#these whole tomatoes were in tomato puree instead! this tomato sauce i made with them was so rich and nice

[placeofwonder]

friendship ended with tins of chopped tomatoes, now tins of whole tomatoes are my best friend

#mine #personal #cooking #so #so! #i'm reading this recipe that says to use a tin of 'whole peeled tomatoes that you've crushed with your hands' #i go 'feels like that could just be a tin of chopped tomatoes but sure' #but. but! every tin of chopped tomatoes i've ever bought had the tomatoes in tomato juice that made the whole thing so watery #these whole tomatoes were in tomato puree instead! this tomato sauce i made with them was so rich and nice #and now i'm very excited to use these in bolognese and chilli and so on #(tomato puree as in like tomato sauce. not the concentrated stuff that comes in a tube) #but honestly the best part was crushing the tomatoes #you get to stick your hand into a bowl of red stuff and fish for slippery objects and squeeze them #which i think satisfies some sort of deep-seated feral urge

[wakandamama]

Routine

Yall been knew I had fallen down The Bear rabbit hole and have YET to climb out. So it was only a matter of time before I drop a Carmy x Sydney fic lol. So here it is! It's a bit of smut, a bit of sneaky around, a bit of character deep dive. A whole bunch of sexual tension, way too may food allegories. This is just a ONESHOT!

Sydney thinks about just how this became routine for her and Carmy.

It may have happened when he and her were the last ones left in the kitchen on a Saturday. Three weeks before the disaster of Pre-Order and the blessing of Tomato Money.

 Sydney’s highschool cousin had begged her to provide some of her family famous crab cakes for a graduation kickback for one of her friends. The friend remembered having them from way back when 18 year-old Sydney still had to babysit them as ever-hungry 10 year olds and never forgot. Honestly, Sydney felt honored that her food made such a lasting memory on a stranger just like Camry had for her-

Anyway, the kickback was at 8 and it was 7:20 and Sydney had just put the last sheet of crabcake from the oven. She called out absentminded goodbyes as Tina’s quiet “Night Jeffes,” and Richie’s brash “Night Cousin” kinda floated behind her.

 As she waited for the batch of paprika-savry crab cakes to bake, she was whipping up a creamy tabasco base sauce to dip them in. Carmy was softly in her space, like usually. He was precious in sharpening all the knives of the kitchen, old school style with a grit stone set, he stood catty-corner to her. His drilling blue eyes didn’t stare directly at her soul but instead to the delicately-deadly curve of the knife. 

For once it was Sydney stuck side eyeing him with a soft focus. Her cooking had come to  a quiet moment of waiting. Waiting for her sauce to set, waiting for the last batch and waiting for the batch before to cool, waiting to taste test.

Camry chuckled when he heard her mutter out a quiet yet frantic “hot hot hot hot” as she let her impatience get the best of her to taste her sauce with the crab cake. He shut up at her moan of delicious pleasure. A soft but throat-y sound of pure satisfied bliss. He practically tasted the seasoning of such a sound in the air and a craving to hear it again and again hit his gut, spreading warmth all over his skin. 

He glanced up from the black grit of the stone to see her all eyes closed, swaying in the taste and her crafted fingers still clutched half of the cake. He took her in further, she was dressed down from her kitchen wear, instead wearing the outfit for the kickback ( - supervising, one last babysitting gig I guess. Because I know those brats are gonna get high off their asses) 

A pair of black jeans that should be illegal on her body, a gray cropped sweatshirt and sneakers that would lead to certain death by slip in a busy kitchen.

 His eyes followed every line of hers like he was seeing the best grain to cut for optimal presentation. The curve of her calf into the curve of her thigh, into the curve of her tempting ass into the concave of her back. His eyes skirt the plane of her stomach onto the lines that made her shapely waist. Over her petite chest to the curve of her lean shoulders that connected to the slope of her neck that was still stretched back in bliss from a euphoric bite of damn good food. 

She moaned over the second bite. Camry licked his lips at the way her lips kiss over the crumbs and speckle of sauce left on her lithe fingertips. Fuck, he wondered how those plump lips of her witty mouth would fe-

Carmy bit back a curse as the grit of stone scraped with a rude sting over the side of his thumb to the heel of his hand. Like some punishment for allowing her to take his attention with one whisper of a sound and to greedily take in her beautiful shape when the fucking knives are dull.

“You good Chef?” Carmy asked. He brushed past her with a light hand on the small of her back to get to the sink. She finally opened her eyes and her nose scrunched cutely in slight embarrassment for moaning like that over a freakin’ bite of crab.  

“Sorry, it's just I haven’t made these in forever. I forgot how good I am at making ‘em. Shit, that probably sounds so conceited.” Sydney chuckled a bit nervously and Carmy shrugged.

“I only eat veal, if I cook it. That fact’s gotten me beat up by Mike once or twice.” he joked. It made Sydney smile. She grabbed another one with a graceful swoop of her wrist; she dipped it and came to his side.

“What do you think?” she asked, excitement in her eyes that Carmy was going to eat something so casual of hers. Carmy licked his lips at her obliviousness, her hands were still busy as he washed them and absently wrapped a bandage around the meat of his thumb. 

But he would never deny a taste test from her. 

Sydney freakin’ squeaked when he leaned his head close and ate the bite from her hand. Her body stiffened as she felt his lips grace off the side of her pointer finger and thumb. She is forced to focus on his working jaw as he chewed over it and gave a hum of pleasure himself. The sound made her bite her own lips, she wondered how such a sound would feel against her throat.

“That’s some amazing sauce Chef. Oughta add it to the menu.” he commented, looking into her eyes once again. Sydney gave a stiled nod that almost brushed their foreheads together. 

“Thanks. It’s- jus-just uhm, well y'know something I’ve perfected since I was a kid. My great uncle taught me how.” She rambled with a shuffled step back. 

“Whoa!” Carmy warned softly. His quick hands grasped her hips and pulled her back to him before she crashed back into the very full trash can. The movement collided her into his chest, his hands slid up to her waist and back to steady them before they ended up on the floor. 

“Uhm.” Sydney whispered as their noses bumped and she was nearly eye to eye with him. 

“Whoa uh-” he muttered back as Sydney’s hands fisted into the front of his shirt. 

It was awkward and exhilarating. 

Certainly, wrong and natural as they both found each other pulling their lips closer. Carmy closed his eyes tightly and Sydney refused to move her grip on his shirt because no-way was this real. Their lips placement is slightly off initially, they taste the same to one another and Sydney is pretty sure her foot is stepping on his.

Their next smack of lips was more of a moment to be connected yet adjusting. Sydney leads them to correct their posture, him leaning down more comfortably, one of her hands leaving his shirt to hold his cheek as their heads shift. Noses bumping once more but the kiss deepened deliciously. They got greedy with one another as they refused to separate for air. 

Sydney’s hand gripped down on his gold chain, locking him down as she started to trail her lips to his jaw. Carmy’s hand grabs at her breast and gives a soft squeeze as he forces her lips back to his and swallows her moan. 

 His other hand rubbed down her side until they gripped tightly on her hip. The combination of his caresses caused her to give a stuttering moan that sent lust running wild under Carmy’s skin. He turned them and lifted her with ease. Sydney pulls apart in shock as he sat her on the edge of an empty prep table with such swiftness. 

They are forced to breathe and look at each other now, their bodies still wrongly close. Sydney's hands slid down to hold his wrists as he still had a grip on her hips.

“Fuck.” they both whispered off wet, kissed bruised lips. They looked each other deeply in the eyes for a moment before Carmy turned away first. His hand instantly ran with worry through his hair as Sydney snatched her hands and crossed her arms, pressing into herself as she looked down at the titles. 

“Uhm, that wasn-”

“Shit, sorry w-”

They both hum to a quiet, lost for words at what they just did. 

And how they both liked it.

And how they both wanted it again. 

Sydney feels an embarrassed warmth under her skin to see her lip gloss over Cramy’s mouth and chin. Carmy went red and nervous as he saw how much he had hiked up her shirt.

“Sorry for uh… you good Syd?’ Carmy asked, still not looking at her. She slid off the counter, adjusting her clothes. She pointed her look past his head to the clock on the wall. 

7:55 pm.

“I’m good, Carmy. Are you?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

“I’ve got to go.”

Sydney has to bush close to him to get back to her counter to get the last batch and pack the food then getting the fuck out. Carmy flinched to see that his wet hands had left a drying imprint on her shirt. He passed her to the back door and collapsed into a resting crouch, lit a cigarette on instinct.

Five minutes later she was outside too, tupperware full of the best crab cakes and sauce he’s ever had and the girl that now owns his first kiss in 8 years.

 He hastily stood up and they gave each other tight smiles. 

“I’ll see you on Monday?” Sydney asked. She frowns a bit, that wasn’t meant to come out as a question. It doesn’t matter though with how fast she is walking away.

“Yeah!”Carmy called nervously after her, she turned just in time to catch him ducking back inside. 

Sydney is sure that’s not the start. Because they showed up on Monday and worked with their usual stressed ease. They each had their usual bicker with Richie, they each worked on prep, Sydney wrote in her little notebook, Carmy ticked over leftover paperwork, they sat across from each other during family and never met eyes.

They did the same thing Tuesday. 

They did the same thing Wednesday.

If she was trying to determine something official, it would be that Thursday. 

At the end of the day she swiped a piece of leftover lemon cake and two spoons as everybody left. She went into the office and Carmy looked up in soft surprise as she sat it on top of some random receipt book from 2015.

“What’s up Chef?” Carmy asked and Sydney shrugged.

“Just cake. I… we need to talk abou-”

“Shit, yeah, uh-yeah. We don’t-”

“Yes we do Carmen. That's the whole communication thing we talked about when I first started.” 

“Oh, right.”

They both went quiet as Sydney cleared some space on the desk and sat on the edge. She dived into a bite of cake and ignored the nerves created from Camry staring at her mouth again. 

“I’m sorry for kissing you like that.” Carmy said after a minute and Sydney handed him the other spoon. 

“I’m sorry too. That was unprofessional of us.”

“No, it’s on me Sydney. I’m older than you, I’m your boss.” he added, going for a bite as well. They are quiet as they share it down to an empty plate and yellow crumbs.

“I’ve liked you for a long time Carmen. Admired you even. I think you can go anywhere and do anything and it’s great.” Sydney said. Carmy let out a bitter chuckle at her statement.

“Sydney you have a lot of talent, creativity and whatever else makes a great person. From the moment you walked in the door you started lifting this place up. I’m a piece of shit compared to you.”

“Still like you though.” 

“... I like you alot too…”

It’s quiet again, no cake to fill in the time and space. Both chefs felt like they were going to bust and the silence was the only safe space. 

Ever impatient, Sydney is the first to break it. 

“Ya know… The first time I made scrambled eggs I was like 8. I set the fire alarm off with how high I cooked them. There was salt and pepper everywhere, somehow they were both browned as shit and still runny. I’m pretty sure I broke my dad’s heart fucking up his cast iron pan like that.” Sydney rambled and Carmy gave a soft smile at that.

“I’m pretty sure I broke my nan’s heart cause I broke spaghetti noodles in half before I boiled em. I had seen someone do it on Food Network and Sugar had to save my ass from getting beat with a spoon. I was 7 I think.”

Sydney couldn't help but snort at that. 

“Yeah, but we got better with practice right?”

“Yeah.”

“Not to be mean, but you could improve your kissing skills.” Sydney said, pointedly not looking at him as he settled back in his chair in shock and awe.

“... is this a complaint?”

“No.”

“No?”

“... it’s an offer to improve I guess. With practice.”

“Sydney.”

“I’m just saying! I liked it, you liked it. You could use practice. I could use pract- oh.” Sydney is cut off by Carmy rising up. He stood in the space between her legs and crossed his arms. Sydney couldn’t help but blink in surprise as he bent in slightly to look her in the eyes. 

“We can’t.” he scolded quietly. His voice is soft yet stern.

“We can’t?” Sydney rasped.

“It’s unprofessional.”

“...It is unprofessional.”

“It’s getting too close, even if we did like it. I can’t just make out and fuck you in the Beef like I’m some asshole line cook that only floats Waffle Houses.”

Sydney huffed then crossed her arms as well, leaning back and squinting at him. Her head gently bumped the shelf above the desk as she settled back. She can’t meet his eyes though, so she focused on his nose and thinks about how it bumped her the other night.

“This joint wishes it was a fuckable Waffle House. Richie might actually get a life.'' She smarted. Carmy jerked his head to a tilt, trying to force her eyes to his in disbelief. 

“Sydney!”

“Carmen!”

“We shouldn’t and aren’t doing this here.”

“Fine.” Sydney shrugged, plump lips pursing in attitude.

She finally got the nerve to meet his eyes but smiled to see that he was checking out her mouth. Carmy pressed the inch of space closer so her legs encompassed his hips. His arms dropped so that one hand braced on the shelves behind her head and the other rested on her knee, making her leg enclose his. She felt the subtle bulge in his pants settle against the desk and the edge of her inner thigh. She glances down at it and lets her posture correct up in a deep breath. 

The layer of their jeans blocking skin was fucking infuriating. 

Once again, they were dangerously in each other's faces.

“So, we aren’t doing this here?” Sydney challenged.

“Nope.”

They ended up half stripping in the back of his car, bruising each other's necks with hungry lips. 

Sydney finds out his hair is just as soft as it looks and he groans when you tug at his nape but flinches when you go too far up his crown.

Carmy learns to draw out moans from her. You had to kiss her down from the bottom of her ear, follow her jar and end at the center of her throat.

Sydney learns that holding his cheeks makes him cry. Carmy learns she likes to hide her face in her braids when her moans are out of control. Carmy learns that he’s really fucking handsy. Sydney learns that she’s a biter.

Both of them have very talented yet untrained hands that excel in finding the right spots.

It became routine. 

They’d work on Monday, then come in on Tuesday. They work like Carmen didn’t nearly crash his car with how good Sydney sucked him off on the drive to his place Monday night.

 They’d work on Wednesday. Pretending that the reason Sydney was walking so carefully is because she dropped a pot on her foot and not that Carmy fucked her thighs numb back at his apartment last night on Tuesday night.

The reason Sydney had to wear her braids in a high bun instead of her usual scarf this Thursday morning? She overslept and didn’t have time to grab one. Not the fact that it slipped off her bucking head last night and is under Carmy’s couch right now.

The reason Carmy wore a long sleeve rolled up to his forearms instead of his usual short sleeve shirt this fine weather Friday? He had to fight the alley cats throwing out the trash. Not the fact the ‘cat’ was most definitely named Sydney as she rode him in the back seat while they were parked outside her and her father’s apartment building. 

Friday was their exception. 

They alway went home separately and alone on Fridays. The dinner rush was too taxing on their bodies to be hungry for anything else but a sandwich, a beer, and to drop dead into bed. (Friday didn’t stop nudes however. It didn’t stop Carmy from getting hard at the videos of Sydney muffling her loud moans of his name into her childhood pillows. It didn't stop Sydney’s gut from tightening up at the obscene shot of Carmy beating his dick to the sound of her name) 

Work was work on Saturday. 

It was Sunday mornings like this. Where they woke up cuddling in Carmy’s bed. Him smoking out the window into the cool morning air and Sydney listening to his heartbeat in his chest in the soft light of sunrise. 

That she thinks about this, about how they got here.

She feels guilt forever getting in a situation like this. She’s fucking her boss, fucking her idol, fucking a man five years older than her, fucking a white man, fucking a Catholic, all the without a ring nor relationship in sight. Her father would burn The Beef down to the ground with Carmy inside of it and expose her to church ladies for correction. Her mother would just cackle out of the grave.

 “At least you didn’t dirty the kitchen, Syddie Kitty.” Sydney can picture her teasing out of plum-colored lips over a wine glass as funeral dirt shakes out of her locs.

Sydney turns over so that she and Carmy are pressed chest to chest. Her chin rests on his sternum so she can look over his face. His hand absently rubs a firm circle over the knot in her lower back as he continues to stare at their city waking up. 

He’s beautiful. 

She’s beautiful. 

Carmy huffs a laugh as he dodges her trying to take the cigarette out of his hand, blowing the cloud high as he snuffs it out. She sticks her tongue out and dodges back, making the kiss he aimed for her lips land on her cheek instead. 

Before they can tease each other again, Carmy’s phone rings. He cringes at the tone he has set for Sugar echoing over them. He grabs it and just stares at the screen as it vibrates and lights up with the picture of his sister.

Sydney taps her hand on his wrist, thumb ghosting on the green accept slider. Carmy is quick to deny the call, toss the phone back to the side table and twist into Sydney's body.

“You can’t keep doing that.” Sydney says after a while. He burrows further into their hold until she melts back. 

What would Sugar think? Every time he declined her calls or avoided weekly family dinners was because he was in the hands of his younger sous that he still hasn’t introduced her to. Yeah, the one Richie has been complaining about changing everything. That she was the only one that made him feel like he could breathe and that he hated church. 

He knew what Richie would say, that's for sure. He’d be all smug and smartassed and judgmental. Announcing that he knew all along baby Carmy despite the prestige of his NORMA bullshit, was just a bitch who fell for pussy and would drive The Beef and the lives the revolved round it into the ground for it. 

Both chefs are shamefully selfish this Sunday morning.

They make savory crepes and drink coffee with Good Eats playing in the background.

They shower together about it. 

Carmy drops her off at the farmers market.

Carmy cleans the Beef alone with a toothbrush as one of Mikey’s old mixed CD’s plays on the old Beef stereo. 

Sydney tosses her laundry in the washing machine as her dad plays Charles Jenkins & Fellowship aloud and remarks that he missed her at service again. 

Carmy shows up 8 minutes late to dinner at Sugar's with the wine his big sister likes. 

Sydney fries fish and makes smothered green beans for dinner, her father sets the table for them to play cards and watch Down in the Delta. 

Both chefs pray that this stays their routine. 

Taglist 🥰

@blowmymbackout @kdoxkeic @pantherxrogers @soufcakmistress

#the bear fx #the bear hulu #carmy x sydney #sydney x carmy #carmy berzatto #sydney adamu #Chefs kiss #the bear fanfiction #smut #black girl reader #sad fluff #sneaky link

[jegaphone]

This post kind of went off the rails as I was writing it but I'm still having a nice time getting my thoughts down on paper so to speak, so here it is anyway! Read on for instant pot thoughts and chicken suggestions.

@thievinghippo also requested new chicken recipes, and I happen to be making one of my favorites tonight - Punjabi chicken curry! The specific recipe requires a set of spices that may be less likely to be in your kitchen if you don't cook Southeast Asian cuisine on the reg, and I don't want to reproduce a recipe in full that isn't already available online, but I highly recommend Anupy Singla's cookbook Instant Pot Indian. Everything I've made from it has been an absolute banger, and once you have the basic set of ingredients on hand the recipes come together quickly and easily. A lot of pureeing instead of chopping, and dumping stuff into the pot to simply set and forget rather than having to mind the stovetop. There are also many options for adjusting the spice levels to your tastes!

I've made some terrible instant pot meals - rubbery, watery, tough. I know a lot of folks who have given up on it as an appliance. I think the most important thing I've learned is to use recipes (at least as a jumping off point) that were truly designed and tested for that cooking method. Until very recently I hadn't really seen the point in buying cookbooks when so many recipes are available online, but man, the difference in quality is often SUBSTANTIAL. I do have some trusted online sources for recipes (I want to make a post listing them soon), but just Googling or using something like All Recipes is a minefield these days. I'm trying to make too many points at once here, but what I really want to get at for the moment is that the instant pot is Good Actually if you use it right.

In particular, chicken in the instant pot turns into easily-shreddable, juicy, flavorful deliciousness. Just throw in whole thighs or breasts (boneless or not) along with the other ingredients for chili, curry, stew, etc. It can also become pulled chicken sandwiches, or get added to a salad to make it a heartier meal. There are so many possible variations, but as a very general baseline...

2 pounds of meat

1 cup of liquid (broth, aquafaba from cans of beans, tomato sauce, or even just water - in my experience erring on the side of a little more liquid is better, since you can always drain some off, but you don't want anything to scorch if it's too dry)

1 tablespoon of Kosher salt

Set the timer to 10 minutes on high

For the curry I'm making tonight, I marinated the chicken in spiced yogurt, and then added diced canned tomatoes, pureed onion, garlic, and ginger, frozen peas, and a bunch more spices. About five tablespoons of spices in total for this dish, but that varies a lot by cuisine and what the spices in question are! I'm being purposefully vague because one of the skills I've most valued learning for day-to-day cooking is to freestyle with what I have on hand, rather than having to meticulously plan ahead for stocking specific ingredients. This does require having a stocked pantry of basics... another post for the future!

#jega cooks #anupy singla #instant pot #chicken

[thathelplesshomeschooler]

humans are space orcs (with magic!) *skillz to pay the billz pt 1*

5wow i have been gone for a hot minute but i think i’m gonna tryn write more on here, but school’s starting up again soon so we’ll see how that actually goes. anyway, without further ado, here is another short story or sum, based on how some people can cook, and how some absolutely cannot

also i had to resist so hard from writing that’s what she said at the end so i will have to console myself with writing it up here.

***

The VIV Narrtor was docked at a WayCenter Station for repairs after a gamma burst from a neutron star had fried nearly all the sensors. As it was the humans had decided to designated this as their “vacation” and had put their money together and were renting a small abode for the duration of the repairs. Not wanting to miss out on any possible research, Drerzii had insisted that he and Tygeria rent the room across the street from the humans. 

And so Tygeria found herself the windowsill with a pair of “binoculars” as the humans called it, in her hand. Currently the humans weren’t doing much, in fact it appeared that only one of them was up and active. Uhris, clad only in his undergarments, was in the sustenance preparation room, making ready the pot of dark, steaming liquid that the humans drank every morning. She and Drerzii had suspected it to be either some sort of religious ceremony or a necessity of their species, much like how the dular always had to eat from a plant native to their planet before they ate anything else or they would die. However, neither of them had mustered the courage to ask the humans. If it was indeed a private matter, it might not be appreciated if they suspected they were being studied so thoroughly. And an angry human was not something Tygeria wanted to see. 

As she observed, the rest of the humans slowly arose from their slumber, except for Taurus. Being the largest of them all, Tygeria suspected that he likely needed more rest than the rest of them in order to move his mass around. She noted her thoughts on a holotablet. 

When she resumed her observations, she noted that Uhris was preparing sustenance, and quite a large amount. He must be feeding the entire group. It was strange she thought, since his records didn’t indicate that he had been trained in sustenance preparation, but he seemed quite adept in his actions. Perhaps he had trained in secret, hoping one day to be employed as a sustenance prepare. These “chefs” apparently were quite coveted in any group. 

The group spent most of the morning hours indoors, but what they were doing exactly Tygeria couldn’t say exactly. They were certainly enjoying themselves at the very least. Around midday Uhris and Enara walked out of the building. Tygeria leaned forward, her interested piqued. “Drerzii, Drerzii! They’re headed this way.” Her carapace tingled with mixed fear and excitement. They’d been found out. Surely the humans would be angry at being spied on. Drerzii rose from his resting state. 

“My dear Tygeria, you surely must be mistaken. The humans-” He stopped as he peered out the window, “Oh. You’re quite right Tygeria. But do calm yourself, I doubt they mean us any harm. Likely their simply curious. Their species’ natural inclement is towards curiosity rather than violence; however, I suppose we should be prepared. There, I have a clear line of communication to command should anything happen.” 

Tygeria appreciated his actions, but her carapace still tingled. A minute later there was a knock on the door. She walked quickly across the room and opened the door. Uhris and Enara stood in the entryway. 

Uhris switched his hand from scratching the back of his head to giving them a little wave. “Uh hey. Anne pointed out that you guys were staying across the street from us, and we all agreed that we couldn’t just let you guys stay here.” It was exactly as Tygeria feared, the humans were angry about being spied on. Drerzii’s flashing colors echoed her fear. “So we- Drerzii you okay? You’re putting on a whole light show my dude.”

“Oh, yes, I’m quite fine. For the time being at least.”

“Erm, yeah, whatever that means. Anyway, we’re about to have lunch, so we wanted to know if you guys wanted to join us. We might do something later, but we haven’t decided what yet.”

Tygeria lowered her head so it was on eye-level with the human. It didn’t make much of a difference to her, what with her infrared vision, but apparently it was a human gesture. “You don’t intend us any harm?”

The two humans looked on in confusion. “N-no? I mean why would we want to hurt you? We just wanted to know if you wanted to eat with us, but if you don’t that’s fine too.”

Tygeria was taken aback. Did they not know? “Because we were obs-”

“Of course we would be delighted to enjoy you for a meal. I unfortunately am unable to consume at the current moment, but I would be delighted to participate in your fellowship.”

“Oh. Great, well you guys can head on over then. Enara and I are just going to get some groceries, but we’ll be back in just a few minutes. The door’s unlocked so just head right in”

And so the humans headed off toward the provisions center of the station while Tygeria and Drerzii made their way to the humans rooms. Upon entering the room they were met with ferocious laughter. The terrifying sound of mirth coming from all three of the humans. Taurus, who apparently was in the middle of a story glanced over towards the door, his predatory eyes moving by pure instinct. He motioned with his hand. “Come on over guys, I was just telling them about when I managed to get a screw jammed up my nose.” It took a few minutes of recap for Tygeria and Drerzii to understand the situation, but it was incomprehnsible why the humans found it so funny.

Uhris and Enara arrived shortly after the story was finished. Both had bags filled with consumables in both hands. Taurus hooted from across the room “Uwu, y’all look like a couple, walking in with your groceries.”

Uhris breathed heavily through his nose, what Tygeria believed was called a “snort.” “If I was Jason maybe we’d be a couple.” At that comment Jason started coughing and Enara’s face grew red. Perhaps, Tygeria thought, this has something to do with them ‘liking’ each other.

“Anyway, we’re going to get started on lunch. Y’all just sit tight. Also Tygeria you should be able to eat this, we got food that’s edible for you too.” She clicked her thanks.

It was very considerate that the humans would use sustenance that she would be able to ingest as well. She was, however, concerned. Among her kind she was known to have rather specific preferences. However she couldn’t risk offending the humans by not eating any sustenance they prepared. But as they worked in the kitchen, her olfactory senses began to tingle. The smells of whatever it was they were making piqued her curiosity. How could one prepare food so that it would have such a smell? Was this some form of communication between human. Perhaps it was just a byproduct of whatever processes they were using to prepare the sustenance. 

She peered over to see both Uhris and Enara moving efficiently through the kitchen, handing each others utensils and ingredients as they worked. Occasionally one of them would take a small utensil and taste some of the sustenance, then make a small adjustment to the ratios of ingredients. Sometimes they would ask each others opinions or hand something off to the other. Tygeria was astonished at the ease with which they hurried through their movements. Uhris placed his creation in the heating unit and turned to the rest of them. “Alright, so this should take just a few minutes to bake, and then we’ll be good to go.”

Taurus set out dishes for everyone to eat on, except for Drerzii, who had declined on account of his metabolic processes not being in service for the time being. Once Uhris had deemed the time to be right, he carefully pulled the sustenance from the heating chamber and placed it upon the table. Enara came from the kitchen and placed what she had prepared next to Uhris’. “Just wait for it to cool down and then go ahead and dig in.”

With a laugh Jason raised his hand, “So what exactly is it that we’re eating.”

Uhris bared his teeth, then quickly changed his expression to be less frightening for Tygeria and Drerzii. “What we have here is a magherita flatbread, made completely by hand, with non-native ingredients. I subbed uthara for tomatoes for both the garnish and the sauce, and used tehari cream instead of cheese. And the crust is, actually I don’t know what it is, it just said it could be substituted on my holotablet. But Enara, tell them what you made.”

“What we have here is a fruit salad, also made with ‘non-native’ ingredients, as Uhri put it. And I put in some of the spices they had at the compound for some added flavor.”

Jason laughed, “So basically we’re having alien pizza and alien fruit salad? This is really gonna be the test guys.” With that he took out the first section of the ‘flatbread’ and took a bite. His eyes opened wide and he made a sound deep in his throat. With a mouth full of food he said, “Oh yeah, thish ish the sh*t you guys.” 

What exactly that meant, Tygeria wasn’t sure, but the rest of the humans began consuming the sustenance, and so Tygeria took one of the squares and took a bite of it herself. Her carapace tingled with delight. The flavors burst in her mouth, sweet and salty combining perfectly. She hummed with delight, this was beyond what she would have imagined the humans to be capable of. She then took a portion of the ‘fruit salad’ and ate some of that as well. It complimented the flatbread in a way that she didn’t know was even possible. She quickly secured another few servings, making sure she would have enough for later on. She would have to savor the taste whenever she had the chance. But she couldn’t help but to hum even more as she continued to feed on it. 

“Well it looks like we have one very happy customer.” Uhri said.

* * *

The rest of the day the group simply stayed indoors and talked about a myriad of subjects. Enara’s skill in the kitchen had come about simply because she liked to cook as a past time. It was, as she said, “A pleasure to see my work put smiles on faces. And even better if I can make the food healthy.” Uhri had apparently worked in his family’s business of making food for special events, something called catering, and had picked up his skills from his years helping around the kitchen. He volunteered to make another meal for dinner, but before he could start Anne stopped him. 

She stepped into the kitchen and turned to him “It’s been a while since I’ve made anything for anyone else, but I’d like to try to make something for you guys.”

Uhri shrugged, “Knock yourself out.” Tygeria was startled by this. Why would Anne hit herself so hard as to knock her unconscious? She was about to raise her concern when Uhri spoke, “I didn’t mean it literally. It’s a human saying, kind of like good luck, or go right ahead.” 

She hummed her acknowledgement, but was still confused as to why anyone would say this. 

Taurus paused, “Wait Anne, I didn’t know you could cook.”

“Well I did live by myself for two years in college. And I got sick of instant ramen after the first semester, so I had to learn.” 

This made sense to Tygeria, humans apparently had to fend for themselves once they reached a certain age. Their parents would assist but for the most part they were on their own. Next to her Drerzii trumpeted with delight. “Why, Tygeria I have been fastidiously taking notes of this whole occasion, and I would like to mull over them with you later. We can see what our thoughts are, but this entire time has been so enlightening.”

A few short minutes later Anne huffed out of the kitchen a steaming platter in her hands. The smell coming from it was just as strong as the one coming from the earlier dishes, but not quite so delectable in nature. Anne plopped it down in the middle of the table and introduced the dish. “It’s a bean casserole, or at least as close as I could get to one with what we have.”

Jason was again the first one to take a bite. He slowly pulled his utensil out of his mouth. Anne beamed, “So, what do you think?”

Jason shook slightly, “It’s definitely something else. You’ve got a real flavor there I’ll tell you that.” He timidly placed another portion in his mouth, shutting his eyes as he did so. 

The others began to eat, and had similar reactions. Slow, and usually taking a drink of water after every bite they had. It was a completely different reaction to what they had before. Before she could take a bite, Drerzii whispered in her ear, “Tell me what it tastes like.” 

So she  put a large portion on her plate, and another large portion in her mouth. If it was anything like the bliss she had tasted earlier she would have to start eating the humans food more often. Unfortunately, it was nothing like what she had eaten earlier. It was as if whatever the flavor was meant to be had become evil and was attacking her mouth. And the way it felt, it was incredibly dry, parching her mouth. She quickly grabbed a cup of water and downed it, trying to suppress the taste and texture. She turned to Drerzii and spoke quietly, not wanting to offend Anne, “It’s awful. I would not recommend trying it.” She looked back to see Anne staring directly at her. Her predatory hearing must have heard Tygeria’s report. 

“Is it actually that bad? I know I might have fudged some of the spices, but was it actually that bad?” 

Tygeria started to panic. How could she tell the human that it was possibly the worst thing she had ever tasted? Humans were easily offended when it came to things they made themselves. It wouldn’t do for her to insult the food. But she could thing of no other honest alternative. Right as she was about to confirm, Taurus spoke. “To be honest Anne, it’s not great. It’s pretty dry and you overdid it with the flavoring. But trust me it’s not as bad as my grandmothers cooking. That was a culinary nightmare. I can at least eat this.” 

Anne nodded, liquid gathering at the bottoms of her eyes. Tygeria tilted her head, she had heard that liquid spilled from humans eyes when they got emotional, and the action even had a name. So she asked, “Are you going to cry?”

Instantly Anne stood straight, and shook her head. “Throw the food away. I’ll just go out and grab something pre-made.” With that she dashed out the door. 

“Did I say something wrong?”

“I mean, yeah, you aren’t really supposed to ask people if they’re going to cry.” Taurus said, “But at least we don’t have to finish the food. God it was disgusting, I thought I was going to throw up.” 

Enara struck him on the shoulder. “Don’t say that, she tried her best.”

“I mean am I wrong?”

Enara raised her hand as if to cuff him again, but slowly let her arm down. “No, not really, it was pretty terrible. I’m going to go find her, but let’s do try to cheer her up when she comes back.” And with that Enara rose and left the room. As soon as she had Uhris spat out a slimy, semi-chewed portion of the food. “That shit was nasty, I couldn’t bring myself to swallow.”

Tygeria wondered how any human could take the risk of attempting to prepare sustenance of the potential for disaster was this, this massacre of the tastebuds.

#HUMANS ARE WEIRD #humans and aliens #humans are space orcs #humans in space #humans are space australians #humans #space #Aliens #space story #humans are crazy

[nicknellie]

Anonymous requested: an enemies to lover shot for Juke please

Seeing as you asked so nicely, I couldn’t not do this. This trope, man. I love it so much. Thank you for the suggestion! Also, I gave Julie my own comfort song (it’s held that title for about two years now lol) and I highly suggest you all go listen to it.

Rhythm in my Heart

Julie was beginning to wonder whether joining a band on a whim purely because the boy she had known for twenty minutes had asked her to was really the best idea.

It had gone like this: Julie had been looking for Flynn in the lunch hall but hadn’t been able to see her anywhere. That was weird, mainly because Flynn’s tendency to dress in colours brighter than stars usually made her recognisable anywhere, but also because Julie had seen her just five minutes ago. They had been stood in the line together, Flynn had got her food and hurried off to find a table, but now Julie just couldn’t seem to spot her anywhere.

So, Julie had begun wandering the lunch hall in search of Flynn. Granted, she could have been a little more careful as she did so instead of paying very little attention to her surroundings, but she couldn’t help but be a little worried. Flynn didn’t just disappear like this; normally it was hard to prise her from Julie’s side.

In short, Julie hadn’t been paying attention to what was going on around her as she meandered through the lunch hall. Which was why it was partially her fault when she walked right by somebody just as they jumped out of their seat and threw their arms in the air, knocking her tray from her hands and sending food flying.

Flying right into Julie’s face.

As she blinked tomato sauce out of her eyes, Julie could feel the eyes of hundreds of Los Feliz’s students on her, could practically hear them gawking and taking photos of her as she stood there covered in spaghetti. She was dimly aware of somebody apologising over and over again, but all she was really conscious of was the fact that she was angry. Really angry.

Julie wiped furiously at her face, picked a long strand of spaghetti off her jumper, and glared at the person stood in front of her, the one who had knocked her tray. It was a boy, maybe a year or two older than her, and she had to admit that he did look apologetic. But that wasn’t the point – all the puppy-dog eyes in the world wouldn’t get sauce stains out of her best jumper.

“I am so sorry,” the boy said when Julie locked eyes with him. He picked up a napkin with fumbling fingers and began dabbing at the hem of her jumper. She yanked the material away from him and, if possible, glared harder. The boy shrank away a little.

She swiped the napkin from his hand. “I got it,” she hissed.

“Um, I’ll, um… I can buy you another lunch?” the boy offered, scratching at the back of his head. “It was my fault, I shouldn’t have whacked the tray, I… Is there anything I can do?”

“Yes,” Julie seethed. “You can leave me alone.”

With that, she picked up the tray off the floor, dusted herself off a little more in an attempt to retain some sort of dignity, then tried to brush past the boy.

“My name is Luke, by the way,” he called after her. Julie didn’t respond, she just kept walking.

Luckily, even through all the stares and jeers and people getting in her way purely to laugh at her, it didn’t take Julie too long to find Flynn afterwards. She was sat right at the back of the hall at what appeared to be the only empty table, scrolling on her phone. When she saw Julie heading her way, she gave her usual bright smile, but it melted into mingled confusion and disgust when she saw that Julie was in fact covered in pasta and sauce.

“You got a little something there,” Flynn said, pointing to her own cheek. She was very clearly trying not to laugh, which Julie didn’t appreciate it.

“Thanks,” she deadpanned, “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Is there a reason you’re wearing your lunch instead of eating it?”

“You didn’t see?” Julie asked.

Flynn shook her head then scrolled down a little on her phone and said, “Ah. Now I see.”

Julie’s eyes widened and she grabbed Flynn’s phone in a panic. Sure enough, multiple pictures of Luke knocking her tray and her being covered in food had already made their way onto Instagram. With a frustrated sigh, she handed Flynn’s phone back to her.

“I hate this school,” she said.

Flynn patted her arm comfortingly. “At least you have your amazing and supportive best friend by your side.”

“You’re still trying not to laugh.”

Flynn snorted, but quickly tried to mask her amusement again. It didn’t work.

“I’m sorry,” she said in between laughs, “but it’s hard to take you seriously when there’s spaghetti in your hair.”

The whole incident had taken up enough time that there was only five minutes left of the lunch period anyway. Julie put her tray away and headed to the toilets to clean up as best she could – all she could really do was wash her face with the scalding water that came from the school’s taps, but it was better than nothing.

She tried to let the rest of the day cheer her up, but it just wouldn’t work. Not even the fact that she had dance class with Flynn and Nick could brighten her mood. She really needed a miracle.

Whenever Julie was feeling down, music was the one thing that could cheer her up. That had always been the way. When she was young, it had been the soothing, melodic voice of her mother Rose that had been the thing to calm her down; as she grew up, her comfort songs had been ballads by her favourite bands; nowadays, Julie’s own music was what she used to cope. Making her own music, her own sound, it felt so personal and freeing that it just made sense that it would help her out of any dark place.

So, when school finished, she headed down to the music rooms instead of going back home. Usually, if a student wanted the use of a music room after school they’d have to book it in advance, which Julie hadn’t, but she figured that she would only be in there for a few minutes so it wouldn’t matter.

She slipped into the closest and smallest music practise room – it housed only a piano, an amp, and a strange array of sheet music ranging from Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 8 to Jingle Bells. Julie quietly shut the door behind her and settled herself at the piano.

Just like that, she felt herself begin to relax. She could forget that her jumper was still stained, she could forget that even dance class hadn’t cheered her up, she could forget that anything bad had happened that day at all. She let her fingers rest atop the keys for just a moment before she began to play what was her current comfort song, Einaudi’s Nuvole Bianche.

She lost herself and the bad feeling all in one go.

It wasn’t until she heard the door to the practise room opening that she stopped and remembered that she wasn’t actually supposed to be there.

She abruptly turned to face the door, standing up and grabbing her bag, ready to leave. In the doorway stood a boy with a bass guitar slung over his shoulder. His eyes were wide, his mouth open, and he was staring at Julie like he’d seen a ghost.

“Sorry,” she said hurriedly, “I didn’t realise somebody else had booked this room, I’ll go and you–”

“Dude,” the boy interrupted, coming into the room and letting the door fall shut behind him. “That was awesome! You shred on the piano, man!”

Julie recognised the expression on his face then. It was awe.

She laughed nervously. “It’s nothing. Thanks, though. I need to get going.”

The boy frowned as Julie tried to move past him out of the room. “You can stay if you want, I don’t mind. We can jam together! Or you could teach me piano – I’ve been trying to learn by myself, I only know a few chords so far, but I’m getting pretty good. Watch this!”

He put his bass down, readied his hands above the piano, and plonked out a basic chord pattern. When he was done, he turned to Julie and beamed proudly. She couldn’t help but smile.

“That’s great,” she said. “Well done. Are you sure you want me to stay? You booked the room, I don’t want to get in your way.”

The boy waved her away. “No, come on. It’ll be fun. We can write a song or something! My name’s Reggie.”

Julie hesitated for a moment, but then made up her mind. She smiled and said, “I’m Julie. Nice to meet you.”

For the next twenty minutes, Julie and Reggie sat side-by-side on the far too small piano stool as Julie tried to teach him how to play the piano. He was a quick learner, and within that time she had managed to help him block the chords for a country song he was wanting to write.

She was about to move on to telling him about basslines (which, she thought, he should have been pretty good at already since he had shown up with a bass guitar) when he gasped loudly and hit her arm.

“You should join my band!” he exclaimed.

“You have a band?” Julie asked.

Reggie nodded excitedly. “Yeah! We’re called Sunset Curve, we’re a rock band. Our rhythm guitarist just left and we’ve been looking for somebody to take his place.”

Julie pointed to the piano. “That’s not a guitar.”

“Well, no,” Reggie admitted, “but we don’t have a piano either and we’ve always talked about finding someone who could do it. It could be you, Julie! Think about how much fun it could be!”

“Who else is in your band?” Julie asked. She couldn’t believe she was actually considering it.

“It’s just me and two of my buddies, they play lead guitar and drums. We have a really good sound, but it would be awesome if we added a piano. What do you say?”

Julie didn’t know whether it was the stress of her bad day getting the better of her, or the relaxation of playing the piano, or just the fact that Reggie was impossible to say no to, but she found herself shrugging her shoulders and saying, “Sure. When do we rehearse?”

She was regretting that now.

It was the following weekend and Julie had just arrived at what Reggie had described to her as a studio. She wasn’t sure the dimly lit garage with a low-tech amp and half a drum kit could really qualify as a studio, but she supposed that the homely touches like the dartboard and some drawings hung on the wall made it feel a little nicer. She shrugged off her coat and then regretted it because it was freezing cold in the ‘studio’.

“Hey Julie,” greeted Reggie excitedly. He waved at her from his perch atop the amp, beckoning her over. “Come and meet the guys!”

Julie headed in his direction and saw that he was sat with two other boys. One of them, a blond with a shy smile wearing a thick pink hoodie, was sat behind the incomplete drum kit – he gave a little wave with a drumstick in his hand and said, “Hey, I’m Alex, how’s it going?”

“Nice to meet you,” she replied. “I’m Julie.”

Julie turned to the other boy and immediately felt her face fall. The last time she’d seen him she’d had tomato sauce in her eyes but there was still no chance that she would forget those stupid puppy-dog eyes and that ridiculous haircut – it was the idiot who had spoiled her lunch.

“You,” she seethed.

The boy – what was his name? Lucas? Lydon? Larry? – looked utterly terrified. He took a step back from Julie with a nervous laugh and hit his back on Reggie’s amp.

“Hey… Fancy seeing you here!” he said, trying for a smile but failing miserably.

Reggie and Alex looked between each other, confused.

“You two know each other?” Alex asked.

“Know is a strong word,” the lunch-ruiner said nervously. “We’ve met.”

“Unfortunately,” Julie growled. She turned to Reggie. “I’m not sure this is going to work out, Reggie. I’m sorry.”

Reggie looked hurt, which was the only reason Julie didn’t walk out of the room right that moment. “Oh, come on, Julie! You’ve got him all wrong!”

“I’m sure whatever Luke did to upset you was stupid and entirely his fault,” said Alex (to which Luke – Luke, that was his name, she remembered now – weakly protested, “Hey!”), “but from what Reggie’s told us we could really use you in the band. We’d love to have you and we promise to try and keep Luke on his best behaviour.”

Julie sighed heavily, frowning as she looked between the boys. She knew that Reggie was an absolute sweetheart, and Alex seemed to be kind and sensible – maybe she could hold a grudge against Luke and the other two band members could make it work.

“Fine,” she huffed, pointing a finger at Luke. “But I’m not promising that I’ll like you.”

He shook his head, eyes wide. “It’s cool. Thanks for sticking around.”

The rehearsal went… interestingly. The piano they’d got Julie was hardly a piano at all – it was a little keyboard that only ranged two octaves and its keys were tiny, although it did have a delightful range of demos and sounds that Reggie spent ten minutes trying out. When they got to playing, Julie could hardly even hear herself, but the others all seemed to think it sounded good.

Julie found out that Luke was on lead vocals with Alex and Reggie backing him. He had written out a score for all their parts including his vocal line, but when he sang part of it Julie realised it was wrong – he was singing an E when it very clearly stated on the sheet music that it was supposed to be a C-sharp. She wasn’t going to say anything (it was her first day with the band and she didn’t want to overstep by correcting the boy who seemed to be their unofficial leader) but eventually it got too annoying.

“You’re singing that line wrong,” she told him flatly. Everyone looked to her, eyes wide.

“What?” Luke said, smiling but sounding insulted. “I’m pretty sure I’m not.”

She shrugged lightly. “I’m pretty sure you are, but go off, I guess.”

Luke’s smile widened even more but didn’t reach his eyes - definitely fake, definitely passive-aggressive. “What do you think I’m doing wrong?” he asked through gritted teeth.

Julie pointed to the music. “You’re singing an E on this line, but you’ve written a C-sharp. Want me to demonstrate?”

“I got it,” Luke snarled, snatching the music.

“I’d like to hear Julie demonstrate,” Reggie piped up, raising his hand. “Please, Julie?”

“Happily,” Julie said. “You’re singing this: I got a spark in me.” She ended on an E. “You’ve written this: I got a spark in me.” She ended on the C-sharp.  “Personally, I think what you’re singing sounds better than what you’ve written, but you’ll need to change one of them.”

Luke scowled. “Thanks. But I told you, I’ve got it.”

Julie turned to Alex and Reggie - both of whom had been watching their back and forth like a thrilling tennis match, heads bobbing in one direction then another - but now both of them were staring at Julie with their mouths ajar, seemingly unable to close them. 

“Woah,” Reggie breathed.

“You’re amazing, Julie,” Alex said. 

Reggie flung his hand into the air. “All those in favour of making Julie our new lead singer?”

Alex’s hand joined Reggie’s and slowly, just to annoy Luke further, Julie raised her own hand. Luke looked furious and betrayed.

“Hey,” he said, wounded, “I’m our lead singer.”

“Dude, that girl has the voice of an angel,” Reggie told him matter-of-factly, pointing at Julie who beamed back at him. “And if we make her our lead singer, you’ll be able to focus on things like neatening up your guitar solos.”

Luke gasped indignantly. “My guitar solos are perfectly neat!”

“Actually,” Julie interjected, “I wasn’t going to say anything but you’re coming in late on bar twenty-eight.”

Luke ignored her. “I’m our lead singer,” he repeated.

“Why don’t you share it?” Alex suggested, standing up. From the way Reggie and Luke immediately paid attention to him, Julie got the impression that Alex often had to act as a mediator when it came to band-based arguments. His unimpressed expression hinted that maybe he’d had to do this same thing one too many times. “You can both be lead singers. I think that’ll work - both of your voices are too good to omit completely.”

“You’ve heard her sing one line!”

“And she did it better than you,” Alex said flatly. “Now can we please carry on with rehearsal?”

Luke grumbled something, but readied his guitar again. Julie began playing her chords and, assuming they’d made their decision that both of them were going to be the lead, began to sing.

*

“So what you’re telling me is that you have a huge crush on this guy.”

“I have absolutely no idea where you got that from.”

Three weeks had passed since Julie’s first rehearsal with the boys. After a suggestion from Reggie and a heated debate that had transformed into a full-blown argument between Julie and Luke, Sunset Curve had been renamed to Julie and the Phantoms. Julie would now sing the melody with Luke on harmonies (an arrangement that had been painful to reach), and Alex and Reggie were happy to stay on backing vocals.

Julie was at her favourite ice cream parlour with Flynn - they were both tucking into enormous ice cream sundaes that both had claimed they would be able to finish but likely wouldn’t, and Julie was trying to tell Flynn about how annoying Luke had been at rehearsal the other day.

“I got it from the way you talk about him,” Flynn said, accusingly pointing her spoon at Julie. “And from the way your face looks when you talk about him. And from what I saw when I picked you up from rehearsal the other day.”

Julie shook her head. She did not have a crush on Luke.

“You’re going to need to explain a little better than that,” she told Flynn.

Flynn sat up straighter, smiling brightly. “Gladly. First of all, the way you talk about him - you may be describing your arguments, but you throw in compliments that are disguised as insults.”

“I do not do that,” Julie scoffed.

Flynn raised an eyebrow. “I can give examples. Like ‘He would be a lot easier to like if he didn’t have such a distractingly perfect smile, it gets in the way’. Or how about—”

“Okay,” Julie said, raising her hands. “I don’t need more examples. Just... just carry on explaining.”

“The way your face looks when you talk about him,” Flynn continued. “It’s kind of gross, actually. You go all starry-eyed and you smile like a dope, and if I’m honest I don’t understand how you don’t realise you’re doing it. Like, surely you feel your cheeks hurt when you smile that wide?”

“Ha ha,” Julie monotoned.

“I’m not joking.”

“Whatever. What else makes you so sure I like Luke? Which I do not.”

Flynn looked triumphant, as if whatever she said next would be the end of the discussion.

“The other day, when I came to the studio to walk you back to mine, Alex and Reggie came out way before you two. And when you and Luke finally emerged, you were both doing the heart-eyes-and-smile combo. And you were punching each other all playfully, which is definitely flirting. Then you tried to play it off like it was an actual argument!”

Julie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” she said. It was Flynn’s turn to roll her eyes. “It doesn’t! Just because he wasn’t unbearable that one time, it doesn’t mean I like him. In any way.”

“If you’re sure,” Flynn said, half defeated and half resigned.

“I am.”

But the thing was, Julie absolutely was not sure.

The band rehearsed the next day. Luke had managed to line up a gig that would take place in a fortnight’s time, so they were trying to get as much practise in as possible. In Julie’s extremely biased opinion, their set sounded fabulous - she had grudgingly worked with Luke to write most of it, and though she hated to say it, when they wrote together their songs were phenomenal.

As usual, Alex and Reggie headed out first. Really, that shouldn’t have been the case seeing as Alex’s instrument took the longest time to disassemble and Reggie was easily distracted, but Julie and Luke normally ended up being the last two there. It had started when Julie had reluctantly hung around to apologise to Luke for stealing his role of lead singer, and had become something of a habit.

“I was thinking,” Luke said to her as he packed away his guitar, “if we get Reggie and Alex to add echoes to the chorus in Great, it could sound really good. What do you think?”

Julie smiled. “Yeah. It’s a great idea, I’m surprised you thought of it.”

“Very funny,” Luke said, rolling his eyes. Julie noticed the tiny smile playing about his lips and couldn’t help but fight a smile of her own. “You are so hilarious it’s unbelievable.”

“I try,” she said with a shrug. And then her mouth didn’t consult her brain before saying, “Are you doing anything now?”

Luke looked at her, bewildered. “Why? Are you?”

Julie blinked, caught off guard by the situation. She hadn’t meant to say that. Now it sounded like she wanted to do something with him. She wasn’t meant to want to do something with him because Julie and Luke didn’t like each other. That was their whole relationship - dislike! She couldn’t ruin that by spending time with him.

Again, her mouth spoke before her brain could catch up. “No. Do you want to hang out, do something together? Just the two of us?”

Luke looked as confused as Julie felt.

“Yeah,” he said. “Sounds good.”

They didn’t end up leaving the studio. Instead, they sat together on the couch that Luke and Reggie had dragged in off the street one day (Alex and Julie had both refused to sit on it until they’d disinfected it thirty times and checked it for any number of animals, ranging from spiders to rats (god forbid)) and tried to work on some new songs.

Luke pulled his songbook out for inspiration and handed it to Julie to skim through. She skipped past the songs they had already performed or rehearsed to some further back. Luke, unlike any sane person, didn’t use his notebooks chronologically, so there were new songs and very old ones mixed in throughout.

Julie found herself not turning one page for a while. Eventually Luke realised that she wasn’t listening to him talk about chords, and looked over her shoulder. When he saw what she was reading, he snatched the book away.

“Why don’t we just try and think up something completely different to our usual stuff,” he suggested, clearly trying to change the subject.

Julie didn’t want to press.

She did anyway.

“That seemed pretty different to our usual stuff,” she said softly. “Luke... who’s Emily?”

She knew she didn’t have a right to be upset. She didn’t know why she was upset. It wasn’t as if she liked Luke; if he had a girlfriend or someone he fancied enough to write a song about then that was none of her business. She didn’t get to fret over the love life of a boy she didn’t even like.

Luke looked at her for a long time. She held eye contact. She could see the cogs turning in his head, see him considering whether or not to tell her.

Finally, he sighed and said, “Emily is my mom.”

Julie tried not to react. She hadn’t been expecting that response, and upon hearing that Emily wasn’t Luke’s girlfriend something inside her did a happy little jump. But Luke’s face was solemn and tense, so Julie knew that she had to be sensible right now. Obviously, whatever Luke was saying wasn’t something easy.

“Your mom?” she prompted.

Luke nervously tugged his beanie a little lower. “Yeah... she’s my mom. I wrote that for her last year. She... I... We... We had an argument - well, we had loads of arguments - but this was the worst one. I ran away from home after it happened and I’ve not been back or seen her at all. I... I wanted to do something for her or at least get some stuff off my chest, so I wrote that song.”

“Do Alex and Reggie know?” Julie asked tentatively.

“About the song or the argument?”

“Both.”

He nodded. “Yeah, they know. They’ve played the song with me before, and our old rhythm guitarist Bobby did too. It was really cool of them - they don’t bring it up unless I do first. It’s kind of hard sometimes. Like, I want to talk about it, but I don’t want to be the one to start. I wish they would sometimes.”

Julie nodded. “I get it.”

He shook his head. “And they let me sleep at their houses before I found my own place - here.” He gestured vaguely around the studio.

Julie felt her eyes widen. The draughty roof, the leaky walls, the way that the couch and thin blanket was the only bed in sight.

“You live here?” she said, astounded.

He shrugged. “It’s not much. It’s all I’ve got. And... well, I’d like to go home one day, anyway. It isn’t permanent.”

Julie had no response. Luke was practically homeless, living in their studio. It was nothing. Nothing. He had nowhere to go.

“You can come and stay at my house whenever you want,” Julie said quickly. “My dad won’t mind. He won’t want you sleeping in the cold.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I’m worried about you.”

“Don’t be.”

“I am.”

There was silence for a moment. Luke looked at Julie and Julie looked at Luke. She felt on the edge of something, she didn’t know what. Being there with Luke felt... exciting, even despite the conversation they were having. Just the two of them, alone, talking without walls built around themselves.

“I really do get it, you know,” she said quietly. “How it feels not to see your mom.”

Luke straightened up, his face scrunched in curiosity. “What do you mean?”

Julie took a deep breath. “My mom passed away about a year ago. Music was our thing... it took me ages to play again without her. I still haven’t been able to face writing about her or anything like that. But my point is that I know how it feels to have the most important person in your life missing. There one day and gone the next.” She huffed a mirthless laugh that turned into a sniffle.

She felt Luke take her hand.

“You are not alone, Julie.”

She held his hand in return.

“Neither are you.”

*

“Oh please, you two are so in love!” Flynn exclaimed when Julie told her the story. Julie smacked her arm.

“It’s not love,” she insisted. “But... fine, maybe I like him. He’s a lot different to how I first thought.”

“What are you going to do?” Flynn asked excitedly, her legs bouncing up and down.

Julie sighed. “I have no idea.”

*

It turned out that Julie didn’t need to have any idea of what she was going to do. It happened naturally.

Julie and the Phantoms finished their set at the gig Luke had booked them - with a flourish and a fancy trick of the light that Flynn and Julie had helped Reggie sort out, the boys disappeared off stage in the blink of an eye, and the audience applauded Julie as she instructed them to, “Tell your friends!”

It had gone swimmingly. Julie had hit the high note in Bright perfectly despite struggling with it in almost every rehearsal; Luke’s harmonies had been on point; Alex had more confidence with each song, adding more complicated drum fills as time went on; and as usual Reggie’s incredible stage presence had the audience howling and enjoying themselves. Julie was proud of all of them to an almost dangerous degree.

Elated, she hurried off stage after the boys. They were all huddled together backstage and grinned when they saw Julie coming towards them.

She didn’t think. It happened automatically. Running on adrenaline, she flung herself at Luke, crushing him in a tight hug. Luckily it appeared that he was ready too, because he hugged her back with ferocity and lifted her off her feet, spinning them around.

“You were incredible, Julie,” he said, laughing, “they were loving you!”

“They loved us,” Julie said as Luke put her down. 

She had intended to congratulate Alex and Reggie too, but suddenly found herself unable to look away from Luke. His hands were still on her waist, and hers on his shoulders. She didn’t want either of them to move.

Distantly, she heard Alex and Reggie shuffle away.

“Listen, Julie,” Luke said, voice raspy. “Ever since... I was going to say ‘ever since our conversation in the studio’ but actually I don’t know when it started. Ever since sometime, I’ve been wanting to tell you something.”

She swallowed. “I’ve been wanting to tell you something too.”

“I hope it’s the same as what I have to say,” Luke laughed. Then he turned a little more serious again. “It’s... I really like you, Julie. I think you’re an amazing singer and you improve the band a ton and you make me a better writer. You make me a better person. I just... I really like you.”

Julie couldn’t help but smile. “I really like you too, Luke. I really, really like you.”

“Really?” he asked, beaming.

“Really.”

“Thank god,” he said, and Julie couldn’t help but laugh. “The guys said you did but I wasn’t sure.”

“Tell me about it,” Julie said, “Flynn’s been on at me about this for ages.”

He laughed, smiling and ducking his head. “You really are something, Julie.”

She playfully punched his arm. “So are you.”

#jatp #julie molina #luke patterson #julie and the phantoms #julie and the himbos #juke #jatp fic #juke fic #julie x luke #palina #flynn jatp #alex mercer #reggie peters #request #fanfiction #enemies to lovers #writing #alive au #unsaid emily

[tacticaldiary]

A Little Too Perfect

Pairing: Reader x Sugawara Koushi

Genre: Fluff. Pure, tooth-rotting fluff.

Turns out, cooking pasta together is a pretty good way to gauge how unbelievably perfect your boyfriend is. She feels like the luckiest person on Earth.

---------------------------------------------------------------

He watches her dance around for a solid few minutes, smiling fondly at the sight. This was one of the rare moments Sugawara saw the love of his life completely off guard. Y/N hadn’t noticed him enter the kitchen, the music from her earphones drowning out any outside sounds. She was getting ready to cook dinner, he assumed. Pushing himself off the doorframe, Sugawara slowly makes his way behind her and wraps his arms around her middle, hugging her from behind. 

He snickers when she jumps and yanks the earphones out of her ears. 

“K-Koushi!” she exclaims, turning around in his grasp and smacking his chest with a wooden spoon. “You scared the hell out of me.” she pouts.

He laughs. “That was kinda the point, love.” he gives her a sweet smile and boops her nose. Looking over her shoulder at the various pots and pans and ingredients set out on the counter, he clicks his tongue. 

“I thought I told you I was going to make us dinner tonight.” he raises an eyebrow.

“You did...but I was bored and wanted to help”

“Are you sure?” he tucks a stray strand of hair behind her ear. 

“I don’t mind.”

“Alrighty then.” He leans in and kisses her forehead quickly, before pulling away and rolling up his sleeves. “Pasta?”

“Pasta.” Y/N nods, a little red in the face.

They fall into a comfortable silence, as Sugawara starts cutting up the chicken and Y/N starts dicing the vegetables. When he starts humming softly to himself, Y/N starts to sneak glances at him. Her mind starts to wander and she can’t help but admire how perfect he is. A little too perfect. It almost seemed too good to be true. How she had ended up with someone like him still baffled her. 

The more she thought about it, the more curious she got. There had to be something he wasn’t good at, some kind of flaw. Scraping the vegetables into a bowl, she decides to test her theory. No time better than the present, right?

“Could you put the water on boil?”

She hums in response and moves over to fill the pot of water. Placing it on the stove, she pauses, before turning it on to the lowest setting. Going back to chopping vegetables, she sees him move to check on the water about 10 minutes later. Tilting his head in confusion when Sugawara notices it still hasn’t boiled, he shrugs and leaves it alone, giving it more time. He waits by the stove with the bowl of uncooked pasta, patiently, turning to Y/N to ask her about her day. Y/N keeps track of the time and about 20 whole minutes later, the water finally boils and Sugawara grins and puts the pasta to cook. While he’s busy, a small ‘ding’ from beside Y/N makes him glance towards her. 

“Could you see who that is, love?”

“Yep!” she calls back, typing in his passcode. “It’s Daichi, asking for the...” she scrolls down, “-new plays you’ve been working on?”

“Oh, I forgot about that. Uh...Tell him I’ll get those to him later.”

Y/N nods and types out the message, before moving back into the kitchen.

Patient? Trustworthy? Check. 

Hiding a small smile, Y/N focuses on dicing the bunch of tomatoes they needed.  A few minutes of silence go by, before she feels something itchy on her leg, she looks down and drops the knife in horror, letting out a screech. 

Sugawara nearly gets whiplash with how fast he turns around. 

“Y/N?!” he moves to her, worried. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?” He eyes the knife.

“Get it off, GET IT OFF!” she shrieks, clenching her eyes shut, not wanting to see the large spider crawling up her calf. The boy lets out a sigh of relief. It was just a spider. With the way she screamed, he’d though she cut off an arm or something. 

“Stay still.” He looks around and grabs a glass and a piece of paper, easily scooping the little creature off her leg, trapping it in the glass. “It’s just a spider.” he chuckles, showing her the glass, to which she scrunches her nose in disgust and looks away. 

He laughs, “I’ll set this little guy free outside. Wouldn’t do much good to kill him.” he says over his shoulder as he leaves to do just that. 

Shuddering a little, Y/N turns back to the tomatoes. 

“You okay? It didn’t bite you, did it?” he comes back inside with an empty glass. 

Kind? Caring? Check.

She shakes her head. “I don’t think so. Spiders just freak me out.”

He hums, ruffling her hair affectionately. When she closes her eyes, he sneaks a chunk of tomato and pops it into his mouth. Shoving his hand away lightly, Y/N rolls her eyes and turns away. 

“Aw, don’t be like that! I just saved you, you should be thanking me.” He jokes, letting her pass as she goes to wash the knife. 

“My knight in shining armour.”

“I was thinking something more along the lines of ‘Prince Charming’.” he sneaks another few pieces. His luck runs out, however, as Y/N turns, catching him chewing. 

“Are you...eating the tomatoes?” She puts a hand on her hip and raises an eyebrow. Instead of denying it, like she expected, he gives her a sheepish look and nods. “I like tomatoes, sue me!” he sticks his tongue out childishly. 

Honest? Check.

“Honestly, I’m more disgusted at the fact that you like eating raw tomatoes.” she bats his hand away as he tries to grab another piece and places the chucks in a saucepan.

“Hey, tomatoes are great!” he moves to strain the pasta, staring at the tomato filled pot dejectedly. 

“Gross. You’re gross.”

“I’m hurt, Y/N”

“That was the point, love” she mimics his voice from before and is rewarded with an amused snort.

“Touche.” Setting the pasta aside, he grabs the box of cornflour and reaches over to grab the pot with the sauce. He reaches over Y/N’s shoulder to get it, and the box bumps against her back. He rightens it quickly, preventing it from toppling all over her. When she doesn’t notice, he’s struck with an idea. A playful smile growing on his face, he taps her on the shoulder, prompting her to turn around.

“Koushi-?” She’s cut off when he shakes some of the powder in her hair, dusting it white. Her indignant protest is cut off with a small sneeze, which Sugawara finds adorable.

“See? We match now!” he points to his hair.

“You’re hair’s grey not-”

“Nope! We match.” he insists. “Guess we were meant to be.”

Y/N rolls her eyes and spots the half-full box behind him. SHe pushes down a smirk and steps closer to him. His hands instinctively move to her waist, and he looks down at her. 

“Maybe you’re right. We were meant to be.” She gives him a sweet smile which has his breath hitching in his throat ,as he leans in a little closer. The smile soon turns into a smirk, however, as she quickly grabs the box and tips the entire contents over his head, leaving him coughing and spluttering.

“Now we match.” she laughs, dusting her clothes.

“You just-” he cuts himself off with a sneeze, before bursting into and adorable fit of giggles. “You’re right. Now we match.”

Playful? Good sense of humor? Check.

This was the turn of events that lead to them sitting at the table with bowls full of pasta, covered in cornflour. As they talk and eat, Y/N notices yet another thing about Mr. Perfect Boyfriend. The whole time, his attention was solely on her. 

He looked at her like she was the only thing worth looking at, and it made her heart flutter.

Sighing, she puts her fork down and crosses her arms, alarming Sugawara. 

“Is everything al-”

“How are you literally perfect?” she confronts him. 

It takes a few moments to process her words, but when he’s successful, heat starts creeping up his neck. 

“I mean, you're literally the perfect partner. How did I end up here? How did I get this lucky?”

“Well,” he puts his fork down and gives her a sweet smile, “You deserve perfection. Nothing less.” he gently grabs her hand across the table and runs his thumb over her knuckles.

“No, but-”

“It goes both ways. You’re perfect in my eyes.”

“This is what I’m talking about! It’s not fair.” she pouts, looking away.

“Not fair?” he tilts his head, a fond smile playing on his face.

“You can’t make me fall for you harder by saying stuff like that. That’s not fair.”

He’s sure she could hear how fast his heart is beating now. Talk about being totally smitten.

“Well, what can I say? It’s my natural charm.” he jokes. 

“Unfortunately, it is.”

He laughs, and they go back to their dinner, keeping up the banter. They end up washing up together. 

Both can’t help but think how unfair it is, the effect the other has on them, as they end up snuggling together on the couch.

Requests are Open and Welcome!

#fanfic #haikyuu fanfiction #fanfiction #haiky #haikyuu!! #haikyū!! #haikyu x reader #karasuno #y/n #x reader #fluff #sugawara headcanon #koushi x reader #sugawara koushi #sugawara x reader #sugawara fluff #haikyuu x reader #cooking #suga #koushi #sugawara kōshi

[surveys-at-your-service]

Survey #440

from a day or two ago.

Do you drink a lot of soda? I definitely do. :/ I'd lose weight so much easier if I could drop the habit. Are tomatoes the best food in the world? I don't like tomatoes unless they're very fresh and on a mayo and bacon sandwich. Have you seen The Blindside? I actually haven't. Do you have a favorite local pizza place? Not really. There's a place I like that isn't huge, but I don't have like, a serious passion for or loyalty to it. Would you date someone 10+ years older than you? Meh, I think ten years is my cut-off. Are you due for a haircut? For sure. >_< Are you dealing with any health-related problems right now? Yeah. Even with my APAP mask, because I apparently move it too much in my sleep, I'm struggling with my sleep apnea nightmares/terrors. Do your parents like the music you listen to? Most of it. Do your parents approve of your beliefs? Not all of them, no. How many different digital cameras have you owned in your life? How about cell phones? Cell phones, idk. I've had two "pro" cameras. Do you typically do your make up the same each time? Or do you like to change it up often? It's pretty much always the same. Who is the last person you were in a room with just the two of you? What were you doing? Mom. We worked together on my room. What do you usually order at Subway? Turkey, bacon, American cheese, pickles, banana peppers, and chipotle on I want to say Italian bread. How long is your mother’s hair? It's hard to say, because it's all poofy now versus wavy like before it had to be shaved off. Don't repeat it to her ever, but she has, uh... "old lady hair" now, ha ha. What is your favourite car brand? I don’t care. Whose chore is it to clean the bathrooms in your house? My mom does it. Pick your three favourite fruits. Strawberries, kiwi, and uhhh... apples. Or pineapple. Have you ever played Cards Against Humanity? Yeah. We used to play that a lot at Colleen's house on nights we had some drinks. Who were the last friends you went to hang out with? Oh jeez, idk. I haven't hung out with a friend in a long time. How many chairs are in the room you’re currently in? Zero. I'm in my bedroom. Are you bored right now? I'm bored almost every waking hour of my days. Have you ever seen a pelican in real life? I'm actually not sure. What’s important about April? My younger sister's birthday is in April. Is there anyone who hates you? Jason probably does. Would you consider adoption? Not for me personally. What’s the largest animal you’ve ever had as a pet? Our late boxer mix. Do you own any kind of helmet? No. Do you ever put fruit on your cereal? Noooo. How do you usually celebrate your favorite holiday? My younger sister comes over here and we open our presents with Mom, who also cooks a nice breakfast. We then go to my older sister's house for the day to watch the kids open presents from their extended family. I say "extended" because the kids obviously aren't going to wait for us to get there to open the majority of their gifts from their parents, ha ha. What’s a few facts about the last person that talked to you? She's from New York, has five kids, has survived cancer (one almost advanced to a fatal level) twice, she loves owls, and recently graduated with her bachelor's in social work (it's never too late, people). What would happen if you had a baby with the last person you kissed? We're both cisgender females. Where is the biggest scar on your body? It's probably where I had a cyst removal, which is in a spot I can't see. Would you date someone who was addicted to drugs? Absolutely not. I am NOT getting involved in that. If you could go back and change something in the past 5 months, would you? I'd go to the gym sooner. Have you ever kissed anyone with a tattoo? Hmmm... I think Tyler actually may have had a The Legend of Zelda tattoo? I can't really remember. If not him, then no. Have you ever kissed someone you weren’t dating? No, but I've been kissed by someone I wasn't dating. Do you know anyone who drinks a lot? Yes. What were you afraid of the most when you were a kid? Being separated from/losing my mom. Do you like to make the first move? No. When was the last time you completely broke down? A few weeks ago when I was having a PTSD episode. Are you listening to any music? No; I'm watching Gab play Final Fantasy X. Is your hair long enough to put in a ponytail? No. Has someone ever told you they want to spend the rest of their life with you? Hm, it's funny, I don't see him anymore. Have you ever peed in the woods? No. Have you ever played Twister? Yeah, I liked playing it as a kid. Are you looking for a boyfriend//girlfriend? Not actively, no. I really don't need one right now. Out of all of your friends who have you gotten in the worst fight with? Of all friends I've EVER had, probably Colleen. Of the friends I still have, maybe Sara. What is the last microwaveable meal you had? I've been on a SERIOUS grilled chicken pesto kick lately. Mom buys these small Healthy Choice (or some brand like that) bowls that you put in the microwave and then pour the noodles and chicken into the sauce after and mix, and oh my GOOOOOOOOOOOD it is so good. What would you consider a talent of yours? Assuming the worst out of every imaginable situation. If Hogwarts was a real place and you were able to attend, what class do you think you’d excel at? According to those little quizzes I've taken, I lean mostly towards Hufflepuff, but with Gryffindor traits as well. Would you rather learn more about space or more about the ocean? Well, ideally, space, but I think learning much more about our ocean would be more beneficial to our planet and our prosperity on Earth. Do you have a mental illness? If yes, how have you learned to cope with it? If no, do you ever suspect you may have one? I have a lot. My bipolarity, OCD, and PTSD are *mostly* under control, but I most certainly still have trouble sometimes. My anxiety and AvPD are still rabid fucking hounds. My depression was well-managed not even that long ago, but life circumstances have it so it's been more aggressive than what was usual. Do you have a favorite character from The Avengers? I dunno, I like Loki ig. Thor is cool, too. It's been WAY too long since I've seen that movie. What type of cake would you like right now? Double chocolate cake sounds great rn. @_@ What was your dream job when you were a child? Are you going after that dream or not? Why? Paleontologist, and no, because I don't want to travel for work, and I could also never handle the heat during site excavations. Even though it may not work all the time, what usually helps make you feel better when you’re upset or down? Watching one of my comfort series on YouTube from channels I enjoy. Why do you personally take surveys? It's a method to just get all these thoughts out of my head and to vent when I need to without actually directly burdening someone with my problems. No one has to read 'em. It's purely for my benefit, and also to pass the time, which I have too much of. Are there any words that you can’t stand? Derogatory terms for certain groups of people. What are words that you love? Words like "serendipity," "bliss," joyous, bubbly words. I'm blanking on actual terms. If you had an endless supply of money for clothing only, what would you load your closet with? Ohhhh, lots of shit with studs and spikes. :') I've wanted a studded leather jacket since I was in middle school. Have never gotten one because of how pricey they are. :( I'd also get some KILLER boots and just obtain a more gothic wardrobe. I'd love corsets too if my body ever shrinks back to a point I'd be comfortable wearing well-made ones. What is your favorite type of cookie? Chocolate chip. What is your favorite type of candy? Strawberry Sour Punch Straws. What color would you like to paint your nails next? I don't paint my nails. Realistically, they probably won't be 'til my entirely hypothetical wedding, in which case they'll probably be black. What do you think is creepy that society accepts as normal? Urinals, alsdkfja;klwejr. Like I get men's bathrooms give the option of using a stall, but still... side-by-side urinals are so weird and a breach of privacy to me. What is the silliest secret about yourself that you sometimes feel the need to hide? That I enjoy forum RP. I tell NOBODY because I fear being judged and found as weird. Like seriously, in my "real" life, maybe two people know. What do you think is a good date other than dinner and a movie? I want a picnic date really bad kalj;dkl;jwe. Do you dread certain days of the week? If yes, what day/s and why? No. They're all very similar. Do you ever give money to homeless people? No, admittedly. Mom instead likes to sometimes offer them bottles of water or if she's really feeling generous, a cheap meal at like McDonald's or something. She doesn't like to hand out money because, well, we know what a vast majority of homeless people spend it on. Do you like to brag or are you modest? I get really uncomfortable bragging, so I try to be as modest as I can be. What your favourite thing to have on toast? I love giving it a light toast, then adding a thin layer of butter, cinnamon, and sugar. It's bomb. Do you know how to surf? Would you ever like to learn? No to either. If you eat oatmeal, do you have it plain or do you have certain toppings that you like to add to it? I love sprinkling some sugar in there. Would you prefer to spend time with your whole family all at once, or would you rather quality time with one family member at a time? Depends on what I feel up to, but I tend to enjoy family time as a group more. That way, I don't have TOO much pressure to be constantly social. I can just listen sometimes. What is the funniest or strangest thing you’ve ever heard somebody say in their sleep? I have no idea. I worry what people have heard ME say/scream in my sleep. Do you own a pair of slippers? Yeah, they're meerkat ones! :') Choose one: Butterfinger, Milky Way, Snickers: Absolutely a Milky Way. Who was the last person to comment you? My mom. I'm cool, I swear. How many arguments have you had with the last person you kissed? A lot over all these years, but I'd say that's normal when you've been friends since you were 8 and 10. Do you know anyone who has been arrested? Yes. What are you planning on doing after this? When I'm done taking this survey, I'll probably either go to bed or play a bit of WoW. Idk. Will you be up before 7 am tomorrow? I have my alarm set for 7, actually. Ever been the only one trying to fix a relationship? Mhmmmm. -_- What was the last bad thing that happened to your phone? The case that came with the phone got a big crack in it. Have you ever been with someone while they were throwing up? Absolutely not. I would start vomiting. I can't handle the sound or the act in general. Have you been to the beach this year? No; I haven't been in a long time, and I am noooot complaining. Have you ever skipped school just because you were tired? Yes. Are you tan? God no. Do you own any leather? No real leather, no. I never would. Have you ever bought a shot glass? No. Do you have a therapist? Yes. We actually just talked today. Well, technically yesterday. What’s the worst name your mom has ever called you? I don't know. She doesn't really call me bad names. Have you ever listened to Christian music? Not of my own volition, but I've heard it because of other people controlling the radio. Are you the ‘creative child’? Yes, I'm considered that one. Did you like your life when you were in middle school? God no. That's when everything started going downhill. Have you ever been 'popular’? No. Has someone ever tried to convert you? Yes. Are you a fan of muffins? I LOVE muffins. What’s your most recent obsession? It's kinda chilled out now, but when Resident Evil 8: Village released, I was CRAZY over it. I watched SO many different let's plays of it. I think it's safe to say it beats out RE4 as my favorite installment.

#survey #surveys #random questions

[normal-thoughts-official]

See I think the problem is sweden is just.. cold amshnsdhdj we can’t really grow spices here so throughout the times it’s just been salt and pepper (until we started importing spice from the colonies like we thought we were the brits lmao) but traditional swedish food is like??? Potatoes and meatballs with lingonberry jam and sometimes you make the sauce out of the fat you fried the meatballs in and it’s gross. I’ve never been to Germany actually but that restaurant sounds disgusting I’m so sorry what are they doingggg. THANKFULLy we have so much food imported from pretty much everywhere that most people’s favourite foods is almost always something that didn’t originate here. Like tacos!! It’s a staple in pretty much any household here, at least where I grew up, and one of my friends is obsessed with Indian food, specifically vindaloo which is so so spicy but so good. As for the cream cheese sushi, at the restaurant here they put it in the maki rolls with veggies and a piece of omelet, i cannot stress how good it is ahaha. I love food so much!!! I don’t think I’ve ever eaten anything Brazilian specifically, but since we’re talking about it I’m really curious. If you have a specific dish or anything you think I should try let me know!! I’m gonna ask google but it’s always fun to get tips from someone who is living with the culture behind it and everything!! - salmon anon (salmnon? salmanon? Swenson? I actually wrote swenon but my phone corrected me so I’m leaving it skhdkshd)

aaaa okay so when it comes to brazilian food you gotta understand that there’s...... so much stuff. our cuisine is super varied and rich and there’s just... a lot. so it all depends on what strikes your fancy. but i have a few suggestions, although keep in mind that again, brazilian cuisine is varied and rich and it’s a big country, so i have the mos contact with food from my region (the southeast), although i’ve been to the northeast, north, and south as well

so the basis of culinary in most brazilian households is the rice + beans + farofa combo. farofa is basically cassava flour with spices, it is made to add Big Crunch to the meal. we eat that in every meal, except for breakfast. it’s kinda the foundation/pillar of the plate. i do recommend trying it, absolutely. the most likely version of that for you to find is feijoada, which is a little stereotypical as far as brazilian dishes go, but i doubt you’d find regular rice beans and farofa around in a small town in sweden. in feijoada the beans come with pork parts, and it’s black beans, not regular beans. it is also traditionally served with kale and orange slices. it’s really good, personally i love it

[image ID: a plate with kale, rice, farofa (which is sandy-colored and has a grainy consistency), orange slices, and feijoada. end ID] 

another great dish worth a try is moqueca. moqueca is (usually) fish/shrimp, coconut milk, dendê oil, bell peppers, and other spices. it takes cilantro so if you are a little bitch, i mean, if you don’t like it, you might skip that one. it is also usually served with farofa or pirão, which is essentially farofa but moist 

[image ID: a pot of moqueca. it looks soup-like and has very vibrant colors, particularly red, yellow, ad green. you can see pieces of bell pepper and chopped cilantro in it. end ID]

i do recommend trying anything palm-heart related if you haven’t. palm heart pies are one of my favorite things. and okay i know that you probably won’t be able to find this but i doubt you’ll be able to find most things i’m talking about so i’m just gonna dream big here: catupiry is this kind of brazilian... cream cheese, except it’s creamier and tastier and just superior in general. we love putting it on shit, and when it comes to stuffing, palm heart + catupiry or chicken + catupiry are my favorites

i also love bobó de palmito na moranga, which is essentially palm heart inside very creamy squash. the most common version actually takes shrimp instead of palm heart, but i don’t like shrimp and they’re not super accessible in my city anyway lol

[image ID: a carved pumpkin with shrimp swimming in a creamy mixture of squash, coconut milk, and catupiry inside. end ID]

escondidinho is another great dish. it means “little hidden one” in portuguese and it is cassava puree with dried meat inside, gratinated. there’s also a version with mashed potatoes, ground beef, and tomato sauce, but cassava is better. honestly just go for anything cassava. it’s the basis of native brazilian culinary and it’s fucking delicious. fried cassava, roasted cassava, cassava puree.... if you’ve never had them, they’re like potatoes, but better in every way. and don’t get me wrong, cuz i love potatoes

anything from the state of minas gerais FUCKS and is highly recommendable. tutu de feijão might look bad for a gringo but i promise it’s worth a try. feijão tropeiro is amazing, and chicken with okra is one of my fave brazilian dishes. it’s also easy to make so you can make it at home, even. just don’t forego the rice beans and farofa. my eastern european friend had never seen okra so if you look it up, no, that is not pepper. it’s not spicy. seriously i know yall are afraid of everything but it’s not

as for snacks! one of the greatest institutions in brazil is coxinha. coxinha is a potato-based batter stuffed with chicken (and usually catupiry as well although coxinha without catupiry is also commonly found) and deep fried. you cannot have a kids party and not serve it, it is absolutely essential. but it is also eaten as a regular snack commonly. it is super good, everyone loves it, and i highly recommend

[image ID: a plate of coxinhas. they are round-ish thingies with a “beak” on top, making it look almost like a pyramid. they are orange-golden in color and have a distinctly deep fried texture. end ID]

another great institution is pão de queijo, which i’ll admit i’m not a fan of because i don’t like cheese (catupiry doesn’t count) but i can’t just forego mentioning it. it takes polvilho, which is tapioca (which is a derivation of cassava, i’ll get there in a minute) flour, with cheese, basically. it gets a fluffy consistency that is hard to describe and that many people love. it is most traditional in the state of minas gerais, but you can find it all over brazil and also in other places in south america although recipes vary

[image ID: a bowl of pão de queijo. they are small, round, and white-ish. they have a very thin hard-looking layer on the exterior, but it also has cracks that make you able to see that the inside is fluffy. end ID]

tapioca! you might have heard of tapioca as the bubbles in bubble tea are made of it. it is a kind of cassava flour, but it’s very different from the cassava flour used to make farofa. it is white in color. you just put that motherfucker in a frying pan (no oil needed) and the grains stick to each other, making a sort of... taco-like thing? it doesn’t taste like a taco but it looks slightly like one. then you just stuff it with Whatever You Want. can be savory or sweet, personally i prefer savory but the "classic” one is coconut and condensed milk. another good stuffing to try is what we call romeu e julieta (literally “romeo and juliet”), which is a cheese that we know as queijo minas, but if you have contact with mexican food you might know as queso fresco, and guava paste. i know it sounds weird which is why it has the name as these two things are not supposed to be together but they go WELL together. romeu e julieta is a common dessert and the basis for thousands and thousands of other recipes in brazil

[image ID: a plate with tapioca. it has the form of a taco, but the “batter” is thinner and white. the inside is coconut and condensed milk. end ID]

speaking of tapioca, DADINHO DE TAPIOCA (tapioca dice) is where shit’s at. it is tapioca flour with cheese rolled into a dice format and fried, served with pepper jam, altho you can forego it, but i DO recommend trying it with the pepper jam. it is not super spicy and so so very good. don’t waste an opportunity to try it

[image ID: dadinhos de tapioca. they are small cubic snacks with a golden color and granulated-looking texture. there is also a little bowl with pepper jam in it. end ID]

and an ESSENTIAL brazilian institution: pastel and caldo de cana. pastel is a flour-based batter with a bit of cachaça (sugarcane liquor) stuffed with Whatever You Want (most common tho are ground beef, and cheese. but personally i’m always a slut for palm heart and there’s a local pizza place near my home that also makes pastel with whatever flavor you could possibly want and broccoli with catupiry pastel? PEAK) and deep fried. it is kinda big for a snack but bro it is so very good. and then we usually have it with caldo de cana, which is sugarcane juice. now, caldo de cana is very sweet, so personally i like to put a little bit of lemon in it, which is how we usually make it in the state of São Paulo, but other states lowkey look down on that (brazilians as a whole have a sweet tooth, many of our desserts are Really Sweet) but they are wrong and we are right. anyway, pastel and caldo de cana are usually served at street markets, so once you are done with your groceries, you can sit down and enjoy some. highly recommended altho again i’ll be surprised if you can find any in sweden. but pastel is not hard to make! caldo de cana is tho, you have to have kind of a machine to extract the juice from it

[image ID: pastel and caldo de cana. pastel is a long, golden-colored, thin rectangle with, in this case, cheese inside. caldo de cana is of a brownish-green with a regular juice consistency. end ID]

onto desserts! an all-time brazilian favorite is brigadeiro. that is condensed milk, butter, and cocoa with chocolate sprinkles, essentially. i recommend using dark chocolate as it is otherwise really sweet but it depends on your tastes. do try it tho

[image ID: brigadeiros. they are little balls completely covered in chocolate sprinkles, each places in a smal paper holder. end ID]

romeu in julieta as i already mentioned is very popular and seriously, give it a try

if you’re into sweet stuff, try rapadura, which is our version of piloncillo. it is like 90% sugar tho so seriously, you gotta like sweets

pé de moleque, which literally translates to “boy’s foot”, is rapadura and roasted peanuts, and it’s one of my all time favorite desserts

[image ID: a plate of pé de moleque. they are thick rectangles with almost entire roasted peanuts parts stuck together by a rich brown sort of batter - rapadura. end ID]

paçoca is also grounded peanuts with a little bit of salt and sugar, usually coming in a cork format. they are absolutely amazing and i can’t recommend them enough

[image ID: paçoca. it literally just looks like a small cork, even the color is similar. looks like something totally underwhelming but i promise you it’s so so very good and worth a try. end ID]

and okay i think that’s what i have!! at least off the top of my head (yeah that’s just what i came up with off the top of my head. like i said. brazilian cuisine is RICH) sorry for the gigantic answer that is probably not very helpful, but welp, now you know what to look for, at least lol also if you’ve followed me for over a year you should have known i would do this. BITCH I’M LATINO FOOD MATTERS TO ME

#brazilian food is delicious i promise promise promise you that you won't regret trying it #if you do try it let me know what you tried and your thoughts!!! seriously it is so rich and good it's impossible not to find something #you'll love #ask #long post #food #swenon

[britishassistant]

But I Like One Piece (3)

Her schedule becomes much busier after that.

She gets up an hour before training with Gai-sensei and goes to get Naruto. He’s taken to setting up traps again to dissuade her, growing more complex and subtle by the day.

She’s getting very good at dodging and disarming them.

They train with Gai-sensei for two hours. Usually running laps and doing katas focused on fluidity and strength. He seems to have taken Sanji’s creed as a personal challenge and she’s usually wearing mitten-like weights over her hands or has her arms tied behind her back.

After training, she returns home to practice katas with her father, using a smaller bokken.

She has a very short amount of time to shower and get dressed before Naruto arrives for breakfast with her family.

Sometimes Gai-sensei joins them, and she never knew embarrassment before she had to watch her parents try not to swoon over his every word. She suspects both Okaa-sama and Otou-sama have crushes on him.

Naruto grimaces next to her and they eat their food in double time and shout their goodbyes as they run to the Academy.

They eat lunch separately.

It’s Naruto’s idea, and rather ingenious if she does say so.

They sit at opposite ends of the same table while Ino, Sakura, Shikamaru (sleepy guy), Chouji, and Kiba are spread out between them. She knows their names now. Ino made sure of it.

Ino and Sakura try to get her involved in girl talk, Chouji alternates between talking to her about cooking and to Shikamaru about classes, while Kiba and Naruto discuss what kind of cool ninja moves they know and will learn next year.

They’re close enough that it still feels like they’re spending time together, but the conversation and slight dispersal of the seating positions mean they’re “technically” not eating a meal together.

After the Academy day is over, she goes to the market with her mother to buy groceries. Once they get back, she prepares their lunch boxes the moment groceries are put away, making extra due to the sheer amount of sharing that goes on, with Naruto yelling ridiculous suggestions as Okaa-sama measures him for new clothes.

He seems to be going through a growth spurt, now his body is getting the nutrients it needs.

They finish their homework together in the kitchen while her mother makes dinner. Otou-sama usually arrives in time for them to finish setting the table and they eat dinner together.

On Wednesdays and Fridays they get ramen from Ichiraku’s. Every other weekend is when the Hokage checks in on Naruto, so she’ll not see him for the entire two days.

After Naruto leaves for his curfew, she helps wash the dishes while her parents ensure she’s up to speed on their family history.

She goes to bed early, because she learned quickly not doing so made Gai-sensei’s training that much worse to bear.

They move up a year.

It’s almost a shame, because towards the end there the teacher had begun warming up to Naruto, if saying “Good luck Ketsugi, Uzumaki.” counts as “warming up”.

She supposes she maybe should’ve had a bit more faith in the teacher, even if the woman does have an unhealthy idealization of the World Government-level tyrant Usagi-hime and is completely, totally wrong about pirates being poor role models to aspire to.

Now they’re going to have a new teacher and begin the whole rigmarole over again.

At least their classmates are already used to him, and they get a three week break before the summer term starts.

Her new birthday’s the weekend before classes start up again too, so there’s that.

Naruto’s being stalked.

She notices it a few days into the break, when Okaa-sama begs for them to act their age for once and go play outside instead of just training or cooking.

Naruto knows a good swing set outside the Academy and they spend half an hour trying to see if they can get the swing to go all the way round.

Yes, she has the memories and partial mindset of a twenty year old, but this is the dream of every child who has ever been on a swing, including her, and they are in an anime ninja world.

If there’s anywhere it’ll be possible to fulfill this dream, it’s here.

She’s managed to go almost horizontal on her swing while Naruto whoops in glee behind her, and on the backswing she spots a blur of dark hair hiding behind a tree and watching them.

No, she thinks, slowing a little while Naruto kicks with increased vigor and whoops again once he touches tree branches, the person’s weird pale eyes remaining fixed on his swinging. Watching him.

The stalker follows them everywhere.

She’s getting reasonably sure the stalker is a girl, because just about the only place she doesn’t follow Naruto is the boy’s bathroom.

She’s almost on par with the masks for stealth otherwise, remaining far enough away that it’s not obvious she’s stalking but close enough that she always has a clear line of sight to Naruto.

She’s definitely a member of one of the village clans. Her skills and the symbol on her high-quality clothing attest to that much. But what’s her interest in Naruto?

She waits a minute after Naruto enters the bathroom, and then walks towards the stalker.

The girl knows better than to run and draw attention to herself, but she does backpedal a bit.

“Look,” She says, not unkindly. “I don’t know who you are. I don’t know why you’re watching Naruto. I don’t think you want to hurt him, and I’ll let you off so long as you don’t. Just don’t steal any of his underwear, or invade his privacy and make him uncomfortable, or we’ll have problems. Am I clear?”

The girl blushes tomato red. She opens and closes her mouth several times. She flees.

She sighs. The stalker may have just been too shy for her own good, but it’s always wise to nip a potential yandere in the bud before obsession really takes hold.

That weekend they get an addition to their morning training.

Gai-sensei comes striding onto their training field with a boy about their age trotting along behind him. He has a braid and very bushy eyebrows.

“This is Rock Lee!” Gai-sensei says proudly. “He will be joining our most youthful training!”

“I am Rock Lee and I am eight years old.” The boy introduces himself. “I am honored to meet the students of Maito Gai-sensei!”

“I’m Uzumaki Naruto and I’m seven! Imma be the Hokage, believe it!” Naruto cheers, waking up more with the chance to say his dream.

“Ketsugi Mayu. I’ll be seven two weeks from now. It’s nice to meet you, Lee-senpai.” She bows to him.

“Ah! It is I who should be calling you senpai, as you were students of Maito Gai-sensei before me!” Rock Lee insists, eyes shining. What a polite boy.

“Heck yeah! Just call me Naruto-senpai!” Naruto boasts, hands on his hips and nose in the air.

“No, don’t make him do that...”

“HOW YOUTHFUL!!” Gai-sensei roars, tears of joy streaming down his cheeks. The only person she’s ever seen cry more than him is Franky. “It brings me much joy to see my students getting along so well! Yosh! LET US RUN 50 LAPS AROUND KONOHA ON OUR HANDS!!”

“Yes, Gai-sensei!!” Lee yells back.

“Lee!”

“Gai-sensei!”

“Lee!”

“Gai-sensei!”

She and Naruto share a horrified glance. Oh god there’s two of them now.

There’s a lot of falling on faces, and 50 laps around Konoha do not get completed. They do manage 20 circuits somehow, and Gai-sensei tells them all he’s extremely proud of them.

That’s what’s nice about Gai-sensei. Even if you couldn’t quite reach the goal he set the first time, he’s always encouraging and takes every effort as something to be celebrated and built upon. He makes you want to succeed, but not worry about failing to get there.

They’re doing cool down stretches when Lee’s stomach growls.

Her eyes narrow.

Naruto catches sight of the look on her face and begins snickering.

Gai-sensei, cheerfully oblivious, straightens up. “Yosh! Mayu-chan, would your parents mind if we imposed upon them for breakfast?”

“Of course not Gai-sensei. They’d be delighted to have you.” She smiles.

Lee curls into himself a little, beginning to retreat. “Then I shall meet you all here tomorrow! Have a good morn—”

Her hand clamps down on his arm. She keeps smiling. “Training breakfasts are at my house. Here’s the address for you, so you can join us.”

Lee blinks, eyes shining suspiciously. “Ah...uh..is this...okay?”

“Don’t fight it Lee!” Naruto calls behind her. “Or she’ll hunt you down to feed you, believe it!”

“I did not hunt you down!” She yelps indignantly. “You set traps when I left you food!”

“I just wanted to say thank you!” “With chalk dust?!”

And so Lee joins them for breakfast.

He’s loud and a bit awkward, effusively thanking her parents for even the smallest of things and easily getting caught up in Gai-sensei’s pace.

He doesn’t have a mean bone in his body though, and can be surprisingly level-headed and reliable when not overexcited. Which, admittedly, is a lot of the time.

He also likes her curries, which Naruto wrongly insists are “pure LAVA on a plate, Mayu-chan, curry’s supposed to be sweet and savory, not burn your mouth off!”

She’s just glad she now knows somebody who can appreciate what a real curry is rather than the sweet, spice less sauce that cowards attempt to pretend counts.

Her parents are convinced he’s somehow Gai-sensei’s long lost son. To be fair to them, the eyebrows and enthusiasm are very...similar. Their theorizing ran rampant when Lee mentioned he lived in the Village Orphanage while assuring her he did, in fact, get enough to eat.

Gai-sensei isn’t exactly dissuading these theories with how much he mother-hens the boy either. She suspects he overacts and exaggerates his normal robustness a little bit for Lee, to stop the boy from glancing around during training sessions or meals like he can’t quite believe he deserves to be here.

She can’t exactly criticize, since she and Naruto and Okaa-sama and Otou-sama are also doing all they can to make Lee feel welcome.

The weekend of her birthday isn’t like any birthdays she’s had before in this life.

For all that she grew up in Konoha, she never had any friends before Naruto. Running laps was a much more productive use of her time, even if her mother worried about her being lonely.

A quiet dinner in with her new parents was enough for her.

Naruto missed her sixth birthday because he had to spend the weekend with the Hokage, then insisted on trying to draw Luffy for her from the stories she’s told him as a late birthday present.

It’s not a very accurate drawing—Luffy’s straw hat is upside down and he’s got lasers shooting from his eyes and looks like a distressed noodle overall, but it hangs on her wall all the same.

Naruto has been pulling a vanishing act sporadically throughout the week, which she wasn’t overly concerned about.

She knows about birthday preparations, and if he wants it to be a surprise, she’ll humor him.

Though she did stumble upon a scene where Lee was on one knee in front of Sakura, while Naruto prepared to hit him with a bag of mulch from behind.

All three froze when they realized she was there, stammered out something incomprehensible, and fled like startled mice.

She has no idea what was going on there, but she’d pay good money to find out.

Or at least cook a good meal, because all her ingredient purchases leave her perpetually broke.

Naruto isn’t in his apartment the morning of her birthday.

She gets past all of his traps only to knock on the door and hear no answer. The neighbors yell at her when her repeated hammering on the entrance gets too loud.

Lee isn’t with Gai-sensei when she finally arrives to training. He pointedly ignores all her questions about where the other two are, but teaches her the kata for a dropkick in exchange.

It’s difficult, but the grin she gets when her heel hits the ground and leaves a dent is blinding.

He walks her home too.

That’s when she realizes this was planned.

Sure enough, the curtains on the windows are drawn, and Gai-sensei is a little eager to go ahead of her into the house.

The lights coming on are blinding, and the yell of “HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAYU!!” should not be as loud as it is considering there are only five people in the room.

She’s sweaty and worn out and for some reason she can’t stop smiling so hard her cheeks hurt.

Lee and Gai-sensei present her with a set of weights and a few pairs of orange leg warmers to cover them, like the ones they wear on a daily basis. She grins and thinks it might be nice to wear something that reminds her of the two of them and Naruto, who has insisted on getting mainly orange clothing since Okaa-sama once told him he had the coloring for it.

Okaa-sama and Otou-sama give her a book on baking bread that’s about as heavy as the weights and several bags of different types of flour. She hugs them as tightly as she can. There’s wheat and rye and multigrain and gluten-free and she can’t wait to see what she can create with all of this.

Naruto fidgets and shoves a small pot with a rosemary plant in it into her arms. “Ino let me have this if I helped out at the Yamanaka flower shop with her and Sakura-chan, believe it, and she said it tastes really good in food and its name is Habu-san because plants are living things, so they should have names like people and animals do, right?”

She inhales the slightly salty scent.

Later, after she’s finally had a shower and gotten dressed with the addition of the leg warmers, Sakura and Ino will drop by with a set of sparkly silver hair clips and a chef’s hat keychain.

They’ll all go to a restaurant owned by Chouji’s family to eat, and she’ll devour one of the best plates of chicken katsu, intent on figuring out the recipe through taste alone. She’ll share a chocolate cake with Chouji and Naruto, laughing as the latter pouts when describing Lee’s declaration to woo Sakura when he becomes a worthy ninja.

But for now, she just beams at her best friend and tells him, “I really love Habu-san. Thank you so much for giving this to me, Naruto.”

They return to the Academy.

Lee walks with them there, and they wave to each other as they go to their respective classrooms.

Kiba runs up to them within seconds of arriving in their new classroom, a beam on his face so bright it could outshine the sun itself.

“Igotmyninkenpartner!!!” He bursts out, practically vibrating with happiness.

She blinks. Looks at Naruto, who shrugs. Looks back at Kiba. “Beg your pardon?”

He groans, cuddling a bundle close to his chest. As she’s looking down at it, it squirms.

“I. Got. My. Ninken. Partner.” He repeats, with exaggerated slowness. “It’s a huge thing for the Inuzuka! We get chosen by a ninken, and they can understand human speech and learn cool ninja moves with us, so when we grow up we’ll be twice as awesome as any other ninja!!”

“What’s a ninken?” Naruto asks as the bundle squirms again—

And a puppy pops out.

“Meet Akamaru!” Kiba says proudly. Akamaru is white with floppy brown ears and big dark eyes and—

“Akamaru.” She says seriously. “You are a very good boy.”

The puppy yips in response and she could die right then and there from happiness.

This year they’re actually moving into the ninja portion of Academy learning.

The new teacher is a white haired man and he has them sit criss-crossed on the floor.

“Chakra is a force found in all living beings, a combination of their spiritual and physical energy, or yin and yang. It is a ninja’s greatest tool, the source of genjutsu and ninjutsu.” He drones on.

Does it run on midochlorians too? A voice in her head that sounds like her past brother’s mocks.

It just all sounds so inaccurate, like a bunch of different ideas mashed together to seem cool.

At least Devil Fruits were somewhat understandable. Eat a weird fruit, it messes with your genetics, you get powers. Much more plausible.

She pokes Naruto awake again and the teacher glares at them. “Today we’ll focus on basic chakra awareness. I want you to meditate and locate your chakra center.”

The classmates around her close their eyes. After an especially sharp glare, she does so too.

It’s warm in the classroom.

It’s noisy outside, and she can feel Naruto’s knee press into her leg.

She focuses on her breathing. It’s almost peaceful, retreating inside herself like this—

There’s something inside her.

It wasn’t there before.

It doesn’t belong in her.

She thinks it doesn’t like that she’s found it.

It’s like forcibly being made aware of blood circulating through your body. Not simply your heart beating, but the friction as the liquid scrapes through your veins, the pain as the breakneck current is divided and divided again, until dead ends send the liquid flying back to where it came from at the same terrifying speed.

“What the shit?!” She gasps out, eyes flying open.

Then she hears what she just said and claps her hands over her mouth as the children around her break into surprised titters.

The teacher glowers. “Ketsugi, go stand in the hall.”

#but i like one piece #my writing #naruto #one piece #reincarnation #isekai #naruto uzumaki #naruto oc #maito gai #rock lee #choji akimichi #sakura haruno #ino yamanaka #kiba inuzuka #akamaru #nara shikamaru #hinata hyuga #ketsugi mayu #cooking #food #fandom rivalry #pirates vs ninjas #monkey d. luffy #chakra #surprise circulatory systems #devil fruit

[tastebotanical]

Tomato Sauce Recipe

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Easy, basic Tomato Sauce recipe

This made-from-scratch Tomato Sauce recipe uses store cupboard ingredients, can be made in under half an hour, can be kept in the fridge or frozen, and is the basis for many, many meals. It is a reduced puree of tomatoes, flavoured with onions and garlic, which can be used with pasta or in other dishes. It is the one recipe that I have made sure all my children know how to cook before they leave home as, if you have mastered it, you will always be half an hour away from a tasty and nutritious meal.

What you need to know about my Tomato Sauce recipe

This is a very easy recipe. If you have never cooked anything before, you should be able to cook this. The key ingredient in this sauce is time. Yes, time not thyme! You need to cook the onions slowly for 15 minutes to make sure that they are sweet and caramelised. Don’t skip this step. If you cook them low and slow they will have a fantastic savoury sweetness which will make your sauce particularly delicious. You need to keep an eye on them to make sure that they don’t burn as this will make your sauce taste bitter. You also need to allow the full 15 minutes for the sauce to simmer uncovered to allow some of the liquid to evaporate. This will mean that the sauce thickens and the flavour intensifies. The end result should be naturally sweet but, if you wish, you could add a little sugar at the end if you feel it needs it.

This Tomato Sauce recipe uses store-cupboard ingredients which means you should always have the makings to hand and that you can make it all the year around. In late summer, when fresh tomatoes are in season, I will often use these to make sauce. It is fresh and delicious when made with good quality tomatoes. However, for the rest of the year, I used tinned tomatoes which have a great intensity of flavour. I was once told by an Italian friend that it was better to use whole tinned tomatoes rather than the chopped-up variety because the latter was where the poorer quality fruit were used. Personally, I have not found a huge difference in taste between whole and chopped tinned tomatoes.

This sauce is a very simple vegan recipe. It consists of oil, onion and tomatoes flavoured with garlic and bay leaf. However, there are lots of variations, as set out below.

Tomato Sauce variations

You can use butter, instead of oil, if you would like your tomato sauce to be richer. You can also add a tablespoon of double cream if you want it even richer still.

If you are in a hurry, you can leave out the onions, start the recipe by frying the garlic for a few minutes and follow the recipe from step 4.

You can add chopped celery sticks together with the onion at step 3. Celery is a brilliant ingredient for adding a depth of flavour to recipes and will add another level of taste to your sauce.

You can add a chopped fennel bulb together with the onion at step 3. This gives the sauce a mild aniseed flavour which is excellent if you are serving it with fish.

Another good variation if you are serving the sauce with fish is to add a generous pinch of saffron and a curl of orange peel (without the pith) to the sauce at step 5.

You can add a few anchovy fillets together with the onion at step 3. The anchovies will melt into the sauce and give an extra savoury depth of flavour to the sauce.

If you want a bit of heat to your sauce, you could add a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes at step 5.

You can add other herbs to the sauce. If you are using dried herbs, add at step 5 together with the tomatoes and bay leaf. If you are using fresh herbs, add right at the end of cooking. Basil and oregano are good options.

You can add a dash of wine, either red or white, at the end of cooking. This will add acidity and richness to the sauce. Two or three tablespoons is sufficient.

Uses for basic Tomato Sauce

This recipe makes approximately 1 litre (35 fl oz) of sauce. It will keep for two or three days in the fridge and can be frozen. You can use it as a simple sauce for pasta as it is and it also makes a great basis for a whole range of other pasta sauces. It is also good as an accompaniment to vegetables, fish or meat.

Basic Tomato Sauce Recipe

Heat olive oil in a heavy pan. Add chopped onions.

Fry slowly until the onion is caramelised

Add garlic and then tomatoes

Add bay leaves

Cook until the sauce is reduced

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-webkit-user-select: none; -o-user-select: none; } .tasty-recipe-responsive-iframe-container { margin: 10px 0; } .tasty-recipes-print-button { background-color: #666677; display: inline-block; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0.5em; text-decoration: none; } a.tasty-recipes-print-button { color: #fff; } a.tasty-recipes-print-button:hover { color: #fff; } .tasty-recipes-equipment { display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; justify-content: space-evenly; } .tasty-recipes-equipment > h3 { flex: 0 0 100%; } .tasty-recipes-equipment .tasty-link-card { flex: 0 0 50%; padding: 1.5rem 1rem; text-align: center; } @media screen and (min-width: 500px) { .tasty-recipes-equipment .tasty-link-card { flex: 0 0 33%; } } .tasty-recipes-equipment .tasty-link-card p { font-weight: bold; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 0; } .tasty-recipes-equipment .tasty-link-card p a { color: initial; } .tasty-recipes-equipment .tasty-link-card span { font-size: 0.9em; } .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-10 { -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 10% 0%, 10% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 10% 0%, 10% 100%, 0% 100%); } .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-20 { -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 20% 0%, 20% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 20% 0%, 20% 100%, 0% 100%); } .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-30 { -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 30% 0%, 30% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 30% 0%, 30% 100%, 0% 100%); } .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-40 { -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 40% 0%, 40% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 40% 0%, 40% 100%, 0% 100%); } .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-50 { -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 50% 0%, 50% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 50% 0%, 50% 100%, 0% 100%); } .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-60 { -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 60% 0%, 60% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 60% 0%, 60% 100%, 0% 100%); } .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-70 { -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 70% 0%, 70% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 70% 0%, 70% 100%, 0% 100%); } .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-80 { -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 80% 0%, 80% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 80% 0%, 80% 100%, 0% 100%); } .tasty-recipes-rating.tasty-recipes-clip-90 { -webkit-clip-path: polygon(0 0, 90% 0%, 90% 100%, 0% 100%); clip-path: polygon(0 0, 90% 0%, 90% 100%, 0% 100%); } .tasty-recipes-nutrition ul { list-style-type: none; margin: 0; padding: 0; } .tasty-recipes-nutrition ul:after { display: block; content: ' '; clear: both; } .tasty-recipes-nutrition li { float: left; margin-right: 1em; } .tasty-recipes-plug { text-align: center; margin-bottom: 1em; display: flex; align-items: center; justify-content: center; } .tasty-recipes-plug a { text-decoration: none; box-shadow: none; } .tasty-recipes-plug a img { width: 150px; height: auto; margin: 5px 0 0 8px; display: inline-block; } @media print { .tasty-recipes-no-print, .tasty-recipes-no-print * { display: none !important; } } /* Fresh recipe card styles. */ .tasty-recipes { margin-bottom: 4em; max-width: 700px; background-color: #f9f9f9; } .tasty-recipes.tasty-recipes-has-plug { margin-bottom: 1em; } .tasty-recipes-plug { margin-bottom: 4em; } .tasty-recipes-print-button { display: none; } .tasty-recipes-image-shim { height: 69.5px; clear: both; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header { background-color: #f9f9f9; padding-top: 2em; padding-left: 2em; padding-right: 2em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header.tasty-recipes-has-image { padding-top: 0px; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-image { float: none; margin-bottom: 1em; } @media only screen and (min-width: 730px) { .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-image { float: left; margin-right: 16px; } } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-image img { float: none; height: 150px; width: 150px; object-fit: cover; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-header-content { min-height: 215px; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header h2 { margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 0; padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0; clear: none; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header hr { border: 1px solid #eee; background-color: #eee; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 1em; margin-right: -2em; margin-left: -2em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-rating-outer { width: 100%; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-rating-outer a { text-decoration: none; border: none; display: inherit; box-shadow: none; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-rating-outer a:hover { text-decoration: none; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-rating-stars { font-size: 18px; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-rating-stars span { margin-right: 2px; margin-left: 2px; color: #aaaaaa; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-rating-stars span:first-child { margin-left: 0; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-rating-label { color: #B7BBC6; font-size: .6875em; margin-top: 1em; position: absolute; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-rating-stars .post-ratings { font-size: 10px; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-rating-stars .post-ratings .tasty-recipes-cf-ratings-label { margin-top: 0; line-height: 1; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-details { margin-top: 1.5em; color: #606060; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-details ul { list-style-type: none; margin: 0; padding-left: 0; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-details ul li { display: inline-block; margin-left: 0; padding-left: 0; margin-right: .5em; margin-bottom: 0; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.8em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-details .detail-icon { height: 1em; margin-top: .4em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-details ul li { font-size: 1em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-details .tasty-recipes-label { margin-right: .125em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-details .detail-icon { vertical-align: top; margin-right: .2em; } @media only screen and (min-width: 730px) { .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-details { padding-left: 166px; } } .tasty-recipes-entry-content { padding-top: 0.1em; background: #f9f9f9; color: #606060; clear: both; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-buttons { margin-top: 1.25em; margin-bottom: 1.25em; width: 100%; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-buttons:after { content: " "; display: block; clear: both; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-button-wrap { box-sizing: border-box; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-buttons a { text-transform: uppercase; text-align: center; display: block; background-color: #f9f9f9; font-size: 1em; line-height: 1.375em; font-weight: bold; padding-top: 7px; padding-bottom: 7px; margin-top: 0; border: 1px solid #aaaaaa;; border-radius: 0; text-decoration: none; color: #aaaaaa; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-buttons .button:hover { background-color: #f9f9f9; border: 3px solid #aaaaaa; color: #aaaaaa; opacity: 1; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content a img { box-shadow: none; -webkit-box-shadow: none; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-buttons a:hover { background-color: #979599; text-decoration: none; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-buttons img { vertical-align: top; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-buttons .svg-print, .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-buttons .svg-pinterest { height: 1.25em; margin-right: .375em; margin-bottom: 0; background: none; display: inline-block; box-shadow: none; vertical-align: middle; } @media only screen and (max-width: 730px) { .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-button-wrap { width: 100%; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-button-wrap:nth-child(2) { padding-top: 1em; } } @media only screen and (min-width: 450px) { .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-buttons { width: 100%; float: none; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-button-wrap:first-child { width: 50%; padding-right: 5px; float: left; } .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-button-wrap:last-child { width: 50%; padding-left: 5px; float: right; padding-top: 0; } } @media only screen and (min-width: 730px) { .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-buttons { padding-left: 166px; box-sizing: border-box; } .tasty-recipes-header-content { position: relative; } .tasty-recipes-header-content .tasty-recipes-rating-outer { position: absolute; top: 155px; width: 150px; text-align: center; } .tasty-recipes-header-content .tasty-recipes-rating-label { display: block; position: static; margin-top: 0; } } .tasty-recipes-entry-content h3 { color: initial; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content h4 { font-size: 1em; padding-top: 0; margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.5em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content hr { background-color: #eee; border: 1px solid #eee; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-description, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-ingredients, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-instructions, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-keywords { padding-left: 2em; padding-right: 2em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-description p { margin-bottom: 1em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-ingredients ul, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-instructions ul { list-style-type: none; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1.5em; padding: 0; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-ingredients ul li, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-instructions ul li { margin-bottom: .625em; list-style-type: none; position: relative; margin-left: 1.5em; line-height: 1.46; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-ingredients ul li:before, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-instructions ul li:before { background-color: #aaaaaa; -webkit-border-radius: 50%; -moz-border-radius: 50%; border-radius: 50%; height: .5em; width: .5em; display: block; content: " "; left: -1.25em; top: .375em; position: absolute; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-ingredients ol, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-instructions ol { counter-reset:li; margin-left: 0; padding: 0; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-ingredients ol > li, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-instructions ol > li { list-style-type: none; position: relative; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1.5em; line-height: 1.46; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-ingredients ol > li:before, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-instructions ol > li:before { content:counter(li); counter-increment: li; position: absolute; background-color: #aaaaaa; -webkit-border-radius: 50%; -moz-border-radius: 50%; border-radius: 50%; height: 1.45em; width: 1.45em; color: #FFF; left: -1.25em; transform: translateX(-50%); line-height: 1.5em; font-size: .6875em; text-align: center; top: .1875em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-ingredients li li, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-instructions li li { margin-top: 0.625em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-ingredients li ul, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-ingredients li ol, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-instructions li ul, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-instructions li ol { margin-bottom: 0; } @media only screen and (max-width: 520px) { .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-ingredients ol, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-instructions ol { margin-left: 0; } } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-equipment { padding-left: 2em; padding-right: 2em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipe-video-embed ~ .tasty-recipes-equipment { padding-top: 1em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-nutrition { padding-bottom: 1.25em; padding-left: 2em; padding-right: 2em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes ol { counter-reset:li; margin-left: 0; padding: 0; margin-bottom: 0; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes ul { margin-left: 0; padding: 0; margin-bottom: 0; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes p, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes ul li, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes ol li { padding-left: 1.5em; padding-top: 1.25em; padding-bottom: 1.25em; position: relative; margin-bottom: 0; margin-left: 0; list-style-type: none; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes p:before, .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes ul li:before { content: "i"; display: block; background-color: #aaaaaa; -webkit-border-radius: 50%; -moz-border-radius: 50%; border-radius: 50%; height: 1.3em; width: 1.3em; font-size: .75em; line-height: 1.3em; text-align: center; color: #FFF; position: absolute; left: 0; top: 2.1em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes ol > li:before { content:counter(li); counter-increment: li; position: absolute; background-color: #aaaaaa; -webkit-border-radius: 50%; -moz-border-radius: 50%; border-radius: 50%; height: 1.45em; width: 1.45em; color: #FFF; left: 2em; transform: translateX(-50%); line-height: 1.5em; font-size: .6875em; text-align: center; top: 2.3em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes p:last-child { margin-bottom: 0; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-keywords { margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; color: #aaaaaa; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-keywords p { margin-bottom: 0; font-size: 0.7em; } .tasty-recipes-nutrifox { text-align: center; margin: 0; } .tasty-recipes-nutrifox iframe { width: 100%; display: block; margin: 0; } .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-nutrition ul li { float: none; line-height: 2em; list-style-type: none; margin-left: 0; padding-left: 0.833em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-footer { background-color: #fff; padding-top: 1.5625em; padding-bottom: 1.25em; padding-left: 2.5em; padding-right: 2.5em; text-align: center; } .tasty-recipes-entry-footer .tasty-recipes-footer-content { display: inline-block; } .tasty-recipes-entry-footer img, .tasty-recipes-entry-footer svg { width: 65px; } .tasty-recipes-entry-footer h3 { font-size: 1.25em; line-height: 2.25em; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .125em; padding: 0; line-height: 1em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-footer p { margin-bottom: 0; font-size: .75em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-footer p a { text-decoration: underline; box-shadow: none; border-bottom: none; } .tasty-recipes-entry-footer:after { content: " "; display: block; clear:both; } @media only screen and (max-width: 520px) { .tasty-recipes-entry-footer h3 { margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em; } .tasty-recipes-entry-footer { text-align: center; } } @media only screen and (min-width: 520px) { .tasty-recipes-entry-footer img, .tasty-recipes-entry-footer svg { float: left; } .tasty-recipes-entry-footer h3, .tasty-recipes-entry-footer p { margin-left: 90px; clear: none; text-align: left; } } .clearfix:after { clear: both; content: " "; display: table; } /* Print view styles */ .tasty-recipes-print-view { font-size: 11px; } .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes-print-button { display: inline-block; } .tasty-recipes-print { padding:0; } .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes, .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes-entry-content { background: #fff; } .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes { margin-top: 1em; } .tasty-recipes-print .tasty-recipes-entry-header { background-color: inherit; color: inherit; padding-bottom: 0; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; } .tasty-recipes-print .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-image { transform: none; float: left; margin-right: 16px; } .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-header-content { min-height: 150px; } .tasty-recipes-print.tasty-recipes-has-image .tasty-recipes-entry-header h2 { margin-top: 0; } .tasty-recipes-print .tasty-recipes-entry-header h2 { color: inherit; margin-bottom: .5em; } .tasty-recipes-print .tasty-recipes-entry-header hr { display: none; } .tasty-recipes-print .tasty-recipes-header-content .tasty-recipes-rating-outer { position: initial; text-align: left; width: unset; top: unset; } .tasty-recipes-print .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-rating-stars span { color: #000; } .tasty-recipes-print .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-details ul { padding: 0; clear: none; } .tasty-recipes-print .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-details ul li { line-height: 1.8em; margin-bottom: 0; } .tasty-recipes-print .tasty-recipes-entry-header .tasty-recipes-details .detail-icon { display: none; } .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes-source-link { text-align: center; } .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-ingredients ul li, .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-instructions ul li, .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-ingredients ol li, .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-instructions ol li { margin-bottom: 0; } .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes p, .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes ul li, .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes ol li { margin-top: 1rem; padding-top: 0; padding-bottom: 0; } .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes p:before, .tasty-recipes-print-view .tasty-recipes-entry-content .tasty-recipes-notes ul li:before { top: 0.1em; }

Tomato Sauce Recipe

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

Author: Tastebotanical

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 30

Total Time: 35 minutes

Yield: Serves 6 1x

Category: Sauce

Cuisine: English

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Description

This quick and easy Tomato Sauce recipe, made from store-cupboard ingredients, is fantastic with pasta and is at the basis for a wide range of other sauces.  

Scale 1x2x3x

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil

1 large onion

2 cloves of garlic

2 tins of tomatoes

1 bay leaf

Salt and pepper

A little sugar (optional)

Instructions

Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan or deep frying pan.

Peel and finely chop the onions and add to the pan.

Fry the onions over a very low heat until soft and caramelised.  This will take about 15  minutes.

Peel and crush the garlic cloves and add them to the pan.

Add the tomatoes and the bay leaf.

Simmer uncovered until the sauce is rich and thick.  This will take about 15 minutes.

Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper.  You can add a little sugar (half a teaspoon) if you feel the sauce needs to be sweetened.

Keywords: tomato, sauce, easy

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This recipe has been shared on #CookBlogShare with A Strong Coffee and #Fiesta Friday with Fiesta Friday,  Diann @ Of Goats and Greens and Liz @ Spades, Spatulas & Spoons

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[umbralich]

History pt. 6 - Confinement

Part 5 <---

Lareine had been thunderstruck by how easily the other knight and the cart driver had just let Varg take her with him, despite her pleas of helping her away from him. Even in the middle of her outburst of feelings she had realized what it must've looked like to them. There had been her, wet-headed, wearing old, shabby pajamas, men's winter coat and slippers. And then there had been Varg looking like some damn king.

"Where are you taking me?" Lareine snapped at Varg, while he was leading her back home through the silent Ishgard and having a firm grip of her better arm.

"It should be obvious", Varg stated without looking at her and sounding somewhat tired.

"Leggo of me!"

"I would, but then you would flee."

Like showing her a big fat middle finger, Lareine's body decided to suddenly make her cough uncontrollably. She tasted metal and saw few drops of blood falling on the paving below her. Varg lifted her easily like a sack of flour and started to carry her. Lareine cursed and tried to punch and scratch him with her better arm, but Varg managed to grab it with a couple of his fingers, and for the rest of the way held her arm tightly against her.

"Oh, thank the Twelve you found her", Arsene exclaimed while jogging towards them when they were only about a couple of blocks away from the estate. He didn't have any outdoor garments on him except for boots.

"I can not take credit for that", Varg said dully. "She just happened to pass my checkpoint."

The au ra was walking fast, but his pace was slow compared to Arsene's so far. The butler was catching his breath while walking next to them.

"I'm at loss for words...", he panted. "She was quiet as a mouse. Besides I didn't believe she would do anything like -"

"Not your fault, Arsene", Varg said, yet again without looking at the one he was talking to. "I think we have given her way too much special rights considering the state she is in."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Lareine snarled.

"What exactly is it that you even want, little miss?" Varg asked without answering the question, slightly annoyed. "If memory serves, it was you who asked me to help you. I am helping, and suddenly you behave like it would have been me who left you to die in that alley."

For a long while Lareine didn't say anything. She just bit her lip and tried to fight back tears. When they got back in and Arsene had closed the door behind them, she found her voice again.

"I know who you are and what you do", she pronounced victoriously, like she'd have uncovered some big and dirty secret. "You're an inquisitor. You have torture tools laying around like they'd be some godsdamned cutlery. I bet you have a whole arsenal of them in your cellar."

At this point Varg cast a questioning look towards Arsene. It was the butler's turn to sigh deeply.

"She found one from your drawer. I returned it into the cellar", he said, sounding suddenly tired as well.

"A-ha!" Lareine cried out, glancing alternately from Varg to Arsene. "You're not denying it are you?"

"It is one of my jobs", Varg admitted, sounding somewhat reluctant. "And since you seem to be so worried of my... customers, perhaps I should take you along the next time I interrogate them. You would see with your own eyes what kind of delicate, exquisite and misunderstood individuals they are, when they spit on you, mock their victims and brag about the amount of people they have raped or murdered. A bath, please." He was forcing his tone as polite as possible, while carrying Lareine towards the bathroom.

Arsene hastened his steps in front of them.

"What, you gonna grope me again?" Lareine giggled. Tears were running loose the more she tried to hold them back.

"You are in good enough shape to do it yourself", Varg stated. "Arsene, stay with her and make sure she does not do anything strange."

The au ra took her into the bathroom and put her down next to a bathtub, where hot, foaming water was halfway ready. Arsene was checking the room and its closets, and picking up everything possible she could harm herself or someone else with. When he was done, his hands were full of toothbrushes, razor blades, scissors and the like. Varg took them from him.

"Make it quick. You should not be standing", he commanded Lareine and left the room. Arsene closed the door after Varg had gone.

"What the hells? You gonna watch then?" Lareine exclaimed while painstakingly undressing herself.

Without saying anything and just looking at Lareine accusingly, Arsene reached towards the nearest wall and pulled a partition between them.

Soon after Lareine had bathed, mostly dried herself and gotten dressed in some ages ago deceased grandma's old nightgown, Varg appeared into the doorway. He had taken off his armor and switched into his casual clothes: black jodhpurs and vest, and white blouse. While Lareine was still drying her hair, Varg was waiting and snapping the doorframe with his long claws. After the au ra's arrival Arsene had disappeared somewhere. Lareine prolonged her operation for as long as it was plausible.

When she returned into her room - escorted - Arsene was there. There were also bars on the windows. For a moment she just stared at them with her mouth open. She hadn't heard any noise, so they couldn't have been just installed. When she had escaped, she hadn't paid any attention to the estate's appearance. Perhaps they had been outside and averted out of sight while they weren't needed or something. At least a chain and a huge lock in the middle of them suggested so.

"Is this some sick joke?" Lareine asked, looking sequentially from Varg to Arsene.

"I have to admit I have wanted to ask the same thing", Varg said in a harsh tone. "Today you have undone in mere hours a great deal of the progress you have made during the last few weeks. Happy now?"

"You can't keep me here against my will!" Lareine notified, distancing herself a bit from the two others.

"You can be certain keeping you around is the most displeasing thing I can currently think of", Varg explained, crossing his arms. "However, you have not convinced me you are capable of taking care of yourself. And I simply can not let you roam around Ishgard or any place for that matter, and tell folks in your sorry state how you used to be my patient."

Lareine saw a sudden flashback of herself a while ago sitting in the cart and she felt her whole face warming up. She was certain she looked like a ripe tomato.

"I assure you you will get out, little miss, when you stop hurting yourself and start behaving like an adult", Varg announced, sounding like it was his last word. "It is completely up to you for how long it will take."

He walked out and Arsene followed behind him, closing the door after them. There was a soft click, before their steps receded and a deep silence fell into the room. Lareine stood there for a while, just staring at the door. Then she glanced towards the windows, carefully limped next to them and studied the bars. She had absolutely no hope to get out. Strangely enough, she wasn't scared. She was purely furious.

There was a tray of food, cooked undoubtedly by Arsene, and a glass of juice on the table. The sunflower was no longer the same one it had been on the day Lareine had awoken for the first time in the estate. It was one of the last ones picked from the garden before the weather had gotten too cold for them. Lareine was tired, her body was aching all over, and she felt like she was starving.

Some small voice of reason in her head told her to eat and go to sleep, but she didn't want to listen. Instead, she took the flower pot and threw it across the room, making it clatter loudly. She also took the glass and threw it at the nearest wall. The sound of breaking glass was like music to her ears. Then went the plate, though it didn't make as nice sound as the glass did. The reddish, running sauce smeared the wall and it looked almost like blood in the dark. The tray was metallic, and although it didn't break, it made such a loud clank while hitting the wall it made Lareine wince.

After that the days that followed had eventually become hazy in Lareine's mind. The ruckus upstairs had caused Varg and Arsene come rushing back into Lareine's room. She thought to herself later it must've been quite a sight: the floor full of shards of glass, sauce on the wall, one potato over here and another one over there, all movables except for the table and cupboard scattered all over the place, and Lareine standing in the middle of it all with messy hair and dressed in her shabby nightgown.

She remembered there had been some sort of scuffle. The men had tried to seize her, and she had attacked. And since she didn't have time to grab any shards of glass, and she didn't have her own weapons anymore, she had used what she had: her teeth and nails. Lareine had landed some punches and made some scratch marks, and she had been very proud of them. Especially considering both Varg and Arsene were twice as big as her and gramps was also very skillful in close combat.

At some point Lareine had been alone with Arsene for a while: he trying to hold her and she trying to escape. When Varg had returned, he had carried straps. Arsene had managed to drag struggling Lareine onto the bed, and together they had tied her down. The memory was quite peculiar, since it was the first time Lareine remembered seeing some sort of authentic emotion on Varg's face. The men had been halfway done with the straps. Lareine had been screaming and kicking like she'd been a pig taken to slaughter. The elezen had proceeded to tie her remaining free leg and the au ra her arm.

Usually Lareine had seen Varg's mere face intimidating because of his high cheekbones, angular features, his narrow, dried lips and dark markings and circles around his eyes. Appearance like that combined with his usual stern demeanor didn't actually give the warmest and friendliest possible impression. Now however, Lareine had suddenly noticed Varg looking as terrified as she had been angry. And she had been very angry. Then, against all her possible expectations what he would do next, he had dropped the strap from his hands and marched out of the room, looking unwell.

She had heard few running steps and then sudden, violent vomiting in the corridor. Arsene had quickly turned to look at the door, tied the last strap left loose and then run after him.

"By the gods, are you alright?" There had been no answer. "Should I call someone?"

"Absolutely not!"

They had walked farther away from Lareine's room, so she hadn't heard what they had said or what had happened after that. Lareine had laid on her bed unable to move for a good while, until Arsene had arrived to clean up the mess mostly Lareine had caused. For the next couple of days, it had been only Arsene taking care of her. He of course hadn't been able to give her the stronger painkiller, so she had to get by with milder elixirs. It had sucked. Lareine had started to appreciate the better stuff now that it was no longer taken for granted she could get it.

Varg hadn't visited her much. Perhaps even less than he had used to until that point. He only appeared once in a while to either give her her medicine or checking her wounds. Every time he had avoided looking at Lareine in the eye or talking with her. He had just asked some essential questions, but apart from them they hadn't spoken with each other.

After a week had passed, her straps had been untied. To be honest, Lareine didn't have the smallest clue why she had behaved like that in the first place. A couple of days had been quite nice, like old times. She and Arsene had enjoyed some tea and pastries and Lareine had helped him in some minor chores. Then her memory suddenly had a mostly blank clip again, and next time she awoke, she was back in her bed, bound.

"What's wrong with me?" she whispered, while laying alone at one night, and looking at the waning moon shining through her windows. "Who is that scary person inside me? The one that hurts others... that's definitely not me. It can't be..."

"Shut up", she whispered right after, in a different tone. "Get the hells out of my head."

---> Part 7

#final fantasy xiv #ffxiv #viera #lareine #elezen #arsene #stories #tw: mental illness #tw: violence

[shysupernaturalfangirl]

Different - Dean Winchester x Reader - Part Six

Fandom: Supernatural

Pairing(s): Dean x Reader

World: Reverse French Mistake AU

Word Count: No longer doing word count

Warning(s): Cussing,

Summary: It’s every fan-girl’s dream to either, end up in the world of their fantasies, their fandom, or to wind up with on of the actors or characters. There is a couple thousand fanfictions with such circumstances. She never thought in her wildest dreams, that she’d actually end up in a fanfiction situation.

Taglist: @sillydecoy @blackeyedangel9805​ @heythereamigodude​ @gaveherhearttotheliontattoo @seppys-return-to-madness @jaylarkson

A/N: Please let me know throw my INBOX if you want to be tagged. Too many are commenting on the stories, it's making it hard to keep up!

Sitting on the table in the kitchen, Dean is stirring gravy on the stove while I strip the corn in the cob, the radio on the corner countertop is playing Sweet Home Alabama as Dean dances across the kitchen. Bobbing my head along to the beat of the music, Dean smirks at me as he turns the volume up a bit as I drop the shucked corn in the pot beside me. Dean grabs my hand, pulling me off the table, before twirling me around as I let out a loud laugh, the two of us dancing with the music, not a single care that it doesn't match the music playing. It seems our laughter draws an audience, because just as Dean dips me, the song turning off, Sam and Castiel are in the doorway of the kitchen, clapping.

"Oh, uh..." Dean lifts me back up, twirling me out of his arms so fast that I have to grasp the table I was previously occupying, the room spinning a bit. "Hey guys." I greet within my best ability.

"Food's gonna be a while." Dean states as he turns the music back down, and takes the pot of salted water and corn cobs, placing it on the stove.

"Oh, we were just checking out the commotion." Sam replies, causing me to blush as Dean nods, though in response to Sam, or to the beat of the new song, I'm not entirely sure.

"Indeed." Castiel states. "Carry on." I have to hid my wince at the way he says it, it sounds rehearsed, almost like being blind-read from a script before him. "Sam and I are going to do a beverage run. What would you like, Emily?" He asks.

"Oh, uh... Grape Crush, or Green Apple Fanta. I'm not large on alcohol, nor caffeine." I reply with little to no thought, a pure answer from the top of my head. The two of them smirk, before nodding as they disappear, and I turn back to the task at hand in the quiet of the kitchen, which is only punctured by the sound of the music. Grabbing a cutting board, I start cutting the tomatoes for the salad, humming along to the music under my breath. "Dean," I finally place the knife down, turning to his broad back as he turns halfway to me, keeping an eye on the pork chops at the same time as acknowledging me. "you have yet to ask. About... anything you saw that day." I cross my arms over my chest as he turns the occupied burners down for safety, and then turns to lean on the counter next to it, eyes roaming over me, studying me.

"Well, I don't make it a habit of digging into the past, when it's obviously something that you want to forget." He replies, causing me to smirk, and he narrows his eyes at me. "Alright Sweetheart, you want me to ask, I'll ask. The douchebag who was throwing and beating on you, what was his deal." If he notices how quickly I stiffens, turning back to my task as if he hadn't spoke at all is sure to worry him, the slight shaking in my arms and shoulders is the only giveaway of the event. "Hey hey hey, Emily, are you alright?" He asks softly, causing me to set the quivering knife down as I slowly turn back to him, and he smiles softly as I force myself to smile at him. "You don't gotta force yourself to say anything." He says softly, reaching up to caress my cheek, looking into my eyes as I bite my bottom lip, before looking away.

"He was my... Ex-fiance." I notice that he stiffens at my reply. "Daniel was manipulative, and accusing and he made me lose all of my friends, isolated me from my family, and made it so I was dependant on him. I didn't notice the signs of abuse, until he started to abuse me, and by then, it was too late. Nobody wanted to help me, or nobody believed me." My explanation causes Dean to look a bit distraught. "I managed to get a restraint order, and moved to a whole new town, new state, to get away. That was a couple weeks before I woke up here." My voice dies weakly, looking up at him sadly.

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm so sorry." He apologizes as I tearfully shake my head.

"F-Forget it." I rub my eyes, wiping away all trace of tears as I smile up at him. "What do you say, we get this done? I'm nervous enough about meeting Jodie for the first time." He chuckles at that.

"Don't worry so much. She's like a big cuddly teddybear. Gruff and surly on the outside, but gentle and loving in the inside." Dean explains, causing me to giggle, shaking my head at him as he turns to the doorway, as if checking that she's not behind us when he's speaking. "Just, uh... Don't tell her I told you that, huh?"

"Hmm... I think I can be persuaded to keeping that secret." I tease, setting the knife down as I turn back to look at Dean as he scoffs and chuckles, looking at me.

"You are diabolical." He taunts, turning back to me, before leaning on the counter as he crosses his arms over his chest. "Alright, what can I bribe you with?"

"I wanna drive Baby!" I burst out with, causing his mouth to drop, surprise on his face as I bounce on the balls of my feet.

"You wanna drive-"

"You let Sam before! Come on, Dean! Please!" I beg, tugging at his arm, and giving my best puppy dog eyes to him. "I'll bake you some pie!" I offer in a sing-song type voice as he looks down at me, quirking his lips as I giggle, and lean up on my tip-toes. "Any. Kind. You. Like." He groans, rubbing the palms of his hands on his jeans.

"Sweetheart, you don't fight fair." He pouts, leaning towards me as he strokes my cheek, causing my face to flush as I step back, and drop my face away. "One time. You can drive Baby, once."

"Really?!" I gasp, looking up at him with wide eyes. "Oh, thank you Dean! Thank you!" I throw my arms around him, hugging him as he chuckles, his hands falling to my waist in return, and I smile up at him. Suddenly, it's like electrical currents are running through my skin from his from where we touch, my heart is pounding as we look into each other's eyes. His thumbs start to stroke my love handles under my shirt, first in circles and occasionally up in down, causing my skin to hum as I struggle to breath, his fanfiction green eyes are on my own, it's like a magnetic pull, drawing the two of us closer until we're just a hair's breath away from each other.

"Hey Dean, I'm here- oh!" We both jump, Dean pushes me back, like we're two teens just caught doing something they're not supposed to be doing. "I-I'm so sorry! I-" Jodi turns to me with an apologetic smile. "Hi, I'm Jodi." She clears her throat, holding out her hand, which I shake as embarrassment floods and stings my cheeks. "You must be Emily."

"Y-Yes." She looks at Dean with a motherly reproachful look, before smiling at me once more as she shakes my hand. After she drops it, my face enflames even more as she looks between Dean and I with curiosity in her eyes. "I-I'll just let you two talk." I stammer out, scurrying towards the door.

"Hey," Dean calls after me, and turning to look at him, our eyes meet, and my breath hitches as we stand there, lost in each other's eyes.

"Dean! Emily! We're back!" Sam's shout draws my attention, and I dash out if the kitchen to help the other two with the drinks they bought. Shortly after the incident, Dean and I are converting the Map Table into a dinner table, placing piles of food on it, before moving chairs around, and everyone is sitting as I go around, pouring drinks for them.

"Em, sit down." Dean urges as he looks up at me, causing me to drop my head with a blush, shaking my head as I pour the last of the drinks, before I dash back into the kitchen as the over timer goes off. After checking the two pies and chocolate cake that are in the oven, I switch it off while leaving them in the oven to cool, before walking back out with the rest of the food in one arm, and the plates tucked in the other.

"Oh, sweetie, do you need help?" Jodie asks as she scoots the chair back to stand.

"No no, we've got it." Dean says and both he and Sam stand, coming over to relieve me of my burden, placing them on the table, and Dean scoots out a chair for me to sit in, before helping me scoot in. Jodie is watching this all with a delighted gleam in her eyes, looking rather impressed as she smiles in approval at me.

"So, Emily," Jodie starts as everyone starts to load uo their plates. "you seemed to have whipped these boys into shape. Look, they're even eating instead of gulping it down like it's going to run away!" She laughs as I let a soft giggle, stabbing a piece of chicken to put on my plate, before adding mashed potatoes and gravy.

"They just didn't get a lot of home-cooked meals in the past, being on the road 24/7. I mostly stay behind while they're on the hunts, and I always leave them both a plate in the fridge for when they get back." She smiles as I add some broccoli and cheese sauce to my plate, along with a scoop of stuffing.

"Yeah, Emily takes good care of us. Doesn't she, Dean?" Sam inquires, causing me to furrow my brow. "Doesn't she, Dean?" Sam says with a little more emphasis, causing me to discreetly look over at the older man, only to find him staring at me as a blush floods my cheeks. Suddenly something brushes my leg as Dean hollers in pain, jumping before he clears his throat.

"Yeah yeah. Em's the best." Dean mutters as he drops his gaze to his plate, shoveling his food into his mouth.

"So, Emily, how exactly did you meet the boys?" Jodie asks in a friendly tone, causing the boys to stiffen as Emily freezes.

"It's uh... A bit of a long story, and we're still not a hundred percent on the details." I explain slowly, before launching into detail about the way I met the boys abd Castiel, and by the time I'm done, she's gawping at me as I slowly start to blush, shoveling food into my mouth to I don't have to speak. Jodie continues to eat as she takes a long moment to process the information that I told her, long enough for me to worry that she might think I'm lying. I turn to Dean with frantic eyes, but he simply holds out a hand as he shakes his head, smirking at me as he looks towards Jodie, who stabs a piece of lettuce and tomato from her salad, before looking up at me.

"I suppose you're lucky to have woken up near the boys, huh? No telling who or what would be after you for the information you possess." She says, causing a cold sweat to break out on my forehead and neck, both of the boys and Castiel all freeze as well, as if the idea just hit them.

"And we've been letting you go on hunts with us." Sam groans as he faceplants into his hand, while Dean's grip tightens on his fork.

"The dangers just tripled on the playing field." Dean states as Jodie snorts.

"She's survived so far. Give her some credit boys." She scolds, causing them to actually look a bit sheepish. "You can handle yourself, right?"

"I would never put the boys, nor anyone else in danger. I would rather bite my tongue off and bleed to death, than hurt you guys." I reply, causing Dean to swallow thickly, within an audible gulp, his hands turning bone white around his silverware. Sam's frown deepens as he shakes his head in immense displeasure at the thought. Castiel shifts nervously in his chair as Jodie looks around at us, before I press my chair away from the table. "Well, I think I'll set the pies and cake out to cool." I state as I disappear into the kitchen as fast as I can.

~3rd POV~

The moment that Emily is out of sight and earshot, Jodie starts to saw into her chicken, watching Sam and Dean exchange looks, almost like they're having a silent conversation with each other. "Dean," His head snaps up at her voice as she points her fork towards the kitchen, a piece of tender chicken dangling from the end. "you look after that girl. Don't let her go."

"Don't let her go? What do you mean?" He asks, causing Jodie to shot Sam a look, as if to say 'is he serious?' to which Sam nods with an exhausted and forelorn look upon his face.

"Dean, even a blind man can see the attraction and tension between you two." Jodie says, scraping her food off her fork with a sharp clink noise.

"Dean, she's right." Sam chimes in. "You laugh and smile with Emily, like I have yet to see you do. You look at the pictures of Jess and I, and you can see the same look I have her, on your face when you look at Emily." Sam says as he takes a bite of his corn on the cob.

"Wait, what?" Dean snorts. "You saying that I'm in love with Emily?" He shakes his head. "No. No way am I in love with that outsider. She doesn't even understand our world, as much as she claims she might. She will never understand, because she is different than us. I will not drag her into a life where she'd be nothing but useless!" Dean's brow furrows at Sam's wide-eyed, grim expression.

"Well," Dean jumps, turning around to see Emily standing there with teary eyes. She slams the pie, dish and all, in her hands, on the table as she throws her oven mitts in her chair. "let me be the last to know where I'm not wanted." She states with a tight voice, before she walks out of the room.

"Way to go, Dean." Sam snaps as Jodie stands, looking at Dean as she shakes her head.

"That was the most cruel way to handle that, Dean." She scolds, hurrying out of the room after Emily.

Well, Dean screwed up. Again. It'd be too easy for them if I didn't throw in a little twist or two! You'll just have to stick around to see what happens next!

Also, sorry for the lack of content. I moved. Again. And I got a severe bout of insomnia, and depression. Things just were crazy and hectic. Anyway! Please enjoy, and I will try to have the next chapter written and up soon. Love you all, my fabulous readers! Remember, my inbox is always open.

#dean winchester x reader #supernatural miniseries #supernatural #ssfg writes #reverse french mistake #different series

[mysteira6]

Christmas SF: A Franstatic Confession

Inspired by @xxkoichiixx​ on Tumblr. Continuation of A Franstastic Holiday

“I wonder what would’ve happened if I didn’t pass out…”

With his mind fantasising about the many possibilities, Sans’ eyes widened in pure shock. Some of the thoughts swimming in his head were pretty decent, others were…

Oof. He should probably stop agreeing to watch anime with Alphys on his off-days.

“GAAAA! WHAT THE HECK AM I THINKING?!” He hollered, burying himself in his hands in an attempt to shrink himself. His face was a deep cobalt in nothing but embarrassment as the events of last night replayed in his mind.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the living room, Frisk continued to sip her tea, which had long turned cold in her hands. Who asked her to engage in a staring contest with Sans when he wasn’t even looking her a few hours ago? Now it tasted horrible.

Her blush deepened when she heard the skeleton screaming upstairs and instantly remembered how Sans wanted to brew that tea for her that morning. Despite its overwhelming bitterness, she downed the cup to its last drop. “Let’s pretend that I don’t hear anything… ” She muttered to herself as she wondered when Papyrus would come home.

Somehow, after a number of hours, they were still the only two people in the house.

Frisk had opted not to go home despite what her intuition told her, rationalising with the fact that Sans was still slightly sober (after a whole morning? No Frisk, no.) and probably needed someone to help him if he had a bad hangover headache. Especially after considering what he did last night, too.

While she was cooking some lunch for the both of them, the brunette also received a phone call from Toriel, stating that she, Papyrus and some monsters were stuck at Asgore’s house due to a snowstorm last night. It wasn’t very strong, but it brought a lot of snow to the roads, covering the streets with a snow white layer of ice. Undyne, Alphys and Mettaton were safe at Alphys’ house as well. It would take at least a day for all the snow to go away naturally (thank goodness that the sun was up) and even then they needed help to shovel it all away. Guess she was stuck with Sans now.

… Yeah. Stuck with Sans.

Frisk was not one for guilty pleasures, but this was an opportunity she didn’t really want to miss. Yes, she was still embarrassed. Yes, she still dismissed the events that happened last night to be a dream. Yes, she had a gut feeling that he remembered everything he did and was a blushing mess now.

But… what he said last night…

“So Frisk, wanna try calling me ‘cute’… one more time?”

“It feels like you’re underestimating me…”

“And that I’m nothing but a cute skeleton to you… ”

“Then tell me…”

“I wanna hear you say it.”

And, at the beginning… That kiss…

Despite her initial shock, she had to admit; that kiss was sweeter that what she thought. Better than what she had expected from the skeleton. He was lazy, often sleeping and almost never willing to make an effort to flirt with her. Frisk had already loved that about Sans, and with what happened last night, she was falling for him even more.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a moan from upstairs, cueing her to look up and ignore her cooking for a moment. At first, she thought that it might have been from a neighbour, but her guesses were proven wrong when another moan was heard. Must be Sans… She wondered to herself, pouring a glass of water for him. Here comes that bad hangover after drinking all that ketchup. She would never understand how he gets drunk on tomato sauce but that was a question to be answered on another day.

Frisk had intended to walk upstairs with confidence and determination, but it became increasingly obvious that it was not happening. As she climbed the steps, she felt that her heart was in her throat and as soon as she was in front of it, she found that her feet would not dare to step into his room. Her mind just kept walking back to whatever happened in the living room less than a day ago.

Eventually, she steeled enough courage to knock the door. “Sans? You okay in there?” She called out to him.

No response. Maybe he fell back asleep? The brunette had knocked on the door again and repeated the same question but all she got was silence. Not even a scuffling sound.

She eventually gave up and hovered her hand over the doorknob, only to remember that Sans’ room can be really dark and hard to navigate in. The first time she stepped into his room, she could barely find her way around. Instead, she placed the glass near the doorway, figuring that she should probably get him some hangover pills from the medical cabinet in the bathroom.

Little did she know that the silence was intentional.

~~~~~~~~

As soon as she stepped into the bathroom, the teenager headed for the large mirror over the sink, opening it to reveal shelves of medicine, bandages and antiseptic materials. She quickly scanned through all the bottles of pills, spotting out the right one she needed. As soon as she reached for the glass bottle and closed the cabinet door, she heard a low voice behind her.

“Kid?”

She froze for a split second before turning around and recognising the figure behind to be Sans, albeit really groggy and out of place. His eye sockets were drooping and there was a frown inscribed on his face. Wearing nothing but a white t-shirt and black basketball shorts, he placed a hand on her shoulder as if to balance himself.

“Sans! You startled me,” She mumbled, trying to support his surprisingly staggering weight. “You shouldn’t be walking around after having so much ketchup last night,”

“Yeah… last night, yeah…” He muttered under his breath, another hand raising to massage his skull. “Sorry kid but can ya help me back to my room? I’m not feeling too good,”

Hearing his voice all low and unsteady made her worried. Maybe he really bit more than he could chew last night. “Sure thing, Sans,” She reassured him, placing the bottle of pills on the table and wrapping his left arm around her shoulders. She could come back for the meds later, but Sans had to be in bed or he’ll end up getting dizzy and disoriented.

In a slow but steady fashion, Frisk managed to get the sleep skeleton out of the bathroom and walk him down the hall. She took extra care not to accidentally spill the glass of water from earlier and entered his dark room.

“Don’t you ever turn on the lights in here, or you know clean up, Sans?” She asked him, avoiding any obstacle on the floor. She wasn’t really expecting a reply, but got one from the semi-asleep skeleton anyway. “Never… had the need to,” He mumbled.

The human shook her head in disappointment as she stepped towards the bed. “What do mean that you never had the need to? I can barely walk or see anything in here!”

“Good… good…” Sans said again, seemingly oblivious to what Frisk had just said. After that, she gave up on trying to maintain conversation with the skeleton, mostly because of his loopiness.

But that was when something unexpected happened. Right then and there, she heard him lean close to her ear and whisper something she was not anticipating.

“If it’s so dark, that means I have the upper hand,”

In the flash of an eye, Frisk found herself being lifted off the ground and tossed onto a soft, cushioned surface. Before she could even comprehend the fact that she was laying down, she found herself face to face with a pair of piercing, pure white eyes, with one of them slowing changing its colour to an azure hue. There was something in the air, like a fizz, similar to the type of magic Toriel would use to cook on the stove. Only this fizz was much less concentrated, dispersed and spread throughout the room, and she could feel it pecking all over her face.

Hovering over her was a familiar yet foreign face, determined, focused eyes that were looking straight at her own. She felt some tension in her neck and dared not to tear away from that fierce gaze coming from the skeleton. She didn’t even know this could happen.

Before another minute could pass by, he leaned in closer to her face, his skull nearing her lips. Her heart was pounding and she could feel her face warming up. She could only widen her eyes in shock as he connected their lips together in a intimate kiss, just like last night.

Frisk could not move, how could she? Worried if a single shake of her hands would trigger a negative reaction, she remained as stiff and still as a statue. Sans sensed this too easily and broke away from the kiss, his eyes softening to form a deep, concerned expression.

Had he pushed it too far?

“Frisk?” He whispered lowly, a name that he rarely called her. Below him was a full-blown red-faced human girl who was biting her bottom lip and shutting her eyes tight, calling forth his deeper instincts. Part of him wanted to continue, and yet another part of him worried if this treatment was too much for the kid. “You okay?”

At this point, Frisk felt like she had been holding her breath for a very long time and at his question, she was finally able to let loose the air in her lungs. Panting, she replied softly. “W-w-w-what was that?”

Sans smiled sheepishly. “Uh…. Too far?” He murmured in embarrassment. “I thought you liked that kind of stuff though,”

“I-well-um…” Frisk stuttered and turned her head to the side in an attempt to dodge the question, which made her look all the more adorable in his eyes. In fact, everything about her right now was adorable. Huh, if she thought he was ‘cute’ last night, perhaps he should return the favour…

“Oh, I see,” He whispered seductively, placing his left elbow down on the bed as his fingers combed through her hair. “You do like this, don’t you?”

Frisk was speechless. Her throat went dry. Her mind kept screaming some words that she wanted to say to him, but her mouth just couldn’t make a single sound. Again, she was captivated by his glowing blue eye, attracted to it like a moth to a flame.

“Yeah, I bet you even dream of me doing this right~?” Sans continued, shifting the weight of his body to his left arm so that he could caress her face with his other hand. His fingers cupped her cheek while his thumb drew closer to her lips as he began to tease her. “Cat got your tongue, huh? Well, I happen to know the best way to make you talk… Unless you tell me not to,”

Ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump… Her heart was drumming in her chest, beating faster and faster by the second. She willed with all of her strength to say something, anything to the monster on top of her.

Meanwhile, Sans chuckled, lowering his hand from her face. “Aw, look at that. I barely said a word earlier and you’re all red because of it. Guess I was being real frisky now, wasn’t I?” He smirked as she raised her hands to cover her face. Despite her embarrassment, he still wanted to see her face a little more. With a snap of his fingers, his levitation magic managed to grab ahold of Frisk’s hands and pin them to the bed, giving him full view of her face. “Don’t hide your face,” He ordered gently. “I like seeing how flustered you get when I talk like this-”

“I LIKE YOU A LOT!”

Immediately, Sans stopped talking. He was almost gonna tell her not to interrupt him anymore that day, but her words shocked him. ‘I like you a lot’? Was that supposed to be-

At the same time, Frisk, who had miraculously regained her voice, began to blurt out many things. “I like how you’re always sleepy all the time and you look cute when you fall asleep! I like how you’re always so laid-back and cool without you even realising it! I like how you care very much about me and always looked out for me ever since I was a little kid even till now! I like how you’re always caring towards all monsters and you love your brother so much and-”

“Woah woah woah, slow down!” Sans stopped her immediately after that last bit, now playing the role as the flustered one. ‘Cool’? ‘Caring’? ‘Cute’ appeared again as a descriptor for himself, but this time, he didn’t really mind.

“Are you…. Are you serious, kid?” Sans inquired, shifting over to the left to sit next to the human girl on the bed. “You think I’m… all those things?”

Frisk sat up as well, curling into a ball and hugging her legs to her chest. There was a small awkward silence between them for a while before she spoke again. “Yeah… I know it’s weird,” She admitted.

The skeleton turned to her in slight disbelief. “Well, I mean… It is uncommon for a human to love a monster,” He began. “But I didn’t say that I hate it or anything like that,”

“What you did just now…” Frisk remarked softly. “Tell me, was it on purpose? Or was it because you’re still drunk?”

Silence.

…

…

…

…

“ … No.”

Surprised, she lowered her legs into a cross-legged position and stared at him. “Really?” She asked in bewilderment.

“Yeah, I wasn’t faking it,” He answered, his face slowly forming a smile. “You know I’ve never really been good with words, kid. And trying to kiss you while I am not drunk is actually really difficult. In fact, I might just conk out now,” And with that, his head dropped to her lap, startling her. “Oh!”

He chuckled again at her reaction. “But if I really have to put it in words,” He continued, reaching out for her face again. “I really do care about ya, Frisk. I’m, uh, pretty greedy and I don’t want to lose you to anyone else, if you catch my drift.”

Hearing this made her smile and even in the dark room, Sans could see it. He could also see her leaning down to plant another kiss on his skull as his cheeks turned blue. “You skele-dork,” She sighed. “This is why I love you.”

“And I love you too,” he replied, kissing her again.

Thanks, Frans-senpai for the inspiration! And I’m so sorry for my late fic for your comic...^ ^;;;;

#sf #sans #frisk #christmas #drabble #my writing #frans #sans x frisk #frisk x sans #literature #confession

[consulting-celiac-in-the-tardis]

7+ Delicious Ways to Eat More Veggies with Every Meal

New blog post!

This post is generously sponsored by Spinato's. 

When I was diagnosed with celiac disease, more changes happened to my diet than just going gluten free. Slowly but surely, my new dietary restrictions inspired me to experiment with more naturally gluten-free foods...which includes plenty of delicious vegetables. Before I knew it, I'd gone from a meat-and-potatoes kinda girl to a veggie addict! As a result, I can now honestly say that I enjoy eating vegetables and crave several servings of them every day. But I don't just eat raw broccoli and carrots! Instead, in the six years since my celiac diagnosis, I've found creative and yummy ways to incorporate more vegetables into my meals...and with help from Spinato's (home to some seriously ammmmazing certified gluten free broccoli crust pizza!), I'm sharing my top veggie hacks today! Because while I truly believe that everyone thrives on different foods and that "healthy eating" looks different for each person, I don't think most people can go wrong with adding a few more vegetables to their daily eats.

So whether you're looking for sneaky ways to up your kid's veggie intake this coming school season or you just want more creative ideas for delicious gluten free meals, keep reading to learn about 7+ easy and delicious ways you can eat more vegetables with every meal of the day!

Breakfast: 

When I was in high school, some of my typical breakfasts were cinnamon raisin bagels slathered in peanut butter or a protein bar eaten in the car on the ride to school. And while those certainly aren't bad options, my breakfasts nowadays are a lot more veggie-heavy. But you might not even realize that upon first glance! Because here's the thing: I'm not a savory breakfast kinda gal. When I wake up, I want something sweet...but that doesn't have to keep me from getting in some veggies and greens. And if you follow me on Instagram, you can probably guess one of my favorite ways to eat more vegetables with breakfast: smoothie bowls!

Veggie Hack #1: Get Sneaky with Smoothie Bowls

In fact, one of the best things about smoothies is that, depending on the ingredients and ratios you use, you can pack them full with vegetables and just taste the sweetness of banana or whatever fruits you included as well. Some of my favorite vegetables to include in smoothie bowls are:

Zucchini and squash, steamed and frozen ahead of time to help with digestion. These are my go-to veggies to use if you want a tummy-friendly smoothie that is super thick and creamy but lower in sugar thanks to these additions. And I promise - you don't taste the zucchini or yellow squash at all, especially when paired with flavorful ingredients like berries or cacao powder. 

Cauliflower, steamed and frozen. If your stomach can handle cauliflower in larger quantities, this is one Instagram trend you'll fall in love with.

Leafy greens, like spinach (which has a very mild flavor) or iceberg, kale, etc. if you don't mind tasting those greens more obviously.

Veggie Hack #2: Add Zucchini to Oats or Porridge

If you wake up craving a warm breakfast but still want something sweet and secretly full of veggies, zoats (also known as "zucchini oats") are another delicious option! I have made my zoats with zucchini and yellow squash, just grated and squeezed to remove the extra moisture. As I've shared in recipes like this one, you can also use alternative porridge grains like quinoa flakes, buckwheat flakes, or chia seeds if you can't tolerate gluten free oats. You can enjoy your zoats cold (and soaked overnight instead of being cooked) or warm, but if you're trying to hide the texture of zucchini, cooked is the better option. I often prep and soak my zoats the night before and then just warm them up in the microwave until everything is soft and gooey that morning!

Snacks

My snacks have also changed since I've started to enjoy eating more vegetables. While I still love my protein bars, I often end up having something homemade or fresh instead...and many of my favorite snacks - as you can guess from the topic of this post! - involve some raw or cooked vegetables. 

Veggie Hack #5: Top Rice Cakes with Guac and Veggies

This tip is as simple as the name suggests. I know a lot of people enjoy rice cakes with peanut butter and jelly or other sweet toppings, but I'm also a big fan of putting on a layer of guac, avocado, hummus or pesto and adding some spinach, carrots, cucumbers or whatever other veggies I have on hand. If you love a crunchy snack, there's nothing better than this!

Veggie Hack #3: Dress Up Veggies with Homemade Dip

Now, I know I said that I didn't just eat raw broccoli and carrots (and these days, I rarely do at all!). However, when I do have a hankering for raw vegetables - especially during hot days when I don't want to turn on the oven to cook something - whipping up a quick homemade pesto or dip can make veggies a lot more of an interesting snack! Feel free to use whatever pesto recipe you enjoy, but my go-to lately has involved a mix of several handfuls of spinach, a few tablespoons of hemp seeds, a squeeze of lemon, heavy sprinkles of oregano and thyme, and enough chicken or vegetable stock (for extra flavor!) to get the pesto to mix in my mini blender.

If raw veggies aren't your thang, you can also roast some and keep them in the fridge for snacking and lunch and dinners (which we'll get to shortly!). One of my favorite pairings with pesto is roasted sweet potato rounds. Just cut a sweet potato up into small coins, place them on a lined baking tray (no oil required) and cook at 425 for 25-30 minutes or until caramelized and soft.

Veggie Hack #4: Replace Oil and Sugar with Veggies in Homemade Granola

If you've checked out my gluten free granola recipes before, you already know that I rarely ever bake mine with oil or refined sugars. Instead, I get all the clumps and sweetness from pureed fruits and grated zucchini and squash. I know it might sound a bit crazy at first, but you don't taste the vegetables at all and they help make the granola extra clustery and chewy. Plus, if you make granola with turmeric, yellow squash and banana, it'll be hard for anyone to notice the squash in the mix!

Lunch and Dinner

Now, the grand finale - how to add more vegetables into your lunches and dinners! 

Veggie Hack #6: Cook and Freeze Certain Vegetables and Homemade Fries Ahead of Time

As I already mentioned in the snacks section, roasting vegetables ahead of time so that they're ready when you want to eat is a serious game-changer. I'd also encourage you to experiment with different spices (I'm partial to thyme and oregano) and methods of cooking (for example, baking at a super high temperature for a bit of burnt edges on your broccoli or covering your tray of veggies with tin foil so that they actually steam in the oven) to see what ways taste best to you.

Another trick I've learned over my six years of veggie-loving: certain vegetables can handle being frozen and reheated later on for an extra easy serving of vegetables. For example, I often cook an entire spaghetti squash and freeze one half so that I can take out the frozen spaghetti squash the night before, stick in the oven to reheat for a few minutes, and dive in extra quickly later on. And if you love fries but haven't ever made your own, now is the time! There are tons of easy recipes out there, and I've had success cooking big batches of fries, letting them cool, and then freezing them in sealed bags. When I want fries later, I just throw a handful of frozen fries in the oven on high for a few minutes, and wala! Quicker than fast food!

Veggie Hack #7: Take Advantage of Delicious, Secretly Veggie-Packed Alternatives to Your Favorite Foods

And now for one of my favorite vegetables hack lately. I already mentioned that this post is in partnership with Spinato's...and if you're trying to eat more vegetables this year, Spinato's certified gluten-free broccoli crust pizza is about to become your new BFF!

I knew I was in for a treat as soon as I got my first boxes of Spinato's; even without opening the box or cooking the pizzas, the scent of tomato sauce and spices got my mouth watering. Spinato's 10-inch broccoli crust pizza comes in four different flavors: Margherita; Aged Asiago, Romano & Mozzarella; Mediterranean Supreme; and Primavera. Besides being certified gluten free (something I LOVE seeing in foods I eat regularly!), Spinato's pizzas are free of MSG and trans fat, and packed with high-quality ingredients like hormone-free chicken sausage and vine-ripened tomatoes from local farms. One of the coolest parts? The Spinato family has been experimenting with pizza recipes and unique topping combos since 1974, so these pizzas are part of a delicious family legacy. As for my personal experience with these pizzas...first off, I loved how quickly you can cook them! Depending on what appliance you use, you can have your frozen pizza hot and ready in just 8 minutes. My pizza only took around 14 minutes in my oven, which makes Spinato's the perfect secret weapon to keep in my freezer for crazy busy school days this coming semester. And I definitely want to try grilling these pizzas one day, as the box suggests!

And now we get to the most important part: the taste. For the particular dinner in these photographs, I went with Spinato's Primavera pizza, which features zucchini, red onion, mushroom and red pepper. I added a lil' bit of greens and avocado (since those are my go-to pizza toppings!), and enjoyed evvery bite. I loved that the sauce, cheese and toppings were evenly dispersed throughout the whole pizza, and that the soft crust was balanced out by crunchy and chewy vegetables. I also enjoyed that the crust looked "normal" despite its broccoli base. If you served this to me without the box, I wouldn't have guessed the crust is packed with vegetables! My cooked pizza crust did come out of the oven feeling pretty soft and some of the pizza slices were messy to hold - especially since Spinato's pizza crust is pretty thin (just how I, personally, like it). However, once the pizza cooled some, the crust got a lot sturdier and had deliciously crunchy edges with a soft, chewy middle. And at the end of the day, I don't mind a bit of a messy dinner as long as it tastes finger-lickin' good...and Spinato's pizza definitely does.

If you want to try out Spinato's for yourself, Spinato's frozen broccoli crust pizzas are now available in over 1,500 stores all over the US. For help finding Spinato's broccoli crust pizza in your area, check out Spinato's handy dandy product locator here! Before I was diagnosed with celiac disease, I would've never imagined waking up and looking forward to eating zucchini and green beans and all sorts of other delicious veggies. But the more I've experimented with new, delicious ways to enjoy vegetables, the more I've craved them...and I hope the same can be said of anyone who tries any of the vegetable hacks I've shared in this blog post! And if you need a tasty and easy place to start eating more vegetables ASAP...as I mentioned earlier, Spinato's certified gluten free broccoli crust pizza can be ready in 15 minutes or less. ;) *I received free samples and monetary compensation in exchange for spreading the word about Spinato's broccoli crust pizza. However, I only partner with brands and products that I personally belive in, and all photographs, opinions and thoughts are my own. Thank you for supporting what supports Casey the College Celiac!* Which flavor of Spinato's pizza would you want to try first? Margherita; Aged Asiago, Romano & Mozzarella; Mediterranean Supreme; or Primavera? Tell me in the comments!

via Blogger https://ift.tt/2TpsPY6

#Blogger #college #celiac #gluten free #coeliac #celiacs #paleo #primal #foodporn #foodart

[abramsbooks]

RECIPE: Baked Rigatoni (from Matty Matheson: A Cookbook by Matty Matheson)

This is an incredible dish made straight from the heart. Crisp, burnt rigatoni edges; melted mozzarella cheese; rich, sweet tomato sauce; and little meatballs all nestled inside this beautiful mess. Dishes like this are low risk and high reward. Carol and Trish make different versions of this, and now I make my own too. How many renditions of this dish are out there, I have no idea: Every nonna or nonno or Italian American or Italian Canadian parent has his or her own version. Some may add basil leaves, dried oregano, more Parmesan, maybe even some Asiago, or all pork balls, all-beef, or a combination or the holy trinity: veal, pork, and beef. I want to make you my version, which is inspired by my mother-in-law and my lovely wife.

I had another mind-blowing experience the first time Carol made this for me. I thought pasta was powdered cheese and overcooked little noodles that were mixed with water instead of milk or cream, and not even a nice little knob of heavenly butter. But then I saw this bubbling, glowing, cheesy casserole coming out of the oven like a newborn rigatoni baby, and it was instant love. I knew I would fight for this dish if anyone ever disrespected it—I would stand behind it like an overprotective uncle who’s had one too many brown pops at a little league baseball game. I hope that when you pull this casserole out of the oven, it’s one of those moments like seeing the Sistine Chapel or the ocean for the first time.

Serves: 4 Prep time: 1½ hours

½ pound (225 g) ground pork

½ pound (225 g) ground veal

½ pound (225 g) ground beef

1 egg

1 cup (100 g) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

½ cup (50 g) dry bread crumbs

1 handful chopped flat-leaf parsley

Kosher salt

10 turns freshly cracked black pepper

1 tablespoon dried red chile flakes

2 tablespoons peeled and minced garlic

Olive oil

8 cups (2 L) Sunday Gravy (see below) without the meat

2 (16-ounce/455 g) boxes dried large rigatoni

2 balls mozzarella cheese, one cubed and one shredded

Place all the ground meat in a large bowl. Crack the egg on top and add the Parmesan, bread crumbs, parsley, 2 teaspoons salt, the pepper, chile flakes, garlic, 4 tablespoons (60 ml) oil, and 2 tablespoons water. Mix with your hands—make sure to dig deep with your fingers and use your shoulders to really work the mixture.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place two spoons in a cup of water; use one spoon for scooping and the other for scraping off. Make sure to dip your spoons into the water every other scoop. Scoop 1 tablespoon meat and scrape it onto the baking sheet; make little rows until done. Lightly coat your hands with oil and form the meat piles into perfect little balls.

Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C). In a Dutch oven, pour ½ inch (12 mm) of oil and set over medium-high heat. Place the balls in the pot, but don’t overcrowd the pot. Brown the meatballs in batches and place on a rack while you build your casserole.

We are going to build the casserole hot so it just has to brown in the oven. In a small pot, heat the gravy. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil; cook the pasta until al dente. Check the pasta every few minutes to make sure you’re not overcooking. Because we are baking in the oven, we don’t want mushy noodles! We want perfect rigatoni.

Drain the pasta and pour most of it into a 9 by 13-inch (23 by 33 cm) baking dish, then add enough sauce to cover the noodles and stir. You don’t want the casserole soupy and you don’t want it dry; you can always add, but you can never take away. That’s why I like building this by eye once all the ingredients are ready: You can add more sauce, meatballs, and rigatoni depending on your tastes. Stir the cubed mozzarella into the casserole, then add as many meatballs as you want. Stir to evenly disperse everything, then cover with a few ladles of sauce and the shredded mozzarella. Bake 20 minutes, or until the edges are almost burnt, the cheese is golden brown, and the sauce is bubbling. Remove from the oven and let rest 10 minutes.

RECIPE: Sunday Gravy

This is something I loved eating when I first started dating Trish. Her mother is Italian Canadian and comes from a long line of amazing cooks from Calabria. I never had real Italian food until I met Trish. Maybe that’s why I was so in love with her initially. It was her mother’s cooking! I remember the first time I was allowed to help make this meal. Her mother watched me like a hawk soaring in the bright blue sky, searching for trout. If I did something wrong, she let me know right away with a slap on the hand. If I overworked the meatballs, she would make a comment that cut deep. This was before I went to cooking school—I was just an eager kid looking for the secrets to this dish. A red sauce is the foundation of every Italian family, and it was a privilege to help. I had a duty to make the best meatballs I could so I didn’t let down Carol and Bill and the Spencer family. Making this sauce is like painting: You need to know when to stop. It’s a powerful sauce that still needs restraint.

I used to think that spaghetti sauce had green peppers and mushrooms in it. It took me a long time to understand the power in simplicity. This sauce is the cornerstone to most of the dishes in this section; once you’ve made this sauce, you can add it to so many dishes. When I make it, I like to take out all the meat and divide the balls, ribs, and sausage in containers and cover with just enough sauce. Then you can take as many of these little gems as you want and reheat for days to come, or you can make little bundles of meat and sauce and freeze for a special day. Serving the meat on a massive platter and then tossing fresh spaghetti in the sauce and topping with fresh grated Parmesan is the way to go!

Serves: A large Italian-Irish family and one white kid from the maritimes Prep time: 5½ hours

1 loaf day-old bread, torn into small pieces

1 cup (240 ml) milk

1 pound (455 g) ground beef

1 pound (455 g) ground veal

1 pound (455 g) ground pork

2 cups (200 g) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup (100 g) freshly grated Pecorino-Romano cheese

½ cup (70 g) peeled and minced garlic, plus 1 cup (145 g) whole garlic cloves, peeled and sliced thin

1 handful chopped flat-leaf parsley

1 cup (100 g) dry bread crumbs

4 eggs

2 tablespoons dried red chile flakes

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

2 pounds (910 g) Italian sausage

2 racks (2 pounds/910 g) pork ribs

½ cup (15 g) tomato paste

6 (28-ounce/794 g) cans tomato puree

1 pound (455 g) any shape pasta

Grated Parmesan cheese, for serving

Line a baking sheet with lightly oiled parchment paper.

Soak the day-old bread with just enough milk. You don’t want soupy bread; you want milky bread.

In a large bowl, place all the ground meat and mix with your hands so it’s incorporated. Next, add the cheeses, minced garlic, parsley, bread crumbs, eggs, chile flakes, milk-soaked bread, salt, and pepper. This is the fun part: Deep-dive your hands into the meatball mixture, and with your fingertips, disperse all the ingredients evenly, using your full arm to reach down to the middle and flip the mixture. Imagine you are a human bread mixer. Keep pushing down and knead it almost like a dough. Once it is truly mixed, you’ll know—it will look like a piece of beautiful meat marble, with the cheese, parsley, and garlic all glistening through like rock layers.

With lightly oiled hands, roll the meat mixture into perfect 2-inch (5 cm) balls, making sure they are worked just enough. Do not squish the balls—just keep rolling so they stick together. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Drape a kitchen towel over the balls as you roll so they don’t air-dry at all.

In a large heavy pot, pour ½ inch (12 mm) of oil and set over medium heat. Sear the meatballs on all sides. As each ball is fully browned, remove and place on another baking sheet until needed. In the same pot, sear the sausages, about 8 minutes. Set aside.

Cut the ribs into 2-bone pieces and season with salt and pepper; sear them, about 5 minutes per side. You will find that there is a lot of crisp golden meat on the bottom of the pot. This is called fond. This is the gold.

Turn down the heat to low—there is enough residual heat to get the garlic cooking. Add the sliced garlic to the pot and cook until golden brown. Then add the tomato paste; cook 5 minutes to cook out the tin flavor and develop the rich, deep flavor tomato paste is made for.

Add all the meat and the tomato puree. If it’s a little thick you can add just enough water to make it easier for you to stir the meat. You don’t want it too thick right now, as it’s going to cook at least 3 hours, and as it cooks, it will concentrate. We will cook it to the consistency we desire.

Don’t turn the heat to high to bring it to a boil. We have to bring it up slowly to make sure nothing burns. It may take almost an hour to start bubbling and simmering the way we want it to. Once it starts simmering, turn down the heat even lower. Stir the pot gently, making sure not to break up the meatballs. Cook 3 hours.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta as the label directs; drain and return to the pot. Ladle in enough sauce to coat the noodles—you don’t want this to be saucy. Place the pasta on a platter, then ladle extra sauce into another bowl for those who want more sauce. Remove the meat and place on top of the pasta; add more sauce. Top with cheese.

Matty Matheson, star of Viceland’s It’s Suppertime and Dead Set On Life, reveals his favorite recipes and stories in a cookbook that his devoted fans have been waiting for.

Matty Matheson is known as much for his amazing food as his love for life, positive mental attitude, and epic Instagram account. This debut cookbook is about Matty’s memories of the foods that have defined who he is. With a drive to share his zest for life, he creates dishes within these pages that reinterpret the flavors of his youth in Canada, as well as the restaurant fare for which he has become so well-known. Interpretations of classics like Seafood Chowder, Scumbo: Dad’s Gumbo, and Rappie Pie appear alongside restaurant recipes like Bavette, Pigtail Tacos, and his infamous P&L Burger. This is a very personal cookbook, full of essays and headnotes that share Matty’s life—from growing up in Fort Erie, exploring the wonders of Prince Edward Island, struggling and learning as a young chef in Toronto, and, eventually, his rise to popularity as one of the world’s most recognizable food personalities. His no-nonsense approach to food makes these recipes practical enough for all, while his creativity will entice seasoned cooks. This book is like cooking alongside Matty, sharing stories that are equal parts heartwarming and inappropriate while helping you cook dishes that are full of love. Matty Matheson: A Cookbook is a new collection of recipes from one of today’s most beloved chefs.

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[dazzlinghazenmysteriousway]

I missed this.

okay so here’s my first little writing that’s finished enough for me to want to post. feedback is always appreciated, asks are open, and yeah just let me know what you think. thanks for reading and yeah, okay.

psa: this is about Shawn Mendes x female reader.

psa 2: it’s what people call fluff i think.

- - -

Overwhelming frustration was all she felt as she pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose for the umpteenth time. She hated wearing her glasses, but with the huge headache she woke up with, she knew wearing contacts would make it worse. It also wasn’t helping her growing annoyance that she had a few errands to run around town today instead of having a nice lazy day in bed. But she knew it’d be worth it in the end, because her boyfriend of 3 years was finally coming home for a 2 week break from his world tour.

- - -

It was her last errand of the day when things seemed to get even worse. Walking up and down every aisle at the grocery store, she couldn’t seem to find anything she needed for tonight’s dinner. It was like the store, hell the whole world, was screwing with her on purpose. How hard was it to find pasta and tomato sauce. What felt like hours later, when in reality was just a few minutes up and down a few more aisles, she located the last of her ingredients for dinner: one big box of spaghetti noodles.

- - -

She was in the middle of setting the table when she heard the keys in the door. Seconds later she was running into the arms of her boyfriend, her favorite person in the world, Shawn. He dropped his luggage, still making sure to gently set his guitar case on their hard wood floor, before engulfing her in his embrace. Everyone in the world knew him as Shawn Mendes international pop sensation and teen heartthrob, but she knew him as Shawn: a normal person with a family and friends that just so happened to be able to live his dream 8 months out of the year. They stand there breathing each other in and relishing in their shared presence until he breaks the silence first, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too, so much.” She whispers back before pressing her lips to his in a short but love filled kiss. She pulls back from him letting her gaze roam his face knowing he’s doing the same.

With a smile breaking across her lips she says, “I made your favorite dinner, so lets get all your stuff settled and you can wash up or whatever you need to do.”

“Spaghetti with meat sauce?!” Shawn’s says, the widest of smiles encompassing his face. She nods and laughs when he pulls her in for a quick peck on the lips before he’s reaching down and rushing upstairs to throw his bags in the bedroom and get cleaned up.

- - -

20 minutes later he’s bounding down the stairs (she shakes her head and laughs incredulously that he doesn’t fall as he does so) freshly showered to get the plane smell off of him and dressed in grey sweats and white t shirt. As he sits down at the table and grabs the food from the kitchen, he really takes her in: the tendrils of hair falling from her bun, the glasses that she’s pushed up at least twice already but that he loves her in even though she hates them, the rosiness in her cheeks and twinkle in her eyes, and the soft curves of her body he missed so much.

It takes them over an hour to finish dinner, as they catch up between each bite. They talk about anything and everything, leaving no stone unturned. From his tour and travels to her school classes and boring day job. Shawn tells her about the weird questions he got at meet and greets, the adrenaline of each show, even showing her his favorite pictures from wandering around each city he’d already texted her and recounting the shows she had flown out to watch live. But she took it all in, loving the pure joy that took over his face as he recounted his last few months.

He didn’t forget to ask her about how she was though in the midst of his spiel. She had caught him up when she went to visit him on the tour, but that was 3 weeks ago. She told him about her classes, the millions of papers and exams she had just finished, and the few times she had caught up over brunch or a day out with her friends.

It was nice, the dinner and the catching up. The laughter and love pouring out for each other through the conversation. And it carried through as the cleaned off the table, as she washed and he dried the dishes; like they had already fallen back into their usual routine when they were both at home. But what was perfect was when they finally collapsed on the couch cuddled into each other’s arms with a movie playing softly on the tv, Shawn’s hand rubbing soothingly up and down her arm. Halfway through her eyelids began to flutter and her yawns were becoming more and more frequent. Shawn noticed right away and immediately went to shut the movie off despite her quick protests.

“Shhh you’ve had a long day and I’m tired from the flight too so let’s go to bed.” He says quietly.

Knowing she wouldn’t win she nodded her head, slowly rising from her position on the couch. He grabbed her hand pulling her into the bedroom. They each got ready quickly, wanting nothing more than to tangle up in each other’s warmth. The white t shirt he had put on earlier he handed to her to wear knowing that’s what she was most comfortable in, and secretly adoring seeing her in his clothes again. As they pulled the covers up tight and settled in, she breathed him in before letting out a sigh of contentment.

“I missed you. I missed this.” She whispered out between yawns. He hummed in response, kissing the top of her head and pulling her impossibly closer to him.

“I love you and I’m so happy to be home” Shawn breathed out.

She responded with an “I love you too” and moments later they were both peacefully asleep and so happy to be back together again.

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