery banana bread
Grade: A-
A famous banana bread recipe. I didn’t have enough Puffy discard for a sourdough recipe so I thought, why not try this one? Used applesauce and reduced sugar per my usual, which might’ve made it less tasty. Also didn’t mash up the bananas too smoothly and left lumps. Burned it a bit while baking too I think. But it does taste nice and would be a nice base recipe for experimentation.
Recipe: Flour’s famous banana bread from Flour by Joanne Chang
Modification: applesauce for oil; 2 bananas instead of 1.75 for a half recipe; reduced sugar and Greek yogurt for sour cream; no add-ins
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Mung bean paste black sesame peanut cookies
Grade: B+
Now that I found mung bean paste, I figured I’d try to use up to wrap up tang yuan filling as I’m too lazy to make the mochi wrappers. Then steamed them. Dough and filling tasted okay but not amazing together. I’m crazy for saying this but we need more sugar.
Coconut sugar shiroan
Grade: A-
Used coconut sugar instead of granulated sugar on a whim. I guess I won’t be able to make it matcha flavored but it does have a nice caramel undertone.
Recipe: white bean paste from Just One Cookbook
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