#2. Fish Pieces Recipe

[flavors-of-india-666]

[littlemissclandestine]

Soft!Adler Headcanons: (Girl)Dad! Edition Part 2

⭐ A continuation of this post

He'd try his best to be there for any award ceremonies at school, sneaking in at the back just in time to see his daughter on stage. As soon as she makes eye contact, he'll give her a thumbs up and a wink, mouthing 'I love you'

I wanna say he'd be that dad who stands up and claps loudly, telling everyone that that's his daughter on stage. He's so supportive bless.

Oh and photos where he stands behind her and has his hands on her shoulders and smiles for the camera. Yup, quite a few of those stashed away.

When she'd have a presentation to give on her biggest inspiration and/or hero in her life, it would be about her dad. It would end up in tears for her as he'd be away...or would he? Adler would come in, standing off to the side, watching her recite from a piece of paper saying how much she looks up to her father, how she misses him etc. It almost brings a tear to his own eyes. Everyone's heads would turn and his daughter would run up to him, Russell scooping her up and hugging her. Missed you my lil spaghetti

During downtime, his priority would always be his daughter. No ifs and no buts. Even if he hated the idea she proposed.

One of those was testing makeup. Russell would always straight up say no, asking her to call her mother for that but when he saw how upset it made her, he'd sigh and grumpily sit down in a chair by her dresser and let her do whatever she wanted. -> "Jesus, kid, watch it, you always this rough with your friends too?" He'd ask with a chuckle as she blends the foundation. He could sit there all day and listen to her explain how to use each product and proceed to yap about whatever crosses her mind

When she'd put on eyeliner and apply it to his waterline, he was genuinely scared -> "Don't poke my eyes out, the only thing I got going for me. God, can't believe I'm letting you do this, missy." He'd pinch her side and tickle her.

As soon as he's allowed to look in the mirror, he does a double take, wondering how the hell he looks like such a diva but he downplays it. -> "Good job, kid...good job indeed."

When she hurts herself, he can't help but kneel down and help her. He knows he should stop and that she needs to develop her independence but it's hard for him. -> "Got a boo boo, sweetheart? Let me see. Aww on the knee, huh? Come here, let's get you cleaned up and get a plaster on it, yeah? Shhhh you're okay."

Baking with his daughter? YES. They'd make a mess of the kitchen for sure, not really tidying up as they go. Every time his daughter would come to him with a new recipe, he's out the front door with her in an instant, ticking off their checklist of ingredients in the store and thinking of ways he could add their twist on it

Her drawings would be on display with personalised fridge magnets that spell her name etc

There's a wall or archway where he measures her height every year and marks it on with pencil. -> "Heh, you've had a hell of a growth spurt, sweetheart. Would you look at that."

If his daughter was a trouble maker, he'd be that parent that would refuse to see what was wrong. It was self defense as far as he's concerned. He doesn't really need to do much of the talking. He's genuinely surprised seeing her stand up for herself, the corner of his mouth curving into a smile as he watches her rant to the principal. Did he teach her that? To not play by the rules? Guess he's rubbing off on her. A little worrying but eh -> "Put that in your pipe and smoke it." High fives as soon as they get back into the car after the meeting with the principal is over is a given.

If there's something you should know about Russell Adler, it's that he loves being spontaneous. One day, he might take his daughter out fishing, teaching her the ropes, the next they're at a painting class together, his daughter being impressed by his hidden talent or cycling in the summer during the sunset, Russell asking her what her goals are in life and telling her how proud he is of her and that he wishes he could be around more. Bonding time is so important to him.

There are certainly times where he struggles. Apart from the emotional side of things and his job getting in the way i mean. Possibly control. Like we know he has strong leadership skills he's developed over his career. I'd like to think that seeps into his parenting a little too much. He tends to ramble and tell his daughter how to do something and talking her through it, hovering over her even though she knows already and has been doing said thing for years.

Maybe it's just a part of him wanting to feel useful and needed. Still wanting her to rely on him even in her 20s or 30s, partly in denial that she's not that young girl who'd sit on his lap anymore. It really hits him when he's walking her down the aisle.

And maybe he'd be over-critical of himself as a parent and her as a daughter, especially since he sees the cost of mistakes in the world of espionage and the military

The only people that have seen his daughter from work are Sims, Woods and Mason and maybe Park but it isn't a regular thing, wanting to keep her as far away from the CIA as possible. Park had a shock when she saw him like that for the first time. -> "Never thought i'd see the day, Adler. You, a family man? Rather ghastly I must say but you do look happy."

[princessisfinethx]

Monster!König x Reader pt.2

You guys liked the first one so I'll keep going.

Warnings: tentacles, curse words. Mate mention

M!König: Who left a bundle of fish wrapped in seaweed for you one day in front of the veterinarian building. Which the desk workers stumbled upon first, with no note. So they were disgusted by it and threw it away before you could see it. And König was pissed.

M!König: Who had to catch more fish but this time, he hand delivered it to you. He made his way into the vet once again and glared down at the desk worker, specifically the one who threw away that perfectly good batch of fish.

M!König: Who, when he saw you, presented the fish once again. It was dripping on the floor, the seaweed bundle. You smiled wearily and took the fish, looking over the different kinds. You thanked him and promised you'd eat all of them, even mentioning you favored one fish species that was caught in the bundle. "I know some good recipes for these."

M!König: Who... couldn't stop staring at you. Something was clicking in his head, something he really liked. He felt his tentacles beneath his hood stir and his eyes widened a bit at the realization. When it became quiet in the lobby, you asked quietly if you could look him over to see if he was healing properly. He nodded and followed you to your office once again. Once you two were alone and he lifted his hood, you put your gloves on and reached up, moving some of the tentacles aside.

M!König: Who was deeply embarrassed when his tentacles wrapped around your hands, more than last time. He said nothing. You commented that he was healing amazingly. Without muttering a word he pulled his hood back down and left the vet. You watched, confused and missing a glove because his tentacles wouldn't let go.

M!König: Who just fucked himself over by x10. It was only meant as a thank you, but when you happily took the bundle, stating you liked the fish?? He swallowed thickly and covered his eyes. He had to ignore this, the urge to take you as his mate. You were a human, he was not, this wouldn't work. Not that he knows for sure. But the urge to give you more, to provide and show you that he could be a good mate..it's not going away.

M!König: Who felt the funny glove taste in his mouth still and pulled the glove out from his tentacles. He stared at the blue piece of latex, thoughts bubbling in his mind, but he ultimately threw the glove away, his face red.

~~~

Vet!Reader: Who washed all the fish and wrapped them in something more sanitary to bring them home later. You'd be spending the slow parts of the day looking up other recipes for the other fish.

Vet!Reader: Who got playfully teased because the 'scary fisherman' was trying to court them. You'd only grin, looking away and typing on your phone. You then got curious and began to do some broad research on tentacle face people. And frowned when something called The Call of Cthulhu popped up, but you saved it to read for later. Maybe it could tell you more about your friend König.

[ltwilliammowett]

Cooking like a Sailor - New England Clam Chowder

However, a warm savory steam from the kitchen served to belie the apparently cheerless prospect before us. But when that smoking chowder came in, the mystery was delightfully explained. Oh, sweet friends! hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt. - Moby Dick

What Herman Meville describes here is a very famous New England dish - the clam chowder. A chowder is "a soup or stew of seafood (such as clams or fish) usually made with milk or tomatoes, salt pork, onions and other vegetables". Whilst there are different types of chowder, clam chowder is undoubtedly the best known. The definition of chowder varies depending on the part of the country, but most contain clams, potatoes, onions and some form of pork. Some use milk or another type of broth, but this type of dish was very popular on board ships where it was cooked and served in different ways. According to Savouring Gotham: A Food Lovers Companion to New York City, it is believed that New England chowder was introduced to the region by French, Nova Scotian or British settlers and became a common dish in the region around 1700. The chowder grew in popularity over the years and, according to What's Cooking America, was served in Boston as early as 1836 at Ye Olde Union Oyster House (the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the country).

But let's get to the recipe so you can cosy up at home with your copy of Moby Dick and enjoy a nice serving of clam chowder.

What do you need: 1 small onion 1 kilogram of salted pork 2 medium potatoes 1 1/2 cups of water 1 tin with about 200 grams of clams 1 bottle with about 350ml clam juice

1/8 teaspoon of pepper 1 1/2 cup of milk

To prepare:

cut the meat into pieces of about 2.5c and brown in a pan over a medium heat. Then set aside.

chop the onions and fry them in the pan, in the meantime cut the potatoes into small pieces and add them to the onions, cover with water and cook until the potatoes are soft.

add the clams and their juice and season with pepper. Cook over a medium heat until they are steaming.

Add 1 1/2 cups of milk. Heat over a medium heat for 5 minutes.

Add the meat and serve. Best eaten with ship's biscuits or fresh bread, if available.

Enjoy your meal.

[the-witchhunter]

Apples in Caramel Bourbon Sauce

Want a delicious dessert? Want to up your game? Why not both? This recipe once literally got me laid, it’s that damn good, so use at your own discretion

Or not, I’m not your mother

Ingredients:

2 apples (gala or honeycrisp recommended)

1/2 cup - 3/4 cup sugar (depend on size of apples and thus the amount of sauce needed)

4 tablespoons butter (I use salted, if using unsalted I recommend a pinch of salt on the final step)

“A splash” of bourbon (couple tablespoons to a 1/4 cup)

1) core and cut apples. Peeling is optional. Smaller pieces will cook faster so I prefer cutting into 1/8 slices and cutting those slices I half, but theoretically you could just cut the apples in half. Just make them roughly the same size

2) have all your ingredients on hand. Seems silly to make this its own step? If you have to hunt down during the next step you risk burning and starting it over. Just have your stuff ready

3) in a dry frying pan, add sugar and heat on medium. DO NOT WALK AWAY! Heat until sugar is melted and caramelized. It’ll start to darken and at this stage it can go from perfect to burnt very quickly. Stir with wooden spoon if needed to prevent burning but it’ll likely clump. Just break up clumps and it’ll melt when it’s hot enough.

4) add the butter and stir to combine. At this point it’s a very rudimentary caramel sauce.

5) add apple. It’ll likely seem too thick and not coat the apples immediately but just let them cook, stirring occasionally until apples are tender. How long? Depends how big you made your apple chunks. Sauce will get thinner as it pulls out moisture from the apples 

6) fish out cooked apples once tender and set aside

7) reduce sauce for a minute or two

8) add splash of bourbon (not from the bottle directly) and cook until harsh alcohol taste is cooked off

Serve by itself or the recommended method of over a scoop of vanilla ice cream, still warm

Makes 2-4 servings

[najia-cooks]

[ID: An extreme close-up of ground spices in various shades of brown and orange laid out in lines on a plate. End ID]

سبع بهارات فلسطينية / Seb'a baharat falastinia (Palestinian seven-spice)

Seb'a baharat is one of a few spice blends often referred to in English simply as “baharat” (the plural of Arabic بهار / bahar, “spice”). A warm, earthy blend, it is commonly used to season meat, fish, and poultry in the Levant, Eastern Arabia, and Egypt, where recipes differ from region to region and from person to person. Common ingredients include cumin, cardamom, black pepper, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

Palestinian versions of seb'a baharat are usually dominated by allspice, black pepper, and cinnamon, giving them a pungent and sweet head; nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom provide additional warmth, while cumin and coriander often round out the blend with earthiness and a hint of florality. Ginger is also an occasional inclusion.

By the early 2010s, decades of Israeli taxation on exports and imports of non-Israeli goods had eroded Palestinian economic and culinary self-determination; Israel had instituted further blockades of the Gaza border in 2007, leading to a sharp decline in exports. Several farmers in Gaza turned to growing spices and herbs, including cumin and ginger, on their farms with the intention of finding a profitable market for them in Europe. However, frequent border closings, punitive export taxes, and Israeli shooting at Palestinian farmers who were attempting to work their land, made the plan unviable.

More recently, Palestinians have continued to work to find new ways to produce food despite shrinking access to arable land and fresh water. Resisting Israeli targeting of Palestinian food self-sufficiency is a matter, not just of subsistence and economic power, but of identity and dignity.

Today, Israel's total siege of Gaza continues as civilians run out of food, water, power, and medical supplies. Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) has put out an urgent call for donations to provide medical supplies to hospitals when supply lines reopen. Also contact your representatives in the USA, UK, and Canada.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp ground allspice (6.6g; 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp allspice berries)

1/2 Tbsp ground black pepper (6.2g; 1/2 Tbsp black peppercorns)

1/2 Tbsp ground cinnamon (5.3g; 1 large stick Chinese cassia)

1 1/4 tsp ground coriander (2g; 1 1/2 tsp coriander seeds)

1 tsp ground nutmeg (1.4g; 1/2 nutmeg)

1 tsp ground cloves (2g; 1 1/4 tsp whole cloves)

1 tsp ground cardamom (scant 1/2 Tbsp pods; 2.6g just seeds)

3/4 tsp ground cumin (2.1g; scant tsp cumin seeds)

Instructions:

1. In a mortar and pestle or using the flat of a knife, roughly crush nutmeg and cinnamon.

2. In a dry skillet over medium heat, toast whole spices one at a time until each is strongly fragrant. Remove from heat and allow to cool in a single layer on a large plate.

3. Grind all spices together in a mortar and pestle or a spice mill. Pass through a sieve to remove large pieces. Store in an airtight jar in a cool, dark place.

[violet-hearth]

Herb Butter

Also known as compound butter and is a way to preserve herbs and flavour butter.

Best used for savory foods, can be an amazing way to elevate kitchen witchcraft.

Generic Recipe Base

8 tablespoons or 1/2 cup butter

1-3 teaspoons of finely chopped fresh herbs of choice (combine herbs for more flavour profiles)

rosemary, coriander, chives, parsley, dried chilies, sage, dill, garlic, lemon, edible flowers etc.

optionally 1 teaspoon lemon zest

optionally salt to taste

Soften butter at room temperature then add to a bowl with the herbs and zest. Using a fork, mask it all together until thoroughly combined.

Add salt to taste and combine

Scoop the butter onto a piece of waxed or parchment paper and roll into a log - optionally place in a shaped dish. Place in fridge to set

Fisherman's Butter

To be added to a seafood salad, white fish, shrimp, or on bread. Would pair amazingly with a holiday featuring fish, a holiday honouring an ocean deity, or to bring to a group meal.

8 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon parsley

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 tablespoon rosemary

1/2 - 1 tablespoon fish sauce (vegan works too)

salt and pepper to taste

Yuletide Butter

Serve in a communal or partnered meal to bring in love, prosperity and community during the colder months - best served with chicken, warm bread, or potatoes.

3 tablespoons butter

OPTIONAL: 1 table spoon of scotch

2-3 cloves crushed garlic (protection, love, lust)

1/2 teaspoon zest of clementine (love, home blessing, luck)

1/4 teaspoon clove (love, money)

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (love, protection, prosperity)

1/4 teaspoon smoke paprika (heat, energy, fire)

1/2 teaspoon salt (protection)

Adapt the recipes as needed for what you have and to your own practice <3

[puckpocketed]

hello i was tagged by @18minutemajor for WIP Wednesday. it is not Wednesday but i am also not a cop so . here we gooo!!!!!!! tagging my esteemed colleagues (very politely and with no pressure!!!):

@neonfretra @oensible @sorrellegiance @moregraceful @stereax

@wheelsnipecelebrini

@korshrimpski (EDIT: it won’t?? let me tag you. unless these are on separate lines <3)

what's in-progress in your life <3 writing? art? recipe? skill acquisition?

if any crafty people see this - if ANYONE sees this - and would like to join in, feel free and consider yourself tagged <3 (and tag me back so i can see your stuff!!!) link to 18minutemajor's post if yall curious :3 my VERY long wip dump + ramblings under the cut!

its christmas soon and i like to paint gifts for my friends + and i'm finally revisiting my anime/lineart/inking era (here you are K!! my lineart past, present, and future!! <3) so here are some things i've been working on/coming back to/MAY NEVER FINISH: hockey related:

this is juraj slafkovsky and his dinky little middle part which he can absolutely learn to style into something a little less dinky but never does. i am so charmed by him. i imagine he just rocks it because his pretty privilege supersedes dinky middle parts . LMAO!!

here is Sasuke from my Naruto Hockey AU. I am a little stuck on jersey mockups lol. here he is. our haunted little 1OA who is absolutely normal and regular about his captain (LOUD incorrect buzzer):

personal oc art

wanna know some puckpocketed deep lore? i've never been one to make OCs. i was just not a very creative kid tbh. spent all my time drawing sailor moon instead. i still go back to her sometimes because she is one of my favourite shapes in the WORLD!!

in my 20s i took up playing d&d because of the. uh. plague. <3 and got pretty close to having OCs!! those count right? anyway. here is my tavern-wench-turned-wizard!!! i think i painted this 2 years ago? <- put dates on your works guys it saves lives. her name is Mel (short for Melins (pronounced like melons. on account of her knockers. can you tell i never grew out of my 12 yr old booby/cock joke era?) i revisited Mel recently and have started painting her in earnest again!! :3

I briefly dated someone who was very into streetwear and fashion, and I fell down a techwear/gorpcore/cyberpunk rabbit hole for a couple days out of curiosity. i remember literally zero salient info on any of it except the broad strokes of silhouetting and Vibes. what i emerged with, however, was a ?? sorta OC?? im not sure what to call them. they dont rly have a name or gender. I did this little sheet ages ago + the aborted attempt at a portrait later:

Here are my most recent explorations (i have been doing SOOOO much art. <3) which include:

unfinished character sheet + chibi art. I played with their jacket (much more structured/square/tailored thing) and added a lotta random buckles and belts. i took textiles class years ago and have a little experience in garment construction. and i know for a fact this thing does not make any sense. it hurts me to look at a little bit LMAO so i've paused it while i go draft patterns (badly. i was never good at drafting. i think i may have to break out my scrap fabric stash and hand sew a real life mock-up. HELP!)

here is me having fun with them and imagining them as some kind of cyber-fisherman. the best part of every game is the fishing mini-game to me. i love fishing mini-games so much. I made their hair really big because i wanted them to have big unwieldy hair and the vibes told me i should add more movement to the piece aside from the fishing line. I messed with their jacket AGAIN because i can't stop thinking about what kinda jacket they'd wear. gorp-core ? idk. it sure is something!

gifts for my friends :3

back in my weeb era for real YAYYYY!!! up til now i'd been making hockey art using a zero pressure sensitivity pen brush because i simply did NOT want to deal with that. it is and has always been a barrier to me making art that uses line art. <3 easing my way back into it though!

I used to paint gifts for my friends and then get them printed into lil posters and mount them on nice backing :3 i am now ready and back to painting.

Here is my girlbestie's OC. just a rough pose sketch. i think im pretty unsatisfied with the gesture of the head/hand. i wanted to include her gun in some way. i fear i may have to rework the pose entirely <3

For the genshin girlies.. here are some of my friends fave characters.

Yelan - this one i started many holidays ago and put on the backburner because the colouring was wigging me out. you can see where i started rendering stuff + got sidetracked and started on something else (the crystal choker IM LAUGHING @ past me...)

Ayaka - I reaaally like what i did here with the perspective + foreshortening. I don't know if the pose or expression is in-character or not, but i had fun :3 got stunlocked looking at references of genshin weapons so this is where i left off:

if you made it all the way down here hi... <3 ice hockey really cracked the ketchup bottle open for me when it comes to making art again. i love the communities i've found, and i'm inspired by every artist on here every day. thanks for being so cool + have a great day :)

[deliciousangelfestival]

Lovers Say Goodbye | 5 - B.Barnes

Character: soft!dark Bucky x ex-girlfriend!Reader

Summary: Bucky finds solace and love in an unexpected place, only to have his world shattered by a shocking revelation about the person he cared about.

Chap 1, Chap 2, Chap 3, Chap 4, Chap 5, -

Thank you to everyone who has read this chapter. Please let me know what your thoughts are. I'd love to read all your comments. Thank you once again.

Main Masterlist || support: Ko-fi

The car's interior felt like a tomb. The air hung heavy and frigid, starkly contrasting the heat throbbing in your side. The three agents, faces in pale masks under the harsh overhead light, tried desperately to maintain an air of composure. Beads of sweat trickled down their temples, betraying the growing unease that gnawed at them.

"I took my job seriously," you said, leaning back in the plush seat, a predatory glint in your otherwise dull eyes.

"Chopping the body into smaller pieces wasn't just about convenience," you continued, a cruel amusement twisting your lips. "It minimized the amount of soil needed. A smaller hole meant less suspicion."

You spoke as if describing a recipe, a terrifying calm replacing the pain that should have been etched on your face.

Your words hung in the air, heavy and suffocating. The young agent in the passenger seat swallowed audibly, his Adam's apple bobbing like a frantic fish. The driver's knuckles tightened around the steering wheel, his grip white-knuckled against the worn leather.

"And using the remains… well, let's just say the human body has surprising properties," you continued, your voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

"Compost of that nature makes for phenomenal fertilizer. That's why the roses in my shop always bloomed so spectacularly.

A collective shiver wracked the agents. The image you painted, of your idyllic flower shop fueled by a dark secret, was enough to curdle their blood. The line between professional and psychopath had blurred beyond recognition.

The quiet, unassuming agent they'd been tasked with escorting was a monster in disguise, and they were trapped in a moving steel cage with her.

They heard Agent ODIN is scary, but not this psycho.

"Most of the bodies I handled belonged to double agents," you mused, your gaze flickering to each agent in turn, a challenge in your eyes.

"Director Brandon always got his hands dirty through me, the silent cleaner. Now, after two years of his ungrateful service, he wants to dispose of me?"

The question hung in the air, a dark accusation that sent a fresh wave of terror through the agents. They were no longer just transporting an injured colleague; they were transporting a ticking time bomb, a weapon potentially more dangerous than any they'd ever encountered.

You leaned back deeper into the plush seat, a satisfied smirk playing on your lips. With a calculated movement, you crossed your arms, the gesture chillingly casual in the face of the horrifying confession you'd just delivered.

"So," your voice dropped to a low purr, "let me get this straight. You were sent to babysit me, not protect me." Your gaze flickered from one agent to the other, each flinching under your unnerving scrutiny.

The young agent in the passenger seat finally snapped. Fear had morphed into a desperate defiance. With a trembling hand, he whipped out his gun, pointing it straight at you.

"Don't move!" he barked, his voice cracking with a mix of terror and bravado. "We only follow orders."

You, however, remained undeterred. You'd anticipated this reaction, the hollowness of their previous assurances echoing in your mind. A heavy sigh escaped your lips, a theatrical display of disappointment.

"Three of you against one," you mused, your voice laced with a hint of regret. "Such a shame. Didn't you learn basic protocol? Always restrain high-risk assets, especially after they casually confess to serial disposal."

The young agent's face contorted in confusion, the trigger finger hovering uselessly above the gun. In that split second, you capitalized on his bewildered state.

With a lightning-fast flick of your wrist, you whipped out a small syringe from your pocket, the needle glinting ominously under the car's harsh light. It was a practiced movement, born from years of operating in the shadows.

"Because," you explained with a chilling smile, "right before you so rudely interrupted, I injected you both with a little… persuasion."

A wave of panic washed over the two side agents. Their skin flushed an unnatural red, a prickling sensation spreading across their bodies. Their breaths became shallow, gasps escaping their lips. The fear in their eyes was a stark contrast to the bravado they'd displayed moments ago.

You didn't waste another glance on their agonizing contortions. Instead, you turned your icy gaze to the driver, his grip now slack on the steering wheel. The fear was a tangible thing hanging heavy in the air.

"Let me out of the car," you commanded, your voice laced with a deadly calm. "And perhaps I'll consider letting you take your friends to the hospital."

The driver, paralyzed by a mix of fear and the poison's effects, could only nod dumbly. You offered him a small, humorless smile, a chilling promise of freedom hanging in the stagnant air.

A cold dread snaked its way down the driver's spine. The chilling words of their orders echoed in his head: "Make her gone, or I will wipe you and your family from this earth." He cast a terrified glance at you, your calm demeanor a terrifying counterpoint to the chaos within him.

"I'm sorry, Agent L/N," he choked out, his voice thick with a mix of fear and morbid defiance. "Let's die together."

Before you could react, the engine roared to life. The car lurched forward, accelerating at a terrifying speed. You swore under your breath, the truth sinking in like a lead weight. They weren't going to the safe house; they were eliminating you.

Panic surged through you for a fleeting moment, a stark contrast to the carefully crafted facade you'd presented. You lunged for the door handle, ripping it open just as the driver steered the car towards the looming darkness at the edge of the cliff.

With a sickening lurch, the car plunged off the cliff face. You managed to throw yourself out of the car at the last possible second, rolling across the hard ground as the vehicle exploded into a fireball below, a final, fiery testament to their desperate attempt.

Shoving yourself upright, you winced at the renewed ache in your side, the adrenaline slowly ebbing away. You gazed at the smoldering wreckage below, a dark humor twisting your lips.

"Tsk," you clicked your tongue, a sardonic sound that echoed in the stillness of the night. "Is this how they repay loyalty?"

You surveyed your surroundings, a cool night breeze whipping at your hair. You were alone, stranded on a deserted road with a body – well, at least the agents thought it was a body – to your name. A laugh escaped your lips, a dark sound that echoed in the stillness.

"Going back might be a slight problem," you mused, resting your hands on your hips.

The truth is, you never came here. The story you told the agents before was a lie. You just wanted to scare them. And you didn't inject the other two agents with poison. It's just a thin pick that you always bring if you get locked up.

You never intended for them to believe you were a deranged murderer, just someone they couldn't control.

But the satisfaction of manipulation was short-lived. Now, you were stranded in the middle of nowhere, with a very real problem: how to get back to civilization without blowing your cover.

You scratched your head in mock frustration, the throbbing pain in your side a dull counterpoint to the burning adrenaline. "Do I have to walk all the way down?" you muttered, gazing at the long stretch of deserted road leading back to civilization.

As if summoned by your thoughts, a low rumble echoed in the distance, growing louder by the second. A pair of headlights cut through the darkness, momentarily blinding you as they drew closer. A sleek black sports car screeched to a halt beside you, the engine purring like a caged beast.

The driver's side window rolled down, revealing a face you both expected and didn't. Bucky Barnes, his expression a chilling mix of amusement and something akin to grudging respect, stared at you.

"Need a lift, sweetheart?" he drawled, the familiar glint of mischief in his eyes.

You forced a strained smile and managed to mutter, "No thanks. I'll just jump," though the words felt heavy on your tongue.

Bucky chuckled, a sound that sent a shiver down your spine, causing your shoulders to tense involuntarily.

"How does it feel to be betrayed by someone you trust?" he asked, his voice laced with bitterness, his eyes piercing into yours, searching for a reaction.

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@terrormonster55

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@greenarrowhead

[stemmmm]

Stem's Thoughts on Harvest Moon 64

(that other title's too long so i'm cutting it down now)

Harvest Moon 64 opens on a scene of your character walking around the street, speaking to everyone in the village who’s come to the event. You quickly piece together that this event in question is actually your grandfather’s funeral, the same grandfather who’s farm you’re about to take over. This little scene beautifully sets up both the tone of the game, and immediately shows the player that this iteration is far more focused on the story and characters. HM64 tells a story about the lives of many people in a small, dying town. It is a story about life, and it is a story about death.

A short disclaimer before we dig in: I played this game before the idea to write these essays cropped up, and have not replayed it since then, so this will be mostly vibes. I will try to do my research to make sure I’m not straight up lying though. (Also all of the images in this one are from google because I don't have a means of getting images from my N64 other than photographing the tv screen and I'm not doing that.)

What’s new!

HM64, also called Harvest Moon 2 by HMGB2 and nothing else I’ve ever seen, is the direct sequel to HM SNES. It’s not a sequel in the usual way sequels are, where you’re continuing where you left off with the same character, but in that every main character is the descendant of their equivalent in the previous game. It’s not important to the story, in fact if you don’t already know this, you probably wouldn’t notice anything past some similarities. I played this game before I tried out SNES and it still took me a minute, plus having it directly pointed out to me to get it. Maybe I’m oblivious, who knows. 

Gameplay-wise, this iteration is home of a few series firsts: For one, your house can be upgraded to have a kitchen! You can't cook though, only collect recipes. You can also get a greenhouse where you can grow crops year-round. Sheep are introduced as barn animals that produce wool. You receive a fishing rod you can use whenever you want, but as far as I understand, the timing is nigh impossible unless you’re playing on a CRT (I am not, and never managed to catch a single fish). There’s a mine you can access in winter for something to do while you can’t grow crops (there are fall crops, but not winter) where you can find about two key items and garbage otherwise. Tool upgrades are no longer done by magic, but by leveling them up through use! Which I think is very neat and feels very natural, like you’ve just become more proficient with them as a farmer through practice. Characters can now come to visit you on the farm at random times, for either special story events or just to say hi! Your farmer can get sick from working too hard in bad weather, just like your animals, and there’s now medicine for that, just like your animals. And there’s inventory menus that I'll discuss at better length later.

What’s the same is… Most things in a basic sense. You’re on a farm with a dog, planting crops, raising livestock. You can make friends with folks in town by talking to them and giving them gifts. The livestock mechanics, as far as I could see and as far as I’ve been able to understand from online forums, are exactly the same as they were in SNES, the exception being there’s no wild beasts that can kill your animals but they’ll still get sick if they aren’t fenced overnight– and they’re not going to eat any grass unless they’re out overnight anyways.

As for your farm, you’re set up with the usual: a small house, a barn, coop, and fodder silo, a wood bin to store debris cleared off your farm, and a big messy field that you have to clean up before you can properly use it. It starts with three new additions though; a doghouse, a bowl that you can feed your dog with by putting edible items in there, and a mailbox that you’ll occasionally receive letters and notices in! They’re small additions, but very, very charming. The one thing that’s been removed is the toolshed, now replaced by a tiny toolbox by your house.

The world outside your farm is like an enhanced version of the SNES map. Imagine the town and forest now have one or two extra sections tacked onto them, one in the town for some extra housing, and a couple in the forest to let you explore the mountain more and get you deeper into the woods. The mountain still has a cave in it (this time with Harvest Sprites, who have been removed from your farm) and a summit you can climb to for certain events, but it has been upgraded with little wild animals that wander around and can be picked up and shown to people for a few friendship points, if they like the animal. (This applies to your dog too, there’s a well known exploit to max out Karen’s friendship in one day by repeatedly showing it to her in the bar where time is stopped.) The crossroads zone is also expanded by having three new areas you can travel to– the ranch that you buy animals at, a vineyard that’s more of a story-area, and a beach that mostly comes into play for a couple of summer festivals! 

On the visual side, this game is the series’ first venture into the new frontier of 3d graphics… kind of. The artstyle is made of isometric 3D models that are rendered into flat sprites and then projected onto the TV as if that’s not what’s happening. The game even lets you turn your farm around in 3D to face different directions, but it’s locked to only let you play in specific angles. Changing the direction made me forget where everything was and get lost on my own tiny farm, so I never touched that mechanic.

Due to the dramatic artstyle shift– not only being in 3D but also presented at a 45 degree angle, the game becomes a fair bit harder to play than either of its 2D predecessors. The controls are just a little clunky, and the bizarre shape of the N64 controller really doesn’t help. This makes the tedium of farming a little irritating to do, since it requires pretty precise inputs done over and over for every extra thing you’re trying to grow. Fortunately, you're not on the hook to ship everything before 5PM comes around like in SNES, so you get to move a little bit slower. The fickle farming experience also gets a little help from the new inventory menu that can be accessed anywhere and any time. It has multiple inventory slots for both tools and items, each type having a dedicated section so there’s no need to prioritize carrying tools versus turnips. Unfortunately, this actually ends up being a little more cumbersome than useful, as the menu takes a little longer than is comfortable to open and is pretty clunky to use. I mostly avoided it unless I was bringing gifts to people. But the addition of an inventory opens up the opportunity for something else which defines this entire game...

Key items– a set of unique, unsellable items –are most frequently found in random, secret places around the farm and town, and they give you a reason to scour every inch of the place. They can also be given to you by NPCs when you gain relationships with them, which is convenient because their entire purpose is to help you get even better relationships with each of them, and maybe even unlock little stories with characters. For example, there’s a music box you can dig up in your field that can be given to any of the girls for a decently sized relationship bump. There’s also an old weathervane in the shape of a chicken that you can find in the little mine. If you give it to Rick, he’ll tell you that it was a precious thing that belonged to his grandmother as a cute scene to deepen the town’s lore and connect it to the first game. Key items quickly become the most important and sought after things in the game because they act as a vessel to deliver that which the game is all about: stories.

Lots of people in a little town

The narrative premise is exceedingly simple: you need to fix up your grandfather’s ruined farm and make a new life for yourself in this town within a certain amount of time, just like its predecessors. Except, this game is a lot bigger than either of them, and it didn’t fill all the extra space with new things to grow on your farm. In my entry on the SNES game, I mentioned that the introspective style of writing turned the repetitive farming gameplay into something more like meditation on things going on in the town. This game takes that idea and runs with it! The town in this game may only be slightly bigger than it was before, but it has a lot more people in it, and every single one of them has a lot more to say, more to do, more festivals to go to, and more story events to take part in. There's even a new photo album that fills in with images for reaching special events or succeeding at certain festivals! Your given goal may be to successfully revitalize your farm, but that rapidly stops being the reason why you want to play. Farming is only a means to further the narrative of the town.

Story events are no longer a reward for reaching the highest heart level with a girl, but instead something that happens naturally in the world as you make better friends with people, or if you just happen to be in the right place at the right time. The world doesn’t only consist of you living it and things happening to you. Instead, you end up being a fly on the wall to other people’s conversations and life events, and you get to see how those events change the people around you. People will begin to say different things, go different places, live different lives without your input at all– often much better lives, as everyone in the town is pretty deeply troubled, whether they seem like it or not.

There’s an added depth, too. While the characters in this series have always been defined by their conflicts (in the first game, every big cutscene with each girl was exclusively about their major life conflicts), this game takes it further in multiple ways. Characters have conflicts with their families: you as the player have a conflict with your parents who can take you home if you fail to farm well, Lillia and Basil have conflict over their marriage and the fact that Basil leaves for half the year, and Karen’s family situation is…. A lot. Then, there are characters at conflict with things much more nebulous, like the Mayor who tells you that the town is going to die out but he can’t find any way to save it, or like the young boy Kent who wants to be a farmer just like you, but through a series of events is forced to learn that life isn’t so simple, people can’t just do whatever they would like, and it takes very hard work to get to do the things you dream of. And then there are conflicts that aren’t even necessarily conflicts unless they run into your long-term plans.

Instead of only having a bunch of girls in town who exist only as your prospective marriage candidates, there are also five boys in the town who will marry those girls instead of you, if given the chance. Like in SNES, there are 5 levels of hearts that the girls can have for you. Unlike SNES, each one of these hearts has a corresponding event you can have with the girl where there’s a chance of her liking you more afterwards, if you say the right things. In addition to that though, there are just as many events coming from the other side of the story, rival events that trigger if you happen to be good friends with the boys.

My favorite story by far is that of Harris the mailman who falls in love with the librarian, Maria, from just seeing her handwriting on the outside of all the letters that she would write. I frequently saw him in the bar at the end of the day and he would tell me the woes of his love, saying that he just needed to work up the courage to finally speak to her. Then one day, I happened to be outside of the library when he and Maria met face to face and she handed over a letter addressed to him. No longer did he sit in the bar forlorn every night, instead all he would do was excitedly tell me about Maria, and then when I visited the library, Maria would tell me about Harris!

While I’m on the subject of these characters, I think it’s worth going in a little more depth on who these people are past the grandchildren of the characters from the last game. See, you may be familiar with names like Karen and Kai and Gray, etc., etc. from a little recently remade game called Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, which is a modern version of Friends of Mineral Town on the GameBoy Advance, which is a port of Back to Nature on the PlayStation. These are not those characters. At all. While the basic elements of these characters are intact– Popuri is cute and childish, Ann is a workaholic, Maria is shy and a little oblivious –nothing else is the same. They all work different jobs and marry different people than they are paired with in later entries, and in my humble opinion, it all works WAY better in this game, probably because of the fact that these characters were designed for this specific context!

As an example, Popuri’s exasperated mother, Lillia, runs the flower shop and Popuri was named by her father, Basil, who loves plants. She’s childish and sweet and loves flowers, but can also be a complete brat. She eventually marries Gray, Ann’s brother, who lives on the ranch run by his father, Doug, who struggles to understand his children. Gray is an angry young man who seems to have a particular dislike for you, but you don’t learn why until you discover he was a promising young jockey until he got a bad injury and had to give up the sport.

Am I gushing a bit and letting the game design part fall to the wayside? Sure probably, but I can only gush because the game does a brilliant job of making a cast of characters who, while simple on their own, have interconnected lives that come together to give every one of them so much more depth than they would have otherwise. It all builds a narrative, and while narrative design is definitely something different than game design on its own, this game is far more about the narrative so it’s impossible to not focus on.

The problems

The trouble with these events is that I nearly missed the chance to see that letter be exchanged. You have some control over the progression of the events, because you have to be decent friends with the boys in order for them to trigger at all, but unlike the girls who have a handy visual signal of how much they like you, the boys have no such thing, so you can’t really know if a new event is ready to fire off. There’s no way of knowing where or when they’ll happen either unless you look it up, and even then you have to get lucky because sometimes they just don’t trigger when you want them to. I had a lovely moment in my game where I managed to accidentally catch a cold from working too hard in the snow and lost a day to being bedridden, followed by the New Years celebration which takes a day away from you, then followed by Kai and Karen’s wedding– something that I had missed multiple events for and therefore had no idea was coming, which also took a day from me. After that three day chain of no work, I think I was extremely lucky my animals didn’t get sick and die. 

This chain of events led directly to me never speaking to Gray again, even though he was the boy I was most interested in, because I wanted to marry Popuri and there was too much risk of him getting to her before I could. The reason why I didn’t go into more detail about the relationship between those two when I was talking about them earlier is because I straight up don’t know it, I couldn’t risk giving them a chance to get together.

The thing is, even if I hadn’t forced Gray and Popuri’s cutscenes to stop, I still wouldn’t actually know what their relationship is like, because I have not beaten this game. I know what the ending entails and I can reasonably expect I probably would not have gotten an excellent one, but I’m sure it still would have been fine. I stopped playing the game entirely before I even managed to get married. Why? Because I couldn’t get any of Popuri’s heart events to trigger. I had her hearts maxed out and had a blue feather ready to go in my pocket, so I could turn on the game and marry her right away anytime I wanted to. But I wanted to trigger the little events, even if they’re just a couple seconds of some pixels talking to me on a screen. They’re cute. And it made me sad that I couldn’t see them for some imperceptible reason. So I stopped playing and didn’t pick the game back up.

I don’t remember how close I was to the end of the game, I know I was at least in year 2, but I don’t even remember how much longer the game is after that. Probably a good amount. I had definitely gotten most of the events you could get at this point, since multiple other characters had gotten married, and the farming wasn’t something I really enjoyed so I can’t say I wasn’t at least a little bored by this point, but I wasn’t frustrated with the general mechanics of the game. The days were long enough, but not too long, that I had just enough time to go anywhere I wanted and do what I needed before night came. I could still talk to characters and go to festivals and play minigames. But I didn’t want to, because the game wasn’t doing what it seemed like it was supposed to for some arbitrary reason and that frustrated me enough to make me stop. When the fun of a game is found more in experiencing special events rather than anything else, the player feels cheated out of their good time when those events are too hard to find or can be missed outright, and that’s exactly what I experienced.

Parting Thoughts

The ending, according to what I've read, is very similar to the SNES endings, in that you’ll get different results based on all of the different things you’ve done. Whether you’re married, how many crops you shipped, how many animals you have, how well liked you are by the town… I imagine it’s not quite the victory lap that SNES’s ending was with its little cutscenes, since apparently all you get are comments on how well you performed by various people in the town, but it still seems nice and rewarding! At least like more of a reward than whatever the hell GB1 was trying to do. It seems like a perfectly good ending that it would be nice to see myself someday.

Despite all my troubles with this game, I believe HM64 is still the best one out there– at least that I’ve played yet. The events are plentiful and the content is meaty. The repetitive day to day dialogue still has the simple breath of life that SNES did, that manages to make the most out of a small amount. Don’t get me wrong, this game came out in 1999, I’m giving it a lot of praise but the characters still repeat the same line to you every day, and they still freeze in place until you leave the room. It’s revolutionary, but this is comparing it to a game on the literal Super Nintendo. Absolutely pick up this game to try it out, but keep those expectations tempered. That said, I never picked up this game nor knew a thing about it until I was well into my 20’s, but the moment I started playing, it hit me with a wave of nostalgia as if I’d known this game my whole life. At least to me, the look and feel of the game were like coming home to a childhood I never had.

 Will I pick up this game again with the intent to beat it? Maybe! Hard to say for sure when I’m trying to play decades worth of games and write about them at a comprehensive level. What I do know is that this is exactly what I want more farming games to be. It’s a game that has thoughts about life, and about death, both good and bad. And I think this is the perfect context to share those thoughts.

[docholligay]

Doc, I’m moving out on my own for the first time, and I’m wondering what cookware is absolutely vital. I tried looking it up and got told about a wild variety of cookware that I’m not sure I need if I’m just cooking for me, but also I don’t know which can be left out in favor of more versatile cookware.

OKAY FANTASTIC I THRIVE ON THIS KIND OF THING.

So, let's say I'm going into an empty kitchen, and I can only have six pieces of cookware. These are ROUGHLY in order of how I would buy them, though I could be argued on a couple points. All brands are what I think are the best version of said object is--you are free to buy a different or cheaper one.

Dutch Oven

This is an absolute workhorse. You can braise in it, cook pasta in it, use it as a roaster for chicken, make soup in it, fry in it, bake bread in it, even bake a cake if you gotta though it wouldn't be my first choice. I prefer plain to enameled, enamel always chips eventually.

Lodge Logic 7 quart

2. Sheet Pan

Here's what we use for cookies, roast vegetables, fish, also can be used for chicken and other things.

Nordic Ware Half Sheet

3. Sauce Pan

So for making sauces, heating up a can of soup, melting chocolate, making jam, etc, you're going to want something smaller than the Dutch oven that heats up a little faster. Note this isn't the pan I own: The pan I own i got used and actually would never pay the new price for.

Tramontina Stainless

4. Skillet Pan

Okay, so now we're expanding. This is what I would use to saute, to make paella, you can even bake a giant cookie in it--I do this all the time.

Lodge Classic Skillet

5. Cake Pan

This would be my next pick! It's easier to bake cakes in a cake pan rather than a cast iron pan. I actually make my brownies in cake pans, i like them better thicker, and other people seem to agree! You can also make banana bread in one, no problem.

Fat Daddio's 8 inch round (I prefer an 8 inch to a 9 inch, but most people use 9 inch and most recipes are written for 9 inch, FYI)

6. Ninja Everyday

Okay, JOKES. The next think I would buy is actually not a pan but a whole cooking system thing. It has a rice cooker, braiser, slow cooker, pasta cooker, oatmeal setting. Is it the BEST at any of these things? No. But it does a good enough job at all of them that I think it's a great choice over buying a slow cooker or rice cooker.

Ninja Everyday Possible Cooker

Secret 7th pan: 9 x 13 pan. For cornbread, sheet cake, lasagna, bake ziti. You can make do without it, but I'd like to have it.

PYREX (french import that is still made of borosilicate glass yes yes it's very annoying that you need to go through importers to find this and so it is spendy)

I hope this helps!

[legendsgalore]

Sooooo guess what I've been obsessed with lately!!!! The farming game called Fields of Mistria!!!! It's just so cute, gameplay feels very satisfying, and it's literally the type or game I have been dreaming to play for years!!!!! My fav chars so far are Eiland, Ryis, Juniper, March, Celine, Balor, Dozy....what do you mean I'm just listing every character? And what do you mean ofc I have the most hearts with March bc he's a ill-tempered and competent individual who has a soft side like every fictional crush I have? Anyways, I was going to try to give other characters a chance, but that first Friday night in the inn where you find out (thanks to drunk March) that he actually likes you solidified my choice :) still gonna max out hearts with every char tho bc NO FRIENDSHIP DECAY THANK FUCK. Didn't have time last night but I'll be unlocking the barn today, and then I can have cute animals ♡♡♡

My thoughts on common complaints:

Length of Day: I feel people's complaints, but I also feel that the stamina bar and every other gameplay aspect lines up with it perfectly well. Once I realized there was no friendship decay I didn't feel as urgent, bc there's no rush to have things done in Year 1, or 2.....There's no rush.

Money being hard to come by:

No way! It's becoming common knowledge that crafting smth is much more profitable than selling the base goods, so literally if you need money just craft like 40 tables or stone chests (over 100 t each!) Or just fish for a whole day (usually gets me around 500 t). Plus with crops, I've noticed that either once u harvest or ship a certain crop, characters will send u a recipe for them in the mail. So I got a baked potato recipe which you literally just need a potato for and that now sells for 80 t/piece, and if i planted 10 potatoes (bought for 40t each) that's a lotta money! Also copper bars sell for 110t/each and it's not hard to get around 30 copper ore in a full day of mining! But literally my early money makers have been tables, rugs, and the stone furniture you get from upgrading your town rank cuz i have so much stone from mining.

My personal complaint: i know it's coming but i wanna ride horses pleaaase. Also fishing does take a really long time, like sometimes 40 in game min for one fish? But I find it fun, and if i am out of stamina i can just keep repeating eating 1 wild berry, and then fish. Cuz you just need 1 stamina to cast the line. And are there more long hair options in game??? Maybe I haven't progressed enough to see them from the Saturday hair vender (vell right?)

[foodshowxyz]

Burmese Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup (Ohn No Khao Swè) 🍜🍗🥥 ( full recipe ⬇️ )

Ingredients:

For the Soup:

• 1 lb (450 g) boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces 🐔

• 2 cups coconut milk 🥥

• 4 cups chicken broth 🍲

• 1 cup chickpea flour (or gram flour) 🌾

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped 🧅

• 3 garlic cloves, minced 🧄

• 1-inch piece of ginger, minced 🧑🏻‍🍳

• 2 tbsp fish sauce 🐟

• 2 tbsp soy sauce 🌿

• 1 tsp turmeric powder 🌿

• 1 tsp paprika 🌶️

• 1 tsp ground coriander 🌿

• Salt and pepper to taste 🧂

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil 🫒

• 1 lb egg noodles 🍜

For Garnish:

• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro 🌿

• 1/2 cup sliced green onions 🧅

• 1/2 cup fried shallots 🧅

• 2 hard-boiled eggs, halved 🥚

• Lime wedges 🍋

Instructions:

1. Cook the Chicken:

• Heat vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat.

• Add the chopped onions, garlic, and ginger. Sauté until fragrant and onions are translucent.

• Add the chicken pieces and cook until they are no longer pink.

2. Make the Soup Base:

• Stir in turmeric, paprika, and ground coriander. Cook for another 2 minutes.

• Add chickpea flour and stir well to coat the chicken.

• Gradually pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.

• Add coconut milk, fish sauce, and soy sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes, until the chicken is tender.

3. Prepare the Noodles:

• Cook the egg noodles according to the package instructions. Drain and set aside.

4. Assemble the Soup:

• Divide the cooked noodles into bowls. Ladle the coconut chicken soup over the noodles.

5. Garnish and Serve:

• Garnish with chopped cilantro, sliced green onions, fried shallots, and halved hard-boiled eggs.

• Serve with lime wedges on the side.

[beautyandlifestyleblog86]

Thai-inspired Green Curry Chicken with Vegetables

Ingredients:

* 1 tablespoon coconut oil

* 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces

* 1 green bell pepper, sliced

* 1 red bell pepper, sliced

* 1 cup broccoli florets

* 1 (13.5-ounce) can coconut milk

* 1-2 tablespoons green curry paste (depending on desired spice level)

* 1 tablespoon fish sauce

* 1 tablespoon soy sauce

* 1 cup chopped baby spinach

* Lime wedges (for serving)

* Cooked brown rice (for serving)

Instructions:

* Heat coconut oil in a large skillet or pot over medium heat. Add chicken and cook until browned on all sides.

* Add bell peppers and broccoli to the pan and cook for 5 minutes, or until slightly softened.

* Stir in coconut milk, green curry paste, fish sauce, and soy sauce. Bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

* Stir in spinach and cook for 1 minute, or until wilted.

* Serve over cooked brown rice with lime wedges for squeezing over the top.

This recipe is rich in:

* Iron from the chicken and dark leafy greens (spinach) for healthy blood flow.

* Calcium from the coconut milk for bone health.

* Folic acid from the dark leafy greens which can be beneficial before conception.

Enjoy this flavorful and healthy Thai-inspired dish!

[exhausted-archivist]

Art Used in the Dragon Age: Official Cookbook: Tastes of Thedas

While there was some new art, previously seen concept art, there was also the use of ending credit slides. Some possibly denoting certain world states that I briefly referred to in the master post here.

I've split it into sections of:

New Art

Previously Shown Art

Character Art and Slides

General World State Ending Slides

Everything is going below the cut because this will be long. I will also note which page and recipe each image accompanies in the book for easy reference. (Here's to hoping tumblr doesn't mess with the image layout.)

Edit 10/30/2023: Added the page numbers that were missed because it glitched out and deleted things when I tried to go over 30 images and didn't notice till now.

New Art

Page numbers from top left to right going down:

Orlesian Woman: Sour Cherries in Cream, p. 121, Tevinter Pumpkin Bread, p. 151

Building Etching: Crow Feed, p. 43, Antivan Sip-Sip, p. 161

Spider Design: Posion Stings, p. 115

Sea Creature: Lamprey Cake, p. 147

Smoking Meat Racks: Smoked Ham from the Anderfels, p. 95

Antaam Spearman: Unidentified Meat, p. 37

Admiral Isabela: The Hissing Drake, p. 157

Etching of Bowl: Rivaini Couscous Salad, p. 19

Etching of Platter: Nevarran Blood Orange Salad, p. 13

Table Setting: Goat Custard, p. 127

Red Bear: Conversion Charts, p. 172

Giant: Lamprey Cake, p. 149

Blue Building: About the Authors and Photoghraphers, p. 175

Mabari and Army: Roasted Turkey with Sides, p. 99

These are all new images with three of these looking to be concept art: the presumably Orlesian woman looking at Andrastian themed items, the antaam spearman preparing to throw a spear, and the table setting of what looks like it might be for Rivain or Tevinter based on the aesthetic. Though I lean more Tevinter due to the snake on the basket.

The bowl and platter look to maybe be prop designs, and they are distinctly bird themed with what looks like feathers around the base of the bowl and then mirrored crows on either side of the platter with a dagger etched in the center.

The red bear shown here is new, though it is similar to a mural in Dragon Age: Inquisition in the barn where there is a green-ish bear with stars on its muzzle breathing what might be fire, while holding the white silhouette of a figure with antlers. (Couldn't attach it due to there being a photo limit.)

Then to further note that the dark blue building image looks similar to some concept art/Development images from Dragon Age: Dreadwolf (DA4)

Previously Shown Art

The piece below have been shown elsewhere before, but there are some new additions so I am showing it here separately from the new art.

Ferelden Spread: Roasted Wyvern, p. 85

This is was first shown in The Art of Dragon Age: Inquisition and is labeled as "Fereldan Fineries". It was coloured and lacked the two figures in the back left of this image. (Below)

Character Art

Cole and Maryden: The Emerald Valley, p. 169

Sera: Sera's Yummy Corn, p. 103

The Iron Bull and Krem: Hot Chocolate, p. 159

Varric and Aveline: Varric's Favorite Pastries, p. 143

Josephine and Inquisitor: Fish Chowder, p. 59

Leliana: Grilled Poussin, p. 77

Cullen: Croissants, p. 137

Morrigan and Keiran: Nettle Soup, p. 65

King Alistair: King Alistair's Lamb and Pea Stew, p. 67

These were mostly character specific ending slides you could get in DAI, going from the top left to right they are slides for: Trespasser: Human Cole ending up with Maryden. Trespasser: Partial image of a slide for an Inquisitor who agrees to become a red jenny with Sera and the Inquisition is disbanded. Trespasser: Iron Bull and the Chargers are alive and taking jobs throughout Orlais and Ferelden. Trespasser: Varric is Viscount Trespasser: Josephine, her personal quest completed. This is the romanced Josephine version. Trespasser: Leliana, not Divine Trespasser: Cullen, having not taken lyrium during Inquisition Inquisition: Morrigan and Keiran leaving Skyhold World of Thedas vol 2: King Alistair

Ending Slides

Antaam Slide: Lentil Soup, p. 63

Halamshiral Slide: The Hanged Man's Mystery Meat Stew, p. 57

Grey Warden Slide: Sweet and Sour Cabbage, p. 61

Disbanded Inquisition Slide: Sugar Cake, p. 145

These were all ending slides you could get at some point in Inquisition, from the top left to right: Trespasser: The Qunari threat Inquisition: Kicked out of Halamshiral with low approval Inquisition: Grey Wardens were kept in southern Thedas to rebuild, they are estranged from the Wardens in Weishaupt Trespasser: The Inquisition was disbanded

Final Thoughts and Implied World State

Overall the world state makes a lot of sense I think, they went with the one that would be less quantum - so no one is dead or could be dead and is in an important role; hence Cassandra being Divine,

Summary

Inquisition is disbanded

Grey Wardens are divided; though as of the comics and Tevinter Nights we know regardless all Wardens have been called back to Weisshaupt. Unclear if the civil war mentioned in DAI is actually happening.

Morrigan has Kieran and he doesn't have the old god soul anymore

Cole is human

Josephine had her personal quest done.

Leliana wasn't killed in Origins, she is fully human and now retired.

Alistair is king

Cassandra is Divine, no clear answer on the state of the Seekers.

Cullen is retired and established the sanctuary for former templars.

[foodandfolklore]

Tools and Ingredients to keep on hand; Kitchen Witchcraft Elevated Pt. 3

A few more items I'd like to recommend to my kitchen witches. This is going to start getting a little more specific to my own style of cooking and practicing. So if there's anything on this list that makes you go "That's dumb, why would I need that?" then it probably is not for you. Don't go out and get it! But if you think "Huh, that's a good idea" maybe try it out. You can also check out Part 1 and Part 2.

Terracotta Disk Okay let's be real; anyone who's opened brown sugar before knows the struggle of hard sugar. Brown sugar dries out and becomes rock hard. Now, there are lots of solutions that have been presented, but each of them have a new issue. Adding a piece of bread for example. Well now I gotta worry about crumbs, mold and gluten contamination (I'm very mindful of allergies, despite not having any myself). I've also heard of adding a marshmallow to your sugar. I've tried this, but I'm not sure if it's the environment I live in, but it just doesn't work well for me. Plus both feels kind of wasteful. Then I saw a Terracotta disk at the dollarama for about 2 bucks. You soak it in water then drop it in your jar. Boom. Soft brown sugar in a few hours.

Rice Vinegar I know I already suggested vinegar in general, but rice vinegar tends to be more mellow than white vinegar or balsamic vinegar. I like to make a lot of quick pickle stuff like pickled Daikon, Pickled Carrot, or pickled onion. It's also a common ingredient for many Asian sauces and dishes. So if looking up a recipe, it'll often call for Rice Vinegar in some form or fashion. It's also nice to add to plain white rice.

Tortillas Anytime I can find these for cheap in the store, I stock up and throw them in the freezer. Yeah, I can make my own for cheaper, but I've never been 100% happy with how they turn out. They can be too thick, or get a hole, or are not the right size; I dunno. Sometimes I'll make them when in the mood, but mostly I prefer to have them premade. Tortillas, whether made from wheat or corn, have strong solar energies. They also have good protection properties. When you wrap your food in a tortilla, imagine it to be like a protective blanket. It's great for tacos, burritos, fajitas, or just lunch/breakfast wraps in general. But you can also use them non conventionally. When a pizza craving hits, I'll throw some sauce and toppings on a tortilla and bake. Or I may cut the tortilla up into triangles and bake if I need something to go with a hot dip. Monosodium Glutamate Better known as MSG. There has been a lot of misinformation and hate regarding MSG. Starting when Chinese food became popular in North America, but people worried about the quality and cleanliness of food cooked by a foreigner. After all, other countries had different rules about what was considered acceptable when it came to food. So when people were experiencing headaches or stomach aches after eating Chinese take out, they were appalled to find out it was cooked with MSG. MSG was reported to be the cause of these health problems and demonized it. Except.....it was all dog whistling.

I want to be clear: There is NO causation link to MSG having a side effect of pain or stomach problems. What's more likely to have happened is people had an adverse reaction to deep fried food, combined with mass hysteria. MSG is like Salt, Sugar, or Citric Acid. It occurs naturally, and we humans found ways create the product in it's purest form. MSG can be found in all kinds of food like tomatoes, mushrooms, soy, cheese, fish, grapes, and a ton more. Now that doesn't mean you can just eat as much MSG as you want. Like Salt and Sugar, too much over a long period of time can have negative health impacts. But a pinch or two in a dish while cooking is great to help enhance the Umami or savory flavor. MSG also has way less sodium than regular salt. While I don't think it'll replace salt, it can be good to try adding first for flavor if you're trying to reduce your sodium intake.

Cane Sugar There's a lot of different kinds of sugar. Granulated sugar, brown sugar, yellow sugar, icing sugar; most people keep some kind of sugar on hand for baking or sweetening drinks. But I like to keep Cane Sugar on hand as it has a more complex flavor profile. Magically, I find while Cane Sugar sweetens demeanors just like any other sugar, Cane Sugar is able to have people be more...understanding. Instead of finding a new reason to like you or tolerate you, Cane Sugar makes it more likely people sees things your perspective. It makes people more attune to their empathy when engaging with you. If that makes any sense. Oh, and it's my go to for fermented drinks. I actually ran out experimenting with things like ginger beer. Whoops. Scrub Mommy Listen, I hate cleaning. Especially dishes. I chuck as much as I can into the dishwasher, but some things need to be done by hand. So I'm always looking for way to clean them as quickly and easily as possible. But I also don't want to use harsh chemicals or keep buying steel wool that I'll throw away. I saw the Scrub Mommy be used in a lot of videos, so I gave it a try, and holy crap. I bought one for 6 dollars a year ago. I still have it. It doesn't shrink, it doesn't mold; I can toss it in the dishwasher if it needs a clean. And it gets the food off SO easily. I still need to give stuff a soak every once in a while. But most stuff comes right off. Even jars when I'm getting labels off and I got that sticky residue, scrub mommy it with some dish soap. It's gone in like 30 seconds. I still hate doing dishes. But at lest now I can do them without putting every fiber of my being into them.