#i want my blog to smell like pickle juice

[insomniamamma]

Liminal: Ezra and Cee

A/N: Contemporary AU in which Ezra becomes his niece, Cee's caretaker after an automobile accident kills his brother, Damon, and costs him his arm. Same AU as "Ferris wheels are for old people." No reader insert character, just Ezra and Cee on the road. Written for @autumnleaves1991-blog​ ‘s Writer’s Wednesday.

Warnings: Mentions of past trauma/injury. Drug references in a song. Some language. I tried to research body powered transhumeral prosthetics to get some idea of how Ezra's prosthetic arm might work, but then I fell into an overthinking morass, any inaccuracies are mine.

"Willin'" is written by Lowell George. The version referenced in the story is recorded by Linda Ronstadt.

lim·i·nal /ˈlimənl/

adjective: liminal

   1.relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process.    2.occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.

--"Willin'"--

          "’... been warped by the rain, driven by the snow,’" Cee sings along with the music rattling through the truck's speakers, "I'm drunk and dirty, don't you know. But I'm still willin'..."

        The road stretches long and straight in front of them, harsh, rust-colored land dotted with scrub under the arc of an impossibly blue sky. Ezra asked Cee to compile the playlist. You are my co-pilot for this mission, he'd told her, and as such your duties include, but are not limited to, navigator, snack supervisor and DJ. DJ? Really? Make us a playlist, Little Bird, every adventure needs some good road music. And she had really delivered.          "’...Out on the road late last night, I'd see my pretty Alice in every headlight, Alice, Dallas Alice...’"  Ezra'd expected hours of auto-tuned pop or loud screamy music where he couldn't understand the words, and while there was some of that, Cee had taken her duties as DJ very seriously, creating a huge genre-bending list that all worked together.

     He knew a lot of it. When he was still weird Uncle Ezra and not Legal Guardian Ezra, Cee made a habit of pawing through his vinyl collection when she and Damon would visit, picking a record to play and then peppering him with questions about it. Still, some of the tracks she picked surprised him, like this one, Linda Ronstadt's version of "Willin'" a road trip anthem if there ever was one, but something he didn't expect Cee to be familiar with.  On their first go through the playlist, he'd asked her, where'd you hear this one, Birdie? You remember that movie, The Abyss? It's in that movie, the director's cut though, not the theatrical cut, the theatrical cut is bullshit--and he'd just listened to her go off about all the things wrong with the theatrical cut, the movie itself he barely remembered, something about divers finding aliens underwater, he'd listened and grinned, Cee could go so quiet sometimes. It was always a relief to hear her sound alive and interested, especially after--          "’And I've been from Tucson to Tucumcari," Cee sings and Ezra joins her, "Tehachapi to Tonopah...’" Cee's voice is sweet. Ezra's voice is not, but that's never stopped him. They've got the windows down. The AC started smelling funny a couple days ago, and, in this part of the world, a breeze to evaporate the sweat is just as good as AC. Cee's hair makes a flyaway halo as they sing--          "’Driven every kind of rig that's ever been made, Driven the backroads so I wouldn't get weighed. And if you give me...’" Ezra and Cee smile at each other, suck in deep breaths for the big chorus, "’...Weed, whites and wine, and you show me a sign...And I'll be willin' to be movin'"

--Petroglyph--

       The rust colored forms on pale stone walls peer out at them. Some loom large in the foreground, others recede into the background as if the weathered rock is a portal a window into some other place that lives just below the skin of the world. The back of Ezra's neck prickles. Sometimes the world is thin. Sometimes he feels as if there is a larger world moving and shifting beneath the surface of this one. Sometimes he feels like things are happening out of order, reality stripping and skipping like a loose bicycle chain--        Cee's warm hand creeps into his, "They're a little scary, aren't they?" She says.        "Indeed they are," says Ezra, "One has to wonder what they were thinking. What they were trying to say. Are these gods in these pictures? Or just regular men?"        "Does it matter?" Asks Cee, and he jerks his head to look at her. She is utterly entranced by the red figures and sigils.        "Of course it does," he says, "You don't think so?"        "I mean, it matters, I guess, but what matters more is that people made these," she says, "People like us. People with hands. Not that Ancient Aliens bullshit." Ezra laughs. Cee squeezes his hand.        "C'mon," she says, "let's see more."

--Rest Stop--

       "Hey MOM!," a child's voice snaps Ezra out of his reverie. Cee is in the truck stop, using the restroom and restocking their snack supply. At these stops he fuels up and then gives her some cash and sets her loose inside. And then they stretch their legs and sit outside for a spell. Ezra sits at a picnic bench letting the sun hit his closed eyelids, "MOM! That guy's got a ROBOT ARM! Like WINTER SOLDIER!" Ezra opens his eyes to a little boy, maybe four with a bunch of curly hair and big eyes, pointing at him.        "Daniel!" His mother hisses, and pinches at his arm, "That's rude. I'm so sorry. Danny, what did I tell you about staring--"        "Ma'am? It's quite alright, Ma'am," says Ezra, and hunkers down so he's eye level with the little boy.        "Hi there," he says, "Daniel, is it? I'm Ezra." He offers his right arm, the double hook at the end open, titanium alloy padded with silicone. Daniel solemnly grips the hooks and shakes.        "You've got stickers!" Says Daniel, and for a second Ezra is confused, and then he grins, looking down at the bedecked black plastic of his prosthesis. He stands.        "My girl decided that I must have a sticker for every state we stop in," says Ezra, he stands and smiles at Daniel's mom, "Like an old steamer trunk. I'm afraid I didn't catch your name--"        Cee steps out of the air-conditioned cavern of the truck stop, slits her eyes against the brightness of midday sun glittering up from the concrete, plastic bags full of crap-snacks and energy drinks threaded over her arms. Ezra handed her a couple twenties and told her to go nuts. Re-supply runs have turned into their own sort of game. She always grabs the usual stuff, chips and Snickers bars and Paydays (Ezra has an absolute weakness for Paydays. They don't taste like they used to, he'd griped, but that didn't stop him from eating them), but somewhere along the line, Cee decided to turn this into a battle of the wills. Her unspoken mission is to find something so utterly weird at one of these stops that Ezra won't eat it. So far, she has been unsuccessful. The closest thing was an aloe juice and cucumber drink that smelled amazing, but felt like swallowing cold snot. That one was a draw. She has high hopes for the dill pickle-sriracha gummy worms nestled in the bottom of the bag. The packaging looked like Christmas in hell. More important than the snacks is the plain, flat paper bag she holds.                                                                                     Ezra's near the picnic benches chattering at some lady with a kid. Menace, she thinks, but smiles. Ezra was always the extrovert before, and it's good to him smiling so big and open in the sunshine, making friends with random people at a truck stop. She sees an echo of her and him before, when she and Dad would visit when she was small and he'd tell her some outrageous tale and she'd say Uncle Ezra, you're so weird, and he'd scoop her up and swing her around, planting a prickly kiss on her cheek and saying oh, little bird, you have no idea, and this always made Dad laugh.

       "Oh, Ez-ra," Cee calls, and when he turns, he sees her devilish grin, holding a small brown paper bag up beside her face like it's contraband, "Look what I found."         "So I get to witness the sacred stickering?" Asks Ezra's new friend.        "Indeed you do," says Ezra, "This is Cee. Cee, meet Jody, and that little man playing in the dirt there is Daniel."        "Nice to meet you," says Cee, "Stick your arm out, old man."        "Don't you want to document this momentous occasion?"        "Oh, right," Cee pulls out her phone, "Hey, uh, miss Jody? Can you take some video? I got it all set up."        "Cee is documenting our adventures for posterity," says Ezra. He extends his prosthetic, already covered in overlapping ovoids, enough that they are starting to resemble dragon scales, "What do you think?" Cee and Daniel circle round.        "How bout here?" asks Daniel, tapping just above the articulated elbow.        "That's a good spot," says Cee and peels the sticker from it's backing with a flourish. She smiles up at her phone recording in a stranger's hand, "We have now infiltrated the state of Nevada," she grins, "Evil-doers beware."        "Yeah!" Says the little boy, pudgy hands planted on his hips for the benefit of the camera, "Or Winter Soldier will KICK YOUR ASS!"        "Daniel!"

--Stars--

       Cee wakes in the dead of night, disoriented, a darkness so thick that for a moment she's not sure where she is, and then she hears Ezra's rhythmic snoring off to her side, reaches out and brushes fabric of the tent and lays back, puzzled, muscles pleasantly sore from a day spent scrabbling up and down eroded granite boulders that looked like they belonged on Mars or Tatooine, walking trails and marveling at the strange ecology of the high-desert, so unlike back home. Bad dream? She wonders, probably. She feels her eyes getting heavy, feels herself lulled by Ezra's sleep sounds, snores punctuated by mumbles. Sometimes full sentences, his side of whatever dream-conversation he's having. Probably has no idea he does it--        Cee sits bolt upright, hands clutched in fists against her chest, a high-pitched wail cuts the cold night, a sound like a woman screaming, and another wail threads through the first, so loud it could be right outside the tent, and then a sound like gruesome laughter. The back of her neck prickles and her heart pounds in her throat. She tells herself that it's just some wild animal making noise, some desert bird maybe, but wasn't the California desert the last known home of the Manson family? Maybe not this desert, but still--        "Ezra," she hisses, and he mumbles something incoherent, "Ezra, wake up!" She reaches and pokes him hard, "Ezra!"        "Whazzit birdie?"        "Listen!" The screams rise and fall again like something from a horror movie.        "s'just coyotes," says Ezra, "probly next county over. They don't hurt people, they're just loud."        "You sure?"        "Go back to sleep, Cee."

       "Ezra," He's dreaming, some place with Joshua trees the size of skyscrapers, spiked limbs under a red sky. Cee's with him somewhere in the bloodlight but he can't see her, just hears her calling--        "Ezra!" He blinks awake, the red sky receding. Cee is shaking him.        "Yuh. M'awake birdie,"        "I gotta pee," she says.        "You know where the outhouses are, just right down the trail,"        "I'm not going by myself! Not with those things out there!" Ezra pushes himself up and shakes his head, blinking the sleep from his eyes. He can just make out Cee's form against the faint light of the sky leaking through the tent.        "Alright, just gimme a second," he says.        "I'll get the light,"        "We don't need it," he says.        "Ez-"        "We got night eyes now," he says, "No light pollution out here. You'll see."

       Ezra stands transfixed in the chill dark, head cocked upward. The more he looks, the more he can see. More stars than he's ever seen in his life spread across the vast inverted bowl of the sky, no summer haze out here, no light-wash from streetlights. He is dizzy with it, the vast sweep of the sky, and as he stares and his eyes adjust further, he can see the arm of the Milky Way angled across the black, can actually see the dark band of dust threaded through the silver-blue light. He doesn't hear the outhouse door shutting, doesn't notice Cee beside him until she folds his hand into hers.        "Look up, Little Bird," he breathes and it feels like a prayer, his heart suddenly full, squeezing in his chest, Cee small and warm next to him.        "Oh, wow," she says, barely a whisper, "That's the Milky Way isn't it?" Tears blur the stars and fall hot against his cheeks.        "It is." He looks at her, her face upturned, cheeks and hair frosted in star shine, limning her eyes, her smile. They've lost so much, him and Cee, but they've gained each other, and that's not nothing is it?        "We're so small," says Cee, "Us. People. This whole planet. All of us. We're just a little dot." Ezra smiles in the dark, even as tears dry in his lashes. He squeezes her fingers in his.        "C'mon, let's get back in the tent before we freeze."

--Hoodoo--

       Cee sleeps in the passenger's seat. She'd helped break camp and pack everything up even though it was early for her. They had spent an extra night in Joshua Tree and now had to make up the difference. It's time to go home. There are things he wants to do before Cee goes back to school, things they need to take care of. So he woke them early, promising Cee that she could sleep in the car as long as she needed. She'd helped him get ready, half-peeling a couple candy bars and putting them were he could easily reach.        "You want the playlist?" She asked, "I can get it going."        "Not right now. I want some quiet."          “'Kay," and Cee was asleep before they were to the next mile marker.

       Hoodoos rise on either side of the highway, striated red cliffs against the slowly lightening sky, cut into improbable formations by long gone rivers, thin spires topped with boulders, first glints of sun hitting the higher cliffs while everything else still exists in that liminal space between day and night. Ezra glances over at Cee, hair in a messy halo, face slack in sleep, cheeks sun-reddened and newly freckled, closed eyes moving, dreaming. Ezra thinks of those first days, wracked with pain and trying to navigate the new, dark-shrowded territory of her and him, each of them crippled by loss, each willing to lash out at the other. Ezra thinks of how far they've come since then, uncurling like relaxing fists and learning to be with each other. They drive into the dawn and the first bit of light touches her hair, turning it to fire. She shifts in her sleep, turning away from that first hint of sun. He doesn't know if she's awake or not.        "I love you, Cee."        "Love you to, Ez," she murmurs and settles back into sleep. Ezra looks out over hoodoo country spread red tinged and stark against the rising light, the miles of road ahead. We're gonna be ok, he thinks and means it.

#writer wednesday #ezra prospect #cee prospect #contemporary AU #ezra and cee

[dashboardcat]

I Try One of Everything at Salt City Market (Part 2)

Remember like 3 weeks ago when I did a write-up of a food hall in my hometown, guaranteed to attract the attention of like, 2 people?  Well, it’s time for more of that! 

Attempt #1

While there wasn’t a line outside this time, the market itself seemed just as busy as it was the day after the grand opening.  I also tried to make a point to take in more of the decor, but I don’t think I really have anything new to add other than the fact that I watched not one but two people struggle to stuff the big paper bags their food came in into the trendy, tiny-opening trash cans.  More importantly, I forgot that like, half of the stands are closed on Mondays, meaning I would have to come back another time to finish my quest. 

ERMA’S ISLAND- Jerk Pork (half portion)- $10

I want to say right off the bat that of all the things I’ve tried from this market, this was hands down the best smelling.  And thankfully, the pork pretty much tasted as good as it smelled.  It was tender and juicy, and the sauce was complex, with a good amount of heat that didn’t overpower the other flavors.  The rice and beans that it came with, on the other hand, was a little bland, but that’s nothing that mixing the sauce into can’t fix.  

Unfortunately, I can never show my face there again, because when the cashier asked me if I wanted the half or whole portion, I said “Yeah,” and made her repeat herself like 3 times.

MAMMA HAI- “Marco Polo” Banh Mi- $10

Yes, that’s pepperoni on a banh mi.

The roll was nice and crusty, and to be honest, that’s like 90% of what makes a good sandwich for me.  Unfortunately, the pickled veggies and cilantro (and this blog is pro-cilantro, get over yourselves, haters) sort of overpowered the pepperoni and the char siu pork, which is a shame because I wanted that pepperoni to shine.  If this was a $5 banh mi, I wouldn’t have a problem with that, but at $10 I would have liked a little more meat, or at least for the already existing meat to make its presence felt.  The pate and mayo kinda also get lost, but do present a bit of richness in about every other bite (and, for another controversial sandwich opinion, I don’t necessarily think that every bite of a sandwich has to have an even distribution of everything, otherwise the flavors sort of just blur together after a while).  Overall, it’s a fairly decent sandwich, but left me longing for something more.  They also have a curry chicken banh mi, maybe that one has a better balance of flavor.

CAKE BAR- Locus Cake- $6.50

One thing about Cake Bar that isn’t made apparent by looking at their stand is that, according to their website, it’s meant to resemble a Vietnamese cafe.  In hindsight, this kinda explains the wide variety of specialty teas (specialteas, if you will) they also had available.

The chocolate cake was moist and had little crispy bits running throughout it.  At first, I thought it was eggshells, because I’m an idiot and always assume the worst.  After picking out an especially large chunk, I realized it was broken up bits of Biscoff cookies! (Further research has shown me that the parent company that makes Biscoff cookies is called Locus, thus, y’know, the name of the cake.  Probably should have put that together sooner, it literally says “Locus” on the cookie, one of which was lodged into the top of the cake.)  The buttercream was surprisingly light, and the caramel on top had the perfect consistency, gooey enough to stay put but not so gooey that it turned into a stringy mess after running your fork through it.  The only negative thing I really have to say about the all-around experience was that the box they used made it kind of difficult to get the slice out of it (as you can see, I ended up just tearing the sides up).

Attempt #2 

Since the market is relatively close to my work, I figured I would drop by after work one day to bang out the rest of the list.

BAGHDAD RESTAURANT- Beef Shawarma- $6.99

At first, I laughed to myself upon seeing it in one of those gas station sub bags.  The laughing faded pretty quickly, though, upon seeing it was, in fact served on a sub roll. I'm not a shawarma expert. maybe that can be an acceptable way to eat it? The beef was well spiced and that perfect sweet spot between tender and still having something to sink your teeth into.  Unfortunately, that’s more or less where my compliments end.  What little sauce the menu promised (just called “sauce,” don’t ask me what it is) has soaked into the bread and completely disappeared, making the whole thing somewhat dry and lackluster.  Also, they didn’t cut it, which was fine with the heartier banh mi’s baguette but with the softer sub roll didn’t have the structural integrity to be picked up whole without a struggle.  My biggest gripe with it is mostly on me, though, as the juice from the pickles tainted most of it with pickle stank, which could have been avoided entirely if I had just ordered it without.  

SOULUTIONS- Mustard and Berbere Fried Chicken ($6) and FIRE MAC ($4)

(Note- the $6 order of chicken comes with 2 of these chicken cutlets, but I carelessly ate one before taking the picture.)

I do want to clear the air here and say that yes, I did accidentally order fried chicken and mac and cheese from both of the soul food places.  I was originally going to get the burger, at my friend’s recommendation, but the menu board by the register suspiciously didn’t have the burger on it, so I panicked and ordered the fried chicken again.  

While the breading was stained yellow from mustard, the honey mustard taste was very subtle.  I also have to admit to not knowing off the top of my head what berbere (I had to google it, it’s an Ethiopian spice blend) tastes like, so i can't tell you if this tasted like that.  But, despite not being especially strong in either of the namesake seasonings, it definitely is a flavorful piece of chicken nonetheless.  Flavors work that way sometimes.

The Fire Mac may not have delivered as strongly on cheese as I may have liked, but it definitely did deliver on the fire, drizzled with a tangy buffalo-esque sauce.  And Topped with crumbled bits of fried chicken skins? Can’t go wrong with that.

JUICE AND FLOWERS- “Root | 12” Juice- $8

Misleading name, I didn’t see any flowers anywhere.  Zero stars. 

The beet and lemon were the most pronounced of the flavors, with the ginger lingering on the palate and, unsurprisingly, the apple and carrot mostly being there to round the whole thing out.  The employee that waited on me was very passionate and knowledgeable about the juice, informing me that 2 pounds of produce had gone into this little bottle, and that it’d have a shelf life of 3-5 days.  Which is good, because I put it back in the fridge after I got home to chill it back down, and then proceeded to forget about it for 3 days.  It’s also a very thick and hearty juice, so it doesn’t feel that weird to only want to drink half a bottle in one sitting and, y’know, make this $8 bottle of juice last a little longer. 

Attempt #3

Knowing fully well that I was going to have a long night shift ahead of me, I decided to check out the Coffee Bar side of the market for what would be my third trip over the course of 5 days.  I feel like I should also point out that the Coffee Bar, as its name literally breaks down as, serves coffee during the day and a full bar at night.  I also noticed during this visit that the Coffee Bar has a patio seating area under construction, cheesy string lights and all, that I am looking forward to.

Fruity Pebbles Latte- $6

Against my best judgement, I got it “for here” for the sake of the pic, even though a.) I had to break my rule of not eating in places because this fucking pandemic isn’t over yet and b.) I was nervous about being late for work the whole time (I did, in fact, get there on time).  As I waited, I could see their secret recipe fruity pebbles milk sitting on the counter.  It was, in fact, fruity pebbles and milk.  

I didn’t really think the Fruity Pebbles would work with the espresso, having had been burned before by places that just dump them onto things with no regard of the flavor profile just for the sake of the burst of color.  But, somehow… it did work.  Maybe it’s because cereal milk is never quite as strong as some might hope, but the subtle fruitiness of the milk played well with the chocolatey notes in the espresso.  The espresso itself probably also had the best crema on it that I’ve ever seen on a latte (and yes, I had to google the pretentious espresso-snob term for the foam that floats to the top).

Also shoutout to the pour over, which on their menu board is priced at "4-ish"

I’m so glad I’m living with my parents again at the moment.  Otherwise, this whole thing would’ve been like, a month’s worth of my food budget.

#food #restaurant reviews #salt city market

[leightonshea]

Ancestral Foods on the Family Table

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I am an ex-vegetarian turned ancestral eater. I was a vegetarian for nearly 10 years, with waves of intermitted veganism. My concept of ‘healthy’ had moral roots for me, but terribly muddled with misinformation. I felt as if the food was green it would be the healthiest for me. I felt my body’s cravings and hunger cues were flawed. Fat needed to be strictly monitored. Any smoothie would heal me (especially if it was green). I also felt that dairy was bad. These are just a few assumptions I now realize that I held onto for numerous years, assumptions that ultimately led to my current health complications.

I believe what I most lacked was the concept of nourishment. A nourishing bowl of hot soup, made with a vitamin-rich broth, on a cold day. Of homemade full-fat yogurt with fresh local fruit. Fresh fruit with cream. A slow cooked stew with lots of bones and root vegetables. Butter with sautéed vegetables. Deep-root nourishment. I had muddied my concept of health with an excess of green salads, that my body did not crave, and therefore let to binges on calorie dense foods such as peanut butter (for those of you who know me well), or vegan baked goods. My diet swung between nervous extremes. Extreme ‘health’ to confused binges and cravings.

Upon arriving to Patagonia, my diet radically changed. There was no abundance of kale and greens for giant salads. Breakfast was farm fresh eggs, lunch was salad (yes) with some form of meat, carrots, potatoes, onions, lard, broth, etc. And dinner similar. I was lucky to always have access to fresh whole-wheat bread instead of the white bread Chilean staple. But my diet changed. And as the long-day Patagonia summer began to shorten and leaves were shed in a brilliant array of colors, my body craved…

Nourishment.

Cazuela, as they say here. A soup based on lots of bones, with a little meat, peas, potatoes, carrots, squash. Hot, nourishing. A roast in the oven. A cut of meat with extra fat. I wanted the very extreme I had so long avoided and demonized.

Luckily enough this change in season and diet coincided with my introduction to the Weston A. Price foundation. Therefore I was learning the exact knowledge I needed to support myself and understand why I felt so much better getting these nutrients my body required.

And I haven’t gone back.

And now, as a Patagonia-living-farming-lady-mama, ancestral foods are the center of our home. The heart of our home. I dedicate my time to producing and preserving our fresh produce. My husband is in charge of our animals, or working in exchange for animals so we always have animal products.

I will start with the butchering of the sheep. If it is a lamb, we can catch the blood from the knife wound and made a Chilean delicacy called ñachi. It’s the fresh blood mixed with salt, basil, cilantro, and lemon juice. It has to be eaten within 10 minutes of buttering the animal, and ONLY works with lambs, not sheep.

The animal is skinned, and hung. We open up the rib cage and all of the organs fall out. We always save the kidneys, heart, stomach, fat, and liver. The rest we bury.

We cut up the meat, portion it off, and freeze everything. We always eat the head the same day  the animal is butchered. While Roman prepares the head for cooking in the oven, I start chopping up the extra suet (fat from the internal cavity of the animal) to render, which ultimately we use for cooking and for skin care products for the family (soaps and creams). Sheep fat is the most saturated of all animal fats, meaning that it is extremely stable for cooking. As well this suet if a great source of palmitoleic acid, which is strongly antimicrobial. Thus the first ancestral food home-basic is created. The sheep fat.

Now with the rest of the animal I can elaborate so many different dishes. In the pressure pot I can throw in some t of meat with bones, some fava peas, peas, garlic, carrots, squash potatoes (all from the garden), cook it about 30 minutes, and quala! Dinner. I can also slice up the heart or liver and sauté them in a pan with garlic and onions, perhaps some mustard seeds. I can cook a cut of meat in the oven with lots of vegetables. I will focus on specific recipes in another blog post based on requests from my readers.

The next preparation is the bone broth. I can use the sheep bones, however they are quite small for the amount of broth I like to make. Therefore I take a biweekly trip to the local butcher and ask for ‘los huesos blanco’, which generally correspond to the elbows and knees of the animals. The bones appear to have no meat, and just be tendons and such. But after cooking for 4 hours or so in the pressure pot, they separate into many tiny tiny bones and loose cartilage and collagen. This bone broth is then the basis for soups, used to cook beans and grains, or sipped in mug on cold days. High in protein and fat, and stock full of glycine- an amino acid special for healing our digestive tract. And for that very reason it pairs so well with grains and legumes, because it makes them much more digestible, and nutrient dense.

The organ meats can be prepared in many different forms. For the weak-of-heart, they can be made into ground meat (the liver, kidneys, and heart) with other cuts from the animal. Usually I just soak the organ in water with vinegar in the fridge for a few hours. Then, I slice it up extra fine and cook them up in the pan with sheep lard, lots of garlic, and a mix of whatever vegetables I have. If the flavor is still too strong to pass I add a bit of sauerkraut or carrot pickles to each bite. Recently I had the guts (haha) to start cooking with tripe, which is the edible stomach wall of the animal. This part had to be cleaned very well, and boiled with a bit of baking soda to help with the smell. After about 20 minutes of boiling, the stomach is ready. At this point, I just chop up the tripe super fine and whip up some curry, or bolognaise sauce.

Now I will mention a couple ferments always present in the family home, sauerkraut and fermented-pickles. Both very simple to prepare. Full of probiotics, digestive enzymes, and bio-available vitamins. We consume ferments every day, and our bodies now crave their very flavor. There nothing like a medium-rare steak, topped with mustard-seed sauerkraut and fresh parsley. Mmmm! Or Lentils cooked in bone broth and tomatoes topped with grated pickles ginger-carrots. There is always some lacto-fermented vegetable on the table. Fermenting our vegetables is also a necessary job because the summer months are fleeting and we need to make the harvest last the whole winter ideally. Therefore I produce lots of cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, and garlic. They all preserve well through pickling.

Kefir is the other indispensable food on our family table. As they call it here in Patagonia, ‘yogur de pajaritos’. Also dangerously easy to prepare. This yogurt ferments quickly, so every day I filter the yogurt out of the jar, and feed the kefir grains new milk. This yogurt will either be used for breakfast, made into a smoothie later, a creamy salad dressing, mixed into soups, or eaten with fruit for dessert. I made a liter because I know that between the three (sometimes four) of us, we can consume it daily.

Those are my most essential food-preparations for nourishing the family. There are many other important preparations, but when I think about my journey from vegetarianism to ancestral eating, these were the foods that most healed and nourished me (as well I felt good morally consuming these bits of the animal that normally go to waste). However, my healing journey continues, therefore I am always open to advice and comments. The knowledge is to share! If you are curious about any specific preparations, send me a message and I will try to do a blog post addressing any of those.

Cheers!

#westonaprice #nosetotail #wapf #ancestralfood #integrativenutrition #healthcoach

[negasonicimagines]

Middle of Somewhere

request: Can I please request an imagine? Reader is dating Ellie, but Ellie doesn't know that readers dad is wade until she leaves her phone in the same room as Ellie when she's getting coffee for them both. And Ellie sees her getting a call from. "Dadpool" You can choose the ending but I think that would be funny.

synopsis: A little after Deadpool, but significantly before Deadpool 2, you and Ellie have a mostly-quiet morning. | Middle of Somewhere - The Neighbourhood

author’s note: I loooove this request and have been waiting forever for the right time to write it! Sorry it’s short, I just didn’t wanna overdo it. (...Which I think is my worst habit on this blog, especially when Wade’s thrown into the mix because he’s such an layered character and- See what I mean?)

warning(s): none! except, well, it’s Deadpool...

It’s a lazy Saturday morn-noon, and you’re gazing at Ellie’s sleeping face. She looks so peaceful like this, not faking anger or indifference or any of that. Just… Resting. You’re tempted to stroke her cheek, but she stirs, likely feeling your stare.

“Morning…” she hums, pulling you closer to her and pressing her face into your chest. “Hmm… Nice.”

You giggle at the way her inhibitions are lowered by her drowsiness and her knowledge that you feel for her what she feels for you.

“Good morning, sugarbear,” you reply, wrapping your arms around her neck.

“Sugarbear?” she questions, looking up at you sleepily.

“Yeah,” you confirm, so matter-of-factly that she has to bury her face again to avoid showing the amusement (or embarrassment) there.

“I’m not even gonna bother arguing.”

“That’s for the best,” you joke back, rubbing her back.

“Need coffee,” she mumbles into you, nuzzling.

“Mmkay... Gotta let me go for that,” you remind her, and she groans in complaint.

“Fine… But be back soon,” she orders, and you scoff as you slide out of her grip and put a bra on under her tee shirt, also putting on a pair of sweatpants.

“I’ll be right back,” you promise her, sliding on your unicorn slippers and going downstairs. There’s already a pot on; there’s a couple of communal coffee-making machines in the kitchen. You get Ellie’s “Life’s a Cunt” mug - as well as your own “World’s Best Grandpa” mug - before making your hot chocolate, waiting for the coffee in one of the machines to finish brewing.

Little do you know about the conversation that’s occurring in your room.

When your phone rang, Ellie answered it for you without even looking, knowing it was either a call you wouldn’t want to miss or a telemarketer she could fuck with.

“Are you okay, Y/N? You sound sick,” Deadpool replies, and she looks at the contact name. Dadpool. She prays to every god - or godlike being - she knows exists (Thor, Loki, the works) that it’s a spelling error.

“What the fuck?” Ellie blurts, suddenly a lot less groggy.

“Negasonic Teenage The Author Can’t Come Up With A Clever Joke, is that you?”

“I... I think?”

“Cool, cool, nice to hear from you. Next question: Why the fuck are you answering my daughter’s phone?”

“Your… Daughter?” Her voice squeaks a little at the confirmation.

“Yeah. My daughter.”

What a pickle Ellie’s gotten herself into, she realizes at his deadly tone. She sighs in relief when you enter.

“Your dad’s on the phone,” she quickly informs you.

“Oh, thanks, babe. Trade me.” Ellie hands you your phone and you give her the coffee. “Good afternoon, Dadpool, what couldn’t you say over text?” you ask. “...Uh, yeah, she’s my girlfriend. ...No, no, she is Ellie, you don’t need to kill anyone. ...Yes, she is capable of human emotion, Dad. ...You wish I got it from you! ...Wow, really? Congrats! ...Yeah, I guess, but I figured you’d be inviting her anyways based on what she’s told me. ...Okay, cool. Congratulations, again. I love you too. Okay, bye.”

“So, what was that about?”

“Oh, Dad’s finally marrying Vanessa. We’re invited,” you explain, settling back into bed with your hot chocolate.

“Uh-huh, yeah, about that… Were you ever gonna tell me your dad’s Deadpool?” Ellie wonders, glad the situation turned out for the best but a little concerned.

“Nope. Figured it’d be a lot more entertaining for you to figure it out on your own after all those snarky little comments you made,” you tell her. Also, you seem to hate him and I’m fifty-percent him and that was super daunting, you think.

“The fact that I didn’t sooner is astounding.” Looking back on your relationship and the friendship before, it’s obvious. You’re so much like Wade, and you even look kinda like him - from what she remembers of the brief times she’s seen him unmasked, at least.

“Aw, it’s okay, I like ‘em a little dumb,” you tease, squishing one of her cheeks between your thumb and finger.

“I will slaughter you,” she emptily threatens you, and you giggle.

“Drink your coffee first, before it gets cold,” you remind her with a slight smirk, and she just rolls her eyes, sipping at the wake-up juice. The teasing aspect of your smile fades, and your loving stare brings a heat to her cheeks that she wishes she could pretend was the coffee.

Vulnerability is hard for you both, but in the moments of rare simplicity you get as X-Women, it’s hard not to be tender with each other while you can; away from the prying eyes of friends and foes. 

She smells chocolate and can’t help but smile at the realization that you’ve got a marshmallow in your cup. Probably for the best. Deadpool’s daughter? High on caffeine? But she shuts those thoughts down within herself quickly. You’re still the same girl she loves but can’t say she loves. (Not yet.)

“You’re such a child,” she remarks - no malice intended; it’s code for “You’re so adorable,” you’re aware.

“You’re pretty insensitive for such an S-J-W. Peter Pan Syndrome is hereditary, don’t be ableist,” you retort, and her heart is a warm flower blooming with affection - not that she’d ever make that obvious. She hints at it, though, by pressing her lips to yours.

You’re usually so annoyingly stubborn, with the smallest of things, but when she kisses you - when she touches you at all, other than sparring  - you immediately give in. It’s a brief, but intimate kiss, and you sigh afterwards, taking a long drink of your hot chocolate.

Today’s going to be a great day.

#fluff #dadpool #negasonic teenage warhead #negasonic x reader #negasonicteenageimagines #negasonic teenage warhead x reader #negasonic teenage warhead imagine #Ellie Phimister #ellie phimister imagine #ellie phimister x reader #X-men #x-men fanfiction #x-men imagine #X-men x reader #marvel #marvel fanfiction #marvel imagine #marvel x reader #sapphic fanfic #wlw x reader #wlw imagine #songfic (sorta) #deadpool #deadpool 2

[hotarutranslations]

Satoyoshi Utano "20 Questions 20 Answers" Haro Puro Love Talk!

In 2018, we’re having a celebration of the Hello! Project 20th Anniversary (Hello Love). For the members who belong to Hello! Project, their thoughts on the 20th anniversary activities and enthusiasm for 2018, thoughts of an everyday idol, we had a passionate “20 questions 20 answers” talk~ This time its BEYOOOOONDS Satoyoshi Utano!!

  Satoyoshi Utano = Born September 22nd, 2000. Hometown Tokyo.

 Q1: Tell us the meaning of your name! My name is Utano, and my older sister also has a music related name with 3 hiragana characters. I really love music; I grew up listening to western music and R&B. They had wanted a music-related name, so its like there were 3 character candidates to match with my sister. I don’t have memory of it, but on the day I was born there was a feature for a woman who  had turned 100, and it seems she said her name was Utano-san. To live well and long, I heard it they felt they wanted me to enjoy my life.

Q2: What senior are you aiming towards?

 Morning Musume ‘19’s Oda Sakura-san and, Angerme’s Nakanishi Kana-san. I have a thing for voices, Oda-san’s voice is all-mighty. With a clear voice it can be cute or cool-like. She changes her voice is like magic, its really amazing. Also I really like how Oda-san thinks. I think the way she thinks about idols and herself is cool; I respect her as an idol and also as a girl. Nakanishi-san is really a stoic hard-worker. For Nakanishi-san and myself, without being in Hello! Project Kenshuusei we joined Hello! Project. I knew of Nakanishi-san from since she underwent the auditions, and although there were those that had been Kenshuusei in her generation she would tackle things with a smile even though they were difficult. She is cute and cool with a good style range, I think its wonderful how her various charms come out.

 Q3: Who would you want to be reborn as?

 Angerme’s Kamikokuryo Moe-san. Visually, her clear voice, and with her atmosphere, I like everything. I also like her kind of face! Also, I had the opportunity to sing an Angerme song in the Hello! Project concert shuffle corner, and I was in charge of Kamikokuryo-san’s part. I wasn’t able to do it well but, Kamikokuryo-san taught me “Watch this video” and “Do it in this way”. During rehearsals she would say “the dialogue you did just now was good!”, I was thankful and happy that she would do those things casually. I think I’d also like to become a senior like that.

 Q4: What are you the best at in Hello! Project?

 I think what I’m absolutely number one in, is my love for the things that I love. There are various things like animals and women crime scene investigators and precure. Also making accessories, I can’t lose in my hands dexterity! But, I want to be the best at dancing. It’s absolutely dancing.

 Q5: Tell us something amazing about Hello! Project!

 Its broad. I think Hello! Project is an established genre, its not just cute or cool songs, in a different vector as there are a variety of songs like play-like songs and exciting songs. Since there is no end to each songs dancing, singing or expressions, that there is cool. Since Hello! Project lives are really cool, I think that is a charm.

 Q6: Who would you want to be in a Hello! Project special unit with?

 There are a variety I’d want do it with, I’d like to dance with those who are good at dancing! Also, I’d want to sing a cute song with Yokoyama Reina-san (Morning Musume ’19), Kawamura Ayano-san (Angerme), Ozeki Mai-san (Country Girls), Shimakura Rika-chan and Okamura Minami-chan (BEYOOOOONDS)!

 Q7: Tell us a BEYOOOOONDS song you like!

“Megane no Otoko no Ko” is fun! Since its like its made for a play, there is a proper development in the lyrics and story. Therefore, I think I’d want you to enjoy the differences in expressions from the beginning to the end. Its easy to get into the emotions, I really like it.

 Q8: What is a Hello! Project song you like?

Hm—There are a lot--! I really like a lot of them but, what I’m into now is Tsubaki Factory-san’s “Fuwari, Koi Dokei” and Juice=Juice’s “Borderline”. Seeing them at the Harocon rehearsals, I ended up getting into them.

 Q9: What is the difference between current and previous Hello! Project?

 When I look at the fans, and I also feel that the groups characteristics are more clearly visible. That is to say it feels like cute songs are for Country Girls-san, and pure songs are for Tsubaki Factory-san.

 Q10: Other than yourself, who would you recommend as an oshi?

 Everyone as a whole (laughs). Since the personalities are really scattered around, there is definitely a girl you’d come to like in Hello. You’ll definitely find the girl you like! Within BEYOOOOONDS there is also an explosion of personality but, Maeda Kokoro-chan! I have a thing for voices so its come out that I like her voice (laughs). Now Maeda Kokoro-chan has a boyish character, but there are many parts of her that are girl-like. She’s able to be really attentive and kind, I think you’ll end up falling in love with her.

 Q11: What do you want us to see most from yourself?

 Its dance after all. Since I like creating my own choreography, I think from now on it’d be nice to put out those kinds of things. Also my voice. I have a complex about it but, I’ve entered a world where I’ve been told a lot “your voice is characteristic” and “what a nice voice”.  I’ve also come to really like singing. I had made a wall for myself that I wasn’t suited for singing, but that isn’t the case, and I came to want to try work where I’d use my voice. Just listening to songs, it’d make me happy if you came to think “isn’t that Satoyoshi?”.

 Q12: What is work you want to challenge?

 Something in relation with my voice and choreography. Also since I like makeup, I’d like to try something related to beauty! Making someone pretty, like producing the members or something. Like what colors look good on the members, I’d want to do something with that kind of atmosphere.

 Q13: What do you want us to see most from BEYOOOOONDS?

 There are a lot of us who are good at expressions in plays, I’d want you to see that. If we’re doing a cute song there are those who are good with that, but there are also those who are the best at cool songs. We can do everything! That’s what I want you to see. Including the retro feel, I want you to see that.

 Q14: What will you be doing in 20 years?

 I think I’ll be continuing dancing and being in plays. I’ve been trying various things since I was small, and these are two things that I haven’t gotten tired of. Therefore, surely I’ll be continuing with it, I also don’t think I’ll want to stop. Also like my pretty older sister, I want to become a wonderful woman. Now I feel like I’m still an 18-year-old; I think I’ll want to grow as a woman.

 Q15: Since it’s the 20th anniversary, tell us a secret! I’ve pretty much said my secrets (laughs). Every morning I wake up early and when I return home, and before bed, I smell my dog Omochi-kun while spinning around (laughs). They’re a Maltese, I’m already in love with them. But, I don’t like others doing it. I don’t think I can show the level of disgust I get to towards that (laughs).

 Q16: What do you want to be able to do after a year?

 I want to grow with singing. Now that’s my biggest challenge. I’m inexperienced in how to use my own voice, it feels like I’m learning while fumbling around. I think I want to do my best to become good at singing.

 Q17: What would you be doing if you weren’t an idol?

 Originally I didn’t plan on going to school. I began the audition in May, at that time I had decided to find a job with Hello!. I wonder what would have happened, with dancing and plays, I think I’d be doing my best to be active with them.

 Q18: What are you most into right now?

 There is a lot but, pickled vegetables. I’m also into vinegar rice rolls. I’ve made them at home, but I’ll buy them if I haven’t made them. Recently, I received Kyoto sake pickled vegetables, that made me really happy. I like vinegar rice rolls, plum natto, and toro rolls, I like the elasticity of the seaweed.

 Q19: Who do you get along with in Hello! Project? Tell us a recent episode!

 I get along with everyone in BEYOOOOONDS, but other than those members, Angerme’s Ise Reira-chan, who had the same timing of debut. I’m about 3 years older than her, but talking about that sense of distance is really fun. We like the same character “Mossari Mosao”, the first time I went to the collaboration café I was in line near her by chance! I was side by side with my sister, and then I saw the back of her. I wanted to leave from the coincidence, and we both talked about it on our blogs.

 Q20: What is an idol to you?

 There is a big impact with girls from the same generation as you doing their best singing when times are tough, since it’s something that comes from within, I think idols are people who absolutely have the presence of sending out energy and smiles. I think they’re really cool. Of course, that is true of others artists, as I also get energy from other artists music. But, idols have more of a presence of the familiar. There are penlights in the color of the member you like, you call their name, you send your own cheers for the idol. I think the feelings of sending out your support is really a happy thing; I as well with blogs and lives hearing “Utano—” or “Utano—n” voices call out gives me a lot of energy. I think the communication with idols is good, and its not just with handshakes, I want to communicate my feelings of thanks for receiving lots of support directly. I think that getting to communicate with an idol is a good thing. I’m not able to say it in a word!

 https://thetv.jp/news/detail/184711/

#Satoyoshi Utano #BEYOOOOONDS #Hello! Project #Translation #Interview

[blackhat0061]

Tagged by @cyanwings

nickname(s): Ant, BH, some type of Frog based name, Q-C

height: 5'11

orientation: Cis

favorite fruit: Tomatoes/Tangerines

favorite season: Summer

favorite flower: Sunflowers

favorite scent: My brain keeps saying “Pickle Juice” which isn’t wrong I like that smell a lot. Not sure it’s my favorite it’s just the first to come to mind

favorite color: HERO RED

favorite animal(s): Elephants, Turtles, Frogs

coffee, tea or hot chocolate: Hot Chocolate

average hours of sleep: 6-7

cat person or dog person: Por que no los dos!

favorite fictional characters: Kirby, Taizo Hori, Pit, Wario, Michelangelo, Usopp, Joe Black, Jigen, Charlie Brown, Plastic Man, Nox, Reinhardt, Travis Touchdown. Let’s be honest I can go on but I think that’s enough.

number of blankets you sleep with: I sleep under a sleeping-bag

dream trip: Some sort of long globe trotting adventure that takes me everyplace I’ve wanted to go to. 

blog created: Heck if I know...wait let me check...uuuuhh..7 years ago

number of followers: 707

random fact: The lewd blog is named after my old lewd folder. When Computer things broke down. People would have me fix it so I made it sound like something technical and complex. I think @trewerd gave me the name as well (This means you’re tagged buddo)

Tagging; @coughmanz @keeperofsparks @bluedubia @triisoup @vstheuni @jiggycomrade @boltycat @raflcoopter @zjhentohlauedy @supersoftly @burningplatypi @pawdrawscorner @deviously-silly-mushy-mudkip and if you wanna do it just pretend I tagged you or IF YOU REALLY WANT PM me n I’ll add you so it doesn’t look as weird

#Shut Up Anthony #Too many cool people follow this blog #Like when did steecker start following me?!

[livingcorner]

The 13 Best Ways to Utilize Chili Peppers • The Chili Life

In this post, you will learn what to do with chili peppers! For many chili growers, it’s the end of the season! And I don’t know about you, but I’ve been rather successful growing my peppers indoors!

This year I got so much chili fruits, ranging from mild to super hot. Don’t misunderstand me, It’s not like I think that getting a lot of peppers is a bad thing. We are growing chili peppers because we want to have a lot of nice chilies, right?!

You're reading: The 13 Best Ways to Utilize Chili Peppers • The Chili Life

Yes, the season is over, and for many, it ended one month or two ago. For me, it is soon over but I keep picking one or two peppers out of a few of my plants.

Some gardeners, both cultivating peppers indoors and outdoors, end up with more than a dozen or two of ripening pods. Especially if you are using a good soil mix (see my soil mix recipe, for instance).  It may be Poblanos, Jalapeños, Habaneros, or Carolina reapers.

What to Do with Hot Peppers

Maybe you were like me, more successful than you anticipated, and you can’t help wondering…

What are the uses of Peppers?

There are of course many uses of peppers: you can dry them, freeze them, make chili powder, a chili stew, a hot sauce, chili jam, salsa, guacamole, and chili poppers. If you ended up with a lot of chili peppers, read this post to learn about 13 uses of hot peppers.

What can I Cook with Chilies?

I’d say that you can cook anything using hot chili peppers but you can make fresh and cooked salsa, chili stew, soups, pulled pork, and many more. Read this post for more inspiration.

Thus, this section is dedicated to exploring what you can do with your hot peppers!

1. Pickled chilies

One of the first thing I like to do with hot peppers is to pickle them! It’s very easy to pickle vegetables and chilies are no exception. A pickled jalapeño on your tacos add a bit of extra hotness to it. I typically slice a bunch of chilies 1-2 cm thick and soak them in salted water (i.e., brine). Add whatever spices you like.

For example, I’ve used coriander seeds and garlic. Make sure you put the seeds and garlic in the bottom of the jar!

Pickled peppers the “wrong” way.

2. Dry your peppers

Now, the second thing on the list of what to do with hot peppers is to dry them! Now, one awesome thing with dried peppers is that they will still have full of flavor! Furthermore, they can be stored for a long time and it’s not that hard to dry them.

Read more: How to Pick the Best Type of Mulch for Your Landscape

I typically take a needle and thread, pull the thread through the pods, and hang it in the window. You can also use your oven to dry the pods. Finally, you can, of course, use a food dehydrator (see here, for an overview).

3. Chili powder

In this section, you are going to learn what we can do with dried chili peppers.

This is, of course, connected with drying your chilies. After you have dried your peppers you can make chili powder of some of them. Everything you need is probably right in your pantry!

You can use it in your favorite chili, a delicious meatloaf, and pasta dishes. In fact, you can use it to warm your feet now when the winter is coming (see number 13).

A basic pepper powder recipe:

Remove the stem, cut your chilies in halves and remove all seeds. Wear gloves if you are using hot peppers!

Toast the dried pods in the oven (170 C) until they smell toasted and are pliable. Make sure you turn them once in a while.

Throw your peppers in a spice grinder or a blender. Mix until you have a powder.

Put in a glass jar and use it in your dishes later.

4. Freeze your chili fruits

One thing you can do with your peppers is to freeze them for later use. In fact, freezing your fruits is a very good way to store them. The peppers can be put in the freezer whole or cut in halves. I have sometimes minced the peppers also.

Will freezing the pods make the flavor die? Well, in my experience they are almost as good as fresh. But, of course, nothing beats eating using fresh chili.

5. Make a hot sauce!

Who doesn’t enjoy a hot sauce?! I certainly love adding some Tabasco sauce or sriracha to many of my meals. There are many ways to cook up a hot sauce! I like fermented stuff. A lot! So I have experimented with fermenting a mash of peppers, garlic, onion, and spices.

In my latest hot sauce, I used a banana! It’s still going through the fermentation process so we’ll see how it tastes!

See my Carolina Reaper Banana Sauce for some inspiration!

6. Create a chili jam

I love a good jam together with a delicious cheese! When I got 50-60 Jamaican Bell (Bishop’s Crown) peppers and wondered what to do with all of them I realized something. They were quite mild and had a nice taste so why don’t make a tomato chili jam?! Said and done, my vegetarian tomato chili jam was a success when I brought it to my job.

Tomato Chili Jam

7. Fresh salsa

A delicious Mexican dish is something I rarely say no to. A good fish taco served with fresh salsa is really something I can’t resist.

There’s something about the fresh ingredients in uncooked salsa that makes it make my taste buds just explode. Sometimes I also grow tomatoes and making use of your homegrown chilies and tomatoes is never wrong. 

Here are two recipes for you:

Pico de Gallo

4 Minute Restaurant Salsa

8. Cooked salsa

I do prefer a freshly made salsa but if you have a lot of chilies and/or tomatoes you may want to be able to enjoy a good salsa all year round.

This makes canning your own salsa is a great way to preserve your chilies and have quality salsa also during the winter.

Here are two recipes for you:

Canned salsa

Canned Tomato Salsa

9. Guacamole

Fish tacos with salsa AND guacamole?! I’d never say no to that either. Buy 2 fresh organic avocados, one lime, and use your homegrown tomatoes and cilantro (or buy organic). Remove the skin of 2 tomatoes, chop them finely, and mash them together with the avocado.

Add lime juice, a pinch of cilantro, cumin, olive oil, and salt. Don’t forget to use one or two of your nice peppers. It all depends on how hot you want your guacamole. Yummy! If you are lazy, like me sometimes, you can put everything together in a blender and just mix it!

Here are some guacamole recipes for your inspiration:

Guacamole

Chunky Guacamole recipe

10. Chili poppers

Now, this is an excellent way to answer the question about what to do with hot peppers? Why? Well, because I love cheese. And I love peppers. One of the most delightful, and easy, ways to use chilies is to make chili poppers! Buy your favorite cheeses like Parmesan, and cream cheese.

Read more: Common Spider Controls: Remedies For Spiders In Gardens

Grate the hard cheese, if you use it, and mix together with cream cheese, minced garlic, and bread crumbs.

Cut your peppers in halves and fill them with cheese. Put them in the oven at 190 C (preheat the oven, of course) and bake for 20-25 minutes. Delicious!

11. Make a delicious chili!

I think that Mexican food is delightful! This may be very obvious for many of you guys. Dried, frozen, or fresh, your peppers are a great addition to a hot chili stew.

I typically grow Poblanos and dry them. A chili is a great way to make use of your dried chilies: soak them in water for some time before cooking.

See this recipe, for example, making use of dried chilies. You should also try my delicious vegan chili recipe using a fresh Habanero pepper. Flavor, depth, and heat! Yummy!

That was the 11 different uses for chili peppers that I have tried. The next two 2 bonus uses I find very interesting. I have not yet tried them, however.

12. Heat your freezing feet during the winter.

Here’s a quite weird use for chili peppers that I have read about. Use your homemade powder to make your feet warm in the cold times during winter. Just put the powder in your socks and it’s suppose to warm your feet. I have yet to try this out but I sure will. It will soon be cold where I am!

13. Pain-relieving cream.

I have read a lot about the potential health benefits of eating chili peppers. The chemical that makes peppers hot, capsaicin, can apparently be used to relieve pain. Among many other things, of course, but that is a different story (or blog post).

To make a capsaicin cream, all you need is a tablespoon of your homemade chili powder and 5 tablespoons of coconut oil. Blend the oil and cayenne into a cream.

This cream should be massaged on the areas you’re experiencing pain. If you made Just be sure to wash your hands afterward. You don’t want to get hot pepper into your nose or eyes! It hurts, trust me!

That was the 13 best ways to use your chili peppers! If you are using very hot peppers, make sure you use plastic gloves. I made that mistake once when chopping up Apocalypse Scorpion Chocolate pods and will never forget to wear gloves again…

Now it’s your turn. What are your favorite use of all the beautiful and flavorful chilies you grow?! Leave a comment below!

Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden

source https://livingcorner.com.au/the-13-best-ways-to-utilize-chili-peppers-the-chili-life/

#livingcornernews

[dragonpaws]

This was hard as hell to do bc im on mobile but w/e

@shinsoucidal t. Ok im typing it italics now and idl how tp stop on mobile. Anyways im tagged so here

Rules: Answer twenty questions and tag twenty followers you want to get to know better.

1. Name?: todd!

2. Nicknames?: ummmm toddy, caecae, thats it?

3. Height?: 5'3!

4. Orientation?: panro pansex!

5. Nationality?: uuu mixed my mom is Various White and my dad is nuevo mexicano. But american

6. Favorite fruit?: raspbberries

7. Favorite season?: late spring?

8. Favorite flower?: idk uh im not rly a flower person. Lilac maybe?

9. Favorite scent?: generic "man" smells (old spice) and warm earthy smells 

10. Favorite color?: purble

11. Favorite animal?: i cannot fucking decide i. Like so many animals for so many different reasons. Felines, canines, gymnothprax eels, lionfish, elasmobranchii, moths, bomba bees, mantids, monitor lizards, house geckos

12. Coffee, Tea or Hot Chocolate?: tea! Masala chai is 💖

13. Average amount of sleep?: it varies a Lot anywjere from. 8 to 15 hrrrgh

14. Dog or Cat person?: both? Theyre both good for their own reasons

15. Favorite fictional character?: ummmmm probably otacon just. For crush reasons.

16. Number of blankets you sleep with?: just one

17. Dream Trip?: oj jeez id LOVE to visit southeast asia

18. Blog created?: um. Ive remade 3 times, my oldest is. 2013? This one was made 2016/17

19. Number of followers? 59 djsjjsjs

20. Random Fact?: im not sure um. Im stupidly good at anything reading/reading comprehension but i can only do elementary math. I drank a jar of pickle juice once

Tagging @toxiccanary @atari-calamari @soupslurp and @terogumi (i dont have 10 friends)

[chrslnsze]

cold weather of Toronto calls for a hot Kimchi-guk!!!

WELCOME TO MY BLOG #2 in Theory of Food Series: SOUPS!

Ever since the craze of Korean BBQ Restaurants I have been a fan of their food. And my favourite banchan is Kimchi. Personally, I don’t have a specific favourite when it comes to soup, but because of the cold Toronto weather, I decided to make something I like as a soup. That is why I made a Kimchi based soup, which in Korea they call Kimchi-guk. It is a fermented kimchi based soup with pork and tofu in it. The flavours and cooking technique are quite simple and well-balanced. It is healthy and warm to the feeling. In just a simple soup you get vitamins and minerals (because of the fermented kimchi) and complete protein (because of the pork and tofu). I wasn’t able to add some cucumbers as it is optional, and I wasn’t able to buy some but I think  it’s better to add also for additional nutrient and texture.

For the recipe I followed Maangchi’s recipe, she is a known Korean author and food blogger. Here is the link for her website:(https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kimchi-guk), but I will also be posting here the recipe.

Kimchi-guk Recipe Servings: 2-3 people

Ingredients:

2 cups of chopped aged fermented kimchi

1/2 pound of pork shoulder (or pork belly) cut into bite sized pieces

2 tablespoons of hot pepper paste (I used Gochugang)

 1 tablespoon of sugar (originally it’s 1 tsp but I think it taste better with 1 tablespoon, it all depends on your personal preference)

 3- 4 cups of water (originally it’s 5 cups but I wanted it to be more concentrated)

2 stalks of chopped green onion

1 package of extra soft tofu cut in cubes.

Instructions:

1. Combine the chopped kimchi and its juice, hot pepper paste, pork, sugar in a pot. (in my case I wasn’t able to put it directly in a pot due to the availability and limited resources in our house 😅😅😅)

2. Add water and bring to boil over high heat and cook for 30 minutes.

3. Add tofu and green onions, lowering the heat to medium low. Cooking for another 10 mins. just to heat up the tofu.

4. Remove from heat and serve, best to serve it with rice!

THIS IS THE FINAL PRODUCT!!! 😊❤️

So I asked my classmates/ friends to taste it, using the 5 sensory evaluation: sight, smell, touch, taste and sound.

To summarize their thoughts:

Presentation wise they think it looks good and appealing to the eyes.

The smell is a little bit sour because of the fermented kimchi but not offending to the nose. And it has the smell of chili where in you know from the smell it's hot. 

The texture is soft because of the tofu, but at the same time giving a little bite because of the meat and the cabbage.

For the taste, it is a balanced flavour of sour and sweet and the hint of hot flavour from the hot pepper kicking in at the end.

“Soup slurp” as it is liquidy. Anyway, soups are meant to be slurped!

Overall they think that it was good and balanced.

So was I successful in making this soup?

I am confident that I did well on this one. It is simple and easy to make, for me I would definitely remake this sometime for my family. And if I have to do it differently maybe I would add cucumber or pickles or other vegetables that would go well with it, to add texture, flavour, and nutrients. But otherwise I am very happy of how it turned out.

A little take away from this experience: 

I don’t have to create something grand or use expensive ingredients for me to create a beautiful and delicious food. And I don’t need to be too technical; sometimes going with the simple technique and components are the best way to go, letting the ingredients to speak for itself, and show-off their own flavours. 

I have a newfound respect to the ingredients and cooking technique. Simple ingredients can give you a whole lot of flavours that can satisfy hungry stomachs. 

In my future culinary endeavours, I hope to be introduced more on different ingredients and be able to handle it properly, maximizing its flavour profile and use it to create something fresh and tasty to the palate.

Photocredit: All taken by myself.

Reference: https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/kimchi-guk date visited: 02/06/2020

#soups #food theory #korean food #food #food recipes #food tasting #nutrition #kimchi #maangchi #foodlover #food ideas #toronto #mygbc

[furmark6-blog]

The Evolution of K2FC, a.k.a. Kenji's Kimchi Fried Chicken Sandwich

[Photographs: Vicky Wasik, except where noted. Video: Serious Eats Team]

I visited the Serious Eats test kitchen in Brooklyn back in October of 2018 to shoot this video about my Korean fried chicken recipe. The date is relevant because now, over half a year later, the fried chicken I cook in the video bears only a slight resemblance to the one I currently serve at my restaurant, Wursthall.

Nor is it very similar to the one I served four years ago at a strip mall in the San Gabriel Valley, during a pop-up event for my first book tour. Or the one you may have seen me make a couple years ago on Guy's Grocery Games. In fact, I've been playing with some iteration of the concept of a kimchi-brined fried chicken sandwich for many years now, so what you're seeing in this recipe and video are really just a snapshot of a dish that's still evolving. Heck, there are two distinct versions in the video alone!

First things first: Calling it "Korean fried chicken" is a misnomer. Korean fried chicken is an actual, defined thing: chicken fried with an eggshell-crisp coating of cornstarch slurry. I even have a recipe for it.

The recipe I'm talking about today is more like Southern-style fried chicken with Korean flavors. It takes some influence from Nashville hot chicken and fast food chicken sandwiches as well. On the menu at Wursthall, we've been reluctantly calling it "K2FC"—Kenji's Korean fried chicken. I get embarrassed seeing my name printed in the menu like that, but my partner insists.*

* Strangely, it's a secondhand kind of embarrassment. I look at the menu and think, Ooohhh, who's that Kenji guy who decided to name a dish after himself? Yikes.

The very first time I made this sandwich, it was at a friend's house in Jamaica Plain, near Boston. The idea of marinating chicken in kimchi brine had just struck me. I already knew that pickle juice makes a great brine for fried chicken—aside from adding flavor, the high salt content alters the protein structure of the chicken so that it retains more moisture as it cooks, and the acidity has a tenderizing effect. The same should work with kimchi brine.

So we tried it. It was a pretty quick-and-dirty affair—essentially my Five-Ingredient Fried Chicken Sandwiches, made with kimchi in place of pickles—but it was promising.

The next batch was a little more involved, using my buttermilk fried chicken recipe as the base. I brought that version to an event my old boss Ken Oringer was throwing for the 15th anniversary of his restaurant Clio (which has since been taken over by his sashimi bar, Uni), featuring a 20-course tasting menu cooked by alumni of the restaurant. Nineteen of the world's leading chefs, and me with a fried chicken sandwich.

I'd been planning on serving it with a mayo spiked with gochujang (Korean fermented chili paste) on mini Martin's potato rolls, but Alex Talbot, half of the husband-and-wife team behind Curiosity Doughnuts and the seminal blog Ideas in Food, suggested making a dill-pickle mayonnaise instead, so I went with that, and boy, was it delicious. My friend Jamie Bissonnette, the chef at Little Donkey in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Toro in Boston and New York, was at the dinner and texted me mid-service to proclaim the sandwich "totally craveable." High praise!

I decided to keep working on the sandwich, serving it at a series of pop-ups in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco during my book tour, each time offering a slightly different version.

This rendition features Stella's classic biscuits with black sesame seeds folded into the dough.

By the time I brought it to Serious Eats, this was where we were: chicken thighs brined in kimchi juice, along with buttermilk, eggs, garlic, salt (just enough to account for the added liquid from the buttermilk), and soy sauce (soy sauce contains proteases that can help tenderize meat), as well as ground black pepper and gochugaru, a Korean chili flake that offers a lot of floral aroma and a bit of heat. You can read about more Korean pantry staples right here.

The sauce starts out like a Nashville hot chicken–style hot oil. I combine oil with chilies (more gochugaru), along with black pepper and garlic, then heat it up until it's sizzling and toasty-smelling.

If you want to keep it real simple, this is a good place to stop. The fried chicken dipped in hot chili oil is delicious all on its own.

But I decided to continue by emulsifying that chili oil into a sauce with gochujang, honey, cider vinegar, and a little soy sauce. It comes out with a sweet-hot-vinegary flavor profile—not unlike Buffalo sauce, but with a deeper, toasty chili flavor.

Next, it's time to dredge and fry the chicken. My standard fried chicken dredge is a mixture of flour and cornstarch, along with a dash of baking powder. The cornstarch and baking powder help the chicken to fry up extra light and crisp.

To this base, I add some more gochugaru and black pepper, along with black sesame seeds and garlic powder. (Garlic powder works well in dredges and spice rubs, where fresh garlic is likely to clump or burn.)

The real trick here (and in literally every single one of my fried chicken recipes) is to drizzle some of the liquid brine into the dredge and massage it in with your fingertips, creating little clumps of breading that add texture and surface area to the chicken as it fries.

Some folks like to rest their chicken after dredging and before frying. I find that the flour over-hydrates this way, producing a crust that's a little leathery. Instead, I prefer to fry immediately after dredging.

My frying vessel of choice at home is a flat-bottomed wok. The wide, flared sides make it easy to flip and maneuver the food inside, while also catching spatter before it hits your stove or countertop.

Peanut or soybean oil is excellent for deep-frying, delivering crispy crusts and neutral flavor. Canola or vegetable will work, too, though the chicken won't end up quite as crisp. I aim to keep the oil at 275 to 300°F (135 to 149°C) the whole way through.

Once the chicken is fried, I drain it, brush it with the sauce, and sprinkle it with a spice blend containing gochugaru, black pepper, black sesame seeds, and a touch of sugar.

Serve the chicken on a toasted potato bun, with a smear of kimchi mayonnaise (which is just drained kimchi, chopped and mixed with mayonnaise); plenty of dill pickles; and a pile of shredded cabbage. It's pretty tasty!

Even tastier is the version we made on Stella's biscuits. You can find the basic recipe in her book, BraveTart; here, she tweaked it by folding black sesame seeds into the dough.** For that version, I went extra light on the sauce, omitted the kimchi mayo, and instead added a drizzle of honey.

** Another version of these biscuits involves adding sliced scallions along with the sesame seeds, which you'll hear Stella mention in the video. Her final recipe doesn't include the scallions, but you can go ahead and add a handful if you want.

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

Folks who've been to my restaurant know that the dish in this video is pretty strikingly different from the fried chicken and waffles we serve daily. But, in fact, the Wursthall fried chicken was directly inspired by the black sesame biscuit sandwich!

The chicken starts out essentially the same, though we also add some gochujang to the brine. I've written previously about double-frying chicken—that is, frying it, letting it completely cool, then frying a second time before serving—and that's the technique we use here.

The idea is that after the first fry, moisture from the inner layers of breading eventually starts to spread out, causing the whole crust to soften a little. The second fry drives out moisture a second time, leaving you with an extra-crisp crust. We fry our chicken in 225°F (107°C) soybean oil, to an internal temperature of 155°F (68°C), then chill it and re-fry it to order, at 300°F (149°C), until it's crisp.

After coming out of the fry oil, it goes for a dunk in chili oil, which we flavor with gochugaru, black pepper, cumin, garlic, and ginger. Then it gets a heavy dry dusting of gochugaru, black pepper, cumin, salt, and sugar.

Instead of a bun, we make scallion cornbread waffles, a modified version of my brown butter cornbread—we increase the ratio of regular flour to cornmeal a bit, and reduce the amount of fat, for a little more structure—to which we add scallions, cilantro, and black sesame seeds, before baking in a Belgian waffle iron.

To finish the dish, we spread the waffles with kimchi butter (kimchi, butter, and gochujang combined in a food processor); place the chicken on top; drizzle it all with honey; and add a pile of our lacto-fermented dill pickles and a big splash of our house hot sauce (which is simple: Fresno chilies, fermented for two weeks, then blended and adjusted for seasoning).

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

All the same basic flavors and techniques are there; they're just rearranged a bit to fit a restaurant menu and production schedule.

So that's the current State of the Fried Chicken, and it's gonna keep changing. We're now discussing changing our current chicken schnitzel sandwich to a pork schnitzel sandwich and adding a spicy fried chicken sandwich to our menu, which will no doubt start with some past version of this one as a jumping-off point.

Since I'm not really one to keep recipes secret, attached to this article you'll find a recipe for the version of the sandwich shown in the video, plus another recipe for Stella's black sesame buttermilk biscuits. For the restaurant version, if you own Ed's book, Serious Eater, you've already got that recipe in your hand as a thank-you gift. If not, you can probably piece it together from my description here—or just wait. Eventually we'll publish the full recipe publicly, too.

This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Serious Eats. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.

Source: https://www.seriouseats.com/2019/07/kimchi-fried-chicken-sandwich.html

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

[carleencl]

📍✈️Traveling to Bali: Part 3 - Seminyak, Bali (Day 6 & 7)

Hey there! 🤗 This will be the last part of my Bali experience last November 2018.

Days 6 to 7 was spent in Seminyak, Bali, Indonesia. We decided to shorten our stay here last November 2018 since Seminyak is near the beach and there were Tsunami and Earthquake news that we heard during that time.

Two whole days in Seminyak were mostly spent on eating, eating and eating! 😅 This travel vlog will probably will look more like a food vlog so, enjoy!

DAY 6 November 26, 2018

SISTERFIELDS

Here’s the menu of Sisterfields in Seminyak. Mainly, they dishes for breakfast.

1st breakfast at Seminyak, I ordered Sisterfields Big Breakfast and a Strawberry Milkshake.

Sisterfields Big Breakfast costs IDR 130,000 (PHP 481). As per their description, it has eggs your way, bacon, mushroom, roasted tomato, potato rosti, hollandaise, sourdough and the Strawberry Milkshake costs IDR 40,000 (PHP 148).

It is a little pricey, however, serving was big as if it is for 2 people. I was just trying to finish it all since I was full before I could finish my meal.

A little toilet break and their restrooms were actually pretty. This was shot inside their toilet.

After our breakfast, we decided to visit Love Anchor in Canggu, Bali.

LOVE ANCHOR

We found out about Love Anchor through Laureen Uy’s Bali vlog and learned that its a place where you can shop.

Going to Love Anchor, we took a cab from Seminyak to Canggu. If I remember it right, it was around IDR 100, 000 - 150,000 (PHP 370 - 555) for the taxi fare. The cab we rode was good for 6 persons. It took us about an hour or more for us to arrive at Love Anchor since it was a little traffic during that time.

There were cafes and restaurants in Love Anchor but we didn’t try them since we were still very full from our breakfast.

At the end of Love Anchor, was a bazaar. They were selling bags, clothes, accessories, and more. It was a little more expensive compared in Ubud. So if ever you would want to shop, I suggest to shop in Ubud Art Market instead.

Afterwards, we walked around the area and saw Mad Pops.

MAD POPS

Mad Pops is known for its delicious gelatos.

Mad Pops has a lot of variety to choose from. You can even try their flavors first before ordering.

However, Whisky Cream from Oh My Cone is still the best for me! 😍 

If I remember it correctly, I ordered Mint Chocolate Chip and Rainbow Coconut. 🍨 It costs IDR 45,000 (PHP 166.50) for two flavor.

After spending some hours around Canggu, we decided to go back to Seminyak and have our late lunch at around 4 in the afternoon.

BATIK

Decided to eat at Batik for its interiors. We saw a couple of amazing reviews about its food and decors that made us decide to eat here.

The staff are very nice at Batik. They even suggested us to go up, look at their 2nd floor, and we could even take some photos there.

Some photos we took on their 2nd floor.

I want to have a taste of all Bali food and tried their Nasi Campur. One Nasi Campur costs IDR 90,000 (PHP 333). A meal includes a small sample Indonesian dishes. As I remember, it has chicken satay some chips, vegetables, and a dish that tastes like Caldereta.

Not in the photo, but I also ordered a refreshing Strawberry Pleasure that costs IDR 45,000 (PHP 166.50). The juice includes strawberry, orange, and mint.

After having our late lunch, we decided to go back to Casa Kayu Aya to have a rest and freshen up for Motel Mexicola.

MOTEL MEXICOLA

Motel Mexicola was a 10 to 15-minute walk from our hotel. It was a must to have a reservation here to have seats instantly and to avoid waiting in line.

It is an open place however, there were fans and air conditions around the place.

Here’s how the seats are divided on our side looks like.

My opinion about Motel Mexicola is that there were no blogs or vlogs that mentioned that it is not a good place for asthmatics like me. 😅 The smell of smoke was all over the place (even in the toilets!), and it was overly crowded like the people they let in was not controlled.

The alcoholic drinks and food was so-so, and quite overly priced for its quality. There’s not even a hint of alcohol for their alcoholic drinks. We spent a total of IDR 2,047,980 (PHP 7,577.526) including tax and service charge for our 2-hr stay in Motel Mexicola. The following items were our orders:

9 cocktails - IDR130,000/ea (PHP 481/ea)

2 Calamares - IDR 85,000/ea (PHP 314.50/ea)

2 Guacamole - IDR 50,000/ea (PHP 185/ea)

2 Que Conchinita - IDR 85,000/ea (PHP 314.50/ea)

2 Que Queso - IDR 65,000/ea (PHP 240.50/ea)

Service was also quite poor since the same waiter keeps asking us to order more drinks. We know it’s business however, I think it was rude to ask every time the waiter passes by our table and sees we almost finish our drinks to ask if we would want to order. Also, the approach of asking if we would want more was not kindly done.

Personally, I think I won’t come back to Motel Mexicola again during nighttime.

DAY 7 November 27, 2018

REVOLVER ESPRESSO

Breakfast on our last day in Bali was spent in The Revolver. I wasn’t able to take a lot of photos of the place since we were hungry and it was a little dark in our area. You can have sneak peek on the place on my vlog at the end of the post.

For my morning drink, instead of the regular coffee or hot chococolate, I got to try their Coolers since it was a sunny day. I ordered Poison Ivy that has organic roselle, dried hibiscus, lime, bitters, and soda in it. One drink costs IDR 45,000 (PHP 166.50)

Breakfast meal for me was The Mother Clucker on the left side most of the photo above. A order consists of a southern fried chicken burger, smoked cheddar, pickles, lettuce slaw, jalapeno & buttermilk dressing, and a black bun. One order consists of IDR 95, 000 (PHP 351.50).

I wasn’t able to get all of my other 4 friends’ order since it was a bit difficult to take photos. However, I got to take a photo of one of my friends’ meal that morning which was Underbelly. The Underbelly consisted of glazed thick cut bacon, fried eggs, chorizo sausage, house baked beans, rosti, mushroom duxelle, sourdough that costs IDR 120, 000 (PHP 444).

We ordered an extra dish to be shared by all which was Ammo. Ammo consisted of Tiramisu hotcakes, white chocolate mascarone, coffee ice cream, coffee jelly, with chocolate powder for IDR 95, 000 (PHP 351.500).

Overall, The Revolver Espresso was a good experience to dine in. Staff were very accommodating and food was very delicious. I highly suggest to try their Poison Ivy drink and Ammo pancakes, it will be worth it!

W BALI: WOOBAR

Woobar is located inside the W Bali hotel. We had our reservation for the daybed, however, we were transferred first inside since it was raining that time. 

My friend and I ordered one from their promos which ‘Pick The Best.’ It was a promo staring from 11am until 10pm. A ordered included one pizza or burger, one hot or cold tapas selection, and unlimited softdrinks (which could be interchange with other soda options/brands). One promo costs IDR 265, 000 (PHP 980.50).

We chose to order Sweet & Spicy Chicken Wings (sweet soy glaze, sesame seeds, coriander, lime), and a Pepperoni Pizza. Our drinks were either 7-Up or Pepsi Blue.

We waited for time to be 4 in the afternoon since the staff mentioned a promo of a two drinks for the price of one on their signature cocktails from Monday - Thursday from 4PM - 6PM. Each order costs IDR 165, 000  (PHP 610). The following were the different cocktails to choose from:

Passion Fruit Mojito  - Old school favourite: The Mojito. Try our fruity twist With passion fruit. Together with mint and fresh lime wedges and finished with a little bit honey and Touch of soda. Enjoy.         

Pineapple Vanilla Rum Sour - Refreshing fruit cocktail with perfect blend or fresh pineapple, rum, sweet sour, vanilla syrup.         

Mango Tango - Tropical fruit cocktail with sour creamy taste flavoured of mango, coconut and lime.         

Bubble Gum Sour  - This drink will bring you back to your childhood memories. We made our own bubble gum vodka and combined this with bubble gum syrup. Sweet bubble gum flavours with some sourness of lemon.         

Smoky Margarita  - A twist on classic margarita with hint of smoke.        

Coco Old Fashioned  - The classic old fashioned cocktail, smooth flavour of whiskey combined with coconut and cherry syrup. 

All of 5 out of 6, ordered the promo, which was a total of 10 drinks. I ordered the Passion Fruit Mojito and Mango Tango, which were both flavorful. I was also able to taste Smoky Margarita which was not in my interest because it tastes like as if I drank a glassful of cigarette. It was also the least favorite within us. Other drinks such as Pineapple Vanilla Rum Sour and Coco Old Fashioned were also good as well.

My other friend ordered the Pink Raspberry Coconut Slushy that was a frozen pink slush puppy cocktail that is refreshing ice cold and fruity flavours of raspberry combined with coconut and light rum. One drink costs 145000  (PHP536.50).

Rain stopped and finally we were able to transfer to the daybeds! Perfect weather for a sunset view by the beach.

We had additional orders of French Fries Duo that has 2 flavors which were Truffle - garlic aioli and Sea salt - Ketchup. One ordered costs IDR 115, 000 (PHP 425.50). Classic Margarita  Pizza was also ordered that has fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, parmesan, and oregano rich tomato sauce. An ord.ered costs IDR 155, 000 (PHP 573.50)

Our W Bali: Woobar stay had a total bill of IDR 1,820,205.405 (PHP 6734.76) including tax and service charge. We ordered the following items for its price:

10 cocktails

1 slushy

Promo of Chicken Wings + Pizza + Unlimited Soda

1 Pizza

1 2-flavored fries

Food wise, every food we ordered were delicious and very appetizing. In terms of their cocktails, it was actually way better than in Motel Mexicola. Woobar’s cocktails has more alcohol taste compared to Motel Mexicola’s. The only cocktail we didn’t like was the Smoky Margarita.

Service at Woobar was excellent! ❤️ All of the staff were very friendly and accommodating to our needs. Upon giving us the menu, first thing they said was we didn't need to hurry up and just to take our time in ordering our food/drinks. A staff actually passed by our daybed to ask if we need anything and if we were enjoying our stay. He even had a little chat to know us a little like the country we came from, and if we were still students or working girls.

If I’ll give a rating for my whole experience at Woobar from 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, I’ll rate it at 100! 😂 My friends and I even want to go back to Seminyak just to experience and stay at their hotel.

Woobar was the place where we felt that every money you spent, were so worth it for its quality and quantity. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️ To the Woobar staff last November 27, 2018 around 2 - 6pm, thank you for your excellent service! ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

Below is a vlog on our adventures for days 6 and 7 in Seminyak, Bali. Feel free to watch it!

*Conversion of IDR to PHP are rounded and used IDR 1 = PHP 0.0037

Other blog post related to Bali below: 🔗 BALI DAY 1 & 2 BLOG POST 🔗 BALI DAY 3 - 5 BLOG POST

#Seminyak #Bali #Indonesia #Siserfields #Australian Cafe #Food #Travel #Travel Blog #Food Blog #Cafe #Love Anchor #Canggu #Mad Pops #Gelatos #Ice Cream #Sweets #Motel Mexicola #The Revolver #Sweet Lips #Calamares #Guacamole #Quesadilla #chicken wings #pizza #peperoni #OOTD #fashion #W Bali #WOOBAR #Poison Ivy

[utanotranslations]

Translation: The Television: 20 Questions, 20 Answers

For the 20th anniversary of Hello! Project, The Television has been posting 20 questions and 20 answers with everyone in Hello! Project. It’s finally BEYOOOOONDS’ turn, and in this, Utano answers questions ranging from the meaning of her name, to who she’s close with in H!P. Enjoy, and please don’t repost without credit!

1. Tell us the meaning of your name! My name is Utano but, my older sister also has a name that's related to music and uses three hiragana characters. I really love music, and I grew up listening to western music and African-American music since I was little. They wanted a musical type of name, and this was a candidate for a three hiragana character name that matched my sister. Though I can't confirm it because I don't remember it, on the day that I was born, there was a special on an old lady who had turned 100 years old, and it seems like that old lady said her name was Utano-san. I was told that they wanted me to have a long, happy and fun life.

2. Which senior do you want to be like? Morning Musume 19's Oda Sakura-san and Angerme's Nakanishi Kana-san. Since I have a voice fetish, Oda-san's voice is almighty. Her voice is clear, and she can also use cute and cool voices. It's like her voice changes magically, and it's really amazing. Also, I really love how Oda-san thinks of those around her. The way she thinks about idols and herself is really cool, and I admire her as an idol, and as a woman. Nakanishi-san is a very stoic, hard worker. Nakanishi-san and myself were never in the Hello Pro Kenshuusei, and we joined Hello! Project. I've known about Nakanishi-san since she joined and took the audition, and even though there were Kenshuusei in her generation, she never stopped smiling even when she was working on difficult things. She's cute, cool, and has a wide range of style which is good, and I think it's wonderful that she has various charms.

3. If you were reborn, who would you want to be? Angerme's Kamikokuryo Moe-san. I like everything, including her visuals, her very clear singing voice, and her atmosphere. Her face is also the type I like! Also, at the Hello! Project concert's shuffle corner, I had the chance to sing an Angerme song, and I was in charge of Kamikokuryo-san's part. I couldn't do it well, so Kamikokuryo-san told me, "try watching this video," and "do it like this." Even during the rehearsal, she said to me, "a little bit ago, you did the line well!" and I was happy that she was able to do that in a casual manner. I think it would be good if I became that kind of senior, as well.

4. What do you think you are number one at in Hello Pro? What I think I'm definitely the best at is my love for the things I like. Animals, Kaouken no Onna, PreCure, there's a lot. Also, accessory making, I won't lose to anyone in my hand dexterity! But, I want to become number one at dancing. Definitely dancing.

5. Tell us something great about Hello Pro. It's broad. I think that a genre called Hello! Project has been established, it's not just cute songs and cool songs, there are various songs on different vectors like play-like songs, and exciting songs. For each and every song, the singing, dancing and expressions, there is no end, and no compromise to them, and that's what makes it cool. Hello! Project concerts are really cool, and I think that's a charm.

6. If you could form a special unit in Hello Pro, who would it be with? Though I want to do so many, I want to dance with the members who are good at dancing! Also, I want to do a cute song with Yokoyama Reina-san (Morning Musume '19), Kawamura Ayano-san (Angerme), Ozeki Mai-san (Country Girls), Shimakura Rika-chan and Okamura Minami-chan (BEYOOOOONDS)!

7. Tell us your favourite BEYOOOOONDS song! "Megane no Otoko no Ko" is fun! It's become like a play, and the lyrics also represent a story, which has an introduction, development, plot twist and ending. So, I think that I want you to enjoy the song from the beginning to the end, with the changes in expressions. It's easy to put emotions into it, and it's really fun.

8. What is your favourite song in all of Hello Pro? Hmmm - there's so many! Since there really is a lot, what I'm currently addicted to are Tsubaki Factory's "Fuwari, Koi Tokei" and Juice=Juice's "Borderline." I saw them at the Hello Con rehearsals, and I became addicted.

9. What’s the difference between Hello Pro then and now? This is from the eyes of a fan but, I feel that the features of each group are more clearly visible. If it's a cute song, it's Country Girls, if it's a pure song, it's Tsubaki Factory, I think there's a feeling that you can say that.

10. Other than yourself, who is the member that people should watch to come to like Hello Pro? Everyone in the whole thing (laughs). Since all the personalities are different, there will definitely be a girl in Hello! that you like. You'll definitely find your favourite! Though BEYOOOOONDS has an explosion of individuality, it's Maeda Kokoro-chan! Since I have a voice fetish, I think that my voice preference has appeared (laughs). Maeda Kokoro-chan has a boyish character now, but in fact, she's really got a lot of girly parts. She's really kind and attentive, and I think that I might be mad about her.

11. What do you most want people to look at on you? After all, it's my dancing. Since I like to create my own choreography and be creative, I think that I'd like to do something like that in the future. Also, my voice. Though I have a complex about it, when I entered this work, the amount of times that I've been told, "your voice has character," and "you have a nice voice" has really increased. I've really come to like to sing. I was building a wall toward myself about singing not being suited for me, but I don't have that now, and I think that I want to use my voice for work. I would be happy if you just listened to a song and was like, oh, isn't that Satoyoshi?

12. What kind of work would you like to take on in the future? Working with my voice, and choreography. Also, I like makeup, so I'd like to try something related to beauty! I want to make someone pretty, and try producing the members. Like, this colour suits this member, and I want you to have this atmosphere, like that.

13. What do you want people to see the most in BEYOOOOONDS? There are a lot of members who are skilled at acting and expressions, so I want that to be looked at. If we do a cute song, there might be a girl who is said to be superior, and if we do a cool song, you could say we have someone who is the strongest. We can do everything! I want you to look at us and say that. Including something like a retro feeling, I want you to see that.

14. What do you think you’ll be doing 20 years from now? I think that I want to continue dancing and doing plays. Since I was small, I've always been taking on various challenges, and I've never stopped loving these two things. So, these are things that I will surely continue, and I think, I don't think I'll ever stop. Also,I want to be a beautiful girl and a wonderful woman. Now, I have the feeling the age that I am, 18 years old, and I think that I want to grow as a woman.

15. It’s the 20th anniversary, so please tell us a special secret! I say quite a lot about secrets (laughs). When I wake up every morning, and when I go home, before I go to bed, I spin my dog, Omochi-kun around, and smell him (laughs). He is a maltese, and I love him and dote on him. But, he hates that. I think that I can't show that kind of gross level of me (laughs).

16. When the 20th anniversary is over next year, what’s something that you’d like to do? I want to grow in singing. That's my biggest task right now. I don't have experience, so I don't know how to use my voice, and it feels like I'm being taught while fumbling around. I think that I have to work hard so I can become good at singing.

17. What if you weren’t an idol? Originally, I wasn't intending to go to university. The audition started in May, and at that time, I had decided that I was going to work for Hello! Though, I wonder what I would have done,  I think that I would have done my best do be able to be active on stage as much as I could with dancing or plays.

18. What are you into the most right now? There's a lot, but it's pickles. I'm also addicted to seaweed rolls. Sometimes, I make it at home, and if I can't make it, I'll buy it. Recently, my friend gave me Kyoto pickles, and that made me really happy. For seaweed rolls, I like ume nattou and tototaku, and I like the soft seaweed.

19. Who are you close with in Hello Pro? Though I'm good friends with everyone in BEYOOOOONDS, other than the members, Ise Layla-chan, who joined Angerme with the same timing as I joined BEYOOOOONDS. Even though we're three years apart, our sense of distance is the same, and it's really fun to talk with her. We also love the same character, "Mossari Masao," and when I went to the first collaboration cafe a while ago, by chance, we saw each other in line! I was with my sister, and when I looked behind me, I saw her. I didn't want to leave that feeling of chance behind, so we both blogged about it.

20. What is an idol to you? When things are hard, there are girls in my generation who are doing their best and singing, it's really impactful, and within me, idols are definitely an existence who deliver energy and smiles to people. I think it's really cool. Of course, other artists are definitely like that, and sometimes, I get energy from listening to other artists' music. But, idols are a more familiar presence. You can make your penlight the colour of your favourite member, call their names, and your cheers will reach the idol. When I realize that I'm getting support, I think that I'm really happy, and when I get comments on my blog, or at concerts, when I hear voices calling out like, "Utanoooo," or "Utanooooon," it really gives me energy. I think that what's good about idols is communication, but I haven't done a handshake event yet, and I want to convey my feelings of gratitude directly to those who are supporting me so much. I think that the good point of an idol is how you can communicate with them. I'm sorry I couldn't do this in just one word!

#satoyoshi utano #beyooooonds #hello project #interview translation

[eathealthylivefree]

Shawarma Chicken Wraps Recipe

Shawarma Chicken Wraps are flavorful and fun to eat. This recipe makes it possible to recreate a popular street food in your home kitchen. I’ve been making these Shawarma Chicken Wraps for the past eight years, and my kids love them. They’re packed with flavor (the garlic mayonnaise compliments the spiced chicken perfectly), and look like a burrito or taco so it’s a great way to introduce something new to your family.

Spiced Shawarma Chicken Wrap

Have you ever heard of Shawarma chicken? I started exploring Middle Eastern cooking in 2012 when I discovered Faith Gorsky’s cookbook, An Edible Mosaic. The first recipes I tried were Shawarma chicken and her Zucchini Fritters). Faith’s cookbook provides so many little tips and tricks that are incredibly helpful, including how to duplicate the crispy pieces of Chicken Shawarma that you might get at one of the little shops in the Middle East that specialize in this sandwich.

I watched a few videos and read several blog posts about Shawarma and it seems there is almost a cult-like following. In fact, people seek out the very best Shawarma shops and do their own taste testing. Faith says that in populated areas you might see half a dozen Shawarma vendors within a few blocks.

The spices in Shawarma are almost curry-like, comprised of a laundry list of aromatic spices – cumin, coriander, cardamon, ginger, allspice, fenugreek, cloves, paprika, turmeric, cayenne and black pepper. I actually had all these spices (you should see my spice drawer!) in either whole or ground form, so I was able to recreate the recipe from An Edible Mosaic exactly as written.

Shawarma is eaten in Arab countries, Israel, Mexico (introduced by Middle-Eastern immigrants), Pakistan, South Africa and the United Kingdom, and the meats, toppings and sauce vary depending on the country. Traditionally, Shawarma is made with chicken, lamb, beef, or goat that has been marinated, and is wrapped and cooked on a vertical rotisserie (similar to Greek gyro meat). When an order is placed, meat is shaved off and served as a wrapped sandwich (using pita bread or Lavash flatbread) with fresh vegetables (cucumbers, tomato, lettuce, onions), pickles and a sauce or two (a garlic sauce called Toumieh and sometimes Sesame Sauce).

I wanted to make a Chicken Shawarma as authentic as possible, so I made the Cucumber Pickles a week ago, marinated the chicken overnight, and made a batch of Garlic Mayonnaise (highly recommended by Faith) as well as Sesame Sauce.

Garlic Mayonnaise

Finding the proper bread proved to be easier than I thought – our local Greek store had whole wheat pocketless pita and I found oat bran/whole wheat lavash flatbread in the deli section of a supermarket.

Although this sandwich is considered fast food in the Middle East, it does require some preparation of all the different components, but it is well worth the effort. Faith uses a clever trick to replicate the crispy chicken pieces of an authentic Shawarma.

After marinating the chicken overnight in lots of spices and yogurt, the chicken is cooked twice – first baked, then sauteed. This extra step makes the chicken chewier and crispy, and results in authentic-tasting shawarma according to Faith.

I actually used four different wrappers for my Shawarma – Lavash Flatbread made with Whole Wheat and Oatbran (which was the easiest to roll up), Whole Wheat Pocketless Pita Bread (I found this at our local Greek market), Corn Tortillas (for a gluten-free version), and Collard Wraps (I got collards in my CSA Box and have been wanting to try them as a wrapper). For toppings, I chose fresh tomato, lettuce, onions and Cucumber Pickles.

Shawarma Chicken Collard Wraps

The boys really loved these Shawarma Wraps – and Faith was right, the Garlic Mayonnaise definitely made the sandwich. Personally, I liked the garlicky Sesame Sauce and have been slathering it on just about anything I can think of. I’m starting to wonder if I smell like garlic everywhere I go.

These Shawarma Wraps were so good, I wish our fast food joints sold something this tasty.

I highly recommend doubling the recipe for this Shawarma Chicken and using it for your weekly meal prep – delicious! I included a small container of the garlic mayonnaise (cheat: mash garlic with salt and mix with mayonnaise), and included a simple cucumber tomato salad with crumbled feta, and pita bread).

Spiced Shawarma Chicken Wraps (SHAWARMA DAJAJ)

This dish is not hard to make, it just requires a little bit of planning ahead. Well worth the effort!

Chicken Shawarma

1 batch Shawarma Spice Mix

½ cup 125 ml plain yogurt

1½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice

3 large cloves garlic (crushed)

1½ teaspoons salt

2 lb 1 kg boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 tablespoons olive oil (plus more for sautéing)

16 flatbreads

Shawarma Spice Mix

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

¾ teaspoon ground black pepper

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon ground allspice

¼ teaspoon ground fenugreek

¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon ground sweet paprika

¼ teaspoon ground turmeric

¹/8 teaspoon ground red pepper (cayenne (optional))

Pickles (MEKHALLEL)

1 cup 250 ml hot water

2 tablespoons salt

2 teaspoons sugar 7-10 Persian or Japanese cucumbers washed and ends slightly trimmed

2 cloves garlic (peeled)

Purified water (to cover the cucumber)

½ teaspoon oil

Garlic Mayonnaise

2 cloves garlic (crushed in a mortar and pestle with ½ teaspoon salt)

2 large egg whites or 1 large egg

1 cup 250 ml oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon cold water

Chicken Shawarma

Prepare the Shawarma Spice Mix.

Combine the spice mix with the yogurt, lemon juice, garlic, and salt in a large bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate 2 to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 350°F and spread 1 tablespoon of oil on the inside of a large baking dish.

Scrape off any excess marinade from the chicken with your hands. Starting in the center of the oiled dish, arrange the chicken so that it overlaps, and drizzle the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil on top. Bake (uncovered) 1 hour, or until the chicken is fully cooked; cool. (It’s done when you cut into the center and there is no pink.)

Remove the chicken from the pan and transfer it to a large cutting board; slice it very thinly across the grain, then transfer it back into the pan it was cooked in to soak up the juices (the chicken can be refrigerated this way for up to 3 days before continuing with the rest of the recipe, or you can continue after 10 minutes).

Coat the bottom of a large skillet over medium-high heat with oil. Once hot, add the sliced chicken and sauté until crispy and golden brown (you may need to sauté the chicken in two or three batches so the pan isn’t overcrowded).

Spread some Garlic Mayonnaise in the center of each piece of bread; add some chicken and pickles (and any other vegetables you like) and roll it up.

Toast the sandwiches on a dry griddle or a flat sandwich press so that the bread gets golden brown and slightly crispy.

Serve as is, or cut into small rounds; serve with additional Garlic Mayonnaise for dipping.

Pickles (MEKHALLEL)

Combine the 1 cup (250 ml) hot water, salt, and sugar in a large measuring cup with a pour spout; stir until the salt and sugar are completely dissolved and then cool to room temperature.

Sterilize a 1-liter (1.06 qt) canning jar.

Cut the cucumbers into spears by cutting them in half lengthwise, and then cutting each half lengthwise into 3 equal pieces.

Put 1 clove of garlic in the bottom of the jar, add the cucumber spears, and then add the other clove of garlic on top.

Pour in the water/salt/sugar mixture, then add enough purified water so that the cucumbers are completely covered, leaving about 1 inch (2.5 cm) of free space at the top.

Let the jar sit at room temperature to form pickles. The pickles are ready to eat when the cucumber turns khaki green in color, and they smell faintly of vinegar. This will take about 5 to 7 days in hot weather and 15 to 20 days in colder weather.

Once the pickles are ready to eat, drizzle in the oil and store refrigerated.

Garlic Mayonnaise

Crush the garlic and salt in a mortar and pestle until it forms a smooth paste.

Whisk together the garlic paste and egg until well blended.

Add the oil, drop-by-drop, while whisking (after you’ve added 1 tablespoon of oil drop-by-drop, you can add the oil a little faster). Make sure the oil you add is fully incorporated before adding any more.

Once you’ve added ½ cup (125 ml) oil, alternate between gradually adding the oil and lemon juice and continue mixing until fully incorporated.

Add the cold water and mix until smooth and creamy.

Recipe courtesy of An Edible Mosaic: Middle Eastern Fare with Extraordinary Flair by Faith Gorsky (Tuttle Publishing; Nov. 2012); reprinted with permission.

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