#biscuits aka cookies

[abigailspinach]

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[drhoz]

#2496 - Fellaster zelandiae - Snapper Biscuit

AKA Cake Urchin.

Fellaster zelandiae is and was endemic to Aotearoa - the other species, incisa, was found in Australian waters.

Sand dollars (also known as sea cookies, sea biscuits, or pansy shells) are flat, burrowing sea urchins in the order Clypeasteroida. They first evolved from other irregular echinoids in the Jurassic, and live in temperate and tropical oceans worldwide, using their velvety spines to burrow through soft sediments, feeding on algae and organic matter. Some species prop themselves up sideways to feed on passing plankton.

Unlike most echinoids, sand dollars have developed a secondarily bilateral symmetry, including an anus towards the rear of the animal instead of centrally on top, as part of their evolution into burrowing animals.

Some sand dollar larvae have been shown to clone themselves if they detect the mucus of predatory fish in the water.

Whanganui Regional Museum, New Zealand

[greypetrel]

Pan dei Morti

Aka Deads' Bread. (Image source) (recipe I translated - My family moved to Milan but we're originally from Parma, I don't have a family recipe)

They're little soft biscuits that are typical of Milan and the area of Lombardy north of the city (Brianza). You ONLY find them in bakeries there and around All Saints' Day (Ognissanti), when the tradition in Catholic Italy wants that you should go and visit your dead ones in the cemetery, change the flowers, pay your respects. (It's mostly a thing that grannies do, nowadays, but it's a bank holiday and what's not to enjoy about a day home with a seasonal treat) The name comes not because the cakes are meant to be offered to the deads, but because All Saints' Day is from this tradition also called "Giorno dei Morti", Day of the Deads (not to be confounded with Dia de los Muertos in Mexico, they're different celebrations and shouldn't be mixed up!), and it's litterally "the bread you eat around that day".

They're delicious and tasty, and @brother-genitivi expressed interest for the recipe... (and listen, exchanging recipes with people all over the world is something really great about the internet)

Recipe under the cut! Note: I am European and don't do imperial measurements. Forgive me if I keep the metric, I don't trust my conversions since when I found out that British and American cups are different.

INGREDIENTS:

All purpose flour, 250g

Almond cookies (Amaretti), 100g

Caster sugar, 300g

Almonds, 120g (or the same quantity of almond flour)

Raisins, 120g

Dessert wine (sweet wine), 100ml. You can substitute it with apple juice or grape juice, same quantity.

Unflavoured, plain biscuits, 100g

Ladyfingers, 300g

Cocoa powder, 50g

Dried figs, 120g

6 egg whites

Cinnamon, 1 teaspoon

Nutmeg, a pinch (optional)

Baking powder, 10g

I have unfortunately no idea on how to substitute the egg whites in baking if you want to make it vegan, and I've never tried anything to have an educated guess over tutorials online, if anyone have an intel I'll edit the recipe with pleasure! (And I'd be glad to know myself) All the spices can be skipped if you don't like them, and if you like me don't like figs, use your favourite dried fruit, it goes without saying.

PROCEDURE:

Wash and soak your raisins, either in water or in the wine/juice of the recipe.

Grind together the biscuits, ladyfingers and almond cookies until you obtain a fine grind. Move it in a bowl.

Grind the almonds to a fine flour, then add it to the biscuits in the bowl. Do the same with the dried figs.

Add to the bowl the flour, cocoa, cinnamon and a pinch of nutmeg (optional).

Drain the raisins if you soaked them in water, and add them to the bowl. If you soaked them in the wine/juice, add that too.

Add the egg whites, and start mixing everything together by hand or with a wooden spoon until you obtain a compact batter. Move it to a flat surface, floured, and keep working it with your hand until the batter is firm and solid. Form a sausage of it and cut it in thick slices.

The slices should then be modelled and flattened so they're fairly thick (1cm of depth, the recipe says, but you do you) and shaped like longue tongues. They're not really small!

Put them on a baking tray, minding not to place them too close together: they'll rise a little in the baking.

Cook them in a pre-heated oven at 180°C/350°F for around 25 minutes (use a toothpick to check if they're cooked inside). When they're ready, powder them with powdered sugar and let them cool.

The recipe wants you to leave them alone for at least two days, so they'll get soft, but listen. No judgement here, eat them whenever you'd like, life is bitter as it is without restraining yourself not to eat cake for two days.

[curi0us-gh0st]

Christmas Gifts (xg)

pairings: xg x fem!reader!8th member, chisa x jurin.

word count: 955.

genre: fluffy.

summary: Christmas Eve with the XG girls!

a/n: Merry Christmas? Oh, this is late lol || Happy new year guys! [no review]

The snow had been falling for almost a week, the girls gathered together in the dorm after Simon gave them a few days off to enjoy the celebratory date, Christmas. Everyone was eager and excited to spend it together, they all bought gifts to give each one individually, Chisa and Jurin were currently in the kitchen preparing cookies to eat while they were all around the tree, while there were three excited children poking and pinching the sweets, aka Maya , Harvey and you.

Scaring Juria and Hinata when they ran into the living room after almost being attacked by a Chisa furious because you were stealing the freshly baked cookies, with the threat: “If you come back, I won't have any mercy!”. Of course, if you came back she would be ready with half a bag ready to throw at you.

It's a few minutes before midnight, they were all spread around the room, laughing at each other because of what they were wearing, Chisa and Harvey dressed as Christmas trees, Maya and Cocona as snowmen, Jurin and you as reindeer, finishing with Hinata like Santa Claus.

“Okay, should we start delivering presents?” Maya asked anxiously as she looked at her pile of gifts.

"I think so?" Hinata nodded hesitantly, waiting for a response from the leader, looking at Chisa.

“Oh, sure. Here we go!" Chisa agreed.

They all flew to the Christmas tree, picking up their gifts with their names on them and sitting down again, waiting for another answer to open them or at least try to guess who was responsible for the gift. Chisa held her gift in her lap, giving a signal to everyone to open their gifts, whistles of excitement and murmurs of excitement could be heard throughout the room.

“Why is mine so big~~?!” Cocona asked as she tried to open her gift, hearing the members giggle.

“It must be bigger than you!” Maya laughed at her friend as she opened the large green bow.

“Oh!” Cocona blurted out, taking the gift out of the bag and shaking it as she hugged the large stuffed Snorlax.

"So cute!" Harvey said as he hugged the giant plushie with Cocona.

“We can all hug, literally.” Hinata commented, looking at the plush in awe.

Meanwhile, you opened your gift, happy that your hidden friend loved the gift you chose especially for her. The members were startled by the scream you let out, holding up your gift excitedly, your nerd screaming inside you after getting a personalized Jinx.

"I don't believe!" She shouted as she held the biscuit sculpture, jumping up and down excitedly, the members laughing at her reaction.

“The nerd is excited.” Chisa teased the newest joining of the other members.

"How am I?" Jurin asked, drawing attention to the leader, seeing her with a hat with kitten ears and on each side a small knitting rope with stars hanging from it.

The girls applauded and laughed at the eldest as she praised her, who had a smug and proud smile on her lips. A bright flash reached the girls' eyes, regaining their vision to see Maya with a huge naughty smile as she held a polaroid camera, some laughing as they asked to take more decent photos.

Juria, Cocona and Harvey were excited as they played with their current plushies, including Snorlax, Juria's Hello Kitty and a unicorn giving it to Harvey, laughing like a child who had just received his wish from Santa.

Chisa drawing attention from all over Japan by turning on a microphone as a gift, as she loved singing, the members' current thoughts would be to buy earplugs, while on the other side of the room, Hinata dangled Ariana Grande's album in her hands at you and Maya, they spent a long moment enjoying the exchange of surprise gifts before giving that look.

They dispersed to get more cookies in the kitchen, Chisa and Jurin shrugging as they talked in the living room, until the youngest girl's call was heard and they walked to the kitchen entrance and were stopped by you and Maya excitedly as they said nonsense things until Tell the older ones to look at the ceiling. Looking only to see the little mistletoe being hung by a ribbon.

That wasn’t there earlier…” Jurin spoke calmly, Chisa agreeing with her.

“No, you just didn’t see it.” You snorted, adding to the lie. “Either way, it doesn’t matter at this point.”

“Really, just do tradition.” Maya encouraged, her eyes shining.

A wave of encouragement filled the kitchen, Chisa and Jurin's cheeks red, shy that their members were doing this.

“Okay, okay, okay.” Chisa agreed, silencing the audience, looking shyly at Jurin after a quick sigh. "So you…"

Chisa didn't have to complete to receive a sweet and soft kiss on the lips by Jurin, her wide eyes relaxing with the mutual feelings as it was just her and Jurin left, the surprised younger girls began to clap and celebrate, jumping up to hug their leaders. .

“Oh, I wasn’t expecting that!” You mentioned it to Maya, she agreed.

“What were you waiting for?” Juria innocently asked.

“A kiss on the cheek?” Maya replied, silence taking over the room after they managed to bring the new couple together, both with their cheeks burning with shyness.

“Oh, we're still under the mistletoe…” It was Hinata's turn to speak. “Can we have Christmas cheek kisses?” She asked the older ones, receiving a nod.

“Of course, my loves!”

The night followed by you covered in kisses from both Chisa and Jurin, the night just ending in the early hours of the morning, snuggled in the living room, clinging to each other, sleeping peacefully after a session of Christmas movies.

[mykingdomforapen]

courage of stars, ch3 | writer's commentary

Hello all! Thank you for coming back to chapter 3! This chapter is one I was so excited to share with people, as it introduces the characters to a new setting that the story will take place for a good chunk--and it's a setting near and dear to my heart. It also contains QUITE a lot of historical background, which I might take for granted as someone growing up with the stories but may be new to another reader, so I will try to explain succinctly. Without further ado, let's get into some notes!

***

“Little chicken cookies!” he gasped. “Kai zai,” Popo said, correcting his Cantonese pronunciation. “Not muscle cookies, silly boy.” “Kai zai,” Xiaoshi repeated, although his mind was entirely elsewhere.

If I had a writer's commentary for every bit of food that these characters eat in this story, we would be here forever, so I will resist doing that. However, I just want to shout out little chicken cookies. Little chicken cookies, aka 'kai chai paeng' (or kai zai, Cantonese romanization varies), are a very Cantonese biscuit. They're originally called 'little phoenix biscuits' but I have mostly heard them be referred to as chicken biscuits. They're crispy, lightly meat-flavored, and delicious, and they are generally popularly sold in a specific historical neighborhood in Guangzhou.

“Did you know, Xiaoshi?” she murmured. “That the moon has mountains?”  “It does?” Xiaoshi said incredulously. “Where? Can I see?”  “Not from here,” she said. “But it has many. One of them is so tall, it’s over half the height of Everest. Do you remember learning about Everest?”  Xiaoshi nodded, transfixed.  “What else?” he asked.  Cai Liangxing hummed.  “Did you know,” she said, “that the moon gets moonquakes?”  “Mooncakes?”  “Silly! Moonquakes!”

Shout-out to this episode of Radiolab for all their wonderful moon facts that I learned to include in this fic. But yes, these are true facts! I highly recommend giving that episode, and that podcast as a whole, a listen, as there are just some incredible thoughts on the moon and about human curiosity. I can't recommend it enough.

“What about the rabbit?” Xiaoshi asked. “Do you think they get scared from all the shaking?” “No,” she said assuredly. “They’re there to be with their friend. So that she is never lonely. They can be brave if it helps their friend.” 

The Chinese legend of Chang'Er is probably quite well known, but I'll give it a quick summary in case anyone is unfamiliar: legend has it that Chang'er, the wife of a legendary hero, was entrusted with magic pills that would make a human immortal, which were gifted to her husband. While he was away, a baddie came and try to threaten her into giving him the pills. In order to keep it from the hands of the baddie, she swallowed the pills and ascended to the moon, but she has no way of coming back home to her husband. Her pet bunny did come along though, to keep her company. Legend has it that the bunny is pounding medicine in order to concoct a pill that would reverse the effects and bring Chang'er back home to Earth. There's a shadow that is bunny-shaped on the moon if you look at it in its fullness. But this is also where Cheng Xiaoshi gets his nickname from his mother!

“Ah,” Qiao Ling said softly. “They probably didn’t want you accidentally slipping it to her.” “I guess,” Cheng Xiaoshi said, somber. “I wonder if it even helped.”

It is rather common in China that if a loved one receives a terminal diagnosis, the doctors will actually tell the loved one's family, but not the patient themselves. Then, the family will elect not to tell their loved one about the diagnosis, and instead take care of all of their health matters in a subtle way to not let their loved one know that they're actually dying. The belief behind this is that if the patient finds out that they're dying, the distress will only worsen their health, and so the family will take upon themselves the burden of the truth and do what they can to give their loved one an unburdened remainder of their days.

Peidi University

In Guangzhou, and perhaps in other cities of China but I only know about one city, older universities will also be a residential neighborhood. It's all still within campus, but there are apartment buildings and living spaces where professors, faculty, and retired staff live, right next to student dormitories and school buildings. They're usually a peaceful oasis within the city, because traffic is very controlled so there are very few vehicles driving in and out, and generally only residents and workers mill about. Retirees still have a lot of privileges on campus, and they can still access the food canteens. Peidi University, while fictional, certainly draws from real beloved places! They were also older places, long-established universities from the 1800s, so I do not know if for example the university that the trio attend in the show would have been the same setup. Theirs look a little more modern.

“And his hair was pitch black too!” another retiree piped up.  “I’m starting to think you don’t like my hair, Professor,” Lu Guang chided lightly.  “Oh, you know that I’m teasing,” she laughed. “You may look like Yang Xier, but you are still so genteel.” 

Yang Xier is the heroine of a Chinese modern opera called The White-Haired Girl. My memories of the storyline are very vague and hazy, but what I know of it is that this young girl's father was killed (?) in front of her by enemy soldiers and she ran and hid in a cave for years. The shock and trauma then turned her hair pure white, and eventually came out of the cave and fell in love with a kind comrade or something along those lines.

Professor Lu's story

I'm not ever going to claim to be an expert on the CR. It almost feels strange of me to even try. As I've mentioned in a previous commentary, I will not claim to aim for historical accuracy, at the same time, I drew Professor Lu's stories almost entirely from oral history and I don't typically exaggerate or make something up--after all, truth is generally far more intense than fiction. There is a possibility I misunderstood, or parts of history become compounded into one.

Professor Lu does serve as like the Exposition character in this chapter, as he does have the role of tell vs show. Indeed, university campuses were pretty dire places to be during the CR, especially for a professor, especially for a physicist. Students were really passionate about this birth of New China, really championed this cause, and then sadly were swept up in the movement. As Professor Lu mentioned re: Wang Dai, not every university student would turn against their professors, but certainly many did (and, just as Professor Lu mentioned, many of them have come to apologize for it later).

Professors and academics indeed were sent to 'reform camps,' usually if not always in the countryside, to work in the farms with physical laborers. Tea farms or mountains or bricklaying are examples of them. They could be there for a year at a time, or several years. They might be allowed back to their homes for major holidays but otherwise they're living in the camps.

One had to be extremely careful about what you say or do for fear of it being interpreted as anti-Party, and then you are going to get in big trouble. Even if your intentions were absolutely not anti-Party, you can still get in big trouble. It got to the point where there was for lack of better words rampant witch hunts--people fervently turning in their neighbors, or forced to denounce their spouses, or children manipulated into turning in their parents. Sadly, a lot of people died this way, whether by the crowds or by suicide.

I know anecdotes of people walking outside of the campus and there would be bodies hanging from the trees, or buildings set on fire, etc. And technically, things in Guangzhou were tame compared to other regions. It was much worse elsewhere.

A capitalist roader, which Professor Lu mentions at one point, is someone who was perceived to be trying to hold China back from its Revolution, or try to bring China back to the ways of ye olde capitalism. Basically, someone who was in the Party but seemed to capitulate to capitalist ways or systems.

The CR is a very dense topic, and I wrote to be anecdotal rather than historical, so I don't want to try and explain why any of it happened the way it did, but rather think of what someone like Prof. Lu would have lived through in his humble life.

Sun Yihan's Story

This is where I do fudge the timeline a bit, and that's mainly because of how young Lu Guang is. Sun Yihan and LG's Grandma hunting for frogs to stave off hunger would have happened during the early 60s, because at the time of the Great Leap Forward there was a nationwide manmade famine. People had so so little food, and so I know anecdotes of family indeed hunting for frogs at the university pond for extra bites to eat whilst pregnant, but that was around the early 60s. Lu Guang is quite young though, and I reckon his dad is born later than that. So this is a part where I muck up the timeline. That isn't to say that people wouldn't have been hungry in the late 60s or early 70s, because there was still some heavy rationing of food all the way up to like, the 80s so people didn't have all that much access too food (hence how in chapter 1, one of the characters mentions that they only have chicken once a year, and meat only about twice a week). There very well may have been frog-hunting as a mean to survive. But I want to be transparent about where my stories are coming from.

“Han Ge, your face is like Buddha,” little Lin laughed once. She wiggled her finger over Sun Yihan’s birthmark. “What if they chop your head off too?”

Buddhism wasn't really acceptable during the CR. Temples and Buddha statues were among the casualties of destroyed historical or cultural relics during the CR, hence little Lin's childish comment.

And, within that millisecond, Lu Tianbao was pierced with what he had long tried to forget. A memory that he never reopened, but instead let it rattle and howl like a ghost in a haunted hall. The memory of when he was ten years old when Japanese soldiers grabbed his uncle by the hair and dragged him to the edge of the Pearl River, where three other men shivered at gunpoint. They tied him with a rope to the doomed men, tight around the waist and only an arm’s width apart. 

We take another look back at the Japanese invasion of China here, with Professor Lu's memories. There was an incident where the Japanese soldiers tied Chinese men together, where one of those men could not swim, and then threw them all into the waters. The one drowning man dragged all of them down, and so they all drowned.

The Library

Book-burning and book-banning was, of course, prevalent in China's modern history. Western physicists would not have been smiled upon and would have likely been tossed into the refuse pile. Other banned books included Chinese classic novels, European novels...basically, anything that wasn't written by Mao or by Russian Communists were on thin ice. And while people were tasked to toss out those books, those who appreciated them would sneakily read them all beforehand. After all, no one's going to bother you when you've got the library to yourself.

Einstein's quote mentioned in the story is from a letter he wrote to someone, so frankly it is dicey how accessible that quote would have been to a Chinese person in the 70s. However, it was a good quote, and relevant, so I used it.

-

Gosh, that was a lot of notes, and I KNOW that I was purposely vague or brief. I don't mean to be blase as to dismiss anyone's desire to learn, but I want to emphasize I'm not the word of truth, and also I want to be mindful of how I explain things since the internet is quite public, and I would like to avoid causing trouble. But, I really hope that this adds to your reading experience. These historical and cultural contexts are going to be important for other aspects of this story, so I do appreciate you reading through this and hope that they all make sense. Happy to talk on DM if you have questions or want details! Thank you so much!

[chen-chen-chen-again-chen]

Hi, hello, hola, it's me! This is not a WIP Wednesday post (well, the WIP is always me), but it's something.

First off, thank you thank you thank you to all the beautiful people who messaged me, or commented, or tagged me in things, or even just thought kind warm thoughts at me while I've been away and not writing. Brain not working good enough to sort through the things and tag properly but you know the drill - I love you all.

Here are things I did while I wasn't writing AKA while I have Big Sad Brain:

I visited London, and had a great time - eating delicious food, flat-sitting, visiting old haunts, picking up new ones, spending time with friends, and watching too much Shakespeare. The salted beef bagels in Brick Lane are still unparalleled, there were daffodils everywhere, and I brought home too much tea but not enough biscuits.

I buzzed my hair short again, and as EarlobeGreyTea said, "it really moved your energy from bisexual to lesbian," and then followed up with, "I'm glad that I, a man, could explain your sexuality to you"

I read a lot. I read The Locked Tomb series (I'm obsessed) and fell down a danmei pit (I have consumed SVSSS and MDZS but not yet TGCF) and I have spicy hot takes on why I did not enjoy The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo or The Starless Sea. I re-read all of Ann Leckie's books. I read The Future is Disabled in a Socialist bookshop in London, and I cried so fucking hard that the gentleman in the shop asked me if I was okay. I read The Song of Achilles and Circe and wandered down the labyrinth of getting really, really into Greek myth.

Speaking of: I bought an ROG Ally (horrible name, hate it, but the console itself is fine, it's like a more versatile Steam Deck) and I played Hades. So much Hades. So. Much. Hades. And every time I met Patroclus in Elysium, I bawled, "He's so SAD! He's such a SAD MAN! I need to make him UN-SAD!"

I finally finished the godforsaken Totoro cross-stitch pictured above. As soon as I framed it, I held it up to my spouse and said, "Could a depressed person make THIS?" and he said, "Yes" and then "Good job," because he's a lamb.

When I had energy, I cooked. I learned how to make carrot ginger dressing and shogayaki, and how to velvet pork. I made some of my standbys, like applesauce pancakes and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and felt very Smug and Very Adult for putting frozen cookie dough into my freezer so Future Me could have cookies. I introduced my family to Uncle Roger and I've never heard my mother (1) get so angry and (2) laugh so hard. When I couldn't cook, I ate food that someone else made, and it was enough to celebrate: I ate a meal! I ate food! I fed a me! Hooray!

I spent time with my beautiful friends. I spent time with my beautiful family. They are so good and they have been with me through so many tough things and depressive episodes, through bullshit and drama and tears, like that time I screaming-yelled at someone over the phone (they deserved it) during an engagement party at the cabin and then I had to walk out and pretend to be Normal and got drunk on a lot of Old Fashioneds.

I grew things. Flowers and vegetables and herbs and I accidentally made a great home for some very invasive weeds. The squirrels left only one sunflower alone (they ate the rest), but even now in mid-October, there are still bright coral-red flares of peppery nasturtium, and feathery pale pink zinnias from my caretaker at work (who is an angel), and gigantic, blue-tipped borage. My best friend moved in down the street from me, so she's only a five-minute walk away, and now I can pick flowers and stick them in a vase and walk them over to her, and I love it. I grew too many tomatoes (they got..... scary. My favourite were the heirloom tomatoes, as big as my fist, that remind me of my Lolo) and forgot about the cucumbers (they got lewd) and let myself get coaxed into growing three different kinds of mint: chocolate, grapefruit, and berries & cream (because I'm a little lad who loves berries and cream).

I bullied my spouse into watching Practical Magic with me the other evening and every time That Fucking Cop came on screen, he said, "That Fucking Cop! This movie would be good but there's too much of That Fucking Cop in it" and I felt so v i n d i c a t e d

I tried to write. I tried to write. I tried to write. I tried to write, and then let go of trying to write and just let myself do all the other things that make up living, try to amend the soil so that something good can grow there again. I tried to talk myself out of unhappiness but it's funny how that doesn't work, how only hard-fought kindness has helped me trudge out of the swamp, again and again and again.

I had one of those moments recently that felt like it could have been in one of my stories. At Thanksgiving dinner, I was sitting next to my little half-sister-in-law (a mouthful, I know). She is seven and she lost her dad two years ago and she said, "I wish my dad was here." And I said, "I know, honey. I think we all do." And she said, "I miss his piano playing," because her dad used to play piano the other way someone else might doodle on a napkin - absentmindedly, brilliantly, while wearing a faded green apron and with a dishtowel thrown over his shoulder, in between checking if the roast was up to temp and pouring someone a glass of wine. Always red wine, from the Piedmont region, which is where my spouse's Nonna is from. I asked my little half-sister-in-law, "Do you think you'll learn how to play piano?" and she said, "I don't know," and I said, "It's okay not to know." And then she asked, "Do you have a Gothita?" and we went back to talking about Pokemon, which we had been talking about for a conservative 90% of the dinner.

I wrote this. I wrote this and it felt good to feel my fingers moving, it felt good to have words spilling from me, it felt good to have faith in words again, that the words could be something good, could do something good, that the worlds could just be and it could be good, and that I could just be, and that could be good. Just being could be good. Even if I never wrote another word ever again, just being would be good. As I said to one of my friends many years ago during some deep dark down shitty times, "It's hard work, being human. Thank you for doing the work."

Take care. I love you all. ❤️❤️❤️

[aabaacuus]

splatoon 3 style splatbox [splatoon jackbox au] dialogue portraits!! in order it's; binjpipe [hologram form + Big Fucking Guy form], schmitty [normal + sanitized], cookie [normal + sanitized], redacted [unmasked + masked], todd, gene, dode, drawful owl, biscuit masterson [aka the champ'd up host], rue, agent 6 [aka the faker], laverne caverne, and m bubbles. please reblog this took so fucking lon g....

[phyllistines]

Ted Lasso s1e3 Analysis

I recently rewatched the third episode of Ted Lasso’s first season, and I noticed a ton of stuff. I’m gonna preface this by saying I know that trent wasn’t written to come back, and it was in fact James Lance that inspired Jason to add Trent in more, but there are a lot of things that tie back to tedependent, things that show it was here from the beginning, and Jason could have easily decided to just build off of that. Ok, now into this weirdly complicated analysis about nothing at all.

The first season of the show, specifically the first three eps, is dedicated to introducing what’s important to ted. Of course every first season of every show ever is for introducing characters, but there is a clear effort in the first three episodes to showcase what will motivate ted and what will be important to him.

first ep: beard,(his friendship with him) and his job

second ep: rebecca, family, the team

third ep: team functioning properly, friendships, trent

immediately trent is established as something important to the show and to ted. the first big (one on one) interaction between them is literally a date. besides that, it’s the first time we see trent (sort of) drop his guard. the reason for this is the spicy food, it catches trent off guard, and distracts him enough to not only stop talking about journalism, but actively struggle to talk about work. it’s a forced type of opening up, and it’s barely anything at all, but it is still there. it’s almost foreshadowing, the way trent is forced to drop his journalist facade when around ted can point to how he later fully drops it on purpose. there are some other themes that loosely tie back to season three as well, specifically the next episode (ep 9 as of writing this). The main conflict between roy and ted in s1e3 is about ted refusing to stop jamie from picking on nate. the fighting is the main story w roy and ted in the episode, and it eventually leads to ted and trent bonding. trent even chimes in to a convo between roy and ted to add some clarification. the next episode could really lead to some classic tedtrent action, seeing as the main conflict is sure to be colin and isaac fighting, and trent is arguably more involved with them than he ever was with roy’s storyline. Another interesting little theme i noticed was the fact that ted connects with people through food. (very basic but bare with me) He brings rebecca biscuits everyday to get to know her better, (he calls trent a cookie at one point too) he gets sam food when he’s homesick, he and beard have a weekly sandwich swap tradition, and his friendship with keeley begins to develop when he innocently feeds her a sandwich. Almost every meaningful relationship in the show surrounds food, with Ted having the most out of anyone. (other food relationships include Sam naming his restaurant after Ola and cooking with him, nate meeting his gf at his favorite restaurant, and then ted’s whole experience at the american restaurant aka “home”) we also see the entire team connect over a big meal three times in separate seasons. trent is present for one of these, establishing him as a person worth connecting to, even if he’s not officially part of the team yet. The final little piece from s1e3 is something that trent says in his lil voiceover at the end of the episode. “His coaching style is subtle. It never hits you over the head. Slowly growing until you can no longer ignore its presence.” Sound familiar? It’s incredibly similar to his lil speech/rant he gives to Ted at the end of “The Strings that Bind Us”: “By slowly but surely building a club-wide culture of trust and support through thousands of imperceptible moments, all leading to their inevitable conclusion.” Trent’s presence in this show has been prevalent and it’s all been leading up to this final season.

[hermesserpent-stuff]

so... i mentioned a dream i had last night about my spidersona and so i decided to take the motivation to draw and write out ideas. Ill put it all under the cut cause its a bit long and goofy.

First things first. Not in New york. This takes place in a city more akin to richmond. or some other southern city. Not too big, not too tall, and near enough to tobacco that that is something that is thought about.

second things second, gotta clear this from my chest. Bitten by a beetle. A Lasioderma serricorne, aka Tobacco Beetle. Agrioscorp was developing and presenting pesticides to use against such creatures. Martha, our tiny hero, was there for a school project about crops and bing boom. Beetle that the pesticide was supposed to murder actually didn't murder the beetle and it gave the magic bite of powers.

Name: Martha Anne Taylor

Hero name: The Dynamic Tobacco Beetle. or Baccy

Alignment: HAHAHHA she watched too much a-team, red dawn, and Smokey and the Bandit growing up. while respectful, she does not see the system as the end all be all and often tries to talk to her villains. Drags them to a good meal.

powers: Climbing walls, super strength, enhanced senses, immunity to certain toxins, can digest less nutritious food (like rotten food) with no problem, good at riding horses (not a power... .. .)

toolkit: rope shooters, ginger cinnamon molasses cookies to offer villains. Armor (the dark brown bits under her jacket)

weaknesses: Cold!! gets slower and slower as she gets colder. at 39.2 Fahrenheit (4 °C) she passes out. she learns to layer pretty fast. Homemade Biscuits and iced sweet tea. offer those and she'll be distracted enough for you to go commit crimes

age: 16ish.

backstory: Lives with her maternal grandpa after most of her family was killed. by hurricanes. :/ dang. Her grampa runs a horse carriage service within the city and she helps care for the horses in her downtime

foes: mostly based on tssm versions. because beloved. BUT we have some changes and some dynamic shake-ups and name changes because.

vulture-> to Falcon (Adrian Toomes): He is an old inventor whose work has been taken over and over and he is done. Osborn (like in tssm) took his design and this was the breaking point. Hes bent on revenge. and Baccy is bent on getting him to calm down and eat a Snickers. eek.

Tinkerer( Phineas Mason): Owns a technology repair store and has underground dealings in tech that the store acts as a front for. Quentin lives with him due to him owing Quentin's deceased parents a huge favor. Quentin used to live in new york city and had to move with tinkerer down south.

mysterio-> Mysterium (Quentin Mason nee Beck): Northern City Kid who feels pretty out of water. Goes to the same school as Martha. They end up as pals. but that's a complicated story.

Tombstone: similar to tssm. crime lord. of a relatively small city so its a bit easier. Also!! Baccy cant go in his office. He keeps it too cold. He has no idea that's the case. She leaves notes on his window to threaten him. Like cut out letter ransom notes. He leaves some in reply on occasion.

---

other people ive thought about:

Ella Osborn is the sickly daughter of Norman. She can do some things but tires easily. Very easily. Martha is a tutor for her, as she is mainly homeschooled. it gives her a chance to interact with other kids her age. Not by her parents though. There are people they can pay to do it instead.

[skinreflectsthesun]

I really sat down and thought about making myself some breakfast, a nice omelet with some coffee, and then promptly decided that that was too much work and then had blueberry breakfast biscuits (aka cookies) with my coffee, girl breakfast at its finest honestly

[rosejigglypuff76]

Cookie Run Kimura AU Sprite Edit 🪴 Cherry Ball Party aka; Intimate Get Together 🍒

- - - - - - - - - -

Synopsis 🎀

Cherry Ball Futaba ends up having a lot more on her plate during her weekend visit with her little sisters, Cherry Blossom and Cherry Bomb.

It was supposed to be Cherry Blossom bringing her group of friends over, which Cherry Ball agrees with.

But the older of the two never realized that it would get out of control.

Cookies ranging from those in Cookie Biscuit City into anyone outside of the city (Legendaries, Ancients, etc) coming in uninvited much to Cherry Ball's dismay. - - - - - - - - - - Original Song Original Show

[smoshidiot]

💛Smoshblr December Asks Day 15💙

What are your top 3 comfort foods? 🤗

And which 3 foods to you try to avoid at all costs? (aka how could Garrett completely ruin your day if you were on eioyi 🤢)

mac n cheese (or most pasta tbh but mac n cheese will always be the fave)

fresh baked chocolate chip cookies ♡ i've gotta bake some soon

biscuits and gravy. when they're done well they go soooo hard it's my fave breakfast and so comforting

i am a very picky eater so i genuinely dont think i could ever do eioyi. but here's just a few

mushrooms in general. they kinda freak me out (i had a fear of the pokemon paras as a kid lmao)

any kind of __salad. i like mayo on sandwiches but do not put tuna/chicken/pasta salad in front of me i do not vibe w that texture

uhh olives or smth

[sssaturnsnake]

hello, i guess.

realized i should probably make an intro of sorts. so here.

my name is saturn. or argon. or biscuit. or anything, really. i make art sometimes. i have a very weird set of interests that constantly fluctuates between a and b, so heres a list of what i like (and don't).

Major Interests:

the binding of isaac

neon white

brawl stars

terraria

pkmn mystery dungeon (explorers of sky)

waterparks (band)

weathers (band)

persona (5)

one piece (especially sanji. sorry)

Minor Interests:

homestuck

omori

minecraft (not dsmp)

cookie clicker (god save me)

dragonvale

wings of fire

pokemon (competitive) (i do not compete)

btd6

evangelion

geometry dash

danganronpa

splatoon (3)

hollow knight

Stuff I Hate for Very Specific Reasons (aka never mention this stuff to me ever):

the owl house

my hero academia

genshin impact

dragon maid

corpse husband (and associated parties)

basically every minecraft youtuber except philza and hermitcraft

that's it basically. idk. don't ask about the stuff i hate, because most of it is irrational or for a reason i don't want to talk about. i am bad at ending introductions.

[sarah-sandwich]

favourite biscuit?

*squints in are you american or british (aussie???)* I'm going to assume you mean british biscuits aka cookies bc that's a far more interesting question.

Homemade chocolate chip cookies! Specifically my homemade chocolate chip cookies 😋

simple understated classic delectable

you can't lose!

[adoptsomecookies]

Hello! Would like to inform you that Timekeepers are being sold by @ i-sell-eepers and they're actually dumbed down as well as powered down massively for ownership convenience. I don't think they're created legally but they seem to be taken great care of. I kinda want one but I want to know your opinion first.

* The more i scrolled down that blog the more my brows raised in horror

* What IS this?! These are basically.... what did they DO to my own Cookie type?! I am appalled! Us cookies are not PETS. We are living BEINGS, we should not be created for such things, these humans are the exact reasons why people take us to vets when sick when that is the incorrect place to take a cookie, why they think us cookies cannot understand what they are saying, or talk to us like we do not understand that they are planning to abandon us on the side of a road somewhere to get picked off by some blasted birds! These 'eepys' are like those... what are they, Fluffies? Those weird giant fluffball ponies that people seem to love mauling?

* There is nothing wrong with a short or chubby version of my cookie type, thats perfectly fine, normal even, its the fact They are purposely dumbed down to the intelligence equivalent to a box of rocks and completely pathetic and helpless that rubs me the wrong way, this is horrible! And they have ones that are specifically made for exploding? What sort of personal hell is this???

* I will not attack this user, nor will I even interact with them, and I expect you all to not harass them for this, if I see any of you coming over to bully them or harass them I will put my foot down. You can interact with them if you want, you can get a billion eepers if you wish to, but I will not touch this blog with a pole that spans across the entire omniverse, personally. You do what you want, you are you and you should not expect a random stranger that is an timegod biscuit person to tell you what to do. But here in this blog, Cookies are not that dumb, nor that small. We have adoption centers here only because we are adopted out like children (aka lots of paperwork, with both parties being okay with eachothers existence and signing it) or most commonly baked on a whim without prior research, but yet abandoned like animals because we prove to be too smart for our own good, THATS why I made my center, to give a home and place of respite in a world that mainly thinks of us as just pets.

TLDR: I do not like the blog personally due to the dumbing down and infantile powers of my own cookie type: Timekeeper Cookies. But you all can do what you wish and get a bunch of eepys if you want, I unfortunately cannot judge someone for wanting a cute dumb thing...

[hermesserpent-stuff]

Tobacco Beetle AU

This is background for the main hero, her friends, and potential future friends. Villains will have to be a separate post because this is already very very long.

Yay spidersona world building!!

Where:

This takes place in Richsten, a southern city with a port in Virginia. The city is not big, nor does it really matter to most people. New York is where most of the superheroes are, like the Avengers, and where many of the major crime organizations, like Hydra, put their focus. Not many look to Richsten. And that suits people in the city just fine. 

The city once was a hub for tobacco markets and things like cigarette rolling, with tobacco fields still lying just outside of the city. The smell of tobacco still fills the city, with its lingering smell reminding of the past that still touches the city. The movements of those markets out of the city and the slow movement away of the rolling factories has led to a slow decline of the city, leaving it poorer than it once was. 

Its age also leaves it haunted, full of ghosts. Just like the smell of tobacco, spirits linger throughout the city, reminders of the past that touch everything. 

Many villains are based off of TSSM’s versions with some changes cause spidersona au lol

Martha Anne Taylor

Name: Martha Anne Taylor

CB Radio handle: Ginger Snap

Aka: The Dynamic Tobacco Beetle “Baccy”

Powers: Climbing walls, super strength, enhanced senses, immunity to certain toxins, can digest less nutritious food (like rotten food) with no problem, good at riding horses

Toolkit: rope shooters; designed after books she found in the library on grappling hooks. Shes not a brilliant scientist or engineer, but she can copy and twist. And she does her best. But they are not always operational to the highest standard. A lot of the times, she just jumps and climbs it it seems like she can get where she needs to without swinging

ginger cinnamon molasses cookies to offer villains. 

Brown leather armor, made by her own hand from bits of leather she has hoarded over the years from the stable her grandfather runs.

Weakness: Cold!! She gets slower and slower as she gets colder. at 39.2 Fahrenheit (4 °C) she passes out. she learns to layer pretty fast. 

Homemade Biscuits and iced sweet tea. Offer those and she'll be distracted enough for you to go commit crimes

Age: 16ish

Height: 5 foot

Backstory: Martha has been living with her maternal grandparents since forever. The rest of her family has been chipped away over the years. Her mom died at childbirth, her dad died in a hurricane with her paternal grandparents when she was three. 

She is a horse loving history nerd who might be just slightly too obsessed with the American Revolution. And with history in general. She knows so much about the history of the city and feels like it is a part of her bones.

She ends up at an exposé for Agrioscorp (oscorp of this world). They were developing pesticides to use against crop pests. Martha is there for a school project about crops and then she is bitten by a tobacco beetle (Lasioderma serricorne) that the pesticide was supposed to murder, but instead altered its genes and made it able to give powers through a bite. It gets one bite and dies. She doesnt know what to do with the powers at first. Shes never really thought shed do much, content to grow up like her grandparents and take over their carriage business when she is old enough too. She’s not even really planning on college. She's not dumb, or unmotivated, just content with her lot in life. And then, two weeks after finding out she has powers, her Grandmother takes her on a surprise trip to New York to see the museums there. And then they end up in an attack. Some robbers. Human. Desperate. Her grandmother keeps her pushed back, unable to do anything. Some heroes burst in and the robbers, startled and scared of what is going to happen to them start firing wildly. Those the robber who shot her grandmother is felled by friendly fire and the other robbers are taken up by the cops and heroes.

Martha decides to become a hero. She doesnt want people to die like her grandmother had. But she also doesnt want to inspire fear. She grew up watching too much A-team, Red Dawn and Smokey and the Bandit to feel like police and government are the only paths to justice. So she suits up and heads out. She figures out how to fight, but more importantly to her, she figures out how to talk. To coax and to listen. She wears her opponents down until they are willing to talk and then she hauls them off to fill them with food at local bbq and breakfast places. She hoards all of her allowance to afford this. And some of those local business band together to create a small fund and find jobs willing to hire ex-cons. She listens to what the criminals have to say, their stories and their troubles, and tries to get them to places willing to help. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. A lot of people think that she’s just being taken advantage of. And she's fine with that. Life is hard enough without her adding to it. Some people just need a little mercy and grace. 

And so her career begins!

Main friends

Name: Gwynn Stacy

CB Radio handle: Glasses

Aka: Not a villain. Or hero.

Powers: Does being a wizz at science count? Lol. Also super strong death glares. His peers fear them.

Toolkit: Science.

Age: 16 almost 17

Height: 5’ 4”

Weakness: Wants to rise from his current life. He is willing to erase his accent and save his time 

Backstory: Born and raised in Richsten. He wants to leave and/or get a job in chemistry or bioscience. He is taking all the AP’s he can and is planning to go to college. He prefers to stick to the rules and often is the one to encourage people to get calmer. He sort of is against taking Ella all over town against her father’s wishes. Often over ruled and follows along to try to keep things from getting worse.

His dad is Captain Stacy of the police force. His dad wants him to be able do whatever he wants in life.

Name: Ella Osborn

CB Radio handle: Kelpie

Aka: Not a villain. Or hero.

Powers: Good at communing with the dead. 

Toolkit: Lots of free time. Lots of knowledge of myths, legends and ghost.

Age: 17

Height:5’ 4” 

Weakness: Physically very weak and sickly. Not able to walk very far without needing to sit. She uses mobility devices like wheelchairs and a cane (depending on the day) inside her home. Norman Osborn does not want her to leave the home most of the time, so often she does not have these aids outide of the house. Bruises very easily.

Easily possessed. But the ghosts cant do much other than talk before she passes out and they are expelled. 

Backstory: Ella was born sickly. Often her stomach does not take in all the nutrients and calories of food. And so she stays relatively weak. She is forced to be homeschooled, but not by her parents. She has tutors and often is ignored by her mother and father. She was lonely till a chance meeting with martha (before martha had powers). Martha starts helping her sneak out and hauls her around the city.

She loves myths and the supernatural and has dedicated much of her time to learning about them. She becomes the go to expert on ghosts in the group once Martha and Quentin realize just how haunted the city is.

She would say Martha is her best best friend. 

Quentin is her best friend: yelled at her dad on her behalf.

Gwynn is her friend.

Name: Quentin Mason nee Beck 

CB Radio handle: Dreamer

Aka: Mysterium (this worlds mysterio)

Powers: None. Though ghosts like him. And so do most stray cats.

Toolkit: Drones!! And smoke and holograms.

Weakness: Drama. He will sacrifice a surefire way to win if another method would look cooler or would be more dramatic.

Age: 16

Height: 5’ 9”

Backstory: Quentin is from New York originally and loved the big city and really wanted to end up on the stage or in movie making. He loves the theater. He never wanted to leave New York. his mom left his dad when he was 5 and his dad died when he was 11. He was left with Phineas Mason (tinkerer) due to the man being life time friends with his dad. Phineas makes weapons for the underground and Quentin learned a lot of his coding and building knowledge from him or by working on his gear. He loves Phineas but they get into fights at times. One of the biggest fights was Phineas’ decision to move them away from New York. That argument meant a long bout of silent treatment leading up to the move. But eventually, Quentin came around, understanding that there were too many heroes in New York for them to safely stay and continue to not be on the radar. And he doesnt love the idea of Phineas being killed or taken from him.

He ends up at the same high school as Martha and he feels like a fish out of water. They become friends as she helps him adjust and he starts to appreciate the city. He makes her a CB radio because she does not have a cell phone. He also becomes friends with Gywnn and Ella. He gets into a loud fight publicly against Norman Osborn for trying to keep Ella inside all the time. He is not allowed to visit. 

He ends up becoming a super villain, not out of any real anger or anything, but because he feels like the city needs one. It has a hero, doesnt it? Heroes need villains. 

He becomes friends with Baccy after his first defeat when he is dragged to a BBQ place: Woofsters. He helps her fight other villains when he feels like she needs it. He claims its to keep the name of the number one villain of the city. But he actually does it because he is besties with her and kinda doesnt want her to die.

Potential future friends!:

Name: Jackson 'Montana' Brice

Aka: tbd but leaning towards Tremors. 

Powers: None. But he is super willful. 

Toolkit: Makes his own shocker costume using a vague knowledge of mechanic from having to fix cars and guns growing up. It is a very very cobbled together piece of tech

Age: 19

Height: 5’ 6”

Weakness: always hungry and is a bit on the weaker side than is healthy for his age. He also will do anything for his kids. Whatever sacrifice or thing that must be done he will do.

Backstory: Raised in the Brice family, a family of mercs who travel about and take jobs. Threatening and offing people. But mostly threatening. They have a right of passage to adulthood and being allowed to take jobs alone, typically taken at the age of 18. He did it at 15. And survived it. Before this point, he traveled the country and world with his dad. 

At 15 he enters the world alone with some lingering support from his family. At 17 he takes in a 16 year old Ox. The kid is bigger than him, but had been stuck in fight rings. He settles down in Richsten to provide some stability and let Ox get schooling. He ends up taking in a 14-year-old Dan who has been left on the streets. 

Montana feels responsible for these two like a father. Or older brother. Depends on the moment. They all work together as enforcers, taking on jobs for the big man. But he also does extra work, security for concerts, odd jobs around town, anything to get a little more money. And he skips meals when his kids arent around to save more. He keeps them afloat by the skin of his teeth and pure stubbornness.

He becomes friends with Quentin when Quentin cuts him a deal to fix a calculator for cheaper. He and Quentin like similar music and Montana helps him get into shows that Montana is security for. Quentin is happy to give more deals and over time its friendship. Close friendship.

And so when he ripped apart an RC car to get a lot of the components for his villain persona and it glitches after the first few times out, he comes to quentin. Who helps make it better after extracting a promise. No killing. And Montana is happy to agree.

Name: Ox Brice

Aka: tbd but Ox??? maybe

Powers: none. But is a good fighter

Toolkit: really good at just powering through pain. Good at watching and reading people.

Age: 18

Height: 5’ 11”

Weakness: His family.

Backstory: Ox was abandoned young at an orphanage. An orphanage that kept the lights on by selling kids to fight rings. He was not well-loved by the staff and so when he was old enough to throw a punch he was sold. He learned quickly to keep his head down and mouth shut. He meets Montana when he is 16 when Montana is breaking up the ring on his own to get some other persons lost son. And he sees his chance and he helps Montana destroy the ring. Montana offers him a family. And Ox takes the chance presented to him.

Name: Dan Brice

CB Radio handle: Silver Tongued Devil

Aka: tbd maybe bullet…. idk

Powers: none. But!! Quick study and hyper good memory. This works both for and against him

Toolkit: mixed fighter. Spent a lot of time figuring out any fighting style he saw. Also good at info gathering

Age: 16

Height: 5 foot

Weakness: easy to egg into having a fight. Especially if the other Enforcers are insulted. 

Backstory: he grew up in a house with three other kids and a mom that didn't want him. His dad was a trucker and would let him ride along during summers. He loved those long hauls that took him away from angry slaps and digging words. He spent most of the rest of the time out of the house, learning as many different fight styles that he can to keep himself safe at school at the very least.

That all ends when his father is killed in a supervillain attack while trucking when Dan is 14. His mom packs him into a car and drops him in the middle of Richsten, telling him that he reminds her too much of his father and that she cannot stand for him to stay in her house. And he wanders the streets for a little bit until Montana finds him fighting off some guy tring to steal the little bit of money he has.

Starts talking to Martha and friends over cb radio for homework help and eventually becomes friends with them at school.