#but mushy meat is a texture no go

[abuglikecreature]

thinkin abt absolute scatterbrain Wade & very particular little wolvie. like wolvie will play all day out in the mud & sticks but as soon as hes given a super processed food (old little boy) he cries. wade learned that lesson from dino nuggets and heroically made sure they didn’t go to waste (om nom) while wolvie got a carrot or something (sweet treat to him).

another thought. wade tells wolvie to wait for walkies or a book or playing or something, & gives wolvie a guestimate on what time they’ll get around to it. So wolvie plops his butt down in front of a clock (maybe with a roughed up teddy in hand) and waits. the clock tic tic tics past that time wade gave him, and wolvie is confused. he trails after wade, poking and pawing and grumbling at wade, who had genuinely constantly been thinking about what hed promised wolvie but just kept getting distracted. & then they live happily ever after yay yay yippee

[starpros-sunshine]

"Oh you just need to eat more vegetables and protein" yeah sure because I just don't want to. That's why.

[sunnywalnut]

Ngl to you. The best reheated meal I've ever had. Its Banquet's Homestyle Bakes country chicken mashed potatoes and biscuits

You're telling me I get to only pay $5 for a meal that stays good in the fridge for over 3 days, doesn't turn into absolute garbage of a texture, AND is super filling AND has protein???

I love you.

[kedreeva]

Do you have a recipe for quail you would be willing to share? I saw a six-pack of frozen quail at my local grocery store, and I would love to give them a try, but they're a new-to-me ingredient! Thank you.

I was advised to marinate in ranch and pan fry, by someone that eats wild hunted quail, and I'm told that pan frying before baking is best, but honestly my favorite is quail pot pie rather than eating the quail on its own. They're EXCEPTIONALLY easy to dry out, especially if they are skinless (and mine are because it's too much trouble to pluck)

You chop onions and garlic, put in a large pan, a cup of water (or I use stock I made with quail bones from previous meals, but chicken stock would probably be fine), some salt if you haven't used stock, and the whole quail carcasses. Cover and simmer low-medium until the quail are done through (usually like 45 mins? For me on my stove, you would need to experiment to be sure on yours), turning over once during cooking. While that's going, chop potatoes and start them boiling, then chop carrots and add them halfway through the potato boil so they're not mushy. I thaw some frozen broccoli but don't cook it further, just chop it up. I usually also chop mushrooms up and don't cook them.

Once the quail are done, remove as much meat as you can, chop any large pieces into smaller pieces. You can toss the onions and garlic or drain and hold some back, it doesn't really matter. Drain the potatoes/carrots pot, and put everything into a saucepan with a jar of gravy (I use turkey gravy). While it's warming up, put a crust in a pie pan, and then dump the mix into the pie pan and cover with another crust if you want. Bake for 1 hour at 350F, let cool, and enjoy.

You can leave out pretty much anything you want or swap it for whatever or add stuff. My partner likes peas in his pot pie (texture nightmare for me). The amounts don't really matter for the rest, as long as it fits in your pie pan. I find 2 decent sized redskin potatoes, 4 quail, a few baby carrots (like maybe 6-8 good sized ones not those skinny bitches), a small bowl of broccoli+mushrooms (together) seems to be about right for me.

It does have a different flavor than chicken pot pie, but I like it. Also be REALLY thorough about checking your meat for bones, they have so many tiny bones. I pretty much always miss some little fucker somehow, so don't be surprised if you do, too.

I like mine with a bit of cheese shredded on top!

[pawsitivevibe]

So I've been experimenting with various types of foods and treats for training Arthur, my cocker spaniel. He is very distractable, but upping the value of treats has helped significantly. I've used various "people foods" like meatballs, deli meat, rotisserie chicken, hot dogs. In general any treat bought from a pet store has not been high enough value to keep my guy's focus for difficult stuff like sustained attention for agility exercises.

However, I want to give a special shout-out and recommendation to these store bought treats that have been a big hit:

These are stinky, soft, tuna based treats. Arthur LOVES them. It's all about smell and texture for him, and he loves a gross mushy stinky treasure. They are less gross than sticking hot dog and roast chicken in your pouch, they don't leave much residue behind unless you squeeze them.

I just tried these and they were another hit for him. You tear off one of the packets and it's a long stick inside that you can tear up into little pieces. They are soft but not mushy. Easy to tear up without crumbling. Kinda perfect for grabbing one stick for your pocket on the go to break up as needed on a walk or something.

Here's my other great find. Not so much a specific treat. But I got a couple of silicone squeeze bottles like this and have been filling them with wet foods. This is probably Arthur's very favourite treat, he is glued to me when he sees one of these bad boys come out. I have mostly been used canned salmon mousse from the pet store recently, but the beauty of this is you can switch up what you use and keep it exciting.

Do you have any favourite high value treat finds?

[ruewrites]

AO3

Ship: Beelzebub/MC

Word Count: 2579

Warning(s): Sensory Issues

A/N: This was my second piece for the gift exchange @obeymeholidayexchange for @qrowsofafeather! I don't normally write for MC, but the prompt I picked was "Beelzebub takes a food adverse/picky MC out to sample Devildom food to find something they will like". As someone who is also sensitive to food textures I couldn't not do it. I HOPE YOU LIKE IT QROW 💗

Getting Yuki to eat their first day in the Devildom had been a challenge all on their own. Beelzebub remembered the way they tried to smile, their hooves shaking as they attempted, and failed, to force down the tiniest bite he’d ever witnessed down their throat. The partially chewed up  morsel wound its way back onto their plate, and Yuki bowed their head to excuse themselves from the table in a quick little flurry. 

They insisted they weren’t hungry anymore, and yet Beelzebub still found them rooting through the fridge late in the night when he did his own midnight snack run. They’d almost fallen from the shelf they were standing on after being startled, the light emitting from the fridge illuminated their bleary eyes. The following events had been quick and not thought through and had nearly woken up the other occupants of Lamentation. Knowing Lucifer, it definitely could have ended in a much more upsetting fashion than a few pieces of devil ham hock and a cup of screaming succotash on the floor.

It was confusing, Beelzebub wouldn’t lie, normally other people weren’t sneaking around the kitchen at night. His appetite dwarfed theirs and, for the most part, three meals and a few tiny snacks was enough to tide most people over. So why would Yuki be rooting around in the fridge at night? For a moment, he wondered if such a small creature could possibly have an appetite as large as his, and for a single second he understood why others were amazed. 

Then Yuki explained after rapid apologies. They weren’t satisfied earlier, they were still hungry, but the texture of the meat- once their teeth dug into it, they couldn’t bring themselves to eat anymore. It was all wrong, too chewy. It wasn’t right, Yuki’s teeth couldn’t cut into it quite right, and the crunching  sound it made when they hit gristle-

They felt terrible and embarrassed. 

Yuki wanted to like the food, they really did.

They wanted to eat it, but they couldn’t.

Beelzebub thought it sounded terrible. Texture getting in the way of the enjoyment of food? What would it be like for him if he had to constantly worry about what he ate with his appetite? All the food he enjoyed, he would always have to worry about it and fret. And if it wasn’t right he wouldn’t be able to eat? It sounded like the worst punishment a demon even crueler than Lucifer would come up with!

So, since that day, Beel paid close attention to the food that was made, as did the rest of his brothers. 

Yuki preferred tender meat, the kind that would fall apart in the mouth and that was juicy. They also liked things that were crispy, but they could never be too chewy. That was bad. For vegetables, they could be crispy or cooked, but they could never be mushy. Vegetables had to have some sort of structure or else they wouldn’t feel quite right. Food also couldn’t be too stringy or contain any gristle at all. 

Not every time was perfect, and every now and again one of them would make a mistake or they would have food that Yuki couldn’t eat. In that case they always kept a select few foods on standby that were known as Yuki’s safe foods. Beel tried his best not to touch them, and if he did he made sure he went to buy them more as soon as he could. 

The other issue, that Beel didn’t even realize, was the subject of restaurants. 

When going out to eat, Yuki could never be certain of the textures of food they’d come across. Even if the food smelled, looked, and tasted good, it could still have a less than welcoming texture for Yuki. 

The thought that he couldn’t safely enjoy restaurants with Yuki was an upsetting one, and one he would have to come up with a solution for. Sharing food was a form of sharing affection for him. Sharing food was a form of love for him. If he had to put a little more effort in, he was sure that he could find a way to share his love with Yuki.

Food was a great way to get to know someone, it was a gateway to their soul.

Like how Mammon liked really spicy food and Asmo liked sweets. 

Mammon was fiery and spirited and always tried to step in for them.

Meanwhile Asmo was kind and supportive and always ready to point out their best qualities. 

It just made sense to Beel, and he wanted to learn more about their human exchange student. It had been a while since they’d come to the Devildom, true, but it was never too late to learn something new about the person you cared about. Food was the spice and flavor of life, and the more food can be enjoyed, the more life can be enjoyed.

Beelzebub wanted Yuki to enjoy life without trouble as much as possible. 

One day, he approached the small sheep, list in hand and laid it before them. 

“Tell me which group of textures appeals the most to you.”

The bell around their neck jingled softly as they looked up at him in confusion. 

“Trust me on this.” He laid another list in front of them. “I also have some groupings of scenery too. Noise, lights, things like that. I know those can bother you too.”

He watched as they carefully circled the groupings that most appealed to them, taking extra care and thought to each of the pairings on the sheet, even going as far as to rate which groupings would be the most unpleasant to most pleasant.  Once completed, Yuki stepped away from the lists and looked up at him with a jingle of their bell. They tilted their head curiously as Beel took the lists in his hands.

“Nothing I can tell you yet,” he said in response, “Just know that I’m gonna make plans.”

And make plans he did. 

Beel took Yuki’s notes into special consideration as he went to every restaurant he could think of in the vicinity. The textures, the atmosphere, it all had to be perfect. He didn’t even really care if they put a limit on his own potions, if Yuki could eat their fill that would make him more than happy. He even asked the staff what type of light fixtures they used (and chewed on a few for good measure). Everything had to be perfect for them, Yuki had to enjoy this meal. It couldn’t just taste good, it had to feel good.

What good was food if it wasn’t appetizing? If it didn’t touch the soul? If it wasn’t an experience?

Food had to be all of those things, because food was meant to be enjoyed and savored on the tongue. It warmed a body from the pit of the stomach, flowing out through the fingers and the head dizzy with endorphins. It made Beel smile and his mind buzz. He could feel it in his hands and his feet, radiating straight from his endless pit. 

Yuki deserved those good feelings too.  

The vibration.

The rush.

The joy.

And Beelzebub would do anything to make sure that experience could be guarded and cherished for them.

***

Yuki sat on Beel’s shoulder as they walked through town. It was a pleasant day, mildly chilly, just enough to liven the senses. Every shop they passed alerted Beel with a variety of pleasant and tempting aromas. They were begging him to step inside and devour everything in sight. But today was for Yuki, and Beel would stay focused for them. He couldn’t take a possible moment of enjoyment away from them to satisfy his own urges. Not today. 

Besides, Yuki’s joy would fill him more than any triple deluxe cheeseburger with extra devil sauce ever could. Even if it did sound really good, and Beelzebub thought it sounded incredibly good as it made droplets of drool form at the corners of his mouth. 

The bell around Yuki’s neck rang as they attempted to clear the drool around his mouth with a tiny cloth. 

“Hm? Oh sorry about that,” Beel said, taking the cloth from Yuki and wiping his face. The sheep tilted their head in confusion in a silent question, one that Beel understood perfectly. It wasn’t that hard to understand Yuki, he just had to listen a little differently.

“Where are we going?”

Yuki nodded.

“You’ll see, it’s a surprise.”

Their brow furrowed, and their gaze became a bit apprehensive. It was a rightful concern, but Beel was certain in what he was doing.

“Don’t worry. You’ll like it a lot. I promise. I did a lot of research.”

Yuki still seemed apprehensive, but settled back down comfortably, scooting closer to Beel’s chin.

Walking for a little while longer, the pair eventually came to a quiet little building on the edge of town. The lights were dim and soft and streamed out of the window gently onto the street. Beel opened the door to a warm and plush restaurant. The tables were wide and had hot plates on either end and a grill in the center. Beel brought them over to an empty table, kneeling down so they could hop off his shoulder with ease. Sitting across from them, he tapped the tablet screen on the table. The  screen lit up with a variety of options from different meats, vegetables, and broths to choose from.

Yuki’s bell rang twice as their head looked from the screen up to Beel.

“I know you’re normally hesitant about restaurants because of sensory things, and Devildom food is even trickier for you to navigate,” Beel said as he started to scroll through and select a variety of foods, “But I still wanted to share some of my favorite foods with you, and I wanted to take you out.”

For a moment, Beel felt like he was rambling, and an odd feeling overcame him. Face heating up, he pressed the submit button a little harder than he needed to, making the tablet bend ever so slightly and leaving a rather prominent fingerprint in his wake. He had been excited when he started, why now did he suddenly feel so shy? It didn’t make any sense in the slightest. Perhaps he could ask Belphie later about these weird feelings, but for now, he had to focus on Yuki. The urge to over explain returned and he continued to speak.

“I- I wanted to find a place we could eat out together, and take you to restaurants I really like. So I went to every restaurant I could and tried all their food and even got second opinions from other people.” Beel liked all food, and while he thought he could be pretty good at differentiating between textures and tastes, he wanted to be extra sure. If Yuki didn’t like it, Beel didn’t know if he’d be able to finish his own meal. There was still the chance that Yuki wouldn’t like this food, and the thought alone made Beel sweat. The last thing he wanted was to embarrass them and-

Maybe he should have gotten takeout instead.

Maybe bringing them out to a physical restaurant was selfish.

Maybe-

No. 

No no. He couldn’t think like this. Yuki would love this, and he was sure about that. He had to be sure about it.

“I tried a lot of different places, and it was hard to pick one. That’s why I made the lists I did for you to choose from.” He looked up at the lighting fixtures, and listened to the soft music that floated throughout the room. It wasn’t too overstimulating, he didn't think. He’d asked Levi to step inside and he seemed pretty relaxed, so it would work for Yuki too. 

“You choose what you want to eat and then you cook it yourself, either in a broth or on the thing in the middle, I can help you choose based on flavor,” Beel said, a smile finally making its way to his face, “If you have trouble with the cooking too I can help you, I’ve gotten pretty good at cooking meals for you.”

He stopped as he noticed Yuki tear up a little and wipe their eyes.

“We don’t have to though!” Beel panicked, “We can go home and make something if you don’t like it. I-”

Yuki shook their head rapidly, the jingling of their bell struggling to keep up as they did so. Walking across the table, they motioned for Beel to come closer and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek. His face turned a bright shade of red as Yuki took a seat next to him instead of making their way back to the other side of the table. He was in such a state of shock that he didn’t even notice when the piles of food and the bowls of broth were delivered. In fact, Yuki had to nudge him a few times to get him to notice. 

The look of concern on their face made him feel bad, he didn’t mean to worry him, that kiss had just been unexpectedly nice.

He picked up his chopsticks and dropped a slice of manic minotaur meat and dropped it into the bubbling bowl alongside some putrid potato. The seconds couldn’t have ticked by slower as they waited. The thin slices of meat always cooked the fastest and were usually done in seconds. Everything went quiet as he lifted the cooked meat from the bowl, dripping with savory juices as he looked back over to Yuki. Carefully, he held it out to them and they both held their breath as they took their first bite.

Beel had barely noticed the way Yuki closed their eyes until they flew open in wonder, and before he could react the rest of the meat was in their mouth (along with a good portion of the chopsticks).

“You like it that much huh?”

Yuki nodded their head so fast that Beel thought their bell would soar right off their neck, never to be seen again. 

“I guess that just means that we’ll have to make this our place then huh?”

He’d never felt a warmth like this before. It was a better feeling than food could ever give him, and different than the warmth he’d felt with his family. As he dropped food into their bowls and onto the grill before them, Beel rattled on about the different meats and vegetables and which ones he thought Yuki would like along with their flavors. He talked about the different drinks they could order, and he raved about desserts and the fruit and sauce options at the bar in the back.

He talked on and on and on, the warmth between them growing with each passing second.

And outside, though neither of them noticed, a soft snow started to fall and collect on the sidewalks outside, illuminated by the quiet light illuminating from the tiny restaurant on the outskirts. A tiny restaurant on the outskirts where two figures ate, and laughed, and loved.

Two figures who couldn’t imagine being anywhere else in all the Three Realms.

Two figures who were full of joy.

A joy that couldn’t be replicated anywhere, not this night.

Not with the snow falling.

Not when the world was so quiet, and calm.

Not when everything was right.

[writer-ace]

Food / Cooking Hacks I Use to Reduce Food Waste

Between my executive functioning issues and my sensory issues, food can be complicated, and I end up paying the ADHD/neurodivergence tax a lot. Food goes bad because I can't bring myself to cook it, or fruits/vegetables get one tiny bit too mushy and I can't eat them.

I'm still working on it, but here are some of the hacks/strategies I've developed to reduce that:

Partial meal prep. Most of the time, I can't stand reheated carbs or vegetables, and so I always struggled with a lot of meal prep because it involved making leftovers I then wouldn't want to eat. So I started doing what I've been calling partial meal prep: when I buy a package of meat, instead of portioning it out and freezing some of it or saving it in my fridge to cook the next day, I will just cook all of it. Then, over the next few days, I can do whatever carb or vegetable and then just reheat the meat. This means I'm more likely to use the meat before it goes bad, and cooking it all at once isn't generally much more work than cooking a portion.

Fruit salad. For some reason, fruit mush bothers me far less when it's in a fruit salad than when it's on its own. i think the mix of textures hides any less-than-ideal texture. So I've started making big batches of fruit salad (if I can, I do berries, though I also add other fruit) and storing it in my fridge in a giant container. Then, whenever I want fruit, I can portion some out. I've ended up using more of any given fruit than if I try to work through individual packages.

Hearty vegetables I can eat raw. Cooking vegetables can be a pain, and as someone who cooks for one, I end up often not being able to cook all of it before it starts to go meh. So most of the time, I rotate through vegetables that don't go bad/mushy fast and that I enjoy eating raw, like baby carrots and tomatoes. This also works for fruit--apples are a great option.

Airtight plastic containers. I've been using this for a long time for my flour and sugar, but recently a bought a whole bunch of these to use for snacks, etc. When I buy something like cereal, cookies, or goldfish, I open it and dump it in one of the plastic containers. That way I can see how much I have left so I'm less likely to end up with that nebulous amount going stale in the bag, and they get stale slower because it's airtight.

[mossythemush]

When you love a creature so much you kinda wanna eat them

I think it has already been established that I'm a... Peculiar individual, at the very least.

I'm strange! Not better than anyone, significantly worse than many, but that's not the topic of today's chunk o' text. No, today we're gonna talk about my weird fascination with fictional cuisine.

I'd say this all started back in 2020, with the release of Minecraft's nether update.

Never been much of a foodie myself. But if there's one thing I love to much n' chew, that's mushrooms.

What's not to love? Each kind tastes differently, feels differently, smells differently... A feast for all the senses!

And don't even get me started on their biology, they are such bizarre organisms. So imagine my surprise when they added unique mustrooms to the nether.

The crimson and warped fungus caught my attention for multiple reasons. As stated, given my general love for mushrooms it's no wonder why I'd focus so much on them.

But asides from looking cool, they made a question pop up in my head.

How the hell are there mushrooms on the nether??

I know, I know, Minecraft is not the most realistic game ever (and I don't wanna imply it should be), but I'm passionate for biology!

Most people have head-canons about characters, their relationships, their hobbies, stuff like that.

I, on the other hand, like to imagine how fictional creatures would internally function

There's no denying that real world animals are, as some would describe, "cool as fuck". Yeah, a lot of them look cool, but some of them have absolutely wild adaptations that you'd think would only be possible in a fictional setting.

Now imagine applying those to something that doesn't exist, in an entirely fabricated environment with different rules than the world we live in. The possibilities are endless! Alien creatures from a bizarre planet, fantastical beasts from an arcane forest, beings from an alternate dimension... All of them could be realistically explained, in some way or another.

So I take a creature, imagine how their organs would be arranged, their senses, their adaptations, alla that stuff. But this begs the question:

How would they taste?

How would the existence of such a creature impact the local cuisine?

We humans are no stranger to eating everything that moves. Sometimes they taste great, sometimes they kill you, it's all part of our overall investigation of "how to live"

This brings us back to the nether fungi from Minecraft. If there's one thing a fungus always needs to prosper, it's moisture. But, at least at first glance, the nether has none or, at the very least, a minuscule amount of it.

Assuming that this is the case, they would wildly differ from real life mushrooms in so many ways, but what i wondered the most about it would be their texture and, most of all, their taste.

Think about it. Moisture is what gives mushrooms their... well, mushiness, but also their taste. Without it, their flavor would be much more concetrated.

I won't discuss them in this post, as i'm already getting sidetracked. Let's just continue with the next thing: the headcrabs from Half Life.

I have a fondness for ugly animals, i don't know why. None of my pets are... particularily pretty. I mean don't get me wrong i love my rats but one of them is fat and the bald one just looks like a testicle.

This, of course, also applies to fictional species, and i think headcrabs have got to be among my favorites.

They're extremely unappealing. They have no discernable facial features, they're highly aggresive (and quite mean) and zombify humans through absolutely horrendous processes. But ain't they kinda cute?

I don't know, i guess i find the whole "wanting to kill me" thing they got going on sort of endearing.

But again, I digress. They kinda look like a chicken? Like not a living feathered one, the one you buy on the market to cook. And that makes me think, what would they taste like?

They have been established to be edible. Sure, their meat is yellow and there probably isn't much of it, given their size it's probably all muscle and organs.

In half life Alyx, apart from receiving some tweaks to their design, several headcrabs are caught and cooked with by a vortigaunt. Sure, it's an alien species eating it, but even Russel, a human character, has a headcrab kept in his fridge.

Heck, now that I remember, in the second game you can see a couple vortigaunts chopping and preparing a headcrab for consumption. For both vortigaunts and humans! So while probably just a last resort option, they are definitely edible.

A weird choice, I know, but if I could try any fictional food, I would probably choose to taste what a headcrab stew tastes like. Maybe you could even roast their hind legs like if they were some sort of weird alien drumsticks!

Let's cut to the chase. Surprise! This is not just me rambling for no reason, this is actually an announcement! I've been thinking of doing this for a couple years but couldn't decide where to do it, and this seems like the right place!

I'm gonna start writing about my headcannons for multiple Minecraft creatures. Their biology, their behavior outside of the seen gameplay and, most importantly, their culinary capabilities! I have yet to decide the format, as there's many ways of tackling this, but I hope you'll look forward to read it!

Beware though, knowing myself each entry will probably be longer than this post. Yeah, even longer. Brace yourselves.

See ya then!

[lixenn]

For the OC Questions: Favorites and Least-Favorites, I'm sending this one for Marina! 🤩🤩🤩

1. Meals/Dish 2. Fruit/Dessert/Artificial Flavor 4. Scents (perfume, soap fragrance, naturally-occurring, food or event-related, etc.) 13. Exes, if any 27. Friend/Partner Activity

Heya Ein! Welcome to the inbox 🫂thank you for sending something in and be prepared for a gigantic Rina infodump because damn I've got things to say lmao.

Meals/Dish Fav: Falafel Marina is a sucker for falafel. A friend of hers once dragged her to this hole in the wall falafel place and she has been hooked ever since. She likes eating them with salad but any other variation works too. When he's truly desperate Chief picks up some take away from that specific falafel place to bribe his sister with her favourite food lmaooo. Least fav: any kind of meat Marina is a vegeterian, because she hates the texture and taste of meat. Absolutely abhors it. Just ugh, hard no. She can eat some fish (ones that have a subtle flavour) but shrimp and octopus are also out because of texture. Rina is very much a picky eater lmao. (Also, please imagine this: Dan sitting across his sister in a restaurant for family dinner. He orders a gigantic piece of steak, big enough that it would really hurt if you slap someone with it. He stabs it with his fork, he cuts off a piece and it's still bleeding. Then, he looks his sister dead in the eye and eats it, really underlining his enjoyment because Rina forced him to go to a huge social event two months ago and he's still salty about it. Meanwhile Rina is lowkey squeasy but won't give him the satisfaction of showing it, so she forcing a smile on her face that twitches each time Dan takes a bite.)

Fruit/Dessert/Artificial Flavor Fav: Pastéis de Nata aka tiny custard pastry. They are delicious and creamy and Marina loves them so much even when they are a bit messy to eat (cause they are made with a flaky pastry dough). Here a visual in case you aren't familiar:

Least fav: bananas She doesn't mind the taste exactly but the texture is blurgh. Too mushy. No bite. No thanks. (You might notice a theme here with Marina and food lmao. Though I will say if she's in a social setting where not eating a dish would be considered rude, she would still eat it even though she hates the food).

Scents (perfume, soap fragrance, naturally-occurring, food or event-related, etc.) Fav: Orange-cinnamon combo You know the kind of scent you get from Christmas? It's hard for me to describe because I don't know if you guys have the same drinks like we do but we have this punch (non-alcoholic) that has an orange base that's spiced with cinnamon, clove and i think cardamon. It smells really fucking good. Marina loves it (I don't know if Italians do this kind of punch btw it's just the easiest way for me to describe the scent lmao). Least fav: grilled/smoked meat I'm pointing to the explanation above except instead of taste and texture it's also the smell of meat that's a no go. She gets nauseous from it. She also doesn't like the smell of blood, though she will once again endure it if necessary.

Exes, if any Okay I can't answer this one with the fav and least fav layout because Marina's love life can't really be categorized this way. Yes, she has dated before her marriage but like anything else in life Marina approached dating like a scientist would approach a tricky set of primarily experiments. Carefully and clinical in the hope that it would prepare for future and more important endeavors. She got her first boyfriend with 14 simply because every popular girl had one, so she needed one too. That relationship lasted three weeks (an appropriate amount of time according to her research) before she dumped him gently. Afterwards the world of dating opened up to her and Marina planned. She strategically picked her partners based on several criteria like looks, popularity, wealth, social standing, personality etc. and dated on and off during her entire school life. She never commited to a boyfriend for too long but also didn't switch partners too often because that's how you get "SLUT" stamped on your social profile and that ain't gonna fly. Somehow, she mananged to hit the exact sweet spot of available and taken that made men desire her and women look up to her. Marina dated a lot but she wasn't easy, y'know? Btw the first time she had sex she was 16 and she vetted that partner thouroghly. He needed to be attractive, run in her social circles, have some experience but not too much and above all he needed to be nice. The last criteria was the trickiest to fulfil because high school is full of douchebags. But she needed someone nice since she was planning to gather all the experience before she married and to avoid the "SLUT" label she decided to have only one partner for learning how-to-do-the-sex-thing instead of multiple. So. Off she went to search for the nice boy next door who would be loyal and open minded and not too much of a bore (since she planned for the relationship to last longer). It took her a while but she found someone suitable in the end. That relationship lasted half a year which was her longest relationship before she married. (fun fact: somehow all of Marina's relationships ended on good terms, she actually still keeps in contact with some of her exes cause they can offer valuable intel aka gossip) Now, as for why there are no favourites. It's because Marina never dated for love or even fondness. It started with curiousity and ended with a five year plan on how to get the best husband. She never fell in love with any of her partners, at most she considered them friends or business partners (not that her boyfriends knew that, she is an excellent actress). Dating for Marina was a means to an end, same with marriage, so none of her past partners really mattered. (Another scene to imagine: Dan opening the door to Marina standing before a corkboard examining future boyfriend's like she's a detective solving a murder case. He takes on look at the strings of yarn and detailed notes, glances at his sister tipping her lips, smiling like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, thinks "fuck that" and immediately closes the door again lmao.)

Friend/Partner Activity Fav: Dancing Marina is a high society gal through and through. As soon as she decided to take the Mafia world by storm no matter what she bugged Donna Superbi for etiquette lessons and dancing was included in that. She fell in love with dancing and put hours upon hours on perfecting that skill. After she finished the standard curriculum she came back for more and guess who her longsuffering dance parner was when they were kids? Hehehehehehe (Chief... he's suffering but at least he's got the moves lmaooo <- loves forcing Dan to learn skills he would never bother with just so that he can surprise someone with said skills at a later date muhahahaha😈) Least fav: watching a movie Tbh I wouldn't call this a hard least fav thing because if Marina is hanging out with people that are dear to her she likes most things by default cause she's spending time with her loved ones. But she's generally not really a movie person. She also really likes talking to people and for her putting on a movie is a sign of not talking because otherwise it would be interrupting (yes, I know some people watch movies while trash talking them or whatever but Marina dislikes watching things with the only goal of putting it throught the wringer). So, I'd say if she had a choice watching movies would probably be last on the list.

oc ask game: fav and least fav

[teachingrounds]

Picky Eater Type 4: The Super Feeler

Your 2-year-old has big-time texture hang-ups. They think carrots are too hard, yogurt is too slimy, and cucumbers are too smooth. It seems like every meal is a struggle to find foods that they'll tolerate. What's Going On: Discomfort with textures is a typical problem for good reason: "Young kids have a wide range in chewing ability," says Le Billon. "Their teeth, jaws, and surrounding muscles are still developing, and they may not feel in control when some foods are in their mouth. So they reject them." What To Do About It: Proper seating can be a big help. "Young children can chew more effectively when their core muscles are supported by their feet," Le Billon explains, "so give your child a stool to rest her feet on when sitting at the table instead of letting them dangle." (Or invest in a junior chair that can live at the table. We like the IKEA Urban Junior Chair.) And experiment with different textures. Instead of serving either raw or mushy veggies, try blanching them for a happy medium, Melanie Potock suggests. Drop them into boiling water for a few minutes, then transfer them to a bowl of ice water. This process makes the veggies tender, with just a little crunch. Then cut them into very small cubes and start by asking your child to put a bite on their molars. "Children feel safer if they can feel the food against their teeth," she notes. "And the flavor won't be as intense and overwhelming as it is on their tongue, where all the taste buds are."5 If chewy meat is an unpleasant texture for your child, bake, roast, or use a slow cooker or a pressure cooker so meats are melt-in-your-mouth soft. Beef or turkey meatballs can be a good option, too, as long as they are very moist. Serve gravy or sauce on the side if your child prefers to dip.

Text by Stephanie Wood, illustration by Teddy Yang, published by Parents.com https://www.parents.com/toddlers-preschoolers/feeding/picky-eaters/the-picky-eater/

[renovachrono]

oc think piece: food and drink

og ask game by grumpy-triceratops

🍽️Food and Drink

What flavor would your character say their personality is?

Lemon. Light, bright, inherently a bit sour, but can delightfully sweet when you add the right stuff to it.

Would your character prefer baking, cooking or mixing drinks?

Mixing drinks, baking, cooking in that order. She does more baking, but she really enjoys mixing drinks.

Is there a food or drink your character is unwilling to try?

She tries her best not to be picky, but if there's something with a texture she knows she's not gonna like, she's not gonna bother trying it. Doesn't matter if it tastes decent if the texture is bad.

How big is your character's appetite?

Pretty large! She burns a lot of energy with all her training, so she eats plenty to fuel and strengthen her body.

Does your character consider eating fun?

Not particularly. It's mostly something she does because it needs to be done, and eating her favorite foods makes it better? But I don't think she'd consider it "fun". The only aspect of having a meal that's fun to her is the social aspect of having meals with the Bulls.

Would your character eat or drink something they didn't like to appease someone?

I'm gonna say yes, but it probably depends heavily on what the food is and who's asking. Theres a spectrum for how willing she'd be based on how much she didn't like the food and how much she loves the person asking and doesn't want to disappoint them.

Is there food that has made your character sick?

Dried plantain/banana chips. Specifically dried chips. Normal bananas are fine, but for some reason, the dried chips make her ill.

What is your character's favorite food group?

Aurora really likes proteins and carbs lmfao. Meats are probably her favorite, but ✨️she's just a girl✨️ and she loves grains. She fucks heavy with pastas and rice and bread. She really does love all the food groups, but if she had to, she would be content being just a meat and potatoes girlie.

Does your character like to try new foods?

She doesn't mind it, yea! She's not really the type to search out new food experiences, but she's open to trying new things when the opportunity presents itself.

What is a childhood meal your character cherishes?

A very simple dish her papa used to make was thinly sliced meat marinated in soy sauce and sugar over a bed of rice. She's found ways to get a similar tasting dish in Clover, but she hasn't fully nailed the taste. Another dish was Zara's beef stew. When Zora makes it, it's pure nostalgia in a bowl.

Is your character food motivated?

Not at all, really. Perhaps a silly little treat might get her going, but she's not really a food motivated person.

Which mealtime is your character's favorite?

Hard tie between breakfast and dinner. Breakfast has so many good options, but dinner has the good meats.

How much does your character care about wasting food?

A fairly good deal. Even in her homeland, she wasn't from wealth. In Clover, she was raised in the forsaken realm, and while they definitely had enough to keep food on the table, not being wasteful was something that had been instilled in her from a young age. She hates how wasteful the nobles and royals tend to be.

Does your character prefer restaurant food or home cooked food?

Usually home cooked. There's something comforting and familiar about a home cooked meal, y'know?

What food or drink does your character consider a treat?

Most sweets from a bakery! She loves little pastries, and usually, she makes herself make them at home when she wants a little sweet treat. Every now and then, though, she lets herself visit her favorite bakery and brings home a box or two of goodies for the squad. She knows she can't make a croissant or a puff pastry as well as these guys can. She doesn't have the patience for laminating layers of butter like that.

Is there a food texture your character doesn't like?

Yes! Aurora can't stand slimy foods and mushy foods. Oysters are a huge no-go, as is oatmeal. She can tolerate jello for about 5 minutes until her brain realizes it's eating jello, and then she can't touch it. Bananas also fall under the mushy category, but she tries to force those down after workouts.

What kind of drinks does your character prefer?

Icy cold and not too sweet. She likes water with some flavor, like lemon or fruit infusions. It needs *some* sort of flavor to it. The only thing she enjoys on the sweeter side is her coffee and her hot cocoa. She also really likes fruity teas and peppermint teas, hot or iced.

[summerofspock]

This is a little random but I saw your post about loving biscuits and gravy but making it vegetarian. My best friend is also vegetarian and I’ve tried different gravy recipes for her so she can still enjoy it. Would you mind sharing what recipe you use/recommend so I can make it for her?

Oh for sure! I'd caveat the following with the fact that I cook a lot based on what I remember learning as a kid and by smashing together what I like from recipes I read so I'm usually vibing more than following a strict recipe but I'll do my best to list quantities. Note that they are best estimates and you may have to adjust for taste and texture.

**

There are two gravy recipes I like! The first uses fake meat (morning star farms) and the second uses mushrooms.

For the fake meat it is as follows

2-4 tbsp butter

1/4-1/2 cup flour

2-4 cups milk

1 pkg morning star farms veggie sausage (7 patties i believe)

- seasonings

1/4-1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp dried rubbed sage

1 clove garlic OR 1/4-1/2 tsp garlic salt (if you love garlic feel free to do 2 cloves. I am garlic sensitive)

Go to town on cracked black pepper

Salt to taste

(Sometimes I add smoked paprika if I'm feeling fancy)

Instructions: microwave frozen patties until thawed (does not need to be warmed all the way), either chop or food process until ground (will be mushy). Melt butter in medium soup pot. Add sausage and raw garlic if using. Add seasonings. Cook for a few minutes. Add flour until sausage is coated. Cook briefly until all flour is incorporated. If there is excess raw flour, add more butter. Add one cup of milk and stir until flour starts to dissolve and milk thickens. Add milk 1/4 cup at a time until there is enough gravy and you are satisfied with thickness (condensed soup texture).

Serve with biscuits of your choice.

**

Mushroom version is much the same except I add 1 tsp soy sauce to the diced mushrooms as they cook to enhance their flavor. You can cook them with half an onion but I don't (I have an allergy). It can be nice to mix in a little vegetarian bullion (better than bullion is good for this) into the milk before adding to make the flavor more complex. I also usually increase the amount of sage just because the mushrooms are obviously not preseasoned the way the fake meat is.

Hope that helps!

[arfidmeals]

do you have any healthy safe foods? I know all safe foods are different for each person but I'd love some recommendations from others with sensory issues or eating problems

hi ! yes i definitely have less safe foods that are healthy but here are some that are :

most fruit as long as they aren’t mushy. I tend to go for crisp strawberries and firm blueberries. mangoes are also nice. I suggest figuring out what textures you like most and looking for ones that match your preference

red bell peppers. I don’t typically eat ‘vegetables’ but these are sweet and crisp enough that they register as more of a fruit to me. (which i think they might technically be? whatever. vegetables are fake. )

yogurt + granola. I like banana vanilla yogurt or strawberry yogurt. sometimes you need to try a few different brands until you find one you vibe with but i personally go for stonyfield for the banana vanilla. you can also just snack on granola by itself !

peanut butter and jelly sandwich. this one kinda depends for me bc i’m picky about my bread, but for people w sensory issues i tend to recommend the kind of jelly that has like. zero chunks in it. you can also pair this with a glass of milk or water and it’ll go down easier. you can also toast your bread for some nice crunch.

yogurt smoothie/shake thingies. has the health factor of yogurt but for me, an easier consistency. again, i usually go for stonyfield (strawberry).

making your own smoothies also isn’t that hard if you have access to a blender ! and you can put whatever you want in them ! including some vegetables that don’t really tend to effect the taste (cauliflower, avocado, zucchini).

trail mix ! if you just kind of shove it in your mouth and don’t pick at it it’s easier to put some more healthy things in there that you can disguise the texture of with other more yummy things. my favorite mixes tend to consist of peanuts, pretzels, mini chocolate chips, m&ms, golden raisins, and almonds. i also suggest adding any other nuts you can stand, and possibly some dried fruit if you’re into that !

for meals, i tend to find that i’m more likely to eat vegetables and other healthy foods if they’re in something like a pasta salad (where i can just kind of spear everything on my fork and try to ignore it, or where the crunch of a cucumber or something adds to the texture), or in a curry where you can mask flavors and trick your brain into eating potatoes sometimes since they look a little like chicken in the curry (if you’re more inclined to meat). also, even if you’re having ‘unhealthy’ meals, eating a little fruit on the side is always nice !

[neutrallyobsessed]

obviously u like topher x joan but how far does it really go? just curious cuz ur always making fanart and even fanfiction about them

Yeah, drawings, drabbles, edits, comics, collages, smut, videos, everything two dimensional I can manage! when I get a better computer with a good video editing software and a animation program it's all over for y'all~~♥!

I FUCKING SHIP IT WOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ♡ww♡

What made you ship it?

I fell down the "this is a pretty funny ship" to "hol up this actually makes a lot of sense, this ship kinda fire" to "these motherfuckers have consumed my every thought and its GREAT!!!" pipeline xdd.

The more I thought about it, the better it sounded, the more ideas I had, EVERYTHING CLICKS SO PERFECTLY WTFFF

It do be like a sliding scale with me in the middle approving a het ship with Joan where sliding negative leads her with Confucius and sliding positive she ends up with Topher lolxd

What are your favorite things about the ship?

WHERE TO BEGIN!!!!! Well, they are terrible people and can always get worse, either doing shenanigans and bothering everyone in the process or just ignoring everyone to be in their own world~~

Age gap, people. It might be a technicallity but they do be 20 years apart and thats like, the best thing ever and the OW/YM strikes again so it's EVEN BETTER!!!!! And with their unconvencional tastes, they'd have A LOT of stuff to share and talk about and teach and learn and they could have so much fun with their niche lil hobbies and references that nobody but them could get and memes that could scar the average angloparlant for life!

And they both have this,,, love for nostalgia (not as apparent in topher, ill concede that its more of a hc) so reminiscing about the past or catching up with things they never lived could be so themmm and so fun to explore~~!!

To bring back something I said earlier, I also really dig the isolation of it all. How Joan feels betrayed by everyone but Topher is there to give her all the attention and devotion that she wants. I haven't decided if they'd finish school or drop off earlier but they do feel like a couple that could ride into the sunset to never be seen again as they build a new life for themselves~~.... it's just that after what happend, I don't see her going back to her old and new friends, but I totally see Topher manipulating all that he can to keep it that way, including Joan. They do be having some unhealthy clinginess towards each other and that's soooo damn good >w<

And yeah, I like Topher getting positive female attention, he looks cute when he likes girls and whoever said that they turned Joan into y/n was so right she really is very easy to project to x_v

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

That's the fun part! As the Queen of Joanpher, is everyone else the who may have an unpopular opinion, my word is law and the other 3 shippers are pretty much in similar Joanpher wavelengths. It is a very instinct ship, ya either get it or ya don't. I don't care and don't have to care bout what non shippers have to say btw 737

Joanpher tastes like: EVERYTHING!! I have eaten so many delicious foods, of many flavors and textures, and when it's Good I go uff si esto es muy joanpher =w=~ but if I had to pick one dish, it'd be The Brochette! Anything you can cook in a stick and directly on the fire cause it's hot as hell~♡! Any type of meat, any kind of vegetable, oil, sauce, sugar, salt, caramel, tender, crunchy, mushy, firm, literally all!! The most important part is that it must be eaten out of the metal stick, like gnawing meat out of the bone, cause it's both raw and wild plus ~elegant and sophisticated~

[naomiknight-17]

We had a nutrition class at cardiac rehab today and usually I'm like "UGH I KNOW stop lecturing me" but today a few people got involved in discussion and it was kinda neat

Someone said they didn't know how to replace red meat in their diet cuz they don't like fish, people suggested chicken or pork or Impossible Beef or seitan (sp?). One lady commented that she'd never tried chickpeas and didn't think she'd like the bean-y texture and I was like "Oh you gotta try them roasted they get so crunchy and tasty" and she was like "Ooh, I like crunchy!"

I mentioned I find lentils too mushy, and one of the therapists was like "Were they red lentils? Try the green, they stay firmer!"

And I could go on but like

Instead of coming out of that nutrition class feeling browbeaten and annoyed, I'm kind of excited to go to a nice grocery store tomorrow and pick out some new foods to try :)

[sharkface]

Hi Shepard while you’re food posting do you have any thoughts on what Leilaw likes to eat? Does he still need to eat food if he’s only half vampire/does he do it anyway? How does his palate compare to for example his British tgirl girlfriend (if you happen to have thoughts on Axl’s preferences)

Leilaw TECHNICALLY should be having both, but he's a little grossed out by drinking blood so he often opts for a combo of iron supplements and rare to raw meats (think like, steak tartare), which he can get away with more because his system is designed to nuke bloodborne illnesses/parasites. If he doesn't drink a little blood every once in a while he gets a little malnourished and sluggish, though. As for what he LIKES, he's picky about textures (doesn't like anything too soft/mushy) but he LOVES pasta dishes and seafood. He also really likes sweets/pastries that aren'y very sweet and even err on the side of bitterness, he loooves dark chocolates grapefruit desserts and biscotti cookies and shit like that.

Leilaw and Axl have pretty different tastes this way, Leilaw is rich and a bit spoiled and not very adventurous foodwise, but Axl fucking loves fast food burgers and presumably, like, sports bar food and shitty british cheap eat comfort foods. Leilaw would try to impress Axl by taking her out for a high class dress coded fancy fish and chips dinner but Axl will basically always be more impressed by the shit made by some old guy running a hole in the wall. She's probably the one getting Leilaw to go out of HIS comfort zone with foods which I think he would be receptive to though he'd act very pathetic about it, lol.

I don't think either of them can cook for shit, but it'd be funny to see them try.