a concept for the type of OP i'd love to see for the second season of Dungeon Meshi! both s1 OPs are great, but i'm really hoping for one that captures both the "dangerous fantasy adventure" and "comedic cooking adventure" aspects of the series in equal measure, because it's the integration of those two concepts that makes the series special to me. the joyous whimsy and the dramatic horrors are equally important!!
I am having many many thoughts about Hands of the Emperor, but here is one before I go to sleep:
this sounds very silly, but i am eighty-odd pages into this book and almost nothing has happened, technically. The main characters are going on a vacation. It is a fairly significant part of this that the Emperor has never done so much nothing at once before. Travel arrangements have been made, social interactions had, various vacation activities enjoyed, but on a literal level there is no large plot moving forward.
AND YET. I am up late reading this already, and I want to stay up later. I want to keep reading. Because even if on the surface, not much is going on, the emotional depths that this book has already gone to are incredibly compelling.
The main character is watching the man he serves as emperor and reveres as a god, a man he cares for deeply, slowly remember that despite being an emperor and a god he is also a person, and find enormous joy in getting to be just that. The main character has been overcome with emotion multiple times by seeing his emperor smiling with great pleasure at things like a casual conversation, or watching the rain, or tuning a harp with his own hands. I am overcome with emotion too.
I don’t know if the pace will pick up at some point, but I genuinely think even if it doesn’t, I could read seven hundred pages of this, just on the strength of what it’s making me feel.
I thought I had just finally found a plant-based cheese alternative that's both dairy- and coconut-free after literal years of searching, but after taking a closer look at the ingredients it turns out that it's made with...... Whey
Who is this for then?? It's not real cheese so people who eat dairy aren't going to want it, but it's also not dairy-free so vegans and lactose intolerant folks won't want it either. They're out here playing NO sides of the fence, wtf
coffee shop au where ricky the barista ignores ed's almond milk request because he thinks anyone who orders a milk alternative is a stupid hipster and about 10 minutes after stede and ed do whatever people do in a coffee shop fanfic idk ed starts having an OHFUCKOHFUCKOHFUCKOHFUCKOHFUCKOHFUCK moment and stede absolutely goes off on ricky for being an asshole and then scoops ed up to take him home
you know, it’s honestly such a shame that so much fanart of san and miyuri either involves a gag about miyuri making san uncomfortable, or a gag about san just disliking miyuri and finding her bothersome -- or even a mix of both -- when actual story content in the game about them and their relationship shows their bond as mutual and not even a sliver as one-sided or shallow as most fan creations would lead you to believe
things I didn't realize back when I lived in an entirely gluten free household with a professional chef brother and mad experimental baker mother:
gluten free food does not exist in the wild. at all.
it is spensive
literally how am i supposed to survive like who designed this. I knew I was spoiled but I didn't know the situation was this dire.
I actually prefer the stores that don't stock gluten free pastries at all, because once in a blue moon, when I step into one of those fancy grocery stores and see that one singular frozen cinnamon roll (smaller than my palm) has a price tag of 98kr (abt 9$) I just start crying on the spot.
I just feel like that SHOULD be illegal.
for reference; a regular (FRESH, not even frozen) gluten filled cinnamon roll at the same fancy store costs abt 25kr (2$).
Also ngl I'm getting kinda sick of the way people percieve gluten free food. Whenever I get accomodated at an event (and don't bring my own food), the person serving it will give me a knowing look and go "well, it's gluten free so it's not like it'll taste good anyways, but here u go" and hand me a half baked chocolate cupcake that tastes like someone substituted the sugar in the recipe with salt. Like, yeah okay I'm glad you guys thought of me but the thought doesn't count for much when you waste your time and money on something you don't even believe can taste good so you settle for just making it inedible on purpose. Please for the sake of my stomach and sanity just send me the menu in advance and I'll bring my own chocolate cupcake. Or better yet: make something that doesn't have gluten in it to begin with, like pavlova or almond cake, the possibilities are endless.
One of the fun things about becoming an adult is that there is now an additional factor limiting my food availability: cost.
Now I can’t just try new foods and see if I like eating them and give myself options. Trying new foods costs money I don’t have. Money that could be going toward reliable safe foods.
But if I eat the same safe foods too much without variety then eventually (months/years eventually) I start being unable to eat them anymore.
So I need to find enough foods that I can cycle through, which I can consistently prepare for myself even on low spoons, which don’t set off any of my sensory issues, are filling enough to last me for a few hours, and don’t cost too much money.
I feel like I enjoy food a lot less than I used to. Eating feels like a chore I have to do, not something enjoyable for its own sake. When I love a food’s flavor and texture, I eat it so much that it becomes just tolerable. And then I need to hurry and switch it out for a new food before I can’t eat it anymore.
I know I’m lucky to be able to afford the foods I can eat, and that I have the option to pick and choose. I just wish I could eat more.
bro the italians were so right for inventing pastina. tiny star-shaped pasta in a delicious broth with a solid helping of cheese? exactly the type of meal to heal the soul on a bad day
it comes courtesy of stoned em with no snacks in the house just a bag of frozen hash browns. i tried it again when i was sober and said "oh shit no this SLAPS" and while it takes about 15 minutes, it's literally
heat vegetable/canola oil in a pan (i just eyeball it because the instructions on the bag are for like a half bag and i have a tiny pan/can't eat that much. i like to cover the bottom of the pan and then add just a little more)
add frozen hash browns/seasoning (once again i use special shit but use literally whatever you want. make your own concoction if you so desire)
wait 6 minutes (can either vibe to music or scroll tumblr/tiktok/whatever. no real supervision required)
flip/stir (because they never stick together like they're allegedly supposed to)
wait 6 more minutes (continue previous activities)
check for ideal crispiness (i like personally to see a nice browning but i don't want to be crunching the whole time)
add cheese (as i said in my tags i use processed american cheese bc it gets nice and gooey. i do one slice and break it into quarters for maximum coverage)
once it gets to proper meltiness, transfer to plate and add hot sauce to your heart's desire.
even when i don't feel like cooking, i can manage to stand in the kitchen long enough to throw this together because it's worth it 100% of the time
I typically just eat right before I take medicine- that doesn’t solve having to cook but you can always just make ramen or get microwaveable meals
I dunno why I sent this- it probably won’t help much- uhh-
yeah no i feel that. = 3 = I try to do that but;;; idk! i feel! bad about only eating dumb microwave meals and stuff. like. i worry about it not being very healthy or financially wise and shit like that, y'know? and then i'll like. be awake in the dead of night trying to fall asleep and be like.
omg.... you know what would be so good...? soup.... i would love to make soup i haven't made soup in forever it's FALL WEATHER i should make SOUP ugh it would be so fantastic i should do that i'll make soup...
but then the morning comes and it's like... ah... well... the desire for soup still somewhat persists, but....