#fish balls recipe

[sudachirecipes]

Discover how to make one of Japan's most popular rice ball options - onigiri with salmon! This rice ball is one of my favorites. I am confident that if you try this snack, you will love it too!

[sikfankitchen]

Hong Kong Curry Fish Balls 🍢

[inspector-montoya-fox]

i made you a Chow Mei moodboard because i wanted to

[moniquill]

One of the socialist things I’d like to see ALONG WITH UBI (not instead of) is a government option for all basic neccesities. I am aware that the government option would -suck- and as long as it’s survivably functional, I’m fine with that. When I was a kid, we got monthly commodity food boxes. They’d be filled with food that looked like this:

And in lean months, it would be that and whatever we could get from the garden, or forage/fish, or trade with friends and neighbors. My mom had this awesome recipe for peanut butter balls that utilized the powdered milk, shit-quality peanut butter, and maple-flavored corn syrup that we routinely got in our box and actually made it good. 

I think that these things should be available for purchase at every supermarket, and that the prices should be fixed with relation to the minimum wage. All brands should have to compete with the government option - if SPAM is going to be more expensive than LUNCHEON MEAT in the silver can, then it needs to justify that cost by being better quality.

I want the same thing for housing. I want fucking Commie Blocks to be an option.

This would combat runaway inflation by putting a price cap on survival needs. It would guard against shrinkflation, because a consumers could compare the Government Standard portion to the brands. UBI ought to be such that it covers The Government Option for food, housing, clothing, transit etc. with generous wiggle room for emergency savings and little joys in life. 

Everyone should get their own UBI account in their own name at birth, along with their social security number. It should follow the individual regardless of guardianship. Parents/guardians should have incrementally less and less control over said funds as the child gets older, and should have to provide itemized receipts of how money taken from a child’s account is spent (Similar to what you have to do if you’re in control of an elder’s social security money).

https://www.ssa.gov/ssi/text-repayee-ussi.htm

'Each year, we will ask certain representative payees to complete a Representative Payee Accounting Report showing how they spent and saved the money they received for you during the 12-month report period.'

These are steps that would could easily institute tomorrow be reallocating funding, and they’d have a huge impact on cost of living for everyone.  

This rant brought to you by the fact that store brand canned luncheon meat in my local grocery held fast at a dollar for the better part of two decades but now costs $2.18.

[mmwm]

LINK FEST: 5 SEPTEMBER 2023

Links that may or may not be related to gardens, food, travel, nature, or heterotopias and liminal spaces but probably are. Sources in parentheses. Instagram account: moss_en_place (Molly Moss/Instagram). “Currently exploring the wonderful world of tinned fish.” article: Don’t check the clock! 15 ways to get back to sleep when you wake at 3am (Guardian). My go-to is breath work. TikTok…

[videoblogbyjacobo]

Watch video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy9YEOCX86o Looking for a tasty and cost effective recipe? Try tuna meat balls! If you love seafood, then you'll love tuna meat balls! These tasty little bites are popular among seafood lovers for their delicious flavor. Made with fresh tuna, these meat balls are perfect for any occasion. Whether you're looking for a quick and easy appetizer or a main course, tuna meat balls are sure to please. This dish is easy to make and can be served with a variety of sides. Plus, it's a great way to use up any leftover tuna you may have. Simply mix the tuna with some bread crumbs, an egg, and some seasonings. Form into balls and bake until golden brown. Serve with your favorite dipping sauce and enjoy!

[cloudcountry]

I just discovered your writing and I love how you write Idia! If requests are open, could you write Idia with an S/O that cooks for him? It's heavily implied that Idia has depression and is very thin do to his lack of self care and malnutrition, but since he started dating he gains some weight and gets a bit insecure about it but reader comforts him because they're just happy that's he's eating healthy

SUMMARY: idia is starting to eat healthier and put on weight, which spawns new insecurities. you help him through it.

COMMENTS: i'm so unhinged about this request please. PLEASE. do not look at me right now im in SHAMBLES. you've saved my life with his request. IVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT IT FOREVER I WROTE THIS IN LIKE 45 MINUTES IM LOSING IT. THIS BAD BOY CAN FIT SO MUCH NON SEXUAL INTIMACY IN IT. CRYING.

In the beginning of your relationship, getting Idia to eat and drink was like pulling teeth. You didn’t want to force it—Idia knew how he felt far better than you, and making him do something he didn’t want to was just cruel. You knew from the start that if he didn’t want to eat, he wouldn’t, and even after consulting Ortho you didn’t notice any changes in his attitude towards eating. You reminded him to drink water constantly and brought him little snacks, but the water bottles remained mostly full and the snacks were unopened. While you managed to coax another few sips of water out of Idia, the snacks were still a no-go and his vitamin drinks won the day once again.

It took until the two of you were second years for him to consider eating more, and you were so delighted that you began to cook for him. Although he still gained most of his nutrients from those vitamin drinks he’d always drink in place of meals, you were so proud of him when he started eating the small portions you’d set out for him. Each container had four sections, one full of dried fruits, one with nuts, one with vegetables, and the last with meat. You always wrote him a note telling him how proud of him you were, encouraging him to eat the whole thing but letting him know he could stop eating whenever. It was more of a snack than anything, but he’d eaten it, the whole thing, and you felt so moved you’d almost cried.

Idia never thought it was that much a deal, even when you started gradually increasing his portion sizes into your third year at NRC, always replying to your praise with bashful mumbles and scoffs, twisting his beautiful hair into knots as a nervous habit. He would finish his snacks and bashfully ask for more, turning his pink cheeks away from you when you’d beam and tell him you’d be on it right away. Noodle dishes were popular, along with sweet chicken recipes, and anything with rice or pasta. You avoided using meats like pork or beef or anything that wasn’t light like poultry. Idia always favored things that went down easy, not hearty meals that left you feeling stuffed (and, of course, you never fed him sushi due to his dislike of raw fish.)

He was drinking more water as the years went on, too—by the time you came to collect his dishes and figure out if he wanted more food or not, you’d catch a glance of a half empty water bottle and feel your heart fluttering in your chest. It made you so happy to see him eating and drinking healthier. Even if he complained about needing to go pee more often (which took out of his gaming time, oh the dramatics) you could tell he felt better. It had been a journey of three years but you and him were making some serious progress together, and you couldn’t be more proud.

To celebrate just how proud of him you were, you’d gotten Idia a small chocolate cake to go with his lunch, and you were delivering it a bit early to surprise him.

Balancing all of the food on one hand, you bounce on the balls of your feet as you punch in the security code to his room (it changed every day and he always texted you the new one, reassuring you that your messages had been encrypted ten times over so nobody could even chip at the defenses, not that you were worried about someone hacking your phone in the first place.) The door opens with its usual mechanical woosh and shuts behind you the second you step inside, immediately locking again.

“Idia, I bought you a gift today!” you cheer, setting the containers down on his bed.

You turn around to face the rest of his room before stopping dead in your tracks, coming face to face with very wide eyed, shirtless Idia. He’s clutching his shirt to his chest, trying to hide as much of him as he possibly can, but the way the fat of his stomach pinches and rolls at his side could still be seen past the fabric. Your mouth forms a small o shape as you stare, taking him in.

“Stop staring!” he yells, and it's only then that you notice the tears in his eyes and the pink borderline red flickers in his flames, “Get out!”

He throws himself into the gamer chair, spinning it enough so that the back of it faces you. You can see him curling up into a little ball, struggling to get his shirt on in the state he’s in.

“Idia, wait!” you call out, stopping him in his tracks.

Soft sniffles fill the room, and it breaks your heart.

“Why are you here early?” he snaps, still not coming out from his hiding place.

“I bought you a miniature cake. You’ve been eating more lately and I’m proud of you for that.” you say softly, sitting down on his bed, “I’m not going to come over there, darling. Don’t worry. This is a safe space, you know? I would never judge you.”

Idia is silent for a few beats before he speaks again.

“Maybe...maybe I should stop eating.” he murmurs, and the pain that shoots through your heart makes you gasp.

“Idia, no.” you plead, gentle even though you’re panicking, “What’s making you feel this way? You’ve been doing so well, you’ve told me how good you’ve been feeling this past year because you’re eating healthier, what changed?”

“I look like this!” he spits out, and there’s so much self loathing in his tone it brings tears to your eyes as well.

“You look beautiful, darling, you always have. What about yourself do you not like?” you plead, hoping and praying he’ll open himself up to you.

“I’ve gained weight. I’m not as skinny anymore. I look gross.” he peeks out from behind his chair and your heart breaks at how bloodshot his eyes are, “I don’t...want you to see me like this and leave me.”

“My love...” you keep his gaze, leaning as close as you can to him without leaving the bed, “I love you no matter what you look like, you know that right? I love you as a person. You will always, always look lovely to me. I love you. I don’t love a perfect version of you I made up in my head. Every single insecurity you have, I love, because they aren’t flaws. They’re just you.”

You let him take your words in, listening to his heavy breaths before you stand up.

“Darling...can I see you?” you ask carefully, “I want to see you.”

He hesitates.

“Promise me you won’t be disappointed.” Idia’s voice cracks mournfully, like he’s already accepted a fate that will never befall him.

“Never.” you answer immediately.

Your breath catches in your throat when he shamefully moves away from his gaming chair, staring at the ground to avoid looking at you. Your heart hits the ceiling with how light it feels, your lungs contracting and your body growing warm. Oh, he’s ethereal.

You take in the parts that he hates—the creases of his neck and his soft pecs (his nipples are blue, you note, and honestly that doesn’t surprise you), the rolls of his stomach and the fiery trial of hair that leads to his pelvis. You take in the blue glow under his arms and the way the fat of his upper arm folds into his shoulder, and his way his stomach hangs a little over the waistband of his pants. You take it how his arms are bigger now, whether that be from growth or the added weight you don’t know, but what you do know is that all of this beauty was hiding under his hoodie for the past three years. Probably even longer.

“You’re beautiful.”

And your voice breaks as a single hand covers your mouth, hearts in your eyes as you finally, finally make eye contact with Idia, his hair sparking and popping like solar flares as the flames turn pink.

You love that pink.

“B...Beautiful!?” Idia jerks back, looking so scared and ashamed and confused, “What are you talking about!? Beautiful is for men in otomes with eight pack abs, I’m no ikemen but I’m not stupid and how could you ever call me something like that—!?”

“Idia Shroud, you’re beautiful!” you shout, your voice far louder than you intended and it cracks again because oh, you’re so emotional, how could this man think he’s anything but beautiful?

“...what?” he whispers, shirt still clenched in his hands like a lifeline, “You...you don’t want to leave me?”

What you want to do is ask why you ever thought he’d leave you in the first place.

What you do instead, is tell him no.

And you stay.

You don’t make an excuse to leave or try to let him down slowly. You stay in his room and you ask to hug him, you stay in his room and you embrace him so tenderly when he says yes, you stay in his room with him and you kiss his temple, holding all of the extra fat he didn’t come with when you fell in love with him in your arms, loving him all the same even though he’s changed.

He doubts you’ve ever called someone beautiful as many times as you’re calling him that right now.

So Idia shuts his eyes and buries his face in your shoulder, hiding his face and his body and his sobs from the rest of the world in the safety of your arms.

You really will love him no matter what.

He doesn’t know what to do.

[profamer]

Today's Simple Recipe Is Codfish Balls. #proven #recipe #cooking #economize #healthy

Today’s Simple Recipe Is Codfish Balls. #proven #recipe #cooking #economize #healthy

FISHCodfish Balls. 1 pint raw codfish, 2 pints pared potatoes, cooked and mashed, 2 eggs, butter size of an egg. Cook the codfish and add to the potatoes, make in balls and fry in lard.Thank you for reading!Source: Tested Recipes by Ida Lee Cary (gutenberg.org)

[mj0702]

For the mean woman. ...

“Bubs…. What are you doing at 3AM in the kitchen?” Lucy asked sleeping as she stumbled into the kitchen

“Couldn’t sleep” you mumbled concentrating on your task at hand measuring some sugar and flower

“Bubs come on” your sister tried to coax you out of the kitchen back to bed

“I need to finish this” you push Lucy to the side grabbing some Lemons and eggs

“It’s 3 in the morning Bubs… you can finish it later” Lucy tried again taking the eggs from your hands

“Gimme that” you snapped at her trying to get back said eggs “I’m in a flow”

“Flow back to bed” your sister said trying to push you out of the kitchen

“Why don’t you go back to bed and stop annoying me” you rolled your eyes

“Don’t come crying to me if you’re tired later… you have gym time with Alexia” Lucy held her hands up in surrender retreating back into her bedroom

“Why doesn’t she get it?” you mumbled to yourself starting to mix ingredients

“What on earth happened in here??” Ona exclaimed shocked seeing the state of her kitchen Lucy looking around the corner smirking

“Bubs couldn’t sleep” your sister said smirking

“And she decided to… wait… is this Coca de San Juan??” the spaniard pointed at a cake that was placed on the kitchen island

“Coca what?” your sister asked confused

“Coca de San Juan… it’s a Catalonian pastry… you had it ah one of our first dates in Barcelona… wait… are these.. Catànies?? What is going on? Where’s y/n??” Ona looked at all the pastry dishes scattered throughout the kitchen between dirty cups, mugs and bowls.

“Dunno… I tried to get her into bed at three…. Wouldn’t come with me” your sister said as she popped one of the small chocolate ball into her mouth “Shit these are good”

“Let me try” your sisters girlfriend said eagerly grabbed one of the small deserts “Ay dios… these are so good…. I can’t believe it”

“She tries to fish for brownie points… be aware… she might want something” Lucy pointed out chewing another Catànie.

“We need to find…” Ona said as you stumbled into the kitchen “… Bebita… bon dia”

You grumbled something inaudible and went straight for the coffee machine groaning even louder when it didn’t do what you wanted. You even went as far as slapping the metal container a few times before Lucy stepped in guiding your whining self away from it while Ona took the task of making coffee for you. When the blonde spaniard came into the living room a few minutes later a steaming cup of coffee in her hand you already where asleep again sitting in your sisters lap koala hugging her.

“What’s up with her?” Ona asked a little confused holding out the Mug to her girlfriend who took it gladly taking a sip before answering

“Don’t really know… but I THINK she’s still working on the aftermath of what happened in Munich” Lucy said lowly not wanting to wake you up

“That was nearly four weeks ago” the blonde spaniard said as she sat down on next to Lucy and you carefully tracing your face with her finger

“And it was nearly four YEARS of bottled up hurt and pain… Izzy on Grey’s Anatomy always baked when she was struggling… maybe Bubs is a real life Izzy” Lucy answered as you sagged even more against her a content sigh leaving your lips

“True… but honestly Luce… what she made is even better than what you get in Cafés here… I wonder where she got the recipes from” Ona mused

“Probably Google” your sister shrugged as she carefully peeled you off her laying you down on the couch so she could get ready for the day

“I swear Alexia… her Catànies are sooooo good” Ona raved and Lucy nodded along for good measure

“I believe you Ona… question is… where is she? We had an appointment in the gym” Alexia said

“Here… taste one” Ona said shoving a container under her captains nose

“Ona…” Alexia said carefully pushing the blondes hand back a little “… we’re in the middle of trai…”

“Uh… Catànies!!!” Mapí exclaimed excited grabbing a handful of the small pralines

“María León” Alexia scolded “Don’t you dare eat them in the middle of training”

“Ay dios… these are GOOD… where did you get then?” Mapí moaned happily after she shoved the whole hand into her mouth ignoring Alexia completely

“Bebita made them” Ona said happily a wide proud smile on her face

“NO WAAAAAY” the tattooed spaniard exclaimed

“WHERE IS THE CARIÑO?!!!” Alexia boomed interrupting the chit chat of her teammates

“On the couch” Lucy said as she walked passed playing upsies with a stray ball

“Why?!” the blonde captain asked

“I tried to get her into bed at 3 but she didn’t want to… so I let her be and this morning she was so dead we left her at home” your sister explained passing the ball to Keira who was on the other side of the field

“We had a gym appointment” Alexia said raising her eyebrow while she aggressively ripped the container with the Catànies out of Onas hands much to Maps disappointment

“Hey” the tattooed spaniard exclaimed trying to get the sweets back

“No… you were eating the whole time…. You’re going to be sick and then you’ll whine how bad you’re feeling and whine even more when I tell you it’s your own fault “ Alexia snapped at her friend

“Because you never have any sympathy for anyone” Mapí huffed but decided to go and find her girlfriend so she could complain about how mean Alexia was

“She was dead on her feet Ale…” Lucy said softly “… she’s still a kid who’s hurting a lot… a day off won’t change anything”

“I’m worried she’ll do something stupid if we don’t keep her occupied “ Alexia said

“I know… and I feel the same Ale… but we can’t keep an eye on her 24/7… she’s a wild one” your sister said smiling a little

“Oh I noticed” Alexia smiled back “… she yelled “Stranger Danger” at Olga the first time they met”

“Yeah… sounds like Bubs” Lucy laughed as she spotted you stumbling through the tunnel “… your date is here Capi”

Alexia turned around to see you stumbling out of the tunnel trying to get your cleat over your foot while hooping on your Jersey inside out a big Bayern Munich logo printed on the shorts you were wearing

“I’m sorry I’m late… they left me behind” you said panting hard as you reached Alexia “As soon as I get my stupid cleat on I’ll run me laps”

“Calm down Cariño…” the blonde answered grabbing your shoulders to ground you “Breath for me… good… again”

You took a few deep breaths before Alexia released her grip on you

“There we are… everything is good okay… no laps… you can go warm up and stretch – properly I might add since you like to keep that task as short as possible and then you can come in for a little kick around okay” Alexia said softly seeing how much it actually stressed you out

“I… I… I… okay” you said a little defeated walking away thinking you disappointed Alexia

“Cariño…” the blonde spaniard called after you “… back”

You immediately turned on your heels slowly walking back to her

“Yeah?” you asked carefully

“I’m not disappointed… I’m not mad… nor am I punishing you… I want you to warm up properly and then come join us at training… if you feel the need for a little gym session afterwards we can do that” Alexia said soft but firm immediately knowing where your head went

“And we’ll get you some different shorts… supporting the enemy…” she winked at you and you looked down noticing the logo

“Yeah well… I was way behind the enemy lines… had to take a trophy piece” you smirked as Alexia lightly slapped your ass signaling you to go warm up

“Come on Lucy” you yelled laughing “Even blind Grandma T would’ve made that goal… Carata Kid was WAY off her line”

“Excuse me??!!!!” your sister exclaimed shocked but everyone heard she was just playing along

“You’re shit… I don’t know why they pay you so much money” you laughed but then squealed as you saw your sister running at you

“Come here you semen demon” Lucy yelled as she was chasing after you

You where cutting through the players and staff laughing loudly even going so far playing catch around Aitana who stood there frozen in place. Everyone was laughing until Jona whistled loudly putting a halt on your little game.

“So Bebita… where did you get the recipe for the Catànies from?” Ona asked you in the locker room where you currently were changing for gym time with Alexia

“Which what where?” you looked at her confused

“The Catànies” the blonde spaniard answered

“Huh?!” you asked even more confused by the second

“The chocolate thingies you made last night” Lucy clarified huffing

“Oh… no recipe… Luce brought them Home one night and I just tried to recreate the flavor and texture” you shrugged nonchalantly pulling on your shoes before standing up and leaving

“What did she mean “no recipe”??” Ona looked at Lucy confused

“Don’t ask me… I don’t know what she’s talking about half the time” your sister shrugged

“Keira?” the blonde spaniard turned to her friend

“Bitsy is good like that… just accept it” Keira waved off

“But these are SO good… how can she make them without a recipe???” Ona tried to understand how you made something this tasty without any help

“Don’t question it Ona… Bitsy does a lot of things nobody understands” Keira said

“Buenos Aitanas!!!” you yelled happily pushing open the gym doors

“Didn’t I tell you over and over and OVER again to not call it “Buenos Aitanas also…” Alexia rolled her eyes “… inside voice”

“Someone is short of an orgasm” you mumbled to yourself pulling a face at Alexia

“Mind to repeat that so I understand it as well??” the spanish captain asked raising an eyebrow

“I said let’s get started… I have a pool and a nice bottle of red waiting for me” you smiled sweetly

“I know you haven’t said that… I also know you won’t touch a bottle of red until you’re 18 at least… I’ll make sure of it” Alexia said but pointed to the pull up bar

“Yeah well Lucy wanted me to die a virgin… didn’t work out…” you said before jumping a little bit to get to the bar

“I’m not interested in your virginity… now come on… concentrate on your breathing…. 3 sets of 10… take your time… I want you to at least take 2 seconds between each pull up… 3 minutes between every set” Alexia said firmly and saw how your energy changed immediately as you started to focus on your task

“Good Cariño… that was very good” Alexia said proudly crouching next to your head “… you want to continue?”

“Give me a minute” you panted out hard sweat covering your body “I can do more”

“Okay and we’re going to stop right here” Alexia said immediately recognizing your competitiveness

“What why??” you sat up your breathing still fast and Alexia pushed you back into a laying position

“Because your statement is acted on competitiveness and not on your health… we’re here to stabilize and strengthen your knee… not to set you back” the blonde captain said firmly her hand on your chest and with the little pressure she provided you immediately felt calmer

“Gracias mamá” you closed your eyes while your breathing calmed down – you knew Alexia was right

“I’m too young to be your mother… also… you’re an impossible task … that wouldn’t happen if you were mi niña… you would be so well behaved” Alexia chuckled

“Lucy tried her best… like with that own goal at… wherever you guys were” you waved off your eyes still closed and Alexia started laughing

[caffeinemachine]

Life Jacket- Chapter 2

Hi!! Thanks for all the love on the first chapter! Sorry this out later than I expected but I couldn't stop writing and I didn't want to end the chapter at an odd spot.

Let me know if you want to be added to the tag list! Hope you like this chapter!

WC: 4.8K

Conrad Fisher x Eldest Conklin Sibling Reader

Blurb | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

~~~~~~~~~~

The first day always went the same. Unpack, swim, shower, nap, dinner. Sometimes the first bonfire of the season was the first day we got there, other times it was the next day. This year it was the first. So today’s order was, unpack, swim, shower, nap, dinner, get ready, party. 

We all gathered around the table for dinner in our usual spots. My Mom, Belly, and me on one side,  Steven and Jere across from us, then Conrad on the end next to me, and Sussanah on the end next to my Mom. The spots never changed over the years, unless we had guests to squeeze in somewhere. The other thing that never changed was the food. Susannah was an amazing cook. She had taught me to cook over the years. I had spent many hours by her side being her ‘little sous chef’ as she called me. This summer she told me she would show me her old college food recipe hacks. 

I picked my head up from my plate when I heard Jeremiah’s voice, “So Y/n/n when do you leave for school? Do they have the swim team go early?” 

I nodded, quickly swallowing my food so I could answer, “Yeah I have to go early, It's not too bad though only 2 weeks before the regular move-in date. I leave on August 5th.”

Susannah spoke next, “We’re so proud of you, our little fish.” Everyone chuckled at the nickname, ‘little fish’. Susannah had been calling me that for years. 

“So what about you man when do you leave for training camp?” Steven asked Conrad, only he wasn’t the one who answered. Jeremiah did.

“He uh quit football.” Silenced stretched over the table. He what? I stared at him in disbelief, but in my heart, a part of me felt relieved for him. Being a student athlete isn’t easy and I knew Conrad only did football for his father. Sure he still loved the sport, but not enough. 

“What you quit? Why man, I would’ve killed to play college ball?” Steven asked Conrad but again he didn't respond, his mother answered this time. 

“He can always change his mind.” That made Conrad speak up, getting defensive towards his mother in a way I didn't usually see from him.

“I’m not gonna change my mind, I was just gonna sit on the bench all season anyway.” I sat quietly. I didn’t know what to say. Conrad and I bonded over our athleticism over the years, it felt weird to think we didn’t share that similarity anymore. 

I hadn't realized I was staring at him until he looked back at me, our eyes locked and yet I still couldn't move. You'd think it'd be instinct to look away but as he came into focus, we just stared. I tried my best to read him to understand why he might do that, Why would he quit? I knew he didn't love it but he had gone this far with it, What made him change his mind?

There was something unreadable in his expression I didn't think it was regret or nostalgia or sadness or anger but instead some combination of all of it. I wondered why. He looked away first turning his attention to his plate as he picked at the food in front of him. I didn't push him on it, I wasn't sure I'd push him on it later either. I’m sure he had a reason, maybe it’d be best if I just let him tell me if he wanted. 

The rest of dinner continued on like normal on the first night. Catching up, making jokes, and just being happy to be in each other's presence again. Everyone went their separate ways to get ready for the bonfire, and Belly and the moms stayed downstairs preparing for their movie night. Their tradition started a few years ago when Belly was 11, almost 12. That was the first year we went to a bonfire, Conrad and I were 14, and Jeremiah and Steven were 13. The bonfires were different then, we were with the younger crowd still unmixed from the older kids.  It was in the backyard of the house owned by a kid Jeremiah and Conrad knew from sailing camp. Belly was so upset she couldn't come with us. She was too young and we didn't want to have to watch out for her the whole night, or entertain her for that matter. I love my sister and she's gotten a lot better over the years but she loves attention, even though she won't admit it. Having her come meant that I would have to keep her by my side the whole night, that I couldn't mingle with new kids and make new friends. The moms promised to hang out with her that night. They went to the drugstore in town and bought a bunch of candy. Susannah made brownies and they watched a movie, a PG-13 movie which Belly thought was awesome at the time. 

I didn't do too much to get ready for the bonfire, it wasn't anything new, but I still like to look a little bit nice. It was the first time I was seeing everybody for the season after all. My hair was down, air-dried from the shower I took earlier so it had a natural wave to it. A little concealer under my eyes, some mascara, tinted lip balm, and that was that. I put on a tank top and some jean shorts with my navy Cousins Beach sweatshirt on top. It tended to get a little bit chilly on the beach at night. I looked at myself in the mirror, my eyes catching on the shimmer coming from my ears. My pearl earrings, Susannah's pearl earrings. She gave them to me for my 16th birthday just like her mother did and I've treasured them every day since. 

I had to shoo the thought away as I felt myself getting choked up. I exited my room and went down the stairs, slipping on my very worn-in black Converse by the door.  I heard stories of people in college having a designated pair of shoes they called their ‘frat shoes’. This pair of black Converse was that for me over the summer.  They had been covered in sand, soaked from water, and scuffed with dirt, more times than I could count. 

As I finished tying my last lace, the boys walked down the stairs. I sat up, shoes now tied, and patted my knees, “You guys ready to go?”

“Yep let's do this we're taking my car. Y/N you promised to be DD for the night right? Don’t worry though I won’t drink too much anyway, wouldn't want to be hungover for my first day of duty, right Y/ N?” Jeremiah answered.

I laughed, “No Jere, you definitely shouldn't be hungover. Wouldn't look good for me either after I vouched for you to get this job. But yes I’ll be DD.” He laughed with me throwing his arm over my shoulder as we walked to the car. Steven called shotgun which left me and Conrad to sit together in the back. I hated to admit it to myself but he looked good. How someone could pull off a gray hoodie that well I didn't know, but he pulled off a gray hoodie and jeans better than I'd seen ever before. 

The drive was silent in terms of conversation but in the front seat, Jeremiah and Steven were singing their hearts out to Steven's ‘pregame’ playlist off Spotify. I kept my gaze out the window. Partly because I was still taking in the beauty of Cousins, partly because I could look at him. He looked too good and I always had to distance myself from Conrad before parties. I never knew how they’d play out with him. Sometimes he’d just stick close to us, the crew, and have a super fun night hanging out. Usually, that’s what he did when I was at the party with the guys but I’d been told the stories of his playboy party actions when I wasn’t there, and last summer I had gotten a glimpse of it. A girl named Nicole had come up to him and started chatting with him. Within seconds she was quite touchy-feely. Her hand was on his chest or upper arm, even playing with his hair every once in a while. I had whispered into Jere’s ear who was between me and the horny fest, “Who’s that?” 

Jere took a quick glance over his shoulder and then whispered back, “Nicole, she and Conrad hook up every once in a while.”

I furrowed my brows, “I’ve literally never seen her before.”

“They met at a party last summer when you had left for swim camp, I think her family like only comes out for August.”

I swallowed the information and then excused myself to get a drink. I stole a beer from the kid's fridge and walked back feeling a little bit better now that I had a drink in my hand. But when I looked up to find Nicole on her tiptoes kissing Conrad against the wall, the power of the drink in my hand ceased. I turned back to the kitchen, leaning against the counter by myself for a few minutes. I had my focus down on my hands when I suddenly looked up at the sound of the refrigerator doors flying open. It was her. She was seemingly grabbing a beer from the fridge the same way I had been just a second ago. I expected her to walk back out to Connie, but instead, she stationed herself on the counter, so I took that as my sign to walk back. It was the first, and only time since I had seen Conrad's fuck-boy behavior, but the stories continued, and I never let myself feel unprepared for the chance I might see it again.

Now sitting in the car with him I did just that as I watched the houses go by. The streets are littered with beautiful bloomed hydrangeas. Suddenly, my hair was pushed behind my ear. I turned my head as his hand draped its way down from my ear to the ends of my hair. His face was soft but I could see the dimples around his smile starting to crease. I shifted in my seat, nervous with his attention on me. 

“W-what are you doing?” I spoke lowly. Not that it mattered, Jere and Steven had no chance of hearing over our screaming.

“You’re hiding.” It wasn’t a question, it was a statement. And it left me speechless. “Your hair is always so soft, you’d think after years of chlorine that wouldn’t be the case.” 

That eased the tension a little, as the corner of my mouth turned up. “Well, that's because I wear one of those swim caps.”

He laughed, “I’d pay to have a picture of that.” 

I laughed with him, “Don’t say that to my mom 'cause she’d easily take your money for an exchange.” 

“Let's go!” Jeremiah shouted, exiting the car along with my brother. I hadn't realized we had stopped.

I looked over my shoulder to see Conrad hadn’t moved. His eyes looked at me like he was observing my soul. I held my breath. As if not breathing would help ease the bubbles floating around in my chest. 

I couldn’t bear it.

With an awkward laugh, I scooted out of the car and jogged over to Jere and Steven. I didn’t want to walk down alone. I knew the boys wouldn’t stay by my side the whole night, they’d go do other things within the first hour, but I liked to hold onto them for as long as I could. I didn’t mind the girls I’d met with the guys here over the years, but we were never that close. Nicole, Dara, Gigi, Marisa, and Shayla, we’d all lose contact over the school year. I also knew some people who weren’t from that crew. Some of them I knew from the swim club I used to do at the Country Club when I was little under the Fisher’s name. I wasn’t exactly supposed to be in the club seeing as I wasn’t truly a member but Susannah had a way of getting people to do what she wanted. Kindness can be blinding. The club was mostly made up of little boys, there were only 3 of us girls, Sydney, Ally, and me. Sydney was a nice girl. She was super smart, and ambitous, she’s set to start at Princeton for business in the Fall. Ally, I remained better friends with as we grew up. She was a dedicated swimmer like me so we even ran into each other sometimes during the school year at competitions. Ally was a total sweetheart, but she liked to have fun. She was easy to hang out with, she understood. I hoped they were here, I had forgotten to text them when I got to Cousins.

The fire wasn’t too crazy, they had to be careful not to draw too much attention from the cops. A big crowd of people had already formed though and it was only 9:30. I grabbed a cola from the cooler as I said hello to everyone coming up to us. Chit-chat was made with numerous people, and I couldn’t help but feel these conversations were really competitions for these kids. It was like every comment had to be a one-up to the one previous.

It was around 10:30 when a hand plopped down on my shoulder abruptly.  I assumed it was one of the guys but then he came into my eyeline, Peter Millington. 

“Yooo Y/N what's good?” He said a little slurred. As he moved to stand in front of me his hand dropped from my shoulder. 

“Hey Peter,” I laughed. Peter was a good guy, he was flirty but it was harmless. Annoying, but harmless. I met him at the swim club when we were 10. 

“So miss big shot where you heading this fall?  I’m sure schools across the country were practically begging outside your front door!” 

I laughed, “I won’t deny that, but I’m actually not going far. I’m gonna be going to Harvard.” His mouth hung open.

“No shit.”

“Yes, shit. How about you, still swimming?” 

He shook his head, “Nah nah, I’m trying to be a sports agent, I’ll be going to Penn State.”

“That’s great, congrats.” I smiled at him. 

He pointed at me a big smirk spreading across his face, “Yeah so you better remember me when you go all famous.” He finished his statement by slightly hitting the side of my arm. 

“You got it Pete, I won’t forget you-”

“Belly what the fuck!” My head snapped and my jaw dropped. I took off over to them. I sort of abandoned Pete but eh, he’ll be fine. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” Steven yelled.

I smacked his shoulder once I had run up to them. “Stop yelling! You’re making a scene!” I whisper-shouted at him. 

Then I turned my attention to my baby sister. My baby sister, who wasn’t supposed to be here. My baby sister, who was just talking to a man 5 years older than her. My baby sister, who chose to wear a tiny skin-tight pink mini dress. My clueless, trouble-causing, baby sister. 

“What are you doing here?” I asked her as calmly as I could. 

“What I can’t go to a party?” She bit back defensively.

Excuse me? She didn’t get to give me shit for being concerned when she's the one who showed up out of the blue. I scoffed, “Did I say that?”

“What are you even wearing Belly we are on the beach why would you-“ 

“Steven. Knock it off. Go hang out with Shayla.” This was getting too aggravating. Steven was instigating too much, he must have already pissed Belly off by the time I ran up and now I had to deal with it.

“Did Taylor tell you to wear that or something?” I asked Belly, trying my best to figure out what was going on without having to have an argument in the middle of a party. 

“Why can’t I just dress nicely without being questioned?” Why the hell was she being so defensive? 

 “Again did I say that?” I couldn’t hold back the bite to my tone.

She rolled her eyes before looking at me. But then her gaze sharply caught something over my shoulder. I turned to look. Jeremiah. Drunk off his ass. Standing next to the fire trying to strip and go skinny dipping. He had already stripped off his sweatshirt, shirt, shoes, and socks. 

“Great.” I scoffed, running over to my now 2nd problem of the night. 

When he saw me running over he smiled brightly, “Y/N! We are going swimming come on! OH MY GOSH Belly! You’re here! You come too!”

Belly laughed beside me and I would’ve thrown a dirty look her way if I had the energy to spare. 

“No. No one is going swimming. It’s pitch black, the rip currents are crazy, and you are wasted. That’s all recipe for disaster.” I said authoritatively. 

Jeremiah pouted. “Please?”

“No. Now put your clothes on.” 

“Booooo.” Was he serious? He swayed as he re-dressed, his shirt blocking his vision. Good god.

“And get rid of the drink Jere, You’ve had enough.” 

“Ughhh fine party pooper.” Before I could stop him he threw his drink into the fire. 

“Jere-” The fire grew, a blaze lighting the beach. Shouts were heard as other drunk idiots followed Jeremiah’s lead and fueled the fire. “I can’t with this, Jere hang out with Belly.”

He smiled at that, “Alright come here belly button sit with me by the fire.” She giggled and obliged.

I took a deep breath, my feet taking me to the shoreline without even thinking. I needed to calm down. The chaos was overwhelming. I sat down on the sand a few feet away from where the water reached. The breeze flowed against me and I felt my mind begin to ease. This. This is why I always loved Cousins. I will never feel as at peace as I do when I’m next to the ocean. Water just calmed me down. I was the little fish. 

I hoped that would never change. I hoped I would always be the little fish, no matter how big or how small the pond. No matter what happened down the line, the peace I felt by the water would never be disturbed. I’d always be, as Susannah so deemed me, a little fish. 

I felt a plop next to me in the sand. I knew who it was without even looking, I could simply feel his energy. It was Conrad. He looked out on the water as he placed whatever drink he had in his hand down next to him. I kept my gaze out on the water as well. It felt good to just sit with somebody. With him. 

“So you go around telling everybody you’re going to Harvard?” He said, slight humor in his tone.

I sighed, “I mean only when anyone asked.”

“No shouting from the rooftops?” 

“No shouting from the rooftops. I’m not a big bragger.” I snickered, and so did he.

“You? Please! You have always been humble but you never shied away from sharing your accomplishments. You should be proud of yourself, it’s a big deal.” I just shrugged in response.

“I’m proud of you.” I looked at him then. His eyes were full of sincerity. I don’t think he knew how much that meant to hear. I caught his eyes flicking to my lips. 

Wait what-

He was looking at my lips and when he looked back up his eyes shone with vulnerability. I couldn’t help myself when my eyes dipped down to look at his. I imagined what it’d be like to kiss him. His soft pillowy lips moving against my own. I wondered where he’d put his hands. He seemed like the type of guy to cup the back of your head. I’d feel the weight of his hand as he pulled me into him like he was desperate for our connection. Maybe one hand would fall to my hips or my thigh, acting like an anchor. 

I couldn’t let my mind wander too far. Lord knows where that would lead. When our eyes met the tension was unmistakable. I couldn’t. I couldn’t let myself fall into him. I’d never stand back up. 

“Stella? Alright, thanks man!” 

Spell broken. Peter had just snatched Conrad’s beer from its spot between us and was taking a big slug of it. 

“Pete what the hell?” I said, standing up from my seat on the sand. 

“Dude give me my beer back.” Conrad stood up as well, Pete was standing between us. 

“Whaaaat? You weren’t even drinking it man! It was just- you know just sitting there and all the- all the other Stella’s are gone.” He was plastered. I felt my chest sink. This isn’t gonna go well.

“I don’t give a fuck if there aren’t any left, that one is mine now give it back to me.” Conrad defended.

“Connie come on-” 

“It’s just a beer man.” Pete turned to face primarily towards Conrad. 

“Exactly, so give me my beer back and get yourself your own.” 

“No.”

“Pete come on you definitely don’t need another drink.” I approached him, going to put my hand down on his shoulder to try and calm him down. Then just as I did he rolled back his elbow saying,

“Oh fuck off.”

I fell to the ground. His elbow collided right with my ear and the side of my face. Well, that hurt like a bitch. I’ll have a black eye on my first day back to work. Awesome.

“Y/N-“

I kept my eyes clenched shut for a minute before I felt a hand come to my shoulder, it was Belly and Jeremiah helping me up. My ears rang for a minutes before clearing. I watched as Steven and Jere broke up the fight. 

Conrad looked at me as Steven pulled him back. I shook my head and looked away. Actually, I looked right at the flashing blue and red lights now coming from the top of the dunes. Cops, awesome. 

“Enough!” I snapped everyone out of it, “Let’s go! Come on!”

I grabbed Belly’s hand as we ran up to the car, glancing over my shoulder quickly to make sure the boys were behind us. 

“Jere keys!” I caught the keys as he tossed them to me, unlocking the car doors. “In! Now!”

I started the car, a scowl on my face. My head felt like it was vibrating but it wasn’t like any of them could drive with their intoxication level. I couldn’t believe them. How on earth did they think it was appropriate to act like this?  I kept my eyes on the road, but I was sure they could feel the anger radiating off of me. 

“Y/N look I-“ Steven started but I cut him off.

“I don’t wanna hear it.” 

Then Jeremiah came in, “We didn’t mean to-“

“I said I don’t wanna hear it! Unless you want me to hit a drunk teenager stumbling home, you’ll shut up and listen to me! I’m distracted enough by the pinging in my head.” 

They were silent after that. 

I was mad and I had plenty of reason to be. I had been in this position with my sibling plenty of times, a few with Jeremiah, but never Conrad. I knew he started fights occasionally, but never with me around. 

I pulled into the driveway and parked the car. Then I child-locked in all those mother fuckers. I unblocked my seatbelt and positioned myself to be able to see them all. Steven and Jere struggled to open the doors while Belly sat in the middle confused. To my surprise Conrad just sat in his seat, his focus down in his lap, he made no objections. Once the three backseat idiots figured it out they looked to me expectantly. 

I raised my brows, “What you thought just cause I didn’t want you distracting me while driving you were gonna be off the hook?”

“Y/N what do you even care? You’re not our mom.” Belly said, rolling her eyes.

She only fueled my anger, “Yeah no shit I’m not 'cause Mom wouldn’t have put up with even an ounce of the crap you guys pulled tonight. Do you think I like playing mommy? Do you think I wouldn’t have rathered to enjoy the first night of my summer stress-free? You are lucky I’m a good sister, 'cause I could so easily walk inside and tell Mom everything that went down tonight. Then maybe you’d realize that having you deal with me instead of mom, is me being nice.”  I watched my sibling's attitudes deflate. Jeremiah on the other hand was sitting there trying and failing to hide the smirk from his face. “What’s so funny Jeremiah? Do you think I’m not talking to you too right now? All of you put me in bad positions tonight because of how you acted. ”

Jeremiah chimed in again, “We weren’t that bad.”

My jaw dropped, “Not that bad? Let’s see who should I start with. How about you Jeremiah, I stopped you from getting naked in front of every teenager in cousins, potentially drowning and killing yourself, and even after I did that you acted like an idiot! Throwing alcohol into the fire, you’re probably the reason the cops came! Oh and just the cherry on top, the fact that you’re wasted after promising me you wouldn’t be.” He was quiet now. 

“Steven had to cause a whole scene, but I’m not even that mad at him because he was right to be questioning you Bells! How the hell did you even get there?”  

She peeked up sheepishly, “I walked.” 

“You walked? Belly do the Moms even know you came to the bonfire?”

“No, I snuck out.”  She spoke in a quiet tone.

“Jesus Bells! If you had just told me you wanted to come I would’ve vouched for you. For god sake, I would’ve given you a ride!” My head pounded. I rubbed my forehead trying to ease the pain, I needed some advil. “You guys can’t act like that. It’s dangerous, and quite frankly embarrassing. I’m just- I’m done dealing with it.” I took a breath and unlocked the doors, “Go inside guys. Go to sleep.” I sat forward with my head in my hands. I heard the doors open and close as they got out without a word. 

Except he didn’t. I didn’t look over at him. I honestly didn’t know what to say to him. I didn’t know how I felt at the moment. 

“Are you ok? Is your head alright?” He had worry in his voice and I couldn’t help but feel a flutter in my heart. 

“I have a headache and I’ll probably wake up to a huge bruise on my cheek but I’m fine.”

“How come you’re not mad at me too?”

“I didn’t say I wasn’t mad at you.” I felt his eyes on me the whole time but mine stayed forward at the house. 

“You didn’t yell at me like everyone else.”

“Because I didn’t know what to say to you not because I’m not mad at you.”

A beat passed. Just us sitting in the car before he spoke up again, “I’m so sorry you got hurt, Pete was plastered-“

“You could’ve just let him have the beer.”

“Y/N I wasn’t going to-“

“Look it’s been a long night, just- just go to bed Con.” I grabbed the keys and left the car. I hadn’t looked at him once and I didn’t look back at him.  I couldn’t. I don’t even think I was truly mad at him, I mean it was Pete’s fault, not his. I was more overwhelmed with tonight’s events and I didn’t have the energy to unpack anything right now. My head was pounding and I needed to lay down. Work would be a nightmare tomorrow morning. 

I went straight into the shower when I got inside. I gave myself a quick rinse. Susannah always stoked our bathroom with luxurious bath products for me and Belly. But I know Steven liked it too.

I walked into my room and plopped right down onto my bed. Man, it was soft, and it only seemed softer after a hard night. 

I went to grab my phone when I saw it. A water bottle, advil, an ice pack, and a cookie, sitting on my bedside table, and I most certainly didn’t put it there. I knew who did. I knew it was him, and I could feel myself smile a little. I felt myself forgive him, he was hard to stay mad at. He wouldn’t mention it, I probably wouldn’t either, but we knew that we knew. That was enough. 

For now.

~~~~~~~

Tag list:

@mid-80s @geekinthefuschiahair @paytonloiselle

[lovelaurs]

my own silly mystreet characters headcanon list!

aphmau:

has the worst "hear me out" takes you'll ever hear. like seriously. she can very much point to a yield sign and say "would" to everyone's dismay.

knows every line in moulin rouge as she is OBSESSED with the film. she and laurance preform the elephant medley as dramaticly as possible whenever they watch it for movie night.

obsessed with pre-endgame marvel movies.

ao3 writer! she writes fics for the nichest of fandoms, so she doesn't get that many reads.

one of the few reliable booktok users you can TRUST will give you a good recommendation to read!

garroth:

obsessed with the movie megamind. like seriously. will talk to you for hours on and WILL defend the "sequel movie" and show because, in fact, they are NOT that bad.

can infodump about a topic he's interested in for hours on end.

actually really smart and kind, but ever since he found out he made zane insecure he tries to tone it down. he used to show off a lot but wants to make sure his brother shines as well.

carries stress balls on him so he doesn't use his strength unnecessarily.

always organizes group movie nights with all his friends.

laurance:

loves to listen to and read AITA (am i the asshole?) reddit posts when bored.

an amazing listener, will listen to someone for hours on end and provide insight when needed (perfect for having a conversation with garroth).

loves gossiping. he has really good hearing so he tends to hear others share secrets nearby. he's like the wine aunt you just KNOW has the most interesting stories to tell.

likes to go on vacations a lot, explaining why he is absent sometimes during big group events.

he sometimes returns home to his family farm to take care of it when his parents are out of town.

he often voluntarily babysits caleb to impress aphmau and garroth with his caretaker skills (he's a showoff).

katelyn:

she loves the show big time rush and watches it in her freetime.

OBSESSED with musical theatre and visits broadway shows often. if the friends she brought along even DARE to suggest skipping the stagedoor? they receive a glare that could kill thousands.

adores singing and often sings in her room when the others aren't home.

continues to play volleyball with her friends after a long day of work (she's a freelance writer).

her music taste can range from alternative music like waterparks to kpop groups like red velvet!

KC:

an ao3 writer as well! she and Aphmau gift eachother fics from time to time! she mostly writes x reader fics for tumblr sexyman.

has taken a liking to cooking outside of baking! she especially likes to grill! she even wears an apron that says "kiss the cook" as well as a hat that says "fish fear me women love me".

watches any and all trending animated shows like tangled the series, adventure time, avatar, etc.

has her own tumblr blog where she writes reviews on shows and posts art! her page is quite popular.

dresses in mainly lolita fashion! she has a flare for the beauty of style and loves to recommend people styles and outfits whenever they go out shopping!

travis:

calls katelyn, zane, and dante hot nonchalantly

has attempted.

dante:

loves to bake and nana teaches him all kinds of recipes to make. he supplies the snacks at movie night.

takes taekwondo lessons. "can never be too careful" he says while living in a pretty standard upper middle class neighborhood. why is he like this.

works at a pet shelter and takes care of the dogs and cats left behind. he adopts any that have been there for years, thus making his house full of many different pets.

the designated driver for whenever they go out to clubs. he doesn't like to drink so he usually takes everyone home by the end of the night.

travis (the actual headcanons):

actually respects others and doesn't harass them like he did early on (that was a weird trope and i HATED it). he's just a flirt and if someone he flirts with flirts back he gets all flustered.

the group gamer. spends hours grinding on all sorts of games just to brag about it on his steam profile. specifically a fan of the spider-man games on playstation.

loves to cosplay! he, aphmau, and nana go to lots of conventions together in group cosplay. their last one was the powerpuff girls! they dragged garroth along and made him mojo jojo.

can recite everything and anything about the ninjago lore. this man is obsessed with any lego product or franchise and has many sets built in his room.

practices talking to himself in the mirror every morning to give him confidence. he has very low self esteem.

aaron:

dream stan.

probably friends with dream.

uhhhh idk probably streams the song "mask" by dream.

minecraft streamer.

dream.

those are all my headcanons! i hope you enjoyed! (slandering mystreet aaron is a passion of mine i'm sorry)

[thebottomfromhell]

Can i request uppermoons x GN reader baking with them for the first time? (fluff)

A very cute prompt! I will be using mostly Japanese desserts for this, I hope you don't mind. Also, some will be more fond with the kitchen than others, specially since none of these guys can eat human food. Still, I hope you like it.

Uppermons baking with GN Human Reader for the first time

Warnings: Manga spoilers, Implied child prostitution, Sexism, Implied polyamory relationship (the clones) and Douma is his own warning.

Gyutaro (ft. Daki):

Daki was a lot more enthousiastic with the idea than him, she already knows slightly about cooking, mostly because she needs to know about food when she recomends meals to clients, since she herself can't know what is good based on taste. Gyutaro is straight up ignorant with these things, he can't even recall having anything sweet or savoury in his human life, only the ghost of rice and the taste of rawness. He let's you and Daki decide what to do. "Let's do sakura mochi and matcha mochi!" He chothose oflavor due the color, but you are more than ok. In the end he is just making the Sakura pouder as you and Daki make the dough.

Still, he seems content by just looking at you both make fun, making most of it as you mix the cream with the respective powder to make the filling. Once the doughs and filling are done, it's you and Daki the ones that make the balls as Gyutaro starts cleaning everything after you both. "Are you sure you don't want to help us the the mochi? It's fun to get yout hands dirty with it." You offer but are denied. "Ne, I prefer cleaning up your mess. Not sure you would want my hands in something you will eat, ne." "Nah, I'm pretty sure your hands are safe." Daki lets a happy squeak as she finidhes her part, having a group of pink mochi, still giggling as she has been the whole process. "Onii-chan! Look! Don't they look good?"

And as Gyutaro has been the whole time, he smiles softly to both of you as he pats you haid and Daki's. "They look great, ne. Both of you are really talented. Y/N, ne, you might want to see how they taste. It would be a waste to throw them, ne." You smile cheekly before teasing. "How about you feed me, then?" He blushes and looks as if he wants to say something while looking away, but Daki interrupts. "NO! You can eat by your own! Onii-chan doesn't have to feed you as if you were a child!" She scolds you while going to grab her brothers arm, looking at you as a challenge. You only laught it off, seeing Gyutaro smile shyly before calming his sister down.

The mochi taste good, as sweat as the experience, but you made too much for yourself and the other too can't eat (Also the fact the texture is a bit off because you all were a bit careless with the measurements). But Gyutaro is right, it would be a waste to not eat them... If your tummy hurts after eating them all, it's a you problem.

Gyokko:

Gyokko is not into cooking, he admires culinary arts, but that is not for him. It took him some begging, a bit of annoying the shit out of him and A LOT of praising for him to accept. First thing Gyokko does is look at the recipe of taiyaki (it was one of his conditions to make it with you, so you were forced to get the fish mold) and then.. throws it away. "Ok, I got it. Now let's cook." He mostly makes you into an assistant, making you get the ingredients. "Don't worry darling, I will let you fry it, but I already lave the perfect image for this." He adds and mixes the ingredients mostly by instinct, and bieng fully aware you are the one who is going to be eating that, you fear for your life.

"Hey, Gyokko, love... are you sure you don't want me to get the cooking book again? I don't think those are the measurements we were instructed..." Gyokko only scoff as he keeps mixing the ingredients. "Of course not. How could a book know more that the wise eyes of an artist?" Yep, he is too much into himself, but... these are just pancakes ingredients, as long as you cook it well, it should not be harmful to you. After he finishes, Gyokko hands you the mix, it looks good, a nice color and texture, very clean, and he kisses the side of your face. "There you go."

Gyokko only looks at you as you pour the mix and the red bean paste into the oiled mold before you close it and heat it, unlike him, you make sure the fire and the time is the same as the book, keeping it a few seconds more, but no more than a minute, to make sure it cooks well. Once the time is up you open the mold to see the fish shape perfectly gold and toasted, and the smell was nice too. You decide to have a little bit more faith because of it, so you keep making more to use up all the mix while the frist one cools down. Still, Gyokko looks amused of how you keep turning to see the fish-shaped pancakes.

Then the moment of truth, the fear comes back the secong you take one taiyaki into your mouth, only to be surprised with a fluffy texture with the sweatness. It's... actually very good. "Gyokko... HOW?" He only laughs at your surprise. "Well, of course I would know, the eye of an artist is the best." You are torn into making cook more since he has a natural talent ot tell him to never do it again for the sake of not feeding his ego. Damned Gyokko, you think as you keep eating.

Hantengu:

To your surprise, Hantengu knows how to cook, so he happily complied into making some melonpan. He seemed to ignore you through the whole process, relaxing as he mixes the ingredients in a bowl without even looking at the recipe. He claims he holds some memories of cooking for the wives and children he had when he was human, nothing precise, but it's still there, like a muscle memory that has not left him fully, the same of the memory of hiding, of covering his face instinctly, a twitch in his hand meant for stabbing. He was old when he became a demon, unlike all the other Uppermoons, who did not live even half of the time he did as human, even the master was pretty young when he became the first demon. Unlike others, he managed to form habits as a human, and those habits would never die.

"You need to add more butter." You add yourself whenever the book says he is doing something wrong, not wanting to disturb the peace, enjoying the comforting silence. Usually, Hantengu´s frantic breathing, whines and even sobs don't let you enjoy time in silence with him, unless you are feeling sadistic and want to bully him, but this is relaxing. You also have your own bowl where you are making dough, mostly switching in between following the instructions on the book and following his lead. "Oh... right, tha-thank you..."

Besides that some corrections, you don't really talk to each other, but you are fine, making sure to make a lot since you are planning on sharing with friends and family, Hantengu shows no qualms on it. He can get jealous pretty easily, but he doesn't mind sharing as long as he has in in his reach (he will get insecure no matter what, so why make it hard for you and make you want to leave?). "Here hold it like this so you can cut it more easily." Is the only thing he says to you after you have the forms made, making the last details. He holds your wrists gently to guide the movements, being stables in contrast of the usual tremblings. Maybe, if it was not for his past and impulses, he would be better made for a simple life, a fake ilusion of safety.

You don't mind the new silence as the dough bake, but normalcy returns the second the bread is out of the oven. You take a bite to try it once the baked goods cool down, it has a nice texture, soft on the insides but with a slight crinch on top. You need to do it again, you think as you start hearing the whines and pants on the corner.

Hantengu Clones:

These guys are a disaster. For starters, Urogi got protective on the eggs, so you had to look for a recipe that didn't include them. So you are doing a sponge cheesecake, or well. Aizetsu is making a sponge cheesecake, following the recipe step by step, making sure the measurements and the order is correct, since he can't taste the mix to know if it's good or not with his demon tongue. Meanwhile Urogi is... taking care of the eggs, Sekido is supervising and complaining for everything that gets dirty in the process and Karaku is distracting you from getting your eggs back.

"C'mon love, you look so cute while making cake, but why don't you... relax a while. Urogi is not changing his mind and if you keep trying so hard you will get an ugly and unfixable frown in your face like Sekido." You want to complain, Urogi is perfectly fine with you eating chicken and any other type of meat, but the second you try to make something with eggs, that mind you are not that cheap to keep buying, he draws a line. Still, Sekido's growling voice rises up first. "THE FUCK YOU SAID ABOUT MY FACE, KARAKU?!" The anger clone goes directly to the pleasure, ready to start a fight in the kitchen, so the situation morphes into you trying to calm them down before they destroy the place with Urogi chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight! I bet a human leg on Sekido!"

""Mix vigorously until well combined", again? Why can I add all this ingredients at once instead of having to alternate?" Meanwhile Aizetsu is just ignoring you all for the sake of baking, fully concentrating on it. Which is good, at least some baking will be done with all the shenanigans going around. "Sekido, don't use the staff in my kitchen! NOT IN MY KITCHEN!" "You heard Y/N! Not in the kitchen! You wouldn't want to make a mess, would you?" "I'm gonna kill you, you bastard!" "Aren't we technically all from the same parents?" "SHUT THE FUCK UP, UROGI!" "SEKIDO, NO! HE STILL HAS MY EGGS!" "Put slowly the mix into a greased mold with a parchment paper..." Aizetsu knows batter than to care.

At least until the mixture goes to the ove, then he turns around and see you and Karaku holding Sekido, the secong bloodied from an attack the anger clone did on him, with Urogi laughings his ass off as he hold all your eges in his arms, threatening to fly as the wings would make a bigger mess. "Excuse, what is going on?" You all turn around and see him surprised, suddenly stopping as if you all had just being caught doing something wrong as those confused puppy eyes look at you all. "No, nothing Aizetsu. We should just start baking." Then he points up to the oven. "Actually, I already did everything. It should be done in 45 minutes." You look surprised, making you look around as Urogi congratulates Aizetsu, Karaku laughs and Sekido scoffs. "How?"

You are to one who tries the cake, obviously. It's perfectly done, step by step, so it's good, a bit less fluffy than you expected it to be by it's looks, but still good. "Sorry we left you doing all the work, Aizetsu." He shrugs. "I don't mind, it was relaxing. I could do it again."

Nakime:

Nakime always hated to do the chores, it was one of the she was the happiest when she became a demon with a power like hers. The castles sustainst itself, everything can be reformed, replaced, transformed and created, as long as she has her biwa and enough space in this unlimited ientnteional world. She didn't have to take care of a useless man that expected her to have the house clean and food on the table with the little money she made and he wasted like the air and space he took. She never thought she would ever step into a kitchen again, but of course...

"C'mon Nakime, pleeeeaase?" She hates you, how did you even manage to convince her? You are stubborn as hell. In the end she agrred to supervise and help (if you needed it) to the cooking... of a moon cake. You just wanted to make a moon cake and didn't know how to start, didn't you? In the end you manage to concince her to make the lotus paste, but she just watches as you do the dough and put the egg yolk inside of it, she guiding you through the process everytime you get lost on the recipe, she keeping the reading. The meal looks intimidating, but it's not so hard to make if instructed.

She doesn't speak through the whole process, but you keep smiling at her, grateful that she is here. "Now you only need to put it on the oven." Nakime uses her biwa to give you an pre-heated oven... sometimes you wish you could have her powers. In the wait, Nakime plays for you, it was not as bad as she remembered it, still she would never go back into cooking, specially now that she can't eat. Still, spending time with you made it a bit worth it, not that she will let you do this more often, her days as a housewife were long gone even before she became a demon.

"Is it good?" Nakime asks the second you give it a try, seeing how happy the first bite made you, she knew it was, but still was amused so she decided to ask, only for you to vocalize it. "It's very good!" That is good enough.

Akaza:

Akaza was unsure at first, a part of him felt like being in the kitchen was natural, since he inmediately knew how to get the ingredients for a sweet, getting the eggs for a datemaki. Even if the kitchen of a Taisho era was slightly different, he got into it too easily, but also... "Why are you making sweet rolled omelette?" You asked him when you realized he was set on doing it, not even needing to look at the recipe book. You know it's a sweet form the Edo period, when Akaza was human, but the fact that. he went straight to make it still felt odd. "You like it, don't you? I made it several tim-" He stops in his tracks, pausing a moment before just concentrating in cooking.

He let you help and guided you through the making of the mixture, showing you hoe he makes it. He pours a lot of care into it, knowing by muscle memory how much to add of everything, moving smoothly as he let's you handle it for whiles before taking the lead once again, making sure to praise you constantly. "Yes, just like that. I will pre-heat the oven. I know you can handle it for a bit, you are doing great." He is gentle and soft, looking a bit... sad. He can't remember, but he used to make these for Koyuki while she was sick, having to learn from scratch as Keizo didn't know how to cook but the girl told him her mother used to make them for her. It's important to make them right, for her to feel home the same way he did around her, he wants you to feel home, to feel your own life, when you try it.

He still praises you, carresing your face softly as you both wait for it to heat up, gently urging you to seat down, setting the table in front of you as he moves back and forward to check that it hasn't burnt. He treats you like this sometimes, as if you needed to be taken care of, and even like this he doesn't stop. Still, you can see that, even if he is worried, nostalgic and melancholic... he smiles towards you, happy to be sharing this. Koyuki also came to help him to the kitchen once she felt better, he taught her how to cook, this meal included, but the first times it was too much effort to her and the heat of the oven made her head hurt, so Hakuji always made sure for her to rest with some tea while he finished cooking. "Here, have some tea. Relax."

He serves you a healthy amount, not too much, not too little, and gently reminds you he can serve you more if you want but you also don't have to eat it all if you can't. The brownish colour of the outside contrast slightly the yellow of the thes of the roll, you take a bite and... it's delicious. There is something of it that, while the texture and taste can't make it the best thing you have ever ate, could still become your favorite. It's comforting, warm, peaceful. You look at Akaza, who smiles softly at you when you also smile. "I love it! You are a very good cook." He laughs a little, clearly happy. "You think so? Maybe I should start cooking for you, then." He teases, and you both wish you could stay like this forever.

Douma:

As you might have guessed, this is the first time Douma has ever stepped into a kitchen in his long, long life. "Oh! So this is how the kitchen look. I always thought they would be more messy!" His follower try urging him to get back to his room, to the gardens, to the corriders, anywhere but the kitchen. Some even look at you as if you insulted their family name and every grave that shares it, because none of them liked the idea of Douma cooking. To some it was because of Douma's status, why should he cook when people should be serving him and filling his basic needs? To have the god's messenger doing the maid's job, what an insult! Others... well...

Other knew Douma's true character, that he would definetely set something on fire only for the sake of it. You knew that, so you decided to just try and make yokan, since it doesn't requiere cooking. At that, the rest of the followers calmed down and gave up on taking the "Great Founder" out. What could they do against his wishes? Some stayed in case anything happens. Nothing wrong at first, deiding to go for a sweet potato flavor for some and matche yonkos for the other. The kitchen had already everything you needed to make those sweets, most kids of the followers enjoy it. Douma remembers Kotoha asking for the types of foods her son would be allowed to eat, and he promised anything he wanted. For you, he had the same reaction.

It was a simple recipe, the kenten did most of it, if not all. Everything else was watching out for the temperature of the water and mix it until it fuses. Very easy, and int Douma's mind, very boring. Maybe you should have seen it coming, staying safe was never part of his main interests, not when basically nothing can really hurt him. Physical pain? With how fast it heals it's barely a sting to keep the adrenaline and endorphins running. Emotional pain? Never heard of it. Mental pain? Why? He is above any type of problem both demons and humans could have. So exploding the kitchen on purpose the second you got up to speak to another follower because of the insistence that you were violating the cooking shift... was a must.

"DOUMA WHAT THE FUCK?!" You screamed on top of your lungs as his wounds healed, having him laughing it off carelessly, clearly amused by your reacting as every cell is replaced with a new and yourger one from the master's blood. "Oops, guess this things happen when you don't know what you are doing. So sorry about it, I swear it was an accident." What a liar. Needless to say, nobody got any yokan at all.

Kokushibou:

... Kokushibou doesn't cook, doesn't bake, that was his wife's and the maid's job, once it was his mother's and, again, the maid's job, not his. Desserts are included in this, his wife used to make him sweets at the first year of their marriage, but he constantly rejected them so she stopped. He was never into sweets, never ate them since anytime he was given one he wuold give it to his brother, even if that gained a scolding or a beating, so he never developed a taste for them. So the second you asked him to bake something with you his answer was a long stare before leaving you alone, speeding up when you went after him.

Really, you only managed to get him to stay in the kitchen while you made Dorayaki, something simple and traditional, By his point of view, staying didn't really make sense to Kokushibou. He doesn't know how to cook, it's not interested in doing the "woman's job in the house" and he can't even taste anything you make, not that he would if he could, but still. Part of him is tempted to leave now that your attention is not on him, but he just... stays, looking at you. You seem content doing this, and he can't really understand why. How can you be contenct with something so simple while all his life he was chasing a figure that was as godly as it was close from the womb? How can you be satisfied doing these kind of things when others have powers beyond a human should have, being in the blood or lungs?

He just looks at you, the silence being comforting and peaceful, almost like meditating as he looks at you mixing the ingredients, humming a bit sometimes only to focus again on your task. This is so... other, for him. He has never belonged to the kitchen and never planned to, so he couldn't understand anything. Specially why do you find his presence peaceful and comforting too. You only start frying the pancakes the second you talk to Kokushibou again. "Maybe next time you can join in." You tease before looking at him with a smirk. He si definetely not falling for it, so you just finish and serve yourself.

The pancakes were fine, as good as anything you can make, nothing bad but also nothing beyond your abilities. Still, Kokushibou's next words made the dish even sweeter. "I will clean, you enjoy the meal." He knows more or leass how to do it, and he doesn't think it can be that hard. Even if this is the only way he is filling to interact with the activity, you are happy he is willing to get outside his comfort zone for your sake. "Thank you, Kokushibou. I appreciate it." He blushes slightly, nods, cleans the kitchen and leaves the house without saying anything the second the sun is down... now, if only he wasn't so shy and petty...

[blueberry-lemon]

Shouting into the Void about Palia, which has begun its open beta.

Palia is a "cozy sim MMO set in a fantasy world", as pitched by the developers at Singularity Six. If I had to set it up in one sentence, I would pitch it as something like "what if an MMO didn't need to have combat?"

Which is something I'm really excited about.

To clarify, I think the MMO term is slightly misleading. When you log on, you're sent to an instance of around 25 players or so, similar to how Sea of Thieves works. For what it's worth, I think this is actually a preferable experience versus being a "true MMO" with hundreds of people crowding around the town area. I think they made the right call.

Although I have some small critiques and some reservations about recommending Palia during its open beta state, I'm having a really fun, relaxing time and I'm really looking forward to how the game grows. Full thoughts below.

--- I'm sure people will be quick to compare Palia to Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing. This is valid, and probably something the developer wants you to do. Like those games, Palia is about relaxing and having a good time in a simple town with charming NPCs.

That said, I think the closest analogs to how Palia works are actually Disney Dreamlight Valley and Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles. Dreamlight Valley I think is the most direct competition, so to speak. It's funny to see that another developer got to the multiplayer pie before Disney's teams were able to fully add multiplayer, lol.

In Palia, you dress up your character and you customize your home. I think the art is really great, and the animation has really impressed me. There's a great variety of outfits (although to be clear, 30% of clothing options are available from the start and the other 70% is, for now, premium currency only.) There's unfortunately only 2 choices of body type in the Open Beta, although the devs claim that more are coming.

There's a shocking amount of customization for your house and your lawn. At least, picture Animal Crossing: New Horizons but with better controls for dragging and dropping where you want everything. People who like setting up their plot of land will have a good time. You can even expand your property to make it larger.

The core of Palia's loop involves you hopping around between progressing the Main Story and progressing 8 different skills: Cooking, Hunting, Bug Catching, Gardening, Foraging, Fishing, Furniture Making, and Mining. In addition to this, you're progressing your friendship meter with the different NPCs and, if you'd like, selecting one to Romance.

There's some really smart innovations in Palia that I like.

For example, your Mining skill only increases when you PICK UP the ore loot that drops from destroying a vein of ore. Why is that? Because you're supposed to work together with friends and strangers. If the skill increased for each time your pickaxe struck the vein, then you'd get annoyed if your friend helped you, because working together would destroy the vein in less strikes. If the skill increased for destroying a vein, then only the person who got the "last hit" would reap the exp reward. In Palia, so long as a player strikes the vein at least once, the loot will drop for them when it's destroyed. This way, anyone around you can "get their hand on that ball" by helping strike the vein at least once. This encourages working together, sharing the loot, etc. The same goes for chopping trees: anyone who contributes at all will get the wood that drops. This naturally encourages people to work together. There's no reason not to, because you're not "stealing" the loot from anyone else or "stealing" the exp.

Cooking is the most fleshed out co-op experience from what I've seen. Recipes require ingredients and a stove or prep station. Then, when you start the recipe, you do minigames to chop ingredients and stir them. So long as any player contributes an ingredient or does one of the minigames, they get the full exp and the finished dishes from cooking, even if that contributing player doesn't have the recipe. So if your friend loves cooking, and has a bunch of recipes, they can initiate the cooking and then you can bring the mushrooms and do the chopping. Then you all get to level up and get the dishes.

Even activities like Fishing are more fun to do together. If you fish near someone else who's fishing, you'll both get a buff that makes the fish bite your hooks much sooner. It stacks higher the more you fish together.

Another smart innovation: a rework of the infamous "stamina meter." This time, it's a Focus Meter. If your Focus Meter drops to 0, nothing happens. You don't pass out, you don't starve, nothing. However, if you DO have Focus, you get a Exp Gain Multiplier. This encourages you eating dishes to stay well-fed without punishing you too strongly if you ignore it.

And then, lastly, the core conceit of the game: there's no combat or danger. Although there is a Hunting Mechanic, it's completely one-sided, like hunting deer (which the game is quick to tell you are overpopulated in the area.) You can't die, you can't get hurt, you don't take fall damage, you don't even have health, period. I think this is great at trimming the unnecessary parts of a game like this and keeping it truly relaxing.

Although I'm having a fun time, I can't wholly recommend the open beta of Palia for everyone. The game is still early in its life and is missing a lot of important UI/UX and central features. The Pause and Settings menus are pretty sparse. You can only have 1 character so far, there aren't multiple character slots. You can't even change your characters name once you've made it, so choose carefully. In addition, you might feel like there "isn't enough to do together" if you play with friends, which is similar to a complaint I have about Animal Crossing multiplayer. It's mostly a chill hangout game about fishing next to each other.

There are a lot of things in the game that still need to be fleshed out, but I'm really happy with the core structure they've set up. Once this game leaves Open Beta, I think it'll be an easier recommendation, especially for folks who have enjoyed Disney Dreamlight Valley. I think these devs are smart about how they're handling the core desire here: wanting to play a game like Final Fantasy XIV or Stardew Valley without having to worry about combat or stamina.

My partner and I love to play these relaxing zone-out types of games. While trying Atelier Ryza recently, my partner said: "I just want a game where you zone-out and pick stuff up off the ground." My friends, we finally found it. It's called Palia.

You can find the Palia Open Beta on PC, and the game is slated to release on Nintendo Switch.

[aaakikoo]

random low effort Attack On Titan headcanons

-> here is the girl ver!

-> nothing is 18+ so everyone can interact, some of these could be a lil icky n they could give ur favs an ick but some r rlly sweet too <3 (not rlly only for the guys)

-> guy ver

MIKASA A.

has a collection of tote bags

likes to collect sanrio related things

uses balaclavas in the winter

as strong as she is she doesn’t like ball sports especially like football (soccer if ur american), and volleyball

has eren @ on her insta

calls levi “uncle”

loves chunky knit sweaters

loves cigarettes after sex, mitski and steve lacy

loves every type of pasta

uses mascara and lipgloss on a daily basis

sunscreen is a must for her and she has an AM and PM skincare she has such perfect skin!

uses black and red nail polish

HANGE Z.

wears rectangular glasses

a huge maximalist, and loves to own weird stuff and tries out the weirdest recipes

has a library in her house with an office

drinks coffee every single day in the morning

sleeps with a sports bra

lactose intolerant

samsung owner lmao idk she gives off that vibe

sleeps with 4+ pillows

uses spray shampoo and body aux instead of showering (showers once a week☠️)

SASHA B.

obviously a huge foodie but for some reason she doesn’t like fish idk lmao

has freckles

loves to watch mukbangs and ASMR

owns a dog

her favorite colour is green and pink

has a preppy/vintage american/fem style

loves all type of earrings

consistently posts on insta and finsta

uses face masks every sunday

gets oily hair quite quick but she doesn’t have a smelly body oder

her favourite fruits r strawberries, bananas, & tangerines

sleeps in silk pjs

ANNIE L.

secretly likes lana del rey and the weeknd

has a whole playlist dedicated to armin

drives like a pro

has perfect skin and hair without trying

kind of wants to start using makeup but is too shy to ask or learn or even go out wearing some so she just wears red lipstick

loves french tips

loves silver jewellery

uses a tons of scarfs during the winter

doesn’t like sweets at all and gets super overwhelmed by their taste

has amazing stamina (obviously)

[tripleseptet]

How to make the perfect chocolate chip cookies

Try to impress someone. You need to be shaking with anticipation, you need to be impatient and lose the recipe right before you need to make it. You need to turn over the whole house to find it and then make cookies in the debris.

Whisk 3/4tsp salt and 3/4tsp baking soda into 1 1/2 cups of flour. Spill it on yourself. Do it again, right this time.

Heat 1/2 cup unsalted butter in a saucepan and forget to watch it. You were trying to make brown butter, but now you’ve made burnt butter. Pour it in the trash, start over. She’s worth it. Use salted butter this time because you ran out of unsalted. Brown it perfectly. Pour into a large bowl and put it in the fridge for 10 minutes to cool to room temperature.

Cut 1/4 cup of butter into tiny cubes. You could cut it smaller, but you want them to be warm and ready when she gets here and you don’t want to spend more time waiting. Take the butter out of the fridge a little too early. Stir in the chopped butter.

Once the butter has melted, whisk in 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup dark brown sugar. Seperate the yolks from two eggs and add them, alongside one whole egg. Fish out the shells. Add 2 tsp vanilla.

Fold the dry mix into the wets. Get rid of any lumps, at least, as best you can when you’re pushed like this. Chop up 170 g of dark chocolate, or use dark chocolate chips. Mix in, then cover and rest in the fridge to hydrate and firm up. It will take more than 10 minutes, but you will get impatient after 8.

Realize you forgot to preheat the oven to 375 F. Shamefully put the cookie dough back in the fridge while you wait. Prep two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll the dough into small balls. Measure with your heart, which is thundering harder by the second. The drive is 3 hours, and she left 2 and a half hours ago. Every sound outside the door is her. You want to impress her so badly that it aches.

Put the prepped trays in the freezer for 5 minutes to set up and make sure they don’t spread in the oven. Last time, they did, and you ended up giving her cookie blobs. She didn’t know that you were ashamed of that. She loved them.

Bake for 5 minutes, then flip the trays around. Make sure you burn yourself a little. Bake for 4 more minutes and check them. They’re not done yet. Give them 3 more minutes.

Cool them just as she walks in the door. They won’t go down to room temperature now, because she makes every room so much warmer. You feel something jittering in your chest.

Watch her smile. She says something smells good. You feebly mention the cookies, and she lights up even more, taking one before it’s fully set up. It falls apart in her hands. Imperfect.

She doesn’t care.

The smile spreads across her face, through her body, like water going from a simmer to a rolling boil.

You’re not proud of the cookies, but she makes you want to be. You try them and they’re perfect only when she says they are. Only when you lean your head into her shoulder.