#and the former. my mom made me a lunch but she used some spoiled ingredients. :(

[jbt7493]

admittwdly a correlary to the 'oh my god i havent done anything in four years' was me thinking avout how much i like kwarrtz and how i would be sad to lose so many of the small moments together and whatnot, and even if i reached out to them again our relationship would be different and that was what i was initially thinking about. but it *was* eclipsed by the sadness of having let depression and executive dysfunction caused me to divebomb for multiple years straight

[sweetescape01748]

The recipe that started it all...

Kate O’Connor | Photo Essay | March 13 2021

At 5:00 a.m. when most people are slamming the “snooze” button on their alarm clocks to get some extra rest, Melissa Roiter is packing her kids lunches, walking the dog, and getting ready to prepare some delicious desserts. Shortly after that, she then wakes her 13 year-old triplets up to start her day as a single mom, and being a self-employed bakery owner. After a short drive to Yummy Mummy Bakery, Roiter scurries inside to begin gathering brownie ingredients and whip up the first batch of the day-as the aroma of Semi-Sweet cocoa fills the air. 

Roiter is a successful businesswoman carrying on her grandmother’s baking legacy at Yummy Mummy Bakery in Westborough Massachusetts. Her introduction to baking is “all about nostalgia and fudge-style brownies”.

Yummy Mummy specializes in homemade, delicious, American sweets. Roiter proudly exclaims that “our best seller is our brownies and our most popular varieties are salted caramel, peanut butter, espresso and cheesecake”. 

Roiter of Southboro grew up in Holden Massachusetts, attended Worcester Academy and graduated from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. With her family background, Roiter seemed destined for the food business. Her mother, Nancy Benjamin was a caterer, and owned “Smart Cookies Catering” in Worcester; her aunt, Jody Garber, owned the Cambridge -based company, “A Mere Truffle”, and her grandmother was a baker at heart. Roiter excidelty adds, “my grandmother’s homemade fudge brownie recipe was the start to my whole business”. Roiter describes her mother as a perfectionist who would test a recipe up to four times before putting it on a menu. “She’s a great cook, really the best ever’. While sighing, Roiter said she personally isn’t into cooking. “I think it’s because my mom spoiled me,” she said. “I really have an appreciation of how hard she worked and what she accomplished. To this day, my mom cooks for family and friends and still loves it”.

Roiter’s journey began in the corporate world at a bank, and she felt that the financial world was not suited for her. However, when her friend, Stephen Kramer got married, Roiter offered to give the couple a brownie bar as their wedding gift. And from that point on, people were begging for more brownies. 

Roiter reminisced by explaining, “My business started over 15 years ago out of my home. It was called Yummy Mummy Brownies. Based on my grandmother’s recipe, I baked and sold over 20 different varieties of brownies.” When Roiter started her business, her triplets were 2 years old, “I was a momtrepreneur!” she said giggling. 

Roiter sold her first few batches of brownies at farmer’s markets and online. “My business grew and grew until after 8 years, I could no longer do it out of my home. I had taken up too much of my house with ovens and extra refrigerators in the basement, freezers in the garage and the only things to eat were eggs, butter, sugar and chocolate” Roiter said while laughing. With limited kitchen space,  Roiter decided to open a retail bakery. At first, she had a small space for 3 ½  years which enabled her to “get started”. Now, the bakery has fifteen employees, and has relocated to a bigger space, at 50 East Main Street, right down the road from their former site.

Being the owner of this small business, Roiter quickly moves around taking calls, making coffee, boxing up goods, and directing her staff in the kitchen. “I put in about 70 hours per week at my business but I don’t consider this work. Yummy Mummy’s talented staff of thirteen employees consisting of bakers and cake decorators, help to produce not only decadent brownies (of course!),  but other American sweets like cookies, cupcakes, coconut bundt cake, bars, cake pops, etc.” According to the momtrepreneur, “brownies are the most popular as that’s what I’m already known for. However, I highly recommend the doughnut muffin, double chocolate pecan cookie, coconut cake and pb&j bar”. 

According to Roiter, “after sweets all day (shhh, don’t tell anyone), I like to make a big salad with fresh veggies, feta cheese, slivered almonds and topped with homemade lemon dressing”.

Owning a small business is difficult. Roiter explains that she has learned a lot of life lessons throughout her time of being an entrepreneur. Some of the most challenging lessons she has had to face are learning “to incorporate a business, getting my food permits, negotiating my leases”. However, she explains that she is learning as she goes. Some of the struggles she faces on a daily basis include “being a single mom and finding work/life balance, learning how to stand up for myself in business matters like my bakery build out, negotiating best prices on ingredients, managing an ever growing staff, being organized and (finally) being a fair yet effective boss” said Roiter.  

What makes Yummy Mummy Bakery different from others? According to Roiter, “Everything, and I mean everything, is made fresh and from scratch every morning”. There’s no cutting corners, “only real butter, eggs and chocolate are used”. Every recipe is tested multiple times until it is yummy. The baked goods are also traditional American treats: chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and popovers. There’s nothing too fancy - just real and just real good. “Just the smell of brownies baking in the oven is enough to make you swoon” said Roiter. 

Roiter said she is fortunate to have been surrounded by strong women who have supported her on her journey. As Yummy Mummy continues to expand, Roiter said she is busy scouting other channels of sales. The business currently caters events, ships corporate and personal mail orders nationwide, participates in farmers markets and wholesales many of its products.

“We recently started offering cake and cookie decorating classes,” added Roiter. “We try to have fun each and every day while making people’s lives sweeter.”

As expected, business at Yummy Mummy Bakery has been disrupted by the Coronavirus pandemic back in March. Bakery hours were condensed, and Yummy Mummy asked customers to pre-order at www.yummymummybakery.com to keep the baked goods comin’. Roiter even set up Saturday pop-ups for the safety and convenience of customers.   

The bakery used social media to its advantage as another way to publicize at-home events, such a cooking challenge they coined as “Chopped.” Roiter challenged customers to tackle a bag of mystery ingredients she put together and sold at the shop. “We threw our own Food Network ‘Chopped’-inspired party,” she said. Participants were asked to use the mystery ingredients to make something special at home and then post a photo on Facebook.

Roiter judged the challenge. “It was fun and well received,” she said about the more than 300 submitted photos.

When asked about her success, she responded with “Strong support, especially from the community, family and friends, has helped as we innovate during difficult times. Definitely being at the right place at the right time helps as well. It’s not all just about luck” chuckled Roiter.

Roiter has been appreciative of all the love she received during these past few, difficult months. “I’ve been blown away by online orders. I feel very fortunate, and I am very thankful.”

[ichigopanhpff]

BNHA Fic: Blink! Ch. 3

Read Ch. 2 |  Masterlist

Read Ch. 2 | Masterlist 

 “We’re heading out, senpai!” the girls and guys greeted as they headed out. “Wish us luck!” “Kick some ass and we’ll celebrate when you return,” Ren shouted back.

She felt like a mom while watching the remaining straggling students quickly say their byes to her before running out; she couldn’t help but chuckle.

“What’re you laughin’ at this early?” a familiar voice gruffly muttered out. “Nothing of importance,” she replied back coolly. “Good luck today, Bakugou-kun.” “Tch, I don’t need luck,” he scoffed. “I’m gonna get it. Just remember our deal.” “I’m a person of my word.”

“Eh? What deal we talkin’ ‘bout here?” Kirishima enthusiastically asked.

“Where Bakugou would treat everyone nicer if he failed the exam today,” she joked. “Go to hell, fuckin’ idiot,” he angrily barked out and trekked away with his hands shoved into his pant pockets.

“Oi, don’t say somethin’ like that to a girl!” the spiky redhead shouted at his friend and turned to Ren. “Sorry, senpai. He didn’t mean it.” “I know,” she replied with a reassuring smile. “You should go before they leave you behind.”

Ren couldn’t help but feel anxious for 1-A. From what she heard, they’re up against some tough students this year, especially from Shiketsu and Ketsubutsu. This year is definitely a unique time to get a hero license with the recent shift in the pro-hero’s world.

Even though she has hers, she’s been hesitant in applying for agencies. Her quirk isn’t exactly the strongest and decided to dedicate her time in strengthening it before trying. Her freshman internship was with Hawks; she learned to constantly be aware of her surroundings and not let any small detail go unnoticed. He even let her tag along and help subdue a criminal trying to rob a convenience store once she proved herself to be useful.

Shaking her head to rid the worry in her head, she had to finish getting ready and get to class. The day dragged on as her mind wandered back and forth between class and how everyone else was doing during the exams.

Her main concern was her ballsy bet with Bakugou.

She didn’t mind telling him about her quirk; it was the former proposal that’s got her riled up. Inwardly groaning for rising up to his bait, she’s had to lay in the bed she made.

Why did she do that? It wasn’t like her to take such a gamble.

She’s barely been at the dorms with them for a month and they’ve already influenced her this much? What horrifying charisma they have, she thought.

As the bell rang for the last class of the day, everyone in 2-A chatted among themselves. Tomoe and Seri made their way over to Ren’s desk, to which she paid no attention to. Seri waved her hand in front of her face, trying to catch her attention.

“Ren-Ren, you okay there?”

“Hm?” Her head jolted up with wide eyes. “Y-yeah. What’s up?”

“You don’t look okay...” Tomoe replied and sat on the corner of her desk. “The babies got their exam today, right? You worried?”

“W-what? Of course not!” Ren huffed. “I’m sure they all passed.”

“Is that so? Then what’s this?”

Seri plucked her notebook from her desk and looked at it with Tomoe. She tried to get it back but the girls grabbed it just out of her reach. What was supposed to be her class notes were replaced with statistical data of each of 1-A’s student’s success rates depending on the exam scenario.

“Y’know, if you actually put as much effort into Intro to Hero Law as you did with this, you’d actually be higher ranked in class,” Tomoe teased and cocked her head sideways.

Quickly snatching her notebook from Seri’s grasp successfully, she hastily shoved it into her bag.

“It’s… whatever, okay?” Ren disregarded her friends’ comments with a tint of pink on her cheeks and looked away, rubbing the back of her head; her other hand drummed impatiently on the desk.

“Aw, she’s gettin’ all shy on us,” Tomoe gushed. “How cute.”

“Oh my God. Shut it before I shove your quills up your ass.”

“Speakin’ of 1-A,” her classmate, Ito chimed in. “Are they as troublesome as their reputation says?”

“Not yet, thankfully. I think they’ve been too busy to get in trouble lately,” Ren chuckled.

“The day is still young, Takahiro,” her classmate pointed out with a knowing look.

“I’m sure they’re all too tired to do anything after those exams. Remember what happened with us?”

“I slept like the dead that night,” Tomoe reminisced. “Even though I barely passed.”

“Shiketsu’s tactics in trying to take us out was dirty,” Ito remembered with a bitter scowl on his face.

“But highly effective,” Ren added. “We passed that phase by the skin of our teeth.”

Making their ways out the classroom, 1-A’s R.A. had to make a run to the canteen; she figured she’d whip up something tasty to celebrate their exam.

“Lunch-Rush!” she called from the entrance of the kitchen.

“Yo, Takahiro,” the robot greeted. “You made it.” “Thanks for doing this. I appreciate it,” she said with a small smile and looked down at the bags of ingredients. “This is what’s left over from today?”

“It was a little more than I expected since the first years from the hero course aren’t here.”

“This should be more than enough. Thanks!”

Ren grabbed the heavy bags of produce, slugging half a bag of potatoes on her back.

“Ah, w-wait! Takahiro!” Lunch-Rush called. “Are you sure you can handle this?”

She turned and gave him a smirk with a cocked eyebrow.

“Who do you think I am?”

Within a second, both her and the ingredients disappeared without a trace.

The silence of the Alliance Dorm was temporarily disturbed with a small zip in the air at the entrance to the dorm. Ren set the items down on and floor and stretched out her back.

“I forgot how much longer it takes doin’ that with items in hand,” she groaned out and proceeded to stretch out her arms. “I need to practice more.”

Ren’s quirk, Flicker, allows her to teleport short distances, with a maximum radius of 2.5m. The accuracy of the teleportation depend on whether she knows the location in her head or can see where she’s going to. If she teleports beyond her current radius, she’ll have a 5-minute cooldown. While that may seem like a short time, five minutes in a fight can mean life or death. Her ability fluctuates depending on her physical status.

Class 1-A managed to make it back to the dorms around early evening. They were tired, sweaty and very, very hungry. The moment they entered, their noses were greeted with tantalizing aromatic spices coming from the kitchen.

“What’s that amazin’ smell?” Kaminari squeaked out, his eyes beginning to roll up into his head in bliss. “Is it food? I hope it’s food.”

“Ah, it’s Takahiro-senpai!” Shoji exclaimed with one of his mouths. “She’s cooking.”

The R.A. could be seen busily tending to a pot of simmering goodness, humming to herself. The front part of her hair was clipped up and the rest hid her undercut. She was wearing an all black ensemble consisting of an over-sized t-shirt with a sports bra peeking underneath and a pair of drop crotch harem pants. Huge platters of already completed food sat on the kitchen island.

Her attention was then diverted by excited chatter from the doorway of the common room as they hurriedly removed their outside shoes before running to the kitchen.

“Senpaaiiii!!!!” Some of the boys shouted with tears of joy running down their cheeks. “You’re amazing!!!!!”

“Oh welcome back.”

“Wow, this looks like a feast!” Yaoyorozu gushed with a hand to her cheek. “You made all this?”

Ren nodded with a small smile. “I got the leftover ingredients from the school kitchen. Can’t let ‘em go to waste.”

She turned the stove fire off and removed the pot from the hot part of the stove to let the contents cool down. The chef then turned her attention to the class and propped her elbow up on the counter top.

“So how’d it go?”

She looked up to see beaming smiles from all but two people: Bakugou and Todoroki. Given their personalities and fighting styles, she had a feeling something like this would happen.

“Well, you can tell me all about it over food.” “Everyone!” Iida’s voice boomed aloud while stiffly moving his arms in an up and down motion. “Please wash your hands and change first before we eat!”

“Go, I got some final touches to do anyway,” their senpai huffed with a grin.

A short moment later, everyone filed back down in their own clothes and made their way to the dining area. Huge platters of freshly fried potato croquettes, salad, chicken katsu, a huge pot of Japanese curry and a giant bucket of white rice waited to be re-homed into class 1-A’s stomachs.

Ren wipe some sweat from her forehead with her arm and sighed.

“This was all I was able to manage given the time.”

“It’s still a lot considering...” Jiro stared at the spread in amazement.

“She’s a goddess! An actual goddess!” Mineta shouted with tears streaming down as he stuffed his face with croquettes.

Everyone was eating to their heart’s content, some even grabbing a second serving. Among all the happy chatter and laughter, she noticed two lone wolves to the side keeping to themselves, not wanting to spoil the mood. She walked up to where Todoroki was sitting and placed a hand on his shoulder, lulling his mind back from his thoughts.

As the boy turned his head to meet her gaze, Ren quickly leaned into his ear and whispered, “Find me here after everyone’s gone to sleep.”

And just like that, she walked away from him like nothing happened. A glint of curiosity stirred about his hetero-chromatic eyes.

“I’m so full,” Ochaco drawled up with a content sigh, patting her stomach. “Everything was so yummy.”

“I hope you guys got room for dessert though.”

“Senpai, you’re spoiling us,” Kaminari declared and sighed. “I might just fall in love with you.”

One by one, the class filed into the kitchen to see Ren’s plating demonstration. Cutting a sizable portion of the castella, she laid it down on the plate with a knife and then generously drizzled something on top of it with a squeeze bottle.

“Sato-kun,” she called the tall muscular boy. “Give it a try.”

“Me?”

“You’re the sweets guy.”

Accepting the plate, the burly boy thanked her and took a bite of cake. Within milliseconds, his eyes bulged out wide, as if he had an epiphany about something.

“It’s… sweet! But spicy!” he declared with twinkling eyes. “Two flavor profiles melded together like magic! It’s bliss!”

“Ehhh?” the class exclaimed.

“Oh good. It worked,” the R.A. happily commented and continued plating to serve. “Here. Try for yourselves.”

Bite by bite, each student got hooked.

“Oh my… This is delicious! How did you make this?!” Hagakure excitedly inquired with sparkles in her eyes, if they could be seen.

“I ground up a little candied ginger with the brown sugar at the bottom when I was baking it off,” Ren explained. “I felt like something was missing when I tried it, so I decided to make some hot honey for garnish. And since you’re such a big tea fan, Yaoyorozu, this cake will go well with an Earls Grey.”

“Wow, you really thought of everything!” Ochaco happily chimed in and took another bite. “Senpai’s so amazing.”

“Not really,” she shyly chuckled and scratched her chin. “I just like to eat and often cooked with my mom.”

“Yo, Bakugou!” Kirishima shouted with an extra plate in his hand. “You’ll wanna eat this!”

“The hell is that, cake? I don’t like sweet stuff,” the gloomy blond boy gruffly responded from the couch.

“Dude, you’ll like it. Trust me.”

The redhead set the plate beside him and cut off a piece to feed him.

“The fuck are you, my mom?” he barked out and snatched the fork from Kirishima. “I can feed myself!”

“C’mon Bakugou. Chill out,” Sero chimed in and sat across from the explosive blond. “I get you’re pissed you failed, but at least you have the provisional classes coming up for it.”

“That’s right!” Mina added and flopped on the backside of the couch between the two boys. “And Ren-senpai went through the trouble in making this for us. The least you could do is show your gratitude!”

Even though he knew his friends were right, he didn’t want them to know. He was also bitter about losing his bet with Ren. Yet here she was, putting in all of her efforts for them. Win or lose, he thought she would’ve done this for them. Gritting his teeth in annoyance, he shoved the piece of cake into his mouth and chewed. It was sweet, but the spice packed in was enough to satisfy his palette.

“It’s good, isn’t it?” the pink girl excitedly spewed out.

“… It’s edible.”

“Bakugou! There you go again!” his rocky friend exasperatingly scolded and face palmed. “Ya gotta get better ‘bout that attitude of yours, man.”

“Ren-senpai, we’re really sorry about Kacchan,” Midoriya apologized on Bakugou’s behalf. “He’s just really hot-headed.”

“Don’t sweat it,” their upperclassman disregarded and teased. “I can handle brats like him.”

“The hell you say over there?!” he barked aloud from the couch. A vein could be seen protruding from his temple.

In an instant, Ren went from the kitchen area to sitting to the right of Bakugou on the couch. She proceeded to poke his cheek with her index finger. His head immediately turned in shock, as did the rest of the class. She just felt like flexing her quirk at that moment for some reason.

“I said you were being a brat,” she repeated and rested her chin on her knuckles. “Are you always this pleasant to be around?”

Scoffing aloud, he swatted her hand away, her eyes not leaving his scowling side profile.

“Y’know, it’s not very plus ultra of you to be the way you are right now,” she pointed out as a matter-of-factly.

The ash blond boy scoffed again and stood up from the couch to walk away.

“Fuck this shit. I’m goin’ to sleep!” he yelled as he retreated to the elevator.

“And that’s as close to an apology I’ll get this time around huh,” Ren remarked with a smirk, watching him leave the common area.

“Pretty much,” Sero sheepishly replied, rubbing the back of his head. “Just give him some time. He’ll come around.”

“Never mind Bakugou. That’s just how he is,” Ashino disregarded. “What was that you just did before, senpai?! That ‘zip!’ thing you did! Was that your quirk?”

She proceeded to explain Flicker to everyone, with the green-haired boy air writing notes on the side, not letting one single detail go to waste.

“It’s good for defensive maneuvers, but I’m still playing around with a fighting style that best works for me.”

“That seems like a tough quirk to have,” Tokoyami commented. “To have to know where you’re going first before moving. It’s almost as hard as me controlling Dark Shadow.”

“It’s very draining on stamina if I overuse it,” she admitted. “Which is why I’ve do a lot of training so I can prolong and strengthen my quirk.”

“What kind of training did you do?” Midoriya immediately asked, his eyes completely focused on Ren. His hands were still in the position of holding an air pen and notebook.

“Lots of stuff: Running, boxing, aikido, dancing, basically anything that got my heart rate up and tired me out by the end of it. Come to think of it, I think an endurance exercise would be benefit you all. It’d definitely help you control your quirks better and have you last longer in fights.”

“Quirkless exercises?” Todoroki suddenly asked. “Do you think it’d work?”

“I mean, quirks are a part of us like a muscle, right? The more you train your body, the better it’ll be. It’s like building up a tolerance to something if you break it down to its bare bones.”

Majority of the class agreed to that statement.

“Uwah, I dunno if I could do somethin’ like that,” Jiro groaned out. “My body’s not built for that kinda thing.”

“Well, if you guys ever need any advice on this, you can always swing by my room whenever and we can have a one-on-one ‘bout it,” Ren suggested.

With the idea in agreement, everyone hung out in the common area a bit longer before turning in for the night. As the lights went out in the 1-A dorms, Ren stealthily made her way out of her room, holding her slip on shoes and teleported down to the common room.

She turned to see Todoroki waiting by the courtyard windows, holding his outside shoes in his right hand.

“Oh good. You remembered,” she whispered with a small smile and slipped on her shoes.

“Did you need something from me, Takahiro-senpai?”

“I wanna take you somewhere.”

“But we’re not allowed to leave the dorms. There’s security drones–”

Ren gave the boy a look and tilted her head.

“Little trust, please. We’re not gonna get caught.”

She held her hand out for him to grab on. He hesitantly did so; only because he didn’t know what she was thinking.

“Hold on tight, okay?”

Ren took a small breath and the two disappeared from the dorm. The sensation of being teleported was weird; It was like you were falling and floating at the same time as you felt the ebb and flow of time pass by what felt like an eternity, when it was merely seconds.

With a small zip in the air, she and Todoroki landed in a dark wooded area. Cricket chirps and hoots from owls could be heard from the lush darkness; their path only lit by scattered fireflies flying past. The mid-summer breeze strongly whipped through the night. It took both of them a few minutes for their eyes to adjust to the darkness. Before he could ask anything, he saw the R.A. already walking and followed her.

“Oh good. I didn’t screw it up this time,” she huffed out in relief. “Come on.”

“Where… are we exactly?”

“Still on U.A.’s campus. By foot, we’re probably… 20 minutes out? Look.” She pointed in the northeast direction, where the dimly lit side profile of U.A.’s campus could be seen.

The two came up to a small secluded area with a fallen log as a seat. A used campfire set up could be found nearby with some firewood to the far side of the small space.

“Whenever my friends and I need a breather, we’d come up here to hang,” Ren shared and proceeded to sit down on the log and turned to him with a small smile. “It’s kinda like our secret base.”

She invited him to sit down next to her, to which he did stiffly.

“So… why did you invite me up here?” Todoroki hesitantly asked.

“You look like you needed a place like this to clear your head from all the noise.”

His head slowly turned to meet her sympathetic gaze. Even in the dark, he was able to see her hazel green eyes shine.

“Do you have a mind reading quirk too?” “I wish,” she chuckled and crossed her legs. She propped her arm up on her knee and proceeded to rest her chin in her hand. “I’ve just learned how to read people better, is all.”

“Some would say that is a quirk.”

A comfortable silence sat between the two, with the light sound of wind filling the gaps in between.

“Do you ever think...” Todoroki broke the silence. “What you’ve done in the past will come back full circle at you?”

“You mean like karma?”

“I guess…” He sighed heavily with slumped shoulders before continuing on. “Since I’ve been here, I thought rejecting one side of me was the correct answer to go about doing things. Because of that, I got tunnel-visioned and didn’t realize how many people I’ve hurt in the process.”

He looked down at his left hand and clenched it into a soft fist.

“But after meeting everyone, my views begun to change bit by bit… I thought I changed, up until this exam. I was once again reminded my past mistakes will never leave me because of who I am.”

“Because of who you are?”

“You know the pro-hero Endeavor?” He swallowed the lump in his throat as if he was holding down vomit. “I’m… his son. But I’m sure you knew that already.”

“And why do you say that?”

“If I were Aizawa-sensei and bringing in someone new to be his assistant, I’d give them all the information I know so they’re on the same page.”

“Perhaps.”

As expected of Todoroki Shouto, she mentally praised. He’s analytic, calm and collected. He has great leadership qualities but like Bakugou, has a tendency to go off on his own in fights. There are times he gets into his own head too much and ends up affecting his performance, like what happened during the Sports Festival.

“Todoroki-kun,” Ren turned to face him and spoke in a soft but serious tone. “We all make mistakes, big and small. The difference lies in how we face and fix them.”

The boy looked down and slowly nodded, still feeling the weight from his shameful interaction with Inasa today.

“If I can offer you one more small piece of advice to you...”

She scooted closer to the red and white hair colored boy and flicked him on his forehead. His upper body flinched backward from the pain and let out a small hiss of pain; he pouted and rubbed the area his forehead got flicked.

“You’re too young to be this serious and worrying about over-existential stuff you got no control over. You’re gonna drive yourself nuts thinking in circles,” she playfully scolded. “Just focus on the you that’s here right now; the you who wants to right these wrongs. The rest’ll fall into place.”

She flashed him a small, calming smile and all he could do was nod because he knew she was right.

“Ah...” Ren looked up at the clearing sky. “There it is.”

She uncrossed her legs and leaned back with her arms supporting her; her face wearing a content and peaceful grin. Todoroki’s curious gaze followed suit and saw a heavenly body of twinkling stars above them. Even without the moon tonight, they were particularly bright.

“This is the main reason why I took you up here,” she revealed, pointing upward. “For perspective. And the view’s nice.”

“Perspective?”

“If you think about it, we’re like these stars: each a different shape, size and brightness; each with their own story and struggles,” she explained. “On its own, it’s just a random speck in the sky. But when you see the bigger picture, it’s much more beautiful and you realize we’re not so different, after all.”

She looked back down at Todoroki again.

“And the fact you’re already aware of the other stars means you’ve made that step forward in changing your ways. So why are you still beating yourself up?”

“My pride and ego, I guess...”

“That’s always a killer,” she offhandedly commented. “It won’t make you an efficient hero.”

“I’ll work on that so that I will be.”

“I know you will.”

A short beat of silence filled the void.

“Senpai…” the boy hesitated for a second. “Can I ask a question?”

“Shoot.”

“This has been bothering me for a bit, but your last name… it sounds familiar.”

“Does it? It’s pretty common.”

“But is it your real one?”

Ren’s eyes widened and flickered in the dark, staring straight into Todoroki’s bi-colored ones. The sound of the wind suddenly picked up again, as if to create a barrier between the two.

No one was supposed to know.

So how did he? No, she had to play it cool rather than react.

“Why do you think it isn’t?” “Just something I remembered reading a news article in passing a while ago...” He put his hand up to his chin and suddenly remembered. “Ah, it was–”

Ren immediately lunged and put her hand over his mouth, her face shadowed over by her short rose-gold hair. Todoroki felt no animosity from her, but what was this pressure squeezing from his lungs? In that short moment, he heard his own heart beating from his ears.

“Not another word if you value your life,” she whispered dangerously low, her breath shaky. The girl held on for a short moment before gingerly removing her hand, allowing him to breathe normally again. Ren’s trembling limb slowly descended, trying to get a grip on her stirred up emotions and clenched it into a fist.

“I won’t say it but… may I ask why?”

“The last person who said it...” her voice shook nervously. “… Killed my dad and brother.”

Todoroki’s eyes widened in shock, unable to say anything and realized he overstepped his boundaries with his upperclassman. The wind lightly whipped past the two, hoping to cool the two bodies down from this explosive revelation.

He decided to ask, “Is that why you decided to be a hero? For revenge?” out of both concern and curiosity considering what happened with Iida when his brother got injured by Stain.

“Please,” she scoffed and turned away. “I would’ve been a vigilante were it for something that petty. I’m actually insulted you’d think so little of me, Todo-kun.”

“My apologies, senpai.”

“I’m kidding,” Ren quickly replied with a lopsided smirk that never reached her eyes. “You really can’t take a joke, can you?”

“I’ll… also work on that.”

She lightly chuckled and sighed, trying to lighten up the mood.

“My brother wanted to be one when we were kids,” she divulged. “I’m just fulfilling something he can’t.”

“And what did you want to be?”

Ren shrugged. “I was really indecisive as a kid. One day, I wanted to be a chef, the next I wanted to be a mermaid and another day, a dog.”

He couldn’t help but let out a small laugh and covered his mouth as his shoulders shook.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh,” he apologized between his stifling giggles.

“It’s fine,” she waved it off with a small chuckle. “But somewhere along the way, I thought...”She paused for a moment. “I might be a halfway decent hero with this quirk. It’s not the flashiest, but I feel like I can save a lot of people in crisis.”

“I know you will,” Todoroki repeated the same words back to her.

The two gave each other a meaningful look and softly chuckled before gazing back up at the night sky, the breeze lightly passing by to calm both their hearts.

“Guess we should head back before someone notices we’re gone,” she suggested and stood up from the makeshift bench, brushing off any loose debris from the log; Todoroki followed suit.

“Senpai...” he uttered out and looked down at his shifting feet. “… Thank you.”

“You don’t need to do that.” She turned around and shoved her hands into her pockets. “When I saw you sulking, I just… wanted to help, is all.”

“Spoken like a true hero.”

Ren turned back around and held her hand out, with Todoroki taking it this time without fear. Feeling the same sensation from before, the two made it back to the dorms; they were on the 5th floor this time. Before he could ask, she quickly whispered her answer: “Less of a chance for us to get caught.”

Letting go of his hand, she took off her shoes and held them in one hand; the other waving him good night and popped down to her room one floor below. Letting out a long sigh, she put her shoes on the small rack by her room door and saw her mobile phone blinking from her peripheral.

Waking the screen up, she unlocked it to see two missed calls and a text message from Aizawa. Ren clicked on the text message icon to read the note. Her eyes immediately widened.

Midoriya and Bakugou snuck out and fought each other at Ground Beta. They’re currently at the nurse’s office on campus being treated for their injuries. Bakugou is under house arrest for 4 days; Midoriya for 3. She was to make sure no one from 1-A were to tell them what is going on during classes as punishment.

“These freaking idiots...” she hissed out with knitted eyebrows of anger, gripping the side of her phones with force.

Last night’s commotion created an even bigger one in the dorms and on campus. Ren was absolutely livid this even happened. Making her way down to the common area, she saw the two boys vacuuming while the rest of the class got ready to leave for the opening ceremony.

“Ah, good morn–” the small freckled boy started to greet only to stop in a state of fear and panic when he met Ren’s menacing death glare; it radiated an intense kill aura. There were many words she’d like to exchange to those two, but she’s sure Aizawa already pounded it into them.

“U-um, senpai...” the small green haired boy nervously muttered out. “We’re sor–”

“You’re only sorry you got caught,” she harshly interrupted and crossed her arms.

The two stood there quietly and looked down and to the side, guilt written all over their faces. The rest of the class who were getting ready to leave froze in place.

“I’m not even mad. Just disappointed,” she continued with a glower from her angry hazel green eyes. “So don’t apologize to me, apologize to them.” She pointed to the rest of 1-A. “You’re the ones who have to earn back their trust.”

As she walked away, she uttered, “Fucking morons,” under her breath in English.

Read Ch. 4

[planthiseatthat]

How Do I Pick My Meals?

I am a person who loves to cook and is absolutely crazy for food. There are lots of people in this world who hate cooking, and there are also people in this world who only eat for sustenance; food just isn’t their jam (pun 10000% intended). That’s a perfectly fine experience, it just happens not to be mine. I am constantly thinking about my next meal with great anticipation. For me, this is all part of the fun and enjoyment, which is why the system works for me. Your mileage will vary! No judgement!

My own personal guidance system, listed in no particular order...

What part of the production process is this?

I read an article in the New York Times Health section a couple of years ago about the effect that eating within a 12-hour window has on the metabolism, and after some obviously-not-very-scientific experimentation, discovered that it really works for me when it comes to maintaining or losing weight, and inversely, can really directly contribute to my own weight gain. As with everything, this may not be true for you. Don’t @me with your well-actuallys... do what feels right for you.

When I’m in rehearsal mode, I am up at 6:45am, out the door at 8:15am, at the rehearsal studio by 9am, breaking for lunch at ~2pm, leaving the studio by 7pm, and home by 8pm. If I eat breakfast at 7:30am, that means a couple of things... I will have to go probably 6½ hours between full meals, and I will automatically be breaking my own 12-hour window rule by eating dinner after I get home. This means that I’m going to plan for a protein-heavy breakfast, a substantial morning snack, a delicious lunch that will be the heaviest meal I’ll eat all day, a quality afternoon snack, and a very, very, very light dinner; I can’t go to bed with an empty stomach, so I’ll prepare something with high-impact flavor and texture but a low calorie/sugar count.

When I’m in 10-out-of-12 mode, I am usually up before dawn, home after midnight, and on my feet for most of the day, so all caloric and 12-hour window bets are off, but I try to focus on big flavors, filling food with a high protein content. I do also try to stop eating by 9pm because otherwise sleep can be elusive, no matter how tired I may be. I’ll be eating breakfast at home, but snacks, lunch, and dinner are all at the theater.

When I’m in show mode, I can sleep 'til 9:30am on a matinee or rehearsal day, and not set an alarm on a one evening show day! I’m out the door at 11 or 11:30am depending on my call time for the former, and sometime between 4-5:30pm depending on my call time for the latter. So it’s sometimes lunch and dinner at the theater, sometimes just lunch, and sometimes just dinner. No matter what, I'm able to cook a fresh hot breakfast once I’m in show mode, and I may not need to pre-prepare any snacks. I try to make a dinner that can be eaten early-ish and sustain me late so that I can avoid snacking when I get home sometime between 11:30pm and midnight. (But, in all honesty, I usually snack when I get home.)

I’m lactose intolerant!

Fun fact: lactose-intolerance can look like many things. To get graphic for a minute: it gives me the most painful diarrhea imaginable (I say this having had salmonella). But it could be worse, because I’m also the kind of lactose intolerant person that has a decent-ish lactose limit, so I can handle hard cheeses, certain processed ricottas, certain yogurts, commercially-produced ice cream, and so on. I cook with Lactaid products, but I don't depend on the pills because it feels too risky. I know what brand and style of sour cream works with my tummy chemistry. I eat soft cheeses in the comfort and privacy of my own home. Etc. The last thing I need is a digestive emergency at work; believe me... it has happened, it was mortifying, and it still haunts me.

Vitamins, minerals, and protein!

Am I eating enough fruits and vegetables? Am I getting enough calcium? (My mom has osteoarthritis, plus I have a pin in my heel holding a fracture together, so this is a real thing I think about constantly.) Am I close to my period, so does my body want extra iron? My brain seems to work faster when I'm eating a lot of protein... am I getting enough of that?

Do I love this food?

I love most food, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE soup, vinegar, hot sauce, cheese (I KNOW!), fennel, dark chocolate, citrus, basil, brussels sprouts, and mushrooms, to name of few of my favorite things. Obviously, a recipe that includes any or ideally several of any of these favorite things is going to be of very high value for me.

Calorie content!

I have a Fitbit (see? new tools are great to add to the overall arsenal!), and use the Fitbit Food Log tools fairly religiously. Within the desktop dashboard interface, I use the “create a meal” feature to input the ingredients of any new-to-me recipe that I’m considering adding to my meal prep routine and use that nutritional info to determine how many meals it breaks down to in a calorically responsible way, and whether that’s workable for my needs. If it’s something I want to make but it’s too much or too little food, I’ll look into freezing some portions for a later date, or scaling it.

Am I going to get bored?

I’ve figured out that 4 times in a single week, a lunch or full dinner (in 10 out of 12s, or show mode) won’t bore me, but 6 times in a single week, it will. I can eat the same breakfast or light dinner (in rehearsal mode) for a week, but then I can’t repeat it for at least a couple of weeks without ruining the experience for myself. I also avoid repeating main ingredients in any given week. This is the version of variety that is, for me, indefinitely sustainable in a manageable way.

Is there a fridge? Is there a microwave?

Some studios have neither. Some studios have one but not both of the above. Sometimes the line for the microwave is going to be half an hour long; sometimes I discover I'll have it all to myself. Some theaters only have a mini fridge for props. These are two big variables to have to factor into my planning. If needed, I can prep all meals that are stable for a while unrefrigerated (or with an icepack in my lunch bag) and are damn tasty at room temperature.

How complicated is the recipe?

In rehearsal mode, I can make soups, calzones, casseroles, braises, fresh bread, etc and still have time left in the day for the other necessary chores plus cuddle time with my dog who has patiently pined for my company all week, as I have for his. In 10 out of 12 mode, I am probably bringing work home on the day off, or sometimes going two weeks without a day off, so I’ll be leaning on previously-frozen food and quickly prepped things like kitchen-sink salads, grain bowls, and sandwiches. In show mode, I can make things like fresh pasta, macarons, and seafood because I have the time for a multi-step process that doesn't allow multitasking, plus I’ll be eating some of my full lunches or dinners at home on real dishes - luxury!

Speaking of seafood... does my food stink?

There is a human decency factor! A person can’t just go heating up seafood, broccoli, or cabbage in a shared space! I’m not a monster!

What do I have lying around?

Bulk buying is cheap buying. For example, it’s obviously more cost effective to buy the bunch of parsley for $1.99 instead of the single serving container of it for $1.50... that’s good home economics. But to make it actually worth my while instead of wasteful, I keep track of the stuff that’s sitting in the fridge and plan to use it up before it spoils. I can keep herbs alive for 2 or 3 weeks (depending on how fresh they were when I bought them). Cheese can sit for a couple of weeks when wrapped properly. Lactaid milk is actually good for a month after opening (joke’s on you, regular milk drinkers!). And so on. Plus, I generally scale pasta recipes so that I’m eating at most 2-3oz of dry pasta per meal, which means I’m often checking my cupboard and saying to myself “hey, use up that macaroni before you go buying penne.” A lot of my recipe modifications involve using what I have on hand, instead of buying something else.

What time of year is it?

I have long-ago stopped being surprised when my “on this day” memories on Facebook tell me that on this date sometime in my posting history, I made the exact dish that I also made two days ago. My cravings cycle seasonally, and if I’m going to enjoy my food, it of course has to feed those cravings. Winters are for chili, soup, and braised things. Summers are for vegetable risotto and things on the grill. You get it.

Finally, a note on where I’m looking for recipes:

I look everywhere. Occasionally, I make something up but more often I'm modifying someone else's recipe in a way that works better for me for any number of reasons. I’m a member of a couple of recipe exchange groups with friends on Facebook. I poke my friends who post great photos of great food on Instagram and ask them for the recipe. I subscribe to Food & Wine as an actual physical magazine that comes in the mail. I subscribe to the RSS feeds for Food52.com, SeriousEats.com, SmittenKitchen.com (she is amazing!), and the New York Times Health and Food sections; sometimes the RSS articles expire after 30 days before I get to them, but they’re there for me when I have time for them. I have the Epicurious, Food Network, and All Recipes apps on my phone, plus Food52’s (Not)Recipe app, which I regularly look to for inspiration. I talk to people in my real life!! Plus, I have a library of actual physical cookbooks! I used to travel with most of them when I was on tour (my roadbox was heavy); halfway through my time on the road, I got my first Kindle, scanned all of my favorite recipes, shipped my cookbooks home, and loaded up that first generation Kindle with over one thousand PDFs. Now, I have all of those PDFs plus about a thousand more in Dropbox folder organized by chef/source, so that it’s searchable and accessible from whatever device I prefer in the moment.