#cardamom thyme

[alyayo228]

I have a pen... I have apple-...

UH!

APPLEPEEEENN)))))!!

I know this is crazy, BUT I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT FOR A LONG TIME... X)

Freshmom? CardaFresh? Whatever you want to call it.

[saberlord]

I'm cooking something. I don't know how much this will take me to finish cuz I'm also doing other pending drawings but!! My Cardamom cuz she's so silly 🙏 some days ago I had this idea...

Yall Lucidia fans remember how her scythes look like? Yes! Those with the skulls. Well... I had this vision and I went like "what if I give her some kind of meat scythe?"

So... this drawing came about!! Gonna finish it eventually cuz yea, I also have other work to do.

Cardamom belongs to @/loverofpiggies

(Boo I forgor. Happy new year and all that stuff.)

[fattributes]

Brown Butter Peach Cobbler

[barstoolblues]

homemade pappardelle pasta with carrot hazelnut cream sauce

[askwhatsforlunch]

Lemon and Apricot Lamb Tagine

This fragrant and spicy Lemon and Apricot Lamb Tagine elevates your leftover Easter roast into a more-ish and comforting North African stew, warming you up from these April showers! Happy Thursday!

Ingredients (serves 3 to 4):

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoon Ras-el-Hanout

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

1/4 teaspoon ground chilli

6 plump cardamom seeds

1/2 large onion

1 garlic clove, minced

1 large lemon

1/2 cup dried apricots

1/3 cup almonds

1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

Leftover Herb Lamb Roast  with plenty of meat on the bone, along with 1 cup of its Roasting Juices, congealed

3 cups water

2 heaped tablespoons good pure honey

1 teaspoon demerara sugar

In a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add Ras-el-Hanout, dried thyme, cumin seeds and ground chilli, and fry, 1 minute.

Crush cardamom pods, and add them to the Dutch oven. Fry, 1 minute more.

Peel and finely chop onion, and stir into the Dutch oven, coating in spices. Fry, a couple of minutes.

Add minced garlic and cook, 1 minute.

Cut lemon into quarters, and cut each quarter in half. Add lemon pieces to the Dutch oven, along with dried apricots and almonds. Cook, 3 minutes. Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

Add leftover Herb Lamb Roast to the Dutch oven, and brown briefly, on all sides. Then, stir in its Roasting Juices, until melted. Add water, and bring to the boil.

Once boiling, cover with the lid, and simmer, one hour, until the Lamb meat fall off the bone. Stir in honey and demerara sugar until melted.

Serve Lemon and Apricot Lamb Tagine hot, onto Lemon Semolina.

[reliqvia]

beautiful women will be like “i baked a cake” and you will say “oh ? what flavour is it” and they say well its a honey rosewater apricot pistachio cardamom vanilla fig jam earl grey poppyseed orange blossom extra virgin olive oil chiffon sponge soaked in raspberry elderflower champagne lipgloss pomegranate matcha ginger blueberry cherry blossom magnolia petal almond passionfruit persimmon syrup with whipped amalfi lemon limoncello ricotta goats cheese honeycomb black pepper bergamot lemon thyme lemon balm rosemary chantilly whipped cream cream cheese feta cheese italian meringue frosting . like ok. i want to spend the rest of my afternoons walking around inside your beautiful mind like a garden

[thewriteadviceforwriters]

🌸Describing Scents For Writers 🌸| List of Scents

Describing aromas can add a whole new layer to your storytelling, immersing your readers in the atmosphere of your scenes. Here's a categorized list of different words to help you describe scents in your writing.

🌿 Fresh & Clean Scents

Crisp

Clean

Pure

Refreshing

Invigorating

Bright

Zesty

Airy

Dewy

Herbal

Minty

Oceanic

Morning breeze

Green grass

Rain-kissed

🌼 Floral Scents

Fragrant

Sweet

Floral

Delicate

Perfumed

Lush

Blooming

Petaled

Jasmine

Rose-scented

Lavender

Hibiscus

Gardenia

Lilac

Wildflower

🍏 Fruity Scents

Juicy

Tangy

Sweet

Citrusy

Tropical

Ripe

Pungent

Tart

Berry-like

Melon-scented

Apple-blossom

Peachy

Grape-like

Banana-esque

Citrus burst

🍂 Earthy & Woody Scents

Musky

Earthy

Woody

Grounded

Rich

Smoky

Resinous

Pine-scented

Oak-like

Cedarwood

Amber

Mossy

Soil-rich

Sandalwood

Forest floor

☕ Spicy & Warm Scents

Spiced

Warm

Cozy

Inviting

Cinnamon-like

Clove-scented

Nutmeg

Ginger

Cardamom

Coffee-infused

Chocolatey

Vanilla-sweet

Toasted

Roasted

Hearth-like

🏭 Industrial & Chemical Scents

Metallic

Oily

Chemical

Synthetic

Acrid

Pungent

Foul

Musty

Smoky

Rubber-like

Diesel-scented

Gasoline

Paint-thinner

Industrial

Sharp

🍃 Natural & Herbal Scents

Herbal

Aromatic

Earthy

Leafy

Grass-like

Sage-scented

Basil-like

Thyme-infused

Rosemary

Chamomile

Green tea

Wild mint

Eucalyptus

Cinnamon-bark

Clary sage

🎉 Unique & Uncommon Scents

Antique

Nostalgic

Ethereal

Enigmatic

Exotic

Haunted

Mysterious

Eerie

Poignant

Dreamlike

Surreal

Enveloping

Mesmerizing

Captivating

Transcendent

I hope this list can help you with your writing. 🌷✨

Feel free to share your favorite scent descriptions in the replies below! What scents do you love to incorporate into your stories?

Happy Writing! - Rin T.

[ashstfu]

cardamom, cinnamon, saffron, nutmeg, clove, star anise, black pepper, allspice, cumin, fennel, turmeric, coriander, bay leaf, sumac, juniper, fenugreek, ginger, mace, mustard seed, thyme, rosemary, marjoram, lavender, oregano, basil, tarragon, sage, chervil, dill, parsley, mint

[sleepymccoy]

This is also a bit of a culture query, cos these are all in my house so I genuinely cook with these all (except chicken salt, that's been in my cupboard for ages)

But I'm not from the USA and most people here are, so I wonder if that's similar! Maybe your cupboard is identical to mine. Maybe we use the same stuff but call it something else. Maybe USA has a different relationship with pre mix spices and you use none of it. Maybe you've never heard of pre mix spices. I dunno. That's why I'm asking!

I use plain herbs and spices as well. Especially when making a complex meal I'll do it myself. But I use pre mixes other times, so I'm voting. Voting for a pre mix doesn't mean you don't also use paprika! If you genuinely have no pre mixes in the kitchen tho, then hell yeah, tell me!

Also, I know I haven't listed everything in the world. One, that's impossible. Two, this is a bit of a culture thing so I just checked my kitchen and used those. This selection is representative of me only

(you don't have to be from the USA to vote, obvs, we just all know that's how the results will end up. Please tell me about your spice mixes in other countries!!)

Morrison spice blend: Pepper, tumeric, ginger, cardamom, parsley, salt

Chinese five spice: Star anise, cinnamon, clove, fennel, Sichuan pepper

Chicken salt: Salt, chicken stock, garlic, paprika, pepper, onion, celery

Gluhwein gewurz: Orange peel, cinnamon, lemon peel, star anise, hibiscus, clove

Chimichurri: parsley, garlic, oregano, vinegar, chilli, salt, pepper

Za'atar: thyme, cumin, coriander, sesame seeds, sumac, salt, chilli

Garam masala: coriander, cumin, cardamom, cloves, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg

[alyayo228]

Why play on meta if you can play on beautiful LADIES? 🤭

[miss-kittys-kombucha-log]

For my mid-April main brew, I used the last of my Silver Needle white tea to make the F1. And for the F2 I did a couple of re-runs and one newbie.

Rockmelon & Cardamom

250g rockmelon, 5 cardamom pods, 2L F1

This time I peeled open the cardamom pods and it worked! And it's gooooood! The cardamom blends beautifully with the floral flavour of the silver needle tea, and the light sweetness of the rockmelon... It's a match made in heaven 😇

Apple & Cinnamon

300g apple, 8 cinnamon quills, 2L F1

I used 8 sticks of cinnamon (8!!) and I let it soak for an extra day - but the cinnamon flavour still come through!?! At this point I'm starting to think I bought a dud batch cinnamon. Fortunately, apple silver needle kombucha is great all on its own 😋

Cherry & Thyme

250g cherries, 6 sprigs of thyme, 2L F1

... um, yeah, so I got a little carried away with the thyme 🤭 It's a really a nice combo, but 6 sprigs was too many. I'll definitely be trying it again, probably with half as much thyme.

All in all, a good set of flavours - and the learning curve continues

[stardust-swan]

Secrets to the Arabian Princess Scent 💐🧴🪷

So with Arab perfumes becoming popular in the West due to their strong projection and beautiful smell, and the Arab world becoming known for our knowledge on how to smell good af, I (a half Moroccan) am going to reveal some other ways we ensure we smell amazing to the girlies on Tumblr who are interested in Arab perfumes or just in generally smelling amazing 😍 Most tips are Moroccan but many apply to the Arab world in general (under the cut because this turned into a long post) ✨💞💐

1) Good Eating Habits: When my mother moved here to Europe, she was immediately struck by how the people seemed to smell like "pig." And that's no coincidence. You are what you eat, so coming from a country where nobody eats pig to one where everyone eats it, of course you're going to be struck by people smelling like it from the inside out. Not just that, but in the Arab world, it's also way less common for people to eat takeout and drink alcohol, whereas in many parts of the West, these things are a normal part of many people's diets and affects their natural scent. A lot of Arabs have also talked about how Westerners smell like "milk," and this is because Westerners tend to consume more dairy products than people in the East do. It's also common for Arabs to eat fruit as dessert instead of having cakes or cookies all the time (although speaking of cookies and cakes, the scents of rosewater, orange blossom water, almonds, honey, vanilla, oranges and lemons commonly used in Arab baking fill up the house with a wonderful smell while they're baking). Teas made from various herbal infusions are popular throughout the Arab world. Spearmint, peppermint, sage, cardamom, cinnamon, hibiscus, chamomile, anise, and thyme are commonly used to flavor tea in MENA. Dried lime tea is drunk in the Arabian Peninsula. Coffee flavoured with cardamom is also common. I especially like Turkish coffee. Spices like cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves are commonly used in cooking, and the scent of them can cling to your clothes and hair. Herbs like mint and parsley, which have natural deodorising properties, are often used in meals.

I'm not saying that you need to cut any foods out in order to smell good, but you should consider reducing the amounts of unhealthy foods and red meats you eat, and make sure to drink plenty of water and eat veggies and fruit daily.

2) Keeping a Clean House: Here in Ireland, a lot of people don't clean their houses every day. I know multiple people that only clean their floor once a week, and have a couple of neighbours who don't do much cleaning themselves and just have a housekeeper visit to clean once a week. But in Morocco, people clean daily. The home is also deep cleaned once a week, we even wash the walls. We don't wear shoes inside, and not just that, but we also have different slippers specifically for wearing inside the bathroom. Living in a clean space is important for smelling good, because no matter what you do, you'll always end up smelling like wherever you live due to spending so much time there. The scent will cling to your clothes and hair. Which means if your house smells dirty, you will also smell dirty.

As well as making sure the house is clean, Arabs also make it smell pretty with extras. For example, in Morocco it's common to burn incense or bakhour (perfumed wood chips), and the scent permeates your clothes. People also keep pieces of musk in their wardrobes (wrapped in a handkerchief). It come in scents like orange blossom, jasmine, amber, sandalwood, chamomile and lavender. An unused bar of soap or a sachet of potpourri in your wardrobe will do the same job though if you can't or don't want to buy musk. The musk can also be used as a scented wax melt, a home scent (you just leave it in a bowl), a body perfume (rub it on your skin), a hair perfume (rub on your palms and run through the hair), or to scent bathwater. Solid perfume made from natural ingredients has the same effect. I like Lush Rose Jam solid perfume, as it smells like sweet roses and Turkish delight, and a little goes a long way.

Specific to Marrakech, you can buy jasmine balls which you just leave around the house (if you're not in Marrakech, you can just leave potpourri or dried flowers and herbs in sachets on your desk, bedside table, etc). The Marrakech herbal shops also sell sandalwood bark which you burn. Oud and amber are also burned. Herbs like lavender are sprinkled under carpets and rugs so the scent rises as they're stepped on. Room sprays from brands like Nabeel are used, which come in a range of lovely scents (like the warm vanilla and oud Kanz or the rich floral Raunaq).

3) Personal Hygiene: In the Arab world, people shower daily. In Morocco, we also go to the hammam (public bath) once a week, and we sit in the sauna room, and then rub our bodies with sabon beldi (black soap), a natural soap made from olive oil and black olives, leaving it on for a few minutes before rinsing it off. Then we scrub our skin with a kessa glove after it's marinated. Exfoliating dead skin regularly makes perfume cling to you better (if you order Korean bath towels from Amazon, they're very similar to Moroccan kessa gloves and you use them in a similar way). Then after washing our hair, we use a ghassoul clay mask (some people also rub henna into their skin). After washing the clay off, many people rub rosewater or argan oil into their skin before heading to the relaxation area to enjoy refreshments. As well as helping us smell good, it also makes our skin incomparably soft. When my parents were newlyweds, my father remarked on how he'd never felt a woman with such soft skin in his life before. My mother attributes it to regularly using the hammams before moving here.

Obviously not everyone has access to a hammam, but you can create a similar experience at home. Just sit in a steamy hot shower for 10-15 minutes, wash your skin with a natural soap and leave it on for a few minutes before rinsing off and exfoliating with a glove. Then tone with rosewater and apply oil to your body.

Dukhan treatments (smoke baths) are practiced in Sudan. Married women and brides anoint themselves with oil, before sitting over a chair with a hole in the centre. Under the seat, there is a pit, in which acacia wood, frankincense, or other aromatic woods and resins are burned in a clay vessel.

As well as showering daily (and using the hammam regularly if you're Maghrebi), many people in the Arab world also perform wudu (ritual cleansing) five times a day before praying.

Women commonly apply Musk Al Tahara (white musk), an attar that smells like vanilla, flowers and soft musk on the external parts of their vulva after periods.

Alum was commonly used as a natural deodorant in the Arab world in the past, and some still use it today.

Bidets are also common in the Arab world. In the Anglosphere they're uncommon, but it's easy to get a portable bidet (a small squeezable bottle with a nozzle) online.

We also wash our hands before meals, with a pitcher of water which is passed around the room. In Turkey, they use kolonya, made from fig blossoms, jasmine, rose, or citrus to disinfect their hands. In Morocco, it's common for women to scent their hands with rosewater or orange blossom water after meals.

4) Fragrances, Lotions and Potions: In the Arab world, perfumes are incredible. They're oil-based, so they have excellent projection and longevity. The olfactory notes commonly used in them are beautiful too: delicate rosewater and orange blossom water, exotic oud, sweet amber, vibrant roses and jasmine. In Morocco, gardenia scents are popular, even among men.

Emirati perfumes are the most well known in the West and are super good. Some personal favourites of mine include Oud Mood by Lattafa (Caramel, rose, saffron, and oud), Fatima Pink by Zimaya (Sweet rose that smells like a bit like Turkish delight. it's a dupe of the French Parfums De Marly Delina, however, the actual Delina smells very similar to generic rose oil perfumes you can get in the Arab world to begin with so Zimaya was basically able to dupe it to a T. Their version lasts really long too), Ameerat Al Arab by Lattafa (jasmine, a hint of oud, slightly citrusy. Also the name means "Arabian Princess" in English), Fakhar Rose by Lattafa (sweet, fruity, and very floral) and Yara by Lattafa (floral, amber, vanilla and strawberry). I buy my perfumes from Dubai Perfume Shop in Dublin, but they can be easily found online. Some well-known Arab perfume houses include Lattafa, Al Rehab, Zimaya, Al Qurashi, Amouage, Afnan, Ajmal, Asdaaf, Al Haramain, Armaf, Kayali, Maison Alhambra, and Swiss Arabian, but there are hundreds more.

As well as sprayable perfume, perfume oil is also used. It usually comes in rollerballs or small containers, is inexpensive, and lasts for ages. Like spray perfume, it comes in a huge variety of scents. You can also put it in diffusers or add some to cotton balls and leave in your wardrobe to scent clothes and linens.

Arabs know when to wear perfumes. For example, a rich, sweet, strong oud and vanilla scent will be beautiful in colder weather. But in warm weather, it will become cloying and sickly. Musk, amber and saffron are popular in winter, while rose, orange blossom and jasmine are popular in summer.

In the Arab world, many stalls in the Medina sell gorgeous oils, fragrances and soaps that are inexpensive. For example, the musk I mentioned above. As well as making your home smell incredible, you can also rub it on your body and you'll smell good for days.

Rosewater is commonly used as a toner and to remove makeup. In the town of Skoura, where my great grandparents were from, men even use it to shave with! Orange blossom water is also used in Arab beauty routines in a similar way to rosewater. You can apply either to a bath for extra luxury.

Argan oil is commonly used in Morocco on both skin and hair, as well as the less well-known but just as good prickly pear oil (which is very high in vitamin E). Pure argan oil actually smells mild and not fragrant (similar to olive oil), but for beauty, things like rose oil and menthol are commonly added, so it smells pretty good. Throughout the Middle East and North Africa, jasmine hair oil, castor oil and sweet almond oil (I like putting it in my baths and on my body) are easy to find. Usually Middle Eastern and South Asian shops in the West sell them too.

Honey and almond masks have been used since ancient times, and to this day are still popular. You can buy them basically anywhere. Homemade face masks made from honey and yoghurt or crushed figs and yoghurt are also used.

Aloe Vera is used to treat dry skin, acne, and sunburns. It has a cool and refreshing scent, perfect for the hot climate in many parts of the Arabian world. I like applying it after shaving as it's soothing, natural, and absorbs easily.

Frankincense, a resin used in the Middle East and North Africa for thousands of years, was traditionally used as a natural perfume. It's commonly used in incense. Frankincense oil is also good for the skin.

Bakhour and incense, as well as being used to scent the home, can also be used to scent the hair and clothes. Hold your clothes or hair over a brazier with incense burning inside, and the perfumed smoke will cling on to them.

There are many beautiful scented soaps available in the Arab world. If you go to Turkish or Arab supermarkets, a lot of them will have a section where they sell hygiene products, including soaps with ingredients like argan, rose and oud, and olive oil. I've even found Syrian Aleppo soap before. You can just buy soaps from regular stores in scents like rose, jasmine, honey and almond, orange blossom and sandalwood for achieving that exotic scent though.

As well as using various oils, perfumes, and fragrant beauty treatments, Arab women also know how to layer these different scents to add dimension to them and avoid clashing. For example, a rose perfume over a vanilla lotion will always smell good. Other combinations that are good include almond and vanilla, rose and oud, rose and jasmine, lavender and lemon, rose and orange blossom, and orange blossom and vanilla. But there are many different combinations you can use to achieve a delicious scent that's unique to you.

I hope this was helpful, stay pretty ✨

[3000s]

💐 spring recipes

working on my spring list of recipes i wanna tryyyy, i'm starting with desserts but i'll add my drinks list next, don't forget to join my pinterest recipe collab board if you haven't already!

🍰 sweets + desserts:

vanilla lavender cupcakes with honey buttercream

strawberry & rose petal ice cream

lemon lavender sugar cookies

strawberry crunch cheesecake

rhubarb rose popsicles

strawberry rose snickerdoodles

white chocolate floral bark

raspberry & rosewater kulfi with toasted almond sprinkles

strawberry panna cotta with lemon shortbread

rose & pistachio kheer pudding

elderflower panna cotta with macerated strawberries

lemon & elderflower curd

tea jellies

rose milk popsicles

baked lavender blueberry donuts

earl grey & vanilla bean mille feuille with lavender

orange cream cheese cake

lilac dream cheesecake

lemon lavender loaf cake

rose cardamom shortbread cookies

strawberry rose cake donuts

double strawberry sugar cookies

earl grey tea truffles

lemon yuzu & matcha tart

citrus rose thyme loaf cake

rose custards

lychee rose cake

honey chamomile panna cotta

strawberry pistachio elderflower mousse cake

cherry blossom matcha doughnuts

cherry blossom petit fours

raspberry lemon & orange spring cheesecake

lavender thyme & white chocolate scones

rose & pistachio tres leches

rose tiramisu

sweet lilac bloom rolls

apricot chamomile cream popsicles

lavender sorbet

[apiswitchcraft]

some tea recipes

if you like tea rituals or giving tea offerings, then this post is for you! keep in mind, though, DEFINITELY do your research on any of the herbs/plants I've listed here if you've never put them in your body before. there's no harm in making substitutions or omitting certain things for the sake of your own health. i've gone ahead and highlighted some herbs that have potential side effects (although not everything i've highlighted may effect you, and not everything i haven't is for sure safe).

also, all of these teas can be made with one of those little tea strainer balls, or with a good mesh sieve. either way, have some way of removing the mix after it's steeped, because over-steeped tea can get sour. store any leftover tea mix in an airtight container in a cool, dry place

if you need to replace any fresh ingredients with dried, divide the quantity in half. also, some of the floral teas will seem like it's a lot of mix just for one cup, but petals just aren't as strong as leaves/roots/etc.

CLEAR SKIES TEA

Ingredients: 1/2 cup dried peppermint, 1/4 cup marigold petals, 2 stalks of finely chopped lemongrass, 2 tsps orange zest, 1 tsp ground ginger Extra Instructions: steep for 10 minutes, use 1-2 tsps for 1 cup

EVERYDAY MORNING TEA

Ingredients: 1 rooibos tea bag, a thin slice of lemon/or a little bit of juice, two thin slices of ginger, 3 cloves (or 3/4 tsp of ground clove), top with a few lemon balm or spearmint leaves after steeping Extra Instructions: steep for 10 minutes to make 1 cup

COTTAGE TEA

Ingredients: 1 cup earl grey leaves, 1/4 cup dried lavender, 2 tbsps each of cornflower and sunflower petals, add a couple vanilla seeds or extract in each cup Extra Instructions: steep for 3 minutes, use 1-2 tsps to make 1 cup

GROUNDING TEA

Ingredients: 2 tsps/1 bag of black tea (assam or darjeeling is best), 2 tsps/1 bag of chamomile tea, 2 tsps elderflowers, add a pinch of lemongrass and a few vanilla seeds/a couple drops of extract to each cup Extra Instructions: steep for 10 minutes, makes 2 cups

CALMING TEA

Ingredients: 1 cup lemon balm leaves, 1/2 cup valerian root (I use lavender instead), 1/2 cup rose geranium petals, 1/2 cup chamomile flowers, 1/2 cup comfrey leaves (or nettle leaf) Extra Instructions: steep for 10 minutes to make 6 cups

GODDESS TEA

Ingredients: 1 tsp each of hibiscus petals, marigold petals, rose petals, and thyme leaves Extra Instructions: steep 5 minutes, makes 1-2 cups

TEA FOR FAIRIES

Ingredients: 2 cups dried chamomile flowers, 1 cup green tea leaves, 1 cup lemon balm leaves, 1 cup calendula, 1/4 cup of rose petals Extra Instructions: steep for 10 minutes, use 2 tsps to make 1 cup

DANDELION DIVINATION TEA

Ingredients: 1 tbsp fresh dandelion petals (although you can use the full flowers), 1 tbsp fresh marigold, top with a lemon/orange slice after steeping Extra Instructions: steep for 5 minutes to make 1 cup

ROSE VERBENA TEA

Ingredients: 1 cup Chinese green tea, 1/2 cup rose petals, 1/4 cup dried lemon verbena leaves Extra Instructions: use 1-2 tsps for 1 cup. steep for anywhere from 3-10 minutes (3 is best for the tea, 10 is best for flowers)

FULL MOON RITUAL TEA

Ingredients: 2 tsps dried elderflower, 2 tsps dried lavender, 1 jasmine tea bag, 1/2 tsp dried yarrow leaves (or can use elderflower), 3 crushed cardamom pods Extra Instructions: steep for 5 minutes, makes 2 cups

GREEN SPIRIT TEA

Ingredients: 2 tsps/1 bag green tea, 1 tbsp dried rose petals, 1 tsp each dried dandelion petals and dried nettle Extra Instructions: steep for 10 minutes, makes 2 cups

APOTHECARY'S BREW

Ingredients: 2 cups dried echinacea, 2 cups dried chamomile flowers, 1 cup dried mint leaves, 1 cup dried anise seeds, 1 cup dried thyme leaves Extra Instructions: steep for 10 minutes, use 1-2 tsps for 1 cup

ROMANTIC TEA

Ingredients: 2 tsps/1 bag white tea, 4 tsps rose petals, 2 tsps each raspberry leaf and lemon balm leaves (can substitute jasmine and mint for these), add a couple vanilla seeds/drops of extract in each cup after steeping Extra Instructions: steep for 5 minutes, makes 2 cups

MAGIC REALISATION TEA

Ingredients: 1/2 cup dried borage flowers, 1/2 cup dried thyme leaves, 1/4 cup dried dandelion, 1 tsp each fennel seeds and ground coriander, 1/2 tsp ground ginger Extra Instructions: steep for 10 minutes, use 1-2 tsps for 1 cup

FAIRY CIRCLE TEA

Ingredients: 2 cups dried chamomile flowers, 1 cup dried lemon balm or mint leaves, 1/2 cup dried calendula petals, 1/4 cup dried rose petals Extra Instructions: steep for 5 minutes, use 1 tbsp for 1 cup

JASMINE JOY TEA

Ingredients: 4-5 jasmine tea bags, 2 tbsps each lemon balm leaves and rose geranium petals, top with a few sprigs of mint and a slice of lemon after steeping Extra Instructions: steep for 10 minutes, makes 5-6 cups

AURORA TEA

Ingredients: 1 oolong tea bag, 1 tsp dried cornflower, 1/2 tsp dried peppermint leaves Extra Instructions: steep for 5 minutes, makes 1 cup

KINDRED SPIRITS TEA

Ingredients: 2 cups dried thyme, 1 cup dried rosemary, a few cloves, 3 ground/torn up bay leaves, 1 star anise, the dried rind of a small orange Extra Instructions: steep for 10 minutes, use 2 tsps for 1 cup

abridged from "Enchanted Tea Time" by Gail Bussi (a bunch of these recipes I changed to be a little easier to do for the average person, or provided alternatives for a "risky" ingredient)

[nitedulalaruata]

oKay, so I might be only slightly insane, but there's enough unmedicated ADHD in me to make this a reality. Enjoy?

This is an edit of @hareofhrair's Cake Song video, which was based on a post by @reliqvia. please forgive me for some jankiness in the editing I had so many technical issues and ended up doing this on my laptop with 4GB RAM ._.

More info on how I made this under the cut:

So first of all I grabbed the lyrics from OPs video (slightly altered to fit the actual audio):

Beautiful women will be like "I baked a cake!" And you'll ask "Oh? What flavor is it?" And they'll say, well…

It's a honey lemon fig persimmon orange blossom sponge cake soaked in elder flower mint reduction champagne lipgloss in conjunction with an almond anise chocolate lattice saffron soufflé earl grey syrup balanced by scallions simmered in a coffee carob spear mint julep swiftly snipped and shipped round trip and kissed by only kosher lips and whipped with rich amalfi lemon foraged from the fields of heaven just a hint of limoncello parsnip poppy and tangelo arsenic olive steeped in aloe sous vide in a vegan jack fruit tallow lemon thyme lemon balm matcha wine hearts of palm fetta and nettle petal fresh with a fennel frond beurre blanc and beurre monté served burning on blancmange ensconced in: cream cheese goat cheese blue cheese brie cheese head cheese soil swimmin in a ribbon of my liminally limited extra virgin olive oil

(GET SCONED?)

Whipped chantilly meringue frosting please stop me if this gets exhausting bergamot and apricot and almond anise cardamom And seven swans! A golden ring! Lords are leaping! Here's the thing! It's topped with poppies picked in Oz~* Sugar gauze and puppy paws all sourced sustainably because it was a gift from Santa Claus

I juiced the moon for blue moon goo! And killed a cop for mountain dew! I fucked with space time yeah it's true And found out what those photons do I stole Schrödinger's cat so you could have this cake and eat! it! too!

And you're like Ok. I want to spend the rest of my afternoons walking around inside your beautiful mind like a garden.

Cake break down

Then I broke the lyrics down into the different cake parts, which was difficult as the lack of punctuation allows for multiple different readings on how exactly the ingredients are combined. After a bit of rearranging I ended up with this list and constructed a rough sketch from it (for the final product I again shuffled some of the planned stuff in the picture, but this is the gist):

Some of the ingredients are inedible or have an ambigous meaning (this is complicated by English being my second language and some words can be translated in multiple ways) or are .. uh .. hard to source (side eye to difficult trade relations with Heaven and Oz), so I swapped them out for ingredients that are safe for consumption and available to me.

Recipes

Some things I've made before and already had working recipes for - for most things though I had to look up recipes. I think it goes without saying that I had to alter the recipes HEAVILY, but the base recipes were:

Sponge Cake: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/sponge-cake-recipe/

Soufflé: https://eggs.ca/recipes/basic-souffle/

Mint Julep: https://iba-world.com/iba-cocktail/mint-julep/

Blancmange: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018142-blancmange

Beurre blanc: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/246931/chef-johns-beurre-blanc/

Beurre monté: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/articles/7939-how-to-make-beurre-mont%C3%A9-

Meringue Frosting: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/best-frosting-recipes/

(only used recipes in English for reader's convenience and reader's convenience only)

From the lyrics and the recipes I gathered the strangest (and most expensive) shopping list I ever made.

Figuring out the Fire Situation

As noted in the cake break down, the burning beurre on blancmange would be swimming in olive oil. Which - as I'm sure you can imagine - is not ideal for fire safety. First I thought about separating the blancmange from the oil underneath by some aluminum foil, but there's still the fact that I'd have a burning liquid on the tippy top of a cake. I'm not even sure if the beurre has a high enough percentage of fat to catch flame, but burning butter on a cake decorated with flammable things like fondant, flowers and almond flakes is uh … not great. And I'm not prepared to burn down my kitchen for a shitpost, so kiddie version it is: boring old cake candles far away from flammable stuff but actually they're cool because they glitter

(My kitchen has a fire blanket, just in case anything would go wrong. QUICK PSA: If you don't have some kind of fire safety stuff in your kitchen, please get at least a fire blanket. They're cheap and can save your life (and your kitchen) in case you get flames.)

Preparations

After the planning phase I grabbed the biggest bags I have and went to the biggest store in my area, fingers crossed that I'd be able to get every ingredient on my list.

Well. It's a scroll.

🫠 (honestly my estimate was around 180€, so yay?)

BUt at least I got almost everything!

*cough cough* if you wanna throw a Euro or two at me to help compensate for this grocery bill you can do so via my kofi

Baked the sponge cakes and prepared the "lipgloss", horrible syrup™️, scallions in julep, and blancmange, before calling it a day and falling into bed exhaustedly.

Assembly

Next day I sous vide'd the olive for the "tallow", made the swans and the chantilly and assembled the various remaining parts. Then meringue frosting and decorating, while beurre blanc and buerre monté simmered along. Multitasking babyy!

Then, finally, the cake is done and I can light the candles to bring everything together:

Video

During all of this ordeal I took a bajillion progress shots and some extra photos. I never used a video editor or made an animation in my life before AND MY COMPUTER DECIDED TO RANDOMLY FORCE ME TO RESET IT BECAUSE APPARANTLY MY 15 YEAR OLD PHOTOSHOP VERSION CAUSED IT TO CRASH REALLY BADLY (curse be upon ye, Windows 11 and Adobe!), so my learning curve was steep, but I had the combined power of great stubbornness and multiple energy drinks on my side.

Every picture that is not otherwise credited to someone else was made by me. The background for the "space and time" part is a crochet work I made, following the Arcanoweave pattern by Julia Hart of Draiguna.

The final product took a total of 10 days to make: one for planning, two for shopping and baking and making the damn thing, one for extra shots, and six for editing the video (including two whole days of troubleshooting the tech issue).

Taste Test

Bottom half: Sponge cake and cream were fine (not surprising as those are the most regular cake ingredients in this abomination), but I got a cardamom pod in the same bite, which was not as pleasant. Next bite: the parsnip-poppy-grapefruit jello is a bit unusal but ok. Next bite: jackfruit and olive. I actually spit that one out. Bwah.

Top half: Sponge cake and cream again, fine. Next bite: blancmange - grainy (as detailed below), the milky almond taste is okay, but I think I've overdone it with the cardamom. The beurres were okay with it too (I mean it's just butter, what can go wrong with that?). Next bite: The cheeses were an unexpected savory flavor, but the cream cheese with a bit of blancmange and sponge cake was actually nice (no surprise again, as cream cheese is also a normal cake ingredient).

Decoration: Did not eat the flowers (obviously). Cotton candy and chocolate were tasty (obviously), the apricots were fine I guess? I'm not a big fan of (dried) apricots, so *shrug*

Overall: Some great things in there - but also some truly horrible stuff. Looks very pretty though, 5/10

Detailed version of the individual parts

Honey lemon fig persimmon orange blossom sponge cake

Easy peasy: base recipe for sponge cake, add some honey and lemon peel and figs (and no persimmon as SOMEHOW the store didn't have any? (usually they do), also no orange blossom) to the batter, be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of batter and scramble to find enough cake tins for it all, then have a minor meltdown as you realise mid-baking you've set the oven to the wrong temperature and try to save your 7 eggs worth of cake by encasing it in foil, while cursing heavily because you just burned your arm on the oven door, and be glad that in the end the cakes came out only slightly over- and undercooked simultaneously.

Elder flower mint reduction champagne lipgloss

Uh elder flowers are not available on their own, so elder flower tea it is. Throw in some mint and reduce. Then mix the elder flower mint reduction and champagne (I'm not rich, so sparkling white wine it is) and make lipgloss out of that. Well, edible lipgloss is not a thing (or you know, there are dubious listings on various websites that claim otherwise but usually lipgloss contains stuff you shouldn't ingest in great quantities), but oils are a big part of their base, so we'll just throw in some coconut oil to give it a more creamy consistency.

Almond anise chocolate lattice saffron soufflé earl grey syrup

First I made saffron soufflé (first time I made soufflé and I feel lied to by all the people saying soufflés are hard to make - it was really easy). Then I tempered dark chocolate to make some chocolate lattices (free hand - I had already cleaned so many dirty bowls and tools just to use them again right away, I really was not in the mood to clean more chocolate tools than neccessary). While soufflé and chocolate were cooling, I threw some almonds and anis into a pan to toast. Added some water and an earl grey tea bag and let it steep. Removed the tea bag after a couple of minutes, cut out a cute shape from the soufflé to marry to its chocolate lattice …aaand ruined it immediately by putting it into the horrible abomination in the pan. Stir stir stir and shred in a mixer, strain the mixture through a sieve while trying not to puke from the smell. Reduce this liquid down and add sugar to make the worst sirup in history.

Scallions simmered in a coffee carob spear mint julep

Another easy thing: Pour hot water over some instant coffee and carob powder in a cup. Crush some mint with sugar and a little bit of water, fill with bourbon. Mix both drinks in a pot and add chopped scallions. Let simmer for a couple minutes, done.

(The scallions were super fresh so I assume they were swiftly snipped and shipped round trip. But I don't know anything about kosher etiquette, so I did not kiss the scallions just to be sure)

Whipped with rich amalfi lemon foraged from the fields of heaven

The lyrics say: "… [horrible] syrup, balanced by scallions … whipped with … [lemon]", so I made lemon sirup (from counterfeit lemons as I'm a dirty atheist) and combined those three things into a creamy sauce. (Had to add some whipped cream or it would have been too runny)

Just a hint of limoncello parsnip poppy and tangelo

There's no specific serving form given for those ingredients so I took it to mean those things can be present in any form. I chose to finely chop the parsnip and put it together with poppy seeds into a sheet made of a gelatinized mix of limoncello and grapefruit juice (no tangelo available to me - but it's a hybrid of grapefruit and mandarin orange, so that's close enough).

Arsenic olive steeped in aloe sous vide in vegan jack fruit tallow

Ah, another thing that is not advised for human consumption. Of course I'm talking about the olive (singular?), not arsenic :P (please, this is a joke, DO NOT eat arsenic). Forgot to buy aloe, so I sous vide'd the single (non arsenic) olive. Vegan tallow is an oxymoron - but "vegan [thing]" is often used to describe something made of vegan stuff that has similar properties to [thing], so no problem here. Just puree the jack fruit and place the olive in there.

Can I just say that all the websites that told me "jackfruit has a neutral taste" were lying. Jackfruit is the worst thing I ever smelled and tasted - even worse than the horrible syrup I just made - and while I am open to trying vegan alternatives any day, this can of jackfruit was the only ingredient that I just threw away after making this cake instead of using it up, because ugh. no.

Lemon thyme lemon balm matcha wine hearts of palm Fetta and nettle petal fresh with a fennel frond

Again, no specific form, though they could be served on the blancmange together with the beurres, but there's only so much that I can put onto a fragile pudding shape before it collapses. Better idea: chop what can be chopped and soak in what can soak, then sprinkle in between the cake layers. Substitutions made: Lemon thyme -> regular thyme, lemon balm -> lemon balm tea, matcha -> NOT FOUND, hearts of palm -> NOT FOUND, nettle petal fresh -> nettle petal not fresh (tea)

Beurre blanc and beurre monté served burning on blancmange

As the recipe for beurre blanc states, it can't be reheated so I saved the beurres for assembly day. Blancmange though needs fridge time, so: followed the recipe, got really frustrated with american measuring units (I have a set of measuring cups / spoons, but guys, that's extra stuff I have to CLEAN. Just use a scale, for god's sake), and it turned out grainy because I don't own a cheese cloth but that's fine with me. Beurre blanc and buerre monté were easy enough, just followed the recipe (in american units. hmpf.)

Ensconced in: cream cheese, goat cheese, blue cheese, brie cheese, head cheese, soil

It's just a list of (mostly) cheeses, nothing special here. I made the "soil" out of oreo non-denominational cocoa cookies.

Swimmin in a ribbon of my liminally limited extra virgin olive oil

Just plain old olive oil. It wasn't a limited edition, which makes it liminally limited indeed.

Whipped chantilly meringue frosting

Decided that this meant that both chantilly and meringue were used (not a combination of both). So whipped chantilly (which is just cream with sugar, but I added a stabilizer to make it more - well - stable as it is a load bearing part of the cake) for the inside, and meringue frosting for the outside it is. Number of times I made sirup in the past two days: 3 - new personal record.

Bergamot and apricot and almond anise cardamom

Another case of no specified serving form, but it comes after the frosting, so I assume these are toppings. Bergamot orange was not available, and I learned only after the fact that apparently in France (?) this can also refer to limes (?), but I did find some bergamot lemonade. Soaked the apricots in it before they went onto the cake, and sprinkled some almond flakes and the spices onto it too.

And seven swans!

Yay some sculpting! Swans are easy to make out of fondant: Just roll a ball, then squish it into a somewhat elongated scallot form with a point to form the tail. Make a snake and place it at the dull end of your scallot, then bend it into the typical swan neck pose. Now squish the end of the head to form its beak. Some food coloring for the eyes and beak and we're done! For assembly purposes I staked them - otherwise the moisture from the blancmange would dissolve the fondant.

Can you tell I did not look up how exactly swans look like before making these? Eh, geese should be fine for this cake, too ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A golden ring!

Those come premade:

It's topped with poppies picked in Oz

I really tried to find poppies, but somehow you can't buy them anywhere?? Even though they are pretty flowers? After store number three I gave up looking and just bought a plant that had the most similar flowers. Obviously this means that they are not from Oz either… (I lied to you in the video- shame on me)

(also: I'm living in a city. If I had been visiting my parents' house in the countryside, I'd have plenty of wild poppies, but alas… (not driving 2h just for accurate cake decoration))

Sugar gauze and puppy paws

Sugar gauze? Not quite sure what that is, but I figured that cotton candy would be close enough? And while "puppy paws" is not a name for cookies, Bärentatzen or Katzenpfoten ("bear paws" or "cat paws") are a thing here. Unfortunately the store didn't have any (outrageous, I know), so I opted for Katzenzungen ("cat tongues") instead (no way I'd do more baking for this thing). Cat tongues are close enough to puppy paws, right?

Blue moon goo

Next blue moon is still far away, so I just used "blue" as a color descriptor for the goo - blue curaçao is the obvious choice here.

Mountain dew

While mountain dew is available here I didn't find it at the store, so for the visual I used some green Fanta. (I thiiink I tried mountain dew once and didn't like it anyway, so it was better that way)

Schrödinger's cat

Guest appearance: My precious kitty baby meow meow (she's 19)

Outtakes

My fridge has never been this full, let alone so full with useless items:

Almost everything in this picture went into the cake.

And kitty apparently wanted in on the space time fuck:

There was like one (1) frame in a whole two minute video that I could use, the rest was just kitty taking the spotlight.

[ich-bin-der-baer]

German Vocabulary: Herbs and Spices

der Anis -- anise; aniseed das Basilikum -- basil das Blatt (pl. die Blätter) -- leaf (pl. leaves) der Bund -- bunch der Cayennepfeffer -- cayenne die Chilischote -- chilli pepper das Currypulver -- curry powder der Dill -- dill die Fenchelsaat -- fennel seed die Flocken (pl.) -- flakes das Gewürz (pl. die Gewürze) -- seasoning; spice der Ingwer -- ginger das Kardamom -- cardamom der Kerbel -- chervil die Knoblauchzehe -- garlic clove der Koriander -- coriander; cilantro das Kraut (pl. die Kräuter) -- herb das Lorbeerblatt -- bay leaf der Meerrettich -- horseradish die Minze -- mint die Mischung -- mixture; blend die Muskatnuss -- nutmeg die Nelken (pl.) -- cloves der Oregano -- oregano das Paprikapulver -- ground paprika die Petersilie -- parsley der Pfeffer -- pepper der Piment -- allspice der Rosmarin -- rosemary der Safran -- saffron das Salz -- salt der Schnittlauch -- chives das Senfkorn (pl. die Senfkörner) -- mustard seed der Sternanis -- star anise der Stiel (pl. die Stiele) -- stem der Thymian -- thyme die Vanille -- vanilla der Zimt -- cinnamon

garnieren -- to garnish mahlen -- to grind reiben -- to grate salzen -- to salt würzen -- to season

aromatisch -- aromatic bitter -- bitter frisch -- fresh gemahlen -- ground getrocknet -- dried mild -- mild roh -- raw scharf -- hot; spicy süß -- sweet zart -- delicate

(die) geheime Zutat -- secret ingredient (die) Prise Salz -- pinch of salt der Salz-/Pfefferstreuer -- salt/pepper shaker nach Belieben -- to taste; as desired