#raw dog food recipes

[thedognutritionist]

Royal Canin Hypoallergenic Dry & Wet Dog Food Review - The Dog Nutritionist

Allergies issues step from a unique gut microbiome, and it's ability to deal with non-hazardous things, like grass, chicken, or dust.

By nourishing the gut, you can reduce sensitivity and therefore improve your dog's condition.

However, using a highly processed food, not fresh natural foods, reduces the effectiveness of the therapy.

Not to mention that processed foods do contribute to cancer…

If you want the best for your dog, which you. You don't want expensive vet bills or to be buying overpriced food, learn how to create a simple fresh food diet that works for them.

[healingheartdogs]

I hate that when you say certain meats are dry (fish, certain leaner poultry, game meats, etc) in discussions about food preference people will automatically be like "only if you're cooking it wrong." NO. Some meats are just objectively drier than others because they have lower fat content to keep them tender and moist as they cook. If you've ever had something like duck then leaner poultry like chicken and turkey are dry in comparison no matter how well they're cooked. Likewise, compared to fatty mammal and poultry meat most fish is dry af. It has nothing to do with overcooking it, and I'm not even saying it's a bad thing in general. Just for me personally I don't prefer drier meats and I'd appreciate it when I talk about my food preferences if people didn't just jump right to "you're not cooking it right then". I'm allowed to not like the same foods and textures as you for reasons other than preparing them incorrectly.

[dogfoodpuppiezo]

The Importance of The Best Dog Food: A Journey To Healthier Pets

The Importance of The Best Dog Food: A Journey To Healthier Pets

A Heartwarming Story: Max And His Transformation

In A Bustling Neighborhood In Delhi NCR, There Lived A Golden Retriever Named Max. He Was A Bundle Of Joy, Loved By His Family And Adored By The Local Kids Who Always Stopped To Pet Him. However, As The Months Passed, Max Began To Show Signs Of Lethargy. His Once Shiny Coat Lost Its Luster, And He Often Refused To Play. Concerned, His Owners Took Him To The Vet, Who Revealed That Max's Food Was Lacking In Essential Nutrients.

Determined To Help Their Furry Friend, Max’s Family Embarked On A Quest To Find The Best Dog Food. They Discovered A World Of Fresh Dog Food Options That Promised Not Only Better Health But Also A Happier Life For Max. They Switched To Premium Natural Dog Food That Included Whole Ingredients, Rich Proteins, And Essential Vitamins. Within Weeks, Max Was Bouncing Around The House, His Coat Gleaming, And His Energy Levels Soaring. This Transformation Was Not Just A Change In Diet; It Was A Revival Of Spirit.

Max’s Story Resonates With Many Dog Owners. The Food We Choose For Our Pets Plays A Pivotal Role In Their Health, Happiness, And Longevity. In This Article, We Will Explore The Importance Of Selecting The Best Dog Food, The Benefits Of Fresh And Natural Options, And How To Find Quality Dog Food Online.

Understanding Dog Nutrition

The Basics Of Dog Food

Dogs, Like Humans, Require A Balanced Diet To Thrive. This Includes Proteins, Carbohydrates, Fats, Vitamins, And Minerals. Selecting The Best Dog Food Ensures That Your Pet Receives All The Necessary Nutrients To Support Their Energy Levels, Immune Function, And Overall Health.

Types Of Dog Food

Dry Dog Food (Kibble): Convenient And Cost-Effective, Dry Dog Food Is Popular Among Pet Owners. However, Not All Kibble Is Created Equal. It's Essential To Read Labels And Choose Brands That Prioritize Quality Ingredients.

Wet Dog Food: Known For Its Palatability, Wet Dog Food Is Often More Appealing To Picky Eaters. It Can Also Provide Additional Moisture To Your Dog’s Diet, Which Is Beneficial For Their Hydration.

Fresh Dog Food: This Is A Relatively New Trend That Focuses On Providing Dogs With Meals Made From Whole, Fresh Ingredients. These Are Often Less Processed And Free From Fillers, Making Them A Healthier Choice.

Homemade Dog Food: Some Pet Owners Prefer To Prepare Their Dog’s Meals At Home. While This Allows For Complete Control Over Ingredients, It’s Crucial To Ensure That The Diet Is Balanced And Meets All Nutritional Requirements.

Why Fresh And Natural Dog Food Matters

Nutritional Superiority

Fresh Dog Food Often Contains Whole Ingredients Like Real Meat, Vegetables, And Grains, Which Provide Better Nutrition Than Heavily Processed Options. This Is Particularly Important For Dogs With Specific Dietary Needs Or Those Prone To Allergies.

Enhanced Digestion

Dogs Digest Fresh Food More Efficiently. The Natural Enzymes And Nutrients In Fresh Ingredients Can Lead To Better Digestion, Less Gas, And Smaller Stools, Making For A Happier Pet And A Cleaner Home.

Improved Skin And Coat Health

A Diet Rich In Omega Fatty Acids And Natural Oils Can Significantly Enhance Your Dog's Skin And Coat. Many Dog Owners Notice A Direct Correlation Between Their Dog's Diet And The Condition Of Their Fur.

Increased Energy Levels

Just Like Max, Dogs Fed High-Quality, Nutritious Food Tend To Have Higher Energy Levels. This Not Only Improves Their Quality Of Life But Also Encourages More Playtime And Exercise, Which Is Vital For Their Overall Health.

Finding The Best Dog Food In India

Researching Brands

When Searching For The Best Dog Food In India, It’s Essential To Research Different Brands. Look For Companies That Prioritize Quality Ingredients And Transparency In Their Sourcing. Brands That Offer Fresh And Natural Dog Food Often Have A Significant Edge Due To Their Commitment To Health.

Local Options

If You Prefer To Shop In Person, Searching For “Dog Food Near Me” Can Yield Great Results. Local Pet Stores Often Carry Premium Brands and Can Provide Valuable Advice On What Might Be Best For Your Dog.

Shopping Online

The Convenience of Buying Dog Food Online Cannot Be Overstated. With Just A Few Clicks, You Can Compare Prices, Read Reviews, And Find the Best Deals. Websites Specializing In Pet Food Often Provide Detailed Descriptions Of Their Products, Making It Easier To Choose The Right Option For Your Furry Friend.

The Role of Quality Ingredients

Understanding Labels

When Choosing Dog Food, Understanding the Label Is Crucial. Look For Foods That List Meat as The First Ingredient, Avoid Those with Fillers Like Corn Or Soy, And Check For The Presence Of Whole Fruits And Vegetables.

Importance Of Protein

Dogs Are Carnivores By Nature, And Their Diet Should Reflect That. High-Quality Protein Sources, Such As Chicken, Or Fish, Are Essential For Muscle Development And Overall Health. The Best Wet Dog Food And Fresh Options Often Have Higher Protein Content Compared To Cheaper Kibble.

Avoiding Harmful Additives

Many Commercial Dog Foods Contain Artificial Preservatives, Colors, And Flavors That Can Be Harmful To Your Pet. Choosing Natural Dog Food Reduces The Risk Of These Additives And Promotes A Healthier Lifestyle.

The Cost Of Quality Dog Food

Understanding Dog Food Prices

Investing In The Best Dog Food May Seem Expensive, But It’s Essential To Consider It As An Investment In Your Pet’s Health. Quality Dog Food Is Often More Nutrient-Dense, Meaning Your Dog Will Require Less Food To Meet Their Nutritional Needs.

Comparing Options

When Looking For Dog Food Prices, It’s Wise To Compare Different Brands. Online Platforms Often Offer Discounts And Bulk Buying Options, Allowing You To Save Money While Still Providing Your Dog With High-Quality Nutrition.

Homemade Dog Food Recipes

For Those Interested In Preparing Meals For Their Pets, Creating Healthy Dog Food Recipes Can Be Rewarding. Here’s A Simple Recipe To Get Started:

Chicken And Rice Recipe

Ingredients:

1 Cup Of Chicken (Boiled And Shredded)

1/2 Cup Of Brown Rice

1/4 Cup Of Carrots (Finely Chopped)

1/4 Cup Of Peas

2 Cups Of Water

Instructions:

In A Pot, Combine Chicken, Rice, Carrots, Peas, And Water.

Bring To A Boil, Then Reduce Heat And Let Simmer For 20-30 Minutes Or Until Rice Is Cooked.

Allow To Cool Before Serving.

This Homemade Recipe Is Nutritious And Can Be A Great Supplement To Your Dog’s Diet.

Puppiezo Fresh Wet Dog Food

Product Descriptions

Chicken Breast, Pumpkin & Eggs Fresh Dog Food: Naturally nourishing and grain-free, Puppiezo's Chicken Pumpkin is a vet-formulated, human-grade meal crafted with premium ingredients. This delectable blend features tender chicken, nutritious pumpkin, eggs, sweet potato, carrots, spinach, flax seeds, sunflower oil, and fish oil. With absolutely no preservatives, chemicals, additives, or sugar, this meal ensures your pooch receives the best nutrition possible.

Chicken Breast, Zucchini & Eggs Fresh Dog Food: Treat your furry friend to the wholesome goodness of Puppiezo's Chicken Zucchini. This grain-free, vet-formulated recipe includes succulent chicken, fresh zucchini, eggs, sweet potato, carrots, spinach, flax seeds, sunflower oil, and fish oil. Like all our meals, it contains no preservatives, chemicals, additives, or sugar, making it a healthy choice for your beloved pet.

Paneer, Broccoli & Chickpeas Fresh Dog Food: Puppiezo's Paneer Broccoli offers a delicious and nourishing option for your pooch. This grain-free recipe features rich paneer, broccoli, chickpeas, sweet potato, carrots, spinach, flax seeds, sunflower oil, and omega-3s. Free from preservatives, chemicals, additives, and sugar, it’s a wholesome choice for pups seeking a balanced diet.

Ingredients

Chicken Pumpkin Fresh Dog Food: Chicken, pumpkin, eggs, sweet potato, carrot, spinach, flax seeds, sunflower oil, fish oil.

Chicken Zucchini Fresh Dog Food: Chicken breast, zucchini, eggs, sweet potatoes, carrot, spinach, flax seeds, sunflower oil, fish oil.

Paneer Broccoli: Paneer, broccoli, chickpeas, sweet potato, carrot, spinach, flax seeds, sunflower oil, omega-3.

Feeding Guidelines

Store sealed packs in a cool, dry place; no refrigeration needed.

Tear the Ziplock to access the inner pack.

Serve as is or microwave for 60 seconds for added warmth.

Watch your pet enjoy Puppiezo food!

Once opened, refrigerate using the Puppiezo Ziplock; do not use it if puffed or leaks.

Benefits

All-round nutrition

Less smelly poop

Weight management

Shinier, softer coat

Improved digestion

Highlights

Grain-free

Human-grade ingredients

Minimal processing

No preservatives

No carcass

Product FAQ

Will Puppiezo fresh food provide complete nutrition or do I need to feed anything else? 

Puppiezo fresh meals provide complete and balanced nutrition when fed according to the provided chart. For enhanced health, consider adding Puppiezo’s premium line of supplements.

Is there a minimum order requirement?

No, there is no minimum order quantity.

Do you customize orders?

Yes, we can accommodate custom orders based on your pet's nutritional needs.

Nutritional Composition

Product Protein Fat Carbs Calories Dietary Fiber

Chicken Pumpkin - 12.1 g | 8.6 g | 3.1 g | 138.7 cal |1.9 g

Chicken Zucchini - 12.3 g | 8.1 g | 3.0 g | 135 cal | 1.8 g

Paneer Broccoli - 7.8 g | 5.3 g | 7.4 g | 110.3 cal | 2.1 g

Puppiezo Fresh Wet Dog Food ensures your pet enjoys a nutritious meal, crafted with love and care. Treat your furry friend today!

Last Words: A Healthier Future For Our Pets

Max’s Transformation Serves As A Powerful Reminder Of The Importance Of Quality Nutrition For Our Dogs. By Choosing The Best Dog Food, Whether It’s Fresh Dog Food, The Best Wet Dog Food, Or High-Quality Kibble, We Can Ensure Our Pets Live Long, Healthy, And Happy Lives.

As Dog Owners, It’s Our Responsibility To Educate Ourselves About What We Feed Our Pets. With Countless Options Available Both Online And In Local Stores, Making Informed Choices Has Never Been Easier. Embrace The Journey Of Providing The Best For Your Furry Companion, And You’ll Reap The Rewards In Their Boundless Love And Companionship.

[sajalamin]

Unveiling the Importance of a K9 Nutritionist: Your Ultimate Guide to Optimal Dog Health

Introduction: When it comes to our furry friends, ensuring they receive the best nutrition is paramount for their overall health and well-being. Just like humans, dogs require a balanced diet tailored to their specific needs. This is where a K9 nutritionist steps in. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll delve into the vital role of a K9 nutritionist and how their expertise can lead to happier,…

[europenne]

[crimsonblackrose]

I promised my aunt I’d make tiramisu but forgot pie day coming up and I’ve wanted to make pie for pie day for...years and always miss it. But! I think we have a pie crust (with cigars resting in it for some bizarre reason) in the freezer and this like raw sugar-free book has a pie recipe that I think we’ve got all the ingredients for...so I might be able to do both?

[leoparduscolocola]

it’s honestly scary seeing how popular raw feeding for cats and dogs is becoming. for so long dogs and cats weren’t coming down with nutrient deficiencies because of commercially available pet food and now they’re making a comeback, plus people have literally died from the diseases transferred by raw feeding… it’s not surprising, though, that raw feeding is growing in popularity considering how popular anti-science movements for humans are right now too. like you can literally go into a pet store and see signs plastered all over claiming that raw is the best when there’s not a shred of evidence for that. it’s so ironic that pet store employees will tell you that the eVil vEtS iN bEd WiTh BiG kiBbLe only recommend a certain food because they get paid to do so and then in the very next breath recommend an obscenely expensive raw food that obviously gives the store a pretty big profit margin. i get why people might not trust the pet food industry but you don’t have to feed raw, you can hire an actual veterinary nutritionist (not just some raw guru online with a “nutrition certificate”) to formulate a homecooked recipe for you

[feedists4progress]

Food is one of the most universally beloved things on planet Earth. Aligning a presidential campaign with it is smart for all the obvious reasons, but for the Harris-Walz ticket, it’s also a signal. The rhetorical challenge of progressivism is that it is by nature abstract: It imagines a world that does not yet exist, rather than advocating to return to some previous version of the one we know. [...] In foregrounding food, Harris and Walz are making theirs the candidacy of terrestrial pleasure and straightforward abundance.

The governor of Minnesota and possible future vice president’s hotdish recipe is, uh, a lot. It involves, among other things, whole milk, half-and-half, two types of meat, three cups of cheese (specifically Kraft), nearly a stick of butter, and a full package of Tater Tots. It is gluttonous, deeply midwestern, and, I am sure, delicious. Indeed, Walz won the Minnesota Congressional Delegation’s hotdish cook-off in 2013, 2014, and 2016.

Tim Walz loves food. He loves corn dogs, and the all-you-can-drink milk booth at the Minnesota state fair, and—I’m sorry to have to be the one to tell you this—dunking cinnamon rolls in chili. He gets excited about soda. He posts pictures of his sandwiches.  He loves to eat so much that people on X are already writing short-form fan fiction about it. Throughout his political career, but especially recently, he has gone out of his way to talk about food, the fattier and folksier the better. Last week, in a discussion with CNN’s Jake Tapper that was ostensibly about Joe Biden’s mental fitness, Walz recounted receiving a call from the president while eating the Minnesota delicacy Juicy Lucy, a hamburger stuffed with cheese. The next day, he posted on X about a different award-winning hotdish recipe of his, this one involving two separate kinds of canned soup.

We are witnessing what might be the most food-centric presidential campaign in American history. Kamala Harris is, by all accounts, an exceptional and enthusiastic home cook, and has made cooking part of her political brand—surely an intentional calculation, given the negative connotations that might arise when the potential first woman president openly embraces domesticity. In 2019, she offered an off-the-cuff lesson in turkey brining while getting mic’d up to go on television: “Just lather that baby up,” she said, eyes bright. The next year, she started an amateur cooking show; on it, she cracks an egg with one hand and bonds with Mindy Kaling over the fact that their parents both stored spices in old Taster’s Choice jars. She laughs a lot in the kitchen.

Unlike her running mate, Harris seems unlikely to throw four kinds of dairy in the oven for dinner—she’s a Californian, and she cooks like one: swordfish with toasted cardamom for her pescatarian stepdaughter, herb-flecked Mediterranean meatballs on an Instagram Live with the celebrity chef Tom Colicchio. But she’s not immune to the humble charms of ice cream, gumbo, Popeye’s chicken, red-velvet cupcakes, or bacon, which she describes as a “spice” in her household. She comes off as sincere in her love of food but discerning in her tastes. When a 10-year-old recently asked her at an event what her favorite taco filling was, she answered with the kind of absorbed expression that she might otherwise display when explaining foreign policy on the debate stage: carnitas with cilantro and lime, no raw onions.

Invoking food on the campaign trail is a cliché for a reason: Eating is an easy and extremely literal way to prove that you are a human being. But the Democratic Party has not always been great at it. In 2003, John Kerry visited the Philadelphia cheesesteak institution Pat’s and asked for a sandwich not with the traditional Whiz, American, or Provolone, but with Swiss. If voters needed proof that he was something other than the eggheady elitist they thought he was, this wasn’t it: In Philly, Swiss is “an alternative lifestyle,” The Philadelphia Inquirer’s food critic, Craig LaBan, said at the time. One does not get the sense that Walz or Harris would stride into Pat’s and ask for Swiss—not because they’re self-consciously avoiding a gaffe, but because they have deep respect for America’s foodways and are interested in enjoying food however it is meant to be enjoyed.

Their approach makes a marked departure both from the Obama era—what with its well-meaning but not entirely fun focus on childhood obesity, and its notorious seven almonds—and from the current leaders of the Republican Party. Donald Trump doesn’t really talk about liking eating; he does, famously, consume a lot of fast food, but that is reportedly because he’s afraid of being poisoned, not because fast food tastes amazing. His most well-known food tweet—“Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics!”—reads like an obligatory plug rather than an earnest celebration of the way the taco bowl itself looks, smells, and tastes: all business, no pleasure. Meanwhile, Trump’s running mate, J. D. Vance, says he loves Diet Mountain Dew, but he seems mostly to be mad about it. To the degree that he has gotten specific about why he likes the beverage, the praise is purely functional: “high caffeine, low calorie.” The primary message here is that food is the site not of delight and togetherness but of anxiety and alienation, or utilitarianism at best. It’s all a little, well, weird.

Food is one of the most universally beloved things on planet Earth. Aligning a presidential campaign with it is smart for all the obvious reasons, but for the Harris-Walz ticket, it’s also a signal. The rhetorical challenge of progressivism is that it is by nature abstract: It imagines a world that does not yet exist, rather than advocating to return to some previous version of the one we know. I find it telling that Walz keeps using the word joy when he talks about the campaign and about his running mate. It’s an uncomplicated message, one that’s even more concrete than Barack Obama’s hope: Hope is the future, but joy is the present. It’s cold milk on a hot day; a perfectly cracked egg; a steaming casserole dish full of God knows what, enjoyed at a crowded table. In foregrounding food, Harris and Walz are making theirs the candidacy of terrestrial pleasure and straightforward abundance. It’s simple, really. —Ellen Cushing

[followthebluebell]

Update on October 12, 2023: An additional lot of Darwin’s pet food has tested positive for Salmonella. FDA tested this product after receiving a consumer complaint. 

To date, the firm has not recalled any of the affected product lots of product manufactured in 2023.

The affected food appears to be the chicken based recipes:

Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Chicken Recipe with Organic Vegetables for Dogs, Lot 9774, manufactured on Jun 13, 2023.

Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Chicken Recipe for Cats, Lot 9795, manufactured on Jun 28, 2023.

Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Chicken Recipe for Cats, Lot 9830, manufactured on Jul 19, 2023.

Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Antibiotic & Grain-Free Chicken Recipe for Cats, Lot 9802, manufactured on Jul 7, 2023.

The products are in white and clear plastic packages. The dog food has blue labeling, and the cat food has blue and green labeling. Each package weighs two pounds and consists of four separate units. The lot codes are printed on the front of the lower left unit of the package.

If you have these lots of pet food from Darwin’s Natural Pet Products, or you can’t be sure of the lot code of the products you have, throw them away. Do not feed them to your pets.

[muffinsin]

Hiii! I was wondering if you could do a hc on thhe dimi sisters on how skilled they are when it comes to cooking? Thanksies!

Hey! :) absolutely! Like in previous posts, I believe I’ve written of them cook in other HCs, but seeing as there’s none dedicated to cooking only, I’ll make it this one🙌

Let’s get into it!

Masterlists

Bela

She’s a surprisingly good cook!

While not being better than the kitchen’s staff, she isn’t far below their level of expertise

While all of her skills are self taught, she’s had centuries of practice

That being said, she doesn’t necessarily like cooking

Following Alcina’s lead, she doesn’t openly enjoy many tasks, reserving them for the staff instead

Still, especially during a period in time in which Cassandra, in a way, relapsed and was feeling particularly bloodthirsty and all staff members were threatened at all times, she began teaching herself

With staff members short and no new ones available, the weather too cold for them to hunt and Alcina only having so much time to bring flesh home, she had little choice

Often, she’d stand in the kitchens, studying books and trying new recipes while her younger sisters sat on the counters

Cassandra, growling and whining ever so often, feeling beyond hungry. Daniela, her expression soft bout pouty, her arms wrapped tightly around her sister even as her own stomach cramped with hunger

Of course, Bela and Mother took care of them

Mother, out, hunting for more meat. Bela, at home, preparing the meat that could no longer be prepared by the chefs

“All done!”, the magic words, it seems, for her sisters always jumped up and swarmed around her, hungrily nuzzling at her shoulders and head until their feral minds caught up with the food sitting on the plate

In time, Bela became better and better at cooking

Occasionally, at night, in secret, she likes to try out new recipes

Often, she ends up calling out to her sisters, who are always eager for a midnight snack, even as it means waking up

She likes to try different dishes, some even to surprise Alcina with after a long day, others to try for herself

Thankfully, her sisters are always more than happy to help her out during such experiments

For example, Bela had a fun time learning Daniela dislikes spicy food, whereas Cassandra can’t stand raw vegetables

Either way, she is thankful for their feedback, and indulges them when asked to cook more and larger portions

And, sometimes, she is rewarded with rare kisses pressed to her cheeks by both her sisters as a thank you

Cassandra

Cooking? Pfft! The thought would never even cross her mind!

Her? No way!

But…given a try, Cassandra actually would be rather good at cooking, or rather;

Butchering

She’d know precisely how to cut and prepare meat, how to and how long to cook it

She could prepare nearly any meat given to her, of any creature

Skinning it, cutting the meat, choosing only the best parts of such to prepare them

She has only once made food, steak

She’d remember it vividly, if someone asked

Daniela, her younger sister, whining and standing next to her bed in the middle of the night, clutching her stomach and tugging on Cassandra’s blanket and the hem of her nightdress

Hungry, whimpering, pleading for her sister to help her out

A wish to go hunting together, that would have to go unanswered

Of course, Cassandra could not let her little sister go hungry and bored. Unwilling to disturb their mother and older sister, she stepped up

With Daniela following close behind, still holding onto her sister’s clothing, they swarm into the kitchen easily

Of course, her eyes immediately find the hanging meat all around the room

Pig, horse, dog, chicken, bird, wolf, deer…

She chooses the first option eventually, her fingers strong enough to rip it right from its hook at the wall

Daniela watches in wonder as her sister works, usually so bloodthirsty and rough, now precise in her movements

For a moment, Cassandra almost seems like Bela

Adding blood and syrup, herbs she likes and whatever else she can find for the two of them, Cassandra gets to work

She works precisely and stays concentrated all the way until the meat is done, swatting her sister’s hands away a couple times during the process

When done and presented to Daniela, she wears a proud smile as her younger sister all but digs in, moaning about how good it tastes

After this, in the following weeks, she finds Daniela in her room a couple more times, asking for more

Sometimes, she indulges her. At other times she doesn’t

It’s rare for her to cook, and when she does, she does it in secret

A little secret shared only between her and her younger sister

Certainly, she’d have the potential to be a chef

A butcher, for sure, though she isn’t interested enough to pursue such a thing

No, she likes to stick to her routine, to hunts and chases, torture and games, playing around and teasing, creating art unique to her, content in the knowledge that she has such a hidden skill within her

Daniela

Cooking?…not so much, really

She can’t say she hasn’t tried, really, she has!

And still, it felt like one giant failure

From being indecisive in regards to what to cook, to being unable to tell how to make the dish when finally choosing one, to winging it and spitting it back out in the end again

No, cooking is not one of her strengths

Though, she can bake, and she likes to bake

She likes to experiment like that, has a good understanding of what to do and what to avoid even when she experiments

She likes to bake cookies, bread, cakes and make pies, bake, brownies, whatever picks her interest at the time

And, she loves sharing what she’d made with her sisters, who by now eagerly accept the food given to them

As such, for example, Daniela learns that Bela has a secret sweet tooth and is unable to resist when being brought small, bite sized portions of brownies or muffins, or even cookies adorned with sprinkles or cream

Never anything big, always barely bite sized

But still, she hears the buzzing of her sister’s flies and feels pride within her upon pleasing her and gifting her food she so clearly enjoys

In return, Daniela often finds herself hugged to her older sister, whining about her hair getting messed up even as she grins widely as the top of her head is showered in kisses and little scratches that nearly have her drop right on Bela’s lap for more

Cassandra, on the other hand, enjoys sweet, but never too sweet flavours

Cookies, plain cakes, soft, warm bread

Never sprinkles, never brownies, never fully decorated cakes and pies

Once, she has dipped the cookies made for her sister in some blood-wine “lended” from Alcina

Cassandra wouldn’t stop purring her flies acted up and buzzed extra loud the entire day, the murderous brunette almost high on it like a cat might be on catnip

And still, the cookies are a rare treat for her and earn Daniela a lot of praise and appreciative scratches at her scalp, neck and chin

Heaven, really, if she believed in it

Daniela’s favorite baking times are the ones she gets to spend with her sisters, when she allows them to lick at the spoon, especially so if she bakes using some of the maiden’s blood and her older sisters quite literally bump heads attempting to lick the last bits from the empty bowl

Yes, she’s quite good at baking by now. But cooking? Not quite so much

There’s simply too much salt, too little salt, undercooked, overcooked, missing ingredients, ingredients that don’t go with other ones, too bland, too spicy, too sweet, too sour

She sighs at the thought of cooking. No, it’s certainly not for her

[thedognutritionist]

Royal Canin Renal (Kidney) Dog Food Review - The Dog Nutritionist

Are you looking for the best kidney support food for your furry friend? Look no further than the Royal Canin Renal (Kidney) Dog Food Review by me (The Dog Nutritionist). Hi, I'm Cam Wimble, a certified Dog Nutritionist, and in this video, I dive deep into the ingredients of Royal Canin Renal Dog Food to see if it truly delivers the kidney support your dog needs.

Many dog owners rely on prescription dog food like Royal Canin Renal for kidney issues, assuming it's the best option. But is it really working? I'll uncover the truth in this review and suggest better alternatives if needed based on my experience working with dogs with kidney problems.

Let's debunk the myth of low-protein diets and explore why some kidney-support foods may not be as effective as you think. Cheap ingredients and lacking nutritional value could be harming your dog's health.

Don't settle for subpar dog food - visit www.thedognutritionist.com for more information on giving your dog the best care possible.

Treat your furry friend to the quality nutrition they deserve.

[mandoriana]

HEADCANON - HANNIGRAM

We all know that Hannibal is a carnivore, but what few people know is that Hannibal abhors the consumption of red or white meat. He can eat fish, but any other animal meat besides seafood does not consume.

Hannibal hates the pain that animals pass on to humans to have meat to eat.

Hannibal had a sheep when he was a boy and took very good care of it, but one day one of the mansion's employees killed her for them to eat, and Hannibal killed the clerk for revenge.

Will, despite what many think, is a great cook, but not like Hannibal. In fact, Will is more in southern cuisine and comes much more than just fish. Ironically, Will doesn't care about the animals that die for him to have food; he honors all their parts.

Will's favorite meat is frog and alligator. His grandmother used to cook a lot when he was little because they lived in a swamp.

Hannibal dreamed of cooking with Will as they did during the second season, but he was horrified by the cruel way Will cooked. (I imagine a lot that Will came out one day saying that he was going fishing in the lake and came back with a cooler full of frogs. Hannibal was horrified by Will cutting off the frogs' legs while they were still alive.)

Once, Will came home with a living citizen and started bathing and "massaging" the swan and even hydrating its feathers. He was so careful that Hannibal really believed they had a pet city. Imagine his shock when he came back to see Will cooking the case that he had so affectionately called "Leda."

Once, Hannibal bought a pig to be his pet. Her husband ate the poor pig in two weeks.

Hannibal is traumatized to see her husband cooking.

During the escape, they hid in a cabin in the forest for a while. A turtle befriended Hannibal, who fed her leftovers from her meals. When the poor thing got fat enough, Will took the turtle and cooked it alive in a pot. Hannibal is still traumatized today.

Watching Will cooking, for Hannibal, is like watching a horror show.

Hannibal once fainted when he saw Will making food with peanut butter, animal meat remains and vegetable remains (he thought it was their dinner, but it was just the food of the ces.)

When Hannibal's complaints about his cooking get very annoying, Will begins to make atrocities in cooking, such as using canned meat and mixing it with peanut butter. Hannibal almost has an aneurysm every time.

Chiyoh was prejudiced against Will's food until she ate it and loved it. So the two stood against Hannibal about human flesh being tastier than animal flesh.

At Christmas, Will gave Hannibal a T-shirt that said, "Eat people, save animals."

The only meat Will wouldn't be willing to eat is dog meat and maybe cat meat, but he's not against eating the feline if he's hungry.

Will and Hannibal love recipes that contain eels. Will prefers to cook them while they are still alive, but Hannibal prefers to cook them only when they are dead.

Will thinks it's hypocritical for Hannibal not to have a problem with human violence, and Hannibal thinks it's Will's hypocritical not to have a problem with animal violence. (Will's excuse is that only a few animals are not food, while Hannibal's excuse is that comparing human pigs with sweet animals is blasphemy.)

When they watch "Chicken Run," Hannibal twists for the chickens from start to finish, while Will supports the "villain" who is just doing his job. They had an argument after watching the movie.

Will just doesn't eat stones because stone soup is bad and there are no other ways to eat stones.

Will cuts ingredients with scissors, and that makes Hannibal freak out every time.

During their escape from the FBI they hid in the woods and Hannibal is sure he once saw Will frying a snake.

Hannibal likes to eat raw ginger, and Will calls him a psychopath for it.

Will makes a cup of coffee with seven tablespoons of coffee grounds, while Hannibal makes a bottle with four tablespoons of coffee grounds. Whenever one wakes up before the other and makes coffee, one of them ends up making faces for the drink.

[doglovers21]

Wow cute 😅🐶🥰

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[not-another-robin]

What do you think are the justice league member's favorite snacks/meals they like to cook/eat?

Dear anon, I am so glad you asked. Allow me to explain

J'onn - literally everyone is concerned. J'onn eats stuff that's not food just because he can. He will snack on drywall. He eats bugs off of leaves. The actual food he eats isn't much better - his diet consists almost entirely off of processed sugar. Obviously chocos/oreos, but also just the kind of things a seven year old would pack for lunch. Twinkies, sugary cereal, actual candy, donuts, popcorn, chips, etc. He tries, half-heartedly, to insist that Martians nutritional needs are different than humans, but there is literally no evidence to suggest that. Someone in the JL takes him out to eat/brings him food almost every day to make sure he doesn't die.

Wally - only marginally better than J'onn in that he won't eat chalk unprompted. We all know speedsters, they need a lot of food to keep up with their metabolism and energy, but Wally is especially ludicrous in the "will eat anything" category. He will put anything and everything in the fridge into a sandwich, which sounds like a fun thing to ask about, but eventually everyone realizes they just don't wanna know. Also a connoisseur of wild food combos ("icing in chili??" "Hey don't knock it til you try it")

Shayera - A little bit more normal but the bar is in hell so that doesn't mean much. She will try anything at least once, especially on a dare. She also just has an insane pallete for space food. Meals on thanagar were really just anything slightly edible thrown into a trough, so anything that's cooked is fine dining. Also sometimes things that aren't cooked. Raw chicken is one of her favorite snacks - She likes to chew on (and eventually eat) the bones

Bruce - now we're reaching slightly normal human foods, but that doesn't mean Bruce's diet is normal. Honestly, he's just autismcore with a splash of "do rich people really eat that?". His schedule is so fucked he rarely ever has time for an actual meal, so mostly he eats what he can when he can. I have fully adopted the fandom canon that he eats shredded cheese right out of the bag. When he does eat a real meal, it's part of a carefully crafted food schedule developed over decades. He essentially has 31 meals, one for every day - a good mix of recognizable foods and "some guy I traveled the Amazon with made this for me in 1986".

Diana - we have now reached the "can cook" section. One caveat for Diana though, she has no idea how kitchen appliances work. If the oven isn't made of stone she may set something on fire. She's used to the best Themyscira has to offer, lots of fresh fruits and vegetables and elaborate feasts. She can't really manage a feast in her apartment, but she knows a good few meals, she eats well. However, she's often too busy to make her own food, so it's like 60% take out.

Clark - this boy eats three square meals a day no matter WHAT. If you sleepover with Clark there will be pancakes and eggs on the table by the time you wake up. He's just a big country boy, his ma taught him well and he uses it. He cooks for himself pretty much every day, the only exception being occasionally going out for lunch during work or picking up a hot dog from a cart (he loves them, no one can understand why).

John - John is your uncle that got really into meal prep. He is religious about his food intake, he only eats the best and has every meal scheduled like a month in advance. He picked up a few recipes from his mom, but he really just picked up a passion for cooking well at some point just to challenge himself. He also eats really healthy, he's known to occasionally go on some weird keto diet that everyone makes fun of him for. He's the kind of person who eats overnight oats. He lectures Wally about his eating habits daily.

So. That was a ridiculous amount thought and effort for a simple headcanon question. This is what they inside of my brain looks like 24/7 thanks got asking <3

[tropes-and-tales-archives]

More Precious Than Rubies: Part 7b

This is an alternate timeline story that has a Rafael Barba track and a Sonny Carisi track. The two paths split off in part 3.

WC: 4104

TW: Angst; fluff; family drama; smut (fingering; food-play, kinda). 18+ only.

AN: The prompt was "I love you for you.  Don’t you dare think otherwise."

Over the next few weeks, Sonny came to realize that you had changed since you’d been together before.  He still thought his original assessment was mostly correct, though – much of your change in character was nothing more than extreme fatigue.

After the night of your panic attack and opening up about your father, for example:  Sonny had nodded off almost immediately after sex, but when he woke in the middle of the night, you weren’t in bed beside him.  When he went looking for you, he found you hunched over at your kitchen table, reading through case files.

When he coaxed you back to bed, he felt you toss and turn beside him until you finally fell asleep.

And you woke up shortly after with a start and a gasp, like you’d been asleep only long enough to have a bad dream.

Sonny tried to help you as much as he could, relieve some of the pressure.  It was a delicate balance to walk though.  If he did too much, you felt guilty to be burdening him.  If he did too little, as he had in the past, he knew you’d feel neglected.

The two of you struck a balance together.  Your schedules meshed only half of the time, so you spent more time apart than Sonny would have liked.  If he had it his way, he’d move you into his place and always have you with him.  Instead, you took turns staying over at each other’s place (Sonny, in reality, only lived about five blocks from you).  You each had your nights alone too, even though Sonny hated falling asleep without you.  You tried to have a lunch or a coffee date during the week so that you could get caught up in a more leisurely way.

It was different than before.  You were letting him see more of your life, more of your feelings than you ever had before.  Of course, it was just as likely that you were too exhausted to bother putting on a brave face.  Sonny felt…more protective of you. 

He still saw glimpses of the old you, though.  When he was going through his own tough time, nothing but mandatory double-shifts to help catch a serial predator, the old you turned up and took charge.  You brought him lunch and dinner to the precinct.  You picked up his dry-cleaning and even drove back to Manhattan late one night to pick him up when he was too tired to drive himself home.

When SVU finally caught the guy, he sent you a triumphant text.  Your first reply congratulated him.  Your second expressed a deep desire that said serial predator could afford his own counsel.

And your third text told him that you should celebrate, and that he should come over to your place the next evening.

-----

When he got to your apartment, he could smell the problem before he even got through your front door.  You answered his knock with a hang-dog look, a t-shirt splattered with something, and a smog of odor behind you.  Sonny sniffed carefully.  Burnt garlic.  Something fishy.

“Hey,” he said in his most neutral voice as he pressed a kiss to your furrowed forehead.  “How are you?”

You answered with an exasperated sigh, and he followed you into your kitchen to survey the damage.  There was a pan on the stove, still smoking gently against the exhaust fan.  He held back the smile that threatened to cross his face – it looked like you had tried to make shrimp scampi, judging from the shrimp (still raw-looking in the pan) and the garlic (scorched black).  He glanced over and saw a strainer of cooked linguine, boiled to a paste-like consistency. 

Then he glanced over at your face, and you looked so confused and distraught that he finally did laugh.

“I don’t know what went wrong,” you told him.  “I followed the recipe exactly.”

“Which recipe?”

You unlocked your phone and handed it to him.  He scanned the recipe.

“It was listed as ‘easy’ on the website, and there was only three steps to the entire recipe…” you said.

Sonny glanced back at the pan on the stove, and then he picked up a spoon and poked at its contents.  “Did you buy fresh shrimp?”  You nodded, and Sonny peered at the evidence closer.  “Did you peel and devein them?”

“I took their shells off, yes,” you said, a little defensively. 

“You know they sell these already peeled and deveined, right?  You didn’t devein these…see?  This black line here needs to be removed.”

You leaned over to look at where he was pointing, and Sonny tried to ignore how it felt to have you standing so close to him, your breasts pressing against his arm as you listened to him break down the scene of the crime.  You scoffed when he pointed out the scorched garlic (too high heat), but then you gagged when he explained what deveining shrimp really entailed.

“That black line isn’t a vein,” he said, and you pulled a disgusted face and said you were never eating shrimp again.

“Points for effort, though,” he finished with a smile.  “Let’s order in.”

“I really thought I could pull this one off.”  You pouted and surveyed your kitchen disaster again.  “I’m sorry, Sonny.  I wanted to celebrate your big case.”

“It’s the thought that counts,” he replied with a smile, but you only continued pouting, your eyebrows knit together in consternation.

He couldn’t resist your lower lip stuck out, so he leaned down and kissed you, slow and lingering.  When he broke away, you were grinning up at him a little sleepily.

“You have one good meal under your belt though,” he said.  “You did amazing with our anniversary dinner, remember?  You did that baked rigatoni…”

Your smile faded and you slid your eyes away from him.  You tried to wriggle out of his grasp, but he tightened his arm around your waist and held you against him.  He mentally kicked himself for bringing up that sad memory, but then you muttered the truth.

“I didn’t cook that, Sonny.  I, uh…tried to.  But it turned out terribly.”  You glanced up and made eye contact with him, and you winced. 

“But it was really good!”

You winced again.  “Sonny, it was good because you thought I made it.  It was from a chain Italian restaurant in Times Square.  I couldn’t order something from an authentic place.  You would have never bought that I could suddenly make my own ravioli or squid-ink linguine.  So I got the baked rigatoni and dumped it in a casserole dish…” You trailed off, obviously ashamed.

Sonny laughed in disbelief.  “The betrayal!  And on our anniversary!”

“I wanted to impress you!” you exclaimed.  “I was going to eventually tell you, but that evening didn’t go as planned anyway, and we broke up not too long after that.”

His smile fell a little at that memory.  He also thought back to your time together before; you’d met his family once for a Sunday dinner, and his sisters Gina and Theresa had relentlessly teased you about the family recipes, and how one only earned them when they married into the family.  You had laughed along with them, but Sonny hadn’t missed the subtle panic that washed over your face.

The Carisi family was centered around food – it was their love language and their national identity.  Of course you would lie during your anniversary dinner.  You probably wanted to prove yourself to him, and you had obviously panicked when you had failed.

He felt a wave a shame for teasing your appalling cooking abilities, so he pressed another gentle kiss to you.

“Let’s order in,” he repeated softly.  “And tomorrow night, we’ll cook together.  We’ll start easy and go from there.”

*****

It was Saturday.  Sonny got called into work in the morning, but early in the evening, he turned up at your apartment again, laden down with grocery bags and his now-familiar overnight bag.  The two of you stayed over at each other’s places, but you hadn’t broached the topic of leaving essentials at the other’s place quite yet.

You let him in, enjoying the sight of him, even a bit rumpled from a day at work.  He was wearing a three-piece suit.  You thought you’d send ADA Barba a thank you note, since the man had obviously influenced Sonny’s wardrobe for the better.  You watched Sonny shed his coat and vest and tie, and you watched him roll up his sleeves.  You thought maybe you could skip the culinary lesson and just drag him into your bedroom.

Instead, you bit back your nascent desire for him and followed him into the kitchen.

You wanted to learn how to cook.  No one in your family did – you were essentially raised by a single mother, with three older siblings.  Your mom worked three part-time jobs, and any odd job she could find in between, so meals were relegated to grazing on whatever you could find:  frozen pizzas and Hamburger Helper during flush periods, peanut butter sandwiches during lean times.  You couldn’t remember a single meal where everyone sat together and ate, unless you counted holiday meals at your aunt’s house.  Those usually descended into family squabbles, and the turkey was always bone dry anyway.

Sonny’s family was different.  They ate every meal together when he was growing up, thrown together by a stay-at-home mother who poured her love into every homemade sauce and pasta and dessert.  You were never more uncomfortably aware of your differences in upbringings as you had been during that Carisi meal.  And while you didn’t prescribe to traditional gender roles, you also wanted to be able to pull your weight if things with Sonny progressed.

You watched as he laid out the groceries, and then you watched as he rifled through your cabinets until he found all the pots and pans he wanted.  Then he turned to you.

He looked you over, and it seemed that he had the same thought you originally had when he first came into your apartment.  You were in a simple cotton dress, barefoot, hair pulled back into a low ponytail.  Nothing special, but the look in his blue eyes was practically predatory.  But he pushed it aside, apparently, because he reached into one of the bags and handed you a piece of folded cloth.

You shook it out and then laughed – it was a ridiculously girly apron, frilled and ruffled.  There were two deep pockets on it, though, so you could see the utility beyond the style.

“You wear as much food as you attempt to cook,” he said simply, and you rolled your eyes but put it on.  You tied the back and then gave a little spin on your bare toes, savoring the look that crossed his face when you did.

“I think you just have a 1950’s housewife kink,” you teased.

“Maybe,” he teased back, and he wrapped an arm around your waist to pull you against him.  “Maybe I expect to be greeted at the door every evening with a drink and a smoke and dinner on the table.”

“Hmm.”  You stood on your tip-toes to kiss him lightly, and you pulled away when he tried to deepen the kiss.  “I hope you enjoy Spam loaf and Jello salads then.”

Sonny grinned down at you.  “You think you could actually manage a Spam loaf?”

You pretended to be offended.  “You think you could manage sleeping alone in a twin bed?”

“Never.”  He kissed you again, then spun you around so that you were facing the kitchen counter, all business.  “Tonight, we’re making a simple salad and Bucatini Cacio e Pepe.”  You grinned at his Staten Island-accented Italian. 

He supervised while you started the salad, watching you rinse the lettuce and then start to cut the tomatoes.  You kept trying to talk to him – about his day, about your upcoming cases – but he kept making frustrated growls at you.

“I think I see your problem,” he finally huffed.  “You aren’t giving the meal your full attention.”

“I’m just talking to you.”

“Yeah, but when you’re talking, you’re going off-task.”  He pointed at the last few tomatoes you had cut up.  “See?  You didn’t cut the stem out of these.  And you keep turning to face me while you’re cutting….you’re gonna hurt yourself.”

He put his hands back on your hips and turned you back to face the counter.  “Pay attention to what you’re doing,” he said sternly.  Stern-Sonny was a rare occurrence, and you felt your desire reemerge.

“Can’t go off-task,” you said to the tomatoes, and you assumed a thick Staten Island accent.  “Gotta cut you up just right.”

You felt rather than heard Sonny’s exhalation - of frustration?  Or laughter? Maybe both.  It was hot against your neck, and you felt him put his mouth close to your ear. 

“You think you’re funny?”  He put his hands back on your hips, and he pressed the length of his body against you until you were trapped between him and the counter.

“Can’t talk right now,” you said, your voice steady.  “Gotta cut these tomatoes.  Can’t bring shame upon my Sicilian ancestors.”

Another huff, this time of laughter.  “My family’s from Lombardy and Calabria,” and the way he growled it made your desire for him grow even more.

“Lombardy?” you teased, already knowing how he was going to react.  “So you’re practically Austrian then.  Shouldn’t we be making a schnitzel?”

You had thought he’d spin you around to face him – Sonny hated when you reminded him that shifting country lines and wars meant that “Italy” was something of a nebulous concept, as were most European countries.  He didn’t though:  instead, he pressed himself more firmly against you, enough that you could feel his growing desire for you.

“Pay attention to what you’re doing,” he growled in your ear.  You bit your lip as he rolled his hips against you, but you finished chopping the tomatoes, sans stems.

“That’s good,” he continued.  “Now peel and slice the cucumber.”

You kept your hands steady as you started to peel the cucumber, but Sonny shifted one hand from your hip and snaked it around your front.  His fingertips found the hems of your skirt and apron and slipped underneath.  When his hand drifted up your thigh and found its target, you paused in your task and let out a shuddering breath.

“Keep working,” he husked in your ear.

“You’re not playing fair,” you whined back.

Another huff of laughter.  “I’m teaching you to focus,” he said, and he stroked a finger lightly over the junction between your legs.  “It’s like how runners train at high altitudes so that they can run faster at sea level.”

“Really, Sonny…”

“And you’re so wet, doll, so your mind was somewhere else than on the cutting board in front of you.”  Then he pressed his mouth against the back of your neck and mumbled a string of Italian, probably something filthy, but punishment for insinuating that he wasn’t one hundred percent Italian stock. 

He kept giving your instructions – cut the cucumber, boil and salt the water – and you followed them, stubbornly trying to ignore what his hand was doing to you.  Two could play that game.

While the water boiled, Sonny upped the ante and slipped his finger under the hem of your panties, stroking you more firmly.  You wanted to give in, but he informed you that the pasta needed to go into the water, so you clenched your jaw and dumped the noodles.

“Those need about four minutes,” Sonny told you with another firm roll of his hips.  “Anything we can do to kill four minutes?”

He wasn’t playing fair at all, so you sassed him.  “We could have sex.  Four minutes – that’d leave an easy three minutes for cuddling afterwards.”

Sonny made an injured sound behind you, and the next thing you knew, he was scooping you up in his arms and carrying you to the bedroom, and when the pasta ended up mushy and overcooked from boiling for over ten minutes, it wasn’t entirely your fault.

*****

As much as Sonny wanted to take you on a hundred perfect dates, there was something perfect about the evening:  cooking together, sex, eating the meal together, more sex.  And after the second round of sex, you were relaxed and more apt to talk about deeper issues.  It allowed Sonny to get past that hard outer shell of yours.

Right now, you were both in your bed, naked and cozy under your faded quilt.  Your head was resting on his bare chest, and you poked him in his side from time to time.  It made him laugh, and hearing his laughter rumbling under your ear made you laugh too.

Sonny always started the conversation with shop-talk, to ease you into the waters.  You were on a run with Major Case and Homicide defendants, so your tell-tale heels hadn’t been clicking in the bullpen of SVU lately.

“We miss you,” Sonny joked.  “Amanda and I have a runny tally on how Barba reacts when he sees you’re the defendant’s counsel.”

You perked up a bit and turned to look at him.  “Oh yeah?  How does he react?”

“He’s got four basic things he does.”  Sonny shifted his arm and counted off on his fingers for you.  “He clenches his jaw hard enough that you can hear it pop.  He huffs and snorts through his nose so that he sounds like a bull.  He rubs the back of his neck really angrily.  And he says ‘great’ in this sarcastic tone he has.”

You chuckled.  “Which one does he do more?”

“Oh, he clenches his jaw more than anything.  We have a pool on him needing a crown eventually for when he shatters a tooth.”

You smiled at him.  “He the worst A.D.A. I have to work with, you know.  He’s very frustrating, especially compared to Niles or other ones.”

“He’s the worst?”

“The worst, by which I mean the best.  Every case I face off against Barba, I put in twice the work.  He doesn’t half-ass it like some prosecutors do.  He doesn’t pull cheap tricks, like leaning into race or gender or socioeconomic status.”

Sonny grinned at this.  “I’m gonna tell him you said that.”

“Don’t you dare!”  You poked him in the side, hard, making him laugh.  “He’s my arch-nemesis!”

“Oh, your arch-nemesis,” Sonny wheezed as he tried to wriggle away from your ticklish fingers.  “I’m gonna tell him that too.”

The two of you tussled, and Sonny let you win for a while, but he couldn’t resist flipping you on your back and holding your wrists down lightly as you vowed to show him no mercy once you got free.  Sonny leaned down and kissed you – all over your face – until you laughed and promised him maybe a little mercy after all.

He released your hands and switched your earlier position:  you were on your back, and he laid his head on your upper chest.  He could hear your heart beating, slow and steady under his ear.

“It was a good evening,” you murmured, and he felt you reach out to finger-comb his hair.  You tugged now and then against the remnants of his hair gel, and you scratched his scalp lightly when he winced at the tugging.

“It was,” he agreed. 

“I’m sorry about messing up your celebration dinner last night though.”

“No worries.  I liked cooking with you.”  When you didn’t reply, he let the silence grow for a moment before continuing.

“Why does it matter so much to you, cooking for me?”

He heard you sigh above him, but he felt, under his cheek, your heart start to beat a little faster. 

“I just want to show you that I can pull my weight,” you muttered.  “You grew up in a house where every meal was homemade…”  You trailed off, but your heart was thudding faster now.

Sonny may have missed a lot when you first dated, but he was more observant now.  And you’d let him in more about your own past, and he realized that you compared your family and childhood to his own.  Maybe it fed into your insecurities before; maybe you were still insecure about it.  Maybe you were insecure about a future with him.

“Doll, are you comparing yourself to my mother?” he blurted out, and the questions fell out of him much like they did when he put a case together, so fast that you didn’t have a chance to answer them.  “Are you trying to prove you can cook like her?”

Then, the question at the heart of the matter:  “Are you worried that…there wouldn’t be a, uh, future between us…if you can’t cook?”  A ridiculous question when said out loud, but it was the right one to ask.

“Maybe,” was all you replied.

“Seriously?”  He shifted so that he was gazing down at you, and your face was tense in the way he knew meant you were worried.

“I mean…it’s not just the cooking, Sonny.  You grew up in this idyllic, perfect life, and my childhood was so far from that.  I didn’t even know that breakfast was a real meal when I was a kid.  It was off-brand Pop-tarts on the go and eaten on the bus.  I never sat down to a breakfast until college.  Then I met you, and your mom cooked breakfast for you every morning.  Waffles and omelets.  Pancakes with chocolate chip faces in them.”

“Okay…”

You took a deep breath and looked back at him.  “It’s just that you had this amazing model of what a family looks like, and I can’t replicate that.”  You shrugged and added, “so why would this ever go anywhere between us?”

Sonny took his own deep breath.  It hurt his heart to hear that you didn’t think he’d marry you because of something as trivial as the ability to cook…but he knew it was deeper than that.  You’d been to exactly one Carisi family dinner.  You saw his childhood home, perfectly cleaned because company was coming over.  You saw his mother’s best recipes laid out.  You saw his family on their best behaviors for the benefits of Sonny’s new girlfriend.

He told you now all the things you didn’t see:  the messy home, the nights his mother ordered pizza for dinner.  The squabbles – the little fights over past grievances.  The larger fights – like how his mother felt unappreciated by his father, how his father felt harried.  The weird little cliques that sprang up:  him and Bella against Gina and Theresa.  Him defending Bella’s engagement to Tommy to everyone.  Everyone getting on his case about joining the police force.

“We aren’t perfect,” he concluded.  “Far from it.  And my childhood wasn’t as wonderful as you think it was.”

The expression on your face was pure skepticism, so he leaned down and kissed you.  He could tell you:  about the spreadsheet on his laptop calculating the savings plan he had already laid out to buy you the perfect ring, how he already had the ring picked out, how he had an entire folder of ideas for how to propose.  How he agonized about how long he should wait (inconclusive, after talking to both Bella and Amanda) versus how long he wanted to wait (not at all).

He didn’t tell you.  Instead, he kissed you and hoped you felt how much he loved you, and how utterly certain he was that he wanted to marry you.  Cooking was such a non-issue in his world.  His parents’ marriage, now that he was a grown man himself, felt uncomfortably lopsided, and he didn’t want that with you.  He wanted a real partnership.

Sonny broke the kiss, and the doubting look on your face was gone.  He reached up to cup your face in his hand, and you leaned into the touch.  He locked eyes with you, and he said, “I love you for you.  Don’t you dare think otherwise.”

“But – “

“No,” he chided you gently.  “This isn’t an argument.  We aren’t lawyers right now.  No ‘but.’  I love you exactly as you are.”

You snorted at this.  “Even when I reach well into adulthood without knowing how to devein a shrimp and, more to the point, that deveining isn’t really removing veins?”

“Even then,” he agreed, and he surged forward to kiss you again, because you were already opening your mouth to argue with him, though he caught your smile right before he did.

[stranded-labyrinth]

i was going to start this as a joke, but you know what? i'm serious about it now.

yes, i am going to ask you to imagine Will and Hannibal playing Minecraft together.

it gets brought up in a session by Hannibal, who has it on his tablet since another patient kept talking about it, and he figured he would take a closer look to understand what they were telling him. he immediately sees it as an opportunity, a calm thought experiment that couldn't be taken as manipulation.

and so, he asks Will to create a world with him, asking the question, "In a world where you could do just about anything, free of real world consequences, what would you do?"

Will, of course, takes to fishing and collecting tamed wolves. that was to be expected. it was also to be expected, if difficult to watch, when he cried after one of his wolves burned to death in lava.

Hannibal soon finds himself building their home, since Will would often forget that he does actually need to try to survive in this game. Will gets caught up in other tasks, collecting raw materials for the two.

Will smacks him away when Hannibal tries to take down the dirt hut Will built. it would seem Will was rather sentimental about many things in this game.

Hannibal is entertained that Will seems reluctant to slaughter any of the farm animals they've procured in-game, even for the sake of food. Hannibal, of course, takes up the butchering, and most of the food-based crafting recipes. he almost constantly asks about Will's hunger bar.

Hannibal knew by then that people often did horrid things in this game, tormenting villagers, spawning loads of animals into a confined space, etc. he wondered what acts of cruelty Will would eventually do in this game. it becomes difficult to imagine, though, when Hannibal's in-game character gets smacked by Will for even accidentally hitting an innocent creature.

Will exclusively slays the monsters the game has to offer. he finds he has a difficult time killing Endermen unless necessary (as in, he accidentally looked one in the eye and they rushed at him immediately), as he's become rather fond of them. they hate eye contact as much as he does.

eventually, Hannibal has built the two a beautiful home, as decorated as he could make it. Will thought it was hilarious how luxurious Hannibal had insisted on making it, as though he couldn't even thrive in a video game without living in a mansion. he does find himself a bit flattered that Hannibal took the time to try to mesh the two's tastes as best as he could, even in a game.

the little world went quiet when Will was away in the BSCHI.

during a session with Bedelia, Hannibal admits to still feeding the little tamed wolves Will loved so much. Will wanted his real dogs taken care of, he would want these ones cared for as well.

when Will returns home, Hannibal logs on, wondering if Will went to his virtual happy place. the virtual happy place they'd made together.

Hannibal finds the entire manor he'd built aflame, most of the blocks long vanished after burning away. a distance away, Will's wolves are safely kept in a dirt hut that's been there since the first day.

he logs off, acknowledging the message. "the light of friendship won't touch us for a million years," Will had said to him before. he does wonder what Will is going to do with the little world.

Hannibal finds himself checking back on the world daily, and discovers no change. he decides to place a single poppy flower where the manor used to be, a flower that he knows to symbolize consolation, remembrance, death, and hope for a peaceful future.

a week later, the day that's always meant to be Will's session with him, Hannibal opens his tablet to find that the world has been deleted.