#eating from the nature

[balkanradfem]

All foraged soup

So, I discovered a had a bag of frozen mushrooms in the freezer, that I had previously forgotten about, and this was a welcome discovery, as I was craving a nice mushroom soup. However, to make a good mushroom soup, I'd need some onions, and generally at this time of year, I have none. This is not because I am just so bad at growing onions; it's because I don't have the space or the bulbs. I am currently trying to trick an onion into going into seed in my garden, so that I may have onion seeds the next year. But, as of right now, I do not have onions, and this is something I usually remedy by using an infusion of chives as an onion replacement! But, not even chives are currently growing because there's so few hours of the sun in the day, they cannot be bothered to grow with this scarce amount of light.

So I remembered, there's another option! Wild onions. And, should I find wild onions out there, this would be a certified 100% foraged soup, as onions and mushrooms would come from out in the wild, collected by foraging.

I had to make an elaborate plan of cycling thu the city to get to an access point to the place with wild onions, I currently just know one spot where they grow! But I made it, and was sniffing around the grass, trying to find some blue-colored clusters. Wild onions can be difficult to spot, as they look very similar to the grass; their color is slightly more blue, they're thinner and they don't have blades like grass does, their greenery grows into elongated tubes instead. Here's some I found!

Even as they look almost like grass, they smell like onions once you pick them. There are a few similar plants that do NOT smell like onions, those are fakes! True onions smell deliciously like onions. I made sure to only harvest the green parts, because this way, I can come back in a week and collect from the same plants again, onions are great at re-growing from the bulb!

First thing I'm doing with these wild onion greens is washing them, which is convenient if you do it in a big frisbee, and then I'm cutting them in half and flipping the halves on the same side, to make it easier to cut into smaller pieces. When I'm done cutting, I put them in a jar!

This is because I'm not actually going to eat the onions, I'm just making an infusion, or a broth really, that's using the onions as a base. Their texture would not be ideal in a soup, unless for a little garnish on top (which I didn't think of at the time, so what I want is just to have them in a jar, pour hot boiling water all the way to the top, then close them up. Then I wrap this closed jar in a cloth, then wrap a few towels around it, so the heat could not escape, this way the hot jar will not cool down! At this point I also realized my frozen mushrooms are not thawing fast enough, so I put the bag into a container with hot water, to make the process faster.

At this point I'm leaving this all in the kitchen for one hour, so the onion broth gets the correct flavour, and the mushrooms get properly thawed.

*an hour later*

Here's how the onion broth looks like, taken out of the wrapping! It's nice and yellow. I'm going to strain the liquid I want to use, and I'm actually leaving some for another day; I don't need a ton of broth for this soup because it's supposed to be a creamy soup, so I don't want to make it too thin. The broth can stay in the fridge for 2 days, or it can be frozen for future use.

Now, to make the soup.

What I want to do first is to sautee some mushrooms on the oil, then make a roux. I wanted to put all of the mushrooms on the oil, but they were releasing a lot of liquid, and I didn't want them affecting the roux, so I just put a few, to intensify the mushroom flavour of the soup. I also added salt here! So after all of the mushrooms started smelling great, I added some flour on top, to absorb all of the oil, and stirred it until it started getting a bit more color. It's important while doing this, to have a glass with a bit of cold water in it! Putting a glass of water next to the pot was the first thing I did.

It's necessary to stir at all times because the flour burns easily, and before it starts looking bad (which is like, a minute in), I need to pour a glass of cold water on it, and stir. This will quickly make a paste! And this paste is a foundation for all thick and creamy soups.

After the paste has been established, I'm adding all of the rest of the mushrooms, and pouring all of the onion broth in. Then the soup is stirred until it's all the same thickness, and let to boil until it's really bubbly and rising up in the pot! I realized that the creamy soups only turn out okay if I let it bubble all the way up, this insures that the oil, flour and the water are properly mixed, and won't start turning back into separate mixtures.

This is basically all of the work. After it bubbles up, I'm closing the pot with a lid (or a plate, I don't have a lid), wrapping it up in the same cloth, towels and blanket as I did the onion jar, and I'm letting it sit there for 15-20 more minutes, and it can keep cooking in there, without me paying any attention to it. Otherwise you could just cook it on low heat for a bit longer, but it would take stirring and making sure it doesn't burn at the bottom and who's got that kind of patience.

After 15 minutes, I'm taking the pot out, and the last step will just be to blend it, since I have a blender and I can be fancy about it. The mushrooms taste mixes very well with flour and onion, really most of things do.

And here it is! All foraged (except for oil, flour and salt) mushroom soup! It was really good. Tasted like it had a real onion inside, even though I cheated.

[hinamie]

close again and closer still

[probablybadrpgideas]

Just came up with the concept that elves have a larval growth cycle and their larval stage is a goblin.

Then I came up with the better concept that goblins have a larval growth cycle and their larval stage is an elf.

[puppetmaster13u]

Prompt 85

Dan is very grumpy. He’s not pouting, despite what the others would claim, he’s brooding. How many times were they going to get de-aged?! And this time they were all clones! He did not sign up for reincarnation, nor for getting turned into a literal baby. 

He doesn’t care if this world has heroes or villains or whatever, he’s going to bite the next person to pick him up. Happily if it’s one of the scientists currently scrambling around as alarms go off. 

Though he’ll happily do the same to the new colorful people too. Honestly he’s just feeling particularly violent, and it’s not like he can murder with his tiny baby hands. At least his so-called siblings look just as ready to attack as he does. 

[turtleblogatlast]

“Haven’t You Noticed (I’m a Star)” from Steven Universe works so ridiculously well for Leo

[novelconcepts]

In watching more interviews with Liv about Van and the escalation of Van's pragmatism to such dark degrees, I find myself genuinely baffled that anyone could ever think Van the bad guy. I mean, I'm perplexed at finding ANY of these girls The Bad Guy. The bad guy is the situation. It's being lost. It's freezing. It's starving. It's being scraped down to the barest bone of being alive. They make choices that might be snippy, or cruel, or hard-headed, sure--Shauna refusing to just hash it out with Jackie; Jackie being too stubborn to come inside; Taissa refusing to discuss her situation plainly; etc--but by the time we reach the end of season 2, it doesn't even matter. Petty bullshit doesn't matter. Jealousy doesn't matter. Those things are still going to be present and complicated, because--for all their choices, for all the distancing they're trying to do--these kids ARE still human beings. But it isn't the point.

The point is survival. Plain, simple, straightforward. Van's pragmatism is survival. It is the difference between living another day with blood on your teeth or dying pretty. It is the difference between fighting forward through the fire and the snow and the hell of it all, and laying down to die. Van knowing, in watching the ritual violence of Shauna beating Lottie nearly the death, that they will be killing and eating one another soon. Van coming up with the cards for the hunt. Van not blinking when the moment comes, Van choosing a weapon that doubles as a tool to bring the body back, Van refusing to apologize for staying alive--it's not evil. It's not Bad Guy behavior. It's purely about survival, because there is nothing else left to her--or to any of them. They can play the pretty little Sweet Angel Girl game and die, or they can get dirty, bloody, horrific and fight. Van chooses the fight. Van chooses to fight for herself, for her lover, for her team, even knowing not everyone is going to make it out...because the alternate path there is that no one makes it out. Van knew the baby wouldn't live. Van knows the rest of them won't, either. Not unless they start making the hard choices.

And, honestly, the fact that Van sees this narrative coming. Comes up with this plan. Brings out the cards. To me, that is the opposite of Bad Behavior. That is as close to justice as anyone can find in the wilderness. If someone else came up with an idea, maybe it would have come down to voting--but that would have had such a human element to it, with bitterness or hostility or whatever ultimately petty shit always comes of humans selecting who to Other. The cards don't leave room for that. It isn't fair, because the situation isn't fair, because Man vs. Nature isn't fair, but it's as close to a just system as they could possibly find. It's the kindest solution to an unwinnable game. Not to bring it back to American Gods again, but all I can think is "it's easy, there's a trick to it: you do it, or you die." Van gave them that.

[uncanny-tranny]

I know for a fact I've talked about the golden records, but I don't care because here is a sample of some of my favourite greetings on those discs

There is something so vulnerable, precious, and human about sending up pieces of our hearts into space. Even when we know that there may not be anybody out there to hear us, we are still whispering to whomever might listen how much we love them, how much we want to connect. No matter how small the chance is, we're taking it to say that love is real, that we are real.

How is that not something to be in awe over?

[kerink]

idk man. personally i'm against human suffering and torturous, miserable deaths. i'm against the idea of spending 4 days locked in a tube without food or water, having to shit and piss yourself, unable to move or stand up, all the fighting and sobbing, a father cradling his son. i think it's terrifying and miserable and i hope they get found alive and get the help they need and this company is brought to justice.

i know the people involved are the elite and have likely caused human suffering on their quest for power. but the thing is... that's one of the things that separates the working class from the bougie... the working class care about the suffering of others.

i think this death would be poetic, and ironic. but i don't think it would change anything. the elite won't understand, they won't apply this experience of suffering to the suffering they cause their workers. they won't understand the irony of ecotourism causing a torturous death and parallel that to climate change. the won't see this as another example of elites trampling over mass graves for clout. they aren't going to take a global perspective.

these people will die miserable and tortured and afraid, the company may face legal and financial backlash, and that's all that's going to happen. and if they survive, the odds of any of these people using their power and fame to help others, to end their own questionable business practices and help others with mental health issues is such a small chance.

i hate watching people make jokes and laugh. these are human beings. you can see the irony in it, you can write essays about how this is another example of something rich white people have been doing for centuries. i understand and i think that's helpful and worthwhile!

but the number of posts i've seen cheering for these people to die is a lot. the number of memes and jokes i've seen is a lot. it's hard to look at sometimes.

[pandoratheprocrasticreator]

I wonder what the kids and teachers in luz's school think of her now. Shes stopped "terrorizing" other kids, mainly because she seems to have stopped engaging with most of her classmates period. She no longer brings live animals or taxidermy to school. She even participates in english class occasionally, even if she doesnt "get" the point of the book. Her rants only clock as suicidal if you know about her time in the boiling isles which the people at her school do not.

I wonder if luz's teachers and schoolmates think that luz mellowed out over the summer. If the principal/counselor that suggested she go to the camp patted himself on the back because shes "improved."

[yuri-for-businesswomen]

are transwomen lying and they dont actually trick straight men into sex because that is a flex to them

or are those men bisexual in denial

or are straight men really so misogynistic and uneducated about female anatomy they think an inverted penis is the same as a vulva and vagine

or have straight men rotten their brains with porn to the point they are attracted to femininity more than women

edit: not about victimblaming - it is not okay to lie about your sex to a sexual partner ever. im just wondering about the how

[milolunde]

We all know Timmy is Wanda’s mama’s boy but we need to keep in mind he’s still Cosmo’s kid too and that Cosmo would love him just as vehemently as Wanda

[momentomori24]

Watched Mat play the Kindergarten 3 early demo on his last livestream so I immediately had to draw my boi Nugget. He seems to be having fun.

[hecksupremechips]

Come back home when you have some sense

You can throw your life away just not at my expense

You’re not the son I raised

[hanzajesthanza]

(Adam Dudaczyk) The fact that vampires drink blood to get that *meaningful hand-neck gesture* - you made that up? (Andrzej Sapkowski) Yes, I didn't model myself on anyone here, I don't know anyone who wrote before me about the fact that vampires drink blood not to satisfy their hunger, but to satisfy their thirst for… entertainment. Texts: the guys sent me to get blood, I was flying drunk… The fun was great.

as i reread this i couldn't stop thinking of this meme

[thechibilitwick]

the shidoulings are mentally sick in the head and

[i3utterflyeffect]

Does selkie Alan ever tease SC like "when you were an infant you would get so mad when I became a stick figure because you didn't recognize me" and ruffle its hair?

oh absolutely, he teases the kids a lot about silly things they used to do i think. that's just a parent thing! he tries not to embarrass them too much though. he does tell King stories about them while the two of them are catching up though :]