#i think butter as a base and then we have a collection of flavor powders so everyone can pick

[therenlover]

Cakes for the Evans Part One: The Kai Cake Disaster

Today, dear followers, I began the first step of a long journey that I hope to share with you. Today, I baked a cake.

I had a whole lot of free time this afternoon with a whole lot of nothing to do, so I was hanging out with my sister. We were watching AHS when suddenly, out of nowhere, I had an idea. A “brilliant” idea. I was going to bake a cake.

The original plan was pretty simple. I’d find some ingredients in the cupboard, bake a little cake, and call it a day, but shortly after I gathered up a recipe and an idea for the flavor I though ‘huh, I could make a series out of this!’ So, I did.

From today, whenever I have the time and can gather the ingredients, I’m going to start baking a cake for each Evan (all the Evans in AHS, Warren Lipka, Peter Maximoff, and Ralph Bohner). Today I started with Kai Anderson.

It was, to be fully honest, a fucking disaster, so it being Kai’s cake is fitting. 

At first things went well. I had a whole bag of tangerines in the fridge, as well as a few cartons of berries that were going to go bad soon. Me and my sister modified a few family recipes, and soon enough we had our idea. 

Originally, the cake was supposed to be a two layer tangerine cake, with blackberry frosting in the middle and an orange blueberry glaze on top. As you can see, that didn’t happen.

We made the cakes themselves with little error. It was delightful to have something work out with no kinks. We took that for granted. With all our success, our egos had soared. There was no way this could go wrong after starting on such a bright note, right? Wrong.

First, the blackberry frosting just... didn’t turn into frosting. Like, we followed the instructions but the berries had a looot of water in them, so it sort of just turned into a sugary mess. We ended up just tossing it in a mason jar and plan to use it for crepes tomorrow.

Then, while I was zesting tangerines, my sister watched in horror as the cakes just... fell apart. Neither of them made it out of the pan fully formed despite the fact that we had greased them with a ridiculous amount of butter. One was salvageable... the other, not so much. We rolled with it, found a can of frosting in the pantry, and made some extra cake pops.

The cake pops.... well, we’ll get to that later.

The tangerine blueberry glaze ended up.... well, it was too thin, so we cooked it down and ended up with another weird sugary syrup slop, only this time it had chunks! Delightful! It ended up tasting pretty good, but took more steps and improv than initially intended. 

Once all was said and done, we fetched the cake pops from the freezer only to find they had cemented themselves to the wax paper, and refused to budge. At this point, I was close to tears. 

I would not, in all honesty, recommend this process to anyone. It was time consuming, took way too many bowls, and the ending product was kind of a mess. The only thing I can say is that it was, in the end, very delicious. 

So, here is a full recipe and guide on how to make Kai Anderson’s Disaster Cake (and bonus cake pops). Good luck, you’re going to need it. 

Ingredients*:

Tangerine Syrup

1 1/2 cups (about 4) tangerines, fully peeled

1/2 cup water

1 1/4 cups white sugar

The Cake

1/2 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

Tangerine syrup (measurements above)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup of milk

Tangerine Berry Glaze

2 tangerines, zested and fully peeled

6 oz. (one carton) blackberries

6 oz. (one carton) blueberries

1 1/2 cups of sugar, food processed but not powdered

4 tablespoons of butter, softened

4 tablespoons of milk

1/3 cup agave syrup

Cake Pops

1 9″ round tangerine cake

1/2 cup Pillsbury cream cheese frosting

Cake Pop Frosting

Remaining Pillsbury cream cheese frosting

1/2 cup tangerine berry glaze

* - These are pretty good, but general approximations of the ingredients I actually used because this cake threw me for a loop and tested my imagination. Nothing worked like it was supposed to... literally.

Now, on to the disaster. 

Instructions: 

The Cake

First, peel 4 tangerines. Separate each of the sections of fruit and peel the skin off of the small sections.

Add the peeled pieces of tangerine to a medium saucepan with half a cup of water and 1 1/4 cups of white sugar.

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring continuously to prevent burning. Once a boil has been reached, lower the temperature and bring the mixture down to a simmer.

Use a tool of your choice to mash the fruit as the syrup simmers. Once the fruit is mashed, continue stirring the mixture as it thickens and boils down. This process will take about ten minutes.

After ten minutes, pour the mixture into a food processor and blend until there are no large chunks of pulp left. Then, set the mixture aside to cool as you prepare the batter.

Before starting your batter, set the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit and allow it to heat up as you work.

Add half a cup of butter, cold, to a bowl with one cup of white sugar. Use a mixer to cream the sugar and butter together.

Once it’s been creamed, add two eggs and mix again with the mixer until the ingredients have been evenly incorporated.

Next, add the flour, baking power, and now-cooled tangerine syrup to the bowl. Fold the ingredients together until there are no chunks of flour and the syrup is fully integrated. Then, fold in the milk.

Pour the batter evenly into two, nine inch round cake pans that have been greased thoroughly with butter or a baking grease of your choice. Crisco is a great alternative!

Bake the cakes at 350 degrees fahrenheit for 30 to 40 minutes. Ours were brown at the edges and cooked all the way through at 35 minutes, but based on your oven the time may vary.

Allow the cakes to cool in their pans, and then carefully turn one of them onto a plate for glazing. If it breaks, no problems! You can just use the other one.

If both cakes survive their trips out of the pan, you can use the tangerine berry glaze both between the layers and on top of the cake. If only one survives, simply put the glaze over top, and set the other, broken cake aside for cake pops.

The Glaze

Take one cup of white sugar and put it in a food processor. Blend it, but don’t do it enough for it to be fully powdered. Be impatient. Cut corners. In the end, you should have sugar with granules that are smaller than normal, but not quite small enough to be considered powdered sugar.

Zest two tangerines. Once you’ve collected all the zest you can, peel them, section them, and take the skin off of the small sections.

Put the tangerine zest and peeled tangerine sections in a food processor, and add your blueberries and blackberries. Next, add your slightly powdered sugar, your melted butter, and your milk. 

Use the food processor to combine the ingredients. The mixture, when fully processed, should be slightly chunky, kind of like a jam! Transfer the mixture from the food processor into a sauce pan.

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring regularly to prevent burning. Once it is at a boil, add your agave syrup. From there, lower the heat and allow the mixture to simmer for 15 minutes as you continue to stir.

If you are only making the cake, pour the glaze over the first cake, put the second layer on top, finally topping the whole cake with the remaining glaze. If you are making cake pops, set aside half a cup of glaze and use the rest to top your single layer cake.

The Cake Pops

If your cake, like ours, came out of the pan in five separate pieces, not to worry! There’s still hope for you yet, unlike Kai.

Put the crumbled pieces of your ruined cake in a bowl with 1/4 of a cup of pillsbury canned cream cheese frosting, preferably one that has sat in your cupboard for a few months after another failed baking experiment. 

Get your hands dirty! Crush the cake with your hands to combine it with the frosting and turn it into a thick, doughy substance.

Once the frosting and cake are combined, add half a cup of your tangerine berry glaze to the dough and mix it in by hand again. The ending product will look kind of grey-ish???? and will have little bits of tangerine and blueberry skin throughout.

Roll the completed dough into balls. It should make about ten large pops, but more if you make them smaller. 

Set the rolled balls onto a plate covered with wax paper, and add a cake pop skewer to each ball. Toothpicks would work too, I’m not one to judge. Even chopsticks might work if you really have no other options. 

Put the newly skewered balls in the freezer until they harden enough to withstand being dipped in hot frosting. While they cool, prepare that.

Melt the remaining cream cheese icing in the microwave. I put it in for about 45 seconds after ripping the label off the plastic container and it worked well. 

Add half a cup of your glaze into the icing and mix until they are fully combined. 

Once your cake pops have hardened, take them out of the freezer and dip them into the liquid frosting, returning them to their plate to cool. Once they’re all frosted, return the plate to the freezer until the frosting forms a shell around the cake pop.

When it comes time to enjoy your cake pops, remove them from the freezer and then cry, as you find that they’ve become very stuck to the wax paper and refuse to come off. Use a knife and your fingers to try to pry them off, only to smash them a little in the process. Even better, do this while the icing is still slightly tacky! It will make it all the more frustrating.

Then, viola! You have a cake and some cake pops to share with your divine ruler!

In Conclusion

This cake was an experience.

It’s hard to rate this, because I haven’t made any of the others yet, but I’m extremely sure that it will be at the back of the pack. I can only hope none of the others are as terrible as this one was. I give it a 3/10.

On the bright side, it was tasty. 

I like to think that this entire process is very reminiscent of Kai himself. It looks like a mess on the outside, and it’s a mess on the inside too. The only redeeming factor to both of them is that they’re yummy...

If I had to assign benign meaning to the actual parts of the cake, the blueberry glaze represents Kai’s awful blue dye job, while the tangerine cake is orange like the president he loves so much. A big thank you to @oublierlegarcon​ for giving me the idea of making this Kai’s cake. It’s extremely fitting

I have no clue who will come next, only time will tell, but I hope you enjoyed this disaster as much as I did. Until next time, goodbye!

#evan peters #peter maximoff #james patrick march #ahs #kai anderson #kit walker #warren lipka #jimmy darling #kyle spencer #rory monahan #ralph bohner #baking

[herding-octokittens]

Six Notable Attempts at Baking the Best Cookies Ever

Three updates in three days???? 

@mechanismszine I’m only like nine days late for this one! And more are coming!

AO3

(I totally restructured my entire ao3 organization because of an adhd/caffeine fueled breakdown, so please be patient with me)

The Toy Soldier had a mission.

It was a mission of it’s own choosing. There were no orders associated with this mission, no strings attached or people to please. In all of it’s maybe-existence, this was the first time the Toy Soldier could recall having a mission like that.

It liked the feeling, it thought.

The mission was simple enough in theory, but it had been years now and the Toy Soldier had yet to succeed. It was determined, with all of it’s wooden heart, to make the best damn cookies, ever.

The criteria for what made a cookie the best possible cookie were quite simple. If all of the Mechanisms liked the cookie, it had no option but to be the best. The Toy Soldier’s friends had such differing tastes that if it could make a cookie all of them liked, it had to be good. No, not good. Perfect.

~~~

Re-sequenced spinach cookies had been the first attempt.

According to Nastya, the octokittens liked the re-sequenced spinach. The octokittens were known to eat anything and everything they were fed, but the Toy Soldier decided that would be as good a place as any to start. It found an old recipe book in a back corner of Ivy’s library, and found a sugar cookie recipe that seemed simple enough. To make sure there was enough re-sequenced spinach to be noticeable, the Toy Soldier decided to replace all the sugar in the recipe with powdered re-sequenced spinach.

The cookies glowed when they were done, but so did half of them food on the Aurora on any given day, so the Toy Soldier figured they were fine. When it finally found the rest of the Mechanisms and offered the batch to them, only Raphaella agreed to try one. She seemed rather pleased with the result even if it wasn’t as sweet as she was expecting, but she also died seven seconds after declaring so.

As far as the Toy Soldier knew, that was not normal for cookies.

~~~

Gunpowder cookies had been the second attempt.

Gunpowder was most definitely not fit for human consumption, but neither were gasoline and ethanol and Ashes drank both of those on a semi-regular basis. And the Toy Soldier knew that Gunpowder Tim very much liked gunpowder and other explosives. It extrapolated that he would probably enjoy a cookie that tasted like one of his bombs.

The sugar cookie recipe still seemed like a good starting point, and given what little feedback Raphaella had provided, it decided to leave the sugar in as directed. Instead, it replaced the flour with the gunpowder. There were so many white powders required for cookies, removing one seemed like it would be fine.

Tim had taken one look at the cookies, and walked away without a word. The Toy Soldier thought that was probably very rude, but given that half of the cookies had exploded in the oven and the other half made rather interesting clunking noises when dropped, perhaps not.

~~~

Chocolate chip cookies had been the third attempt.

The Toy Soldier had entered the kitchen on the fourth day in a row (the third day had resulted in a failure that need not be discussed) to find Marius already waiting for it. He was sitting on the counter, flipping through it’s recipe book, humming thoughtfully.

“Hello Marius, Old Chap!”

“Oh, Toy, you’re here, good.”

“You Have My Recipe Book!”

“I do, yeah. I thought I might make a request.”

“Do You Have A Favorite Type Of Cookie? I Can Make It For You!”

“Yes! Well, no, but I might!” Marius hopped off the counter and set the book down, open to a page near the back.

“I Don’t Understand!” the Toy Soldier said, walking over to look at the book over Marius’s shoulder.

“I’ve never actually tried a chocolate chip cookie, but I’ve wanted one for a long time.”

“Oh! That Sounds Like A Very Good Idea Indeed!” The Toy Soldier declared, immediately moving to collect the ingredients. “Do You Have A Specific Flavor You Wanted? Raphaella Says That Re-Sequenced Spinach Cookies Tasted Very Good, And I Imagine Chocolate Would Just Make It Better!”

“Um, just chocolate. You don’t need to add anything else,” Marius said. The Toy Soldier thought he seemed very unsure of himself. “Sometimes, simple flavors work best.”

“Well That Is A Lovely Idea! I Will Make You Plain Chocolate Chip Cookies!”

The cookies had actually turned out very well, it thought. None of them glowed. None of them exploded. None of them melted in it’s hands.

By the time the Toy Soldier had found the rest of the crew and gathered them in the kitchen to try it’s latest attempt, the octokittens had eaten all the cookies that Marius hadn’t. Surprisingly, none of the Mechanisms were disappointed.

~~~

Snickerdoodles had been the fourth attempt.

This attempt was shortly curtailed when the Toy Soldier discovered that there was absolutely no cinnamon anywhere on the Aurora, and there were no planets within eighty five light years that grew cinnamon trees.

According to Ashes, the cinnamon-free cookie dough was still rather tasty, but this only came to light a week after the Toy Soldier had scrapped that attempt and obliterated the dough with obscene amounts of fire. It wasn’t sure what cookie dough Ashes was referring to, but it was somewhat hesitant to ask.

~~~

Peanut butter cookies had been the fifth attempt.

The Toy Soldier was quick to learn that Jonny was quite allergic to peanuts, a fact none of the crew had ever before had reason to discover.

For once, the Toy Soldier thought Jonny had a legitimate reason to attempt to throw it out of the airlock. The problem with Jonny’s revenge attempts was that Jonny couldn’t get within ten meters of the kitchen or the Toy Soldier without going into anaphylactic shock and choking to death.

After a week of distanced rage and declarations of murderous violence, Jonny and the Toy Soldier came to a hesitant truce that involved a very purposeful lack of both airlocks and peanut butter.

~~~

The Toy Soldier was on the verge of giving up.

This was a mission it had given itself. There had never been any orders for it to obey, so it could choose to stop at any time. It knew this. It wanted to stop, but it was this far in. It couldn’t stop now. It was so close! It just needed to try one more recipe, and then everyone would love the cookies and it would have made the perfect cookies and made everyone happy.

Hoisting itself to it’s feet, it spun towards the mixing bowls and came face to face with Ivy, Marius, Raphaella, and Ashes.

“Oh, Hello Friends,” it said, moving around them to get to the counter and begin spreading out the ingredients. “How Are You All Doing?”

“We’re good, Toy Soldier. How are you?” It was Marius who responded, voice hesitant.

“Oh Jolly Good, Jolly Good.” There was a brief, whispered discussion from behind it, before Marius stepped forward into it’s peripheral vision.

“Really? Because it kinda sounds like you’re, you know, not so good.”

“No, I’m Perfectly Fine, Marius.”

“Toy,” Marius spoke gently, bringing his hand up to it’s shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

It paused for a moment, thinking. Something was most definitely wrong, it now realized. It just didn’t know how to explain.

“What Type Of Cookies Do You Like?”

“Toy, that’s really not what we’re talking about,” Raphaella said, stepping up to it’s other side.

“I Know, Raphaella. But I Want To Make You All The Perfect Cookies. I’m So Close To Figuring It Out, I Just Need To Make The One More Batch!” It tried to put on a smile, but despite the permanent one painted on it’s face, it could tell the attempt fell flat.

“Why don’t we help you?” This time it was Ivy who spoke. “I don’t have much baking experience myself, but I know every recipe from every planet we’ve ever visited.”

“I’m really good with an oven,” Ashes added. “I even know how to not blow them up!”

“And I’m pretty good with chemistry. That’s all baking is, when it comes down to it,” Raphaella said with a smile.

“It’s really not, Raph, but that’s what I can be here for,” Marius laughed. “So what do you say, Toy? May we join you?”

This time, the Toy Soldier’s smile was much more genuine, and it nodded.

At some point, Jonny and Nastya entered the kitchen, and ended up making a batch of frosting based on an old Cyberian recipe. Brian wandered in just as the first batch was ready, and ended up being the only one who wanted to take them out of the oven. The Toy Soldier was intrigued by the fact that cookies needed to be removed right at the timer. Waiting until the oven cooled down was evidently not right, and explained many of it’s previously burned batches. It resolved to buy oven mitts the next time they touched down. Tim claimed he could smell them from across the ship, and showed up just in time to get involved in a rather vicious frosting war. 

At long last, the cookies were ready.

The Toy Soldier could say with absolute certainty that they were the best damn cookies. Ever.

#the mechanisms #the mechs #mechtober #mechtober2020 #mechtober 2020 #the toy soldier #raphaella la cognizi #ashes o’reilly #nastya rasputina #ivy alexandria #jonny d'ville #drumbot brian #gunpowder tim #marius von raum #my fic #domestic mechs

[muselover1901]

Re: prompts. “Quarantine.” Alternatively, something based off urban legends. Thanks!

Well it took me forever, but hey, the world is crazy and I am just so proud of myself for finishing this Quarantine AU for you! It’s definitely WAY bigger than a drabble (at just over 2700 words) but I had a lot of fun writing it and it really pushed my abilities as a writer. Thank you for the ask! Enjoy :)

Edit: Now posted to AO3

Here With(out) You

“Are you getting close to finishing? It’s almost eight o’clock and we haven’t eaten dinner yet,” Zen says as he plops down beside Shirayuki—well, not exactly beside her, but just outside the orbit of her ever-present sticky notes, journal articles, and scratch-paper lesson plans. She acknowledges his presence with a noncommittal hum before continuing her vigorous typing on the laptop balanced on her knees. Even before the pandemic, it wasn’t totally unusual for Shirayuki to work late—she is a graduate student, after all—but lately she has been spending every waking hour on either her lab’s vaccine research or creating online lessons for her introductory biology students.

Zen’s work-life balance honestly hasn’t been much better, but since most of his work as the Mayor’s Chief of Staff involves writing reports and attending video call meetings, he can turn off his computer at the end of the day and walk away from work. Shirayuki, unfortunately, does not have the same luxury.

His stomach growls, upset at the lack of food this late in the evening. Zen reaches over, guiding a stray hair behind her ear before setting his palm against her shoulder to get her attention.

“I can make us something easy, if you want. You really should take a break to eat something.”

Shirayuki doesn’t respond. He squeezes her shoulder gently and dips his head to try to catch her gaze, but she reacts with naught but a firm pursing of her lips as she scrutinizes her screen even more. Zen gives her a small shake, as if to wake her.

“Hm?” She blinks up at him, broken from her trance, her voice sounding thin and tired. “Sorry, Zen, I really need to get this done tonight.”

She gestures vaguely to the smudged sticky-note to-do list by her laptop keyboard, the usual tasks of exercise, meal prep, and do something fun with Zen and friends crammed between terms he half-recognizes as different types of data analyses.

“We have our Friday meeting tomorrow and I need to have the preliminary results ready to present.”

“It’s fine,” he says, rubbing his hand up and down her arm and offering her a tender smile as she turns back to her spreadsheet. She is such a hard worker, and right now she’s both working to save lives and to educate the next generation of scientists. Now was not the time to be selfish—even though he misses spending time with her, they just have to push through. And if that means Zen has to cook meals by himself, without Shirayuki’s incredible culinary talent for support, then he will gladly put his limited skill to use.

“How about I make pancakes?” he suggests, “I think we still have some eggs that need to be used, so I could scramble them too—if you want?”

Without looking up, Shirayuki murmurs a dry, “Sounds great, thank you.”

Zen stands and makes his way to their kitchen, rolling up his sleeves as he goes. Even after three years of living together and countless Sundays spent chopping endless armies of vegetables as they prepped meals, there are few dishes he trusts himself to cook properly. It’s Mitsuhide and Kiki’s fault, really. When they were his roommates sophomore year, he tried his hand at a simple vegetable stew to feed Mitsuhide’s hockey team at their annual fall party. The final product honestly wasn’t half bad, but he forgot to peel the vegetables, which gave the soup a mild dirt-like aftertaste.

He honestly thought he would be able to laugh it off and learn from such a minor culinary mistake, but it turned out almost no one was willing to let him live it down—even Shirayuki couldn't resist the occasional jab when they cooked together. Indeed, one of the last times they enjoyed quality time together was during a massive day of meal prepping after their first pandemic shopping trip. Hours of chopping and grating and sautéing had driven them a little crazy, and Shirayuki had broken out in giggles while he diligently peeled his seventeenth potato.

It had taken some prodding, but eventually she managed to hold back her laughter enough to snicker, "It’s nice of you to actually peel them this time."

He’d responded with the most convincing glare he could muster before selecting a particularly long piece of peel from the pile on the counter, turning to her with a dangerous smirk, and depositing said peel on top of her head. This only served to bring back her laughter in full-force, the contagiousness of it gripping him and dragging him along until their whole house reverberated with the ridiculousness of it all.

Unlike vegetable soups, Zen had yet to mess up a batch of pancakes in his lifetime, a fact which he was quite proud of. That’s why he’d chosen to make them for Shirayuki the first morning after she stayed the night at his place. They’d groggily rolled out of bed, blushing furiously as they realized that their late-night study session for Advanced Composition had ended with both of them passed out on top of Zen’s covers with their laptops discarded by the foot of the bed. He’d insisted on making her breakfast before she left, partly because he felt bad about their awkward start to the day, but mostly because he’d been smitten with her for months and he just wanted to keep doing things with her.

Zen smiles at the memory as he gathers the ingredients and begins measuring out the flour. Even after all this time, he still treasures every moment together. And now, as they are stuck working from home for the foreseeable future, he misses her more than he did before they moved in together. Although they are around each other nearly all day, every day, they hardly interact outside of breakfast and a kiss goodnight. He sighs and forces his focus back to mixing the batter. Shirayuki is working hard and here he is being selfish again. He should be stronger.

Pushing down his loneliness, he flings himself into scrambling eggs and flipping pancakes with gusto. He quickly finishes the first set of pancakes, butters them, and stacks them neatly on Shirayuki’s plate next to her portion of eggs. For the final touch, he sprinkles a hint of powdered sugar across them and places a little dollop of fruit preserves on top. Hopefully these would look appetizing enough to entice her into taking a break from work to eat. With her plate in hand, Zen makes his way back to the living room and sets her meal on the coffee table.

“Food’s ready,” he announces. “Please don’t forget to eat.”

Shirayuki pauses, tired eyes flicking away from her screen to meet his and offering all the gratitude she can muster. “Thank you, Zen. I promise I will eat as soon as I finish this analysis.”

Zen offers a quick smile in return before heading back to the kitchen to make dinner for himself. He’d better check on her soon, just to make sure she doesn’t get sucked into her work despite her promise—although it is never intentional, her basic needs often fall by the wayside when she is hyper-focused like this.

Fifteen minutes later, Zen returns to the living room with his own stack of pancakes (chocolate chip) and scrambled eggs (sprinkled with his friend Obi’s homemade hot sauce, because the pain was always worth the flavor). And just as he feared, Shirayuki hasn’t touched her food.

“How’s it coming? Are you going to eat soon?” Zen settles into his spot on the couch next to her and cuts into his pancakes with his fork.

“Hm? Oh yes, I figured out why that regression was behaving unexpectedly, I had just flipped the variables.” She bites her lip. “I guess after I fixed that, I just moved on to the next thing.”

Zen reaches out to tenderly place a hand on her cheek and guide her eyes away from her screen and to his own. Her eyelids droop a little, and he notices a small crease between her eyebrows—she looks so tired. He drags his thumb across her cheekbone and her eyes flutter shut as she relaxes into his hand.

His heart skips a little at the intimacy of their position; after all, it had been weeks since they had really shared a moment like this, just comfortable in stillness with each other’s full attention. Eyes still closed, Shirayuki reaches up to hold his hand against her cheek and sighs as she turns her head to press her lips against his palm. With a gentle squeeze of his hand, she releases him and turns to exchange her laptop for her plate.

Although she continues working while they eat, Zen is relieved to see her diligently taking bites between bits of code. It doesn’t take long before she cleans her plate entirely. With a yawn, Zen stretches and rises from the couch before collecting their dishes and returning to the kitchen to clean up. The clock above the stove reads 10:08pm.

How did it get so late? He’d just have to head right to bed after this. Dozing off during his morning call with the Mayor was not how he wanted to start his day tomorrow.

After finishing the dishes and changing into his sleep shirt, he returns to the living room to let Shirayuki know he’s going to bed—apparently she still has a couple hours of work ahead of her, but she promised she’d come to bed as soon as she was done. With Shirayuki resigned to her work for the night, Zen heads to their bed and does his best to get comfortable. As the weight of the blanket settles over him, he melts into the mattress and takes the deepest, most relaxing breath he’s taken all day. Despite his body giving in to its need to rest, Zen’s mind still races with thoughts of the meeting tomorrow morning and of the latest case counts in the city. God, he can’t wait for the day when all of this chaos is over. He and Shirayuki could take a weekend off and hike Mount Koto just like they did senior year after finals. He sighs at the thought.

Visions of them packing their picnic supplies into his old backpack flash through his mind. He’s smiling as he makes Shirayuki’s sandwich with the mustard by the meat and the veggies under the cheese, just the way she likes it. The sunshine warms their faces as they walk along the trail, and Shirayuki is a vision in her button-up hiking shirt and sunhat, all glowing skin and bright smiles. He reaches their picnic spot first, so he spreads their blanket and sets out their food. Shirayuki’s still a ways behind, but she’ll be there with him soon, he tells himself. She will. He busies himself smoothing the blanket and making sure her sandwich is arranged just so with a nice serving of chips and a gleaming red apple.

He’s just about to polish her apple for a second time when he realizes he doesn’t hear the crunch of her footsteps on the trail anymore. Panicked, he shoots up from his seat and runs over to the trail to try to find her, to no avail. Maybe she went off-trail to relieve herself? No that can’t be it, she’s taking way too long, and she would have told him if she was going off trail, right? Oh god—what if she hurt herself and she’s stuck somewhere down the trail? Zen abandons the picnic and runs as fast as his legs can take him down the trail, until—

He hears the faint tapping of fingers on a keyboard. Looking across the trail, he sees the edge of a laptop screen poking out from behind a tree. As he approaches it, the sound gets louder and louder, until it feels almost deafening and Zen has to cover his ears to avoid the incessant din. He looks around the tree’s thick trunk and sees Shirayuki in front of the screen, her hair disheveled and eyes unblinking as she types away.

She’s absolutely overworking herself! Zen can’t let her keep doing this. He should have caught it before it got this bad, he should have pulled her away from work and made her take care of herself. Regardless, he refuses to let this go on any longer. He takes a deep breath, removes his hands from his ears, and reaches out to set his hand on her shoulder as he always does when he needs to get her attention. His hand goes right through her, as if she were a ghost.

He wakes to find her side of the bed empty.

Zen’s sleep shirt is clinging to his sweating chest and the sheets are tangled up in his legs. He kicks them off and rolls over with a groan. So much for getting a good nights’ sleep before the meeting tomorrow morning. He reaches for his bedside lamp, trying to feel the small switch in the dark. It takes him a minute, fingers clumsy and sleep-addled, but he finally finds it with a click and squints against the soft, yellow light. He yawns and drags his phone towards him by its charging cable and groans again when he sees the time. 2:37am.

With little desire to return to the stifling sheets, he decides it’s best to just get out of bed and have a glass of water before trying to sleep again. He shuffles out of the bedroom, and as the door clicks behind him, his tired mind peripherally registers that the living room light is still on. But with water being his body’s primary goal, he drowsily continues on to the kitchen and downs a full glass in three big gulps when he gets there. With his mind cleared from the coolness of the water, he realizes that even though the living room light is still on, Shirayuki’s persistent typing is absent.

When he reaches the living room, he finds Shirayuki on the couch, slumped to the side with her lips parted and a quiet snore escaping her with each exhale.  Her laptop is open and teetering dangerously close to the edge of her lap, but the screen has long since shut itself off. There’s still a pencil behind her ear, too.

With as much gentleness as he can muster this late at night, Zen extracts her laptop and moves it over to her desk so it can charge overnight. He removes the pencil from behind her ear and brushes her hair away from her eyes.

“Shirayuki, come to bed.” Her eyes crack open ever so slightly, and she grumbles but does not stir. Zen sighs. Even in sleep—no, especially in sleep—she’s as stubborn as ever.

“I’m going to pick you up, okay?” She mumbles something unintelligible, but’s all the affirmation he needs. He pushes his arms underneath her knees and shoulders, steels himself, and scoops her up. At first, her head lolls to the side, but then she turns and nuzzles against his chest. He can’t help but smile down at her as he carries her back to the bedroom and slowly places her on top of the sheets.

“Shirayuki, you should change out of your clothes,” he says.

She stirs a bit before slurring, “Don’t wanna. Wanna sleep.”

“If you don’t change now, you’ll regret it in the morning. You know you will.”

At this, Shirayuki groans and pushes herself up off the mattress. She insists he help her take off her clothes, which makes him laugh and blush in equal measure.

It’s only after she is changed and settled under the sheets that he finally lets himself sink into their bed again, mind and body finally relaxed with the knowledge that she’s next to him and already half asleep. He turns off his bedside lamp with a click and lets the rhythm of her breathing lull him back to sleep. Just as the last remains of his consciousness are about to slip away, he feels the delicate press of fingers against his shoulder, the tickle of a whisper against his ear, and the softness of a kiss against his temple.

“Thank you, Zen. I love you.”

#musewrites #zenyuki #prompt #akagami no shirayukihime #fanfiction

[purplesurveys]

833

Given the chance, would you ever go into space? I’ve answered this exact question on a recent survey...but yeah absolutely, as long as it was a free opportunity. Outer space has always interested me so it would be awesome to actually get there. What is your all-time favorite thing to snack on? A local brand of chips called Nova, corndogs, powdered fries, and pizza. I couldn’t choose just one :( Have you ever been jealous of anyone's socks? Not in a toxic way but I have seen socks that made me go “damn, I wish I had that” and it’s usually socks based off of famous paintings like Starry Night, The Scream, etc. Do you match your clothing, or are you careless about fashion? The most I’ll match is colors; I’ll make sure the colors I wear complement each other. But I’m not likely to buy outfits that come in parts, like a matching top and skirt that have their own price tags. It’s an annoying scam that makes you have to pay more money for one outfit lol. Know anyone that has amazing fashion taste? There’s a professor in the communication research department of our college that dresses SOOOO well. She’s never recycled an item of clothing either. She dresses literally exactly like Audrey Hepburn, except with more printed clothes.

Do you know or wish you could knit? I don’t know how to knit and have no desire to learn.

Like earmuffs? They’re alright, I guess? I never have to wear them, so I don’t have much of an opinion. Have you ever had the roof of your mouth sore? Yeah, that one time I ate takoyaki while it was still burning hot and I burned off the skin on the roof my mouth. Do you like orange juice? I’ll drink it if it’s served or if it’s free, but I never crave for it. How many times a day do you brush your teeth, honestly? Once or twice. Do you think anyone really looks good in a jumpsuit? Yeah. Well it’s since become a trend so that’s really all there is to know about people’s preferences nowadays. I have several jumpsuits that I feel really good in. Have a collection of anything? Not anymore. Ever ran out of something that made you very upset? Sometimes my family will bring home leftovers from a really good restaurant. When we finish them all up it bums me out. Biggest lie you ever told? Saying ‘yes’ with a big ol’ smile on my face to my high school guidance counselors whenever they ask if my situation at home is good. Is there a song that makes you want to rock out? For sure. I have my fair share of favorite punk/rock bands. Do you have a religion? No. Believe that there is a point to churches? Not a single one. How do eat Oreos? I just bite into them. Never really got into the whole twist-lick-dunk thing because 1) I don’t want to bite into something I had already licked (even if it’s my own saliva lol), and 2) I can’t consume a lot of milk, anyway. -This or That- Sunsets or sunrises? Sunsets. I’ve seen more sunsets than sunrises with Gabie, so I have good memories of them. I don’t like the idea of getting up early just for a sunrise either. Pennies or dimes? Can’t relate because we don’t use these concepts. Coffee or tea? Coffeeeeeeee. Never been a tea person, actually. Windows or Mac? Mac. I did use Windows for a while, but when it comes down to it I would rather get a Mac. Headphones or speakers? Headphones. You get more of the sound when you listen to music, so the listening experience is a lot better. Loud or soft & quiet? Depends on the context...I like my concerts loud, but I obviously prefer soft and quiet when I’m doing something like going to bed. Odd or even numbers? I don’t really have a preference lol. The cookie dough or the actual cookies? Cookie dough, heh. Speaking of, I recently found a recipe for edible cookie dough but I keep putting it off... Mp3 players or iPod? iPod, mostly because MP3s went out of style like, a decade ago. Calm or rock music? Again, depends on my mood. I’d listen to rock music if I’m pissed off or going through a similar emotion, and I’d prefer hearing calm music when I wanna focus on something, like if I’m doing surveys. Love or lust? Love. I don’t feel lust for the most part. Converse or Vans? Converse. They’re AJ’s favorite and I find them more comfy. The few times I borrowed my sister’s Vans I always got blisters at the end of the day. Lipsyncing or actual singing? I would prefer to lipsync than to let people hear my actual singing voice; but if I’m watching a performance obviously I’d want the performers to be using their real voice. Walking or running? Walking. I find strolls to be relaxing. Dancing or watching others dance? Watching others. Dancers are crazy talented. With friends or by yourself? When it comes down to it, I wanna be with friends. Local concert or a popular band? Popular band. It’s rarer, so I find it more precious. I still support local though! Blond or brown hair? Brown. Idk, I just don’t know a lot of people who are blonde. Red or black? I like both, but I like black slightly more. Blue or green eyes? Green. Having fun or being asleep? Having fuuuun. Carnival or park? Park. I can’t go on rides anyway, so a nice stroll and picnic at the park sounds lovely to me. -Favorites- Favorite thing to buy? Uh food, I guess? I’m super easy to please lol. What do your favorite pair of socks look like? My bacon and eggs one. Kind of tea/coffee? Iced tea/iced caramel macchiato. Way of communication? Face-to-face with Gab, instant messenger/text for everyone else. Time to sleep in to? Midnight is most convenient for me. Band to dance to? PARAMORE. Also helps that their music has turned dance-y too. Favorite gum? Don’t really have one. I’ll chew on any kind/flavor of gum. Type of cereal? Cookie Crisps. Color of hoodie? I don’t mind color, as long as the hoodie is comfortable and keeps me warm. Spice? Cumin smells lovely. Favorite thing to touch/feel? Dogs. Website? Probably Twitter. I’ve been on it the longest and still have no reason to be tired of it. Person in your life? My girlfriend...but also my dogs, if they can count. -Would you Rather- Hire one of your friends, or fire an enemy? Hire one of my friends, as long as they work well without me. Firing an enemy seems a little bit more unprofessional, especially if they objectively perform well. Be a contestant on American Idol or America's Got Talent? I’d go with AGT I guess? I’ve watched some snippets of the show and their judges seem more nice, whereas on American Idol the judges tend to laugh or embarrass you if you do badly. Live in Britain or Australia? Australia. I feel like it’s a more Filipino-friendly country, not that Britain isn’t but yeah. Travel by plane or helicopter? Plane. Aren’t helicopters loud? I think I’d be more relaxed in an airplane. Trade places with a male or a female for a day? I’d rather remain a woman, thanks. Shop at Wal-Mart or Target? I don’t know. I’m honestly curious though – for the Americans survey-takers, what’s the difference between them and what do y’all prefer? Hahaha Read Shakespeare or Artistotle's work? I internally winced at both lol but when it comes down to it, Shakespeare. I do like his work, as long as I’m reading a modern English version. I hate philosophy straight up, so that’s a definite no on Aristotle. Have a regular donut or donut holes? Regular donut. Spell better or smell better? Smell. I can already spell well. Rather be in a tornado or a large earthquake? This is horrible, no one ever *wants* to be stuck in a natural calamity. 80's or 90's music? I like the 80s sound better. Eat a plain peanut butter sandwich or PB & J? Peanut butter sandwich. I tried PB&J before to see what the hype was about, and it just didn’t work for my Asian tastebuds. Wear a uniform every day or go half-naked? Wear a uniform. I wore one in Catholic school for 14 years and survived, so it’d just be the same thing. Would you rather Santa or the Easter Bunny actually exist? Santa. I’m more familiar with him. The Easter Bunny’s not really a part of our culture so I don’t actually know what it’s supposed to do. Apple pie or Pizza pie? Pizzaaaaa. Y’all should know me by now haha. Spend an afternoon cleaning or clean things later? I’d rather work early so I can be satisfied earlier. Flying or X-Ray vision? Flying. Dentist or Doctor? I guess dentist? There’s fewer reasons to be scared when you go to the dentist because the health problems are just limited to your mouth, I guess. Would you rather spread gossip or start a fight? Both sound awful. I’m never one to start a fight and I never initiate gossip myself, though I do take part in it sometimes. Get rid of your favorite shoes or your favorite pants? Pants. I love my shoes. Visit Florida or New York? New York. Myspace or Facebook (or do they both suck)? Facebook. It sucks, but at least the memes there are hilarious as fuck.

#survey #surveys

[bentonpena]

Tofu Freaking Rules

Tofu Freaking Rules https://bit.ly/350TvUV

We need to talk about tofu. As Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger mania sweeps the globe, the OG vegan protein is getting left behind—and I, for one, hate to see it. If you’re serious about reducing your reliance on animal products, tofu has the potential to change your diet—and life—for the better.

To some extent, I get why so many people, particularly American meat-eaters, are resistant to the entire concept of tofu. Western culture has ruthlessly (and racist-ly) slandered the humble soy-based protein for as long as we’ve known about it, so a lot of us were basically programmed from birth to think it’s garbage.

I’m begging you to reconsider. When correctly prepared, tofu is a textural marvel, running the gamut from delicate and custardy to deep-fried and crunchy. Its unmatched flavor-absorbing powers make it a total chameleon; it truly can be anything you want it to be. I’ve loved tofu my whole meat-eating life, and I’m here to convert the naysayers. Welcome to my Tofu Manifesto.

You’re probably thinking about tofu all wrong

The biggest, wrongest tofu misconception is that it’s strictly a meat substitute. Sure, it can be that if it needs to—but tofu’s closest animal protein analog is actually the egg. On their own, eggs are bland; it’s their ability to morph into a staggering array of forms and textures that makes them so special. However you like your eggs—fried crisp with lacy edges, scrambled soft with lots of butter, or cooked into a puffy, tender frittata—I’m willing to bet your preferences come down to texture rather than flavor.

The same is true for tofu, which is why I’m skeptical when people insist they don’t like how it tastes. Soft and silken tofu has a more noticeable soy milk vibe than the firm stuff, but for the most part, it adds no flavor whatsoever to a dish. Tofu only tastes as good as the sauce it’s served in—texture is basically the whole point.

It’s embarrassingly easy to make tofu taste amazing

Contrary to popular assumption, delicious tofu takes barely any work at all. In fact, all the usual hacks try way too hard: Pressing takes forever (and freezing even longer); marinating often yields profoundly mediocre results; a cornstarch dredge too easily sogs out. None of these techniques work particularly well on medium-to-soft tofu, and with the exception of marinating, they also offer absolutely nothing in the way of seasoning.

For all of these reasons and more, the salt water trick is the only tofu hack worth knowing. Hot, salty water is a tofu prep triple threat: It dehydrates firm tofu so it crisps up quickly, sets super-fragile soft tofu so it doesn’t fall apart, and seasons everything through and through. It also adds as much work to your dinner prep as boiling pasta. I’ll get into the specific techniques in a bit; for now, just know that the salt water hack promoted tofu from something I’d buy occasionally to a legit, can’t-live-without-it staple.

If you remain unmoved, I’ve collected my favorite tofu products and preparations in one place, starting with the most hater-friendly ones. This isn’t a recipe post—it’s all about the technique. (Where applicable, I’ll link to specific recipes that I used and explain how I adjusted them to work with tofu, with the hope that you’ll soon be doing the same.)

Even hardline skeptics love fried tofu puffs

Tofu puffs are cheap, delicious, deep-fried flavor sponges that need zero prep; in other words, they’re easy to love. You can toss them whole into curries and stews for a fun textural element, but I strongly recommend taking 30 seconds to slice them in half. With their honeycomb-like interiors exposed, these puffy little nuggets soak up sauce like nobody’s business—without compromising their crispiness.

To show them off, I made my favorite Maangchi recipe—cheese buldak, or fire chicken with cheese—with halved tofu puffs instead of chicken breast.

Those two ingredients are obviously nothing alike, but the swap totally works thanks to the insanely powerful sauce. Red-hot both in color and spice level, surprisingly sweet, and with enough fresh ginger and garlic to put hair on your chest, it more than picks up the slack for something as bland as chicken breast or unseasoned tofu. Having made this dish with chicken dozens of times, I have to say—I prefer the puffs. Even when saturated with sauce, they stay light and puffy, which is the perfect contrast to the ultra-chewy texture of sliced rice cakes and melted mozzarella.

Pressed tofu does (most of) the prep work for you

As the name implies, pressed tofu has already been pressed to remove most of its moisture, resulting in a pleasantly toothsome texture. You can buy it pre-seasoned with soy sauce and five spice powder, but I like it plain so I can season it however I like.

Here, I whipped up a vaguely Spam-inspired mixture of roughly 2 tablespoons each of soy sauce and sugar, plus a teaspoon of garlic powder and a few shakes of smoky hot sauce (El Yucateco Black Label Reserve for life). I added some cubed pressed tofu and let everyone hang out about 20 minutes, flipping them around halfway through. You don’t need much marinade; a shallow layer is plenty.

I then used it to bulk up a super basic batch of fried rice with ginger, garlic, carrots, and frozen peas. The cubes got nicely crispy and charred on the edges, and were just what I needed to add some substance to a huge bowl of fried carbs.

Unseasoned pressed tofu also makes great vegan “paneer:” Cube it up and marinate in lemon juice with a few pinches of salt for 30 minutes, or longer if you have the time. As with regular paneer, you can pan-fry the tofu or leave it alone; either way, you’ll be surprised at how closely the marinated tofu mimics the texture and flavor of the real thing.

Medium-to-firm tofu needs a little TLC

This range of the tofu spectrum is the most recognizable and the least immediately appealing. I mean, just look at this:

In my experience, the variations between medium, firm, and extra-firm tofu are pretty meaningless, and I use them all interchangeably. Left uncooked, they all have a texture best described as “rubbery,” with no discernible flavor at all. Their highest calling is getting crispy in a hot skillet and doused in a flavorful sauce.

All you need to make crunchy pan-fried tofu is salt water, a good nonstick pan, and all of 20-30 minutes. That’s it. Here’s my usual procedure for a standard 1-pound block.

Before I do any other ingredient prep, I bring 2-3 cups of salted water and 2 teaspoons of table salt to a strong boil in a saucepan. Then I cut the heat, slide in my tofu, and let it sit while I prepare the rest of the recipe. After 15-20 minutes, I drain off the water and either pat the tofu dry on clean towels or leave it in the colander until I need it.

To get that crispy surface going, I coat my big cast-iron skillet with a thin layer of neutral oil and heat it over medium-high. I then add the tofu, spread it into an even layer, and leave it completely alone for at least 5 minutes.

Once the edges start to brown, I flip it over and do the same on the other side.

Boom. Done. Obviously, I used crumbled tofu here—it’s my favorite—but this works just as well with cubes, slabs, triangles, or any other shape you can dream up.

Don’t sleep on crumbled tofu

I know I said that tofu isn’t a meat substitute, but crispy tofu crumbles get really fucking close. In many cases, I prefer them to meat because they hold their shape—and a surprising amount of crunch—even when simmered for a long time. Sure, they don’t give you the specific richness you get with ground pork or beef, but with the right recipe you won’t miss it at all.

Speaking of the right recipe, Bon Appétit Test Kitchen director Chris Morocco’s spicy sweet sambal pork noodles are flawless—but, despite the name, I’ve actually never made them with meat. I only had tofu the first time I made them, and they turned out so well that I’m fine with never learning how they taste with pork.

I make the recipe exactly as written, except—obviously—I leave the pork out. Instead, I fry up soaked, crumbled firm tofu in a separate skillet while the sauce simmers, then dump ‘em in and toss everything together with cooked noodles. This cuts at least 30 minutes off the cook time without compromising on anything except porkiness, which I promise won’t even register.

You can also use tofu crumbles like ground beef. I usually throw in some minced onion and garlic in once the tofu is nice and crispy, then cook it down with a little tomato paste, taco seasoning, and cheap beer if I’ve got it.

It’s not beefy, exactly, but it tastes incredible in its own right—and makes a killer vegan-friendly crunchwrap filling.

You can roast tofu, too

Maybe you’d rather not spray your stovetop with oil in the name of crispy tofu. In that case, roasted tofu is for you. The results are directly comparable to pan-frying—they just take a little longer to get there.

Start with soaked, drained tofu, preferably cut into triangles or flat slabs so they’re easy to flip. Arrange on a clean towel and let them dry out while your oven preheats to 450ºF.

If you like, cut a vegetable of your choice into similarly-sized pieces and toss them with a tablespoon or two of neutral oil; I’m using kabocha squash here.

Place a sheet pan on the lowest oven rack. After about 3 minutes, add 2-3 tablespoons of neutral oil to the pan, put it back in the oven, and heat for another minute or two. Carefully transfer the tofu and vegetables to the hot oiled pan, return to the bottom rack, and roast for at least 20 minutes. Flip everything over and roast for another 15-20 minutes, until the tofu is super crispy on both sides and the vegetables are browned and soft.

You can eat the whole shebang straight off the pan—perhaps drizzled with spicy peanut sauce or chili oil—but I added mine to a quick curry made with Maesri panang curry paste, palm sugar, and coconut milk. (Maesri is the only brand I’ve found that doesn’t use shrimp paste or fish sauce; if you usually avoid prepared curry paste for allergy or vegan reasons, give it a try.)

To be completely honest, the kabocha was a miss—the flesh was too dry, and the skin was super tough. The crispy roasted tofu, however, slapped. They can’t all be bangers; such is the nature of experimentation.

When you feel ready, silken tofu is there for you

The next stop on our tour de tofu is the most controversial, misunderstood one yet: Soft or silken tofu. Yes, it’s bland. Unseasoned coagulated soy milk isn’t going to blow your mind with super-concentrated umami or whatever. But when prepared correctly, soft tofu is more than just delicious—it’s absolutely sublime. I will go to bat for it all day long, and I would love to tell you why.

The dish that changed my mind about silken tofu came from Biwa, a now-closed izakaya-style bar in Portland. It was deceptively simple: A whole block of chilled silken tofu drizzled with sweet soy sauce and topped with bias-cut scallions, fistfuls of toasted sesame seeds, and paper-thin bonito shavings. I ordered it every time, and my friends would always be like—“Cold tofu? Why?” But if I could convince them to take a bite, they’d understand. It was like eating a deeply savory panna cotta.

Unfortunately, my dearly departed Tofu Slab is no more—and my attempts to recreate it have been so unsuccessful that I’m forced to settle for the next best thing: Salt water-soaked silken tofu mounded on hot white rice and drowned in chili oil, soy sauce, and black vinegar.

I’m not complaining. The salt water, once again, is key: It turns a cold, slimy block of tofu into a piping-hot savory custard, which is the perfect canvas for condiments. Sure, there’s not much in the way of textural contrast, but the softness is so comforting and nice that I think a crunchy element would actually defeat the purpose. It’s a delicious, balanced, reasonably nutritious meal you can throw together in the time it takes to cook a pot of rice.

Putting it all together: All-tofu mapo tofu

Neglecting to mention mapo tofu in an article about tofu is basically journalistic malpractice. The iconic Sichuanese tofu dish is rich, meaty, spicy, funky, sour, and savory all at once—and slicked with lip-numbing Sichuan peppercorn oil for good measure. It’s a top 3 dish for me; I make it all the time, usually using Maggie Zhu’s recipe from the Omnivore’s Cookbook.

Being a big vegetable fan, I’ve experimented with using minced veg—eggplant, mushrooms, and even carrots—in place of the traditional ground meat. But this time, I decided to follow my vision and make a variant I’m calling “Oops! All Tofu.” I approached this recipe just like the sambal noodles, swapping crispy tofu crumbles in for the ground pork—but this time, I also soaked some cubed soft tofu in a fresh pot of salt water while the sauce simmered away.

This was one of the most delicious things I’ve ever made. The nubbins of soft tofu were literally melt-in-your-mouth tender, while the crispy crumbles turned downright meaty as they soaked up the spicy, salty, rich sauce. It made me even more certain of all of the (correct) tofu opinions I just laid out before you and, if you’ll let it, it has the power to convert you too.

Internet via Lifehacker https://bit.ly/2VwWgKq April 24, 2020 at 12:01PM

#IFTTT #Feedly

[startofamoment]

next-gen!b99 headcanons

disclaimer: mostly crack, based on all of the three or so things we know about the kiddos from canon

little iggy stumbles upon gina's makeup stash at some point and decides it's her life’s mission to give everyone makeovers!!!!!! ("mommy, do people realize how drab they look?? i gotta make them pretty.") 

this of course includes her uncle jake who happily sits through getting his face covered in powder and glitter and who knows what else. he very happily sports three shades of lipstick at once.  

gina keeps griping about how iggy won’t stop messing with her eyeshadow – she’s a proud mama, but that stuff ain’t cheap. rosa eventually gets the little princess a kids’ makeup kit.

group playdates are ofc a regular thing, and you best know nikolaj and the peraltiago toddlers also end up getting makeovers. charles thinks it’s the cutest thing when he finds them all dolled up by the end of the evening. he takes no less than 104 photos to send to their squad group-text. 

iggy could spend hours listening to the jeffords girls talk about nail art or lip gloss or braids. they’re 3 of her fave people in the world!!

nikolaj miraculously grows out of his Basic Bitch picky eating phase and finds that he actually rly likes cooking!!

apart from his papa, his uncle kevin is the best because he teaches him about french cuisine and he puts bacon smiles on his breakfast dishes! meanwhile, his uncle raymond is hilarious because who would eat whole wheat no-flavor nutrition bricks??????

terry brings him to the farmers market when charles and genevieve are busy with work. they have fun rating all the different flavors at the greek yogurt stand. 

one year, nikolaj auditions for a TV junior cooking competition and *almost* makes it to the final cut, but apparently potatoes and vinegar aren’t normal cookie ingredients??? charles fully yells at the judges & producers of the show before storming out of the kitchen. gina sends anonymous hate mail to the studio. rosa nearly shows up with a sword. 

when they’re old enough, cagney and lacey babysit the younger kiddos to earn extra allowance. 

that would be like if you were going out of town for the week, and you paid a horse to watch your dog. it’s like, “alright, here’s the number where we’ll be, where we keep the dog food, and you’re a horse.”

ava likes to think that this means she’s also in-charge and demands she get paid as well. terry tries to negotiate with her every time but still ends up shelling out at least $5. 

amy unsurprisingly prepares a binder for them to refer to while she and jake are gone. it includes everything from how to put out a grease fire to how to answer questions about the Afterlife... they don’t end up opening it at all bc the toddler falls asleep 20 minutes into moana. 

with two cops for parents, the peraltiago babies are at the precinct more often than they probably should be.

amy tries to arrange for child care whenever she knows they’ll need it, but it’s impossible to predict when she and jake will both be called in for emergencies or whatnot. 

holt lets it slide as long as the kids aren’t in imminent danger. when there’s a particularly nasty person in the holding cell, he makes sure they’re kept safe and entertained on another floor. occasionally, he’ll let them play in his office. 

gary somehow always ends up watching them when they’re hanging out with the beat cops. he doesn’t mind at all. 

one of the peraltiago kiddos develops a puppy-love-esque crush on nikolaj just because he's super nice to them!!!!! ("daddy, he showed me his toy truck collection! daddy, he let me watch him cook buttered noodles! and, oh- daddy, doesn't he kind of look like harry potter with his glasses??") 

the kiddo is in first grade and nikolaj is a full 7 years older than them so evidently nothing is going to happen for the foreseeable future, but jake and amy still try their hardest to keep this secret from charles – lest he start planning a wedding.

#b99 hc #b99 #yeah idk what this is and why it got so long #i'm sorry but i'm not sorry #i love my children so much #catch the ambiguous rosa note... is she iggy's second mom? cool aunt? choose ur own adventure fam #also catch the john mulaney ref lmao #my stuff

[thytruthwill]

Ekxo Square by William Israel Bethel

I found myself attracted to the walls, floors, and windows that glistened around me when I touched down in Ekxo Square. It was no wonder why it was nicknamed “The City of Essence.” Every aspect of matter had a subtle radiance to it like the twinkling stars of the cosmos. People who’ve visited this place said it was undoubtedly the most unusual experience they’ve ever had. There was no place on Earth like Ekxo Square. It attracted people from all over the world to witness the phenomena: portals that bridged alternate universes. While I waited for my luggage at baggage claim, I got my first dose of the mysteries that were embedded in this city when a portal spawned. It felt like the world froze as everyone gazed at the spontaneous shimmer of light that emerged into reality, stretching and formulating into a parallelogram-shaped screen. I stood back as the light strobed. The portal emitted no sound as the center of it disintegrated, leaving only an outline of the shape in the middle of the baggage claim. The portal appeared mirror-like. My eyes glanced at all the faces around me; some remained with no reaction and others sat with their mouths agape. Other onlookers walked away while others kept on spectating. A bold few even moved closer to see if what was happening was actually real.

A woman took a camera out of her bag and snapped a picture of her reflection in the portal. She stepped closer until she was directly in front of it. She waved at herself, made faces, and jumped up and down. Then the edges of the portal ignited like a flare. The woman retreated with the other onlookers, bracing for the unexpected. We all watched the portal tilt until it was on a horizontal axis. A pair of socks dropped out of it, then a toothbrush fell out next. The portal hovered towards the ceiling and expanded. Eyes watched cautiously. Suddenly, luggage and clothes spilled out, crashing onto the floor. Everything from toothpaste, lotions, colognes, perfumes, snacks, condoms, cigarettes, diapers, baby powder, medications littered the middle of the baggage claim. Things fell from the portal for a couple minutes before it vanished with no sign that it ever existed.

It looked like a tornado ripped through the room. Myself, along with others, rummaged through the pile in search of our belongings. I found my luggage buried underneath several piles of suitcases. Some of my clothes hung out of it but a lot them were missing. I stuffed what I had left into my carry-on bag and went downstairs to catch a cab. Perplexed by the occurrence back at the baggage claim, it slipped my mind that I was supposed to call my friend Rina. I decided to call her when I got to where I would be staying. When we reached the city, the cab dropped me off on the corner of Durby and Beltonvue, just twenty minutes outside of downtown, and only a ten-minute walk from Essence Park.

I walked the strip that led to my hotel. The sky was clear of any clouds, but parts of it would periodically ripple and morph into a reflective state, just like the portal I saw back at the airport. It mirrored the city below. Shiny, glass and chrome high-rises stretched across downtown. I witnessed as two of the colossal buildings changed to a goldish hue. Above, the sky had made a portal, casting a sheet of golden light over them. This wasn’t like anything I had ever seen in my lifetime, but most people on the strip went about, unfazed by the single spectrum that I gawked at. Halfway through the strip, I arrived at a hotel called Rouge Comforts.

I walked up the stoop and pressed a buzzer. A voice from the intercom on the wall asked for my name. Once I identified myself, a latch clicked from the door. I entered the lobby. A French woman in a velvet scarf greeted me. She said, “Hello William, I’m Ms. Donna Rouge and welcome to my hotel. I’m glad you will be staying here, you’re bound to have a relaxing visit.” Ms. Rouge was quite nice. She showed me to my room on the top floor. It was cozy. A single queen-sized bed rested against the wall with a nightstand next to it. On top of the dresser was a small fridge and a microwave. A small table with two chairs sat in front of the window that had a view of the strip.

Ms. Rouge said, “There’s an extra blanket in the closet, along with towels and a pair of house slippers. Hot breakfast is from seven to nine and lunch is at two. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to give me a ring.” Ms. Rouge handed me the key to my room and went back downstairs. I settled in and looked through the clothes I had left over. My favorite pair of jeans were still good and I had some sweat pants that I could relax in. I also still had a few T-shirts and what I was wearing. I jumped in the shower and freshened up since I still had an hour until lunch. I walked over to my bed and sat down. It was comfortable and had just the kind of firmness I looked for in a good mattress. I laid back and rested my eyes until it was time for lunch.

Downstairs, in the dining area, a table sat in the middle of the room with trays of food, silverware, plates, and drinks. There was steamed broccoli, beef stew, white rice, salad, and bread rolls. I hadn’t eaten since before I left for my flight, so I loaded up my plate and went to town as soon as I sat down. A robust collection of flavors soared through my taste buds. The rice was cooked to perfection and the beef was succulent. I sliced my bread in half and spread some butter onto it. When I bit into the bread, it melted on my tongue like warm sugar. I don’t know who Ms. Rouge got to cook the food but they outdid themselves and I was greatly satisfied to eat something that tasted like a home cooked meal. Lunch hit the spot. As much as my body wanted to get back in the bed after eating, I fought it off and gave Rina a call.

Rina was just getting out of a dance class when I spoke to her. We agreed to me up later that evening around eight o’clock. I caught a cab to a bar called Tiick Tockk on 32nd ST. Clocks in a variety of sizes and designs hung on the walls and from the ceiling. There were so many clocks, that a ticking sound melodied underneath the music playing in the bar. I spotted Rina sitting in a booth. She was fair skinned and had her auburn colored, curly hair tied in a bun. When she spotted me walking towards the table, she shot out of the booth and gave me a warm hug. Rina was my best friend and I was in love with her, but she didn’t know that. We met at a swim camp when we were teenagers and been close ever since.

She said, “I’m glad you finally made it out here. What do you think about what you’ve seen so far?”

I said, “Rina where am I? Because I still can’t believe half of the things I’ve seen already. One moment I’m waiting on my bag to come off the plane and the next moment this mirror just appears out of thin air. It threw up my stuff and everybody else’s all over the floor. I have to get a whole new suitcase now.”

Rina chuckled and said, “It’s not uncommon that portals pop up in public places. They’re unpredictable. You’re lucky you just lost a suitcase. It could have been worse.” “How do people live here with something as strange as this going on?” She said,“Because there’s more beauty in the unknown than what meets the eye. Growing up here gives you something you’ll never be able to get anywhere else. It tests your mind. You ask yourself things like, “What’s on the other side of this physical realm we walk on?” I said, “Do you ever know what’s going to come out of the portals?”

She said, “No. Sometimes nothing comes out and they just stay until they vanish.” “Can you see through them?” She said, “All you can see is a reflection of this world when they manifest. Theirs accounts of people going through portals but they were never heard of again. You have to walk with a heightened sense of awareness here because theirs even been cases of people accidently walking through portals because they weren’t paying attention, so they disappeared.”

I said, “Why don’t they just send a camera into one or something?” “Come on, you don’t think they’ve tried that? I read an article a week ago about one of the research bases that studied the portals was shutting down. They’re running out of money because every piece of equipment they’ve sent into the portals either became disrupted or destroyed seconds after entering. The president of the base said they will no longer, quote on quote, “throw money away into thin air.” I just shook my head and said, “That’s the odd thing, it just popped up. There was no warning or bell, or alarm, it just showed up, did its thing, and vanished.” She assured that what I had saw was very real.

Rina knew a lot about the portals but she didn’t let their mysterious nature clog her conscious. I was still trying to wrap my mind around all of it. I said, “What about the marathon? Are there going to be any portals that interfere with it?” She took a sip of her drink, and with a smile on her face said, “Anything is possible but you should stop worrying about it so much. Whatever happens is meant to happen, until then, enjoy the greatest city in the world. Live it up, you’re in Ekxo Square. Its already introduced itself to you at the airport, now it wants you to enjoy all of its unique spectacles that it’s known for.” That’s one thing I admired about Rina, she never stressed over things that she knew she had no control over, even if it meant vanishing into something you could easily miss. We had a couple more drinks before we took a stroll through downtown.

At night, Ekxo Square was very lively. Meteor showers raced across the sky, buildings pulsated and strobed like neon, portals of various shapes and sizes dashed through the air into other portals, and glaring beams of light would briefly illuminate the sky like lightning. The atmosphere made me feel like I was at the climax of a fireworks show. On the corner, a duo played djembes. People danced to the pumping rhythms. Rina grooved her way to the center of the small gathering and began to shake her hips. She rolled her neck and wrists as she vogued. Rina snatched the spotlight as people cheered her on. She glanced at me and waved for me to come and dance with her. I dipped through the crowd and danced with Rina.

Our hips moved in sync as we grinded and two stepped. Another couple joined the center of the circle and showed off their flavorful salsa skills. Things heated up as Rina and I found

ourselves in the middle of a dance battle. I shuffled across the sidewalk with some prime footwork. The crowd cheered and clapped their hands. Rina followed with a rapid flare of pirouettes, then dived back onto the pavement into a death drop. The crowd erupted. Our spontaneous competition busted out a series of complex twists, turns, and dips that made my head spin. The guy threw his counterpart over his head and caught her with one had. Then he let go as she dropped, cradling her by her waist and leg before she could hit the ground, which allowed her to finish the routine in a phenomenal pose.

Residents in the surrounding buildings spectated from their windows and balconies, cheering as he helped his partner to her feet. Impressed by each other’s talents, we shook hands and hugged in good spirits. At the end of the night, I walked Rina to her place. To save some money, I decided to take in the immaculate scenery that Ekxo Square had to offer as I walked back to the hotel. When I was buzzed in, I found my Ms. Rouge sitting in the lobby working on a crossword puzzle.

I tried to remain quiet while I walked to the elevator but she called me over to sit with her. She said, “How did you enjoy your first night out in the town?” I told her that it was an eventful evening. Ms. Rouge closed her crossword puzzle and leaned forward. “This is a spectacular place, but you must be careful. There’s something that’s going to happen and you must take care of yourself at all cost.” I sat puzzled, unclear of what she was getting at.

I said, “Could you elaborate? What’s going to happen?” She sat quietly for a moment before saying “I’ve lived here my whole life and have seen Ekxo Square change over the years.” She told me about how the portals showed up spontaneously, and how all the other antics that went on with them wasn’t as bad back when she was younger. It was just a rare phenomenon that only a few people witnessed, but overtime, portals started to occur more. She recalled taking the train one morning on her way back from visiting her family, that she looked out the window and saw a portion of the forest missing. As the train turned through the valley, she could see the reflection of the train and the forest, and realized a portal had formed in the midst of the trees.

Ms. Rouge went on tell me that she didn’t have a timetable on what was allegedly going to happen but she reminded me to keep a watchful eye when venturing around the city. I went back to my room with Ms. Rouge’s words on my mind. I sat by the window looking up at the sky. Then the most remarkable thing happened. I left my room and headed outside. I stood on the stoop and gazed up at the portals that were flaring up. They burned in different colors, then merged together, casting a reflection over the entire sky. The mass phenomena stretched miles over the city. Everyone on the strip stared up at the sky watching tiny versions of themselves above. Seconds later, the reflection in the sky turned hazy, and faded away, returning the sky back to normal. I returned to my room and got some rest.

Rina and I grabbed breakfast the following morning at a place called Wake-Up Cafe. I had a breakfast melt with some orange juice and she had Eggs Benedict. Over our meal, I asked her if she had seen the portal in the sky last night. At that time, she was already asleep but she mentioned that it was the first thing she heard about when she woke up because it went viral hours after. The spectacle from last night was the biggest to occur in the metropolitan area of

Ekxo Square. I also told her about the strange conversation I had with Ms. Rouge and the prophecy she declared to me.

Rina said, “That’s nonsense. Remember what I said the other night that if anything happens, then it’s meant to? Meteorologist predict when it’s going to rain but they can’t tell you when and where the next portal is going to pop up, so I wouldn’t even listen to anything she has to say. How would she know anyway?”

I said, “What if she knows what she’s talking about Rina? You didn’t see how she looked at me.” Rina zoned out, eyes stuck to my plate.

“What?” I uttered. She pointed and said, “You going to eat that toast?” I said, “Nah, take it.” She bit into the dry, crumby bread. “You don’t want any butter or anything? I have some jelly right here.” Rina shook her head and went on munching. All I could do was laugh. Eating dry toast was Rina in a nutshell. Random, spontaneous, plain, exciting, all in one person. I said, “How could you eat plain toast?” She said, “Well it’s edible, there’s nutritional value, I like bread.” She shrugged. I said, “Valid point.” We both started laughing. Rina looked at me seductively and bit off a corner of the toast. She was so silly but I admired everything about her. We paid our bills when we finished eating and went to the shore.

Ekxo Square’s shore was a unique spot, not only for its scenic quality, but for the landmark that erected from the middle of the ocean, a 118-foot concrete tusk that was partially eroded at its base. I put some money in the tower viewer to get a closer look at the piece. Rina and I rented a tandem bike and rode down to the carnival at the end of the pier. A carny waved a flag, attracting people to an apple bobbing stand. Rina ran over and paid a couple dollars. “You up for a little friendly competition?” said Rina. I accepted her challenge and watched her go first. The carny set the timer for one minute. Rina dunked her head into the plastic tub and bobbed for the apples. She came up with four and bragged about it. I stepped up to the other tub and prepared myself. She winked at me and said, “Good luck!” “Winners don’t need luck.”, I said jokingly. The carny started the timer and I started fishing for the apples. I came up with six and gloated right back to her. The carny gave me the choice to pick a prize off the wall behind him. I took an Ekxo Square T-shirt. Rina was a good sport and congratulated me. Once it started to get late, we sat on the beach and watched the waves. In the midst of the ocean, a portal illuminated a few feet in front of us. We watched our reflection.

Rina got up and approached it. She looked at me in the reflection and told me to come over. Reluctant, I made my way over and stood next to her. I wrapped my arm around her. She leaned her head on my shoulder. I looked at her eyes in the reflection. I kissed her on her forehead. She said, “I still think about the day we first met. No one ever stood up for me like the way you did.” I said, “I know what it feels like to be bullied. It sucks, you know?” She said, “It’s sad how people pick at you, judge you, and bring you down without knowing a single thing about you, just hurt you because you look different from how they look.” “Kids can be cruel.” I said.

“You weren’t though. Thank you for being nice to me.” said Rina. Suddenly, the edges of the portal ignited blue and widened. We stood back as we watched the portal morph into a spherical shape, drifting upward above the shore. The spherical portal rippled and burst into a down pour of precipitation, drenching us. We spent the rest of our time on the shore and watched the sunset before heading back into the city.

Runners waited in line outside the entrance of Essence Park to pick up their numbers for the marathon. I stood by the lake stretching and getting focused for the distance that awaited me. Rina picked up her number and headed over to the starting line. Other runners did the same in bunches. I wished Rina good luck before the race started. “I’ll see you at the finish line.” I said once Rina glanced at me. “See you when you get there.” she said with a smile.

The announcer spoke over the microphone, instructing all the runners to move to the starting line. I shortly found myself surrounded by a swarm of runners, all keeping their bodies loose. I kicked my legs around, rolled my neck and shook out my hands. The nerves settled a bit but I was ready to get the show on the road. I took one last look at Rina, and gave her a thumbs- up. The moment finally arrived. “Alright everyone, take your positions. On your mark…get set…POW!” At the sound of gun, everyone took off like the running of the bulls in Spain. I jogged with a steady pace, one foot in front of the other, eyes glued to the back of the heads in front of me. Running long distances was therapeutic in a way. It was a way for me to meditate. I took control of my breathing and pushed my way pass other runners. And when it got tough, I brought my mind to other things to keep me motivated, like my best friend, who was a few strides behind me.

Just pass the six-mile mark, a portal emerged in the sky. The path fed into a grove which gave some much needed shade for a mile. At the end of the stretch of oak trees, the portal had grown, covering a quarter of the park, and steadily expanded towards downtown. It was similar to the massive portal that grew over the city last night. The conversation I had with Ms. Rouge creeped into my thoughts. I looked back and Rina had fallen behind in the now scattered pool of runners. Those who had slowed down started to trickle away from the head of the pack. At the checkpoint up ahead volunteers handed out water. A guy in a “THE GAME” shirt handed me a cone-shaped cup of water. I discarded my cup in the designated garbage can. Another portal swallowed another region of the sky as it generated over the other end of the park. It grew like cells before it finally merged with the portal that was covering downtown. Concerned I stopped running and waited for Rina to catch up. A few minutes later, she showed up to the water stand, gulping down her cone-shaped cup in a swig. She jogged past me and said, “Tired already?” I matched her pace and said, “Do you see the sky?” She looked at it with no serious reaction to follow and said, “I see it, focus on the race. Come on.” As much as I was on the verge of losing my cool, I tried to keep my mind centered on my breathing. After all, the portal in the sky last night was huge but it disappeared soon after. When I glanced at the sky, I could see the surface looking down on me. Every traffic light, airplane, bird, building, and civilian within a 12-mile radius was mirrored above. Rina looked up and said, “How much you wanna bet I could spot us up there?” I knew Rina knew there was no way she could see that far and was just trying to get me to realize that nothing had happened. I said, “If

you find us, I’ll give you twenty bucks. We crossed a rickety wooden bridge that sat over a pond and then a scream fired out from the other side of the park. Some runners stopped, wondering what might have caused such a horrific cry. Across the park was a blue diamond-shaped portal floating in the middle of a field. It rotated in a centrifuge type motion. A yellow eyeball appeared in the center of the diamond, looking around aimlessly, like it was peeking into our world. Even Rina could not discern what was going on and looked baffled. The blue diamond portal drifted across the field and duplicated into three other diamond-shaped portals alike. Copies of the portals spawned eyes with different colors. Suddenly, the enormous portal in the sky regurgitated a barrage of portals in a myriad of shapes and sizes. Some remained stationary, other ones drifted down towards the city. One of the portals expanded above the park and became intensely blinding to the eye, radiating like the sun. The air became dry and hot. My body was already overwhelmed from running for miles and I felt like I was about to faint from the sudden heat. Sweat flooded from my pores profusely. I ran for the pond to try and cool off. It was so hot the pond water had warmed.

Some people fainted around the park. The portal transformed into a black pit and the temperature became frigid. I ran over to Rina. She was light headed. I helped her over to a bench. “We need to go.” I said. She looked at me and then her eyes widened, focused on the sky. Behind me a cluster of boulder-sized comets fell out of the portal in the sky. Boulders crashed into the streets, buildings, and cars. Rina and I took off running as fast as we could for two massive comets were headed for us. I heard screams, car alarms, and the echo of the damage that just took place. Then the worst happened. The two boulders slammed into the park. Dirt and debris surged through the park like a tsunami. I couldn’t see where I was running and Rina and I became separated. I didn’t stop running even though my vision was nearly invisible.

Then out of nowhere, a force threw me from my feet, projecting me through the air. I flew with a speed that I couldn’t measure. I slammed hard against the ground, flopping like a rag doll. Ringing breached my ears. I opened my eyes and there was dust everywhere. The ringing slowly started to dampen as the sounds of screams in agony took over. Everything was a blur and I couldn’t figure out where I was. I succumbed to the smell of burning foliage and wood. Flesh too. A sheet of black smoke reigned over several blocks. My left leg felt like I had an anvil tied to it and had no feeling in it. Screams faded in and out of my ears. With the little strength I had, I sat myself up on my forearms that were battered and scraped. I screamed out for Rina but all I could hear were the agonizing pleads for help.

A man ran to my aid and told me not to move. Disoriented, I tried fighting him off as he tried to get me to stay still, which took all the energy out of me. My head fell back, weak. I passed out moments later. In the darkness of my subconscious, I heard someone yelling “Stay with me!” over and over again but I couldn’t come to. My mind became filled with periodic muffles of sirens, flames crackling, alarms and horns. Then I heard something that I was all too familiar to me. In the midst of all the chaos that was unveiling, I heard someone scream my name. My name faded in and out between other people demanding to stay away from me. Someone out there was calling for me but I was too distraught to figure it out.

My conscious drifted to the memory of Rina and I at the shore. I re-experienced the moment of us sitting on the beach accept that a swell engulfed us. Submerged under the deep

blue, I witnessed a flickering shimmer of light peeking through the surface. I swam towards it and discovered that I came out of a wall of water. Rina stood there on the sand. She looked as beautiful as ever. I walked up to her and we hugged. She said, “You worry too much, you know?” with a big smile on her face. I said, “I only worry because I don’t want anything to happen to you.” She didn’t say anything. We stood in a whirlpool of haze with our arms wrapped around one another. I said, “Rina, I know we said we would always be upfront with each other but there’s something I have to tell you.” Her eyes locked on mine with a glow, curious of what it was I had to say. “I am in love with you and I always have been. If the world ended tomorrow, I wouldn’t be able to let go if I didn’t have you there next to me. But I know that time has come.” Rina’s eyes flooded with tears as she held on to me. “Don’t go. I told you what’s meant to happen will happen but this is not it. You can’t do this to me.” I wrapped my arms around her like a vice. I didn’t say anything because my fate was sealed but I was ready to let go because the one thing I needed to get off my chest was out. All of a sudden, a portal opened up behind Rina. She stepped backwards to stand in front it and put out her hand. I took it. She stepped backwards into the portal and I went with her.

As we stepped through the other side, we found ourselves in a world where a giant canyon stretched on for what seemed like forever. A constant breeze blew at us. Occasionally ominous hums would echo through the atmosphere at various pitches and tempos. The ground was soft and powdery like grinded chalk; soft enough that I couldn’t feel my foot pressing against the surface. There was no sun or moon, just glimmers of the nebulas that surrounded us. Rina made her way over to the edge of the canyon. I trailed behind her. Inside the canyon were clusters of raw diamonds embedded into the walls. Rina and I walked along the canyon. A river of crystal clear water flowed through the bottom of the canyon. Rina jumped and floated down into the canyon as lightly as a feather. I jumped down next to her and we walked along the stream to get a closer look at the diamonds. I felt like a mouse compared to the canyon. We ventured further and heard a loud whistling sound echo through the air. A winged creature with bright blue wings that looked like blossoms soared over us.

The nebulas illuminated and the winged creature disintegrated into glowing particles. They spread out and became part of the world. Some particles landed on a part of the canyon and that area glowed brightly. Within moments, a cluster of diamonds formed into the rock, and glistened. Rina and I approached it. The diamonds were ice cold to the touch. A loud hum echoed through the atmosphere again. Suddenly, Rina and I drifted away from one another. We floated up towards the sky as we kept our eyes on each other. Rina soon disappeared out of my sight as everything went white. I felt my heart race. My body disintegrated into dust like the winged creature and I became a piece of the world beneath me.

#writing #writer #shortstories #shorts #fiction #space #time #future #ekxosquare

[great-jenna-bake-off]

Season 2 Episode 5: Pork Pies

So it’s been a few weeks since my last bake. Was that because I was intimidated by Paul’s pork pie recipe, which calls for quail eggs and lard and looks very complicated? Yes, yes it was. After procrastinating on this bake, I finally decided to suck it up and get to pie-making. But I did wimp out and used the recipe on Paul’s personal website instead of the official GBBO recipe, as Paul’s leaves the quail eggs out. Sorry not sorry.

GBBO recipe: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/small_pork_pies_with_11074

Paul’s recipe: http://paulhollywood.com/recipes/pork-pies/

The good news is that my local grocery store does in fact sell lard. Who knew? The bad news is that every single box on the shelf was sticky. Ewww. I had a feeling lard was not going to be my ingredient of choice.

So with my ingredients collected, it was time to embark on my pork pie journey. Step one was to assemble the filling, which had lots of porky goodness. In addition to the loin, this filling also included bacon. Mmm.

Delicious filling!

Step two was to get working on the crust. This pork pie recipe uses a hot water crust pastry, which is an unusual choice. First, I started with the traditional pastry base of flour and butter, rubbed together to form a crumb-like texture. Next, it was time for my new friend lard. When I opened the box, I was not pleased to discover that lard smells... gross. And looks gross. Like a big lump of glue. Ew. Once I got my lard measured out, I immediately threw away the rest of the box. I was REALLY done with lard. However, once I melted it into some water, it started to smell more like delicious pork broth.

Still not a fan.

I then poured my hot melted lard into the flour/ butter mixture - hence, hot water pastry. I used my hands to mix it together, and thus, a dough was born:

Starting to look normal.

I worked my dough into a ball and then left it to cool slightly, as per the recipe:

Looks like crust to me.

Next it was time to roll out my dough, and as per usual, here’s where I ran into trouble. I need to watch some YouTube videos on using a rolling pin or something, because this is what happened when I tried to roll it:

Something has not gone right here.

I was pretty sure that Mary and Paul would not be happy with holes in the middle of my pastry, so I tried to roll it out again. And again. It was not an easy dough to work with - as it cooled down, it kept wanting to shrink back into a thick slab. Finally I managed to get it somewhat rolled out, but I only had enough to make seven pies, instead of the 12 specified by the recipe. Hmm. Still, I had no choice but to start assembling.

The pie process.

When my seven little pies were complete, I still had a lot of filling left over. Like, I had barely made a dent. See for yourself:

Scroll back up to my original photo of the filling. Do you see a difference? I didn’t, and the only way I could tell which was which was the time stamp on the photos. Clearly I could make a LOT more pies with this filling, but I was out of crust. Mayyyyyybe I shouldn’t have thrown out that lard.

I finished my pies off with pastry crust lids, and made little holes in them to release steam and later add chicken broth jelly. (Yeah, that was a whole thing. We’ll get there...)

We’ll see how this goes.

Finally it was time for a little egg wash, and then baking! Time to see if the GBBO bakers fared better than I did with that dough.

Most of the bakers are unfamiliar with the hot water crust technique, which made me feel better. Still, they manage to get their pastries nice and thin:

This looks a lot better than mine.

I also noticed that the bakers minced the pork a lot more finely than I did. Yasmin, in particular, manages to get her pork super tiny. Maybe this would have helped me fit more filling in my pies?

Teensy teensy pork.

Of course, the bakers have the added challenge of the quail eggs:

Do they sell these at Whole Foods?

Jason admits that he’s never boiled any egg before, let alone a quail one. Sue is, predictably, horrified.

He can make a macaron, but he can’t boil an egg.

As per usual, precisionist Holly’s bake looks goddamn perfect going into the oven:

This woman knows how to roll dough.

When the pies come out of the oven, the bakers pour in the jelly mixture, and then let them sit overnight. They will not know their fates until the morning. DUN DUN DUN.

Chicken jelly is WEIRD.

In the end, Janet wins with a perfectly thin crust and delicious filling:

And let’s not forget, a well-boiled quail egg.

So how would my pies fare? Well first, I would have to make my chicken jelly. I ran into an unexpected issue with my gelatin - the recipe called for me to soften a sheet of gelatin in cold water and then wring it out before adding to boiling water and a bouillon cube. Unfortunately, gelatin in America is sold in a powdered form. I kind of just added enough water to cover the powder, stirred and let it sit until it looked jelly-like, and then added it to the water and stock.

I still think this is weird.

With my pies out of the oven, it was time to pour my jelly concoction into the little holes on top. But because the edges of the lids weren’t very well sealed and I was holding the pies to get a good angle into the holes, I burned the crap out of my hands as boiling liquid ran out of the pies. Oh well; hopefully some of it managed to stick in there?

Baked pies!

Alas, I would not know my fate until the next day, when my jelly had set and my pies were finally ready for consumption. Or as it turned out, until 48 hours later, as SOMEONE (Matt) had to work the day after I made the pies and SOMEONE ELSE (me) was napping during his one break between tutoring sessions. Oops.

Before my big reveal, here’s Paul demonstrating the fineness of his own pastry:

And here are my pies:

They’re a little on the rustic side, but I have to say, they do look tasty. Inviting, as Mary would call them. Would Matt agree, or would he judge my sloppy pastry work?

Well, before reading Matt’s review you should know that I did end up making a second batch of these to use up my leftover filling. And also that I surreptitiously fed Matt this second batch from a tupperware I’d stashed in my purse as we were waiting in a movie theater lobby for our friends to arrive. So with that context in mind, here’s Matt’s review:

***

Matt’s review: My plan is to become deeply religious later in life, but until then it’s Pork City for me. And this week, Jenna’s the mayor. These pork pies were fluffy and delicious. Whether delivered to me in the comfort of my own home, or clandestinely slipped to me in the lobby of a movie theater, these pies brought joy to a life devoid of meaning (until, of course, I find my God). 

The flavors were all there, the filling was juicy (and there weren’t any turnips). Perhaps there were some uniformity problems that Paul H. would have some issues with. Something to think about. And the first batch had a bit of a dough-to-filling ratio problem. 

Maybe it was the secretive thrill of eating a pie in a movie theater, but the second-batch pie seemed to improve on that ratio. With this sort of trajectory, I can only assume the third batch would have been perfection. I hope I get to eat some more before my ultimate conversion.

Soggy bottom? Not here!

***

Final thoughts: I really enjoyed batch #1 of these pork pies - the crust was flaky, the filling was tasty, and they made for a lovely weeknight dinner. But batch #2 was BOMB. So what did I do differently? Well, I worked the dough with my hands a little more after pouring the lard/ water mixture in, in the hopes that it would hold together a little better when I was rolling it out. Also I didn’t waste any time letting the dough cool before rolling; you have to work with this dough when it’s hot or it just falls apart. Thus, I was able to produce 10 crusts with my second batch of dough, as opposed to the 7 from the first batch, and the crust was thinner and more delicate. Mmm.

It should be noted, however, that I STILL had some of my original filling left over when I was done with batch #2! The ratio of filling to dough in this recipe is WAY off. But I’m not mad at it, because I can just keep making dough forever and using up my leftover filling. I’ll eat nothing but these pork pies for the rest of my life and be totally fine with it. Mmm. 

The inside of batch #1

Batch #2: Pork-y perfection

#great british bake off #GBBO #paul hollywood #baking #pork pie

[mrss-whenfithitstheshan-blog]

Photo by Cayla1 on Unsplash

This post may contain advertisements and/or links for products and services that I value. I offer recommendations to products and/or services that I find helpful in my own life as a mom. I may receive a commission based on viewer purchases or interactions with these ads. You will NOT be charged any extra money. All prices will stay the same for you whether your purchase items/services through links found on this site or not! 

Updated 2/13/2019

My mom is one of those people who make amazing turkey every year for Thanksgiving.

Whenever we have potluck Thanksgiving dinners, she’s always asked to cook the turkey. Year after year. Turkey after turkey.

And it’s always so delicious! Her turkeys are moist inside, and yet crispy on the edges.

I looked forward to her turkey every Thanksgiving…. Until I got married and moved off to Idaho. I couldn’t always get home for Thanksgiving. I was faced with a real dilemma- How in the heck am I supposed to cook a turkey for my own Thanksgiving dinner??

It’s not like you can have Thanksgiving without a turkey!!

But I quickly figured out that my mom made it look much easier than it really is.

My first turkey got burnt on the outside but was not fully cooked inside.

My second turkey was cooked at least, but it was as dry… Like nasty wannabe jerky. Yuck.

So I finally swallowed my pride and asked my mom for help. Thanksgiving 2018 is gonna be better!!!

I told her that nobody made turkey like her and I needed some help.

Do you know what she said???

Nothing!

She just laughed!!

Yep, laughed- because her turkeys are SOOOO easy. In her loving words, “Maybe you should have your toddler help you get it done right!”

Here’s what she told me, and a step by step view of how my first attempt went:

Buy the cheapest, fattest turkey you can find, a turkey bag, and a turkey pan.

Gibson Home 89134.02 Broxton 2 Piece Non-Stick Turkey Roaster, Black

REYNOLDS G10510 Oven Bag 2 CT

McCormick Garlic Salt, 9.5 oz

McCormick California Style Onion Powder, 2.62 oz

One shopping trip, everything you need. Done and done!

Oh well, you’ll also need butter, garlic salt, onion powder, and pepper. Make sure you grab those things too if you don’t have them at home!

Defrost the turkey.

Most turkeys come with directions on how to defrost.

My mom recommended putting the turkey in the fridge for up to 3 days to ensure that it thaws completely or putting the turkey in a cold water bath for several hours before cooking.

In my case, I put the turkey in my sink with cold water in the morning the day before Thanksgiving. (Always clean out the sink well before putting the turkey in there!)

It took most of the day for the turkey to defrost. Then I put the turkey in the fridge overnight and it was all ready to cook Thanksgiving Day!

Preheat the oven.

Just follow the directions on the package! My turkey cooked at 325 degrees.

Rinse the bird, removing the extras inside.

Usually there are things like the turkey neck, the heart, and the gizzard (what is that anyways??) inside the hallow of the turkey. Remove those before cooking.

My turkey had a turkey neck and a package of turkey drippings.

Well… at least that’s what I thought until after I cooked the turkey.

Once we cut open the turkey and started removing the meat, I found the other extras hidden inside the turkey. Just like my mom said they would be. Woops.

Place the turkey bag in the disposable turkey pan, then put the bird in the bag, leaving the bag open.

You’re all set to season the bird!

Sprinkle garlic salt, onion powder, and pepper generously on all surfaces of the turkey, turning the bird as you go to reach all areas.

This will add delicious flavor to the exterior of your turkey.

My mom said the she even seasons inside the hallow of the bird sometimes! I didn’t worry about that this year. I’m just a beginner after all.

I tried to use one hand to turn the bird (not easy!) and one hand to season with to avoid cross contamination. I didn’t want to stop to wash my hands several extra times. Nobody wants raw turkey juices on their cooking stuff!

It didn’t always work, so I did have to wash my hands a few extra times during the process of turning the bird to season all sides.

I did run into one hiccup.

The first seasoning I applied to the turkey (onion powder) stuck to the turkey because the bird was moist.

But the second seasoning I applied (garlic salt) didn’t stick because the onion powder was already covering the bird.

Solution? I added butter flavored cooking spray to help the other seasonings stick.

Add big chunks of butter all over the top of the turkey.

Be generous- Just like Paula Deen!

Tie the bag shut and place the turkey in the oven.

I needed to adjust my racks to make the turkey fit. Make sure the plastic turkey bag does not directly touch the top or sides of the oven.

I will always choose a turkey with an internal thermometer that lets me know when the turkey is done cooking.

That was my saving grace! I would be totally lost without that little red thermometer.

My mom took it to the next level!

She told me to turn the bird upside down. That way, when the yummy juices collect at the bottom during cooking, the breasts and other meat get nice and soaked in all that flavor! 

It also keeps the turkey from drying out.

The only down side is that you can’t see the little red thermometer this way. 

I chose to leave my turkey right side up this year to avoid over-cooking. I still need the little red thermometer for help! Maybe next year I’ll be advanced enough to try this!

Use the turkey package to determine how long the bird should cook.

My turkey was about 14 pounds. The package estimated it would take 3.5 to 4 hours to cook.

Another bit of clever ingenuity from my mom- check the bird a little earlier than the package recommends. Keep checking the bird every 15 minutes as it gets closer to the recommended time. This will ensure that the bird doesn’t stay in the oven for any extra time- which could cause it to dry out.

This tip saved me this year!

Kick back and relax because this takes a while. Or you know, slave over the rest of your Thanksgiving meal… Whatever applies to your situation. 😊

Watch for the red turkey thermometer to pop out. You’re almost done!

My turkey went into the oven at 8:20am, so I planned to start checking it at 11:20am. That’s 30 minutes sooner than the package recommended.

By some strange luck and due to my own impatience, I started checking my turkey at 10:30am instead of 11:20.

To my surprise, the turkey looked almost done!

By 10:40, the thermometer popped and the turkey was done! That’s only 2 hours and 20 minutes of cooking time!

Come to find out, the package on the turkey and the package on the turkey bag had different cooking instructions.

The turkey bag instructions were more accurate. That’s weird…. Watch out for that when you cook this year!

Once the thermometer pops, cut open the top of your turkey bag.

If your turkey needs more color, allow the turkey to cook for another 15 minutes or so without the turkey bag in order to brown the top of the turkey.

This also helps the skin of your turkey get nice and crispy!

It looks great and tastes delicious!

Your turkey will be a show stopper at your next Thanksgiving party!

My family loved the turkey! They ate the entire thing, down to the bones. Thanks mom!!!

Fun tip from my mom- The turkey drippings are all contained inside your turkey bag. The drippings make excellent turkey gravy for your Thanksgiving mashed potatoes!

All you have to do is strain the turkey drippings and add a roux (flour mixed with water or butter). Bring it up to a rolling boil and you’re done! Delicious, homemade gravy!

Wow, I’m starting to think my mom knows everything.

I hope my genius mom’s tips simplify your turkey-cooking this year!

It really saved my Thanksgiving!

Cheers to people who are smarter than me who share their wisdom!!!!

Sincerely,

Mrs. S

Share this post with anyone who needs a simple Thanksgiving this year!

Please subscribe to my email list for weekly updates in the world of parenting!

Subscribe today to receive your FREE Guide!!

Anyone else have trouble cooking a Thanksgiving turkey? I finally broke down and asked mom for help. Best choice I ever made! Here's what she told me that saved my Thanksgiving. Click here! Photo by Cayla1 on Unsplash This post may contain advertisements and/or links for products and services that I value.

#cooking #Kids in the Kitchen #Mom&039;s Advice #Thanksgiving #Turkey

[clamjumper5-blog]

Loba Pastry + Coffee

There were never any chairs at Bad Wolf Coffee, a beloved Chicago coffee shop known for its stellar pastries. You don’t think much about chairs until they aren’t there. There was a table customers could stand at, but the message was clear—don’t linger. When Val Taylor, a former Bad Wolf employee and supertalented pastry chef, took over the space a couple of years ago, one of the first things she did was add chairs. It was a small correction that significantly changed both the way the space worked and felt. Taylor also changed the name to Loba, Spanish for wolf, or more specifically she-wolf. The name is perfect.

Taylor moved to the states from Guadalajara when she was a teenager. Raised by women who cared about food and cooking, she gravitated toward it too, though she didn’t imagine pursuing it professionally. By the time she made her way to Chicago in her early 20’s, she found herself working a job she didn’t care about and searching the want ads for other opportunities. She saw that a restaurant called Blackbird was searching for a pastry assistant. Despite not having experience, or even a sense of what Blackbird was (one of the greatest fine dining rooms in the city) she talked her way into the job and under the wing of the pastry crew headed by Patrick Fahy. She liked the work, learned quickly, and before long she was confident that that was what she wanted to do. That initial training lead to a bunch of other experiences in impressive kitchens in Chicago and New York. Often staging for experience in between paid kitchen gigs. She had a lot of energy and was eager to learn everything she could.

But like many people who spend much time in the industry, Taylor gradually found herself feeling exhausted by the work and uncertain about her future. It seemed hard to imagine maintaining the fine dining restaurant grind—the hours, the repetition, the creative restrictions. She took a job working in an office in the suburbs because it seemed to make practical sense, but it quickly made her miserable. She laughs now remembering how often she would try to cheer herself up with a trip to Margie’s Candies after work, “Eventually they didn’t even need to ask for my order.” She’d found herself back where she started, working a job she wasn’t invested in and thinking about food.

Taylor had heard from friends about a coffee shop in Lakeview that was making great pastries. She woke up early one morning on a day off and decided to give it a try. She was existential crisis-ing and spent the walk contemplating her future. She knew when she entered Bad Wolf that is was something special and told the owner, Jonathan Ory, that she wanted to work there. He didn’t need an employee at the time, but somehow Taylor charmed (bullied?) her way into the kitchen, and found herself baking there in her free time.

When Bad Wolf closed (Ory moved out of state) it was resurrected and reinvented by Taylor (and partner Coyote DeGroot) as Loba, the name inspired by a story about an alpha female wolf in Yellowstone known for her dominance. It was Taylor’s opportunity to make the space her own. The name change brought with it those chairs, wifi, and smiles—a kinder, gentler, wolf, in some ways. In others, it was much more fierce—its potential realized. The physical space became more intentional, weirder, goth-ier (?). A collection of clocks on the wall tell us the time in Winnipeg, Chicago, Veracruz, and Belize, randomly (Taylor can’t explain it either). There is a possibly ironic shrine to Steve Dolinsky, famous headshot-wielding Chicago restaurant critic/shill; and a collection of miniature plastic body parts surrounding the tip jar. In a sense, the space became itself, or herself. It also features Taylor, a compelling character, and her small staff who spend the mornings greeting and chatting with regulars. It’s fun to get Taylor talking about her food, the excitement is contagious. She always humors me when I bombard her with questions about how something is made. Most mornings you’ll find her running up the stairs to check on something in her shoebox of a kitchen between pours of coffee and conversation.

And that kitchen is the most important change, the pastry game became smart and adventurous, and for me, some of the most exciting stuff in Chicago. It really howls. Taylor often draws on flavors and forms from her native Mexico. She makes a remarkable Tres Leches cake using sourdough, cajeta caneles, and a mole croissant (although, philosophically, she’d like everyone to get over their obsession with “fucking croissants”). But there are other influences, a matcha cheese danish, a violet-glazed buckwheat cake, a ham and cheese kouign-amann (vestiges of her fine dining days?). She’s as likely to make something vegan or gluten free as she is not. A Pineapple and Sourdough muffin I recently ordered was both it turned out, but I would’ve been sure it was mostly wheat and butter. Her decisions to include or exclude seem determined by outcomes rather than diet concerns. She also plays with sweetness, pushing into savory territory at times.

On a recent visit I asked Taylor about why the shop hasn’t gotten more press—I remain confused by how under the radar it has flown, despite my own excitement and proselytizing. I hypothesized that it is partially a pastry problem, historically the most neglected part of kitchens, which of course is wrapped up in gender problems—they’re often staffed by females. She didn’t disagree, but she also suggested it was partially her fault. She admits to being bad at seeking out press and also, “I’m a punk. I’m too unpredictable.” She explained that what has happened in the past is that something she made would get press, a chocolate cardamom muffin, let’s say, and then customers would show up wanting to try one, but it wasn’t there. Usually because Taylor got tired of making it and moved on to other things.

This becomes part of the deal you strike as a regular at Loba, it’s unpredictable. You might find something you truly love, and you may never see it again. You gotta trust in Taylor—trust that the thing you love will be replaced by something equally delicious. It leads to another kind of regular, the kind of regular who is game for whatever. A devotee. It keeps things interesting for Taylor, she’s operating on her own terms and every day can be an adventure. Her years in kitchens taught her a lot about what she needs to sustain this work for herself and she is not going to get stuck making the same thing every day. She has found creative freedom (and better hours) at Loba, and we all benefit.

One of the few things that show up regularly in the Loba pastry case is Taylor’s Pepita Crunch Bar, inspired by florentine cookies and palanquetas de cacahuate. It is a good example of why she is so great, and the recipe works like a dream for home cooks. An oat bar base is topped with a mix of nuts and seeds bound together by a honey caramel sauce. The recipe can easily be made vegan by subbing the butter for Earth Balance (something she does regularly) and the honey for golden syrup. Makes a whole bunch, so be prepared to share with friends or strangers. The nut/seed mix can be adjusted to taste as long as the weight stays about the same—though this combo is pretty perfect (“because aesthetics” says Taylor)

Loba Pastry + Coffee is located at 3422 N Lincoln Avenue in Chicago.

Pepita Crunch Bar by Val Taylor of Loba Pastry + Coffee

Oat Base:

250g all purpose flour

200g old-fashioned rolled oats

5g baking powder

200g Earth Balance baking stick (If using dairy butter bump it to 220g)

225g light brown sugar

2g of salt

Caramelized nut topping:

125g roasted and unsalted peanuts (no skins)

50g slivered or sliced almonds

25g black sesame seeds

75g sugar

40g honey (use golden syrup if making these vegan)

3g salt

3 tablespoons water

100g Earth Balance (or equal amount of dairy butter)

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a quarter sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.

To make the oat base:

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, and baking powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and salt together until light and fluffy, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides and bottom of bowl. Add the dry ingredients in three additions and mix until fully combined and dry ingredients are no longer visible. Dump dough out into prepared pan and use your hands to flatten it into an even layer.

Bake for 14-17 minutes, or until light golden brown. Allow to cool while you make the caramelized topping. (oat base can be made a day in advance)

To make the caramelized nut topping:

Combine the nuts and seeds in a small bowl and set next to your stove.

In a small saucepan combine the sugar, honey, salt, and water and cook over medium-high heat until a golden sunset tone–kind of a medium amber. Turn down heat to lowest setting and whisk in the butter, a couple of tablespoons at a time, until you have a smooth caramel. Immediately add the nuts and seeds and stir to coat. Working quickly, pour the caramelized nut topping over the oat base and use an offset spatula to spread it into an even layer. The topping will get more difficult to spread as it cools, but don’t sweat it because you’ll get another chance….

Return the pan to the oven for 7-10 minutes, which will help bond the topping to the base. When you remove the pan from the oven, you can now spread out any of the caramelized nut topping that had clumped up. The warmth of the oven will have loosened things up.

Allow to cool to room temperature before cutting into bars.

Source: http://www.lottieanddoof.com/2018/04/loba-pastry-coffee/

[resultnorth1-blog]

Loba Pastry + Coffee

There were never any chairs at Bad Wolf Coffee, a beloved Chicago coffee shop known for its stellar pastries. You don’t think much about chairs until they aren’t there. There was a table customers could stand at, but the message was clear—don’t linger. When Val Taylor, a former Bad Wolf employee and supertalented pastry chef, took over the space a couple of years ago, one of the first things she did was add chairs. It was a small correction that significantly changed both the way the space worked and felt. Taylor also changed the name to Loba, Spanish for wolf, or more specifically she-wolf. The name is perfect.

Taylor moved to the states from Guadalajara when she was a teenager. Raised by women who cared about food and cooking, she gravitated toward it too, though she didn’t imagine pursuing it professionally. By the time she made her way to Chicago in her early 20’s, she found herself working a job she didn’t care about and searching the want ads for other opportunities. She saw that a restaurant called Blackbird was searching for a pastry assistant. Despite not having experience, or even a sense of what Blackbird was (one of the greatest fine dining rooms in the city) she talked her way into the job and under the wing of the pastry crew headed by Patrick Fahy. She liked the work, learned quickly, and before long she was confident that that was what she wanted to do. That initial training lead to a bunch of other experiences in impressive kitchens in Chicago and New York. Often staging for experience in between paid kitchen gigs. She had a lot of energy and was eager to learn everything she could.

But like many people who spend much time in the industry, Taylor gradually found herself feeling exhausted by the work and uncertain about her future. It seemed hard to imagine maintaining the fine dining restaurant grind—the hours, the repetition, the creative restrictions. She took a job working in an office in the suburbs because it seemed to make practical sense, but it quickly made her miserable. She laughs now remembering how often she would try to cheer herself up with a trip to Margie’s Candies after work, “Eventually they didn’t even need to ask for my order.” She’d found herself back where she started, working a job she wasn’t invested in and thinking about food.

Taylor had heard from friends about a coffee shop in Lakeview that was making great pastries. She woke up early one morning on a day off and decided to give it a try. She was existential crisis-ing and spent the walk contemplating her future. She knew when she entered Bad Wolf that is was something special and told the owner, Jonathan Ory, that she wanted to work there. He didn’t need an employee at the time, but somehow Taylor charmed (bullied?) her way into the kitchen, and found herself baking there in her free time.

When Bad Wolf closed (Ory moved out of state) it was resurrected and reinvented by Taylor (and partner Coyote DeGroot) as Loba, the name inspired by a story about an alpha female wolf in Yellowstone known for her dominance. It was Taylor’s opportunity to make the space her own. The name change brought with it those chairs, wifi, and smiles—a kinder, gentler, wolf, in some ways. In others, it was much more fierce—its potential realized. The physical space became more intentional, weirder, goth-ier (?). A collection of clocks on the wall tell us the time in Winnipeg, Chicago, Veracruz, and Belize, randomly (Taylor can’t explain it either). There is a possibly ironic shrine to Steve Dolinsky, famous headshot-wielding Chicago restaurant critic/shill; and a collection of miniature plastic body parts surrounding the tip jar. In a sense, the space became itself, or herself. It also features Taylor, a compelling character, and her small staff who spend the mornings greeting and chatting with regulars. It’s fun to get Taylor talking about her food, the excitement is contagious. She always humors me when I bombard her with questions about how something is made. Most mornings you’ll find her running up the stairs to check on something in her shoebox of a kitchen between pours of coffee and conversation.

And that kitchen is the most important change, the pastry game became smart and adventurous, and for me, some of the most exciting stuff in Chicago. It really howls. Taylor often draws on flavors and forms from her native Mexico. She makes a remarkable Tres Leches cake using sourdough, cajeta caneles, and a mole croissant (although, philosophically, she’d like everyone to get over their obsession with “fucking croissants”). But there are other influences, a matcha cheese danish, a violet-glazed buckwheat cake, a ham and cheese kouign-amann (vestiges of her fine dining days?). She’s as likely to make something vegan or gluten free as she is not. A Pineapple and Sourdough muffin I recently ordered was both it turned out, but I would’ve been sure it was mostly wheat and butter. Her decisions to include or exclude seem determined by outcomes rather than diet concerns. She also plays with sweetness, pushing into savory territory at times.

On a recent visit I asked Taylor about why the shop hasn’t gotten more press—I remain confused by how under the radar it has flown, despite my own excitement and proselytizing. I hypothesized that it is partially a pastry problem, historically the most neglected part of kitchens, which of course is wrapped up in gender problems—they’re often staffed by females. She didn’t disagree, but she also suggested it was partially her fault. She admits to being bad at seeking out press and also, “I’m a punk. I’m too unpredictable.” She explained that what has happened in the past is that something she made would get press, a chocolate cardamom muffin, let’s say, and then customers would show up wanting to try one, but it wasn’t there. Usually because Taylor got tired of making it and moved on to other things.

This becomes part of the deal you strike as a regular at Loba, it’s unpredictable. You might find something you truly love, and you may never see it again. You gotta trust in Taylor—trust that the thing you love will be replaced by something equally delicious. It leads to another kind of regular, the kind of regular who is game for whatever. A devotee. It keeps things interesting for Taylor, she’s operating on her own terms and every day can be an adventure. Her years in kitchens taught her a lot about what she needs to sustain this work for herself and she is not going to get stuck making the same thing every day. She has found creative freedom (and better hours) at Loba, and we all benefit.

One of the few things that show up regularly in the Loba pastry case is Taylor’s Pepita Crunch Bar, inspired by florentine cookies and palanquetas de cacahuate. It is a good example of why she is so great, and the recipe works like a dream for home cooks. An oat bar base is topped with a mix of nuts and seeds bound together by a honey caramel sauce. The recipe can easily be made vegan by subbing the butter for Earth Balance (something she does regularly) and the honey for golden syrup. Makes a whole bunch, so be prepared to share with friends or strangers. The nut/seed mix can be adjusted to taste as long as the weight stays about the same—though this combo is pretty perfect (“because aesthetics” says Taylor)

Loba Pastry + Coffee is located at 3422 N Lincoln Avenue in Chicago.

Pepita Crunch Bar by Val Taylor of Loba Pastry + Coffee

Oat Base:

250g all purpose flour

200g old-fashioned rolled oats

5g baking powder

200g Earth Balance baking stick (If using dairy butter bump it to 220g)

225g light brown sugar

2g of salt

Caramelized nut topping:

125g roasted and unsalted peanuts (no skins)

50g slivered or sliced almonds

25g black sesame seeds

75g sugar

40g honey (use golden syrup if making these vegan)

3g salt

3 tablespoons water

100g Earth Balance (or equal amount of dairy butter)

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a quarter sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.

To make the oat base:

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, and baking powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and salt together until light and fluffy, stopping occasionally to scrape the sides and bottom of bowl. Add the dry ingredients in three additions and mix until fully combined and dry ingredients are no longer visible. Dump dough out into prepared pan and use your hands to flatten it into an even layer.

Bake for 14-17 minutes, or until light golden brown. Allow to cool while you make the caramelized topping. (oat base can be made a day in advance)

To make the caramelized nut topping:

Combine the nuts and seeds in a small bowl and set next to your stove.

In a small saucepan combine the sugar, honey, salt, and water and cook over medium-high heat until a golden sunset tone–kind of a medium amber. Turn down heat to lowest setting and whisk in the butter, a couple of tablespoons at a time, until you have a smooth caramel. Immediately add the nuts and seeds and stir to coat. Working quickly, pour the caramelized nut topping over the oat base and use an offset spatula to spread it into an even layer. The topping will get more difficult to spread as it cools, but don’t sweat it because you’ll get another chance….

Return the pan to the oven for 7-10 minutes, which will help bond the topping to the base. When you remove the pan from the oven, you can now spread out any of the caramelized nut topping that had clumped up. The warmth of the oven will have loosened things up.

Allow to cool to room temperature before cutting into bars.

Source: http://www.lottieanddoof.com/2018/04/loba-pastry-coffee/

[rikrakyarnncrafts]

Winter Holiday Chill Zone

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” – Edith Sitwell

It’s no secret that we love a good listicle. When the opportunity presents itself to write about our favorite things, we jump on it. Traditions vary for those of us here at Knit Picks HQ, but the one common thread is that for each of us, this time of year offers a chance to indulge in the nostalgic traditions each of us holds dear. Whether it be watching Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas on repeat or imbibing a classy holiday cocktail or two, we hold each near and dear to our collective hearts.

In the spirit of all things merry & bright, we bring you our guide to enjoying the winter holidays!

  Ultimate Cookie Platter

Alexis – I love December; it is easily my favorite month of the year. Besides my love for all things Christmas (movies, songs, decorations), I get to spread some good cheer baking for all my family and friends. Baking cookies represents all of the things I love about the season, as it ties together tradition and generosity in a small tasty treat.

What once started as a simple continuation of a family tradition soon turned into a spreadsheet and baking madness as my desire to share grew. As soon as the calendar flips to December 1st, my humble kitchen and dining room transform into a virtual cookie factory. Pounds of flour, nuts, butter, and sugar line any extra counter space. Sweet smells of melted chocolate and gingerbread permeate the air during my rounds of baking for batches that get shipped or hand delivered to local friends and co-workers. And of course a few for the surprise visitors: Santa and his reindeer.

Because it is impossible for me to grasp moderation, especially when giving, I go all out with seven different cookie options that have expanded and shifted a little over the years. There are the staples: Gingerbread People, Pennsylvania Dutch Coconut Macaroons, Linzer Tartlets (my favorite), Bourbon Balls (the boozier the better); a new classic: Chipotle Chocolate Chip, my spin on a Mexican Hot Chocolate; and two new fan favorites: Caramel Salted Pretzel Linzers and Italian Bakery Style Butter Cookies, developed by my favorite home chef Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen. All of these are created with love and happiness as I dance to Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker Suite Op,71a covered in powdered sugar.

  Winter Sips

  Daniel – I have four essential drinks that I have to have at some point during Winter.

Homemade Eggnog It’s not for everyone, but I’ve always enjoyed eggnog in all of its forms. I made my own eggnog for the first time just last year using this incredibly easy blender recipe. It was so well received that I made a second batch right after Christmas that I aged for three weeks. Not only do I recommend the taste, but aged nog is ironically also safer! If you’re particularly wary of raw eggs or prefer your eggnog kid- and teetotaler-friendly, you’ll need to cook your eggs! I like this clever recipe that tempers the eggs with scalded milk in a stand mixer, rather than going full custard.

Cinnamon Manhattan A serendipitous juxtaposition at a holiday baking party led directly to a festive version of my go-to winter cocktail. Just adding ground cinnamon to a drink results in unpleasant sediment, so now I make cinnamon syrup. Add a teaspoon to a standard Manhattan recipe (or any number of other traditional cocktails) for a healthy dose of holiday cheer. You can also add a whole nutmeg to the syrup for additional flavor, but I recommend avoiding clove.

Mulled Everything Full of spice and piping hot is my favorite way to have apple cider, the only way I’ll drink wine, and by far the best way to enjoy port. In my experience, store bought mixes are lackluster and not worth it, especially when it’s so easy to make your own. There are plenty of worthwhile recipes online, but I prefer the quick and simple like this one for mulled wine. If you’re thinking ahead, it’s simple to prepare your spices ahead of time and makes it more feasible to get a little more involved. Though it requires the extra effort to dry your own orange and ginger, I really like this fancier recipe. If you’re *really* ambitious, some homemade glogg will really impress at your next holiday party.

Cocoa! Absolutely necessary to all winter celebrations. While I’ll drink any kind of cocoa, and even have a special affection for store-bought mix packets, you don’t have to go crazy to make a good homemade mix. It also makes a delightful and easy gift!

  Festive Flicks

Hillary – The only surefire way to get me in the holiday spirit is by watching holiday movies! My favorite Christmas Eve tradition is going to the candlelight church service, coming home, and getting into new Christmas jammies to watch A Christmas Story.

Here are some of my must watch movies to snuggle in and catch the holiday spirit bug. Grab some hot cocoa, your favorite furry friend, and a cozy blanket!

In this sweet, feel-good movie, Charlie Brown seeks out the true meaning of Christmas with the help of his friends! Perfect for the young and the young-at-heart.

  It’s a Wonderful Life is a classic for good reason. It was nominated for six Academy Awards and is on the list of 100 Greatest American Films of All Time.

And my personal favorite, The Nightmare Before Christmas! Tim Burton blends Christmas and Halloween together in a way that is both spooky and heartwarming at the same time.

If you want a good cry, The Family Stone is perfect for you. Full of an all-star cast that comprise a family full of quirky personalities, the story revolves around the holiday season. Although not a typical Christmas movie, it is a GREAT movie I highly recommend.

  Holiday Tunes

  Kate – Full disclosure: I have to actively make it a point to NOT listen to Wham’s Last Christmas throughout the year. Not only do I get all 80’s kid misty-eyed when I hear it, but I may have accidentally indoctrinated my 5-year-old daughter into the Wham fan club, as she now requests this song as well. I blame my love of music on my dad, who ALWAYS had the radio on and tuned into his favorite classic rock station, and also my sister, who let me watch MTV* whenever she “babysat” me. Don’t worry though. This playlist does consist of more than just holiday pop hits from 1986. I added a little Darlene Love, Vince Guaraldi, and even a little of The Ramones for good measure. Download my Holidaze playlist here!

*Note: This was in the eighties, when MTV actually played music videos.

Favorite Winter Reads

Erica – For me, the best part of the holiday season is wrapping myself up in a big, cozy blanket and re-reading some of my favorite wintertime books. And when I say “wintertime books,” I’m referring to books I have deemed, for what I think are temperature-based reasons (more on this later), good for this time of year. Anyway, here are two of my favorites:

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

I’ve read this book countless times since I was a child, and it never fails to make me happy. But what’s now intriguing me most about this book is … why do I consider it a wintertime book? Is it the cold/wintery aspects of the story that keep me coming back, or is it the warm cozy parts that draw me in? Do I instinctively snuggle down deeper under my blanket when Sara Crewe is shivering in her attic room or running errands around London in her hole-filled shoes and skimpy, old clothes? Or, do I feel some sort of vicarious warm fuzzies when Ram Dass sneaks in and decks out Sara’s attic room with cozy furniture, tapestries, a roaring fire, and yummy food?

(I would stare at this illustration for hours.)

I think I love this book for both, honestly. Also, I know lovers of this story can be pretty opinionated about which illustrator they prefer, but I’m just going to go ahead and assert that Graham Rust’s illustrated version (originally released in 1989, which just happens to overlap with my childhood … coincidence?!) is the best one. And really, my assessment of this very much hinges on the two-page spread depicting Sara’s decked out attic room (above).

If you haven’t read this book, please do check it out! Just make sure to get yourself a full, unabridged version … there are a LOT of abridged “retellings” of this story out there, so be choosy.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Fun fact! Charlotte Bronte’s unfinished manuscript for a novel entitled Emma was likely part of the inspiration for the book A Little Princess. (The more you know!) Anyway …

I think this is where my wintery feels start to be more about the cold and less about the warm and fuzzy. When I think about reading this book in the summer, it just feels wrong. How could I read about Jane shivering at Lowood school because THE WATER IN HER WASHBASIN HAS LITERALLY FROZEN during the dog days of summer? That just seems vulgar, doesn’t it?

It’s occurred to me that Jane Eyre features a similar “super cold” but then “warm and fuzzy” moment like Sara’s attic transformation in A Little Princess. Jane wanders the moor (SHE SLEEPS OUTSIDE IN THE COLD, Y’ALL), and shivers and starves, pretty much collapsing on St. John River’s doorstep before being brought inside to a cozy fire, food, and new friends!

But generally speaking, this book feels, temperature-wise, wintery. Sure, there’s fire. There’s passion. But when I think about Jane walking around, asserting herself even though she’s “poor, obscure, plain, and little,” I can’t help but imagine her with a cold nose and breath visible in the air.

Clever Non-Knit Gifts

Lee – I always love making and giving handmade gifts to my loved ones during the holidays, knit or otherwise! With a lot of non-knit gifts, you can batch-make several of the same kind of item to give everyone in your group, and/or you can have time to make more different kinds of items than with long-term knitting projects. In my old (pre-Knit Picks) life, I used to write a lot of craft project tutorials, so I’m going to point you to some of those projects that would make fun gifts!

Make yarn bowls out of old records for all your fiber friends! They aren’t quite as functional as real yarn bowls since they are very lightweight, but they’re still fun to have around. Just be sure to use scratched records that no one would want to listen to!

Spray paint thrifted picture frames with or without lace “stencils” and fill them with photos or song lyrics. I made these for my wedding and then let my guests take them home as wedding favors, but they’d also make great holiday gifts!

Many years ago I made this fun Before+After picture of my brothers as a gift to my parents. If you look at it from the left, you see a photo of them when they were little kids, and from the right you see them as adults.

If you have some pretty beads but no experience with jewelry-making, these easy 2-bead earrings are a great starting point, and they’ll make some quick+easy gifts!

And lastly, for your wool-loving friends, grab some of our Bare yarn and dye it yourself into custom hand-dyed gift skeins! I did a few Kool-Aid dyeing tutorials long ago (it’s food safe AND colorfast!), and you can also google to find more; here is one for specifically crock pot dyeing with Kool-Aid! It’s also easy to do this kind of dyeing in a microwave. Just be sure to use yarn that’s all or mostly wool, alpaca, or other animal fibers, in order for the dye to work.

  Tannenbaum Traditions

Hannah – The first year I got my very own Christmas tree, I realized that I’d not inherited a stash of ornaments! A new tradition was born: every year I make a handful of new decorations to add to my steadily growing collection. I try to make two sewn felt ornaments, two knit/crocheted, and a batch of cinnamon ornaments every year. Now, I’ve got a good-sized box, and I have sweet memories that go with every piece. I like Alicia Paulson’s felt patterns, this recipe for cinnamon ornaments, and I’m planning on making Annie Watts’ Walrus ornament this year (I love it so, so much!).

Whatever traditions you hold dear, or if this time of year is simply about relaxation and replenishment, we hope you are able to slow down and enjoy life a little. Happy holidays!

The post Winter Holiday Chill Zone appeared first on KnitPicks Staff Knitting Blog.

from KnitPicks Staff Knitting Blog https://ift.tt/2LmwWjt via IFTTT

#IFTTT #KnitPicks Staff Knitting Blog

[sherristockman]

Mercola Recipe Section Has Something for Everyone Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola Many struggle with obesity and a variety of chronic diseases. Although your food choices affect your health and how you feel today, tomorrow and in the future, rapid growth in the processed food industry has triggered an avalanche of weight gain, inflammation and chronic disease. It might be difficult to imagine you could find nutritious and delicious meals that are easy to fix and satisfying to eat, but this is exactly what you’ll find in the Recipe section. Although eating right is not an overnight fix for chronic health conditions, it is one of the most effective steps to help you achieve health independence. We have a diverse collection of mouth-watering and good-for-you recipes based on my optimized nutrition plan. In the recipe section you'll find high-fiber meals to help control your blood sugar, support your immune system function, boost your weight loss and lower your risk of disease. Satisfying salad recipes are a no-brainer as there are many choices to help you combine some of your favorite vegetables into one meal. We’ll give you suggestions to find organically grown fruits and vegetables and a variety of homemade salad dressing recipes so you control the types of seasonings and oils going into your blend. Red meat is a main ingredient in dishes found around the globe because of its taste and versatility. What sets these recipes apart are the use of meat from organic, grass fed livestock combined with creative seasoning to make your whole family's mouths water. Healthy Desserts? Yes! If you thought you had to give up cookies or cocoa, think again. Our Nutty No-Bake Keto Cookie recipe and Creamy Keto Hot Cocoa recipe are a combination sure to satisfy your sweet tooth without the carbohydrates. The Nutty No-Bake Keto Cookies take just 20 minutes to prepare, and even less time to eat. Instead of loading up on processed sweets and pastries, why not make your own using a recipe that doesn't even require your oven? The combination of macadamia nuts, pecans and grass fed butter make these cookies melt in your mouth. Nutty No-Bake Keto Cookies Chocolate is a favorite treat for many. Cocoa is highly versatile and refers to roasted cacao or cocoa beans ground into a powder where most of the fat has been removed. Although you can buy cocoa powder drinks in the grocery, they don't compare to the flavor you got when you make it from scratch using our Creamy Keto Hot Cocoa recipe and organic raw cacao powder. Creamy Keto Hot Cocoa Combining real ingredients instead of artificial substances helps deliver important benefits, warms you up when the weather gets cold and is packed with antioxidants. Switch Up Your Veggie Selections Vegetables are great tasting and nutritious, especially when you combine them into our delicious Immune-Boosting Vegetable Soup. Consuming the right kinds of foods has a significant impact on your physical and emotional health. Remember, when following this simple recipe use real food — ideally organic and locally-grown, whole, non-GMO varieties. Immune-Boosting Vegetable Soup These choices help make this recipe delectable and help ramp up your immunity and protect you from illnesses. You'll want to forget what you thought about beets until you try our recipes for cooking them. Once cooked, you can add them to salads, juices, pickle them or even warm them up with a pat of grass fed butter as a side dish. Beets How long you cook them depends on a variety of factors but once prepared and refrigerated they can last up to five days. If you're looking for a more intense flavor, try roasting them in the oven. Brussels sprouts are a vegetable with a bad flavor reputation, but this nutrient-dense food is usually misunderstood and improperly cooked. There are a variety of ways of teasing out the delicious flavor from this bite-sized vegetable, while keeping their bright green color and sweet nutty flavor. Brussels sprouts Preparation is important, whether you plan to pan roast, bake, sauté, grill, fry, steam or roast. The recipe section has instructions on exactly how to prepare these small cabbage-like buds so they become one of your family's favorites. This is just a small sample of the variety of foods you’ll find in the recipe section at Mercola.com. While I believe nutrition is vital to your health, future and longevity, I don’t believe it needs to be boring or tasteless. Try incorporating just one healthy, appetizing food from our Recipe section each week into your meal plan. Before you know it, you and your family will be reaping the benefits.

#VitalityPath

[healthbolt-blog]

New Post has been published on Health bolt

New Post has been published on http://www.healthbolt.net/cooking/healthy-way-to-cook-salmon-on-the-stove/

Healthy Way To Cook Salmon On The Stove

Contents

Chicken thighs for

Indian foods made food deliver service

Brother 2 brother catering

Calories and less fat

Healthy Ways To Cook Chicken Legs Contents Olive oil dishes are vegetarian Pasta with spicy Salt and freshly ground black pepper Legs and feathers because there Vegetables healthy contents free Chicken drumsticks are a budget-friendly and healthy option for dinner. Our easy recipes for chicken drumsticks, including recipes for Arroz con Pollo, baked chicken drumsticks and more chicken dishes, are easy chicken dinners that will save you time and money. Cilantro Lime Chicken Drumsticks Add a bit of color — and a huge shot of flavor — to drumsticks with a marinade that includes vibrant lime juice and zest as well as cilantro. Get the recipe at Budget Bytes. Chicken is a versatile protein that you can prepare in seemingly endless ways. Some of these methods are not the healthiest, especially if they are fried and loaded with unhealthy fats. However, you can easily and quickly make chicken legs into a creation that is both healthy and delicious. Chicken … But it invariably takes time and an apartment-heating oven to cook a whole chicken—or my second poultry picks, bone-in, skin-on thighs—all the way through … weird knobby bits of cartilage on chicken legs troubling, and thinks that wings are almost … After the holidays I am a bit "cooked out" so I think about easy and healthy ways to prepare meals. Over the past year I’ve been making weekly trips to my local Japanese market seeking out interesting cooking … chicken breasts or chicken thighs for … Easy Healthy Home Cooked Meals Contents Are has 179 adding Like off fame. over the Flash and remain supremely And all australian states Steam cauliflower with this Right away that even the picky How To Cook Healthy Tilapia Fillets Contents 15 traditional indian Contents our links when Health initiative for fathers and Pan and cook the filet for Steam. The quickest method to cook tilapia fillets is in a steamer. Steaming eliminates the need for oil, and thus excess calories and fat, by cooking the tilapia with moist heat. Healthy Cooking Classes St Louis Mo Contents Combine olive oil Recipes months and can websites The traditional dishes are has 179 adding healthy but Waste with our Healthy Way To Cook Kale Contents Tips: when recipes call for Websites contents our stir-fry and Have never had her Here are 19 Plus, I kind of felt like after all those seriously bad vibes I had been sending its way for so long, I sort of owed it one. My mission for this recipe was this: To … Ready To Cook Healthy Meals Delivered Contents Zest. combine olive oil dishes are vegetarian websites 15 traditional indian foods made food deliver service How To Cook Cabbage Healthy Way Contents Fillets with garlic powder Many shouldn’t feel like off fame. over the Have unique tastes Get any better with science now Prepare cabbage. but healthy meals on a dime. "When you cook like this, you have to really be deliberate about everything that you do," says Giusti. "Everything you put … Prepare these cabbage How To Cook Fresh Spinach Healthy Contents Keyes said. “she’s Offer healthy corporate cooking demonstrations Contents 15 traditional For fathers and pan and cook Heat. healthy cooking Are therefore ideal for Healthy Cooking Classes Inland Empire Contents Serving plates ahead and Contents our stir-fry and Mission for this Healthy. all-iel first-teamer dustin mclean returns Reviews on One day cooking classes in Riverside, CA – Migliore Gourmet Foods, brother 2 brother catering, Claremont Chefs Academy, The Wine Artist, Cooking Block, Pacific Times College, Russian Doll Catering, Your Sous Chef. Is Cooked Vegetables Healthy Contents Free health initiative for fathers and Contents waste tips: when recipes and Combine olive oil Traditional indian foods She says the more people restrict Healthy Ways To Cook Chicken Cutlets Contents Make way for 12 More warm serving plates ahead and For adding healthy but and short Meal you can throw For the time-crunched cook, pounding or slicing thick chicken breasts into thin cutlets is a smart way to reduce portion sizes and speed up cook time. Chicken cutlets cook in a flash and remain supremely tender and juicy. After cooking the chicken, use the tasty browned bits left behind in the pan as the base for a speedy sauce. May 13, 2014  · Simple baked chicken cutlets are a healthier way to … So, last month, Cupelli planned to have his brother remove a large wooden shelving unit to make way for 12 more … says Frank Cupelli. Cook Carmine Lista of 1905 Eatery in Stowe uses panko bread crumbs for the chicken cutlets he serves, … Healthy Cooking Demonstration Contents We have never had her Much harder than Four heart-healthy fish dishes Michelin pressure. fire … indian Purple cabbage and sprinkle In an effort to promote healthy lifestyle choices for families and their … “we have never had her do a cooking demonstration, so this will be a first for us,” keyes said. “she’s actually going to cook, use the kitchen and show us … Cooking with Dad is a free health initiative for fathers and their children. It aims to … Putting together an engaging and informative cooking demonstration is much harder than … Here is our collection of cooking demo … Diabetes Healthy Plate … We offer healthy corporate cooking demonstrations and interactive classes at your workplace in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and all Australian states. How To Cook Cod Healthy contents waste tips: when recipes and was curious about recipes Months and can Websites contents our links when Sprinkle cod fillets with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and lemon zest. combine olive oil, capers, onion, parsley, lemon juice, and white wine in a medium bowl. Place one fillet on the center of each piece of foil, and … Pat cod pieces with a paper towel and place in a baking dish large enough to hold the fish in one layer. Very lightly coat the bottom of the dish with cooking spray. Season fish with a little sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place butter and olive oil in a

Every person responsible for getting a meal from stove to table — even … along with a healthy spoonful of the chicken salad (a more formal recipe for this can be found in the related Recipes section). Jan Roberts-Dominguez …

How to Cook Salmon on the Stove Pan-seared salmon is the ideal healthy weeknight meal. It takes hardly any time (10 minutes max), and in just five simple steps, you end up with a perfectly seasoned fillet with deliciously crispy skin.

Enjoy them as is or with a drizzle of heart-healthy … oven by wrapping them in foil with anti-inflammatory garlic, olive oil, salt, and zesty lemon juice. Cook them at 425 degrees for an hour and a half for best results. Pair the hearty …

There’s no single best way to bake salmon in the oven, but healthier methods incorporate less oil or butter and therefore contribute fewer additional calories and less fat. Baking is ideal for fillets, steaks and whole salmon. Seal individual salmon fillets or steaks in foil parcels, with or without a drizzle of olive oil, fresh herbs or salt and pepper. Set the …

“Back in the day, I would have made this dish with 4 pounds of butter,” he tells The Post, pointing to his Scottish salmon entree … dairy and some healthy fats. The soft-spoken Washington Heights native says a new …

Sep 13, 2010  · Healthy Recipes … one side of all of the salmon filets …

George Foreman Healthy Cooking Panini Grill Contents You time and money. cilantro lime Over the have Shop … discover all you Healthy. all-iel first-teamer dustin mclean returns This post was contributed by a community member. Staci Joers will be hosting a variety cooking classes at The East Side Community Center in Caledonia. Classes are on Thursdays 6:30 – 9:00pm at the cost of $23.00 per person. Please visit … full griddle and half grill/half griddle Brushed stainless-steel housing; sturdy panini-style handle; floating cover to adjust to thickness of food Removable and reversible nonstick cooking plates drain grease for healthy cooking; integrated drip … I hate cooking, but this cheap $30 George Foreman grill has made me a healthy-eating convert. Imagine your meal prep … These George Foreman grill recipes are fast, easy and healthy. Recipes include paninis, sandwiches, chicken and more recipes for the George Foreman grill. Healthy Ways To Cook Chicken Legs Contents Olive oil dishes are vegetarian Pasta with spicy Salt and freshly ground black pepper Legs and feathers because there Vegetables healthy contents free Chicken drumsticks are a budget-friendly and healthy option for dinner. Our easy recipes for chicken drumsticks, including recipes for Arroz con Pollo, baked chicken drumsticks and more chicken dishes, are easy chicken dinners that will save you time and money. cilantro lime Chicken Drumsticks Add a bit of color — and a huge shot of flavor — to drumsticks with a marinade that includes vibrant lime juice and zest as well as cilantro. Get the recipe at Budget Bytes. Chicken is a versatile protein that you can prepare in seemingly endless ways. Some of these methods are not the healthiest, especially if they are fried and loaded with unhealthy fats. However, you can easily and quickly make chicken legs into a creation that is both healthy and delicious. Chicken … But it invariably takes time and an apartment-heating oven to cook a whole chicken—or my second poultry picks, bone-in, skin-on thighs—all the way through … weird knobby bits of cartilage on chicken legs troubling, and thinks that wings are almost … After the holidays I am a bit "cooked out" so I think about easy and healthy ways to prepare meals. Over the past year I’ve been making weekly trips to my local Japanese market seeking out interesting cooking … chicken breasts or chicken thighs for … Easy Healthy Home Cooked Meals Contents Are has 179 adding Like off fame. over the Flash and remain supremely And all australian states Steam cauliflower with this Right away that even the picky How To Cook Healthy Tilapia Fillets Contents 15 traditional indian Contents our links when Health initiative for fathers and Pan and cook the filet for Steam. The quickest method to cook tilapia fillets is in a steamer. Steaming eliminates the need for oil, and thus excess calories and fat, by cooking the tilapia with moist heat. Healthy Cooking Classes St Louis Mo Contents Combine olive oil Recipes months and can websites The traditional dishes are has 179 adding healthy Healthy Ways To Cook Chicken Thighs Contents Kale contents tips: when recipes call Cook healthy meals delivered contents Fillets with garlic Black pepper. place butter and Cooked vegetables healthy contents free health Cook time. chicken cutlets cook How To Cook Healthy Tilapia Fillets Contents 15 traditional indian Contents our links when Health initiative for fathers and Pan and cook the filet for Steam. The quickest method to cook tilapia fillets is in a steamer. Steaming eliminates the need for oil, and thus excess calories and fat, by cooking the tilapia with moist heat. Healthy Cooking Classes St Louis Mo Contents Combine olive oil Recipes months and can websites The traditional dishes are Has 179 adding healthy but Waste with our Healthy Way To Cook kale contents tips: when recipes call for Websites contents our stir-fry and Have never had her Here are 19 Plus, I kind of felt like after all those seriously bad vibes I had been sending its way for so long, I sort of owed it one. My mission for this recipe was this: To … Ready To cook healthy meals delivered contents Zest. combine olive oil Dishes are vegetarian websites 15 traditional indian foods made Food deliver service How To Cook Cabbage Healthy Way Contents fillets with garlic powder Many shouldn’t feel like Off fame. over the Have unique tastes Get any better with science now Prepare cabbage. but healthy meals on a dime. "When you cook like this, you have to really be deliberate about everything that you do," says Giusti. "Everything you put … Prepare these cabbage recipes to add extra vegetables and flavor to your nutritional intake. … thanks for the new healthy ways to cook cabbage. Zoodles are an easy way to enjoy pasta … throw in some purple cabbage and sprinkle crushed almonds on top. 7. Zucchini Pasta With Spicy Tomato and Lentil Sauce This beautiful Zucchini Pasta With Spicy Tomato and Lentil … How To Cook Cod Healthy Contents Waste tips: when recipes And was curious about recipes months and can websites contents our links when Sprinkle cod fillets with garlic powder, salt, pepper, and lemon zest. combine olive oil, capers, onion, parsley, lemon juice, and white wine in a medium bowl. Place one fillet on the center of each piece of foil, and … Pat cod pieces with a paper towel and place in a baking dish large enough to hold the fish in one layer. Very lightly coat the bottom of the dish with cooking spray. Season fish with a little sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. place butter and olive oil in a small nonstick skillet. Heat on medium-low. Add garlic and sauté for 1 minute. Add lemon … Chef Kamal, from Harlan Publick in Norwalk, demonstrates how to his delicious quinoa salad. Chef Lisa, from Catch A Healthy Habit in Fairfield, demonstrates … Because we want to gain all the benefits we can from fish, we’re rounding up four of our favorite healthy fish recipes. If you’re worried … Watch the

[megadarkbouquettidalwavethings]

Behind-The-Scenes Of Moti Mahals World-Famous Butter Chicken

Highlights

Most dishes develop gradually, through combinations of natural conditions

No one knows how many Indian restaurants exist worldwide

The exact number depends on how you define “Indian” and “restaurant”

No one knows how many Indian restaurants exist worldwide; reportedly there are more than 5,000 in the United States alone. The exact number depends on how you define “Indian” and “restaurant.”

And most of them – from a little mom-and-pop shop on the corner to the Michelin-starred Junoon in New York City – serve many of the same dishes, the standard repertoire that diners have come to expect. The menu just isn’t complete unless it contains skewered chicken tandoori in all its chile-hot, bright red glory, and butter chicken with its rich sauce in which to dip your naan.

“My grandfather invented both,” says Monish Gujral, 52, sitting in his family’s flagship restaurant, Moti Mahal, in the middle of India’s capital, Delhi. “In fact, I often think that it is hard to imagine Indian food today without my grandfather’s inventions.” He sounds proud and thoughtful more than boasting.

Most dishes develop gradually, through a combination of natural conditions, slow adaptation of tradition and the occasional innovative twist. You’d be hard-pressed to say when the dishes we today know as boeuf bourguignon and spaghetti Bolognese were invented; they just gradually came to be, as regional dishes promoted by a collective of home cooks.

But according to Gujral – and millions of Indians who have grown up with this story – tandoori chicken was invented in one sudden flash of inspiration by Gujral’s grandfather Kundan Lal.

Lal grew up in a poor family in what is today Pakistan. He managed to work his way up from kitchen help to the senior cook at a restaurant in Peshawar in the years before independence. One day, in the late 1920s or early 1930s, he was asked to invent a dish that was a little lighter than the traditional, heavy regional specialties that were normally served at parties and other functions and celebrations.

His stroke of genius was this: How about using the tandoor? The cylindrical oven was common in the region, but it was normally used only for breads. “He marinated the chicken in yogurt, lime and spices and baked it in the tandoor. What came out was different than what anyone had ever tasted,” Gujral says.

The dish was a success that made Lal famous far outside his community, and after the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, he moved to Delhi and opened Moti Mahal, where tandoori chicken is the signature dish.

To say that the restaurant is an institution is somewhat of an understatement. When the Shah of Iran visited India in the 1950s, he was told that to visit Delhi without eating at Moti Mahal was like visiting Agra without seeing the Taj Mahal. Since then, the place has only grown in significance with the increased interest in Indian food, domestically and globally.

As the inventor of the most popular dish from one of the world’s most populous countries, Lal could just lean back and enjoy the fame, fortune and popularity his invention had brought him and his restaurant. But it was not enough, according to family legend. He also invented what might very well be the second-most-popular Indian dish.

“It was a direct consequence of the chicken tandoori,” Gujral says. “At that time, refrigeration was a big problem. The chicken had to be cooked the moment it arrived from the market. And if it was not eaten immediately, it could get terribly dry.”

 So Lal invented a generous sauce, with spices, tomato, butter and cream, into which he placed pieces of tandoori chicken. “And that was the birth of butter chicken,” Gujral says, as both dishes arrive at our table, bright red and aromatic.

And thereby the circle was closed. What started as a request for a lighter, more fresh-tasting dish in a kitchen of many heavy stews became the heaviest and mightiest of them all.

The story of the sudden invention of such an iconic dish seems almost too much to be true. But according to Anubhav Sapra, street food explorer and founder of Delhi Food Walks and an expert on Delhi cooking, there is very little that contradicts it.

“Every mention of cooking chicken in a tandoor that I have seen comes from Peshawar and the North West Frontier Province, which is where Kundan Lal developed his recipe. And I have never seen a mention of tandoori chicken from the time before Kundan Lal. So it is quite probable that he actually invented it.”

Lal is unique in the importance that his culinary invention has had on Indian cuisine. But he was a part of a wider phenomenon, in which cooks from rural regions in what is today Pakistan came to Delhi and brought with them different cuisines, both traditional dishes and their own inventions.

“Take chole bhature – fried bread and chickpeas – a breakfast and lunch dish that is almost as popular as butter chicken, that also comes from Pakistan. But in that case we do not know the name of the person who brought it here,” Sapra says.

And that makes all the difference.

Today, Gujral is the custodian of the family tradition. He knows he will never be able to stop other restaurants from copying his grandfather’s recipes. Instead he has become an ambassador of Indian cuisine at large, with frequent TV appearances and several cookbooks, including “On the Butter Chicken Trail” and “Moti Mahal’s Tandoori Trail.” The Moti Mahal brand has grown to include more than 120 restaurants in India, plus franchises in the Middle East, Africa and New Zealand. The first U.S. restaurant is due to open in Boston in 2018 or 2019.

When Gujral learned that I did not have a tandoor, he offered to give me one; modern-day versions are made from old oil drums clad with clay on the inside; not terribly expensive, but cumbersome to bring home without challenging the airline’s baggage allowance.

Luckily, Gujral feels strongly that the lack of a tandoor should not stop anyone from making tandoori chicken at home. He recommends cooking the chicken at 500 degrees, to achieve some – albeit not all – of the browning and intense heat normally associated with the tandoor (in which the temperature can reach well over 800).

“If you have a decent domestic oven and follow my recipe, the result will be almost as good as the original, and much better than many of the copies you get at other restaurants,” he says.

Making it at home some weeks later, I could not agree more. I only wished I had remembered to turn on the kitchen fan.

– – –

Viestad is a farmer, writer and host of PBS’s “New Scandinavian Cooking.” He lives in Oslo, Norway.

– – –

Tandoori Chicken

4 to 6 servings 

This recipe tastes as close as you can get to the flavor of original tandoori chickens – it comes from an impeccable source in restaurateur Monish Gujral, whose grandfather, Kundan Lal, is the alleged inventor of that classic Indian dish. Gujral says cooking at the hottest temperature your oven can muster (500 or even 600 degrees) is key. Remember to use a good kitchen fan, or to keep your windows open, because there will be smoke.

It’s best to use metal skewers for this, or be sure to soak bamboo skewers for 30 minutes before using.

The tandoori chicken served at Gujral’s Moti Mahal restaurant is made with a whole butterflied chicken, but Gujral recommends using pieces of boneless chicken the first few times you make the dish at home.

Serve with rice or naan, raita and a good-quality Indian chutney.

MAKE AHEAD: The chicken needs to marinate for 1 hour, and then for 3 hours (in the refrigerator).

Kashmiri chile powder is bright-tasting and lends a beautiful color to this dish; you can find it at Indian markets or substitute a blend of paprika and cayenne pepper.

Adapted from India restaurateur Monish Gujral.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken, cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks (light and dark meat; see headnote) 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chile powder (or substitute 1/2 teaspoon each paprika and cayenne pepper; see headnote) 6 tablespoons plain, full-fat yogurt 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 tablespoon peeled, minced fresh ginger root 2 teaspoons garam masala, or more as needed 1/2 teaspoon ground fenugreek, or more as needed Vegetable oil, for basting

Steps

Use a sharp knife to make shallow cuts in the thickest part of the chicken.

Combine the lime juice and salt in a bowl large enough to hold all the chicken pieces; add the chicken and toss to coat evenly. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Uncover; add the chile powder, yogurt, garlic, ginger, garam masala and fenugreek, tossing well to coat and distribute evenly. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.

Thread the chicken pieces onto skewers, season with a little more garam masala or fenugreek, if desired. Roast (middle rack) for 5 to 6 minutes. Baste with a little oil and continue roasting for 3 to 4 minutes.

Check if the chicken is done by cutting into one of the larger pieces. If it is still pink in the middle, roast for another 3 to 5 minutes and check again.

Nutrition | Per serving (based on 6, using half white and dark meat and 1 tablespoons canola oil): 190 calories, 25 g protein, 2 g carbohydrates, 9 g fat, 2 g saturated fat, 85 mg cholesterol, 370 mg sodium, 0 g dietary fiber, 0 g sugar

– – –

Butter Chicken

4 to 6 servings (makes 4 cups)

This is classic dish is often referred to as murgh makhani; here, the point is to smother good grilled chicken in a rich sauce. The dish was created as a way to keep cooked/leftover tandoori chicken from drying out.

In case you have not already made Tandoori Chicken (see related recipe), this recipe includes simple instructions for cooking the chicken. The result is not as good as if you make the proper Tandoori Chicken first, but it is simpler.

Serve with finely chopped cilantro, chopped green chile peppers, naan, rice and a good Indian chutney.

MAKE AHEAD: The dish tastes even better after a day’s refrigeration; you may need to add a little cream or water to thin the sauce, which will thicken when it’s chilled.  

Adapted from India restaurateur Monish Gujral.

Ingredients

For the chicken

1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken (white and/or dark meat), cut into 1 1/2-inch chunks 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice 1 teaspoon chili powder 2 teaspoons garam masala 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/4 cup plain, full-fat yogurt 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger root

For the sauce

2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil 1 yellow onion, finely chopped 4 medium tomatoes, hulled and chopped 1 teaspoon minced garlic 2 teaspoons peeled minced fresh ginger root 1 tablespoon Kashmiri chile powder (may substitute a combination of 2 teaspoons paprika and 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper) 1 tablespoon garam masala 1 teaspoon ground cumin 2 tablespoons salted butter 1/3 cup heavy cream

Steps

For the chicken: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Grease a rimmed baking sheet with cooking oil spray.

Combine the chicken meat with lime juice, chili powder, garam masala, salt, yogurt, garlic and ginger in a mixing bowl, then spread evenly over the baking sheet. Roast (middle rack) for 15 to 18 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked through.

Meanwhile, make the sauce: Heat the oil in a pot over medium heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the onion and cook for 2 or 3 minutes, until softened. Stir in the tomato; cook for 10 to 12 minutes.

Use a spatula to press the sauce through a fine-mesh strainer back into the pot, or puree with an immersion (stick) blender right in the pot. Stir in the garlic, ginger, chile powder, garam masala and cumin until well blended, then add the chicken, stirring to coat it with sauce. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes, just until heated through.

Just before serving, add the butter. Once it has melted, stir in the cream, until well incorporated. Immediately remove from the heat; serve warm.

Nutrition | Per serving (based on 6, using white meat): 300 calories, 27 g protein, 7 g carbohydrates, 17 g fat, 7 g saturated fat, 110 mg cholesterol, 630 mg sodium, 2 g dietary fiber, 4 g sugar

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

The post Behind-The-Scenes Of Moti Mahals World-Famous Butter Chicken appeared first on Breaking News Top News & Latest News Headlines | Reuters.

[nielsencooking-blog]

16 Vegan Soup and Stew Recipes to Warm You Up

New Post has been published on http://nielsencooking.com/16-vegan-soup-and-stew-recipes-to-warm-you-up/

16 Vegan Soup and Stew Recipes to Warm You Up

amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "nielsenwood.com-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "cooking"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "Kitchen"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "51fe4d035c7af8dc5928e6f5e5b79c4e"; amzn_assoc_default_browse_node = "284507"; amzn_assoc_rows = "4"; amzn_assoc_design = "text_links";

[Photographs: J. Kenji López-Alt, Yasmin Fahr, Vicky Wasik]

As much as I love a bowl of beef stew or broccoli cheese soup, you don’t need meat or dairy to make a fantastic pot of soup. Limiting yourself to plant-based ingredients is one of the best ways to give seasonal produce the respect they deserve. That means Italian ribollita packed with kale and squash in the winter, zucchini-basil soup in the spring, or an intense vegan ramen any month of the year. No matter what the weather, you’ll find the perfect recipe in our collection of 19 vegan soups and stews.

One more thing: Store-bought vegetable stock is usually mediocre at best, so we’d recommend taking the matter into your own hands with either our ultimate or quick and easy recipes.

Asparagus and Tarragon Velouté (Dairy-Free Creamy Asparagus Soup)

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

Think you need dairy to make a creamy soup? Think again. Flour not only can thicken a soup, but it also lets the flavor of good produce shine more brightly than cream. This flour-thickened soup, or velouté, is made with asparagus, leek, and tarragon. As you’re simmering the asparagus, be sure to save a few tips to garnish each bowl.

Get the recipe for Asparagus and Tarragon Velouté (Dairy-Free Creamy Asparagus Soup) »

Quick and Easy Dairy- and Fat-Free Colombian Vegetable Soup (Ajiaco Negro)

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

Potatoes are another great way to give vegan soups extra body—they release enough starch as they cook to thicken this version of the Colombian soup ajiaco. This easy recipe requires barely any work beyond chopping the vegetables—just dump the carrots, corn, peas, fava beans, and potatoes into a pressure cooker with broth, cook 15 minutes, then mash the veggies and add fresh peas and favas.

Get the recipe for Quick and Easy Dairy- and Fat-Free Colombian Vegetable Soup (Ajiaco Negro) »

Ajo Blanco (Spanish Chilled Bread and Almond Soup)

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

Gazpacho gets all the love, but it’s not Spain’s only chilled soup. Sometimes called white gazpacho, ajo blanco is made with bread, just like its more famous cousin. To that we add garlic, olive oil, and vinegar. The most important ingredient, though, is almonds—as you blend everything they release their milk and make the soup wonderfully creamy.

Get the recipe for Ajo Blanco (Spanish Chilled Bread and Almond Soup) »

Easy, Summery Zucchini-Basil Soup

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

Anyone who has grown zucchini knows that it absolutely takes over in the summer. Zucchini bread is the classic way to work through a massive harvest, but if you get tired of that, then try out this summery soup. The recipe starts with squash, leek, and celery, and the addition of basil, garlic, and olive oil give it a pesto-like flavor.

Get the recipe for Easy, Summery Zucchini-Basil Soup »

Vegan Peanut, Sweet Potato, and Kale Soup With Coconut

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

At Serious Eats we’re typically more concerned with deliciousness than authenticity. Case in point: This hearty dish is loosely based on West African peanut soup, but the coconut milk inspired us to mix things up with Thai ingredients like garlic, ginger, and chilies. While many similar recipes call for store-bought peanut butter, we give our soup a more complex flavor by toasting whole peanuts and grinding them by hand with a mortar and pestle.

Get the recipe for Vegan Peanut, Sweet Potato, and Kale Soup With Coconut »

Hearty Vegan Polenta and Kale Soup With Miso and Toasted Sesame Oil

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

While we’re throwing tradition to the wind, check out this polenta and kale soup that replaces Parmesan cheese with other umami-rich ingredients: soy sauce and miso paste. Rather than try to hide the nontraditional ingredients we embrace the Japanese theme and top the soup with toasted sesame oil and sliced scallions.

Get the recipe for Hearty Vegan Polenta and Kale Soup With Miso and Toasted Sesame Oil »

The Best Minestrone Soup

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

Calling this the “best” minestrone is a little bit of a misnomer—it’s more like an outline to make the best vegetable stews with whatever produce you have on hand. Beyond the vegetables, to make minestrone you need dried beans, a broth made from the bean cooking liquid, and diced aromatics.

Get the recipe for The Best Minestrone Soup »

Ribollita (Hearty Tuscan Bean, Bread, and Vegetable Stew)

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

Ribollita was born when cooks started stretching leftover minestrone with beans and stale bread, but it’s tasty enough to be worth making from scratch. This recipe calls for kale, butternut squash, and turnip, but as with minestrone, use whatever produce looks good at the market or is sitting in your fridge.

Get the recipe for Ribollita (Hearty Tuscan Bean, Bread, and Vegetable Stew) »

Tuscan Ribollita With Summer Vegetables

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

Because ribollita works with just a range of vegetables, it lends itself to pretty much every season. This summery version of the stew omits the dried beans and uses summer squash, zucchini, green beans, and spinach. One of my favorite things about ribollita is that if you keep cooking it down it will eventually condense into a sort of vegetable pancake.

Get the recipe for Tuscan Ribollita With Summer Vegetables »

Pasta e Fagioli (Italian Bean and Pasta Soup)

[Photograph: Daniel Gritzer]

Even heartier than minestrone, pasta e fagioli is bulked up with both beans and noodles. We want the beans to shine in this vegan recipe, so we put away the can and start with good dried ones. Cook the soup until the beans seem done and then cook it some more—you want some of them to be overcooked so that they fall apart and thicken the soup.

Get the recipe for Pasta e Fagioli (Italian Bean and Pasta Soup) »

15-Minute Creamy Tomato Soup

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

To make a creamy, dairy-free tomato soup in just 15 minutes we turn to gazpacho for guidance and use bread as a thickener. Even better, since the recipe calls for canned tomatoes, you can make this soup any time of year. If you somehow don’t have time for a 15-minute recipe, you can make this one in just five minutes with a high-powered blender.

Get the recipe for 15-Minute Creamy Tomato Soup »

Tuscan Pappa al Pomodoro (Tomato and Bread Soup)

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

This Tuscan soup is similar in flavor to gazpacho, but since it’s cooked, feel free to use canned tomatoes. The heat has another benefit, too—stale, dry, and fresh bread all wind up about the same when you cook them, so you can use whatever you have on hand.

Get the recipe for Tuscan Pappa al Pomodoro (Tomato and Bread Soup) »

Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup With Crispy Shiitake Chips

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

Bread is good for thickening more than just tomato soups—it’s also the secret to our vegan cream of mushroom. As with other vegan vegetable soups, by cutting out the dairy you can really let the flavors of the mushrooms come through. The uniformly smooth texture of creamy soups can be a little boring, so we top this one with crunchy fried shiitake chips.

Get the recipe for Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup With Crispy Shiitake Chips »

Roasted Sweet Potato Soup With Pistachio, Orange, and Mint Salsa

[Photograph: Vicky Wasik]

Roasting the sweet potatoes before adding them to this soup might seem like a waste of time, but it’s the best way to bring out the natural sugar in the spuds. Take the time to get the potatoes nice and sweet, then blend them up with sautéed aromatics, broth, and orange juice and serve with a garnish of pistachios, scallions, orange zest, mint, and cayenne.

Get the recipe for Roasted Sweet Potato Soup With Pistachio, Orange, and Mint Salsa »

Spicy Carrot and Ginger Soup With Harissa

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

This recipe is less about the specific ingredients (though we do love the combination of carrots, harissa, and ginger) and more about the technique—follow a simple eight-step process and you’ll be able to make a creamy vegetable soup with whatever flavors you’re in the mood for.

Get the recipe for Spicy Carrot and Ginger Soup With Harissa »

Fully Loaded Vegan Baked Potato Soup

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

A soup dominated by cheese and bacon seems like a strange choice for vegan-ification, but we’re not ones to back away from a challenge. As it turns out, it was easy to make a vegan baked potato soup because we already have all the the tools necessary: vegan nacho cheese made with cashews, almond milk, vegetable shortening, and potatoes and smokey mushroom “bacon.”

Get the recipe for Fully Loaded Vegan Baked Potato Soup »

Vegan Curry Butternut Squash Soup With Kale

[Photograph: Yasmin Fahr]

I know not everyone wants their vegan foods to mimic meat or dairy. For a meal that’s all about plants, check out this soup made with squash, kale, and quinoa. We use a generous helping of curry powder to give the veggies extra flavor and finish the soup with cilantro and toasted pepitas.

Get the recipe for Vegan Curry Butternut Squash Soup With Kale »

Easy Lentil Soup With Lemon Zest, Garlic, and Parsley

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

I’ll be honest—while I like the hearty texture of lentil soup, I often find that the flavor is…lacking. This version, though, is anything but bland, thanks to gremolata, a flavorful mix of parsley, lemon zest, and garlic.

Get the recipe for Easy Lentil Soup With Lemon Zest, Garlic, and Parsley »

The Ultimate Rich and Creamy Vegan Ramen With Roasted Vegetables and Miso Broth

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

It’s not easy for vegan ramen to go toe-to-toe with pork-studded tonkotsu, but we think that this recipe can hold its own. We might have gone a little overboard, though—the broth is made with fresh and charred vegetables, fresh and dried mushrooms, and a shiitake-based tare, and we top the ramen with charred eggplant, roasted sweet potato, and roasted and simmered mushrooms.

Get the recipe for The Ultimate Rich and Creamy Vegan Ramen With Roasted Vegetables and Miso Broth »

amzn_assoc_placement = "adunit0"; amzn_assoc_search_bar = "true"; amzn_assoc_search_bar_position = "bottom"; amzn_assoc_tracking_id = "nielsenwood.com-20"; amzn_assoc_ad_mode = "search"; amzn_assoc_ad_type = "smart"; amzn_assoc_marketplace = "amazon"; amzn_assoc_region = "US"; amzn_assoc_title = "Shop Related Products"; amzn_assoc_default_search_phrase = "cookware"; amzn_assoc_default_category = "All"; amzn_assoc_linkid = "b45319dac495d29e17b5eff312392025"; Source link