#forsythia tea

[tina-mairin-goldstein]

Welcome to the Murder Husband and Murder Family language of flowers fanfic collection, Words Are Not The Only Way, REBOOT.

This collection will be posted on AO3 and feature stories with the theme of the language flowers.

Rules and list of flowers below cut!

Click the LINK to enjoy the works of the participants!

The rules are simple: Claim a flower from the list posted below, and write a story featuring the flower and its meaning. It can be a Will/Hannibal, Will & Hannibal, Will & Abigail, Hannibal & Abigail, or Will & Hannibal & Abigail.

What is NOT allowed is Abigail paired with Will or Hannibal, or smut. Sexual content is allowed, so long as it is non-graphic, cut to black, or implied. No Explicit fics are allowed, unless it's for canon-typical violence.

AUs are allowed, including omega verse and mpreg.

Original child characters may be mentioned, so long as they are not the main focus of the story.

Past pairings are allowed. Will/Molly and Will/Margot and Hannibal/Bedelia and Hannibal/Alana are allowed as well in various capacities, but otherwise, Murder Husbands. No thruples or anything, please. No crossovers or anything within the HEU. Keep it Hannibal.

Stories may be any length you wish.

Post at any time. The collection will remain open for you.

Flowers are claimed on a first come, first served basis. Please put your claim in the notes below. I will make a list of who has claimed which and attach it. If more people would like to participate, I will add more flowers. Many flowers have many different meanings, so you may pick one meaning among the others, or choose to incorporate them all. That is up to you.

FLOWERS

Rosemary- Remembrance- Claimed by @tina-mairin-goldstein

Zinnia- I mourn your absence, friendship, endurance, daily remembrance, goodness, lasting affection

Snowdrop- Hope

Lilac- First emotions of love, happiness, tranquility

Hyacinth- Forgiveness and sorrow (purple), desire (general)

Eglantine Rose- Pleasure and pain

Butterfly Weed- Let me go

Cyclamen- Resignation, diffidence, goodbye

Lavender- Distrust, serenity

Marigold- Grief, jealousy- Claimed by @bliss-is-in-blood

Peony- Bashfulness, happy life, shame

Salvia- I think of you (blue), forever mine (red)

Bittersweet- Truth

Hellebore- Anxiety

White Rosebud- Girlhood

Petunia- Anger, resentment, your presence soothes me

Amaryllis- Pride

Forsythia- Anticipation- Claimed by @k1ngl30n

Lady's Mantle- Comfort, I am here for you

Willow- Sorrow

Honeysuckle- True happiness, good fortune, sweetness toward one another

The flowers themselves can appear in many different forms, too! In the garden, bouquets, out in the wild, spotted at the florist, made into a tea, in a drawing, as a scent; anything you like! If it's in tea or food, make sure it isn't poisonous, unless your goal is death or sickness. Have fun!

[rose-tinted-vision]

5, 6, 17 for the fic writer asks? ^^

hello!! These are very interesting questions :D thank you for sending them in!

If anyone would like to send in more questions, here's the list of fic writer asks

5. What’s a fic idea you’ve had that you will never write?

oh I don't just have one, I have quite a few spanning across different fandoms XD

Though if I had to pick, I'd say that it is the White Cat Legend QiuBing superhero au

(mainly because I can't decide whether to make Qiu Qingzhi or Li Bing the vigilante, but also largely because I am horrible at naming things and coming up with superhero names would end up in an abysmal failure.

The mingjingtang boys would make (great) hilarious sidekicks though!)

Some others that ended up more like unfinished fics that will never leave the basement would be:

A Hikaru no Go (live action) ficlet about the two Yijianghu laoshis and their dynamics, through Shen Yilang's POV

Tiger and Crane Qi Xiaoxuan character study, and how meeting Hu Zi changed him

6. Are there any fics from others you reread all the time?

Absolutely!! A huge favourite of mine is This is love (I've never loved so much) by umisabaku, though it is part 13 of their Designation: Miracle series.

A few other honorable mentions:

they said love is reaching blindly at a pit full of snakes by summermidnights (ZoSan)

forsythia by curiousitykilled (Hua Cheng & Yin Yu)

as permanent as stone cathedrals by pdameron (00Q)

17. What’s something you’ve learned about while doing research for a fic?

I've learnt a lot in my fic writing journeys, actually! Not strictly limited to one fic, but since I've been writing for Cdrama fandoms lately, there are a lot of Chinese customs and traditions that I've had to search up and read about.

Though most memorable would be when I went to double-check about Chinese reincarnation mythology for my fic 光的方向 | The direction of light.

According to the Chinese Daoism belief of reincarnation, the dead person's soul would have to pass through the ten realms of hell before they could be reincarnated. But in order to reach reincarnation, they would first have to cross the Wang Chuan River (忘川河 wàng chuān hé) using the Nai He Bridge (奈何桥 nài hé qiáo).

Now the lore about where and how old lady Meng Po manifests is varied, but the main point is that she forces the deceased's soul to drink the Five-Flavoured Tea of Forgetfulness (also known as "Mèng Pó soup" / 孟婆湯 Mèng Pó tāng), to make them forget their past life.

There is more about how not all souls were forced into this path of reincarnation- some who were deemed to have led an exemplary or virtuous life would be led to heaven- and also more about the Six paths of reincarnation that A Journey to Love used in their Six Realms Hall. But that's enough yapping from me.

TL;DR I learnt quite abit about Chinese beliefs regarding reincarnation!!

[cidnangarlond]

can you give a summary or synopsis of fortunas character? I like seeing her but i know nothing about her!! Other than cid and her being Very Good Friends (joke)

YESSSS I'll give a quick lil rundown

So Fortuna Forsythia was the name she took when she left her family in the Skatay Mountains (where the Veena Viera are from) and was originally known as Petra Ymir! She has a sister named Sonja. Fortuna left home at about 18 shortly after her birthday longing for adventure and wandered for a bit until she came upon a small town. She stayed for a bit to help with hunting and an Elezen lancer named Ilya came into town and Fortuna fell in love instantly and begged him to teach her how to use a lance and he does! The romantic feelings are mutual but aren't together for long because he dies protecting the town from a giant goobbue and Fortuna also loses an eye during all this. She recovers and I'm always split between she shamefully goes back home and stays for awhile before setting off again or just wandering for another few years trying to teach herself the way of the lance before ultimately ending up in Gridania.

For that period between Ilya's death and coming to know Cid her emotions were very muted. Never smiled at all, very serious, didn't really laugh either, just very stoic. (This leads to a thing with the Scions and namely Thancred trying to get her to smile.) When she meets Cid she's very much despairing about falling in love again but fortunately our resident engineer has plot armor and we don't have to worry about anything. Unless Yoshi-P gets some ideas. But she and Cid have their first kiss in the Praetorium remember when it was an 8-man duty and not 4 and there were memes about how many cutscenes there were. I remember. There were so many. They removed all the good Cid cutscenes from Castrum and Prae but what IS good is I recorded them all. But they were good for my Cid/Fortuna agenda. They got married like right after Estinien-Nidhogg was defeated because to Cid he was not going to let Fortuna run off and do more crazy shit without first being able to call her his wife. (He left the ring at the Manufactory and Biggs and Wedge, who were covertly following them, had to throw him the ring box. Cid got too excited and left without it.)

Very close friends with Haurchefant so it was very sad for her when he died. Likewise good friends with Estinien because they are both Dragoons. Fortuna was solely a Dragoon up until the last of the Pandemonium raids dropped and then she (aka me) finally branched out into different jobs, like Dancer, Summoner, etc. Dawntrail was the first expansion she went into not as a Dragoon! Very big time for her.

Fortuna and Cid do have two children, one is a daughter named Yda who was born between the end of Stormblood and the beginning of the Stormblood patch quests (which I imagine there was a good few months in between them). Their son Fortuno (Cid was adamant a child be named after her and not him) was born between the end of Endwalker and the beginning of the Endwalker patch quests. So she was up there on the moon, pregnant. Yda and Fortuno will eventually have arguments of "WELL SHE WAS PREGNANT WITH ME WHEN SHE LIBERATED DOMA AND ALA MHIGO" and "YEAH? WELL SHE WAS ON THE MOON FIGHTING GOD WHILE PREGNANT WITH ME" you know how siblings are. Estinien frequently comes over for dinners and the kids love him he's uncle Estinien to them and lets Yda put bows in his hair and play tea party with her. He also enjoys playing with Fortuno and it all reminds him of when he was young in Ferndale before Nidhogg came through and is also reminded of his younger brother. Nero likewise comes through for dinner now and then because he enjoys Fortuna's cooking and in exchange he HAS to let the kids play with him. Play with the children or you aren't eating. He is teaching them to be too dramatic through play-acting and making up stories but we all have uncles or know someone's uncle who is supremely dramatic.

They do have a house somewhere don't ask me where they just have a house and it exists. When Fortuna is off saving the realm Cid brings the children to the Ironworks and everyone LOVES them so much. Tataru makes them cute outfits. The Scions all love them. Alphinaud and Alisaie are like younger siblings to Fortuna so she cares about them immensely and they take being aunt and uncle/godparents to Yda and Fortuno very seriously.

LET'S SEEEEE WHAT ELSE. Her patron god is Halone. Her favorite color is purple and her birthday is 1/15 (which is also my birthday and my favorite color). She is blind in her left eye. She is right-handed. She enjoys sweets but doesn't like to advertise it a lot. Her favorite food is really any variety of steak (medium or medium-rare). One of her favorite places aside from Ishgard because of the snow is the beach, she loves to swim. She likes to mine and likes to weave/craft and has contributed immensely to Sharlayan (through the custom delivery quests) as well as to the Ishgardian Firmament restoration. Her lucky number is 7. She loves roses and sunflowers.

Sorry I said this was going to be brief it was NOT in fact brief.. But hopefully you had fun learning about Fortuna :]

[monotheisticpagan]

Road Opener Tea

Made with forsythia flower which bursts onto the scene for a short period of time in early Spring.

Forsythia representing opportunity and pushing through the cold months, removing obstacles makes for a wonderful ingredient to open roads.

For my road opener tea I stir to dissolve the sugar counter clockwise at first to remove obstacles. Then I stir clockwise to bring in opportunities.

I add a little milk.

To me forsythia tea tastes a little like fruity pebbles.

[elminx]

This hasn't been a great spring flower year here where I live in Southern New England. We had a very warm winter until March and then it snowed for two weeks straight which killed a ton of the flower buds which had already been forming on the trees.

I wasn't able to source enough safe forsythia to perfect my forsythia poke cake (it'll have to wait until next year...)

But I do have violet syrup and I am currently infusing some violet tea to make jelly tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about this - violet jelly was the best of the three types that I made last year (dandelion, forsythia, and violet).

My goal this year is to capture lilac, locust, and peony, too. The second two can be harvested from my own garden, so should be easy enough. The first will need finagling to get the timing right with a safe-to-harvest lilac bush but I have high hopes for it.

[theretirementstory]

Ooh, bonne journée, has it really been a week since I last “spoke” to you? Goodness these weeks are flying by, it will be a new month tomorrow and we are hurtling towards the time of year that we all look forward to; summer 😊.

I visited “le médecin” this week, had a few things to discuss, was pleased to receive the form to be registered with him. My visit to the pharmacy saw the “new lady” spot a prescription that had not been paid for 🙄, I paid and received the necessary feuille de soin to apply for a refund.

I think I read somewhere that it takes a while for some French people to “accept” you. Where I have been happy to give gifts to people who have helped me with things, I notice a hesitance towards friendship sometimes. Such is the case with Monica; she is an estate agent, I corresponded with her way back when I lived in the UK, she was very helpful when I first arrived here showing me properties, even coming and moving the big stone cover on the water pit and climbing inside to read the meter ( I didn’t even buy the house through her 😳) , the first Xmas I made gifts and took her a bag of edible goodies, she was appreciative but I did feel I had overstepped the “friendship” mark. Anyway, I saw her the other day and she asked if I walked to Fontaine (where she lives) she told me her house number and said if her car was there to ring the bell and we would take tea or coffee together. How nice is that?

Had the monthly chat with my friends in Bristol, I am now booked on a flight in June. I am going to stay 4 nights then head up north to see the family. As always I am happy but anxious, especially after last years fiasco when the first train was delayed which meant that subsequent trains were all obsolete and new trains had to be booked “en route”. However, that was last year, we can only be hopeful.

Has Anie returned from her “trip” ? I don’t want to intrude on a bank holiday weekend so will wait until Tuesday to message her.

I was happy to see broad beans, rocket and lettuce coming through in the potager and so I removed the grillage. The following morning some of the broad beans had been dug up and a cat had 💩 in the bed. I was so upset! I don’t grow these things to have oodles of produce, I do it for my own well-being, getting outside, talking to the plants, watching them grow and produce, really really helps me through the year. I poured a potful of black pepper all over said potager, recovered with the grillage but will have to see about weaving string across it in the hope it will deter it again. As if to repay me for doing that, after spending Thursday cutting grass and tidying up in the back garden the cat decided to leave me a mangled corpse of a bird and on Saturday morning a pile of 💩 on the grass 😭. My sister said it was a shame that I didn’t have a sprinkler system, my goodness no! 😱 water is too precious a commodity to use up spraying at a cat, which would probably be wearing a wet suit anyway 😂😂. It’s going to be the old “scoot” type stuff I think.

So after clearing up after the cat, I have seen peas and beetroot shoots appearing, that put a smile on my face. I found the peony, which I knew was round by the forsythia bush, it’s leaves were taking in the sun and I am hoping against hope that this year it will flower. The two I picked up in the gaspillage last year are really doing well, the one I bought, not so! Unfortunately the beautiful hibiscus from last year looks dead, no green life in it at all. I am quite sad as it was beautiful but it obviously didn’t withstand the winter weather.

Of course, I have been to the bar this week. I love going in and reading the newspaper, of course I could go into the médiathèque and do the same but I find the bar more relaxing. I even had a non alcoholic cocktail one day, it was a Sandy Island, very tropical and fruity I really enjoyed it.

I turned up for “Knitting with refugees” only to find that the girl I had messaged was now on holiday and she hadn’t passed the message on. No harm done! Restarting May 15th 🤞. It was the knitting group with the French ladies and a couple of people took the items to be displayed and offered for sale…… I am still stitching mine up 🙄, so need to get them finished for next time.

It’s a busy next couple of weeks, but more about that later. Until then let’s have a look at an excerpt from “Days” by Philip Larkin

“What are days for?

Days are where we live.

They come, they wake us

Time and time over.

They are to be happy in:

Where can we live but days?”

Now I am ready for a cup of coffee, so I will wish you all a “Bon week-end” enjoy the Bank holiday on Monday 😊.

[lilithsaintcrow]

Morning Walk Report: Cold drizzle, crocuses peering through the mud, hyacinths burgeoning, forsythia bright yellow, even some camellias getting into the act. Boxnoggin beside himself, and very clingy.

As for the morning run, felt heavy and clumsy even though I turned in a respectable per-kilometer time. Dodging pedestrians and other nonsense, though thankfully every dog was leashed. More rain.

The musical algorithm served up Slaughter’s “Fly to the Angels” this morning, so go ahead and snicker. Teen Me loved hair rock almost as much as she loved Pink Floyd, NIN, and the Cure. (Was not so fond of Pearl Jam or Nirvana, save in small doses.)

So much to do today, and not nearly enough tea. Going to fix that in a few minutes, and go back to the CEs I spent an hour on earlier today. There will be more rain, which pleases me immensely.

And that’s the morning report.

[wonderwomemes]

I said it in the notes but Forsythia is mildly poisonous and you really shouldn't ingest it on purpose like this. There are plenty of safe spring flowers to eat and make syrup with. Use magnolia or lilac or dandelions, and at the very least look up if the ingredients to these "aesthetic" recipe blogs. Honestly, it's irresponsible to spread this kind of thing because people will make salads and teas out of these flowers because they saw it online. It most likely won't kill them but they will not be happy when they get cramps and diarrhea from it either

Lemon and Forsythia Syrup

[tina-mairin-goldstein]

Welcome to the Murder Husband and Murder Family language of flowers fanfiction collection, Words Are Not The Only Way.

This collection will be posted on AO3 and feature stories with the theme of the language flowers.

The collection will open by 3:00 PM Eastern Standard Time on March 19th, 2024. The spring equinox.

⬇️ List of rules and flowers below the cut. ⬇️

The rules are simple: Claim a flower from the list posted below, and write a story featuring the flower and its meaning. It can be a Will/Hannibal, Will & Hannibal, Will & Abigail, Hannibal & Abigail, or Will & Hannibal & Abigail.

What is NOT allowed is Abigail paired with Will or Hannibal, or smut. Sexual content is allowed, so long as it is non-graphic, cut to black, or implied. No Explicit fics are allowed, unless it's for canon-typical violence.

AUs are allowed, including omega verse and mpreg.

Original child characters may be mentioned, so long as they are not the main focus of the story.

Past pairings are allowed, or Will/Molly and Will/Margot and Hannibal/Bedelia and Hannibal/Alana to follow canon, but otherwise, Murder Husbands. No thruples or anything, please. No crossovers or anything within the HEU. Keep it Hannibal.

Stories may be any length you wish.

Flowers are claimed on a first come, first served basis. Please put your claim in the notes below. I will make a list of who has claimed which and attach it. If more people would like to participate, I will add more flowers. Many flowers have many different meanings, so you may pick one meaning among the others, or choose to incorporate them all. That is up to you.

FLOWERS

Rosemary- Remembrance (This one is claimed by me)

Zinnia- I mourn your absence, friendship, endurance, daily remembrance, goodness, lasting affection

Snowdrop- Hope

Lilac- First emotions of love, happiness, tranquility

Hyacinth- Forgiveness and sorrow (purple), desire (general)

Eglantine Rose- Pleasure and pain

Butterfly Weed- Let me go

Cyclamen- Resignation, diffidence, goodbye

Lavender- Distrust, serenity

Marigold- Grief, jealousy

Peony- Bashfulness, happy life, shame

Salvia- I think of you (blue), forever mine (red)

Bittersweet- Truth

Hellebore- Anxiety

White Rosebud- Girlhood

Petunia- Anger, resentment, your presence soothes me

Amaryllis- Pride

Forsythia- Anticipation

Lady's Mantle- Comfort, I am here for you

Willow- Sorrow

Honeysuckle- True happiness, good fortune, sweetness toward one another

The flowers themselves can appear in many different forms, too! In the garden, bouquets, out in the wild, spotted at the florist, made into a tea, in a drawing, as a scent; anything you like! If it's in tea or food, make sure it isn't poisonous, unless your goal is death or sickness. Have fun!

[pinkmartiniboy]

Susz z kwiatów forsycji

Susz z kwiatów forsycji

Suszone kwiaty forsycji najlepiej przechowywać w suchym, szczelnym słoiku, do którego mamy pewność, że nie wejdzie wilgoć Wczesną wiosną pewnie każdy z nas zauważa krzewy, które płomieniście kwitną żółtym kolorem. Zwłaszcza są one widoczne w przestrzeni miejskiej, gdzie wybuchają kolorem zarówno na małych skwerach jak i w ogromnych parkach. Często też można je spotkać na blokowiskach między…

[monotheisticpagan]

Collected flowers for forsythia syrup to add to lilac tea.

[paperbaacks]

ahh!! my first tag game on here, this is so fun :D thank you for tagging me @books-and-strawberry-tea <33

okay okay, here we go!

Amaryllis (pride) — What’s a book you don’t ever plan on reading, no matter how many times it gets recommended to you?

the obvious answer is anything by colleen hoover... but if we want to get a little bit more specific, it's fourth wing. sorry that is never ever happening i'm afraid.

Anemone (death) — What’s a book that got you into a “reading slump”?

just like mother by anne heltzel. it was just... not good. and it frustrated me to no end.

Azalea (renewal) — Name a book that got you out of a “reading slump”.

a study in drowning by ava reid!! it was so rich and atmospheric, the writing was excellent. everything about that book kept me HOOKED

Begonia (beware) — What’s a book you would never recommend?

my dark vanessa by kate elizabeth russell. it's literally one of my favourite books EVERRR but it deals with dark topics in such a visceral and intimate way, i would not feel comfortable recommending it to anyone.

Calla (beauty) — What’s your favorite book cover?

current favs include -

Carnation (love) — What’s the book that made you fall in love with reading?

this is so niche but it's called "ten" by shamini flint. i remember getting it from my school's library when i was like 12 and being OBSESSED with it for days. it really made me want to read more and more just to chase that high!

Chrysanthemum (friendship) — Name a book that depicts your favorite friendship.

rin and kitay from the poppy war by rf kuang. that series fucked me up so bad but this friendship is written SO SO SO SO WELL!!!

Daffodil (hope and rebirth) — What’s a book you turn to when you need comfort?

heartstopper series my beloved <33

Daisy (innocence and purity) — What was your favorite book as a child?

exclusively aesop's fables, i LOVED that shit so much!

Dandelion (resilience and strength) — Name one banned book that you read and enjoyed.

i guess the da vinci code by dan brown?? idk if it's still banned but i know the catholic church was mad when this came out and banned it from vatican/italy i believe

Eryngium (admiration) — Who is your favorite author?

rf kuang!!! i need to be her best friend so bad

Forget-me-not (true love and remembrance) — What’s a book you have always loved?

the perks of being a wallflower <33 this book has such a special place in my heart. it's a shame ezra miller turned out the way they did because i love that movie a lot too!

Forsythia (anticipation) — Name a new book release that you are most looking forward to.

katabasis by rf kuang! it's coming out in august next year and someone i know got an exclusive chapter sampler (one of FIFTEEN) so i'm completely fine guys, everything is great :)))

Gardenia (secret love) — What is a book that’s your guilty pleasure?

divergent by veronica roth 100% you can pry that series out of my cold dead hands and even then i might put up a fight. i have imprinted on that series and it has imprinted on me

Gloxinia (love at first sight) — Name a book you read just because you liked the cover.

the pumpkin spice café and the cinnamon bun book store, both by laurie gilmore. they were okay books but the covers are literally so cute and cosy and autumnal!!

Pink Larkspur (fickleness) — Name a book that you have mixed feelings about.

the invisible life of addie larue by ve schwab. on the one hand, i love that book with all my heart, on the other hand, i've seen the critiques that other people have offered about it and agree with them for the most part too. it's just bias, i suppose

Red Tulip (eternal love) — Name a book that you will never stop recommending.

in the dream house by carmen maria machado. SUCH a good book!!

anyone, i barely have people to tag 😭 (need more friends on here!!) so feel free to do this if you want to and tag me because i wanna read your answers too <33 i'm also going to tag @seekerreads tho!

Here's me doing my own tag game.

Amaryllis (pride) — What’s a book you don’t ever plan on reading, no matter how many times it gets recommended to you?

IT by Stephen King. I've liked some of Stephen King's books before, but this one is way too long for me and I'm not even that interested in the plot.

Anemone (death) — What’s a book that got you into a “reading slump”?

Voyage of the Damned by Frances White. I just did not like the style of humor, plus there were certain elements about the worldbuilding that felt out of place to me (it was the hot dogs and finger guns that did me in).

Azalea (renewal) — Name a book that got you out of a “reading slump”.

Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. It was fun, short, and easy to read, which made it the perfect book to encourage me to get into reading again.

Begonia (beware) — What’s a book you would never recommend? 

A Certain Hunger by Chelsea G. Summers. Sorry, not sorry.

Calla (beauty) — What’s your favorite book cover?

It's always hard for me to choose a favorite anything, but I really like the cover for Grady Hendrix's My Best Friend's Exorcism. It's made to look like a VHS tape cover, which I love.

Carnation (love) — What’s the book that made you fall in love with reading?

I think it might have been the Junie B. Jones books. I just remember reading those a lot. They were special to me because they're some of the first books I read once I learned how to speak and read in English.

Chrysanthemum (friendship) — Name a book that depicts your favorite friendship.

I wouldn't say it's my favorite friendship, but I really love the friendship dynamics between Holmes and Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories.

Daffodil (hope and rebirth) — What’s a book you turn to when you need comfort?

The Peculiar Children books, specifically A Map of Days; I have a lot of good childhood memories associated with those books.

Daisy (innocence and purity) — What was your favorite book as a child?

I don't remember the name of the books, but it was a series of books about a mouse detective (he wears green) who solves...mysteries. The book that I remember most vividly was involved a goth mouse family (who I'm pretty sure were supposed to be the mice version of the Addams Family) and the goth mouse parents had a baby that they named Baby. Yeah. I adored those books.

Dandelion (resilience and strength) — Name one banned book that you read and enjoyed.

Sula by Toni Morrison.

Eryngium (admiration) — Who is your favorite author?

Agatha Christie for two reasons. The first reason is that she's the author whose works I've read the most of. The second reason is that I mostly read her books when I was in middle school, so she's a bit nostalgic to me.

Forget-me-not (true love and remembrance) — What’s a book you have always loved?

This was the hardest question for me. Anyway, The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen.

Forsythia (anticipation) — Name a new book release that you are most looking forward to.

Don't have one :/ all of the new releases I was looking forward to already came out this year.

Gardenia (secret love) — What is a book that’s your guilty pleasure?

Don't have one. Yet.

Gloxinia (love at first sight) — Name a book you read just because you liked the cover.

Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell.

Pink Larkspur (fickleness) — Name a book that you have mixed feelings about.

Misery by Stephen King. I'm always going back and forth on whether or not I enjoyed this one. I liked the build-up, sure, but the ending felt like it dragged on. One thing I don't have mixed feelings about regarding this book is that the movie was better.

Red Tulip (eternal love) — Name a book that you will never stop recommending.

...I don't have one yet lol. Maybe Sula by Toni Morrison.

Anyway, I'm tagging @lexreadsdiversely @books-and-strawberry-tea and anyone else who wants to participate.

[lemongrad]

Today was a Good Day 

I got my vaccine scheduled for next week, I fixed the timing belt on my sewing machine (the 1970′s one), I made delicious homemade béchamel sauce (the secret is nutmeg and bay leaves) and my magnolias are blooming

[neo-japanesque]

#matcha #sakura #saltedsakura #sakuramatcha #spring #japanesefood #桜抹茶 #お抹茶 #朝抹茶 #レンギョウ #ツツジ

by miho._.39

traditional japanese tea “抹茶 (matcha)” with “桜の塩漬け sakura no shiozuke (salted cherry blossoms)”

[elminx]

A Year in Review: Kitchen Witch Version

My year started out strong with me sharing and creating in the kitchen and then petered out some during the late Summer/Fall as I was struggling to adjust to the new medication that I have been on. This is interesting because my partner has been in school all Fall so I cooked a lot more than normal (we normally share 50/50 of the cooking and I was doing most of it); I just didn't share it.

I made some really good eatings this year.

Early in the year, my partner and I made some Fire Cider which we turned into some incredibly yummy Fire Cider Bloody Marys. I also had a great time celebrating Fat Tuesday with some friends and I finally perfected making a Hurricane by using Fassionola, a very traditional tiki syrup that has gone out of fashion.

I also tried my hand at making Duck L'orange though I didn't get good photos of that (I think that my friends and I may plan an orange-themed dinner sometime soon, so we'll see if we get it written up for next year). We also continued our experiments with Eastern White Pine flavored vodka.

Spring arrived fast as it always seems to and I got back to my flower experiments. It turns out the Forsythia jelly is to die for and I continued my Violet Experiments - this time with Violet jelly as well as the violet simple syrup that I make every year which we turned into the most amazing Violet Birds of Paradise cocktails while we were on vacation at the beach. I also tried my hand at more cooking with flowers. For May Day, we made dandelion gnocchi as well as a fresh cheese ball made from chevre and tulips. I also made a spectacular Chive Vinegar from the first chive harvest from my garden.

Summer starts with the first pickups of our CSA farm share and my household becomes overflowing with fresh produce. I used the early cilantro and garlic scapes to make a lovely Cilantro Pesto and then got into canning and preserving for the season. For Midsummer, I made a lovely Strawberry Jam with a bonus Black Pepper Cocktail and I tried my hand at making canned Blueberry Pie Filling. I also tried my hand at canning sour cherry jam and making fresh cherry syrup. The end of the summer saw us canning all of the tomatoes and experimenting with more fun cocktails.

As mentioned above, I've done a lot of cooking this Autumn, I just never got around to recording/sharing most of it. I've been experimenting with apples (always) and I have been working on my soup skills (also, always). My favorite meal of the season was the French Onion Soup that I made with the Aus Jus from some braised Short ribs. I also made orange bitters which I did record, so stay tuned for more on that soon!

All in all, it was a lovely year in the kitchen. Did I get everything done that I wanted to? Absolutely not. I always have so many plans and then they inevitably get away from me. There is only so much time to play around in the kitchen (unfortunately!) As we head into the new year, I am contemplating kitchen witch goals for 2023. It is time to make more Eastern White Pine Vodka and Fire Cider, for sure - we ran out of both last weekend. I really want to make it back to the Cape to pick both Rosa Rugosa hips and Beach Plums so that I can finally find out what the differences between them both really are. I'd also like to make jelly with all of the spring flowers - last year I missed lilac, so that is high on my list for next year. Additionally, after a very poor gardening year (we were in a stage 4 drought), I'm more hopeful about my goals of expanding my tea garden in the year ahead.