#i think my favourite season is still Savers

[kideternity]

Okay now i've finished Adventure let me write up my full thoughts about the season. This will be less structured than the Tamers review and I apologise for that, I just kind of had a different watching experience with Adventure and thus sort of format my feelings about it in a different way idk. Whatever the case, here’s my full review of Adventure under the cut, and if you don’t care about that, then here’s the TLDR;

I liked adventure! I had a lot of fun watching it. It’s not a perfect season, but nothing is, and whilst I am going to take a break for now, I'm excited to start Digimon Adventure 02 in the foreseeable future.

-First, I do want to highlight things I really enjoyed. I really loved the animation and art style- I know its seen as very cheesy and dated and not the best animated (Most notable example that comes to mind is reusing the animation for special moves) but IDC, I love the cartoony style and I've always been very endeared to older styles of animation and how they make use of the medium.

-I liked the kids! I liked the kids a lot! They’re good kids! The cast of adventure is absolutely a highlight, and I can see why Bandai always goes back to them for use in future projects, whether or not that’s ultimately a good thing.

-Whilst I personally prefer the more Urban Sci-fi / Fantasy settings of Tamers and Savers, The Isekai approach lends itself to be a good way to immediately show off the digital world and the creatures within it, and to start exploring the worldbuilding within. I like the worldbuilding of Adventure! It felt kind of more purposely vague then Tamers and Savers, but it’s an interesting world they set up, and I'd like to see more of it explored

-I missed the global aspect of Tamers and even Savers. Though I can’t really fault Adventure, being as it was literally THE first season ever, for staying strictly in Japan. I just personally enjoyed how large and expansive things got in Tamers, and how people from all over the world were involved. I will say, I did appreciate Adventure also having more unorthodox or complicated family dynamics- such as Yamato and Takeru being the kids of divorce who aren’t able to 24/7 be around each other, or how Koushiro is adopted. It’s always a breath of fresh air to see media, especially for kids, tackle these sorts of things with nuance and grace.

-The soundtrack was absolutely gorgeous. Probably my favourite out of all of the soundtracks so far- there was just so much passion and emotion packed into each musical piece.

-Tone and themes were fairly consistent throughout, mostly due to the fact that Adventure doesn’t really have any sort of grand overarching messaging like Tamers or Savers did. I would assume, due to being again, the first season of anime, it cared more about plot and characters than trying to Say anything too radical. Hence, the themes follow pretty standard “good versus evil” tropes, as well as the power of compassion and community and optimism and hope that digimon usually utilises in each of its different stories across mediums, instead of anything more complex, like Tamers attempts at dissecting morality and violence, and Savers discussing the inherent value of lives that aren’t humans and trying to understand those not like you. Adventure plays it safe, and doesn’t get burned because of it, which I can’t fault.

-The villains are. Eh. They’re entertaining but none of them are necessarily very well written. The most well written villain was Pinochimon, and ignoring that i'm a biased party, most people seem to agree with me on this. Vamdemon was definitely the most intimidating and well built up antagonist. Apocalymon has a really cool and sympathetic concept, and I wish he had been focused on more. Generally, due to the nature of Adventure's “good versus evil” tropes, a lot of the villains aren’t really allowed any sort of nuance or are portrayed in a “They're Inherently Damnable Let's Kill Em” sort of way, which is unfortunate. Only Ogremon top of my head really gets any sort of minor redemption at the end without dying for it, ala Wizarmon, Gottsumon and Pumpkinmon.

-Like Tamers, Adventure is much more open to the idea of making horny jokes and talking about romance, which I do not enjoy, and it was by far the worst one when it came to that in my opinion. Why were there so many jokes about masc digimon hitting on Mimi. Stop that right this instant.

-Generally, I would say plot and character writing is a mixed bag. None of it is necessarily godawful, but you can tell that Adventure was very haphazardly and sloppily written. There’s a lot of inconsistencies in the writing- a lot of new characters or story elements are sort of abruptly added out of nowhere with no real build up and which sometimes ultimately don’t really matter all that much. It has definitely the worst pacing out of the seasons I've seen so far- Again, Building up momentum to then just suddenly stop and spill exposition on you. Savers and Tamers had issues too, but their handling of the plot was usually much tighter and the writing much more concise. Whilst I love the kids, and they do definitely get their own character arcs, none of them are written equally in that regard and often times it leads to situations where some characters get their arcs finished early and then stay stagnant for the rest of the season (Sora and Koushiro) whilst others only get major character writing near the very end (Yamato). It also definitely played favourites with some of them lol. Random things will interject in pivotal moments and the arcs for each different villain all have entirely different vibes to one another. Truthfully, it does come across as a much of mini stories hazily slapped together in an attempt to create a Larger Grander Narrative. Which, again, it was their first attempt ever creating an anime for Digimon, so I suppose I can’t blame them too much for this. It’s a miracle this took off so well in the first place.

Again, there’s definitely stuff I'm missing that i'd have wanted to say, but as a whole, again, I like Adventure! It’s not my favourite season of the digimon anime, and I can definitely understand the frustration for Bandai constantly milking it as a cash cow for the nostalgia points. But, I do think as a whole it holds up for the most part, at least for a kids anime from the late 90s, and Again, I don’t regret having watched it.

[allbeendonebefore]

lavender poppy peony sunflower marigold ps i have no idea what the questions are, i just memorized a bunch of the flowers lamao :)

lavender— what is currently on your mind (aside from this ask game)?

currently thinking about how to use the kagami mochi that i bought on impulse because it had a little cat on it lol. I found an udon recipe i know my dad will like that should work...

poppy— out of the four seasons, which season of the year is your favorite and why?

(i see i've been asked this question twice so here is part one)

when I left Canada I decided winter was my favourite season because there was just not enough of it in the midwestern US (which midwesterners will of course find funny because they seem to think they invented bitterly cold prairie winters or something). The bonus was that a light dusting of snow would cause all the schools to shut down, so I got far more snowdays in the US to enjoy. :)

I still do love winter because there are those moments where you can hear everything around you very clearly, everything is very still and silent but the small noises have big impact if that makes sense. I love the cold and the snow, it makes being outside refreshing and being inside cozy.

peony— would you consider yourself to be tall, short, or average height?

I think of myself as average because I know a few people taller than me, but it seems that for my irl friend group i am usually the second or third tallest (yourself included lol). If I look smaller it's bad posture and eternal Looks Like 12 fashion.

sunflower— in your opinion, what is the best photo on your phone of? (serious or non-serious answers)

let's look

this is from the day a couple months ago i thought someone was knocking on the door and I looked out and saw this

"have u herd our lord and saver gib penut"

marigold— do you wear any kind of jewelry on a regular basis? if so, what kind?

yes, necklaces, usually from the kids section of museums but sometimes Not. I didn't bring any with me on my trip so I'm not wearing them now though (although I did find one I made at summer camp here haha). I used to wear bracelets a lot when I was a kid but then I started drawing seriously and they tended to get in the way, but occasionally I think about wearing those again. Still looking for a good Ace Ring but I tend to avoid rings because they never fit and same deal getting in the way of drawing.

but yeah so long as they're not too tight/chokers, I love wearing necklaces the most :3

[ineedyoutheretokeepmegreen]

My current thoughts:

It’s been almost 2 weeks since the finale of The College Tapes! Still so many emotions! I miss Caleb and Adam. I was recommended The Bright Sessions back in the spring of 2018 (right as the final season was ending and the start of the bonus episodes). I was going through a really hard time mentally and it really made me feel like I wasn’t alone with how I was and still currently feel. Caleb and Adam quickly became favourites for me. Adam specifically because I really felt how he was feeling. Anytime the iconic “keep me green” line came, I really felt it. It’s really stuck with me (big reason why it’s my username). I know we didn’t really get much info on Caleb and Adam during The AM Archives, but knowing Caleb missed Adam while they were both in university made me happy. Then The Infinite Noise came out and I was over the moon! I listened to the audio book while following along with the actual book and it was such a great decision. I’ve read that book a fair few times! It was a life saver during the early mornings while taking my long commute to college. It kept me calm. When The College Tapes was first announced back in 2019, I cried. Then when it finally came out, it really saved me because I was going through something really rough and I was going through so many emotions. So when I saw when episodes were released and seeing all the Instagram posts and stories, it gave me something to look forward to. I’m thankful for Caleb and Adam. I’m thankful for Lauren Shippen for creating them. Briggon Snow for voicing Caleb. And Alex Gallner (podcast) and James Fouhey (audio book) for voicing Adam. I’m so grateful!💚

I think I need to binge everything again!😊

@thelaurenshippen @thebrightsessions @thebrightsessionsbooks

[fandomsmeantheworldtome]

Tagged by the amazing @itisa-profoundbond-sarandom to

pick 10 ships without reading the questions.

I have more than 10 ships to list lol 😂 but i will pick some of my all time favorites and i will add some new

1. Aziraphale/ Crowley (Good Omens)

2. Edward Nygma / Oswald Cobblepot ( Gotham)

3. Dean Winchester / Castiel ( Supernatural)

4. Villanelle/ Eve ( Killing Eve)

5. Merlin / Arthur ( BBC Merlin)

6. Will Graham / Hannibal Lecter ( Hannibal tv series)

7. Barry Allen / Iris West ( The Flash)

8. Ray Palmer / Nora Darhk ( Legends of Tomorrow)

9. Ava Sharpe / Sara Lance ( Legends of Tomorrow )

10. Yennefer / Geralt ( The Witcher )

1. Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6?

I don't remember exactly from which episode but there was a scene where Hannibal got really close to Will and started to smell him 😄 this was really intense

2. Have you ever read a FanFiction about 2?

More than 100 i think 😂 is one of these ships i have read the most fanfics

3. Has a picture of 4 ever been your screen saver/profile picture/tumblr?

Yes and i have a sideblog about Killing Eve @lovemesomevillanelle too many fandoms to have them all in one blog 😄

4. If 7 were to suddenly break-up today, what would your reaction be?

You hit a sensitive spot here , i consider myself new to the Flash fandom its only a few months since i discovered this show but i noticed that there are a lot haters of this ship and some fans even made recist comments about Iris and the actress who plays her, i would be devastated if these two break up because they are perfect for each other and i will forever support their relationship @sweetbarryallen is my flash sideblog

5. Why is 1 so important?

Its been a year since Good Omens series came in our lifes well the book is much older but the series had such a huge success, i still can't get over these two lovable idiots who love each other since the beginning of time this ship gives me hope and warms my heart with all kinds of feelings

6. Is 9 a funny ship or a serious ship?

Both? these two amazing women are made for each other and i totally enjoy their serious and funny moments the same amount

7. Out of all of the ships listed, which ship has the most chemistry?

I guess the success of a ship and the reason a duo or a couple is shipped from the fans has to do with the chemistry the actors bring to the screen but there were a lot of cases where fanfiction writers created such a great stories for the readers to make them ship even characters who had limited interaction on the screen and that's the power of imagination, to me all the ships have chemistry

8. Out of all of your ships listed, which ship has the strongest bond?

I would say Ineffable husbands because the know each other since forever , who can beat that ?😂

9. How many times have you read/watched 8’s fandom?

DC's Legends of Tomorrow is a new show for me i managed to watch all Seasons till 4th as i write this in almost a month , before i reached S3 where Nora makes her appearance i had seen/ read some spoilers that she and Ray would end up together, Ray Palmer is my most favourite character from lot and when i found out about this ship i was so happy because he deserves all the love and so does Nora Darhk. Nora is such a great written character her development to the show is one of the best. You can guess my reaction when i also found out that the actors who play these characters are married in real life , this ship is everything and to answer this question i have searched about this ship too many times to count but i wish there were more fan videos of DarhkAtom on the internet

10. Which ship has lasted the longest?

I think Aziraphale and Crowley because of the years since the book published and there were fans of this ship even then, second ship who lasted longest is Destiel because of the years Supernatural has on screen

11. How many times, if ever, has 2 broken up?

If you are a Gotham and nygmobblepot fan then you know all about this ship's love and hate relationship , these two crazy idiots almost kill each other but they can't live without each other

12. If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive, 2 or 8?

Both? i think Ray Palmer with his atom suit abilities and Nora with her magic have more chances to make out alive though i wouldn't underestimate Ed's and Os's surviving skills in times of danger, they are both so clever and cunning that i am more concerned about zombies well being than the two of them 😂

13. Did 5 ever have to hide their relationship for any reason?

Merlin and Arthur never become canon but to the fans Merlin and Arthur have feelings for each other , they hide their feelings since they know each other i wish this ship was canon on screen

14. Is 4 still together?

Killing Eve season 3 delivered this year the best finale in my opinion of all seasons , Villanelle and Eve have feelings for each other that's canon now and i hope in S4 they will live and work together as a couple

15. Is 3 canon?

Not for the writers still not canon but the fans with me included we hope before the show ends completely the writers stop this torment and give us what Destiel fans are praying for years , our ship to become canon

16. If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win?

This is hard, i don't know i guess all have their chances to win " may the odds be ever in your favor" lol

17. Has anybody ever tried to sabotage 10’s ship?

Jaskier ? Lol 😂😂😂 truth is that Yennefer is my favourite character from the show the Witcher but Jaskier is also my favourite and i may ship Yennefer with Geralt but since i got to this fandom is hard not to notice the chemistry between Geralt and Jaskier 😄 love both ships the same

18. Which ship would you defend to the death and beyond?

All i can't pick one

19. Do you spend hours a day going through 1’s tumblr page?

YES 😂

20. If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she´d break them all forever, which ship would you sink?

Ahhh this is so hard i can't choose sorry

Tagging some lovely people @penguinsheart , @mishandjen-tellmehow , @vicarious-rebel , @its-all-ineffable , @ramblingsofachristiannerd , @littlehollyleaf , @jawnlockwinchester , @thisplacehaseverything , @littleangel4996 @your-mad-tea-party-blog @itotallygazeatscully, @belle82devart @skatle-skootle-demon-noodle @lesbian-and-useless @quakerlasss, @whitecrawace and everyone who see this post and wants to do this

[littlespoonevan]

OTP Tag

I was tagged by @whaticameherefor, thank you!! <3

Let’s go chronological order with the Real otps and then add whoever else i can think of lmao. Putting some of this under a cut bc it got long!

Stiles Stilinski/Derek Hale (Teen Wolf)

Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard (All For the Game)

Isak Valtersen/Even Bech Naesheim (Skam)

Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich (Shameless)

Nick Miller/Jessica Day (New Girl)

Allison Argent/Scott McCall (Teen Wolf)

Otis Milburn/Maeve Wiley (Sex Education)

David Rose/Patrick Brewer (Schitt’s Creek)

Alexis Rose/Ted Mullins (Schitt’s Creek)

Eva Mohn/Jonas Noah Vasquez

1. Do you remember the episode/scene/chapter that you first started shipping 6?

Oh man, I mean I shipped them from the beginning but episode 5 “The Tell” was sort of my holy grail episode in terms of content for scallison and thus, when i fell in love. Also special shoutout to the scene in “Heart Monitor” when Allison holds Scott’s hand under the table and it helps keep him in control and we find out she’s his anchor. I devoted my whole heart then and there <3

2. Have you ever read a fanfic about 2?

Yes, extensively lmao

3. Has a picture of 4 ever been your screen saver/profile picture/tumblr screen saver?

Haha nah, i’m not really an “otp as my screensaver” sort of person.

4. If 7 were to suddenly break up today, what would your reaction be?

Well I mean everyone seems to be doing their damndest to keep them apart in the first place so i need them to actually get together first sakdjfhksa but yeah, let’s just say my response to the season 2 finale was “oh nooooooooo” which basically answers this question lol.

5. Why is 1 so important?

Ugh, because. Their dynamic was so, so good and it came out of Nowhere. Like it was one of those relationships that sort of sneaks up on you like, holy shit these two bounce off each other really well????? And the dichotomy of them shit-talking each other All The Time but then continually sacrificing themselves for one another and taking turns saving each other’s lives was so fascinating to watch. Especially as the shit-talking became decidedly more fond as the seasons went on and you realised they’d genuinely started to care for each other. We could’ve had it all and I’m still bitter lmao.

6. Is 9 a funny ship or a serious ship?

Definitely funny but in their moments of sincerity were so incredibly sweet <3

7. Out of all the ships listed, which ship has the most chemistry?

Oooooh this is hard sakdjhsjh I mean, I ship them all because I feel like they have chemistry and each relationship is different. I think I’ll say the skam ships just bc isak/even and eva/jonas legitimately felt like real couples to me? like if you told either pairing was together irl I’d believe you, y’know? (there’s 3 or 4 others that are strong contenders though!!!)

8. Out of all your ships listed, which ship has the strongest bond?

Oof. Again, this is really hard. I’m inclined to say Ian/Mickey bc I think they have the longest history of any of the ships I’ve listed here and it just runs so deep, y’know? Like to quote mickey, they’re under each other’s skin. So in that regard, I think they’d have the strongest bond. (The same could sort of be said for andrew/neil in terms of what they’ve gone through together too though) But I feel like nick and jess have an amazing bond too in the sense that they really, really are best friends beneath everything and you can See that in the way they love each other. 

9. How many times have you read/watched the 10’s fandom?

Oh my god i have no idea. I’ve definitely rewatched all of skam once (possibly twice?) but I’ve rewatched individual clips/episodes a million times over. The morning the 8.10 kitchen scene came out i just stayed in bed for like 3 hours rewatching it over and over again askdjhcs That’s kind of the beauty of the clip format though in terms of rewatching favourite scenes :’)

10. Which ship has lasted the longest?

Okay I’m assuming this means like, stayed together the longest? In which case that goes to Ian and Mickey again, I believe (or Nick and Jess if you include the 3 year time jump)

11. How many times, if ever, has 6 broken up?

Once and I’m Still angry lmao

12. If the world was suddenly thrust into a zombie apocalypse, which ship would make it out alive, 2 or 8?

Oh my god 2 lmfao i love david and patrick but i’m p sure andrew and neil were built for a zombie apocalypse sadjhasjh

13. Did 7 ever have to hide their relationship for any reason?

Mm they’ve sort of hid their feelings for each other???? Like obviously not just from each other but also from other people like Ola etc

14. Is 4 still together?

Yep and happily married :D

15. Is 10 canon?

YES. Thank you Julie Andem and Marlon Langland!!!!

16. If all 10 ships were put into a couple’s Hunger Games, which couple would win?

Jfc. It’d be a toss up between Andrew/Neil, Stiles/Derek and Ian/Mickey

17. Has anybody ever tried to sabotage 5’s ship?

Yes, Schmidt did for like one ep and it was hilarious but also ended in Nick telling Jess how he feels :’))))))

18. Which ship would you defend to the death and beyond?

All of them tbh. I care about Otis/Maeve and Alexis/Ted slightly less but the other 8 are some forever otps 

19. Do you spend hours a day going through 3’s tumblr page?

I did back in the day for like 2 years straight lol

20. If an evil witch descended from the sky and told you that you had to pick one of the ten ships to break up forever or else she’d break them all forever, which ship would you sink?

asdkjfhdsa ok i’m gonna say Alexis and Ted but jUST BECAUSE they already ended their relationship themselves and i’m content w the ending even if i desperately hope they’ll reunite some day down the line. The others I simply cannot compromise on 

I’m gonna tag @thisfeebleheart, @himick, @smores100 and @happyminyards

[selkiesbittybonanza]

Introducing: Bonsai Bittys! (Free to Adopt)

These bittys are the dryads or spirits that inhabit Bonsai (dwarf) trees. Bonsai is an art form that has been practiced in Asia for over a thousand years and has been adapted to trees and plants originating from outside or Asia such as the Americas. With proper care, Bonsai’s can live for decades or even hundreds of years so having a plan of inheritance for your Bonsai is important! Some caretakers have even donated their Bonsais to botanical gardens, senior centres or hospitals! The spirit of the tree, your Bitty Bonsai, will only remain active as long as they have a special bond with a caretaker. If no special bond exists they “sleep” within their trees until a new bond is formed. A Bitty Bonsai can’t be away from their trees for long periods of time, after 48 hours they start to feel weak and eventually fade away completely by the 72 hour mark - returning to their tree. However, they don’t suffer any lasting harm and just require another 72 hours of “sleep” in their trees before they reappear – completely refreshed!

Appearance: Humanoid-skeletal figures make of dark wood and black wood grain, despite the wood of the tree they come from. They have 3 fingers and a thumb and dark holes with tiny lights where their eyes would be. They have only a point at their nose and no mouths. They communicate with sweeping movements and dances that somehow anyone who watches can understand, but they prefer to be poetic rather than clear. They are completely hairless but often have leaves, flowers or branches matching their trees decorating their heads. They enjoy wearing clothes but they always leave their hands/feet uncovered. Some bittys prefer wearing masks over their faces to give themselves more decoration and colour.

Powers: These bittys can gift small boons to their caretakers/homes that are in accordance with the symbolism of the tree they come from. (For example: A maple tree is seen as a symbol of balance and the turning of the seasons. So a Bonsai Bitty of this type would be able to help their caretaker ground themselves during a panic attack or even just help them meditate more successfully.) They are unconstrained by gravity and may fly but they cannot be far away from their trees for long periods of time.

At this time I am happy to present FIVE kinds of Bonsai bittys! (If they become popular I have a few ideas for more types!)

Cedars: There are many kind of cedar trees that are plentiful all through the temperate regions of Eurasia and the Americas. They are a part of many religions from Shinto in Japan, to the Traditional Ceremonies of Native Americans. The common symbolism of these trees are protection and purification. “Smudge sticks” are made of cedar branches often used in ceremonies to purify themselves before a ritual or ceremony. Shinto priests use cedar branches to purify offerings/themselves for the same reason! A Cedar Bonsai Bitty prides himself on the protection of their caretaker and their home! Impure spirits avoid homes with a Cedar Bitty to search of easier prey, and the air in your home is noticeably cleaner than others - helping people with allergies to dust/dander. Cedars consider themselves “warriors” so they often like to carry weapons and wear armor / warrior masks. Again they are common among many cultures in the world so they are very diverse in their costuming!

Ginkgo: Ginkgo trees are famous for their hardiness; a famous tree in Japan still stands strong today, in spite of being less than a kilometer from Ground Zero in Hiroshima! They are also associated with health (think Ginkgo Bilbao supplements). They have beautiful green fan-shaped leaves that change to gold in the autumn and is considered a “living fossil” – all the other trees in it’s family have gone extinct over the millennia. A Ginkgo Bonsai Bitty likes to consider themself a healer! Their caretaker and their family/roommates under a Ginkgo’s protection can boast being skipped over when the current “plague” makes the rounds. If they do get sick, people with a Ginkgo in their life they often get better faster – or have less severe symptoms. A Ginkgo isn’t a miracle worker, he can’t cure sickness or disease, but he can help you stand up to it! Ginkgo bittys enjoy dressing up as traditional and modern health care professionals. Lots of scrubs, stethoscopes and medicine boxes! They enjoy jewelry, emblems and other decorations made in the shape of the Ginkgo leaf!

Money Tree: Money Trees are a plant from Central/South America and is often sold with a braided trunk with the leaves only appearing at the very top shading the tree - almost like an umbrella. They are a flowering tree and have the largest flowers of any kind of tree! They are called “Money Trees” after a Chinese myth and are therefore associated with wealth. A Money Tree Bonsai Bitty can’t help you win the lottery – but you might find a $20 stuck in a bush.  Or find a really good deal on something you were saving up for. These little things add up! Money Tree Bittys prefer to wear the colours red, greed and gold – all colours associated with money! They enjoy jewelry, emblems or prints with coin imagery on them. They also enjoy carrying a group of money trees leaves like a parasol!

Maple: Maple Trees are famous for their beautiful changing foliage during the seasons. There are also different types maples from the slim 5 pointed leaves of the Japanese Maple to the large leaves of the Sugar Maple made famous on the Canadian flag – these trees also produce the sugar needed for maple syrup! Although the Japanese Maple is the traditional bonsai favourite, both trees have been used in bonsai before! Due to how beautiful the trees look in each season the maple tree is associated with balance and the passage of time, living reminders of the circle of life and the turning of the seasons. These peaceful Bittys help their caretakers center themselves and promote mental health. Meditating in the presence of the tree, and Bitty you’ve made a bond with, is always more fulfilling. Often they like to dress themselves as humble monks and gurus – people associated with peace, balance and faith. Although some Maple Bittys that are from the Sugar family enjoy dressing as lumberjacks or in the traditional dress of the Native Americans that populate the North-East of North America! (13 Colonies of the USA, Quebec, Ontario and Maritime Provinces of Canada)

Azalea: This brightly flowering shrub is another favourite of Bonsai artist and caretakers. The flowers of azaleas come in many colours but the most popular are the pink shades; other colours include red, yellow, orange, white or purple! Azaleas are often associated with kindness and femininity. The Victorians also used azaleas to symbolize temperance and was used by the prohibition movement. These gentle Bittys remind us that it always better to be kind and influence those around themselves and their caretakers to choose the route of kindness instead of anger. These Bittys are life savers for those caretakers who are in the service industries or deal with volatile people on a regular basis! While most Bonsai Bittys have no gender preference and wear clothes and costumes of all genders - Azalea bittys prefer to project femininity. long kimonos, sweeping dresses, delicate lace and especially floral print! They usually have a floral arrangement matching their Bonsai on their head delicately arranged to look like a hair ornament; often with beads and ribbon accenting it.

Selkie says: I’ve been working on this idea for a long time and it’s gone through a few redesigns since I decided on this one, which I’m quite happy with! These bittys were originally based on @itsladykit ‘s Atypical Papyrus Forest Spirit that I loved so much I wanted a bitty of it. And what’s a bitty tree after all...? A BONSAI! Then I got lost in learning about types of Bonsai and the different styles... Pretty much any tree/shrub can be made into a Bonsai, it really is an art using living materials! I especially love the fruit trees with a full sized fruit hanging off of it! Google it! So cool!

I’d also like to update this post with art someday. I tried making a few prototypes on my own (Maybe I’ll show you someday...) but unfortunately my artistic ability doesn’t match what I want to convey. It was also hard for me to decide on a distinctive style without being too... stiff. And I’ve totally blown my artist commission budget for a while but I hope there’s enough here for you to get an idea of what a Bonsai Bitty would be like!

[havemyoldusername]

My top Doctor Who Episodes

1. The Waters of Mars

I just thought it was brilliant. The story was truly amazing and seeing The Doctor break down like that and truly come close to the Master was pretty amazing. This was The Doctor at his loneliest and at his breaking point from paranoia set into him by Carmen in the previous episode (Planet Of The Dead). Truly captivating performance by David Tennant and the entire cast.

2. Blink

Blink was so interesting in its premise. It was unheard of really to have The Doctor barely present in the episode, but the cast killed it. It was a much better time-saver episode than Love and Monsters (we shall not speak of it). I really loved the story and the Weeping Angels gave me nightmares the first time I watched the episode as a kid.

3. Midnight

People tend to gloss over Midnight when they talk about the best episodes. It showed humans at their worst, The Doctor at his most desperate for control of the situation and a really interesting monster that we never learn what it was, why it did what it did and so forth. I really loved the performance of the people playing the humans on the bus, as their characters reacted quite normally to the situation at hand. No normal person is going to blindly follow a man that says he’s practically more important than the rest of them.

4. Human Nature/The Family Of Blood

Honestly just two great episodes that I linked together in their placement because I really couldn’t split them up. It was clearly written for the Seventh Doctor but it translated really really well to the Tenth Doctor. All round a moving story, Martha really coming into her own and a chilling villain.

5. The Parting of The Ways

Ninth Doctor’s last episode, full of great moments between him and Rose. Lovely farewell, though not as emotional as Ten’s, it was short, sweet, personal and every bit in character for Nine as it should’ve been. Though Nine may not have been ‘my Doctor’, he was The Doctor, and I couldn’t have left this out.

6. A Good Man Goes to War

Though some parts weren’t my favourite, I did like the majority of the story. It was a rather strong episode and it is a good contrast between the others around it. While Season 6 was pretty dark in general, this was one of my favourite episodes from the lot.

7. The God Complex

In a lot of ways, this episode is similar to Midnight. It has the element of an unknown villain right until the last few minutes, humans behaving in a rather practical way and an interesting element of ‘what did The Doctor see?’

8. The Stolen Earth/Journey’s End

Having Ten’s last two episodes of a complete season be full of everyone was a strong move. Normally with a main cast so big, the plot will feel messy, the sets too crowded, but these two episodes were brilliantly done. I loved how it was all foreshadowed beforehand with Donna and The Doctor’s meta-Crisis, Donna mentioning the Bees disappearing in Partners in Crime, and it having a role in this episode, Pyrovillia being lost, The Lost Moon of Poosh, the occasional Rose appearances. Brilliantly done.

9. Journey To The Centre of The Tardis

People skip out on this one a lot. I loved its concept, I loved how it was all contained to one really major set, and it was, I think, in Eleven’s run, to really use the concept of ‘Timey whimey’ and run with it. I loved how it played with time and the intricate details woven into the plot, advancing it further, but I didn’t like how it was all erased to a frustrating degree.

10. The End of Time Part 2

Lucky number 10 on this list goes to the last episode of the Tenth Doctor. It’s no secret that Ten was ‘my Doctor’ and still, to this day, is my favourite to ever grace the role, but this episode holds a special place. The emotional scenes, the drama, the phenomenal acting by David Tennant, John Simm, Timothy Dalton and Bernard Cribbins really amazed me. Wilf was an amazing companion and I wish The Doctor interacted with him more. The Master was just awesome, Rassilon was an amazing addition and I just loved every minute of it. I loved part 1 too, but part 2 just stole the show as a finale to David’s run.

That’s my list.

[lokisgame]

Enchanted Forest [7]

[part 1] [part 2] [part 3] [part 4] [part 5] [part 6]

A moment later, Mulder was looking through grocery bags she left on the kitchen table. The pastrami sandwich was his favourite, there were oranges too, fresh and some juice. The last bag held two Tupperware containers, the kind you use to freeze leftovers. The larger one had a screw-on lid and its’ contents was sloshing. Soup. The broth looked home-made, she must have made it herself, and there were noodles in the other box as well. He found a spoon and tasted it. Even cold, it filled his mouth with richness of chicken and vegetables, just a tad too salty, the way he liked it. Seeing no point in waiting for lunch, he poured it into a pot, lit the burner and sat on the table, waiting for bubbles to come, grateful that the cold didn't entirely rob him off taste or smell. Scent of home cooking spread through the kitchen, making him ravenous.

The day dragged on. Without Mulder around she could focus, yes, but the office felt just a little too cold, too quiet. She went to the crime lab and stopped for a second to chat with Holly from records, but other than that, Scully tried to not think about Mulder. She had definitely too much time to think these days. She came home last night, with an image stuck in her head, of a woman waiting for him in his apartment, ready to care and soothe and share her day with him. She let it play like a movie in head head, trying to understand where the accompanying feeling of dread came from, exactly. The truth was, she didn’t usually think of him as a man, Mulder simply was. In the office sorting through files or arranging slides, on her answering machine with some last minute theory for her to consider as she cooked dinner for one. Mulder lived and breathed his work, to the point of seeming slightly obsessed and infecting her with that obsession over the years, as well. But now that she knew that it wasn’t all there was. If he was ready to take a job as an escort, why wouldn’t he one day find a woman. Swivelling back and forth in his office chair, she looked up to the pencils, hanging like stalactites from the cardboard above her head. One for what? One girl? One night? The phone rang, startling her out of that train of thought. “Scully.” “Hey, it’s me.” Mulder choked on the other end. “Hi, is everything okay?” “Yeah, thanks for the soup.” Stifled cough drowned out her 'you’re welcome', but he didn't give her a chance to repeat it, going straight to business. “I was thinking.” "When you're supposed to be resting?" "I'm multitasking." “Sure," she smiled to herself, humouring him, "what were you thinking about?" "Those previous reports of missing persons, were they filed on the same day?" "Hold on a second." She looked around the desk, until she found a legal pad with familiar scribbles, then scanned through it quickly. "Okay, I got it, yes, just before Christmas." "When?" "Missing on 24th, filed on 26." "Yule," he said as if to himself then shook it off. "Okay, thanks Scully." “Hold on, Mulder,” but the phone clicked, hung up. Scully considered calling back but decided not encouraging seemed wiser. What did he mean by Yule? The pagan festive season? She went to the backroom, where they kept all manner of books and reference texts.

It was late afternoon when the phone rang again. Scully reached for the receiver without looking away from “Pagan History Of Europe,” open in her lap. “Scully.” “Dana, it’s mom.” That made her pause. “Hi mom.” “Are you busy tonight?” “No, why?” “I made pie and Melissa is coming, maybe you could stop by too?” Scully stared at the photograph of a statue depicting three women, facing away from each other. Maiden, woman and crone, the triple goddess. “You think Fox could spare you for one evening?” “Why wouldn’t he?” She asked a little brusquely. “You two are always so busy,” Maggie said cautiously, “and even if, you could always bring him with you.” Pinching the bridge of her nose, Scully took a deep, calming breath. “I’ll be there around six,” then added, just to be clear, “alone.” “Alright, honey.” Maggie laughed, sensing her daughter’s embarrassment. “Give Fox my best.” There was no point in arguing. “I will, mom.” She hung up and looked at the picture again. Past, present and future holding hands. Pagan visions of feminism would have to wait.

Missy caught her, the second their mother disappeared to make coffee. “You never told me, if you enjoyed my gift.” “And I won’t,” Scully said quietly, though she had a few question of her own. “What possessed you Missy, escort service?” “Sex is one of the most basic human needs, no need to be coy about it.” “Yes, but this?” Missy sighed not even trying to hide her exasperation. “Dana, you used the gift card, you should be happy, not embarrassed.” If you only knew the whole story, Scully thought, thankful that everything about her sister’s behaviour told her, she didn’t know about Mulder. “So, what made you do it?” “The thing with the yoga instructor didn’t work out,” Melissa played with the sleeve of her sweater-dress, a tell Scully knew spelled discomfort, “he stopped answering my calls when I didn’t want to sleep with him, so I complained to Abby about how you have to put out to keep a guy interested and she told me that she’s done with that. If a guy can’t handle the wait, he’s not worth it.” “How very Sunday school of her.” Scully teased. “She told me about the escort service, and how they always,” Missy grinned, making air quotes with her fingers, “came through. She said she’s done with causal and now when she feels like she really needs sex, she calls them.” “So she doesn’t date?” “Oh she dates, but it’s more on her terms these days. She claims that men try harder when they have to fight for it. If not, she's not wasting her time.” “That’s really, practical.” “Dana, guys do this all the time. Think they can get laid fast and move on the the next one, no sentiment, and it’s not like it’s a permanent solution. Once she finds the right guy and the time is right for her, she will commit, but until then, she’s Ms. Rabbit. And apparently, it’s true what they say,” she leaned closer, lowering her voice to a whisper, “he can go all night.” “Really.” Scully’s eyebrow twitched skeptically and Missy held up four fingers. “No.” “Yes, and he charges by the night,” she added quietly, “as long as you’re good, he can go on as many times as you want.”   “At a price.” Scully finished, realistic to a fault. “We live in an imperfect world," her sister agreed with a shrug. "So when I heard her story, I immediately thought of you, and how you’re all work and no play.” Scully looked away, not in the mood for the workaholic talk yet again. “Where’s Mulder, by the way? “He’s home, down with a cold,” Scully said, cutting into the pie, “and for the record, I love my job.” “I’m not saying you can’t,” Melissa said, taking the small plate with a large slice of homemade apple pie, “but you could love yourself a little too, every once in a while.”

"Love myself," Scully huffed into her pillow, changing side for the up-tenth time, "I love myself plenty, thank you very much." She closed her eyes and tried to slow down her thoughts, then glanced at the phone, sitting on the night stand. Mulder still didn't call. Nothing stirred in the apartment, not even a drop of water from the kitchen faucet disturbed the silence. TV played in the apartment above her, a baby whimpered in the one below, faint sounds of life in the building sang her to sleep as she warmed and pulled the sheets close around herself and let her mind wander. She recalled the light pressure that came with arms around her, gentle rock of breath, the sound and warmth and feeling, and slowly, sleep filled her bones and thoughts with dreams, floating weightlessly, somewhere where she could almost hear him, whispering on wind. "Dream of me." And she did.

She followed the white fox through snow-covered woods. His white fur shimmered in the sunlight filtering through branches, beautiful. He didn’t run, and she didn’t mean to catch, he was her guide. The calm all around her wasn't silent, a faint hum grew louder, the longer she followed. Listening closer it became a chorus of voices, busy like a beehive, buzzing with excitement. A shift in light to her left caught her eye. Trees changed into people rushing through hallways, binders and textbooks hugged tight in universal language of fresh starts. One girl stood out, a vivd spark among the shadows; smart blouse, no nonsense heels, red hair brushing shoulders with each step, carrying her with purpose. She saw herself, rushing to class on her first day at Quantico, determined, singleminded, focused. So much that she didn’t notice a tall, lanky figure in a dark suit, dead ahead, lost in a report he read while walking straight towards her. She knew the set of those shoulders, the long, easy stride, the lock of hair falling over the crease on his brow. She knew them now, her younger self did not. She veered to the right, barely brushing the man’s arm, walking on, lost in her own thoughts, unaware. He stopped, looking up from the page and after her, as if he caught a scent of something he liked. She knew that smile, the minute shake of his head and crunch of sunflower seed that echoed, even as the vision faded. The fox trotted ahead, deeper into the forest, and she recognised the path, walking without slipping, even if the snow was deeper than the last time. Her guide sprang nimbly over the fallen tree and she followed, climbing, rush mixing with dread over what she might find waiting. The forest thinned and the trail opened to a wide clearing. Long drive cut through a field of snow, leading to a house in the distance; dark, sloping roof, white paneling, high, wrap-around porch. There was a snowman guarding the stairs to the front door, twigs for arms and wire-rimmed glasses resting on a carrot nose. She couldn’t stop the tiny laugh, because it bore uncanny resemblance, to a certain Assistant Director with the FBI. Claws clicked on wood as the fox climbed the steps and laid down, head resting on his paws, calm, green-gold eyes watching her. He didn't run when she followed, slowly, one hand reached out. Three steps away, Scully dared to touch and as she petted his head, his eyes fell shut, asleep in an instant. "Why did you bring me here?" She whispered, and stepped around him to peek inside. It was a home, with a decent kitchen, some dishes in the sink, two mugs on the counter. She tried the screen doors, then the front, both opened soundlessly to a warm living room. Fire cracked and popped in the fireplace as she looked around, dark furniture, thick rugs, pictures and knick knacks. Open staircase lead upstairs, books stacked on steps as if they were shelves, then a light snore drew her attention to the sofa, facing the fire. A couple slept under a blanket, twined and comfortable with years of sharing couches. The man looked softer and greyer, features marked with time, but still unmistakable; Mulder. Scully glanced quickly to the woman beside him and warmth spread through her body. She looked slimmer and age made all her edges sharper, long, red hair tumbling over one shoulder seemed lighter. Time was kind to her features, but that was all she had time to register. Soft, blue eyes were staring back at her, over space and time and four feet of Persian carpet. Her older self smiled warmly, but the arm around her still sensed the shift, drawing her close, forever watchful, unconsciously protective. She brushed her lips over the hand tucked under her cheek, giving the fingers a reassuring squeeze and Scully felt him relax, as if somehow, his arms were around her too. Silent, loving, never apart. The fox sat down at her feet, pushing his head under her hand and licking her fingertips. She ran them through the soft fur, petting his ears lightly before they perked up suddenly. Footsteps came from above, a step creaked, then came a young voice. “Mom?”

Scully woke up with a start, the boy’s voice fading fast, along with memories of the crone's future and the maiden's past. The clock on her nightstand said 3:14 am.

[lexx-mlem-tumblerer]

lONG QUIZ

(btw i edited this so i could report on tumblr and dev art i will leave a link to the dev art one right here ;https://www.deviantart.com/cloakedeclips-qp/journal/LONG-QUIZ-773977454?ga_submit_new=10%3A1543101824 ) 

time started 5:00pm 1. Name : KRW 2. Nickname(s) : luecus 3. Gender: male 4. When do you feel best (morning, afternoon, night) 5. Are you talkative? : yes 6. Tend to find fault with others : no 7. Does a thorough job : yes 8. Is depressed : extreamly and crippling i have a darkness inside me 9. Is relaxed and handles stress well : sometimes depends on my emotional and mental state 10. Is curious about lots of different things : yes ocean space animals you name it 11. Is full of energy : yes absolutely i love to be energized 12. Starts fights with others : if you piss me off 13. Worries a lot : yes 14. Is lazy :no 15. Cold or Hot? 16. Light or Dark? 17: Sweet or Salty? 18. Coke or Lemonade? 19. Candy in Popcorn? 20. Loud or Quiet? 21. Fast or Slow? 22. Soft or Hard :3? 23. Easy or Difficult? 24. Shiny or Sparkly? 25. Vampires or Werewolves? 26. Puppies or Kittens: 27: Rain or Shine? 28: Country or City? 29: France or Fiji? 30. Hamburger or Hot dog? 31. Palm tree or Weeping Willow? 32. Dancing or Painting? 33. Story writing or Reporters Writing? 34. TV or Computer? 35. Face book or MySpace? 36. Windows or Mac? 37. Paint (program) or Photoshop? 38. Bases or Normal Computer Drawing? 39. Computer Drawing or Freehand? 40. Colour or Black and White? 41. :la: or :meow: ? 42.  Anime or Manga? 42. Have a Diary? yes but thats my secret  43. Have a stuffed toy? To be exsact 192+ 44. Used to have one? still 45. What was / is it? hu 46. Have a pet? 2 47. What is/are they/it ? dog and a rtabbit 48. Have an instrument? lost intrest in it and slowly stopped playing 49. Do you have a piggy bank (any shape) ? no 50. Do you own more than 5 computer games? a lot 51. Do you know who Zelda is? no 52. Do you have an ipod or mp3 or CD player? yes 53. Do you have a gaming console? yes ps4 ps3 3ds and a phone 54. Do you have a bookcase? no 55. Do you own a novelty item, e.g. hannah montana gum boots, spongebob umbrella? yes 56. Can you knit? bearly 57. Can you crochet? no 58. Can you sew? i do a crappy job but i try 59. Can you do the can can? what is that 60. Can you play more than one instrument (including vocal training)? yes 61. Can you whistle? yes 62. Can you curl your tongue?no 63. Can you click your fingers? snapping? yes 64. Can you touch type? yes 65. Can you eat chilli? no 66. Can you read books with more than 600 pages? yes 67. Can you crack your knuckles? no and you shoudlnt do that 68. Can you crack your neck? no 69. Can you crack your toes? no 70. Can you crack your fingers?no 71. Can you do the moon walk? yes i love to 72. Can you eat snails? once 73. Can you cook? WIFE MATERAL BITCHES 74. Can you sing? yes i love to sing but i'm stage fright 75. Can you dance? yes 76. Can you talk in chipmunk?no 77. Can you raise your eyebrows? yes 78. Can you raise one eyebrow? idk 79. Can you sing the song banana phone? no 80. Can you eat mayonnaise straight out of the jar? NO 81. Do you like pickles? no 82. Do you like pie? cirtian kinds lemon blackberry and blueberry 83. Do you like mayonnaise? under some circumstances 84. Do you like tomato sauce? yes 85. Do you like candy floss? yes 86. Do you like pumpkin? i love it both carving and eating 87. Do you like asparagus? no 88. Do you like brussel sprouts? never tried it 89. Do you like beans? yes 90. Do you like silver beet? what? 91. Do you like carrots? yes 92. Do you like potato? yes 93. Do you like kumura (sweet potato)? I LOVE THEM WITH ALL MY HEART 94. Do you like tomatoes? no 95. Do you like apples? if made right 96. Do you like bananas? meh 97. Do you like pears? never tried 98. Do you like oranges? meh 99. Do you like mandarins?ok 100. Do you like strawberries? love (SORRY ABOUT SKIPPING 11 HERE) 111. Do you like blueberries? yes 112. Do you like blackberries? yes 113. Do you like peaches? yes 114. Do you like raspberries? yes 115. Do you like nectarines? never tried 116. Do you like music? 117. Do you like classical music? 118. Do you like rock music? 119. Do you like pop music? 120. Do you like rap music? 121. Do you like hip hop music? 122. Do you like techno music? 123. Do you like writing? 124. Do you like reading? 125. Do you like art? 116-125 just to all this i love them all and they are my passion 1. Do you like dancing? not in public 2. Do you like ipods and mp3s? yes 3. Do you like animals? i want to be a zoolagist 4. Do you like wild animals or domestic? both 5. What's your favourite genre of music? .... depression 6. What's your favourite genre of book? horror 7. What's your favourite food? anything from mcdonolds 8. What's your favourite candy? mint 9. What's your favourite book? fahrenheit 451 10. What's your favourite animal? bear 11. What's your favourite season? winter 12. What's your favourite song? Her Last Words - Courtney Parker 13. What's your favourite music composer? none 14. What's your favourite band? none 15. What's your favourite subject? math 16. What's your favourite job? owing a restaurant/bakery 17. What's your favourite career? food truck 18. What's your favourite number? 5 19. What's your favourite day? monday 20. What's your favourite time? midnight/noon 21. What's your favourite breakfast? eggs 22. What's your favourite lunch? pb&j 23. What's your favourite dinner? chickenstrips/steak 24. What's your favourite place to have a date? home 25. What's your favourite website?.... skip 26. What's your favourite shape? cresent 27. What's your favourite colour? purple 28. What's your favourite pattern? plad 29. What's your favourite quote? "there are no mistakes there are just lessons" 30. What's your favourite artist? none 31. What's your favourite author? none 32. What's your favourite outfit? sweaters 33. What's your favourite computer game? anything on nick.com 34. What's your favourite gaming console? play station 35. What's your favourite place to be? home 36. What's your favourite thing to do? be with the ones i care about 37. What's your favourite movie? currently mirrors 38. What's your favourite actor? adam sandler 39. What's your favourite actress? ariana grande 40. What's your favourite movie snack? soda 41. What's your favourite place to watch movies? loudonville theater 42. What's your favourite accessory? bracelt 43. What's your favourite art material to use? pencil 44. What's your favourite place to work on your art? computer desk 45. What's your favourite drink? sprite zero 46. What's your favourite flavour? zero carbs 47. What's your favourite eye colour? grey or purple 48. What's your favourite hair colour? blode :3 49. How many fillings do you have? no 50. How many times have you brushed your teeth today? 2 51. How many followers/Deviations do you have? Deviations: 22 followers: 86 52. How many page views do you have? idk 53. How many people have favourited your work? can't count 54. How many favourites do you have? tumblr: 1,589 dev art: 2,646 55. How many journal entries have you done? 3 56. How many bookmarks (computer) do you have? 47 57. How many things are on your desktop? .... not even ganna try to count 58. What is your desktop picture right now? my dog 59. What is your screen saver of? don't have one 60. What time is it? 5:49 61. What is your computers hard drive called? no clue 62. What's the name of the nearest book to you? twas the night before chrismas 63. Where are you right now? home 64. What was the last movie you watched called? the meg 65. What have you got planned for tomorrow? nothing 66. What are you wearing? shorts and a shirt 67. How many quizzes are in your journal? none? 68. Do you like doing quizzes? yes 69. Why are you doing this quiz? no reson 70. Favourite emote goes here : 🙃 upside down smiley  71. Favourite plz account goes here : no 72. Link to your best picture : no 73. First word that comes to mind? hi 74. What day is it? saturday, november 24, 2018 75. What day is your birthday? march 1st 76. How many days till your birthday? no clue 77. What do you want for a present? a playstation store card 78. What's the best thing you own? my phone 79. What stereotype are you? e.g. nerd, prep, jock, goth : gay 80. What's your favourite word? kohai 81. Why? why not 82. Do you have a cell phone? yes 83. How many contacts do you have? thats personal 84. What is your screen saver on your phone of? stars 85. What games are on you phone? all sorts 86. Is there something important you should be doing while you're doing this test?  no 87. Do you wish this quiz would end? meh its ok 88. Do you have an internet diary? yes 89. Are your nails painted? no i bite them constaly 90. Do you have highlights? no 91. Smoke? me 92. Have a disorder? yes 93. Have drugs? no 94. What did you do yesterday? talk to my boyfrined 95. Do you think anyone who watches/follows you has read this far?  not really i don't really care 96. How many people watch/follow you? i already answered this 97. The first person to watch/follow you was : tumblr: cheexbot devart: no clue 98. Second? tumblr: loverpod153 99. Third?  tumblr: emeraldthefox 100. Fourth? tumblr: teddy-frequency 101. Why are you on deviant art/tumblr? why are you here 102. When did you first start? i don't really know i got both my accouts when  i was about 12 or 13 so idk 103. What's your personal quote? "i've tried to die before and failed and then i realixed i was dead this whole time 104. Operating system? what 105. Hero? ANDREW~SENPAI 106. Favourite cartoon character? spongegog 107. Book character? guy montag from fahrenheit 451 108. Movie character? hmm no clue 109. Pick up the book next to you, page 26, line 8?  can't 110. What do you do in your spare time? this 111. What's your favourite TV show? spongebob 112. I like long quizzes... do you? i'm doing this aren't i 113. Best friend/s? hmm andrew 114. Have you started a deviant art/tumbr family? yes 115. Are you going to? YES I AM 116. Do you even know what that is? not really but thats what makes it fun 117. Has at least one of these questions confused you? yes 118. What season is it? winter going into fall 119. What month is it? november 120. What day is it? saturday 121. What year is it? 2018 122. What species are you? a disgusting specied that destroies everything they need 123. If you were a mythical creature you'd be: diclonius 124. If you were a drink you'd be: sprite zero 125. If you were an object you'd be: a gigabyte 126. If you were a book you'd be: idk 127. If you were a movie you'd be: oculous 128. Are you bored? no 129. What was the last thing you celebrated? thanks giving 130. What was the last thing you posted on deviant art/tumbr ? tumblr: http://lexx-the-nyctofriend.tumblr.com/post/180454801540/when-you-fall-in-love-you-realize-just-how dev art: https://www.deviantart.com/cloakedeclips-qp/art/andrew-773281885 131. Do you do anything for deviant art/tumblr literature? yes 132. Are you a llama trader? kinda 133. Llama trade? maybe 134. How many points do you have? no clue 135. Do you have a donation pool open? no 136. Do you buy your points? no 137. Do you buy art off deviant art/tumblr? no 138. Do you have a premium membership? no 139. Do you have deviant wear? no 140. Are you planning to get a premium membership? no 141. Saving up? no 142. Requests open? allways 143. Art trades? maybe 144. Collabs? yes 145. Commissions? no 146. You you have a skype or IM? yes 147. Online names you've used? lexx/cloaked eclips 148. On your computer what's your user name? guest 149. Are your pillows feather pillows? mix 150. Ever had a pillow fight? yes 151. Are you athletic? kinda 152. Do you do any sports? yes 153. Are you allergic to anything? plants 154. Do you like to try new things? yes 155. Are you planning to enter the most recent deviant art competition? no 156. Do you have a guilty pleasure? ..... yes 157. What is it? come closer closer *whispers* no 158. Your favourite computer font is? none 159. Your favourite word processor? word 160. Do you wear jewellery? yes 161. Do you wear make up? maybe 162. Are you obsessed about what you look like? yes but in a bad way 163. How many accounts do you have on deviant art/tumblr? dev art: 1 tumblr: 5 164. Do you have any posters in your room? a fnaf poster 165. Do you share your bedroom with anyone? no 166. Do you have your walls wallpapered or painted? i want to 167. What colour / pattern are they? umm none 168. Name of book next to you? allready did that 169. Do you have birthday parties? yes 170. What's something weird about you?.... i will dive into that if i get suppot on this post 171. What are your initials? HAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHA no 172. Do you have braces? want to 173. Skin colour? browm 174. Glasses/Contacts? 175. Tattoos?i want to get 3 176. Mannerisms? hehehe i have a lot of those 177. Piercings? plan to get them 178. Do you have a birthmark?  a bunch of dark brown dots on my chest 179. What's your favourite thing for breakfast? eggs 180. What's your favourite website? meh 181. Do you have a crush on someone? yes 182. Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?yes 183. Do you have a secret talent? i can type fast 184. Can you sing the alphabet backwards? no 185. Can you eat a whole pizza? yes about to right noe 186. Can you speak any different languages? i want to learn russian 187. Have you won something at the lottery?  no 188. Ran away? tried 189. Solved a rubix cube? HELL NO 190. Gone out in public in your pj's? multiple times 191. Seen a shooting star? yes 192. Had surgery? yes 193. Gotten lost? yes 194. Broken a bone? yes 195. Been to disney land? no (fuck you jeremiah) 196. Been arrested? no 197. Been to any other countries? yes 198. You are annoyed by? people 199. Your are tired of? people 200. You will always? be shy and weird 201. What country do you live in? usa 202. Do you think you are popular? kinds 203. Are you an only child? yes 204. Who are you gonna tag? @teddy-frequency @myfnafstory @lexyconn @wholesome-bear @shtlordhalo 205. TIME FINISHED QUIZ: 6:20 206. How long quiz took you: 50:00.022 blank: https://www.deviantart.com/gem-313-gem/art/The-GIANT-Quiz-170514475 and for those who don’t have a dev art do what i did and edit it so it can for your needs i hope thats not too much to ask  More will be added to this quiz :D
🙃

[pastelplushie64]

Tag 15 People You Want To Get To Know

Tagged by: @cosmio

Name: Jennifer (You can call me Pastel tho)

Gender: Female

Star Sign: Gemini

Height: 5'5

Laptop Screen Saver: I haven’t changed this in literal years, I love it too much XD

Phone Lock Screen: This, on the other hand, changes quite frequently depending on my most current interest at the time. My interest right now is Panic! at the Disco, so enjoy this adorable Brendon with a puppy!

Teacher Crush: None that I can recall.

If You Could Go Anywhere: Do fictional worlds count? Or going back in time to a certain place? 'Cause geez there are too many places to note XD 

For fictional, my brain is still reeling from the stuff that’s happened in Steven Universe, so that’s in the forefront of my mind right now XD Going to Sonic’s world would be cool too, but the question would then be which world, since Sonic is inconsistent with that detail XD

For time travel, I’ve always been interested in going to the point where Sonic 06 started going into development, just so that we all could find out exactly what happened for the game to turn out the way it did with lots of detail!

Where You See Yourself In 10 Years: Wish I could know XD But I would like to at least be happy in a job that I find enjoyable! I'd also like to be in a relationship, or at least experience a romantic one, by that point.

Coolest Halloween Costume: I own a Creeper hoodie, and since I've really been out of the costume thing for the past few years, I just wore that. And it was sooo satisfying for my lazy ass to just zip up the hood and my face is now a creeper XD

Favourite 90s TV Show: Geez, I'm not sure if I can recall anything specific or anything XD I know I watched a lot of Pokémon when I was younger, but it was at least at the Diamond & Pearl seasons. 

But I think I’ll go with ‘Sonic SatAM’ and ‘Sonic Underground’, since I am a huge sonic fan and I would always change the channel if I saw that they were on XD

Ever Been Stood Up: Forever alone since the day I was born #HugeLonerHelpMe XD But nope, I haven’t experienced that in my life yet!

Favourite Shoes: ...Shoes that are comfortable? I don't know, I'm mostly in my pyjamas, so I don't usually wear sho- WAIT!!!! My bunny slippers! They are fluffy and therefore the best! XD

Favourite Fruit: I don't really eat fruit... I do like strawberry milkshake tho! And orange juice!

Favourite Book: There was this book I read a few years ago called 'Dancing in the Dark' I think, and while I barely remember it, I do recall that it really caught my attention when I was at a point where I wasn't really interested in reading books. So that's something I guess XD

'Egghead: Or You Can't Survive on Ideas Alone' by Bo Burnham is really funny tho, I love the poems and illustrations.

Stupidest Thing You've Done: You are insinuating that there is a singular event that outshines the rest to truly show the level of my stupidity. Oh no, everything I've done has equally traumatised and plagued my mind for forever XD

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So, I’ve gotta tag some people now, huh? Well... I’ll choose @tomaturtles , @caydebug , @blubipbop , @ceciliavonjoy and @sonicshrike ; since I think I know y’all the best in Sontumb (more like you’re the only people I’ve interacted with multiple times in there XD) Don’t feel obligated to do it or anything, but it is fun!

[reyskyber]

That’s a Wrap

Words: 4097

Clarke owns a gift wrapping shop.  Bellamy is terrible at wrapping and of course he leaves it until the last minute on Christmas Eve to bring it to Clarke’s shop.

In hindsight, Clarke should never have left her shop open past six PM on Christmas Eve.  She mentally kicked herself when she heard the front bell ring, indicating a customer had walked in.  She looked up at the clock on the wall, 10:03PM?!  She sighed heavily before stepping out back onto the shop floor.  

A man a similar age to her was stood at the counter.  His cheeks were flushed red from the cold and a scarf was wound tightly around his neck with thick rimmed hipster-style glasses resting ow on his nose.  He didn’t look up when she entered the room, he was too busy on his phone.  Clarke rolled her eyes, not only had he come in to her shop at 10pm the day before Christmas, but he also didn’t even have the decency to give her his full attention.  

She cleared her throat and he looked up, smiling slightly.  He put his phone away and pushed his glasses higher up on his nose.  

“Hi, sorry.  I’m really sorry, I just-” he stopped himself.  “I know it’s really late, and this is the last thing you want to be doing right now.  But, I need your help.”

She nodded at him to carry on.  He pulled a package out of his coat pocket and she had to force herself to hold back the laugh that tried to escape her mouth.  The package was covered in sticky tape with bits of wrapping paper flying everywhere.  She met his eyes again and gave him a small smile.

“Well, they can’t say you didn’t try.”  She joked.  He huffed out a laugh.

“Will you please help me?”  He asked, a pleading look crossing his face.

“Okay, but only because you’re beyond help.”  She replied, smirking.

He came to the right place, she thought.  When Clarke had originally pitched the idea of a gift wrapping shop to her friends and family they’d all laughed at her.  They all said no one would pay to have someone else wrap their gifts when they could do it themselves for free.  Clearly, they had underestimated the hectic lives of millennials and their bad wrapping skills.  Clarke set up her gift wrapping business a few years ago, and though she wasn’t making millions, it paid the bills and she enjoyed it.  Christmas was hands down her busiest time of the year, she usually made more in the month of December than she did in all the other months in the year put together.  And part of that was due to her shop being open at ridiculous hours – like now.

“You want a drink or anything?”  She asked him as he placed the present – which was more a ball of Sellotape with pieces of wrapping paper in-between – on the counter between them.

“No, I’m alright thanks.”  He said running a hand through his dark curls.

“Well, I’m going to get a coffee before attempting to undo this disaster. The Christmas wrap is over there,” she told him, pointing towards the seasonal display.  “And then just take a seat.”  She said before walking back into the break room.

When she returned, coffee in hand, he had picked a paper and was sat at the counter on his phone again. Not that she could blame him really, there wasn’t much to do in the shop other than look at wrapping paper.

“Hey, did you find one you like?”  She asked, setting the coffee down.

“Yeah.”  He said, smiling and pointing to the paper he’d chosen.  It was one of her favourites, it featured a deer in a forest scene, and had taken her ages to perfect the antlers.  The customers seemed to like it more than her other prints and she was proud of it.

Clarke started cutting through the layers of tape on the present, and before long she peeled back the layers to find a box from an expensive soap shop.

“Seems like a lot of effort just for soap.”  She said, looking up at him.  He blushed a little and scratched his neck.

“It’s for my sister, she’s just come back from backpacking through Europe and I made a joke about her not showering for months, so…”  he trailed off shrugging.

“Cute.”  Is all she said.  Clarke took a moment to properly take him in, when he’d walked in he’d been an asshole on his phone, but now he was looking at her sheepishly and she had to admit he looked cute.  His black hair was like a halo of curls around his face and his eyes were that perfect shade of warm brown that she’d always found endearing.  Pair that with the dusting of freckles across his face and Clarke was a lost cause because he was cute and hot.  

Clarke quickly got to work wrapping the present.  She expertly tied to bow and attached the gif tag once it was wrapped and smiled to admire her handiwork.

“You make it look so easy.”  He said, startling her a little.  She often got lost in her work, she just hoped she hadn’t hummed to herself again. She looked up and at his baffled expression and she smiled at him.

“Well, it is my job.”  She pointed out, he rolled his eyes at her.  “What do you want on the gift tag?  Anything special or just ‘Merry Christmas’?”  she asked.

“Uh, just ‘Merry Christmas, love Bellamy.’  Please.”  He said, she nodded and wrote it down on the golden tag.

“There you go, Bellamy.”  She smiled. He nodded his thanks and took out his wallet.  She keyed in the cost on the register.  He paid her and she handed him his neatly wrapped soap.

“Thank you so much for this…”

“Clarke.”  She supplied, smiling.

“Thank you, Clarke.  Really, you’re a life saver.”  Bellamy said as he put the present back in his pocket.

“Don’t worry about it.  I’ve got a feeling you’ll be back.”  She smirked.

“Oh yeah?”  He smirked back and quirked a brow.

“I hope so,” she smirked.  “You’re good for business.”  He smiled back and shook his head.

He looked down at his watch.  

“Oh shit, I need to go.”  He said, jumping up from his seat at the counter.  “Thank you so much again, Clarke.”  He called as he left.

Clarke waved goodbye and then started to pack her things away.  She stretched, trying to ease the pain in her back. She decided to lock the door before any more late shoppers could get in.  Clarke moved her equipment off the counter and put the discarded paper in the trash.  

When she got home Clarke collapsed into bed, tired from a busy week of work.  Something scratched her leg as she rolled over and she found a wedge of Sellotape and wrapping paper from Bellamy’s present stuck to her pants.  She rolled her eyes but smiled to herself at the thought of his warm smile right before she fell asleep.

Clarke thought that would be the end of it.  But the year after as she was tidying away her supplies, in walked Bellamy.  His cheeks were once again red from the cold, and his glasses steamed up slightly as he entered the shop.  A smile broke across her face as she watched him try and stop them from steaming up with his scarf, which was different from the one he wore last year she noticed. He smiled at her as he closed the door. At least this year it was within her normal shop hours, she thought.

“Please don’t hate me,” he began as he stepped up to the counter.  “But, I attempted wrapping again.”

She rolled her eyes and bit her lip to hide her smile.

“How bad is it this time?”  She asked, quirking a brow.

“Uh, it’s just easier to show you.”  He reddened as he took the present out of the shopping bag and placed it on the counter.  Clarke looked down and felt laughter bubble up her throat.  She cleared her throat and tried to remain professional. Bellamy had somehow managed to use three different types of wrapping paper and still have the present showing.

“How did you get worse at wrapping?” she wondered aloud. “Sorry.”  She snapped her eyes back up to him, but he was smiling despite her jab.

“It’s okay, I suck at this.  I know.” He replied, a small laugh escaping him.

“You know the drill, pick some paper and take a seat.  Do you want a drink?”  She asked, stepping back from the counter.  

“Uh, can I just get a black coffee, please?”  He requested and she nodded, leaving him to look at the paper samples.

Returning with two drinks, she found him sat at the counter poring over the design book.

“Hey, did you find one you liked?”  Clarke asks, setting down the drink next to him.  He smiled in thanks and pushed his glasses up.

“These are amazing.”  He said in wonder, flipping through the book.

“Thanks.”  She said, ducking her head and looking down in embarrassment.

“These are yours?”  He asked, his eyes widening in disbelief.

“Yeah, I draw them and then they get sent off to get turned into wrapping paper. Didn’t you know?”  She asked, tilting her head and smiling at him.

“No, but that’s really cool.”  He told her, smiling a genuine smile.  He held her gaze for a couple of seconds before dropping his attention back to the book.

“Do you have any of this one?”  He asked, pushing the book across the desk and showing her the design.  It was a simple design, an autumnal print with various leaves that blow through the wind.  She loved the effect of the shiny rose gold parts of the design and it was one of her favourite non-Christmas ones.  

“Yeah, of course.”  She told him cheerily as she got to work.  Once she’d undone Bellamy’s nightmare of paper and sticky tape she was left staring at a rock.  Don’t get her wrong, it was pretty; it was grey on the outer layer with rings of blues and purples and pinks as it got towards the centre.  But it was still just a rock.  She voiced this to Bellamy and he chuckled.

“It’s a paperweight.  My sister, Octavia, she just got a job in an office.  I never thought she’d like it, but she says she’s loving it.  I thought it might look nice on her new desk.”  He said, reddening and ducking his head in embarrassment.  Fondness bubbled in Clarke’s chest, all she could think of was how cute Bellamy looked when he was embarrassed.

“That’s sweet.”  She told him, smiling.  She got to work measuring the paper.

“So, uh, not to pry,” he started and she looked up, raising an eyebrow. “But, how do you even keep this business afloat?”  

She huffed a laugh.

“I rely heavily on Christmas to get me through the year, but there’s always birthdays, and Valentine’s and weddings and stuff.  Plus, I sell my gift wrap online, so that helps a bit too.” She admitted, shrugging.

“Huh, that’s really cool.”  He told her honestly.

“What about you?” she asked as she folded the flaps on the present. “What do you do?”

“I’m a high school teacher.”  He admitted somewhat bashfully.

“Oh, cool.  What subject?”  She asked, genuinely interested.

“History.”  He replied, smiling slightly.

“You’re not one of those guys that dresses up to recreate World War Two battles, are you?”  She asked, smirking at him.

“Nah, I’m too cool for that,” he replied smirking before sipping his coffee.  “I’m more into ancient history.”  She laughed as she lifted her own cup to her mouth.

“Do you not get bored of wrapping presents?”  He wondered aloud.

“Not really,” she admitted.  “I’ve been wrapping all my mom’s presents since I was fifteen.  She’s almost as bad as you.”  Clarke teased.  Bellamy rolled his eyes.

“So, is that how you started?  Wrapping for you mom?”  He asked. Clarke smiled at the memory.

“Yeah,” she replied.  “My dad always did the wrapping when I lived at home, and after he died she didn’t want to do it anymore, so I said I’d do it.  And it turns out I was alright at it.”

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly.  She looked up at him.  “About your dad.”   He looked like he meant it.  She gave him a small smile as she stuck the flaps down.

“But yeah,” she said quickly, changing the subject.  “I tend to avoid wrapping as much as I can now.  My friends and I do secret Santa so I only have to do one present.”  She chuckled.

“No boyfriend or girlfriend to buy presents for?”  He asked, and she almost laughed at his bluntness.

“Is that just a way of you asking me if I’m single, Bellamy?” She teased, looking up at him.  He reddened again and she felt a tug in her chest.  She bit her lip to keep from smiling.

“But no, no significant other to wrap presents for.”  She told him truthfully.  He smiled a wide smile and she felt herself blush.  She cleared her throat as she tied the bow on the present.

“There.  All done.” She smiled and handed him the gift.

“Thank you.”  He said standing up.  Clarke felt a twinge of sadness, she enjoyed talking to Bellamy and he made the time go quicker.  She hadn’t realised how tired she was until she’d stopped wrapping the presents and was left with the thought of tidying up the shop before closing tonight.  

She inwardly sighed and got to work on tidying up.  Bellamy got to the door and then stopped, turning towards her. Clarke looked up and furrowed her brow in concern.

“Clarke?” He said, stepping back towards her.  

“Yeah?”  she replied, tilting her head to the right in confusion.

He looked down and the tips of his ears were slightly pink, clearly flustered over something.

“CanIgetyournumber?”  He rushed out.

“Pardon?”  She asked, suppressing a giggle.

“Can I get your number, please?”  He repeated, slower this time.

A grin broke out onto her face as scribbled her number onto a scrap piece of wrapping paper.

Three years later found Clarke back in the shop on Christmas Eve, just like the past few years.  The bell at the front rang to notify her of a new customer.  She stretched her neck, and walked to the front of the shop.  A sigh of relief escaped her when she saw Bellamy standing in front of the counter.  

“Hey.”  She smiled and kissed his cheek as he came around the side of the counter to greet her.

“Hey,” he replied.  “I thought you might need this.” He told her as he set down a takeout coffee cup. Clarke beamed up at him.  

“Thank you.  I love you.” She smiled sweetly at him and leant up and pressed a quick chaste kiss on his lips.  He left to hang his coat up and she looked around the shop, mentally making a list of the jobs that needed doing before they closed for Christmas.  

The shop had almost doubled in size in the past couple of years. Bellamy had introduced Clarke to his sister Octavia, and her husband Lincoln.  Lincoln was an artist who really loved to experiment with charcoal and biro pen, Clarke was intrigued immediately and they grew to be close friends over their shared love of art.  Last Christmas she’d asked him to draw a print or two, if he had time, with the promise of any profits they would earn.  Clarke thought nothing much of it, thinking Lincoln would be extremely busy with his other commissions.  He’d surprised her when he arrived the shop with ten new design ideas that she adored. Together, they’d narrowed it down to five and printed them.  They brought them back this year and the customers loved them.  

Their newfound internet fame had helped a lot too.  Octavia had a degree in business and IT, and with her help Clarke had set up a blog and an Instagram account for the prints and the shop. Octavia ran the social media for the shop and it picked up and snowballed, the small shop soon had over fifty thousand followers and Clarke had to relocate to a bigger shop with more storage space.  She missed the old shop, but she was definitely glad of the more spacious office and storage rooms.

When Bellamy returned she was cataloguing the leftover rolls of wrap.  

“Did you wrap your presents for Octavia?” She asked as she took a sip from the coffee cup.

“I made sure to get a present that didn’t need wrapping this year.” He said, smirking at her.

“What’s it taken?” she asked, joking. “Five years?”

“You must finally be rubbing off on me.” He replied, chuckling.  

She set her cup down and moved on to restocking the ribbons.  She was writing out the product code on her clipboard when she felt his two strong arms wrap around her middle.  She leaned back into his embrace and sighed as he kissed her temple.

“How many appointments do you have left?”  He asked her as he rubbed her arms soothingly.

“Only a couple more.”  She replied, giving his hand a quick squeeze.  Due to their influx of new customers Clarke had set up an appointment system for people to bring in their gifts for her to wrap, so she didn’t get overwhelmed with work like she had last year.  

“You don’t have to stay, you know.”  She told him glancing to the side to look at him.

“Yeah, but I want to.”  He told her before kissing her cheek.

“What?  You’d rather surround yourself with wrapping paper than watch one of the many history documentaries we’ve got saved on the tv at home?”  She joked.

“Yeah, I want to spend time with you,” he admitted, honestly.  “I’ve not seen you much this week because you’ve been so busy.”  Clarke felt a stab of guilt, she had been busy this week with trying to juggle all her appointments and the shipments of the orders.  She may have accidently neglected Bellamy she though with dismay.

“Okay.”  She smiled and gave his arm a reassuring squeeze.

Bellamy dropped his arms from around her when the doorbell jingled again. Clarke stepped out of his embrace and went to tend to the customer.

***

Clarke checked her watch after waving goodbye to the customer.  11:45, she sighed and locked the front door of the shop.  Walking back to the break room she stretched before flopping down on the couch next to Bellamy.

“Remind me to never let someone in with thirty presents after ten PM again.” She said as she nestled herself into his side.  Bellamy brought his arm around her and hummed in response.  Clarke chanced a glance up at her boyfriend, he was reading the book she’d got him for his birthday but he looked tired and distant.

“Everything okay?”  She asked him.  He glanced over at her and gave her a small smile.

“Yeah, I’m just tired.”  He said, looking back at the book in front of him.  Clarke wasn’t sure she believed him, but she let it drop.  She wasn’t going to start a fight on Christmas Eve.

The silence stretched between them and Clarke wasn’t sure why.  She abruptly stood just to have something to do.

“I’ll just tidy up then we can go.”  She told Bellamy he nodded in response and she stopped herself from rolling her eyes.  Honestly, what was up with him tonight?  

Clarke huffed about the shop giving it a quick tidy.  She really couldn’t wait to get home and snuggle up on the couch with Bellamy with some rubbish Christmas film.  She wasn’t sure whether he was going to be weird and quiet all night, but she hoped not.  It was freaking her out a little.  He only usually got like this before big events at school like the kids’ graduation and the parent-teacher nights - he got all jittery and closed off.  But school had been out for well over a week now, so she had no idea what had caused it.

Bellamy cleared his throat at he walked in from the break room.  She glanced up to see him hovering around nervously.  Bellamy hardly ever got nervous; she narrowed her eyes at him.  Before she could ask him anything he spoke up.

“I know we said we’d do presents tomorrow, but...” he trailed of gesturing to the small gift bag on the counter.

“We do presents tomorrow because it’s Christmas tomorrow.”  She told him as she stepped towards him next to the counter.

“Technically, it’s Christmas now.”  He retorted, pointing at the clock above his head.  She stuck her tongue out at him, but opened the bag anyway.

A small box was inside with wrapping paper she’d recognise anywhere. It was one of her own designs, it was a water colour design of a winter scene that may have been heavily inspired by Bob Ross.  She’d never painted anything like it before and she’d gushed to Bellamy about how proud she was of it for weeks.  

“You remembered?”  She smiled up at him.

“Of course.”  He said, his cheeks slightly red.

She took the box out and undid the paper.  She looked at him quizzically and raised a brow.  The wrapping paper was all she could see because it appeared to be a ball of paper with tape wound in all directions.

“At least you know I wrapped it.”  He admitted bashfully, a blush crawling up his neck.

She rolled her eyes, and started to work her way through the layers of paper and tape before she could reach her gift.  With each layer of wrapping Bellamy seemed to get more and more angsty and she had to duck her head to hide her smile when she finally reached the present.

It was a small jewellery box.  She swallowed.  Clarke was pretty sure what was inside, but she didn’t want to get too excited in case that wasn’t where this was going. She took a deep breath to shut off her brain before she over analysed everything and opened the box.

She was greeted with a beautifully simple silver ring with a cluster of diamonds in the centre.  The ring was gorgeous, and certainly not earrings, she thought with a smile.  She turned to look up to Bellamy with a grin on her face.

“Clarke,” he said softly.  “I don’t think words could ever describe the way I feel about you, not properly.”  Hot tears were building in her eyes now and her heart swelled.  He took the box from her hand and knelt down on one knee.  Clarke laughed shakily as he continued.

“I love you so much and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.  Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” she whispered smiling.  “Of course, Bell!”  He slid the ring onto her finger and stood up.  Tears were in his eyes too and she sniffed as he wiped them from her face. He peppered kisses across her face and repeatedly told her he loved her.

She brought her hands up to cup his face and gently wiped his tears away with her thumb.  He was staring intensely into her eyes with a look of adoration that made her heart leap.

She stood up on her tiptoes and sealed her lips over his.  The kiss was slow and sweet and Clarke tried to convey all the love that was bubbling in her chest into the kiss.  She sighed into him as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her flush against him.  Clarke tilted her head back to deepen the kiss and she felt Bellamy moan into her mouth when her tongue flicked out against his lips.  Clarke smiled, breaking the kiss before she pulled away. Bellamy tried to chase the kiss, planting a small peck on the edge of her mouth.  He settled for resting his forehead against her while they caught their breath.

“You’ve ruined all our future Christmases now, Bell.”  Clarke teased.

“How so?”  He asked and she felt his forehead crease against hers.

“Well how am I supposed to top this present?”  She asked smirking.  He rolled his eyes as she giggled and he leant down for another kiss to shut her up.

Sure enough, a year later Clarke topped Bellamy’s present when she surprised him with a “World’s Best Dad” mug.  He looked at her quizzically before she announced that they were having a baby.

[agnesfwest90]

Healthy Dinner Ideas Shared By 25 Food Bloggers

You love cooking for your family but lately, you’ve been running out of healthy dinner ideas? Unfortunately, this happens more often than we would like to admit. Many people are too tired in the evening to have any more energy to cook so they choose to eat junk food. But as the name says “junk food” or “fast food” has many negative effects on your health and on the way you look.

Despite what you may think there are tons of dishes that you can prepare that are nutritious and don’t require a lot of time and effort. To help you with this challenge we reached out to 25 food bloggers and asked them the following question:

What are your favorite easy healthy dinner ideas?

We received some amazing recipes that you can read in the post below. Enjoy!

Melissa Eboli – Via Melissa

As a nutritional chef, I have a lot of favorite easy and healthy dinner ideas. One that comes to mind is a basil-turkey stir fry. It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare, and then quickly and then it easily cooks on the stovetop in 15-20 minutes. It can be served over rice, quinoa or cooked with cauliflower rice for an even lighter version.

Another super easy dinner idea is salmon w/ asparagus. You can prep them in under 5 minutes, and then bake them simultaneously in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

One additional suggestion I will give is a plant-based dinner idea, jackfruit stew with chipotle aoli. This dish also takes less than 10 minutes to prepare and cooks on the stovetop in 15 minutes. The one great thing about all items I mentioned above is that you can always have the ingredients on hand to make them in your pantry or freezer.

If you’d like the recipe for these or very similar dishes, please check out my cookbook Let’s Dine In: Healthy Recipes & Tips To Minimize Your Shopping Trips on my website ViasKitchen.com or Amazon.

Jim Mumford – Jim Cooks Food Good

My favorite easy, healthy, and comforting dinner ideas must have these things to be as amazing as possible; minimal effort, maximum versatility and is interesting.

To me, an easy meal is one that doesn’t take a lot of effort or ingredients. Sure, chopping veggies or rolling out dough isn’t *hard*, but it can be taxing, especially if you’re trying to also parent! So, a recipe like my Pizza Soup, which uses the blender as a time-saver, is a great weeknight meal.

Versatility is also crucial to an easy healthy meal. We’ve all been there; an ingredient goes bad, you’re out of something, etc. Having a recipe that can give and take with ingredients is a must for weeknight success. Consider my Pork Bibimbap, which can accept a wide array of ingredients and toppings! This is also super important if you need to cook with dietary restrictions in mind!

Finally, your weeknight winning meal needs to taste amazing and be interesting! Fun, interesting meals keep you going back for more, and make dinner fun. A tip would be to mash up foods to make something new and exciting, like my General Tso’s Tacos!

So, in conclusion, my favorite weeknight meals are easy to make, versatile to meet all demands, and are fun and interesting to make!

Katy Malkin – Learner Vegan

My absolute favourite easy dinner is loaded with baked sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are so nutritious, packed with fibre, and easy on digestion too! Plus, did you know that they stabilise your blood sugar levels, and keep you full for longer?

I choose the biggest one I can find and bake it for around 30 mins. I often have it with chickpea ‘tuna’ for a real protein-packed meal. Simply put, that’s a tin of chickpeas drained and rinsed. You roughly mash them with the back of a fork and mix in garlic, nori, vinegar, and houmous. You could also add salt, mayo, or sweetcorn to taste.

After that, I just add a side salad or steamed veggies. Perfect!

The best thing about this meal is that you can switch it up so easily by changing the toppings. It never gets boring! I love a sweet potato with bean chili, tarka dahl, roasted chickpeas, and scrambled tofu. You can batch make all of these in advance, too.

Top tip: if health is your goal, switch out the butter in your jacket potato for a smear of houmous.

Niki Campbell – The Flourish Group

I often tell my clients to start with their family favorites and then look for ways to upgrade the health quotient.

For example, a favorite recipe might be a rigatoni casserole with ground beef sauce and lots of mozzarella cheese on top.

Take that recipe, upgrade to a high fiber noodle like whole wheat pasta or a high protein pasta like lentil or chickpea. Then, use a leaner ground beef or ground turkey, and cut the cheese in half. Still get the same flavors and comfort with less fat and more fiber.

Another one is sheet pan recipes. These are protein and veggie-focused with some starch mixed in. Start with a healthy protein and surround it with your choice of potato or starchy veg like carrots and then add something green that roasts well – Brussels, broccoli, asparagus.

Luke Jones – Hero Movement

I like eating and I enjoy cooking, but like most people, I’m not always a fan of spending hours in the kitchen prepping meals or deliberating over what I’m going to have for dinner. So if in doubt, I typically refer back to a tried and tested formula:

Half a plateful of veggies: typically some roasted veg, greens, salad, or a mixture of all the above.

A few handfuls of a protein-dense food: tofu or tempeh is our go-to, but we’ll also sometimes include good quality fish and occasional meat.

A carb-dense food: often buckwheat, quinoa, rice or potatoes – typically a cupped handful if I’ve not been super active, but 2-3 if I’ve been training.

A fat-dense food: olive oil, nuts, seeds, or avocado, varying from 1-3 thumb-sized portions depending on activity levels.

Condiments and sauces: hot sauce and light mayo are the go-to if we’re after something quick, or we’ll make a homemade curry, stir-fry or traybake if we have more time on our hands.

Alina Z

My latest creation and obsession recipe is this Truffle Pasta:

1 package of ground Beyond Meat

1 package of gluten-free fresh pasta by Taste Republic (or try Mung Bean pasta by 365 Brand for extra protein)

1 bag of mushrooms medley from Trader Joes

Follow Your Heart Provolone dairy-free cheese

Follow Your Heart Parmesan dairy-free cheese

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sabatino Truffle Zest

Saute ground Beyond Meat beef in a pan while cooking the pasta (this fresh kind only takes 2-3 mins), then add mushrooms and let them defrost and heat up in a pan. Cover with Provolone, then add cooked pasta and truffle zest. Mix all together.

Serve in a bowl sprinkled with parmesan and olive oil. It’s sooo good!

3 MINUTE Chili

⁣ ⁣

Ingredients: ⁣ 1 Bag of Beyond Meat beefy crumbles⁣ 1 12-Ounce jar your favorite salsa⁣ 1 10-Ounce box of unflavored kidney beans 1/2 Cup Daiya cheddar cheese⁣

⁣Combine beans, salsa and beefy crumbles together in pan and sauté for 3 minutes.⁣ ⁣ Drizzle with Daiya cheese, cover for 1 minute to melt the cheese, then serve.⁣

Alex Johnson – Med Munch

Curries are perfect healthy dinners you can whip up quickly when you’re struggling for time. They allow so much variety, allowing you can easily get your veggies into your diet or add some lean meat in for extra protein.

Some of my favorite types of curry include veggie chickpea curries for when I’m on a health drive and sweet potato and lentil curries, which are perfect for those lazy evenings when you want to throw in some extra carbs without overindulging.

Chicken curries are excellent for when you need to lose weight, keeping protein levels high and calories low without making you feel dissatisfied after.

Eggplant or aubergine is also a great alternative to base your curries around. No matter what you go with, you can often cook them within 30 minutes.

Simply serve with a healthy carb like whole grain rice and you’ve got yourself an easy evening dinner you don’t need to feel guilty about.

Gita Kshatriya – Warrior In The Kitchen

My idea of easy and healthy dinner ideas consists of including plant-forward ingredients that are packed with flavors and can be made in minimal time and with minimal mess!

I typically make a batch of quinoa and/or brown rice that I can use throughout the week. I pair that with vegetables and seasonings to create flavors from various cuisines around the world.

To make an Indian meal, you can combine the batch-cooked quinoa or brown rice with vegetables like broccoli, onions, and zucchini in tempered oil with whole spices like whole cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and whole dry chili peppers and ground spices like turmeric, ground cumin, and red chili powder.

To make a Mediterranean meal, you can combine the batch-cooked quinoa or brown rice with sauteed vegetables like cauliflower, zucchini, and eggplant. You can add a simple lemon juice, salt, and black pepper dressing, and top with olives, red onions, and feta cheese.

Those are just a couple of examples of how you can take batch-cooked quinoa and brown rice to a whole new level with each weeknight meal you prepare. Batch-cooked quinoa and brown rice provide simplicity, versatility, and variety when creating healthy weeknight meals.

Lisa Goodwin – 2 Share My Joy

You can save so much time and money while also eating much healthier if you choose to cook your own dinner at home. The best way I stay motivated to cook my own dinners is by choosing recipes that take 20 minutes or less and have easy ingredients.

One of my go-to dinner meals is this 20-Minute Black Bean Quinoa Chili. It is also oil-free, gluten-free, and vegan. One serving contains 450 calories and over 22 g of protein. The beans and the quinoa give this meal a high protein and fiber content which keeps you full for a long time. I love to top this meal with avocado as it adds a source of healthy fat.

During the summer, I enjoy making Italian Asparagus Spinach Gnocchi that also takes only 20 minutes to prepare. This light meal is packed with healthy greens like asparagus, spinach, and peas. I add chickpeas as my lean protein source

Another great way to add more vitamins to a meal is by blending your vegetables into a sauce. In this One Pot Creamy Coconut Potato Curry I blend bell peppers with coconut milk to make a creamy stew. This meal also contains potatoes, chickpeas, and spinach.

You can make it in an instant pot for a super quick and healthy dinner. One serving contains more than your daily need in vitamin C, which makes it a great immunity booster.

Jenny Zhang – Organically Blissful

When I have limited time to spare but want to whip up a delicious and healthy meal for my family, I like to turn Vitamix, Instant Pot, or air fryer for help. With a Vitamix, you can whip up a delicious meal in minutes.

Some of my favorite recipe to make from Vitamix includes hummus, squash soup, and even curry. With an instant pot, you can put your favorite ingredients in, and within an hour, you will have a delicious and healthy meal that is ready to be served while it feels like you spend hours on making it.

Some of my favorite meals to make in an instant pot includes chicken noodle soup, risotto, and fajita.

And lastly, with an air fryer, you can make your favorite comfort fried food healthier. Creating crispy food through circulating hot air, you can save fewer calories and contains less fat—all without sacrificing the taste.

Some of my favorite air fryer meals include chicken tenders, falafel, and salmon.

Sarah Cull – Life In Full Flavour

Whenever I’m feeling that I need a boost of energy or vitamins, I’ll aim for a nutrient-rich salad with a healthy protein. If I’m having meat or fish – chicken, salmon, and squid are my main choices – I’ll marinate it for 24 hours before cooking. It’s a great way to add flavours with herbs, spices, and seasonings that taste delicious but don’t add on too many extra calories.

For the salad, the more colourful the better. Beetroot, red cabbage, olives, mixed leaves, carrot, and peppers are some of my favourites. I’ll try not to dress the salad if possible, adding seeds instead to boost the flavour and add extra bite.

If I’m short on time or know I’ll be running late to get dinner started, I’ll buy a pre-made salad as a base and then add extras to bulk it up. Supermarket salads are convenient but can often lack a bit of inspiration, but as a base, they can be really helpful and a great time-saver.

Lisa Mitchell – Sacred & Delicious

Like most working folks, I’m interested in cooking easy meals Monday through Friday because I often work until 6 or 6:30 p.m. Simplicity and ease are my watchwords during the work week. Vegetarian and gluten-free are essential for my health.

Most meals in our household are vegan, although I do still cook with ghee (clarified butter). According to Ayurveda, the ancient medical and wellness system of India, ghee is considered the healthiest fat for its medicinal qualities.

Here are some of my favorite American-style weeknight meals:

1. Red lentil soup with vegetables. I usually make a homemade soup stock over the weekend, and then it’s ready for this soup. Sauté an onion in the soup pot or better yet, leeks, which are faster. Then cook the lentils for about 20 minutes with vegetables and seasonings in homemade stock, when available.

For an Italian flavored soup, try carrots, zucchini, and spinach with lots of fresh basil and a little bit of oregano. Sundried tomatoes are another tasty addition. You can make the dish Indian-style with cumin, coriander, and turmeric, and a hint of curry powder, it you like. All done in about 30 minutes.

2. A black bean soup is a winner during this cold weather. It can cook all day in a slow cooker with a bay leaf and an onion. Or cook it with a pressure cooker or Instant pot and add seasonings later. Be sure to soak the beans overnight or they will never get tender. Serve over a little basmati rice. Make plenty of that black-bean soup and strain the leftovers.

3. Next day, bake some sweet potatoes and top them with warmed up black beans, avocado, and or guacamole. Maybe a little fresh salsa, too. Yum!

4. With some leftover stock, enjoy a carrot soup with fresh ginger and basil, made creamy with a little almond milk—another 30-minute dish. When the weather warms up, I switch up the seasoning to cilantro and mint with cooling coconut milk. Serve it with some grilled tofu and some sautéed greens or a salad in the summer.

5. Try a gluten-free pasta or pasta of your choice! While the pasta is cooking, sauté one or two quick-cooking vegetables, such as asparagus, broccoli, or red pepper, in olive oil, liquid aminos, and garlic. Place the cooked and rinsed pasta on a bed of fresh arugula or spinach.

Add the veggies and toss with lots of fresh basil and salt. Sprinkle with nuts of choice. A delicious 30- or 40-minute meal!

Elizabeth Girouard – Pure Simple Wellness

The best way to make easy healthy dinners is to use whole food ingredients, prepared simply. Frozen veggies are great to have on hand for easy dinners. They are flash-frozen when picked, so often they have more nutrients than fresh ones.

Shortcuts can save time and energy, like purchasing pre-cut vegetables or mini-versions, like baby carrots or baby potatoes. Sheet pan meals, where all the ingredients are cooked together on one sheet pan, make clean-up easier too.

A client favorite is organic chicken thighs with roasted baby potatoes and baby carrots. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, drizzle some olive oil, and cook at 400 F for 30 minutes.

Another no-cook option is an organic rotisserie chicken over a precut salad, with olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper and garlic. The dressings in the prepacked oils usually have less healthy oils, so it’s best to avoid them. Or, a bag of steamed frozen vegetables, with rotisserie chicken, drizzled with olive oil and hot sauce.

Here are a few other favorite simple, healthy dinner ideas:

Organic Chicken Sausage with onions and peppers

sauté onion and pepper strips in avocado or olive oil with garlic, salt and pepper for 3-5 minutes; add cut up pre-cooked sausage and cook until heated through

Veggie stir-fry

sauté chopped peppers, onions, zucchini, green beans, carrots (fresh or frozen) olive oil; add gluten-free Tamari sauce or coconut aminos, and serve over cauliflower rice or brown rice

Ground beef and mushrooms over zoodles

sauté grass-fed ground beef, once meat is cooked through, add thinly sliced mushrooms and organic tomato sauce until mushrooms are cooked through. Add zucchini noodles for 2 minutes at the end to heat.

Candice Walker – Proportional Plate

If I’m trying to keep dinner under 30 minutes but still keep it healthy and packed with flavor, one of my go-to recipes is a salmon dish, Citrus Thyme Salmon with Pesto Pasta. Salmon is most people’s go-to fish because it’s healthy, delicious, and extremely versatile.

It takes no time at all to cook in the oven, and I serve with simple pesto pasta and steamed veggies. The key to making a healthy, easy meal is combining elements that you can cook all at the same time – for example steaming veggies while the salmon cooks.

Another quick dinner I love is Ginger Scallion Noodles with Broccoli & Carrots – it’s an amazing substitute for takeout when you’re craving it. It helps to have an easy recipe on hand if you want to resist the temptation of ordering in.

Then, if I need something quick and warm, I always make Vegetarian Egg Drop Soup with Mixed Veggies – I use arrowroot powder to thicken it so it’s just the right texture.

It’s a hearty, simple soup that works with frozen veggies like corn and peas, and I use homemade vegetable stock to make sure it’s not loaded with salt and other additives.

Jessica Braider – The Scramble

One of my favorite easy healthy dinners is build-a-bowl nights because they are so easy, flexible, and fun.

Start with a grain base such as rice, quinoa, or couscous, and then you can add any proteins, vegetables, and condiments you like to make the flavor fit your mood.

For example, you could go a southwestern route with black beans, roasted vegetables, shredded Cheddar cheese, and salsa.

Or, you could go middle eastern with chickpeas, chopped raw vegetables, crumbled feta, and hummus.

The possibilities are endless and if you make the base grain and some proteins or vegetables ahead of time, dinner can be ready in mere minutes!

Stephanie Mantilla – Plant Prosperous

My favorite healthy meal is lentil chili.

You can dump the lentils, salsa, spices, and vegetables all into one pot and let them cook.

This even works in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker.

The lentils provide a good amount of protein and you can add whatever veggies you have on hand.

You can serve the chili over a bed of rice, quinoa, or greens for a healthy meal your entire family will like.

Katrina Love Senn

My favourite easy healthy dinner ideas are tasty, quick, and easy. I am inspired by the seasons and like to eat real food.

In Winter, my favourite dinner ideas are delicious, warming, and nourishing. They include thick hearty winter soups (made from home-made broths), Asian stir fry’s, and spicy curries served with Basmati rice, cauliflower rice, or quinoa.

In Summer, as the weather gets warmer and the days are longer, my meals change also.

They are generally lighter using fresh salad greens, herbs, and microgreens. To serve interesting salads, presentation is key. Choose colourful ingredients, served on a long white ceramic plate.

Top the plate with interesting salad leaves. Then, add generous amounts of fresh vegetables (such as sliced avocado, grated carrot, grated beetroot, pomegranate seeds, walnuts etc or roast vegetables) and fresh parsley, basil, and mint, cracked black pepper, and sea salt. In Summer months, I also like miso, sushi, sashimi fish, and Vietnamese spring rolls (fresh).

Antonia Korcheva – Escape Waste

I love making zucchini boats. They are easy to prepare and the filling options are endless. This is a personal original recipe! Here are the steps:

You’ll need one or two zucchinis per person for one serving.

Cut the zucchini crosswise.

Carve each half with a spoon to create the boats.

Drizzle the boats with olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Bake them for 10 minutes on medium heat.

In the meantime, prepare the filling.

Put the filling in the boats and cook for 20 more minutes.

Filling ideas:

Mushrooms with onion and herbs;

Sauteed seasonal vegetables;

Quinoa.

Additional tip: Use the leftover carvings for the filling of the boats or prepare other meals such as salads, zucchini balls, or even cakes.

Cheryl McColgan – Heal Nourish Grow

People love to overcomplicate dinner time, especially when they’re trying to switch to a new, healthy way of eating. One of the first things to determine is what is really a healthy meal…which is not so easy nowadays with the pervasive old ways of thinking still dominating nutrition. Eating healthy can be simple.

After hundreds of hours of research, I’ve determined that a low carb diet free of processed food and added sugar is the healthiest option.

Based on this paradigm, my favorite easy and healthy dinner ideas basically include two ingredients. Combine your favorite protein (bonus points if it’s grass-fed or pastured) with a low starch vegetable. Add some healthy fat or sauce and you’re done!

If you’re really pressed for time or creativity, you can even skip the vegetable, GASP! This would be unheard of in the past but you can make a good case that vegetables aren’t necessary to a healthy diet.

Some specific examples of this type of meal are a perfectly cooked grass-fed ribeye with some asparagus roasted in olive oil. Another great choice would be a one-pan meal of pastured chicken thighs and brussels sprouts cooked in butter. Particularly if you’re trying to lose weight, this dinner method will keep you on track and simplify healthy eating.

Youmna Rab – Sustainably Yours

My favourite, easy healthy dinner ideas are ones that can be made in less than 20 minutes and create very few dirty dishes. When it comes to cooking, having to wash tons of dirty dishes automatically makes an easy dinner much harder. Dishes that can be made in one pan are the best way to go.

The easiest one-pan dinner I make is pesto ravioli. All you have to do is heat up frozen ravioli, cut some veggies and mix it all together on the stove with pesto! Most frozen food isn’t considered healthy, but ravioli can be if you add pesto and lots of vegetables.

Another great easy vegan option is a barbecue chickpea wrap. All you have to do is heat up canned chickpeas in barbeque sauce and wrap it in a tortilla with your favourite vegetables. Lettuce, tomatoes, and onions are great options that pair deliciously with chickpeas. Spread some hummus on the tortilla as well to add some more flavour.

These two healthy dishes are favorites that can be made in less than 20 minutes. To spend less time in the kitchen, cut up vegetables while everything else cooks.

Stephanie Harris-Uyidi – Posh Pescatarian

Soups, Chowders, and Stews

I love turning to soups, chowders, and stews as quick and healthy dinner options. This way, you can easily combine a medley of veggies, legumes, and spices to create a healthy but flavorful meal.

Soups, stews, and chowders provide home cooks the opportunity to experiment with flavor combinations. From a Mireproix mix (sauteed celery, carrots, and onions) to coconut milk to kale to lentils to lemons, the options are endless!

Some of my favorite recipes include Cauliflower, Coconut & Orange Lentil Soup, Wild Salmon & Tuscan Kale Chowder, and One Pot North African Fish & Chickpea Pescatarian Stew.

Salads

Salads are another great healthy dinner option, and it doesn’t have to be limited to Caesar! You can add veggies, fruits, protein, cheese, and nuts to your dish for added flavor and variety.

I love going back to many of my recipes that are now staples in my diet, including Elote Grilled Mexican Street Corn Salad, Salmon Bacon Salad, Spicy Yucatan Fruit Salad, and Wild Tuna Salad.

Laura Poe Mathes

When putting together quick and healthy dinners, I like to use a basic template to make sure my family gets the nutrition they need while also keeping it simple: every dinner has a protein (usually meat), a vegetable and a whole grain or root vegetable. Fill in these blanks with whatever is on hand and you are on your way to a healthy dinner.

For example, some of my favorite nutrient-rich and delicious dinners are: tacos with ground beef and beans on corn or whole wheat tortillas with plenty of veggie toppings; Thai laab, a dish of ground pork, seasonings and vegetables served in lettuce wraps, with brown rice; curry or stir fry with whatever meat and vegetables need to be used up in the fridge, on a bed of sweet potatoes or brown rice.

Finally, breakfast-for-dinner, the ultimate dinner-saver–I will typically make a cheese and veggie frittata or omelette and serve with whole grain sourdough bread when we are really short on time to throw dinner together.

Don’t be afraid to experiment and try to do as much meal planning as you can ahead of time so your healthy dinners come together quickly and easily.

Shruthi Baskaran – Urban Farmie

My favorite healthy dinners are plant-forward, vegan or vegetarian versions of simple African stews.

Say, for instance, Efo Riro, a hearty Nigerian spinach stew cooked using a red pepper and tomato puree, as well as umami-rich elements like mushrooms and tahini.

Or a warm bowl of Ethiopian Atakilt Wat, a cabbage stew made with pantry staples like potatoes and carrots, and oil infused with simple spices.

These dinners are hearty, comforting and nutritious, and easy to make at home even when I’m busy!

Jenna Passaro – Sip Bite Go

As a parent, I know how important it can be to throw a quick and easy dinner together. Make a delicious 30 minute or less chicken dinner with inspiration from this recipe.

Here these perfectly cooked chicken breasts are served with an easy avocado and vegetable salad. You can make a simple chicken dinner like a restaurant would make – right at home.

Need a vegetarian option? These easy baked buffalo cauliflower bites are an addictive meatless buffalo wings alternative. This vegetarian chicken wing alternative is a favorite in my house for game day and using up leftover cauliflower.

If you’ve heard of cauliflower buffalo bites, you’ll find this recipe is a little different. The addition of red onion makes these buffalo cauliflower bites taste more gourmet. Find the recipe here.

Marissa Schaumloffel – Over The Spoon For

My favorite easy and healthy dinners are any options that I can use whatever I have on hand.

I either turn leftover vegetables and potatoes into a baked frittata or create a Buddha Bowl with a rice or quinoa base.

These allow me to fill up on protein, fiber, and healthy fats and use what I already have rather than going to the store after work.

I cook rice or quinoa in the rice cooker in about 20 minutes while I cut up any vegetables.

I love to add different sauces to make the meals different and flavorful.

Thank you so much to all the experts that have contributed to this expert roundup! If you want to help more people improve their health and their diet then please share this post with your friends and followers so we can spread these healthy dinner ideas.

source https://nutritiondietnews.com/healthy-dinner-ideas/ source https://nutritiondietnews.blogspot.com/2021/02/healthy-dinner-ideas-shared-by-25-food.html

[sheilatakesabow]

20 questions tag game

Rules: answer 20 questions and tag 20 people

I was tagged by @philosopherking1887, thank you dear! And sorry for being so late in doing this.

1. Name: Selene

2. Nickname: don’t have one, my friends in Italy call me Sele, which is just an abbreviation of my name.

3. Zodiac sign: Leo

4. Height: 1.58cm/5′2” on my ID card, but I think I’m even shorter in reality, like 1.56cm or so.

5. Orientation: ace, might be demi. Still, in the ace spectrum.

6. Nationality: Italian, San Marino.

7. Favorite fruit: Raspberries and blueberries.

8. Favorite season: Summer and Autumn are those I like the most, but I need the alternation between seasons, so in the end all seasons please me when they come. I find Spring depressing though.

9. Favorite book: Oh dear, that’s a hard question. I don’t have a singular favourite one, there are several books that have been important to me in certain periods of my life. There are many classics I love, and I’m particularly fond of Nausea by Sartre. I also love Medieval literature.

10. Favorite flower: I actually never gave much thought to that, even though I like flowers in general. I particularly like sunflowers, irises, orchids and lilies that I can think of... but there are probably other flowers I love that I’m forgetting about at the moment.

11. Favorite scent: for candles, soaps and the like I love vanilla, berries and almond + honey.

12. Favorite color: lime green, black and red.

13. Favorite animal: CATSSSSS, as if it weren’t clear from my blog...

14. Coffee, tea or hot chocolate: coffee for necessity, tea and hot chocolate for pleasure. I need coffee in the morning, so I drink it every day for breakfast in my cappuccino. As for hot chocolate I like it but I don’t drink it often, while I enjoy tea more but don’t drink too much of it either because it makes me go to the toilet every five minutes. xD

15. Average hours of sleep: I don’t know for sure, since I usually wake up multiple times during the night. Usually I go to bed around 23 (11 p.m.) and put an alarm at 9 in the morning, but waking up saveral times I don’t know how many hours in a row I manage to get actual sleep.

16. Cats or dogs: Cats always and forever. Cats are everything.

17. Numbers of blankets you sleep with: three at the moment, the 3+1 IKEA duvets plus a blanket on top.

18. Dream trip: there are many places I would love to visit around the world, such as the whole of Europe, especially the Northern part, and Japan, which are my priorities.

19. Blog created: I don’t remember, end of Winter/beginning of Spring 2014. I created and deleted a blog so many times in that period that I’m not even sure when I finally managed to create this one without deleting it after a few hours. I still don’t know how to see when the blog was created on this site so...

20. Number of followers: I need to check this one. As of now 2149 people, to whom I apologise for my blog that has now turned into 45% Thorki, 45% Victuuri and the usual 10% cats (not that I’m apologising for the cats, never).

Tagging: everyone interested in doing this, I’m always eager to learn more about my followers. :)

[garmmy]

appmon afterthoughts

appmon is finally over! it’s been a great journey. ;v; i drop shows easily when watching them week by week so i prefer binge-watching them at once, so appmon is the first show of this length that i managed to watch as it aired all the way through! (i dropped off somewhere in neovamdemon’s arc when trying to keep up with xros wars, haha. i did go back and finish it after that though!)

my personal preference of seasons: frontier > adventure > *appmon* > savers > 02 > hunters > tamers > tri > xros wars (as usual i still love all the seasons!! this is just if i had to rank them. i won’t deny that the 7 death generals arc was a bit of a drag for me though..)

here are my (LONG and incoherent) thoughts after watching the series, spoilers under the cut.

characters: - gosh i love the main cast so much!! ;v; i’m also glad that the appmon get a fair amount of characterisation and focus too (though still not as much as their human buddies), i feel there are times when digimon gives focus to the humans but in turn sacrifice some of the focus that their monster partners get. - i live for character interactions, so while i’m glad that haru/eri/astra interact with each other a lot, it’s a bit disappointing to see how little interaction rei and yuujin get with eri and astra. :( and hackmon never really interacts with the others much, or at all..i like hackmon, but it’d be nice to see him talk to someone other than rei for once. - i love the character growth in this season so much ;; possibly just behind frontier. eri and astra’s growth wasn’t as overt possibly due to how they express their personalities, but they throw a lot of it about the ‘filler’ eps and it all comes together really nicely. haru gets visibly stronger and more confident throughout the show, and rei’s change in reaction to his applidrive’s “are you alone?” question alone says so much. - on that note, i LOVE how they handled yuujin’s question (would you give your life up for a friend). in the end, it’s not those flashy scenes where you take a fatal hit for someone, but yuujin giving his life up not just to save humanity, but more importantly to save haru from having to shoulder the heavy burden of actually making the choice to kill yuujin. i thought that was a really powerful scene and it really got to me. - (shipping) haru and rei...i don’t care if it’s romantic or platonic or whatever i just love seeing them interact so, so much. people who know i like other pairs like seliph/ares, aichi/kai, etc...it’s the same pattern, nice pure boy gets the brooding edgy jerk to open up. i am a predictable person lol

story: - there are a lot of fillers. (but what is a digimon season without fillers?) i like fillers myself (probably why i like hunters when many people hate it), but i read the wtw comment threads every week and you get tons of complaints every time it hits a filler ep, and i can somewhat understand their frustration. appmon can be a drag to watch if you’re the kind who hates fillers. (i don’t deny a few fillers like the maripero ep did bore me though) - appmon does handle the main plot progression better than hunters though, despite the still whack pacing, and the fillers still tend to have nice character bits/growth. i love hunters but i won’t defend its absolute disregard for plot then trying to cram everything in at the last minute haha. still there are a number of unanswered questions..while i do agree that not all questions necessarily need answering, they can still provide deeper insight to characters. - personally, i liked how they kept the lightheartedness of the story while touching on salient AI-related issues. but while they bring up some very interesting issues, i don’t feel like they addressed them satisfactorily (at least from my pov)? leviathan’s aim with the humanity applification plan was to eradicate problems like conflict, disease, and human error from humanity, which is in a way even backed up by haru’s grandpa, who mentions “being data is great! without a physical body, one has no need to worry about injuries or sickness”, coming from someone who died in part because of sickness. you can see where the protags are coming from, but they never really address these ‘benefits’ of the humanity applification plan and how the benefits of not going through with the plan would outweigh the benefits of going through. - app-fusion might work well as a game mechanic, but i think it only serves to detract from the story in the anime, at least the way it is right now. for two series whose evolution is centred around fusion, xros wars handles fusion much better, utilising more creativity in both using and fusing the ‘fodder digimon’. appmon just tends to forget its fodder appmon exist. i personally think that appmon would be better off if its app-fusions were treated as simple evolutions instead (that’s pretty much how they treat the buddy appmon anyway; globemon is pretty much treated as ‘evolved gatchmon’, rather than an actual fusion of dogatchmon and timemon), that way you don’t get the nagging feeling that the fusion fodder appmon are just..fodder. - speaking of app-fusion, i have to say i personally prefer the more emotion-driven evolutions from the earlier seasons, rather than the evolutions achieved by getting the correct chip as we see in appmon. it makes sense from a gameplay perspective, but in context of the anime it feels..less impactful, i guess? i just always love seeing the bonds between the humans and their partners get tested, and become even stronger. - on an unrelated note, i find it funny that the show has a subplot involving two computer genius brothers and the cicada 3301 thing, mainly because i have a FDD story centered around the same idea (that i don’t make progress on at all. it probably looks like an appmon ripoff now but i don’t care haha)

designs: - i love the standard grade main appmon designs, they’re all so cute ;w; they have this distinct style in mind and i think they pulled it off well. (i’ve warmed up to musimon’s design A LOT from when he was first revealed, but i do still think it could be slightly less cluttered) - the ultimate grades are PERFECT, they’re some of my favourite digimon designs and possibly one of my favourite ‘group’ of designs out of protagonist digimon!! (possibly only bested by the frontier beast spirits and maybe the savers ultimates/tamers adults? haha) i just...yes. they’re amazing. i love them so so SO much - i’m not a fan of the direction they took with the god grades (maybe because i love the ultimate grades too much lol). all the gold didn’t sit too well with me either, maybe because we already had so much gold in xros wars? i do think they make great ‘final forms’ for the protagonist mons, but personally i still greatly prefer all their other forms to their god forms. i’m a bit more partial to hadesmon than the others because i LOVE jesmon, but hm...hadesmon still looks a lot more gaudy..like jesmon’s gaudy little brother. hahaha - i think the level system is a nice simplification from digimon. hopefully this means we can see appmon in future digimon games..they would be easier to implement than xw digimon anyway, haha;;

animation: - like many others i was skeptical about the making of higher-grade appmon 3DCG at first, though it eventually grew on me. the fights between 3DCG appmon were nicely done, but seeing the difference in animation between the 2D characters and 3DCG appmon was jarring, especially in shots where they’re together, mostly because of the framerate..the 3DCG appmon are animated on 1s? while the humans are animated on 3s like normal anime, it’s a big difference. thankfully most 3DCG fights don’t bring in the humans much. - the models/3D animation are still pretty well done! and i appreciate that they didn’t render them cel-shaded like what most anime do with 3D models (i remember translating the appmon interview mentioning why they did this, before appmon started airing; i was skeptical but now i can see what they were going for and i think it turned out well!) - after watching appmon i think 3DCG is a nice move for toei though, because we all know toei’s animation quality...could be better? hahaha. but i find toei’s weakness isn’t so much layout/choreography, but more of sometimes poorly-drawn frames, bad timing, or too little inbetweens, some of which are solved with 3DCG. you can especially see the contrast with digimon tri’s fight scenes; highly detailed digimon like jesmon for example would’ve benefited greatly from 3DCG, i know how painful it is to translate all of its details to 2D animation but as you can see it results in quite a number of not-as-nicely drawn frames. - special mention to charismon because i really like how he was modeled/rigged. those eyes!! can you imagine duskmon in 3D doing that and with those creepy sound effects too. - i’m not a huge fan of the palettes used in the AR-fields..(i didn’t like how the digiquartz was depicted that much either, and their depictions are quite similar so yeah) i can definitely see the effect they’re going for, but it felt more ‘kiddy alien-ish’ than ‘digital’ to me.

music: - i found the music quite ok (i liked DiVE!! and BE MY LIGHT though!), but i guess it didn’t match up to my personal tastes as much :x sadly appmon might be the lowest of the digimon seasons when it comes to music for me, i liked that endings are back! but the songs themselves didn’t captivate me as much as the previous seasons’ ending songs did. - on that note i’m glad they put in an insert song though! i guess i’m just really big on insert songs in digimon because as a kid i printed out the lyrics to brave heart and the other evo songs and loved singing along when they played in the show. lol - i remember complaining about this when the first episode aired, and my opinion still hasn’t changed 52 eps in. i CANNOT stand the applidrive voice at all hahaha (and the speed-up effect they use when app-linking/fusing) - the character songs are cute!! i’m personally really glad they decided to make them :) - the background music was pretty nice and had some memorable tracks..i’m not quite sure how i’d compare it to the rest? i liked all the soundtracks so far, though xros wars’ and frontier’s osts stood out especially for me.

[sunflowersbymonet]

the charming and clever @semantictheory has tagged me in an introductory survey sort of thing which generally would take me ages to get around to but hurricane ophelia has cancelled all my remaining lectures and if I go outside I will be blown away like a little autumn leaf in the 70 mph wind and on top of that we have had no wifi for four days so I am BORED.

I’m tagging @futchdreamgirl​ @waltermeadows​ @safetosea​  @wretchedcrone​ @asfierceaswerewolves​ if they wish!!!

01. name: megan (which I never used to like much until I heard it pronounced in a welsh accent LORD it’s cute)

02. nicknames: meggie, nutmeg, hobbit (I’m not a fan of any of these, someone get me some new nicknames)

03. zodiac sign: gemini sun/aquarius moon/libra rising (ALSO taurus venus which clashes beautifully with all those air signs, explains a lot about my love life)

04. height: five foot one and only sometimes crying

05. orientation: in the words of scrub’s immortal the todd, I appreciate beauty regardless of gender

06. nationality: american with predominantly irish/english/german heritage plus a bit of danish/swedish, of which I received nothing, genes-wise

07. favorite fruit: fight to the death between green grapes and apricots except in the summer when strawberries are the best and the only

08: favorite season: autumn but late spring is a v close second!

09. favorite book: this changes constantly! my new current favourite is heart’s blood by juliet marillier (I honestly can’t describe how amazing it is) but my top five old standbys are enemy brothers, the little prince, good omens, the book thief, and pride & prejudice.

10. favorite movies: about time (makes me cry like a mf’er but still), amelie, hot fuzz, the princess bride, god help the girl, penelope, pride & prejudice (2005), clue… to name a few!

11. favorite scent: french lavender, fresh brewed coffee, second hand book shops, autumn bonfires, the ocean on a stormy day.

12. favorite color: sage green and lilac purple to soothe, and true vibrant red to inspire with confidence

13. favorite animal: cats & corgis & puffins!

14. coffee or tea or hot cocoa: long answer is each of them at specific times - coffee in the morning, tea (and decaf coffee) in the afternoon, hot cocoa (and coffee with baileys) when I’m feeling christmasy and/or decadent. short answer is COFFEE WILL DO, ALWAYS

15. average hours of sleep: around six probably

16. favorite fictional character: too many to count but the ones I’ve loved for years are robin hood (refuse to believe he’s completely fictional though, and tbh I might love marian even more), gareth beaumains, dym ingleford, elizabeth bennett, and peggy carter.

17. number of blankets to sleep with: one fluffy duvet & one woolly throw blanket

18. dream trip: going back to edinburgh and STAYING there also doing a grand tour of continental europe w/o worrying about funds or entertaining travelling partners who DON’T want to spend thirteen hours straight in the louvre (unlikely but I’ll make it happen someday)

19. blog created: fuck, years ago (I think 2012?)

20. number of followers: more than 1k, less than 2k, entirely too many for the bit of a mess blog that I have

21. random fact: the aldi saver brand jaffa cakes are the best ever made, far surpassing mcvities, and I regret that I know this bc they cost 32 p for a dozen and are a mere five minute walk away from me. check back in january when I’ll have eaten so many jaffa cakes that I begin to resemble one 👍

[guitarpanda8]

8 Amazingly Easy Summer Recipe Ideas With 10 Minutes Prep!

These recipes are brought to you by Woolworths.

Want to make the most of summer? These 8 easy recipe ideas will have you enjoying your time outside the house but still eating well. Think a crowd pleasing 6 layer salad; refreshing Limeade; polenta & parmesan fries with pesto aioli; my favourite ever chicken salad (and I mean it, pinky swear); Nashville Hot Chicken with maple and waffles and to finish a quick freeze Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream Cake! Best of all these take between 5-15 minutes prep thanks to some smart shopping!

For me, while I love to cook, you may have noticed that my summer recipes are simpler. That's because I don't want to spend too long in the kitchen. I'd rather be out with friends. Winter is another matter where I braise and roast for hours and stay indoors reading or watching movies while waiting for summer to reappear. But summer is really an outdoor season.

6 layer salad to feed a party!

That’s why I’ve come up with some quick and easy Summer recipe ideas using Woolworths’ ready made products. Because sometimes you want to cook something that takes 10 minutes prep but you know me, I like to fiddle with things. And you shouldn't have to sacrifice flavour or taste in order to save time. And here I show that you can use ready made items to come up with canny shortcuts to make a yummy dish!

My favourite ever chicken salad

If I could do one thing it would be to be able to control time. Because I feel like I'm in a constant battle to do things while fighting time. By the time the end of the day rolls around I really wonder where the time went.

Quick Freeze Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream Cake

The other night I was up late-much later than I wanted to be. You know those times where you just wish you were home in bed? I was out at dinner and I was bone tired and they had cleared out dessert plates. And sometimes when I am tired I get sort of tired tipsy. I'm not actually tipsy but I feel like it. I get sort of delirious.

Refreshing Limeade

We were all eager to leave but one guy had gone to the bathroom and been gone for so long we had almost forgotten about him. And I think I almost dozed off and when I woke up I was thinking, "What are we waiting for???"

DIY Peanut Butter and Salted Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches

Except I blurted it out loud. Like very loud. I only realised that I had actually spoken out loud when everyone turned to me. I honestly try and be polite most times but when I get tired, things fly out of my mouth.

Nashville Hot Chicken & Waffles with Maple Syrup

"Did I say that out loud?" I whispered to my seat mate. She nodded laughing. Thankfully our host didn't take offence as I think he too was wondering where he had gone and he too wanted to be home in bed too.

Smoked Beef Brisket with quick Japanese Potato Salad

So while I usually offer you from scratch recipes there are times when shortcuts and time savings helps. Sometimes you just don't have the motivation or means to smoke an entire beef brisket and sometimes you do. But save these recipes for when you are short of time. And don't get delirious tired like me ;)

So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever blurt out things? Do you get a bit delirious when you are tired? And do you ever wish you could control time?

Polenta and Parmesan Chips with Pesto Aioli

My Favourite Ever Chicken Salad

All Original Recipe ideas by Lorraine Elliott

This is one of my favourite salads and a real crowd pleaser if you're taking it to a picnic or a gathering. Even though I'm not a huge celery fan, it earns its place in this salad by adding a fantastic crunch along with the walnuts.

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 0 minutes

Serves: 6-8 (perfect for a crowd)

1 Woolworths Macro free range roast chicken

1 green shallot, sliced

3/4 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1-2 sticks celery, chopped

1/4 cup chopped sweet pickles

3 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon

2 tablespoons sesame seeds toasted

Step 1 - Remove the meat from the chicken-you should get around 3.5-4 cups of chicken meat. Mix this along with the rest of the ingredients together in a large bowl. Serve with greens or on its own.

Refreshing Limeade

If you've ever baulked at the cost of limes but love citrus drinks like limeade these frozen lime slices are perfect to keep in your freezer. They come already sliced up so all you do is muddle them in a light sugar syrup. This is utterly refreshing and perfect for a hot day!

Makes 1 litre Limeade

Preparation time: 7 minutes

Cooking time: 7 minutes

1 cup water

1/2-2/3 cup white sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)

1.5 cups Woolworths Frozen Lime Slices (freezer section)

Caviar beads from 2 finger limes

750ml soda water, chilled

Step 1 - Boil the water with the sugar until the sugar has dissolved. Add the lime slices and cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat and muddle using a French rolling pin or end of a thick wooden spoon. Allow to cool completely.

Step 2 - Pour into a large 1 litre jug along with finger lime caviar and top up with soda water.

Polenta & Parmesan Chips with Pesto Aioli

Like a lower fat version of hot chips, these polenta and parmesan chips are just like at your favourite restaurant. Baked rather than fried they are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. I'd even suggest making double for a crowd they're that good.

Preparation time: 3 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Woolworths Polenta & Parmesan Chips (250g, freezer section)

1/4 cup Woolworths Garlic Aioli

1 tablespoons Woolworths Select Pesto Basil

Parmesan cheese for sprinkling

Basil leaves for decoration

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 200C/400F and line a baking tray with parchment. Place chips in a single layer and bake for 15 minutes or until crispy.

Step 2 - Meanwhile mix the pesto and aioli and place in a small side dish. Grate parmesan cheese on top, add basil leaves and serve with the pesto aioli.

Six Layer Salad

The perfect entertaining salad, this six layer salad melds fresh vegetables and potato, quinoa and bean and pasta salads. This is a real time saver and can feed up to a dozen people as part of a spread.

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes

Cooking time: 0 minutes

800g Woolworths Potato Egg And Bacon Salad

2 avocados, skin and pit removed and chopped

800g Woolworths Ancient Grain Salad

2x200g punnets Solanato Tomato, 3/4 of them quartered, 1/4 halved

2x350g Woolworths Basil Pesto Pasta Salad

300g corn, drained

1/4 cup chives, chopped

Step 1 - Take a trifle bowl and layer the bottom with potato, egg and bacon salad. Add the diced avocado. Then layer with ancient grain salad pressing down gently to create a smooth surface.

Step 2 - Then add the tomatoes-I put a layer of the halved tomatoes cut side facing out and then placed the quartered tomatoes in the centre. Add the basil pesto pasta salad on top of this. Then add the corn on top and then sprinkle with chives.

Nashville Hot Chicken With Maple & Waffles

Now Nashville hot chicken is an entirely different beast than chicken and waffles. Usually Nashville hot chicken is served with a piece of white supermarket bread and not with maple syrup and waffles. But hear me out Dear Reader, sweet goes so well with spicy (think sweet chilli sauce) and while this was delicious without the maple, once I drizzled maple syrup on the chicken it became one of those things that I could not stop eating!

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 45 minutes

850g Woolworths Southern Style Crumbed Chicken Pieces (freezer section)

2 teaspoons smoked hot paprika

2 tablespoons rice bran oil

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)

130g packet English waffles (6 pieces)

250g Woolworths Maple & Bacon Salad Kit or American slaw

Step 1 - Preheat oven to 200C/400F and line a baking tray with parchment. Lay out chicken pieces in a single layer and sprinkle with hot paprika. Combine oil and cayenne pepper and brush it over the pieces. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until done.

Step 2 - Make the salad by adding the cranberries and bacon bits and then add dressing and toss. Just before serving toast the waffles and add the salad and chicken. Serve with maple syrup (it may sound odd but trust me, it's delicious!).

Beef Brisket & Quick Potato Salad

This recipe saves so much time but the end result doesn't show it (honestly you have to try this!). Beef brisket is a big deal. It takes ages to make and you need a smoker as well. This beef brisket is super soft and tender and tastes like it came from Texas. All you have to do is heat it up in the oven for 30 minutes. For the true Texas experience, eat it with your hands, unadorned without sauce.

Japanese potato salad is definitely not on the menu at a bbq restaurant but hear me out. Most of us have probably tried potato salad but have you ever tried a Japanese potato salad? It's amazing! A Japanese potato salad is mostly made up of soft mashed potato with boiled eggs, mayonnaise, onion, carrot and cucumber. It too can be quite a production but I found a fun use for the Woolworths roasted garlic mash. All I had to do was add the mix ins and condiments and I had a divine Japanese potato salad to go with my beef brisket!

Preparation time: 15-20 minutes

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Serves 4-6

2x 750g Woolworths Simply Heat Smoked Beef Brisket

2x 475g Woolworths Roasted Garlic Mash

3 boiled eggs

1 small red onion, finely diced

3/4 Lebanese cucumber, thinly sliced

1 small carrot, shredded

3/4 cup kewpie mayonnaise

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 teaspoons sugar

Salt and pepper to season

Step 1 - Heat BBQ with the lid on to medium heat. Cook the brisket for 30 minutes per 500g of meat. OR cover with oiled foil and roast in a 210C oven for 25 minutes per 500g. Remove foil and cook for 5 minutes. Rest for 10 minutes then slice.

Step 2 - Make the potato salad while the meat is cooking. I find it easiest to have all the ingredients measured out and then you just mix it all up together (don't heat the mash). Season with salt and pepper.

Quick Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream Cake

Ice Cream cakes usually require freezing for a few hours or overnight to set the entire thing. This one sets in an hour as it uses ice cream sandwiches wedged with some peppermint chocolate cream so freezing time is a lot shorter! The decoration is a cinch too!

2 packets Woolworths Peppermint Chocolate Flakes Ice Cream Sandwich (8 in total freezer section)

600ml cream

4 tablespoons honey or sugar

5 Peppermint crisp bars

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Fresh mint leaves to decorate

Step 1 - Line a long loaf tin on the base and sides with parchment. Smash up 2 of the peppermint crisp bars and set aside. Whip the cream with honey or sugar until soft peaks form and then mix in the smashed chocolate bars.

Step 2 - Spread some on the base and sides of the lined tin. Line with the ice cream sandwiches and the smooth some more cream to fill in the gaps and make another layer of ice cream sandwiches. Cover with some more of the peppermint cream and cover and freeze. It should be set in about an hour or so since the inside is made up of frozen ice cream sandwiches.

Step 3 - Dust with cocoa powder and then the remaining smashed peppermint bars.

Peanut Butter Salted Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches

These peanut butter salted chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches are the ultimate easy dessert. Sometimes biscuits can get soft in the freezer but these King of Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies stay crisp as you make them fresh every time!

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 0 minutes

1 litre tub of Woolworths Peanut Butter and Salted chocolate Ice Cream

1/2 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter

310g box Woolworths The King Of Chunky Chocolate Chip Cookies

Step 1 - Leave ice cream out for 5 minutes to soften a bit. Spread peanut butter on the inside of one cookie. Scoop some ice cream on top and press down with another cookie. Freeze until needed.

Source: https://www.notquitenigella.com/2019/02/12/easy-summer-recipes-10-minutes/