#but mostly I want gumbo

[milfzatannaz]

I just saw a Korean food influencer make an entire soul food spread for her parents to try for the first time and I was SO awed and flattered. she specifically used recipes from black chefs and her food looked gooooood. I love cross cultural exchange man

[direwombat]

The season of spooky just beamed the concept of sybille "on the run because I killed my daddy. Brutally" la roux and jacob "archetypal 'cabin in the woods'-slasher type serial killer" seed and as much as i'd like it to be a full blown horror where syb unwittingly uses jacob's cabin as a safehouse, thinking it was abandoned, and he torments her there...

...but i also know in my heart syb deserves a santa clarita diet style dark comedy au about her and jacob both evading the law and they end up fake married in rural montana and also jacob is still killing people

[the-xolotl]

Sweet, Soft Shadow Man

Alastor x gn!Reader & Al’s Shadow

♡ Itty bitty snip

♡ a/n: i feel like i’ve only been writing smut recently so here’s something soft

summary: Alastor’s shadow adores you, because Alastor adores you, but he’s a lot more reserved with his feelings. His shadow on the other hand has little qualms about showing affection or responding to yours, and maybe Al feels a little jealous.

♡ TAGS: sfw, domestic fluff, slight jealousy, some banter, no use of y/n, latine coded reader lowkey.

One thing to get use to as you and Al had begun dating was his shadow constantly hovering around you anywhere you went where Alastor himself wasn’t. At first it had felt smothering, like he didn’t trust you alone or like you couldn’t defend yourself, when you in fact very much can. You’d roll your eyes every time you caught the shadowy figure out if the corner of your eye or even tried to get it to go back to Alastor but of course it only listened to its master and would stare at your blankly with the holes that are supposed to be his eyes.

However, as you got to know it and Alastor you realized it wasn’t that that your lover thought you couldn’t look after yourself. No, what you came to realize (and kept to yourself because it’s much too precious) is that Alastor is a proud man ok not that, you knew that very well but that he has his peculiar way of showing affection, one way was to keep his shadow with you when he himself couldn’t. His pride got in the way of him being outwardly affectionate towards you even after courting, properly asking you be his partner and all the time spent together, he still kept to himself a lot simply reciprocating what you initiated. But having the one thing that’s an extension of himself guard you and keep you company was one of the first tokens of care he’d given you.

Thereafter this discovery you didn’t mind it as much, in fact, you even gave it a name; Sombra. You grew very fond of the curious creature that mostly kept itself to surfaces or even in the silhouette of your shadow. It made you giggle every time Sombra did, because you could feel an odd, ghostly weight on your person when it did despite being in its intangible form. Sombra,you also found, is very animated with you. It showed a lot of emotion: joy, sadness, excitement etc. And it didn’t always smile like Alastor did, it could frown, or have a neutral expression. The more you got to know it, the more you became attached to it and it to you. Where to even without Alastor sending it to you, Sombra came to you out of its own accord or even when you called it.

While not entirely against it, Alastor found it a little irritating that literal part of him spent more time with you than he did sometimes. After all he’s an Overlord and the manager of the Hazbin Hotel with the Princess of Hell, he’s a busy man. And the fact you named it, like a pet. His shadow was wrapped around your finger the same way Alastor was, but at least Alastor didn’t show it so forwardly. This fact made Alastor a little bashful the first time you had revealed this to him, all of the little things his shadow did for you.

For example it would bring you little gifts, either from Alastor… Or its own. Small trinkets, flowers (not even store bought just wild flowers off the streets) or even limbs. You didn’t question the limbs even if they put you off at times. Sombra became very cuddly and liked to follow you around even when you only did mundane things. Like today, you’re in the kitchen making a dinner you had made Alastor promise to be there for. He’d been unusually busy recently and as much as you love Sombra, you miss your significant other. You had been prepping the ingredients for a special dish you wanted Alastor to try, that while not entirely southern food, it’s very similar to something like gumbo, when out of the corner of your eye you saw a flash of a black figure. It disappeared as soon as you turned to look in that direction, so you shifted your focus back to the food.

A few times more this happened before a menacing shadow loomed right over you as you threw chopped vegetables into the pot of already boiling water with salt and other seasonings on it. It made half the kitchen dim and it seemed to swallow up its surroundings. You smiled wide giggling looking up at the ceiling, “Sombra~” you sing-song, greeting the ghostly silhouette, “Want a taste?” you offered one of the still uncooked pieces of red meat. It shrunk down to its usual size on the wall taking the offered food. Chuckling at how the meat hovered in the air before it disappeared as Sombra put it in its mouth. The shadow smiled wide giving you a thumbs up as it watched you add herbs into the cooking pot.

“That’s not a pet, you know that right darling?” Alastor’s unfiltered voice came from the door frame as he entered unannounced. While his voice had its usual uppity lilt his tone came a little annoyed. You had reach to hug and pet Sombra like you always do to welcome it, you thought Alastor wouldn’t come for another while longer so you indulged the little servant before its master arrived but you got caught right in the act. It retracted to Alastor’s side like it always did as he threw it a sideways glance.

“Of course he’s not. But its cute, in its own way,” you smile. “Welcome home, my love,” smiling at the radio demon you gingerly made your way to him wrapping your arms around him with a tight hug. He did the same, planting a soft kiss on your forehead, your smile widen. “I missed you,” you whispered looking up at him with big doe eyes. Because you did. You really, really did. You didn’t want to say it outloud but you almost thought he wouldn’t show or he’d be late. So it made you exceedingly happy he had already arrived. “It’s almost ready, why don’t you go sit at the table.”

From his seat, he watched you prepare the side dishes as the pot on the stove simmered, however his eyes more than fixating on you, they followed the movement of his shadow standing next to you at all times. Handing you things, making you laugh and giggle with little actions. And of course it’s his shadow he could feel how giddy your attention made it. Every time you said thank you, every time you gave it a compliment or whenever you pet it. He felt it’s eye twitch seeing Sombra lay his transparent head on the shadow of your shoulder and you didn’t bat an eye. Part of it is guilt, guilt that he had been so absent and distant for weeks, because he’d been too preoccupied with other responsibilities, and jealousy. The jealousy is what bothered him the most. That damn shadow had been hoarding all your attention even as he’d been sitting in the same room with you.

Alastor wouldn’t admit it’s his fault, of course. So instead he gets up from the table again coming up to stand behind you, long arms wrapping around your middle. It surprised you a little, making your stutter the rhythm of your stirring. Alastor rested his chin on the same shoulder Sombra had, making direct eye contact with the sentient being and intimidating it into moving away from you. If it could hiss, it would have. But it moved away without you noticing. Alastor’s arms tighten around you for a second before speaking softly, “I apologize for neglecting you, or if you’ve felt lonely in my absence, darling,” his words were sincere. Alastor didn’t like being away from you very long, didn’t like having to go places filled with people he couldn’t care less about and having to deal with others he disliked. But duties are duties and work is work, he’s a man of principle.

But that didn’t mean he didn’t long to be with his beloved, and he know he’s godawful at telling you. Part of the reason he’d kept his shadow with you, in hopes to keep you solace, and company when he couldn’t. But seeing you grow closer to the creature and pouring all the affection you couldn’t give him made his chest tighten, a feeling that crawled under his skin and bothered him in ways that shouldn’t matter to him. You were his. Yet, here he is, acting childish even if you are probably mostly unaware. Or he hopes you are. Because this is embarrassing, it makes him feel embarrassed deep down. His ears twitched in annoyance as the thoughts swirled around his mind trying to push them away but failing.

“I know you’ve been busy. I wouldn’t call it neglect really,” you answer back, relaxing into the embrace and tilting your head so that you can press a soft kiss to his cheek then nuzzling him, “But you are gone too often, I had meant to talk to you about it but I didn’t really know how to. I guess I also felt a little bad asking you to give me more than you already do,” you chuckle unhumorously. Alastor did give you everything, hardly ever did he tell you no and did what he could to make you happy. Your relationship had been very rocky at the start. Both of you had to learn to make your relationship work and meet in the middle on a lot of different things. Alastor had to re-learn what it’s like to love someone, you had to adjust to his own way of loving and take baby steps, slower ones than you were used to. Both of you accepted the flaws that came with the other, you were in hell, he wasn’t the worst out there and you weren’t perfect.

“And you don’t have to be jealous of your own shadow, Al,” you quipped, a grin tugging the edges of your lips. You had to press your lips into a thin line to keep yourself from giggling at the flare of radio static around you after saying that. But he didn’t really refute it.

“Very funny, darling,”

© 2024 the-xolotl — all rights reserved. do NOT alter, translate, or repost my works on any platform without my consent, do not claim my content as yours.

[kcrossvine-art]

Heya folks n friends! Today on our LotR cooking series, we're going to be making something inspired by Mrs. Maggot, wife of Farmer Maggot. Originally we were going to do a cream of mushroom soup, but the idea of adding meat as a cheeky lil joke on their last names was too good to pass up. In my mind meat goes better with thin soups than creamy ones.

And thus Mrs. Maggots Meat 'N Mush Stew was born.

(As always you can find the cooking instructions and full ingredient list under the break-)

MY NAMES CROSS NOW LETS COOK LIKE ANIMALS

SO, “what goes in to Mrs. Maggots Meat 'N Mush Stew?” YOU MIGHT ASKFor the stew portion itself we're going to be using a hearty base, aiming for a layering of flavors. If you feel comfortable making a roux, feel free to do so, but I did not due to energy levels and thus the flour in this recipe is only used for searing the meat before its added to the pot.

Cubed beef

Flour

Peanut oil

Beef stock

Dried porcini mushrooms

Carrots, chopped

Onion, diced

Garlic, crushed

Scallion, chopped

Bay leaf

Salt and pepper

Ground red pepper

Cumin

Zatarins gumbo file

For the other mushrooms, were going to cook them separate and throw them in at the end (but they'll have friends to keep them company!!).

Cremini mushrooms, sliced

Half an onion

Carrots

Garlic

Salt and pepper

Thyme

Olive oil

This took about 4 hours in total. If you have a slow cooker itd probably be easier to use that, but as is isn't too bad either. I mostly worked on commission stuff in the kitchen in-between stirring. "The best food is the one you don't have to make, the second best food is the one you don't have to think while making."

AND, “what does Mrs. Maggots Meat 'N Mush Stew taste like?” YOU MIGHT ASK

HOT HOT HOT

Tastes like walking from the cold into the cramped but cozy bar your friend works at

Meat was so tender and juicy, melts in your mouth. Makes you cry

It wanst actually carmelization but the onions had a hint of tasting caramelized

Mushrooms- a strong umami flavor with a bit of smokeyness

Once you get that Perfect level of gumbo file, it just makes every other element stick out more

Like an energy booster for the ingredients

A spotlight on the bay leaf, and oils, and spices

. If you don't want to use beef, feel free to use vegetable stock instead and replace the cubes with strips of king oyster mushrooms. Exclude the flour but still cook them in the pan. . this isnt officially part of the recipe since im not sure itd be 'on theme', but feel free to start your rice cooker around the 3 hour mark so you can have some hot rice ready for serving as filler.

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

When I was looking through food and food mentions in LotR, Mrs.Maggot just stook out to me. 'Queen amongst farmers wives' is both really sweet and a fuckin killer description. What a legend. I wanted to do something based on her and our two options were either beer, bacon or raw mushrooms. Beer while very appealing is also not something you can whip up in a day, while raw mushrooms have a chance of killing my beloved readers. I don't want to talk about me and bacons sordid past.

And so as praise to this funky farmer women, may you add this stew to your collection of potpie, lasagna, and roast recipes.

Did i mention i started my first grease fire when making this? Yeah. Don't cover any empty greased pan even if your intent is to keep water from splashing into it.

Anyway, this recipe is a solid 10/10 (with 1 being food that makes one physically sick and 10 being food that gives one a lust for life again.) The partner has already made me pledge to cook it again hehehe

🐁 ORIGINAL RESIPPY TEXT BELOW 🐁

Ingredients:

2 lbs cubed beef

A little bit of flour to 'tumble' the meat in, in a bowl

Peanut oil to sear the beef, as needed

3 kilograms beef stock

28g dried porcini mushrooms

4 carrots, chopped

1 white onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 scallion branch, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

Ground red pepper to taste

Cumin to taste

3 bay leafs

A pinch of Zatarins gumbo file

Ingredients… . . TWO:

1 lb cremini mushrooms

Half of a white onion, diced

1 carrot, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Salt, pepper, and thyme to taste

Olive oil as needed to pan-fry

Method:

Put the porcini mushrooms into a bowl, add enough warm water to cover. Give them roughly 20 minutes, or until softened and the waters turned color.

Cut the carrots, onion, and garlic.

Get a large pot with a lid, pour in your stock (or water and bouillon cubes). Pour in the porcinis and the mushroom water. Turn the burner to medium-high.

Add your bay leaves, carrots, onion, and garlic to the pot. Add extra salt if you'd like.

Tenderize and cut your beef into roughly 1 inch cubes.

In a small bowl, pour a handful of flour along with pepper, cumin, and ground red pepper. Mix until combined.

Lightly toss each cube of beef in the mixture, get a little coverage on each side.

Heat a frying pan to medium heat and add peanut oil. If using an electric stovetop it will take time to heat up.

Add some of your beef cubes to the pan, don't overcrowd it. Flip to check sides are a light brown with dark brown edges, its good for some pink/red to poke through.

Add beef cubes to the pot when done, careful of splashing.

Keep doing this in batches until all beef cubes are added. 

 Once the pot has reached a simmer, turn the heat down a few notches and cover.

Set a timer for 4 hours. Taste test every so often. Aim to stir the pot every 10-15 minutes.

(You can do steps 14-21 immediately or optionally wait a bit)

 Rinse and dry your cremini mushrooms.

Slice them vertically. Cut the carrots, onion, and garlic.

In a frying pan on medium-low heat, add olive oil, carrots, and onion. Keep the vegetables moving! When they start to change texture, add your cremini mushrooms.

Bring the pan up to medium heat. 

Once your mushrooms have cooked off the liquid inside, theyll start turning a deeper brown. Add the garlic. Keep! the! vegetables! Moving!

If the pan gets overcrowded, take some out and set it aside in a bowl. Smaller batches.

This process took roughly 15 minutes, but youll know its done once everything has a nice sear on it and the garlic is brown but not burnt. Add salt, pepper, and thyme to taste.

Set everything aside in a bowl.

Once the 4 hours are up the meat should be cooked all the way through and tender enough to pull apart. Strain the bay leaves out. Cut and add scallions. Add the bowl with cremini mushrooms.

Add a pinch of gumbo file to start, stir and taste test.

[josendlessmonolouge]

Autistic frank Frazel head-canons bc I want this to be a popular head-canon. frank getting really overwhelmed by lights and turning into a small animal so he can get in hazel’s coat pocket, where there is pressure and dark and soft. (No fair I wish I could get in my friends coat pockets when I’m overstimulated)

When there is a lull in praetor duties he infodump a to Hazel about sports and mythomagic. Mostly about sports and mostly about Archery and lacrosse. frank hates the texture of gumbo and it makes hazel so sad :(

They made a pact to go to the summer Olympics together to watch the equestrians and the archery because he loves the Olympics. Idk why I’m stuck on Frank’s special interest being the Olympics but ever since I thought of him as being autistic I think he just loves the Olympics/sports and French.

he has a very specific way to make tea or hot milk (almond or lactose free) or hot cocoa and does it the same every single time and makes some for Hazel too.

he gets really irritable and grumpy when he’s had an overstimulating day and he feels so guilty when he snaps at hazel. She’s very understanding and gives him space but he always ends up going to her and just hugging onto her real tight and apologizing for being a kill joy. he likes deep pressure and likes when hazel lays on his chest bc it’s really grounding.

he only wears silk, linen, or cotton shirts if they’re touching his skin he hates wool, leather, and most polyesters and so whenever he wears a sweater or non silk/cotton/linen shirt he wears an undershirt. Hazel thinks it’s silly bc she loves modern super soft polyester sweaters and stuff also loves that Frank uses his familial wealth to buy her wool sweaters which she couldn’t afford when she was young like why wouldn’t he want to wear them.

also y’all I love hazel so much do y’all even understand like Frazel is a power couple for me bc Frank and hazel are my two favorite characters in heroes of Olympus

[cod-dump]

141 + friends - best to worst spice tolerance, GO!

It goes worst to best

(Annie is the name I gave Laswell's wife)

___

Roach has the worst spice tolerance out of them all. Dies when there's too much pepper on the food he had stolen. Does that stop him from stealing people's food? No. Does he ever learn not to steal certain people's food because of previous run ins with spice? No. But he does know if there's a container that says 'gumbo' on it that it would certainly kill him. If it's in Spanish he steers clear (he was almost sent to the hospital after grabbing one of Alejandro's lunches).

Alex is a little better at handling spice than Roach but not by that much. He is getting better, or trying to, for the sake of wanting to be able to eat good food without dying. He insists on trying whatever Farah brings to eat even after she tells him he won't like it. He's sipping on a milkshake afterwards, tears in his eyes. He will keep trying until he can eat whatever Farah has without throwing up. Rudy's cooking scares him.

Graves likes certain levels of heat. He's not the king of spice but he's not afraid of a pepper or by the name of the food on the menu. He will try just about anything and regret it later. He carries around a tiny bottle of Tabasco, the first time he pulled it out in front of Soap caused the man to burst out into laughter.

Ghost actually has a good tolerance, mostly due to his habit of eating anything and everything available. He is not a picky eater so if he's hungry and the only thing available has 'hot' in the name he's not afraid. He desperately wants to be able to eat Annie's gumbo without his tongue going numb (she's offered to make him a not as potent batch and he was insulted). Always wants to try whatever Rudy is cooking despite the man telling him it would probably kill him.

Soap loves food and refuses to let spice be the reason he can't enjoy something. He loves eating food from different cultures, learning to cook those foods. Man is a foodie and he refuses to let spice get between him and a delicious meal. Has begged Annie for her gumbo recipe. Literally has gotten on his knees and begged. She still hasn't given it to him. He literally cried when Annie gave the recipe to Rudy (he's never felt so betrayed and jealous in his life).

Price has years of eating whatever is given to him to thank for his tolerance towards spice. Just loves Annie's gumbo and she makes it hot. He likes to joke she never makes it spicy enough for him (which leads to her next batch almost killing him and he gladly accepts death by gumbo). Price will eat whatever Rudy gives him but he definitely has to prepare himself just in case the man gave him something to his own liking.

Farah loves spicy foods. Her favorite dish growing up was her mother's matbucha and she swears that she could never recreate it, even if she sold her soul. Price has taken to try to help make a batch of matbucha that compares to her mother's recipe but it never works out, Farah still appreciates him for trying. Farah loves Rudy's cooking, literally will fight anyone who tries take take a bite off of her plate. She once sobbed because Annie and Rudy made a meal together (Soap has pictures for proof).

Alejandro prides himself in his ability to out eat Soap in spice. He gets joy out of watching the man give up. There's something about putting his cocky friend in his place that makes his day. Despite eating Rudy's cooking longer than anyone else, Gaz and Laswell seem to handle his husband's more intense dishes better than him. He loves Annie's cooking but he swears that woman is trying to kill him sometimes.

Gaz adores food with spice. He also loves Annie's gumbo but he knows better than to tease her about the spice level. Gaz loves going to different restaurants and doing spicy challenges with Alejandro until they're both too sick from the spice to move. They're always miserable the next day but that never stops them from going out the next week to do it again. Pouts whenever Laswell gets to taste whatever Rudy is cooking before him.

Laswell is pretty damn good at handling spice. Her wife's gumbo is one of her comfort meals. When she is unable to eat her wife's cooking, she turns to Rudy for his food. They have bonded over food and Laswell is now the first person to get a taste whenever Rudy needs a taste tester.

Rudy not only is the king of spice (dubbed that by pretty much everyone who's seen the things he can eat), he makes a killer chiles en nogada. Has a salsa recipe that literally brings tears to Farah's eyes when she smells it. Price thinks about his life's choices before he takes a bite. Rudy isn't cruel, he makes very mild foods for his friends who can't handle the spice well. Laswell is his favorite to give samples to (she always has the best compliments and advice to how to make it perfect). He has Annie's number on speed dial. They have made a ragout that even Laswell had to pace herself on.

[devourable]

I have a few questions about Abraham.

1. What genre of music does he listen to?

2. Does he like to read?

3. What's his favourite food?

4. Is he in uni/collage? If so what is he studying? If not what is he doing?

5. Would he ever be okay and not feel the need to victimise himself so that he can receive affection?

6. And lastly what are his general thoughts around marriage, before and/or after meeting his darling.

Sorry these were some thoughts that were stuck in my head. I hope they are okay.

1. mostly gospel and choir stuff lmfao. he mostly listens to church radio! but i feel like when introduced to other genres he'd be partial to shit like twentyone pilots lmfao

2. he loves to read! it's one of his few escapes from his religion (though he'd never ever express that lmfao). he mostly only has access to what he's been given but he's slowly branching out. he likes fantasy and science fiction!

3. his darling i think he'd get super hooked on food that has a lot of spices, like cajun food or maybe indian/SEA food? boy has NOT known flavor for most of his life 😭 i think he'd like a good curry or gumbo but it's smth he'd only be able to have like once a month else he'd get overwhelmed

4. iii am not too sure tbh? i think he'd be piled with the expectation of working for his church the moment he's done w high school so he's not totally sure what he wants in life. if darling goes to a nearby college then he'd probably look into attending though!

5. maybe in the future, esp if he has a darling who actively wants to help him get over that; he's been essentially brainwashed into thinking any form of enjoyment outside of partaking in his religion is bad so he sort of has to compartmentalize those feelings as "if the feelings are being pushed onto me rather than me seeking it out, i didn't do anything wrong". don't get me wrong, though! he absolutely loves affection no matter what he has to do to accept it. he doesn't care, at the end of the day he genuinely wants it and that's what matters.

6. before meeting his darling, he just saw it as another facet of his faith; something he knew was part of his future but nothing he particularly cared much for. after meeting his darling, though? it definitely became something to look forward to. the idea of his darling becoming his physically, legally, and spiritually? and vice versa? he can't think about it too much without getting overwhelmed but it's definitely something he fantasizes about.

these were fine! i like knowing ppl wanna learn ab my goobers 🫶

[bomberqueen17]

Big Easy

I am on vacation this week in New Orleans. There are many reasons for this but mostly they're not about me. I'm just here for the ride. Hilariously the one thing I found on on my own that I was like "oh i gotta do that while we're here" is also the thing that has been recommended to me by literally everyone i've spoken to including the Lyft driver from the airport, which is the WWII Museum, and conversely the more people recommend it the more I'm like :/ I might not enjoy this that much. WWII history was a childhood hyperfixation of mine but I've found the shit I was into about it is not the stuff other people like about it. This museum features a movie narrated by Tom Hanks so I feel like it's going to mm emphasize the bits I don't care about a lot. BUT I am going to go and I am probably going to devote a whole day. The upside of this is that probably Dude will not be deadly bored by it. He does tend to have the issue of not being into what I'm into sometimes... but this will probably be fine.

My hip is doing okay, the one I've been physically therapizing for ages? But what's popped up is that as the bad hip heals, the "good" hip starts giving me trouble-- I have prettty bad sciatic nerve problems on that side, and I didn't notice them so much because the cartilage tear on the bad side hurt enough to distract me. But lately it's like-- a little electric current of Badness inside the back of my right knee. No fun. But I've been doing physical therapy exercises for about fifteen weeks now (I just counted), three times a week, so I'd damn well better have seen some improvement LOL.

But mostly I can walk around, and I have a better idea earlier on whether walking is going to be good for me or not, so idk it's progress.

So far I have had a few bites of a shrimp po'boy (in the Atlanta airport, where we ordered something else and the waitress didn't hear us and just brought better food, no regrets on our part), some amazing gumbo, a bit of really good crawfish etouffe, and a really good Hurricane cocktail, and have seen the steamboat Natchez going up the MIssissippi with a brass band playing on it. Oh yeah there was a live band at the baggage claim? Apparently there were Many Doings in the French Quarter last night because of Cinco de Mayo, our Lyft driver was explaining they'd barricaded a bunch of the streets and she was delighted they'd moved one barricade because otherwise she could not have dropped us at our hotel. But by the later evening when we were out and about it wasn't quite so crowded but there were police cars and sirens and apparently some kind of disturbance a couple blocks away from our hotel. We kept walking because whatever it was was Not Our Business.

I'm mostly here for the food. I brought mostly me-made clothes. I was wearing a nice button-up shirt to fly in, and i sat at the gate during our layover and hand-bound two of the last three buttonholes on it (I'd cut and overcasted them at home but ran out of time). Relaxing and chill, honestly.

There are a couple of fabric stores I want to visit but apart from that I have zero agenda. Maybe Dude came up with something. I think he's mostly been researching restaurants.

I did not expect this, though: I know the names of so many of the places here from the news coverage of Katrina, and when I saw the Superdome in person i started crying, and had to explain to the driver that I'd been an airport bartender during that time and so had been stuck in front of huge TVs with 24h live coverage, and I'd had a bunch of online friends living there and I didn't realize until this moment how much it scarred me, so I could only imagine for the people here, and she talked about how she'd been a cleaner in an apartment complex at the time (I'd sussed that she was my age or older so I figured she'd remember it as well as I do, because to my shock that was 20 years ago now) and how many people had just left and never come back, had abandoned their possessions and just never came back for them because the power didn't come back on for two or three months.

She said "Now I know, when they tell you to evacuate, you get the hell out."

She also complained that nobody knows how to act, because it's all tourists. Which, fair.

... Anyway, anyone with recs for New Orleans feel free to tell them to me, I'm just here for the food and the vibes.

[honey-minded-hivemind]

🍷The Heir of Evil🐉 AU fans have decided, and...

🍷The Heir of Evil🐉 AU Reader will be an IceWing!!

I have a few headcanons for them, and a a bit of backstory and lore planned, too😊 Let's dive in:

• ❄IceWing!🍷Heir of Evil!🐉 Reader is the grandchild or great-grandchild to the wicked IceWing queen, specifically the one who put the tribe into multiple wars and skirmishes and tried to take over the dragon world. Reader isn't like her (they're not an irredeemable monster who hurts others for fun)

• Heir! Reader wears jewelry that is mostly silver or black, but loves any sort of colorful gemstones or charms...

• Heir! Reader only wears the pieces of jewelry that are necessary; they don't want to waste the tribe's treasure on frivolous items, and if the jewelry appeals to other tribes, then it might make Reader and the IceWings seem more appealing, like they're dragons, too...

• Heir! Reader is good with algebra, dragon biology, and creative writing...

• Heir! Reader is torn between what the two sides of their kingdom wants: to stay unscheming and try to foster peace, hoping other tribes will leave them alone and not hurt them further... or to amass enough power and treasure that they can wage a war against the other tribes, or at least the IceWing hybrids who some view as traitors...

• Heir! Reader's necklace they were told to never take off is enchanted, but they don't know that. The necklace hides something about them, which is why their vanished/dead parent gave it to them...

• Heir! Reader has had to stop a coup for their throne/title at age four (about 12 year old in WoF dragon years), which led to them earning the respect of the remaining advisors and generals of their late parent/late family, as well as the respect of the few nobles left and the different IceWing villages...

• Heir! Reader's hatching day is a mystery, as no one ever saw their egg, nor them, when they were first hatched, save for their deceased parent and a late ally of their's...

• Heir! Reader has an army of pet foxes, all of which are (diet) platonic yandere for them (they're all so cute and cuddly and fluffy-!)

• Heir! Reader, unlike most IceWings, enjoys trying cooked meats and exotic dishes from other tribes and kingdoms...

• Heir! Reader prefers to sleep with a fur blanket, not because they're cold (they're an IceWing), but because they like the soft fur and fuzzy texture...

• Heir! Reader is an aromantic-asexual...

• Heir! Reader enjoys traditonal IceWing foods such as fresh salmon with lemon juice, thinly-sliced caribou strips, puffin and moss salad, kalimari (squid), bear jerkey, ox ribs seasoned lightly with moss, seal meat marinated in ginger/lemon/honey, as well as ice cream, frozen berry slush, and lemon-flavored shaved ice...

• Heir! Reader likes traditional dishes from other kingdoms such as: MudWing's Diamond Delta Gumbo, SandWing's Cinnamon Milk and Roasted Lizard Kebabs, SkyWing's Charred+Barbecued Eagle Wings, SeaWing's Thousand Scales Thousand Fish Sushi, RainWing's Mango-Orange Juice, NightWing's Smoked Boarchops, HiveWing's Honey-roasted Shrimp, SilkWing's Loaded Baked and Sweet Potatoes, and LeafWing's Planter's Pie...

• Heir! Reader sometimes wears a small, spiked tailband on the end of their tail, nestled above where their spikes are...

• Heir! Reader enjoys sunrises, and writes new poems and hymns for their tribe to sing at their Gifts of the Ice Dragon Festival...

• Heir! Reader enjoys old literature, especially comedies...

(I will make another post about Heir! Reader facts, but dealing with IceWing culture)

(I wonder what their name could/should/would be?)

[proboblynotstriaght]

Day 4 of Loa-tober and I get to write about my fav and project all my gender issues on him <3

I've really enjoyed doing these and I hope to be able to keep up for at least most of the October month, although expect lowered quality work on Sundays because holy shit do I have a lot to do this Sunday.

Day 4 : Fave (Kremy) vague spoilers for Guys night

Kremy never really cared about his body when he was a child, back when he was called something different, something no one remembered anymore.

His father had wanted a perfect little daughter who would be obedient and wear new dresses and would one day be the perfect house wife to man that would be hand picked by the man of the house.

And then he left and never looked back.

|||||||||| blinked confusedly at her Memaw “is that why papa left?” She asked “Because I don’t like wearing dresses?”

His Memaw laughed, even as young she was she could tell that Memaw was bitter about it “Your Pappy left us because we were poor” She spit “He was poor and he couldn’t handle that, the coward” The old woman gently pet the soft scales on |||||||||| head “his leaving ain’t have nothin' to do with you cher”

||||||||||'s Mama wasn't home all that often. too busy holding down two jobs in order to make ends meet to raise her kids proper. But when she was home she loved dressing |||||||||| up in cute dresses. Kremy remembered excitedly dressing up in a pink, frilly dress, with glitter and everything. |||||||||| loved playing dress-up in these pretty clothes.

"Don't you think you look pretty ||||||||||?" Her Mother asked. |||||||||| nodded and beamed at the reflection in the cracked old mirror. "Your Pappy bought this dress for you y'know" |||||||||| shifted. The older woman's tone had changed, it was almost-bitter and mostly-wistful. |||||||||| didn't like it. She started trying to wriggle out of the dress.

"Let's talk a walk outside ||||||||||, show off your fancy pink dress" All of a sudden, |||||||||| panicked. He could feel every stitch and seam of the dress rubbing uncomfortably against his scales chafing them. His Mom grabbed his arm as he squirmed, trying to get out.

"What's wrong ||||||||||, are you ready to go outside?" It wasn't really a question as |||||||||| was suddenly being dragged towards the door.

"NO!" She cried. "I don' I don' wanna go out- outside" For |||||||||| it was just dress-up just a game. Not something to actually go outside in. In a pink dress that wasn't made for lizardfolk that had a connection to his father that left. "I don' like the dress, I don't- I don't wanna-" He cried as his mother continued to drag him towards the door.

"Oh shut up!" his Mama yelled "You liked the dress a minute ago! Why don't you like it now!" She shot |||||||||| a withering gaze "God your just like your father" |||||||||| was confused, she thought her mom still loved her dad, that's why |||||||||| was dressed in the clothes that he bought so long ago. "Maybe if you just wore your dress like a good little girl your father would still be here!"

Memaw always smelled of what she was cooking. She loved to cook big hearty stews and stir frys, and of course her amazing gumbo. |||||||||| dryed her tears in his Memaw's apron and took in all the smells.

"I don' wanna be like my father" |||||||||| whispered into fabric.

"You, ain't nothing like your father" His Memaw pulled |||||||||| into her lap

"But, but Mama said that he left- he left because I wasn' girly enough"

His Memaw got a faraway look in her eye, "Your Mama is still caught in the past, she doesn't want to blame herself so she blames you" His Memaw looked back down at ||||||||||. "Would you like to hear a story cher?"

|||||||||| perked up, tears now forgotten. Memaw always told the best stories "Yes!" he squealed "Yes please Memaw!"

"Alright, alright, settle down, and let me tell you the story of a little boy in a town called Agwe, except the town wasn't called Agwe yet, and that little boy didn't want to be a boy at all..."

And ||||||||||'s Memaw told her story of how she was born in the wrong body, "I made a deal with the Good Baron cher, and no one knows who I once was"

|||||||||| was silent for a little while. "Memaw..." |||||||||| hesitated, "I don't think I want to be a girl"

"An' you don't hafta be a one hun, when your older you can make a deal just like I did and you can give yourself a name that's actually yours, not one that your good-for-nothin' father gave you"

-------

Kremy twirled around in his red dress "Whaddado fellas!" He stumbled a little bit, he drunk a lot of alcohol. "How do I look?" He grined

"You look like a woman you just got murdered!" Gid laughed, "Ya got fake blood all over ya!"

Kremy laughed a twirled around in the mirror a bit more, and readjusted the silicone breast that was, to Gid’s credit, covered in incredibly tacky fake blood. Even now wearing a dress was just a game to him, but now it went by a different name, Drag.

Kremy made a deal with the Good Baron just like his Memaw before him, and while his life was messy and hard he was living as himself, in a name he really picked for himself.

Kremy was a man who was free.

[faggotryandtransjesterism]

i've been thinking about people who write hannibal fics, and how incorporating will's louisiana upbringing could be so hard if you didn't grow up there, and it just so happens that i did grow up there! so i'm making a little list of things about louisiana that people might not know. go forth and write cajun will graham!

food: first off, there's a lot of things that are very specific to poor people in louisiana. i didn't realize until relatively recently that these weren't things everyone ate. molasses and milk (poor man's chocolate milk. honey and milk also is a thing, but molasses is more common bc of all the cane fields.) actually, let me just get a whole category out of the way: put everything in milk. cornbread and milk (with honey or sugar dumped in to sweeten it, this is a whole meal, we used to eat this for dinner), oats and milk (raw oats. with sugar.), crackers and milk (saltines. i'm not joking.), literally put any carb in milk and that's a cajun dish. dinner foods you see a lot of are things like jambalaya, gumbo (pro tip, gumbo is always better on the second and third day, and you eat it with potato salad), etouffee (if you look this up, you'll see a lot of fancy shit, this is not fancy. it's the slimiest gravy pot full of meat and veggies.) everything has rice, you can't eat dinner without rice. sweet potatoes are big, a lot more common than regular ones. okra is also very very common.

environment: we all know louisiana has a lot of bayous, but a lot of people have never seen one i guess? and have no idea what that looks like. it's not like shrek swamp kind of deal. the water's not that filthy most of the time, at least not to look at. you've got a lot of foliage on top of the water mostly. cypress trees are the big thing that makes a bayou look like a bayou. cypress trees with spanish moss all over them. the line between a bayou and a lake isn't big, and a lot of them are connected. also. (about to tell you something that will blow your mind.) swamps are full of nutria rats. (but percy, what are nutria rats? (pronounced noo-tra rats)) they look like small capybaras with long thick tails, and by small i mean they gut up to 20 pounds. 3 feet. they're actually adorable though. alligators are common, they're not aggressive, you just have to keep an eye on them. there's usually saw palmettos around the edges of the water. outside of swamps, though, something you'll notice is there are sugar cane fields everywhere. there's also live oak trees, which if you've never seen, are beautiful. they do exist in other places, but they grow differently in louisiana bc of all the water. they have enormous, sweeping branches that dip down onto the ground sometimes, and they're (once again) full of spanish moss.

culture: in louisiana, some people speak cajun french. this is not the same as parisian french, and it's not always mutually intelligible. also, there's really very few people left who speak it, and it's mostly older folks. for example, my grandpa learned french before he learned english, but he didn't pass it on to his kids, and now he has very few people to speak it with. cajun music is a pretty unique thing, you've usually got an accordion, a fiddle, a bass, that kind of thing. some songs off the top of my head are jolie blonde, opelousas sostan, the boscoe stomp; there's also a lot of instrumental music, because it's all actually dancing music! cajun dancing is a whole thing that, once again, is dying out and mostly older folks know how to do it (my grandparents took me dancing all the time, so that, at least, i know). you might be able to look it up, but keep in mind, if you see something that looks more like square dancing, that's not what i'm talking about. (if you want a demo send me an ask lol, i can explain. in the meantime, i used to dance at randol's in lafayette, and the best band was donny broussard, so look those up on youtube if you want to hear cajun music.) zydeco is a whole other genre, and honestly not one i know much about, but it is an integral part of cajun culture.

that's all i can think of for now, but if i think of anything else, i'll add on. if you have any questions, my ask box is open!

[deathsbestgirl]

okay guess i gotta do it! tagged by @randomfoggytiger @calimanc @ellivia @sagan-starstuff !! thank you guys <3

favorite painter: SIGHS i don't have an answer. i just really like art and i know nothing about it. but i e really loved francine van hove's paintings

favorite writer: again, i don't have an answer lol there aren't many writers where i've read all of their works. a lot of poets, so maybe mary oliver. i definitely haven't read all of her work, but i can always recognize it

favorite band: paramore! always

favorite meal: no. nope. i love food. recently leena told me she would never trust me to be a food critic and she's right. idk anything, all i care about is if it tastes good & it fills me up. but i always love a good soup. and my girlfriend's gumbo for sure

favorite drink: water lol maybe coffee unfortunately. and this lemonade from a pizza place near me, it's just so good!

favorite outfit aesthetic: ehh don't have one. for me personally, i just like being comfortable. but if i go by what i wear most...leggings, t shirt, some kind of hoodie or flannel ahahahah so basically. gay

favorite singer: ummmm joni mitchell maybe?

favorite item: this is so vague HELP.

favorite possession: i think the sunflower box renata made me, and my wolf light, and my ufo light. and all my dvds lollll and my ~one year video~ i need to get something to connect my dvd/vhs player to new tvs :(

perfume: i don't have one i wear regularly, and i usually go body spray over perfumes. but. i love taylor swift's wonderstruck (lol) my mom got some for free at one of her jobs and it stuck. also love ariana grande's and britney spears' perfumes. but mostly i love this brazilian line my wife got. very beachy.

as you can see, i'm not very good at "favorites" but you probably already knew that

tagging @bakedbakermom @agent-troi @pennyserenade @scullysflannel @scullyphile anyone who wants to join in please!! tag me so i can read it <3

[abarbaricyalp]

WIP Game

Thanks for the tag @funsized-loser !!!! Please, everyone who wants to add on to this post, feel free! I love reading people's WIPs! This is from the next (hopefully) fic I'm posting! I'm so close to finishing it, I can almost taste it. It's called Tell It To The Bees (and the birds)

There was a bulletin board in the lobby of the building, across from the bank of mailboxes. It was supposed to be for building wide notices–fire inspections, water outages, that kind of thing. Mostly it was full of passive-aggressive notes about the cleanliness of the dog park and the fact that trash bags weren’t supposed to be left in the hallway for any length of time.

Bucky thought about leaving a note inquiring towards the bird coop, but he 1) didn’t want to get someone else in trouble and 2) more importantly, didn’t want to get himself in trouble. He reread a note about someone on the third floor who apparently habitually burned things in the oven as someone stood at the mailboxes.

“Hey, 203,” they called over.

Bucky startled slightly and turned around. His bland, friendly smile fell away as he realized who was there. “Wilson,” he greeted through his teeth. “I thought you worked Thursdays.”

Sam Wilson was in 205, the unit that shared a bedroom wall with Bucky’s bedroom. It wasn’t that Wilson was having rough, hot sex and reminding Bucky that he wasn’t. It was just that Wilson made a million other noises all through the night and then had the audacity to leave notes on Bucky’s door about singing in the shower.

Well. And there was the time Bucky accidentally kind of ruined their shared pipes by washing hair product down the sink. But that was an accident!

“It is definitely Friday,” Sam snorted. He continued to dig in his mailbox, freeing a large envelope that had been rolled and folded to fit into the small metal tray. “Hey, I’ve had gumbo stewing all day, if you wanna come over for dinner,” he added.

That was another thing he had the audacity with. He was always inviting Bucky over like he was some orphan to feed. Bucky didn’t even remember what off-handed, one-time remark he’d made about something smelling good before Wilson was all over him with invitations. It was so underhanded when they already clearly had a rivalry. Bucky could cook. He kept himself fed. Just because everything Sam made really did smell so damn good didn’t mean Bucky was always looking for food.

“Uh, no, thanks,” he said. “I’m actually on my way out to a ther–” Bucky cut himself off. He knew Sam worked at the VA as some kind of counselor, but that didn’t mean he wanted his nemesis to know just how deep his issues ran. Not that therapy was a bad thing. For, like, anyone else. Bucky was different. And Sam would know that. Sam would know exactly what kind of fucked up Bucky was. “I’m going out with friends.”

Sam raised an eyebrow and made a show of checking the watch he always wore. “At four in the afternoon? I can leave it on the stove a while longer. Come over when you get back.”

“Not really the kind of night where I’m planning on coming back,” Bucky lied.

Judging by the way Sam’s eyebrow rose even higher, he also clocked it as a lie. “Alright, man. Don’t gotta brag. Have fun or whatever.”

Bucky nodded, tripped over his feet when he couldn’t decide if he should be going to the building door or back to his apartment. Sam did an admirable job of hiding his snort.

“Later, 203,” he called over his shoulder as he ducked into the stairwell.

Bucky banged his head against the bulletin board and cursed his whole damn existence.

[morbidsmenagerie]

Hello, I am hoping for some advice on choosing a scorpion. I want an arid american species for sure, but I don't know if Centruroides sculpturatus, Hadrurus arizonensis, Paravaejovis spinigerus, a different species, or if I just shouldn't be looking into scorpions at all.

I have a 10 gallon set up with two blue death feigning beetles, Chowder and Gumbo, as well as an Orthoporus ornatus, Morb. I mostly just want more desert friends and a lot of resources suggested BDFBs and certain species of desert scorpions do well together. Morb can move to his own tank if need be as I couldn't find any confirmation one way or another if they can cohabitate.

There's 6 inches of substrate and the tank is heated. I prefer smaller species, and have no preference regarding arboreal vs terrestrial. I would love something that can be captive bred but it's not a big deal. Not looking to ever handle the beastie and I have no preference for activity level. I just love desert friends.

Personally paravaejovis spinigerus are one of my favorite species of all time, so I'd pretty much always recommend that. Centruroides sculpturatus are medically significant, so although they could also work in that set up I wouldn't get them unless you're experienced with scorpions. I don't really recommend Hadrurus, they're the only US native scorpion I'm not planning on getting. Similarly to bdfb and orthoporus, we haven't really gotten their care requirements down yet and they're almost impossible to breed in captivity. They need a deep, clay based substrate that they can dig permanent burrows into and are really sensitive to water and wet substrate. These requirements do overlap with bdfb and orthoporus tho so they can be cohabed. I'm honestly not sure if orthoporus can be cohabed with a scorpion? I believe they have some chemical defenses so the scorpion wont see them as food, and bdfb are too armored to really be appetizing to a scorpion which is why they dont get eaten. If you get a scorpion tho, make sure you get an adult, as a molting scorpion is an easy target for the bdfb.

There are other Arizona native scorpions that could probably work, but I think the three species you listed are your best bets. Most other species are a lot smaller and more at a risk of being eating by the beetles, I will say if you are comfortable with getting a c sculp being arboreal would keep it away from the other tank mates more which might make things less risky.

[spotsupstuff]

Saw a couple food posts on here and obviously had to brainstorm headcanons for our local iterators. That is if they were humans/ancients/could actually consume food. I'm kinda just putting this in your askbox since I like yelling at you about the canon goofs. We'll start off with our best boy.

FP- He's got an iron stomach and mostly just uses it to drink a concerning amount of caffeine. I really can't decide if he's a coffee person or an energy drink person. I can see him chugging red bulls though. He likes spicy stuff and has a surprisingly high tolerance. Also likes anything sour and will stare a person in the eye while eating an entire lemon out of spite. Favorite drink is actually pink lemonade, but it's a secret (no it's not).

If we want to imagine an FP who takes care of himself, he'd probably like Malaysian or Vietnamese stuff.

NSH- Living trash compactor and would eat literal dirt if he thought it tasted good. If he does have preferences though, I'm leaning towards Kazakh cuisine. Foods like beshbarmak or pilaf.

Suns- They've got a weak stomach and would probably die to a pack of crackers. Lives off old rice in the rice cooker. I don't really have much for Suns since I really only think about fighting them in a mall parking lot with a rubber chicken and a lot of glitter.

Moon- I cannot decide if Moon likes traditional Japanese sweets or Danish ones so I declare both! I also like to imagine human Moon as Cajun/Creole as and you can pry this out of my cold dead hands. She would be able to cook wonderful dishes like gumbo, jambalaya, etc.

She carries snacks because God knows Pebbles doesn't eat enough. Also has to keep NSH out of them.

UI- Our girl inherits the Peepaw genes. Specifically for spicy food. Woman will chomp on literal ghost peppers. She had a spice contest with Pebbles and he lost miserably. Obviously, she'll never let him live it down either.

If this is all too much, just delete the ask. It won't bother me any.

feckin dang it with you food-knowledgable people, c'mon, all i know is veggies with sausages, half of these things i have no idea what are

But considering those Suns, NSH (first half) and UI takes i can understand without an issue and are probably the most correct things i'll see today i am inclined to fully believe everythin. Peepaw genes..................

i feel like Pebs would try to be coffee-only person just because coffee has Class unlike energy drinks but he's Such a workaholic that he'd steal Innocence's energy drinks straight from her room while she's still in there while staring her down. sibling culture for the win, she yells at him and chases him down to his room but he manages to lock it before she can do anything about it

Suns would also like fish,,,, heartcanon actually, they'd Adore a well cooked fish. however offer them sushi and they will be found dead in a dumpster two streets over

[rodrigo-esc]

Cooking with Love Who: Jade and Rodrigo with mentions of others. @jadeclark What: Rodrigo and Jade are having a blast on their honeymoon! Where: NOLA! When: April 9th, 2024 A/N: Jadrigo take a cooking class together, Rodrigo devours all the food, they act all cute and meet two special peeps! It's adorable and I freakin love it.

JADE

Jade had been thoroughly jubilant since the day of the wedding. It was now hers and Rodrigo's second day in New Orleans and she had already fallen in love with the city. From the architecture to the monuments, the food and of course, the music. She absolutely loved New Orleans and already decided that she wanted to return again someday.

Today, she and Rodrigo had taken a bus tour of the city, which included a stop at one of the cemeteries, a park and one of the less populated Café du Monde spots for beignets and some coffee. After a late afternoon nap and freshening up, they were on their way to a cooking class in their rental car. Jade’s eyes were alight, watching the passing city. "I can't wait to visit some of the museums tomorrow. The jazz museum, the World War II museum, the Ogden museum of Southern Art..." Her words trailed off as she  pried her gaze from the passing city to look at her husband. "But I'm excited about dinner tonight! I haven't participated in a cooking class in such a long time. I wonder which dish we'll end up making: jambalaya, gumbo... and making the pralines would be fun."

RODRIGO

It was only their second day in New Orleans and Rodrigo couldn't help but call this the best trip he's ever taken. Someday, he hoped to take Jade and their future kids to Mexico and all but for now, this was his favorite. It was a new environment, someplace he could cherish with his wife forever. This was their memory and it was so rich in culture that he couldn't get enough of it.

He was taking everything in throughout their trip, enjoying all the sights and all the food in particular. Rodrigo had to go back for beignets as that was officially one of his favorite spots. He wondered how a place like this existed right under their noses and he had never explored it. Rodrigo followed the GPS on their rental car while listening to his wife and he smiled brightly as she went on. Her thoughts were his thoughts but hearing her vocalizing her excitement just made him fall in love with Jade all over again. It was endearing seeing her so happy. She deserved this and more. While he kept his gaze on the road, he listened intently, smiling and appreciating her awe. "I have never done a cooking class aside from learning things from you and my mom so this is pretty cool." He chuckled as she listed all the potential foods. "Whatever it is, I can't wait to eat it." He smirked, adjusting his Aviators before making a turn. "GPS says five more minutes. Okay, so I know what you're looking forward to but what's your favorite part so far?"

JADE

"This should be really fun then! If it's like other cooking classes I've been in, they'll have some ingredients already measured out for us and we'll mostly be chopping and prepping produce and meats." She gazed out of the windshield and  pulled her phone out to take a picture through the window. As she did this, she thought a moment about his question and then said, "I think it was the tour of the city. I liked getting to see a little bit of everything and getting some historical facts along the way. Anne Rice's old house looks like exactly the sort of place she would write about in her novels set here. Even the cemetery visit was fascinating. And the fresh beingets at Café du Monde were so good. I can't believe how much powdered sugar they put in the bags but they were so yummy.  We should try to get some each day we're here." Setting her phone back in her lap, she said, "I know it sounds cheesy but what's really made all of it has been doing this with you. What about you, honey? What's been your favorite part so far, and what are you looking forward to the most?"

RODRIGO

"That sounds like a lot of fun and getting to do that with you? Hello? Even better." He grinned, keeping his eyes on the road, smiling when he caught Jade taking a picture from his peripheral. "Oh good choice. The tour was really nice and such a learning experience. We have to come back sometime. I feel like we can celebrate some milestone anniversaries by returning." He liked the idea of that, of creating their own traditions and coming back to the place they were already falling in love with. "And yes, please. I am so here for getting beingets every day with that coffee? ooo that coffee was so good." He smirked, nodding in agreement to her suggestion. His smiled widened as he looked for a spot. "Not cheesy. I feel the same way. You've made the experience even more amazing." He watched the rear end camera and followed the lines to park in front of the location. "Well, definitely the Cafe." As if food would ever not be the best part of everything. "But I did love the tour and I can't wait to see the Jazz museum. I feel like that's going to be a great stop." He opened his door to look out and make sure he was good in the spot, shut the door and then cut the engine. Rodrigo removed his sunglasses and then tucked them into the case in the car. He grabbed the keys and then exited the car, walking over to Jade's side to open her door and help her out. "And of course, I'm looking forward to this class."

JADE

Jade giggled a little at Rodrigo and then turned her phone on him to get a candid photo of him while he drove with his sunglasses on. She looked at the photo on her phone for a moment and then placed the device back in her lap. "I like that idea. We should absolutely plan to come back someday. Maybe instead of staying in a hotel next time, we can look into an air bnb or something in the French Quarter. That would be amazing to be able to look out at the city life from one of those beautiful terraces." She smiled at the way her husband spoke of the coffee with the beignets, "They would be delicious for breakfast or even a nice dessert." While Rodrigo parked the car, Jade placed her phone in her purse and picked it up from between her feet. "I think this might be the most unforgettable trip I've ever taken. We've planned so much for ourselves," she noted with a small chuckle and then unbuckled her seatbelt. When Rodrigo opened the door, she stepped out, accepting his hand with a, "Thank you," and walked in with him. The moment they were inside, they were greeted by the buzz of chatter from the handful of others in the space. One person came up to them to say "Hello," and get them checked in. He then directed them to a tall-standing table where they would be preparing their meals. Ingredients had already been set out, along with measuring cups and spoons, as well as knives, cutting boards, bowls and a pair of dish towels. Jade looked at the different ingredients and a grin appeared on her face as she looked up to Rodrigo and told him, "I think we're making gumbo." After saying so, she looked back at the ingredients and touched and index to her lips, thinking, "Although, they have a lot of similar ingredients so it could be jambalaya. But... I still think we're making gumbo today." She lightly gasped when she saw the sugar, corn syrup and pecans. "And we're making the pralines!"

RODRIGO

Rodrigo chuckled when Jade took another photo. "Hey! Ya little sneak!" He grinned at his wife and cut off his engine. "That's a fantastic idea! We'd probably have more of an authentic experience in an air bnb so I would be down for that. " Rodrigo would make sure they return for coffee and beignets a couple of times before they had to leave New Orleans. "Oh, I agree! We'll take some home too before we leave." He walked with his wife toward the location of the class and Rodrigo smiled politely once they were greeted.  Their table had all the ingredients and supplies they needed as Jade had predicted. He listened to his wife with a smile on his face. Gumbo was delicious so that already made him perk up. "Well, you're the expert here! I'm all for Gumbo OR Jambalaya." He chuckled softly when she gasped thinking how endearing she was. "You're adorable. I have never made anything this complex so I'm really excited!"

JADE

Jade giggled freely at Rodrigo's reaction to her taking his picture. "You look so happy and carefree, I couldn't help it!" She then reached in her purse for her new camera Rodrigo gifted her. She snapped another quick candid photo while he was parking and smiled to herself before putting it back in her purse. "I'd love that for us," she beamed when he responded about them staying in the French Quarter next time they came to The Crescent City. And once inside and settled at a table, Jade couldn't stop feeling so buoyant about everything, including her anticipation for the cooking class. "Im excited too, honey, this should be a lot of fun! And it looks like there are some shelves of communal seasonings and things. I hope we'll start soon." She looked around at the others there. A few people were individuals who were paired up at a table and two other tables appeared to be couples like themselves. The one nearest to them was an older couple who was looking over everything on the table in front of them. The man leaned over and seemed to whisper something that made the woman smile and look up at him with so much love. Seeing how sweet they were towards each other made her smile all over again. The instructor stood at the only remaining table and called for everyone's attention, welcoming them and going through some general safety tips. And although Jade had been listening and was ready to get started, she couldn't help occasionally glancing at the elderly couple.

RODRIGO

Rodrigo grinned at Jade's words. *Happy* and *carefree* were adjectives he was glad his wife was using to describe him. He felt both and she had everything to do with it. He glanced over, glad to see Jade using the camera he had gotten her as a wedding gift. He was already coming up with plans for their future visits in his head. He'd never forget this. Hearing how happy and in her element Jade felt, Rodrigo didn't care what they made. He was just glad to see her glow. Rodrigo looked around, taking in the place and how carefully planned everything seemed to be. He hadn't realized that his wife was doing the same until he noticed that her line of sight matched his. He had settled his gaze on an older couple endearingly caught up in one another. It made the corner of his lips twitch into a small smile and he looked away to check out their setting, the smile still there. He saw himself and Jade in them. It almost felt meant to be. When the instructor spoke, he looked up, eager to learn about what they'd be making but also hoping he could make friends with the couple he had been admiring.

JADE

Jade was fully enjoying the time she and Rodrigo were spending together. From their wedding day, onward, she was on such a cloud of bliss she'd never experienced for multiple days before. While inside the location of where they were having their cooking class, Jad tried to take her focus off of the elderly couple and hone in on the person leading the class. They'd finished their introduction to the group and then instructed everyone to wash their hands and begin with the roux and chopping the vegetables and andouille sausage that was at their stations and would be going into the gumbo. While everyone shuffled over to the few sinks around the room, Jade wnt with her husband and found them sharing a sink with the elderly couple. She smiled politely to them and said, 'hello' to them while gathering soap on her hands. The husband elbowed Rodrigo good-naturedly and said, "I think we've got the best-looking classmates here."

RODRIGO

When instructed to wash their hands, Rodrigo went off with Jade to do so.  It was a pleasant coincidence that they’d end up sharing a sink with the couple they had both been admiring.  He smiled at his wife being friendly and he nodded a ‘hello’ as well. When the husband nudged him, he smiled and glanced over to the two ladies and nodded. “Most definitely. How did we get so lucky?” He handed some paper towels to him and dried his hands. “Have you guys done this before? My wife found this event and we just had to do it. She’s always got the great ideas.”

JADE

Jade grinned through her bit of blushing at the exchange between Rodrigo and the older man. She pulled some paper towels for the wife and then dried her own hands as the man replied to Rodrigo, "I suppose we had the right lotto tickets in one pocket and a rabbit's foot in the other." The man had a bit of a Cajun accent as he spoke and then he smiled, "Sure have. We try to look for something to do together either once a week or every other week. Last time we took a cooking class was an Italian class." He turned to his wife, "'Member that, Bev?" he asked, balling up the paper towel he dried his hands with. Jade smiled to the couple and then the wife asked, "I remember. You two aren't from around here, are ya? You on vacation?" She'd looked from Rodrigo to Jade and then smiled wide, "Wait. No. You're on your honeymoon, aren't ya?"

RODRIGO

“ yeahhh that’s gotta be it. I’m Rodrigo.” After drying his hands and tossing the paper towel into the wastebasket, the school teacher extended his hand to shake the older man’s hand. “ that does sound nice though, taking a class every week. My wife and I like to do different things together. This was right up our alley.” When the wife spoke, Rodrigo was about to respond but then she guessed correctly. “That’s amazing! How’d you figure that out?” He chuckled, taking Jade’s hand as they walked to their tables.

JADE

"Jimmy," the man replied, returning Rodrigo's handshake with a firm grip of his own. "Oh we don't take classes every week. We just like doin' something fun - get outta the house once in a while." Jade smiled at him and waved when Rodrigo mentioned her and referred to her as his wife. It was still new and thrilled her hearing it aloud from him. The older woman introduced herself, "Bev. And y'all two just have that look about ya." Jade chuckled as well and introduced herself to the couple as well. As she held Rodrigo's hand, Bev said,  "Congratulation and you enjoy yourselves now," before turning to head back to the table with her husband. Jade was still smiling from the encounter as she whispered to Rodrigo, "They're so sweet!" just as the instructor walked the class through preparing the roux and advising everyone to dice most of the vegetables while the others could be cut slightly larger. Jade looked at the ingredients for the roux and the vegetables and asked Rodrigo, "What do you want to do, the roux or the veggies?"

RODRIGO

“Jimmy. So nice to meet you, Jimmy!” Rodrigo smiled at the man and nodded. “Absolutely ! I think that’s great. We’re the same. We’re always wanting to find something new to do or just go out on little dates.” He smiled at Jade when she waved and Rodrigo smiled at the older woman as well. “Bev. So nice to meet you. And thank you so much!” Rodrigo couldn’t stop smiling and he glanced at the couple a few times, nodding at Jade’s words. “They are! They seem so much like us. I can’t explain it.” Even though he didn’t know them at all, Rodrigo could feel a bit of a connection.  “I’ll do  the …” he thought about it for a moment and then responded, “ the vegetables. I trust you more with the roux!” He chuckled and placed the chopping board on the table before grabbing the knife. “ I just hope I cut these right .”

JADE

Jimmy leaned conspiratorially toward Rodrigo--who was notably taller than him--and loudly whispered, "I say it's the secret to a long and happy marriage." Bev smiled and gave her husband a good-natured shake of her head before giving the newlyweds well wishes and heading back to their table. And when Jade was back to hers and Rodrigo's table, she looked up to him and widened her eyes a bit, "I feel that way too. It really is just a feeling since we don't really know them but I had that feeling about them as well." Jade waited patiently for Rodrigo to decide what he wanted to do and when he chose the vegetables, she smiled and softly giggled, "Thank you, honey. And you'll be just fine. I have faith in you and your cutting abilities." While Rodrigo readied himself, Jade looked around before eyeing a pair of aprons folded at the far corner of the table. Silently, she criticized the instructor for not advising everyone of them and before she got started in the roux, she went to retrieve them. She first unfolded one with a few quick shakes at one corner, and then she stood behind her husband to wrap it around his waist. As she tied it at his back, she said, "I know your hands are busy." After affectionately touching the middle of his back, she turned on the heat for the saucepan, secured her own apron and combined flour and cooking oil, one after the other and stirring it non-stop with a metal whisk. "The day before we leave, do you want to do some shopping? We can pick out some souvenirs to bring back home for ourselves and our families."

RODRIGO

Rodrigo grinned at the man's advice, nodding and looking  towards the wives as he did so. "That's some solid advice, Jimmy. I appreciate it." He waved at Bev as they all went back to their stations but was sure to glance in their direction a few times as they began to dive into the recipe. Rodrigo listened to Jade with a small smile thinking about the interaction they just had with the older couple.  They looked so happy and so in love. He knew that would be his future with his wife and having a glimpse of that made him feel happy. "Glad we're in sync about these things." He then chuckled at her comment about his cutting skills. "I hope you're right. Oh!" He raised his arms so that Jade could place the apron on him and he then kissed her cheek in gratitude. "Thanks, honey." He began to cut the vegetables as instructed, placing them into a bowl as he finished each one. "I like that idea. I've gotta get something for my mom and Drew for sure and of course Fletcher. Maybe we can get Phoebe a cute little onesie or something." He continued cutting and then looked up, smiling at the older couple.  Bev was adjusting Jimmy's tie in the back and Rodrigo looked over to his wife. "See? They're like us."

JADE

Jade listened to Jimmy and Rodrigo with a gentle smile on her lips. It was nice to converse with two people who seemed to be from the area and yet exude a similar demeanor to them. She brightened up even more from Rodrigo having the same feeling she did about them. And when she put the apron on her husband, Jade grinned at his initial reaction and then leaned into his kiss to her cheek. "You're welcome." She got her apron on and got going on the roux knowing it was going to be a bit time-consuming, due to waiting on the heat. But she listened to Rodrigo respond to her suggestion and beamed as he spoke of his family and something to get for Phoebe. "That would be so cute! And I wonder if Drew might like something simple like a deck of cards? Do you think your mom might like something from the jazz museum?" Jade was stirring with the whisk, occasionally using it to break down any clumps of flour. She looked over to Jimmy and Bev and softly giggled when Jimmy smooched his wife's cheek. "Maybe that *will* be us in forty years." Her eyes were full of adoration as she looked up at Rodrigo, but her gaze soon returned to the roux.

The instructor projected some tips and next steps in the recipe for the group to follow. He walked around the room for a bit to look at everyone's progress up close and answer questions that arose for some. Jade was happy to be splitting the work between Rodrigo along the way. Even when the gumbo sat, seemingly finished and merely cooking away in the pot, they were able to move on to preparing the rice and the pralines together. Jade was smiling and laughing a little again at the stickiness of the pralines when it came time to preparing them to go on the parchment-covered cookie sheet to cool. "We have to be quick but careful," she said, reaching for the ice cream scoop. "Do you wanna scoop it or hold the pot near the cookie sheet?"

RODRIGO

Emma, for as long as Rodrigo has known her, has called him an old man and now that he was finding himself enjoying the conversation with Jimmy and Bev, he could see why.  Rodrigo cut up the last of his veggies but kept his focus on his wife and her preparation of the roux. He wanted to learn enough to be able to recreate it for them perhaps for an anniversary dish. Little details like that mattered a lot to him. "Oh! Drew would LOVE That. He's definitely a cards man. He's like a man's man, you know? So that's brilliant. Maybe a spirit or something. And Mom would love something from the museum. See? The brains of this relationship." He grinned at Jade, watching her at work. When Jade spoke of the older couple once more, he met her gaze and smiled right back at her. "I think you're right. We're going to be two lovebirds forever."

"Quick but careful, got it." Rodrigo's brows furrowed as he tried to work with the agonizing sensory issues he was experiencing with the praline's stickiness. "I once made pecan pie with my mom and I got brown sugar literally everywhere. You'd think I was like 7 or 8 or something. Nope. I was 23. Fletcher was laughing the entire time. There's video footage of my dilemma somewhere." He couldn't help but chuckle as he assisted his wife. Since she was the pro here, he was fine with being her second. "Okay, I can scoop it." he bared his teeth, making a face of being grossed out but over-exaggerating enough for his wife to know he was being dumb. "Even with gloves on, I felt that stickiness." He shook his head. "Again, this is why you're the pro." He smiled as the instructor approached them and looked pleased with their work. He silently gestured toward Jade with his head as if saying, *isn't she brilliant?*. This caused Bev to chuckle from their station. "Oh he's got it bad!, " She chuckled again and Rodrigo smiled at the older woman. "Darn straight, Bev."

JADE

"I know what you mean about him. I have no doubt we can find a nice deck for him. And your mom is likely to fuss at us for getting her something in the first place but I feel like we could find her something special to let her know that we were thinking of her." At the mention of them being lovebirds forever, Jade automatically glanced down at her wrist tattoo she and Rodrigo got on Valentine's Day and she smiled.

Jade listened to the story from around 7 years ago and looked up from the pot to Rodrigo, thinking for a moment before asking, "Are you sure you don't want me to scoop?" She wouldn't have minded and could see from the looks her husband was giving that it likely wasn't his desire. She picked up the potholders and started to place them over the handles but paused and held them out for Rodrigo. "Sweetie this is ridiculous, you don't need to scoop. Let me." She gently slapped the potholders to his chest and bumped his hip with hers before holding her hand out for the ice cream scooper. But she laughed a little at Bev and Rodrigo's exchange. "It's a two-way street, I promise you," she chimed in, looking from Bev to Rodrigo.

RODRIGO

"She will definitely fuss at us but now she has two kids to yell at." Rodrigo grinned, thinking about how easy it was for his mother to refer to Jade as her daughter. Rodrigo also looked down at his tattoo and smiled at his wife. "This was a great idea by the way. I'd be down to doing stuff like this back at home too by the way. I'm sure there are tons of events just like this. It'll help with improving my cooking skills but also, I get to do it with you which makes everything better."

"I got this!" He declared as confidently as possible but of course, Jade knew better and when she took over, he took the potholders she had given him and smiled sheepishly. "Thanks." He handed her the ice cream scooper and laughed. Jade knew him so well. "Yeah, she's crazy about me. It's my boyish charm for sure." He watched his wife and also the pot she had been handling, making sure he was some help at least. "What about you and Jimmy? How'd you two crazy kids fall in love? Wait, let me guess!" He bit his lip as he thought about the perfect trope for them. "Childhood best friends turned into lovers?"

JADE

Jade laughed a bit at Rodrigo's comment and then relished the warmth from being included as one of Emiliana's children. She knew her mother-in-law already felt that way but now that she and Rodrigo were married, she felt a little differently about it in a good way. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm actually okay with being fussed at if it's coming from your mom." She chuckled a bit and then said, "I love that idea. We could make it some of our dates if you'd like?"

While she appreciated Rodrigo's persistence, she was glad that he relented and let her handle the scooping. "Thank *you*," she said, glad that he wouldn't have to deal with the sticky texture beyond looking at it before it cooled. She took hold of the ice cream scooper and giggled some more from him referring to his own charm as 'boyish'. "Yes, that's it, among other things," she assured, grinning softly to herself as she scooped the first of the pralines onto the parchment paper lining the cookie sheet. She listened to Rodrigo, Jimmy and Bev while continuing to scoop the pralines in even portions to set and cool. Bev cut in before Jimmy could fully open his mouth, "Oh, we met in school alright, but it was in high school. He was sweet on some stuck-up little thing."

"It was only a little crush, Bev," Jimmy protested, busying himself by stirring their gumbo. He was sure to be blushing. But Bev went on to say, "I was jealous and kept tryin' to sabotage his advances on her. He was so mad at me! At first," she admitted with a laugh and a bit of a sheepish grin. Jade finished setting out the pralines and then asked, "So how did you two end up together?"

"Well, we had some mutual friends who got us to stop with the silly games and give each other an honest try. And we did, after a little bit of pigheadedness on his side."

"Hey!" Jimmy chided, to which Bev laughed. "That date was the beginning of it all for us. What about you two? What's your story?"

RODRIGO

Rodrigo was glad that his mother loved Jade as much as she did. More than that, he was happy and relieved that his wife would have a second chance at having a proper maternal figure in her life. There was no doubt in his mind that his mother would move mountains for Jade and she deserved that. "Good! Because she does it all with love." He chuckled. "And I do love that too." He knew that getting out and experiencing new things together was good for both of their mental health and seeing the perfect example in Bev and Jimmy, Rodrigo wanted to make sure he and Jade ended up just as happy years down the road.

Rodrigo smirked at Jade's response. "I can list all the reasons why I fell for her but we'd be here all day. Also, she made me WORK!" Rodrigo teased. "What can I do next?" Rodrigo whispered but listened intently to Bev as she readied herself to answer his question.  "Oh, let me find out, Jimmy!" Rodrigo chuckled and winked at the older man.  As he helped his wife, Rodrigo listened to the story, laughing at Jimmy's protest. "But your persistence paid off, Bev! That's great." He glanced over to Jade when she posed the next question and then shifted his gaze to Bev.

"Jimmy, my man you almost missed out!" He smiled at them both. At their question, Rodrigo nudged Jade with his elbow. "You want to take this one and tell them how you ran away from me?" Thinking back now, it was comical how he literally had to run after Jade in the parking lot of the school  and how he had promised himself he'd never smoke another cigarette again.

JADE

"I know. It's who *you* get it from," Jade noted. Rodrigo and his mother had their own personalities but they were both very loving and nurturing people in her experience. Even with Emiliana's very protective and intimidating brothers, she couldn't have asked to have married into a better family.

Jade blushed even harder listening to Rodrigo talk about her to the elderly couple. She smiled and then said, "I think all we have left to do is make the rice, which should be easy enough." They had one clean saucepan left and Jade was looking around for the uncooked rice, but the instructor seemed to pick up that everyone was about at the same place with the class and let them know that he had prepared a large pot of rice for the class to use. Jade relaxed from her search and, as everyone quickly dissolved back into varied conversations, she smiled, listening to Rodrigo easily interact with the couple. She admired him having such an effortlesslness at socializing with strangers as though they were longtime friends. And since they had nothing tondo but wait for the pralines to completely cool and for the instructor to let them all know when they could serve up their gumbo, Jade moved to stand beside her husband, slipping an a arm around his waist. "Sure, honey. Rodrigo's a teacher and was taking the lead on directing the students through the school msuical." She went on to explain about her younger siblings being students and her volunteering to help in lieu of their parents. "The time we were spending together led to feelings growing but I was afraid of my feelings and I mistook his ex for a current interest and literally ran from him, and my feelings." Jade was still a bit embarrassed but she looked up at him and said, "Thank goodness he caught me. And yes, I'm a runner. For exercise purposes," she added with a laugh.

RODRIGO

He couldn't believe how lucky he was finding someone who fit in with his family and who is adoring and just special all around. Jade was made for him. Rodrigo was convinced of this.

"Rice I'm great at. If you don't know how to make rice in a Latino household, they kick you out. True story." Rodrigo chuckled and then sighed when the instructor broke the surprise that he had prepared a large pot of rice. "Of course." He couldn't help but laugh again and turned his attention back to their new friends and his wife. He felt Jade's touch and leaned into her, leaving a soft kiss against her temple. He listened intently as she told their story and his smile wouldn't leave his face. It was nice to hear it and it was even nicer hearing Jade tell it. "As soon as I did catch up which left me out of breath and with spleen pain..." He chuckled. "I told her how I felt and one thing led to another and almost a year later, we're married. She's the love of my life."

JADE

Jade giggled from Rodrigo's comment over rice in Latino households, and then she gave him a consoling rub of his arm when the instructor let the class know that there'd be a communal pot of rice for the gumbo each of them prepared. She warmed all over again when he kissed her temple, always loving his kisses. While sliding an arm low around Rodrigo's back, she listened to him and grinned a bit as he finished off their story. Bev and Jimmy were also amused about the literal running the two of them had done. "And he's mine," Jade added without any doubt that Rodrigo was the love of her life.

The instructor soon encouraged everyone's help with cleaning up. He'd run a large sink of warm dish soap; beside the sink was a stainless steel counter. He let the class know that they could place all the utensils, measuring cups and measuring spoons directly in the soapy water and stack the sauce pans, frying pans and cookie sheets on the counter. "While you do that, I'll come around with paper plates for your pralines and bowls and disposable utensils for your gumbo. I'll include some to-go containers and bags as well," the instructor told them. Jade politely excused herself from the elderly couple while slipping her arm from around her husband to start gathering up the cooking and measuring utensils.

RODRIGO

He smirked when Jade giggled. Rodrigo loved to hear her laugh. Anytime he gave her a sliver of happiness, Rodrigo felt like he was on top of the world like he had achieved the greatest thing. In his mind, his wife deserved that. He also hadn't realized until then how much he enjoyed telling their story or hearing it from Jade as she told others. He knew that their relationship and the way they got together was special but hearing it made him feel warm all over again. Meeting Bev and Jimmy was no accident. Surely, this was a glimpse into their future together. He was certain of it. Rodrigo would strive to make Jade this happy for as long as they both lived and he hoped that was for a very long time.

When the instructor spoke and Jade followed his instruction, Rodrigo helped by also gathering up any utensils and measuring cups that Jade didn't. He also took the saucepan so that he could stack it with the others as instructed.  He offered to take Bev and Jimmy's things and then followed Jade to the sink. Once they returned, he was happy to see the paper plates and utensils so they could enjoy the meal they had created. Rodrigo rubbed his hands together with a giant grin, taking in the smells from around the room. "This is going to be amazing, I just know it. Are you having fun?" He glanced over to his wife with a smile.

JADE

Jade smiled yet again when Rodrigo came beside her and helped gather up the utensils and things for cleaning up. By the time they were done moving the used dishes, all that had been left at the table was the pot of gumbo, the parchment of pralines and the new disposable dining items dropped off at their table. Jade checked that the stove top was still on low for their gumbo and then she looked up to Rodrigo while pulling out two stools from under the table for them. "I am, yes! I'm really glad we decided to include this with our trip, and that we'll be able to take the extra gumbo with us back to our hotel room." As the class was finishing with clearing their cooking dishes and utensils to the sink, the instructor invited everyone enjoy their creations and help themselves to the large pot of rice. Jade picked up the two bowls and said, "I can get the rice for us, honey." She tilted her chin up in search for a kiss. After pecking his lips, she went to stand in the short line and then scooped a smaller portion of rice in one bowl for herself, and more in the other for Rodrigo. She carefully walked the two back to their table, the steam wafting up from each bowl. Picking up a ladle, she offered it to her husband, "Would you like to do the honors?"

RODRIGO

Rodrigo dried his hands and sat down beside Jade. He looked around at the other participants and smiled before reaching for his wife’s hand. So far, they had been enjoying their honeymoon and both of them were on cloud nine. “Yess having extras is a huge plus.” He chuckled. Whenever there’s food, Rodrigo would be there.

He kissed Jade when she got up to get the rice and watched her with a smile on his face. When she returned, he took the ladle and nodded. “I’d love to, Madame.” Rodrigo poured them a generous amount of the gumbo, the smell exciting him immediately. “Oh my God this smells like love. I can’t explain it.”

JADE

"It was certainly *made* with love," Jade replied, smiling as she took a seat and accepted her bowl from Rodrigo. "Bon appétit, mon amour," she replied in easy French, giving him a wink before dipping her spoon into the bowl. She mixed the rice a bit and then lifted some of the content to cool it off by blowing slowly before taking a bite. Jade shut her eyes and moaned, the flavors practically dancing in her mouth and down her throat. "This is amazing. I feel like being here has helped it taste that much more authentic. And I really loved getting to cook this with you." She enjoyed just a few more small bites before leaning into Rodrigo's side. "This might be my new favorite thing that we've done so far," she told him, a content smile on her lips. While she hadn't eaten much, eating more than two bites in front of so many others - especially people she didn't know - had been a big step for her. She'd relished every single bite and was looking forward to the leftovers later on with Rodrigo. Picking up one of the pralines, she broke the brittle-like dessert in half and bit into it. The sweetness hit her tongue right away and the crunchy texture with the pecans made her smile a bit again. "Pralines arent one of my favorite desserts but I've never really *made* them before today. This turned out really well." Setting the resr down, Jade ladled the rest of their gumbo into the container they were given. She secured its lid once the pot was empty and slid off her stool to add the pot, lid and ladle with the otherndirty dishes. She'd felt odd leaving so many dishes unwashed but the instructor had been clear. When she returned the table, Jade picked up her spoon to take one more bite for now but prior to eating it, asked Rodrigo, "Do you want to get some more rice to take with our leftovers? I'll bet there's still plenty of it left."

RODRIGO

Rodrigo clinked his bowl against Jade's with a smile. "Bon appetit, " He responded, mixing his ride in with the gumbo using his spoon. His excitement was evident on his face as he brought the spoon to his lips. Rodrigo blew on his food for a bit before taking his first taste and he shut his eyes as a smile formed against his lips. "Oh God...." He gathered more onto his spoon and had some more. "This is so good." He pointed to the gumbo with his spoon and nodded in response to Jade's observation. "I agree. I have never tasted gumbo like this and aw, babe..." He leaned into her side as well and smiled. "This has to be our official anniversary dish." He chuckled, making mental notes of all the things he wanted to do next year and the year after and every year after that for as long as they were alive and well. He was proud of Jade for eating the gumbo with the class there. It showed progress and he knew how hard that was for her. Without saying anything about it, he snaked his arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head before releasing her to continue eating. "I've never had pralines, I think. But I'll save that for when we get back to the hotel." He had a few more spoonfuls of his gumbo, eating all of it pretty quickly. Once finished, he walked over to the sink to drop off with the other dirty dishes. When Jade mentioned getting more rice, he reached for their disposable ware. "Good idea. You don't have to ask me twice." He grinned as he sped off to take some more rice for the hotel and came back, adjusting the lid. "Alright! Look at us! " He  glanced over to Jimmy and Bev. "How are you two doing over there?"

JADE

"An anniversary dish," Jade echoed thoughtfully and smiled at the idea. She loved the thought of her and Rodrigo revisiting this memory each year, be it at their home or elsewhere. After they finished clearing their station and putting their leftovers in containers, Jade perched herself on the stool for a bit, but looked over to their new acquaintances. At Rodrigo's addressing them, Jimmy said, "My woman put her foot in this gumbo, like she does with everything she makes!" And Bev chuckled, giving her husband a harmless swat, "We made this *together*, Jimmy."

The older man winked and leaned towards Rodrigo, "Yeah, meaning she did the important stuff and I got to taste it."

Jade laughed and Bev rolled her eyes. And when the instructor came around to offer plastic bags and thank everyone for participating, Jade accepted the offer for a bag and began placing all the leftovers inside. Bev and Jimmy really were a lot like them, just a different generation apart. Their likeness, coupled with cooking a meal with Rodrigo had her feeling like the day had been so full in the best possible way. She'd still been feeling much like she had been on the day they'd married--like Rodrigo planted the light of the sun in her heart himself. Every moment spent with him let her love for him stay strong, vibrant and beautiful.

With the class concluding, Jade reached to undo her apron and fold it to leave on the table.  She stepped close to Rodrigo and kept her voice intimately low for only him. "As much as I hope that I never forget today, I think I would like to head back to the hotel now. Maybe I could have you all to myself for the rest of the day?"

RODRIGO

"Well, we're in the same boat. I would have dominated the rice but noooo." Rodrigo chuckled at Jimmy's words and began wiping down the counter.

He grinned at both Bev and Jimmy, unable to stop smiling as he listened to them. They were so amazing and so much like him and Jade. He loved the glimpse into their future. He already knew that he and his wife would be forever but seeing it here really made him so giddy. Rodrigo moved to sit beside Jade, waiting for the class to wrap up. He considered asking the other couple if they'd want to meet for a drink while they were in New Orleans but he figured it was best to keep the memory this way. 

Rodrigo helped Jade gather their food and watched her get everything together for them. He was the luckiest man in the world. He was so in love with his wife and was moved by the fact that she was experiencing so much happiness on their honeymoon. He wanted to bottle this feeling. Rodrigo's goal was to make sure Jade never felt the way she did while with her mother. He wanted her to have the best experiences, to feel like she can do anything and that she was capable of great things. He removed his apron and folded it as well, leaving it on top of Jade's. When she stepped closer, he placed his hands on her waist, leaning in slightly to hear what she had to say. He smirked, pressing a soft kiss against her cheek and moving a strand of hair behind her ear. "I think that's very doable..." He whispered, waving at their new friends who also seemed lost in one another. He took his wife's hand and they walked back to their card. Once they had arrived at the spot, Rodrigo took the plastic bag from her to leave it in the back seat and then walked back to open the door for her to let Jade in. Before she climbed in, he looked around and then gave her ass a tiny smack before squeezing it. "Come on, I'll give you a warmup before we get to the hotel." He eyed her outfit and grinned at the thought of getting her excited during their drive.

JADE

When the class concluded, Jade collected the bag of their leftovers and, on their way out, told Jimmy and Bev, "It was really nice to meet you both today." She shook their hands and walked out of the venue, feeling positively buoyant. And Rodrigo agreeing to them having alone time just added to it. As much as she was enjoying them seeing and experiencing New Orleans, she  equally loved intimate moments with her husband. She smiled gratefully to him when he took the bag from her, "Thank you, honey." And as she approached the passenger's door, she gasped and gave a little start when he smacked and squeezed her butt. A huge grin spread across her lips, "Well now I'm even more excited." She took her seat and buckled up, ready for the ride back to their hotel room.