#some plain pasta but its very plain

[audiovisualrecall]

Sigh

[gemsofgreece]

How to follow a Mediterranean Greek diet

The Mediterranean diet naturally expands throughout the coastal countries of South Europe, North Africa and the Middle East but there are some small differences between their cuisines. So here I am writing specifically about the Greek version of the Mediterranean diet, known for its delicious, natural flavours and its significant health benefits.

Eat daily:

Olive oil: the pillar, the liquid green gold of the Mediterranean Greek diet. Olive oil should be used ideally exclusively for all purposes. It's dressing salads, it's used in cooking and in fact it's traditionally what is used in frying too. Replace all types of oils, butter and margarine with olive oil even when making pastries. The only problem here is that outside of the Mediterranean basin olive oil can be pricey, however that's the foundation the diet is based on. If you are interested in following the traditional Greek diet for taste or health purposes, it is good to really incorporate olive oil in your daily cooking. If it’s not possible to afford buying olive oil all the time (although you could balance it out by not buying other oils and butter), a non-Greek-typical but equivalent alternative could be avocado oil. However, I doubt avocado oil or any other oil can remotely compare to olive oil in health properties, taste or in any other positive quality 🫒

Vinegar: Just like olive oil, vinegar is a very important ingredient and is also used in natural remedies However, it can hurt a sensitive GI tract if consumed in large portions. A little bit of it added to meals frequently is very healthy. Apple cider vinegar is also very loved and used in salads often 🍇

Vegetables: no portion can be too much (wild greens, garlic, onions, cauliflowers, cucumbers, eggplants, beets, peppers, spinach, artichokes, zucchini, peas, lettuce, the list never ends). Tomatoes and broccoli are recent additions to the Greek diet however they were integrated perfectly to the Greek cuisine. In general, all vegetables can be enjoyed freely with some moderation in the potatoes, especially when fried 🥗

Fruits: grapes, berries, apples, melons, cherries, figs, prunes, sour cherries, peaches, pomegranates are the most historically loved fruits in the Greek diet. Since the middle ages citruses like the orange, the lemon and the mandarin are more and more loved. Greeks nowadays use lemon almost more than vinegar and both have become integral components of the Greek diet. Obviously, tropical fruits like, say, banana, mango, grapefruit are not present in the traditional Greek diet, however all fruits are good fruits and you can enjoy them freely 🍎

Legumes. Eat freely to the tolerance of your body. Legumes can be too heavy for some GI tracts. Legumes are a great source of protein and fibre. Choose brown lentils, white beans, fava beans, chickpeas, giant beans and black eyed peas the most 🫘

Nuts, seeds: almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, peanuts etc. Eat as much as your body can take, because everybody is different 🥜

Mushrooms: mushroom it up! A great healthy way to have them is grilled with herbs and plain or apple cider vinegar dressing 🍄‍🟫

Whole grains: this is the traditional way to eat grains. Brown bread, oats, whole wheat pasta 🌾

Fish and seafood: find and eat them fresh. Instead of buying them deep frozen from the big markets, find local fish stores if your place is coastal and has them. Eat both large but especially small and medium sized fish. Some fish like salmon and tuna should ideally not be consumed daily due to their high levels of mercury and fats 🐟🎣🍤

Herbs and spices. Feel free to use as much as you want however if you are interested also in the flavours of the Greek diet besides the health benefits, a tip is that Greek dishes do not contain extremely hot spices 🌿

Water: A lot of water daily and, mind you, plain clear mineral water. No flavoured water, definitely not sparkling water and ideally no other liquids in place of the water. I mean, sure you can have liquids but you should ALSO have plain water 💧

Eat a few times per week:

Poultry: Poultry and lean meats entered the Greek cuisine mostly after the Middle Ages however they are nowadays enjoyed as part of the Greek Mediterranean diet because they are tasty and healthier than other types of meat. Chicken has become especially popular in the Greek cuisine. Other birds are the pheasant, the quail, the turkey and more sparsely the duck 🍗

Eggs: eggs are healthy and should be consumed a few times per week but not daily because they can cause a rise in cholesterol levels 🥚

Dairy: Greeks LOVE dairy products, especially the various types of cheese, however they are often irritating to the GI tract and they are linked with rises in the level of inflammation in the body. This is why you should ideally limit them to a few times per week. One exception is the yoghurt, which is fermented and can be perhaps consumed more frequently due to its beneficial properties. Important note: if you want to follow the Greek diet, you should ideally opt for milk and other dairy products from goats and sheep! Cow milk is not traditionally used in the Greek cuisine often and sheep and goat milk are significantly healthier and more nutritious. The only drawback is the stronger smell, however if you can get past that, it is strongly advised to switch to those instead of cow milk. Another note: what is known as “Greek yoghurt” in western countries is not in fact a true Greek yoghurt. What you call Greek yoghurt is to us simply a strained yoghurt, a yoghurt from which the whey has been removed. Sometimes in western markets (and in Greek “modern” dessert yoghurt products) butterfat and powdermilk is added to them and they are mostly made of cow’s milk. Again, a traditional Greek yoghurt is made of sheep, goat milk or a mix of both and is unstrained. It also has a trademark thickened skin on its top (dunno if this is the actual term lol) which is in fact the part of the yoghurt that contains the most nutrients and personally it’s the tastiest part of the yoghurt but apparently it is not for everyone. As an example, a study showed that an unstrained sheep yoghurt has more protein, more omega-3 fatty acids and minerals yet fewer calories and fats than a strained cow yoghurt 🍦🧀

Wine: in small portions, like a small glass up to a few times per week and always in combination with your meal. You don’t drink it to get hammered, you drink it for the health benefits it has in very moderate quantities and for the reasonable mild euphoria it causes before it becomes harmful. The GI tract is linked to the brain and is detrimentally influenced by negative emotions. This is why it is important to try to be in a good mood, relaxed and peaceful when you sit down to eat. A sip of wine now and then can be good for that 🍷

Eat once per week or ideally less:

Red meat like pork or beef. In fact, beef should be the one most avoided not only because it is indeed the rarest of the common meats used in traditional Greek cuisine but also because you can’t separate the fat from the meat as easily as with pork. To follow the Greek style in a healthy way opt for goat, then lamb or pork and make beef your most occasional meat dish 🥩

Processed meats should be eaten rarely. If you are in a mood for it though, opt for Greek style sausages with herbs in or bacon at most. Cured meats like ham are better to be avoided but turkey is the healthiest of them. They are not a part of a traditional Greek cuisine though.

Refined grains can be enjoyed weekly but should not replace whole grains

Pastries. What’s new, pastries are not ideal for health. However, if you are yearning for something sweet, if you want to keep it healthy as much as possible in the “Greek way”, opt for desserts made of healthy ingredients like honey, nuts, olive oil and fruits. Chocolate came to Greece in the 19th century, however it has become an integral part of confectionery since then. Opt ideally for dark chocolate, combined with nuts or fruits such as oranges and prunes. Greeks especially love chocolate combined with nuts.

Soft and sugary drinks. Avoid them overall, especially the processed products in the markets. If you need a sweet drink really bad, you can keep it traditional by making your own sweet lemonade, sour cherry, pomegranate etc drink at home. You could also enjoy small quantities of lemon or mastic liquors which are good for digestion.

BONUS TIPS & PHILOSOPHY:

Try to find mastic if it’s available where you live. The mastic is a resin produced from the mastic tree, a species endemic to the Greek island of Chios and a small part of the opposite coast of Turkey. It has numerous beneficial properties, especially for digestion and gut health, and it combines them with a very pleasant fresh and sweet flavour. You can find it in gums that boost digestion, in drinks, in pastries and even in non-edible products like toothpastes. Learn about it and give it a try, no matter if you are interested in following Greek diet or not.

Greek cuisine does not go berserk on as many ingredients as possible (however Greeks typically add more ingredients than, say, Italians and perhaps fewer than the Middle Easterners). Don’t worry about adding as many foods and nutrients in one single dish. The most important thing in Greek cuisine philosophy is to pick the finest ingredients. Avoid deep frozen or precooked and processed ingredients. Pick whole fruits and vegetables from your local small grocery store. For example, don’t buy a watermelon slice in a zelatin bag from the supermarket. Take the whole freaking watermelon home. You heard me right. It’s heavy, yes, but you would be surprised how much tastier and healthier it is this way. Go to the butcher for meat. Go to the specific cheese shop for cheese. Go to the fisherman for fish and seafood. Go to the pastry shop and get a nice dessert instead of buying candies from the market.

Remember that in moderation you can eat most of the foods you desire, especially if they are not processed foods. There is nothing about the Greek diet that is restrictive in terms of its philosophy - historically the intake of various foods was regulated only based on availability and price. There are no foods you should limit due to any perception of them being “bad” and you should never feel guilty the moment you are actually having the food. Just work slowly and progressively by building gradual appreciation for healthy foods and prize less nutritious foods as occasional taste bud rewards.

As said above, a good mood is crucial when you sit down to eat. In the history of the Greek society this translated into eating with friends and / or family, maybe with the occasional sip of wine, ideally in a pleasant environment and always taking your time with your food. If some of these are less feasible than others, try alternatively to improve the setting in which you eat, to eat in an environment that calms you down. Schedule your meal so that you won’t eat in anxiety or hurry, if this is possible. Think of pleasant memories and feel grateful for your food. Cheers! Or, you know, εις υγείαν!

[smute]

random hill to die on and i could honestly make a 3 hour viddy essay about this but here's the short version: "save some pasta water for binding your sauce" is probably one of the most misunderstood cooking tips ever. yes, its an old trick and yes, its something that can be helpful under very specific circumstances but at this point almost every pasta recipe i come across seems to mention some variation of it and in most cases it's complete nonsense.

firstable, let me explain where it doesnt work: adding pasta water to a random sauce (tomato for instance) will not make it thicker. whatever miniscule amount of starch you're gonna have in there wont make a difference when you're also adding ladlefuls of water at the same time. its pasta water not cornstarch slurry. and thats not something you want in your tomato sauce anyway. tomato paste is an excellent emulsifier all on its own (along with egg yolks, mustard, butter, cream, milk, and many other dairy products) so in order to thicken a tomato-based sauce you have exactly two options: evaporation or more tomato paste, which basically amounts to the same thing: less water, more everything else.

pasta water on the other hand can be useful for diluting a sauce (tomato or otherwise) that has been cooked down too much. while adding wine or juices (or just plain water) for deglazing makes sense at the beginning of the cooking process, watery things added to an almost finished sauce will simply... water it down (duh) and (in the case of wine, vinegar, etc) introduce unwanted raw flavors. there's also a good chance that cold liquids won't mix well with the sauce and ruin the consistency. for this, broth works very well, but pasta water would be a more neutral option flavor-wise. the salt and temperature honestly make the biggest difference here. plus, pasta water is something you're probably gonna have on hand anyway as you will likely be boiling your pasta shortly before serving.

the same goes for loosening any other emulsion, like an emulsified butter sauce or carbonara for example. this shouldn't be necessary but if your egg and cheese mixture clings to the pasta a little too much and everything just clumps together, a small (!!!) amount of pasta water can help the sauce reach a creamier consistency without diluting the overall flavor too much.

however. the Pasta Water Trick (TM) that everyone talks about but so few recipes seem to get right goes like this: you finish cooking your pasta in the sauce and you also add a little bit of pasta water to that mixture. a single cooked spaghetto will probably yield more starch than an entire cup of pasta water, and cooking your starchy pasta for a minute (or just tossing it) in the finished sauce will make a huge difference for the consistency. that alone can be enough, you can stop right there. but now you run the risk of binding too much liquid. this is where the pasta water comes in. it's hot, salty, starchy, and it's right there on the stove, so it's perfect for making sure your sauce doesn't disappear completely. THATS ALL

btw. all of this works a lot better with fresh pasta and a lower water to pasta ratio. fresh pasta gives off more starch than dried pasta, and it works even better with homemade pasta that's still covered in flour. the cloudier the water the better.

in any case, pasta water = a little bit of starch + a whole lot of water (and salt). thats why it only makes sense to use it in situations where you need both the starch AND the extra liquid (and salt) or if you know that you'll evaporate most of it later on. think of pasta water as a better alternative to cold water or as something that you can use when you dont have any other cooking liquids on hand. and always keep the salt in mind.

tl;dr: pasta water can be a useful tool for emulsification but if anything it's a thinning agent rather than a thickening agent.

[chrisevansleftpeck]

Family Snuggles

Word Count: 777

Content Warnings: mention of wine, nothing else just pregnancy fluff.

DAD SPENCE

Wine night at Rossi’s. Shit. Normally wine night at Rossi’s was good, well, mostly the aftward when you and Spencer drove home and had some of your own tipsy fun. But now, it was just about the worst thing that could’ve been scheduled. Rossi hadn’t called for wine and pasta night in months and of course, once you’re pregnant, he wants everyone over. 

You sifted through your side of the closet, looking for a dress or dressy pants and blouses of sorts. You decided on a silky olive-green dress, one that was form-fitting which wasn’t a problem for you yet because you were only about four weeks pregnant. 

It was a little tight around your waist, but it still worked. Spencer froze in the doorway between the bedroom and the bathroom for a moment, watching you admire the dress around you in the standing mirror. “Can I say that you look maybe even hotter while pregnant?” Spencer asked, wrapping his arms around your waist.

“Hmm. Thank you. You don’t look too bad either.” You looked at Spencer behind you in the mirror. He was wearing a cute black blazer with a plain button-up underneath it and normal black dress pants. Pretty much what he wore to work minus a vest. And damn he looked hot as always.

 “At what point tonight do you think I can unbutton this shirt?” You turned around, placing your hands on his chest and running them up to his neck.

“After Rossi’s.” He said sternly with a smile. You threw your head back with a groan. “You're still trying to put off telling them you’re pregnant.” 

You frowned, arms around his neck with Spencer’s hands relaxed on your waist. “It’s not that I don’t want them to know-”

“I know, baby. You’re just nervous.” He tucked a strand of your hair behind your ear and placed a soft kiss on your forehead. 

You sighed, relaxing in his kiss. “How are you not?” 

Spencer walked you over to the bed, sitting you down so he could put your shoes on for you. He slid you into your fancy black flats. “Well for one, I’m not the pregnant one. And two, I’m not quite sure how much it’s hit me yet, I guess. I’m very busy taking care of you and your supplements and the doctor appointments that I haven’t really just sat with you or talked to the baby in your stomach. Maybe I’m distracting myself.” 

Spencer finished the sentence quietly as he analyzed himself. He lightly touched your right foot, sliding the last shoe on. “You enjoy those ankles before they bloat.” Spencer laughed a little, up and sitting beside you. “Hey, I have an idea before we go to Rossi’s.” You say, Spencer nodding. 

You scooted towards the headboard, laying down on the bed. Because the dress was form fitting, your very small bump was easier to see. “We’re napping?” Spencer asked, confused. 

“No, come here.” You pulled him close, resting his head on your chest and placing his hand on your bump. “Family snuggles.” You whispered, feeling Spencer brush his thumb over your belly gently.

“Wow.” Spencer whispered, all choked up but you couldn’t tell with his eyes on your belly. “I love you.” He whispered, placing a small kiss on the bump, leaving a little tear drop on your dress.

You scratched the back of Spencer’s head, soothing him however you could. It was very real to him. Surreal at that. “I’m so excited, Spencer.” You said, letting him rest his head on your stomach, his face towards you. “Two to three more weeks we can hear its heartbeat.” 

“I’m going to listen to it all the time.” Spencer laughed, inhaling deeply as he stood up. He loved intimate moments but they always caught up to him afterward. He exhaled, closing his eyes. You met him standing and gave him a small kiss. 

“We can listen to it as much as you want. We also get an ultrasound tomorrow.” You remind him. 

Spencer’s eyes widened. “Crap, right. Three pm. I almost forgot. I need to work on my list of questions.” 

You let go of Spencer, making your way to the front door as he followed you. “Oh god, Spencer. Don’t bother those poor nurses.” 

“They should’ve picked a different profession if they don’t like being asked questions.” He replied sassily, holding the door open for you. 

You rolled your eyes at him, watching him lock the door behind the two of you. You couldn’t wait to turn that guest room into a nursery. You couldn’t wait to be a mom. You couldn’t wait to have Spencer Reid’s kid.

[nathanbatemanfucker]

In Plain Sight: Family Dinner

summary: nathan meets your sisters— alternatively, you get grilled by your family (nathan joins in of course).

pairing: nathan bateman x f!reader

contents: this entire series is 18+, SIBLINGSSSSSS, talks of dating, bi!reader, teasing, food mention, mentions of caretaking/sick parent, kissing, nathan is so in love (so is reader)

wc: 1,465

an: back at it with these two again. i adore them. i love them. this is lowkey chaos. and nathan sort of fits in perfectly with her family’s chaos which i was expecting to struggle with a bit. thank you to @juneknight for always being there to listen and brainstorm, you’re too good to me!

in plain sight masterlist | tiana | planted | little hamlet

3 months post To Atomize

“If neither of you are ready he doesn’t have to come. But, he’s very excited to meet you.”

Emma and Phillipa are sat on the couch as you stand— more like pace— in front of them. You shouldn’t be nervous, it’s not like this is the first time they’ve met someone you’ve been involved with. Nathan isn’t just somebody is he though? Asshole boss turned slightly less asshole boyfriend. The word feels weird in your mouth, not just because 6 months ago you were calling him Mr. Bateman, but because he seems like so much more than that.

All of his talk of being obsessed, about being consumed, well you feel the same way. You aren’t sure that the term boyfriend really compasses that. But, who would you be to shut that down— saying it doesn’t feel right, or strong enough— when Nathan had the most smug, giddy look on his face when he called you his girlfriend for the first time?

“Oh my god, don’t be a chicken, we’re ready,” Phillipa gripes, leaning back against the couch to more easily fish her phone out of her pocket.

“Hey, don’t call me a chicken.”

“You’ve been dating Mr. Bateman forever,” She says, scrolling on her phone. “It’s been on Twitter.”

“Its been 6 months. Call him Nathan, he's not some stuffy old man.” You say. Well— he’s not old at least. “And please don’t mention Twitter, I’m perceived enough these days.”

Emma pipes up finally, “Phil says that’s a hella long time.”

You narrow your eyes at the older girl who’s giving your younger sister a similar look. “Phil says hella, does she?”

“Emma you swore you wouldn’t tell!”

“I didn’t! I used it in a sentence!”

“Okay, okay— we don’t yell at each other.. You’re both sure?”

“Yes!” They say together with different levels of eagerness, though they’re both excited.

You regard them with wary eyes. Nathan’s excited. They’re excited. Your nerves are certainly there, but you are too.

“Alright but I need you both to be on your best behavior. Be the sweet girls I know you are. And no more cussing. Either of you.”

—

Nathan’s been uncharacteristically quiet but you know that he’s just gathering information, feeling things out. But, Phillipa takes that as nerves and being the rebellious teenager that she is, she wants to have some fun.

She mixes up the pasta in front of her, examines it as she nonchalantly asks, “Nathan, where do babies come from?”

Nathan bites back a nervous laugh. “Don’t they teach you that in sex ed? I mean scientifically speaking it’s a bore but—“

“Nathan,” You grit out in warning, your eyes meeting his.

He gets the message straight away, going in for a different method of attack. “I could make a baby with my bare hands. Program it to never cry or eat, to sleep its 16 hours.”

Emma perks up. “Like a babydoll? Mine is broken.”

“Emma, a new doll is on your Christmas list. It's not broken, you just want the new one,” Phillipa says, reaching for the red pepper flakes.

“I could build her one that's better than anything you could buy on the market. Those things crap out, they malfunction.”

Your brow furrows as you look over at Nathan, this is not where you expected this conversation to go, though you’re not ungrateful. “You’re going to build my sister a doll?”

“Oh, please? Please, please, Mr. Bateman!”

“I told you to call him Nathan, Em.”

Phillipa leans in, “Hey, what about me? Emma gets a doll what do I get.”

“Nathan isn't here to give you thinks, Phil, he was just here to meet you.”

“That depends on what you like Philippa. I can do anything,” Nathan proclaims, leaning back against his chair and crossing his arms.

“Nobody can do anything.”

“That was before you met me. Name it.”

“I’m gonna think of something super impossible.”

“I look forward to proving you wrong, Phil.”

Phil studies him for a moment, trying to decide if she’ll say what’s on her mind. “You’re cooler than anybody she’s ever dated.”

“Oh really?”

“Phil, please,” You plead, completely abandoning eating in turn for twirling your pasta anxiously.

Phillipa ignores completely ignores you, grinning at Nathan’s interest. “Yeah, the last guy she brought looked like Goofy and sounded like Mickey Mouse.”

“Mickey Mouse, huh? You into rats, sweetheart?”

“What about the lady with the curly hair? I liked her,” Emma says softly.

Nathan’s brows raise as he trains his gaze on you. “The lady?”

You pinch the bridge of your nose between your fingers. Your sisters and Nathan grilling you— together. This was simultaneously the best and the worst idea. They had to meet of course, what with you being pretty sure you want to spend the rest of your life with Nathan. But did they have to gang up on you like a well choreographed dance? Especially on the first go of it.

“We were friends. How do you even remember her, Em, you were a toddler?” You look at her with eyes that say back off but she’s 7, in her own world, having a great time.

Nathan’s building her a babydoll for gods sakes.

Emma grins, “She always gave me candies.”

“Wait a fuc—“ He stops himself, mindful of your sisters, repeating with just as much shock as before, “a lady?”

“Friends,” You emphasis again.

“I literally caught you two kissing,” Phil says, rolling her eyes.

“Philippa—“

Nathan throws his head back, laughing loudly, “Not much of an explanation for that, is there honey?”

“It never went anywhere— not that I owe to any of you to explain,” You give all of them narrowed eyes, your face feeling hotter than the surface of the sun.

“They were all nice at least,” Philippa muses, twirling some pasta around her fork.

“Like I would bring home somebody that would be mean to either of you.”

“Phillipa says people say Nathan’s a jackass,” Emma announces before stuffing more garlic bread in her mouth.

You fix Phillipa with an icy look, and she quickly looks away, suddenly very interested in the basket of garlic bread in front of her. “When I told you to spend more time with your sister, that really did not include teaching her swear words.”

“I like swear words!” Emma protests.

Nathan leans in, smiling wide, eyes glittering mischievously, “Emma, so do I.”

You lean closer to Nathan, whispering, “Honey, you’re not helping.”

“Right. Lips zipping,” He whispers back, straightening up.

You turn back to your sisters. “Less swear words, more dinner. Or are you finished?”

“I’m finished. Can we have the brownies Phillipa made?”

“Of course, little one. Phillipa? Nathan?”

Phil just gives you a nod, while Nathan says, “All good, sweetheart.”

Dessert is much more mellow, and afterwards Nathan offers to do the dishes for you so that you can make sure your sisters get to bed alright. Once you’ve said goodnight to them, you return to your room. You find Nathan there, fingers tracing the trinkets and family heirlooms that sit on your desk.

You shut the door quietly behind you, “I told you they were…”

“Like you?” Nathan suggests, his mouth sitting in that smug grin.

You scoff. “Nosy. I’m not nosy.”

“You’re pretty fucking nosy.”

“Am not.”

“I didn’t say I disliked it about you honey, don’t get your panties in a twist,” He reaches for you, crowding you against the wall near your bed.

“My panties are untwisted, Nathan,” You say matter of factly, unimpressed with him.

He grins, pressing a kiss to your cheek, your jaw, your neck. “Can I take them off then?”

“My sisters are down the hall, so is my mom,” You whisper, a little breathless and Nathan takes note of that.

“I thought you liked covering my mouth?” He asks, pulling away from your neck to wag his eyebrows at you. You stare up at him, eyes alight, mouth flat. He wants to kiss you until his brain melts out of his ears but digresses. “Alright, alright. I’ll behave.”

“Thank you, Mr. Bateman,” You say, your voice a little exasperated though there’s a smile pulling at your lips. You detangle yourself from him, starting towards the door. “I’ll get you some towels to shower and check on my mom.”

“You’ll let me know if she’s up for company?” Nathan watches you deflate, sorry that he even asked. But, he’s eager to meet the woman who raised you. He wants to ask questions and know more about the both of you.

“Yeah, I’ll let you know,” You murmur.

“If not, I’ll just write her a note. You know I’m good for it,” He murmurs, nodding head towards the note he’d written you that sits on your nightstand. “Come back here. Please.”

When you cross the room to him, he pulls in close, his mouth capturing yours in a kiss that makes you so dizzy you can’t remember that you were sad.

“What was that for?”

He raises a brow at you, “What, I can’t kiss my girlfriend whenever I want?”

“You and that word are really going strong?”

“You jealous?”

“Nathan, that would make a negative amount of sense, my love.”

He starts to kiss at your neck like before, using a little more teeth this time. “Oh that’s new. I like that. Say it again.”

“To the shower, Bateman.”

nathan taglist: @missdictatorme, @hon3yboy, @runa-falls, @campingwiththecharmings, @toracainz, @steven-grants-world, @clemdango04, @jdbxws, @crispysublimecupcake, @sub-aro, @faretheeoscar, @cupidysm, @whentheskyispinkandabitblue, @nova-ivy541, @sparkypantelones, @veritable-trash, @mangoslushcrush, @thhriller @tenderhornynihilist, @queerponcho, @redcake333

[olympeline]

@endlesscolddreams and @liemurienn dropped some really good replies on my USUK vs. FrUK post and it’s made me think about the differences between both pairings and why they might attract their respective fans the way they do.

Let’s begin with USUK, which nearly from series start has more canon on its side. Or rather it has more “serious” moments. Hetalia is a gag show at heart and its non-jokey parts are few and far between, ship tease included. The first gut punch most fans will encounter is Alfred and Arthur’s battle during the American War for Independence. That will definitely stick with a lot of people if for no other reason than it’s so unexpected. The funny, silly anime about pasta and gag war abruptly pivots to a main character sobbing his heart out in the rain while another looks on, stony faced, with no joke at all. This can’t not leave an impression. Even fans who loathe Alfred never try to pretend his effect on Arthur isn’t huge. Then the series carries on teasing the things left unsaid between them in both serious and silly shapshots. With all this is mind, it’s not hard to see why USUK became the big, swinging dick of Hetalia’s ships. Aside from the borderline canon Gerita, nothing else really has the weight behind it I think.

This definitely makes it what I would call an “easy” ship to get into. That sounds bad because fandoms can be very judgey about pairings they find to be basic. Just like everything else in the arts, there’s a perception among some people that if something is popular then it must be dumber/less deep/worse. Pure elitism basically. And it’s bollocks. Just because something is popular with the masses doesn’t make it worse. It just means it’s popular. Plenty of people hate USUK for the perfecly legitimate reason that it just doesn’t gel with them. But there’s always been a minority undercurrent of “I hate this just because it’s the fandom’s most visible ship!” Seen this happen a million times with other communities over the years.

USUK also has the almost universally beloved tropes of Happy, Gregarious, Extroverted one loves Moody, Gloomy, Introverted one. Who loves him back but can’t say it because tsundere. FrUK on the other hand is more subtle. It has Slowburn, Rivals/Enemies to Lovers as its bread and butter. These tropes are well loved but there’s no big, attention grabbing dramatic moment early on that makes use of and cements the FrUK interpretation of them in the minds of fans. Francis and Arthur share a lot of screentime but it’s all jokey and fun. Even the ship tease is all gags relating to Francis being comically pervy and Arthur being comically stuffy and flustered. Francis gets some heart rending moments later (Joan of Arc, the wish for a mortal life) but Arthur isn’t included. Even though he could have been because of what happened to Joan. It’s left up to the fans to add him. In another universe the Closet Cleaning arc was replaced by a Bitter Hundred Years War arc, and FrUK subsequently took the top spot in the fandom’s ship rankings as a result.

Leaving plain, old personal taste aside, I think all this divided the fandom between shippers who wanted something they could leap into and get early gratification (USUK) vs shippers who wanted to expend a little more energy on interpretation (FrUK). Because there’s plenty of drama to be had with Francis and Arthur thanks to the French/English historical rivalry (see above). But it’s not offered up on a plate in canon like with Arthur and Alfred. A USUK shipper gets drama given to them while a FrUK shipper has to dig deeper and make their own fun. Different strokes.

This kind of thing is very interesting to me. Please feel free to add on your own interpretations if you like ☺️

[graysweatsgrayhoodie]

idk why, but I really like the idea of George being in a sweet loving relationship with someone who’s ready to throw hands with Fred at any given moment.

Her and George making heart eyes at each other from across the classroom while both she and Fred are plotting each others demise.

George is laying in bed, kicking his feet, re-reading old letters from her while Fred is laying in his own bed planning his next prank to dye her hair vomit-green.

George doesn’t wanna take sides and ends up getting caught in the cross fire quite a bit.

Fred tried to prank her by hexing her books to weigh as if they were made of solid rock, but George was the one who usually carried her books for her anyways. She tried to convince him to let her carry at least some of them this time so he wouldn’t strain himself, but he insisted he was fine (the sweat on his brow and crease on his forehead said otherwise, but she knew better than to argue). He still laughed along with Fred about the prank, telling him it was a good one and that they should use it again on someone else, more so that he could laugh along again, this time without his arms being sore for the days following.

She tried to get Fred back by casting an allusion spell on his dinner, making him think that his plate of pasta had turned into dozens of little snakes covered in sauce. She had gotten the reaction she was hoping for as he yelped loudly and jumped up from his seat, tossing his plate in the air. Unfortunately, what she hadn’t planned was that the plate had landed upside down directly on top of George’s head, pasta and noodles sliding down his face.

Again, he laughed along, enjoying Fred’s freaked out reaction, even if it meant he had to take a shower before their date night that night.

These pranks weren’t for competition for George’s attention, everyone knew this. It was just because her and Fred just didn’t get along, plain and simple.

George always said that these pranks weren’t because they hated each other, but because, deep down, they cared for each other, and never wanted to see each other in any actual harm.

They both told him he was mad.

When she graduated from Hogwarts, George had offered her a job and Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, knowing full well that Fred would never agree to this. It took a lot of convincing and begging from George as he showed Fred that she had the organizational skills the twins so clearly lacked. He was only fully convinced after a few days of her working there when the back room, which was nearly impossible to sort through on a good day, had been organized so nicely, a two-year-old could find the product they were in search of (she had to make sure Fred could sort through it, of course). Besides, with her working there, he could send plenty of kids her way, telling them to test the products out on her hoping to give her plenty of boils and large purple tongues. Of course she did the same (and it went in her favor more often, the kids didn’t seem too inclined to prank such a pretty lady, much to Fred’s frustration and George’s agreement).

They both silently agreed to put a hold on their shenanigans when George lost his ear, both doing their part to take care of him and try not to stress him out too much.

That lasted a week.

Fred had superglued all of her shoes to the floor, making very difficult for her to get to work that morning. She of course retaliated by jinxing all of his ties so that no matter how you tied them, the front strand was always noticeably shorter than the back strand.

At least George had a nice relaxing week, though it only took his ear being blown off.

When the war had reached its peak and the battle of Hogwarts began, all three had shown up to fight against the Dark Lord and his minions. She was fighting alongside Fred when she heard the beginnings of the wall behind them crumbling which meant it was about to fall, and right on top of them. Fred hadn’t noticed as he was making a comment to Percy, so she ran quickly over to Fred and tackled him to the ground, mostly out of the way. A few rocks and bricks had landed on top of them, her taking the brunt of it as she lay on top of his body, arms over both their heads. The damage from the fallen wall had rendered her unable to walk, and so Fred had scooped her up and taken her somewhere safer, hurling curses and hexes at anyone who tried anything funny.

After the battle, George expressed how grateful he was to both of them for saving each others lives, and for proving his point that they do actually care about each other. “Oh please,” they had both said. “‘Saving their life.’ Whatever, they would have been fine with out me.”

They would not have been.

“Besides,” they both continued, “I only did that because if they did die, then George would be all mopey and sad about having to live the rest of his life without them.”

But for them, that day was a confirmation to both of them that neither of them hated each other as much as they let on, and that maybe George was right.

But they could never admit that. Because then they would have to tell George he was right. And he would never let that go.

[siyurikspakvariisis]

Today's lunch: a cheesy pasta bake.

But not just any pasta bake: a very BG3 one.

Spoilers for the Shadowheart origin run's epilogue to follow.

If you save Shadowheart's parents during her origin run, you get a letter from each of them. Emmeline's letter contains a recipe for a pasta bake.

[ID: two screenshots from Baldur's Gate 3, showing a letter from Emmeline Hallowleaf. It reads:

"My dear Shadowheart,

Here's the recipe I mentioned the other day. I wanted to write it down for you just in case it slipped my mind again. I can show you myself once you're home. Enjoy your party, and pass on my best to all your friends.

Love,

Your Mother

X

Feast Day Cheese Bake

For the filling:

One small onion, sliced

Half pound of mushrooms, quartered

Red pepper, diced small

Half pound of greens - spinach, peas, courgette, or whatever is in season in the garden - steamed or boiled

Quarter pound of streaky bacon, chorizo or similar. Fried and diced

Half pound of pasta

For the sauce:

Two tablespoons of butter

Two tablespoons of plain flour

One teaspoon of mild mustard from Cormyr. More if you are daring or congested

Ten fluid ounces of milk

Half pound of mature cheddar cheese, grated

A goodly fistful of breadcrumbs

Method:

Soften the onion in some oil, then add the mushrooms and pepper, and saute over a high flame. Combine with the cooked greens and meat, and set aside. Add pasta to a pot of boiling water.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the flour and whisk over a high flame for one minute. Add the milk, whisking until boiling, then add the grated cheese and remove from flame.

Drain the cooked pasta and add into the cheese sauce, along with the cooked vegetables and meat if used. Combine, and pour into an oven-worthy dish (the square stoneware one with the floral pattern should do nicely). Add the breadcrumbs on top, ad well as some extra cheese if you are feeling wicked (your father often is).

Bake unil the top layer is bubbling and golden, or your loved ones are hungrily loitering about in the kitchen.

PS - if you do not salt the pasta water, you can save it to feed to the plants in your garden."

End ID.]

Today I made it with the following modifications:

I don't want anyone's nonna to slap me so I salted my pasta water.

I also undercooked the noodles - after all, they'd finish cooking in the oven.

I used some vegan sausage I had lying around as the meat. I think the one I used was a bit too dry and bland - a more flavorful and fatty, chorizo-like sausage, would have been a better option.

I used spinach as the greens, and instead of cooking them aside of the sauteed veggies, I wilted the spinach with them. If you do so, watch out! The veggies can become watery, as the spinach releases all its water. I was careful to not dump all that water in the stoneware dish when incorporating the ingredients and it all worked well on my end.

Of course I was feeling wicked and topped the dish with extra cheese :3c

Because most of the cooking has happened outside of the oven, I baked the pasta for 15 minutes at 175 degrees Celsius, plus an extra 5 minutes under the broiler. This is the part I'm less sure about - I'm not a great cook, I just follow recipes. I'd be grateful to hear your input here!

The result: a filling, cheesy, savory, veggie-loaded pasta bake. Next time I'll be more generous with the salt in the filling, though.

[jaxthejester]

i’d love some ianthony hurt/comfort fics where one of them gets hurt or injured by someone on set and the other gets all caring and protective!! bonus points for including the other smosh cast members too hehe thanks so much!!

im not a huge ianthony fan, but i tried! sorry its short 😭

Ianthony- A Big, Big Mess on Our Hands Tonight

-

"So, Eat It or Yeet It, Ianthony Edition, ey? Sounds great!" Anthony proclaimed.

"Yeah! I'm so ready to fuck ALL this shit up!" Ian chuckled. Garrett looked at the two men with a glint of nervousness in his eye.

"I, uh, hope you know not all of these dishes are going to be bad, right?" he asked. Both Ian and Anthony's faces fell.

"Well damn."

The cooking went off without a hitch, even with Ian and Anthony fucking around, still overjoyed to have the other back. Garrett took most of the actual cooking, while the other two did the prep.

Soon, it was time to shoot the episode. A chorus of "Eat It or Yeet It!" rang out.

"Hello and welcome to a very special Eat It or Yeet It-" Courtney began, pausing momentarily. "I say that every time, don't I?" they asked aloud.

"Anyway! I have reason to say it on this fine evening- it's the Ianthony episode!" Cheers came from the table as Ian and Anthony both smiled to the Garrett cam. "Here are the rules!" Courtney said for the edit.

"Garrett wouldn't let us torment you guys... that much." Ian commented. Spencer, on of the contestants, rolled his eyes.

"Don't make me threaten to kill myself again." Spencer sighed. Ian chuckled.

"No promises!"

The first few rounds went as well as any Eat It or Yeet It does- Damien got some weird pasta dish that everyone else refused to taste, Tommy got a plain ass tortilla, Angela got a vegemite donut, and Spencer got an overcooked pizza in a "My Favorite Pizza Place" box.

Issues arose when the big bite came out. Anthony had pitched a dish to be served on fire for the big bite, and Garrett helped him prepare a cherries jubilee flambé.

Anthony had worked a deal with Courtney prior, ensuring Anthony could light the dish himself.

"When this dish is presented, make sure nobody is near it! We wouldn't want an accident..." Garrett had warned. Anthony had mumbled an acknowledgement.

The five people sitting around the table made small talk as the last round was being prepped.

"I can't believe I got the big bite AGAIN." Shayne groaned, head resting on his forearm to ensure no cheating.

"My brother in christ, you didn't even try to hit the bell." Spencer retorted.

"I do think hitting the bell is a vital part of the game..." Tommy added.

"I know! I was the one who pitched this show, dammit!" Shayne snapped in false anger.

"Ohhh, I'm Shayne!! I pitched this show because I like the pain I go through!" Angela mocked.

"Holy shit, are there two Shaynes here?!" Damien joked.

"Okay losers, it's time! Open your eyes!" Courtney called out. Everyone did as they asked, but instead of Courtney, Anthony stood in the center, revealing the dish.

"Five...?" The count started. Anthony pulled out a pocket lighter to flambé the dish.

"Four..." With two clicks, the lighter lit, and Anthony put the flame to the dish.

"Three..." It caught instantly, blue flames climbing the dish.

"Two...!" The flames climbed higher than Anthony inticipated, though, and it made contact with his hand.

"FUCK-" Anthony yelled, quickly yanking his hand back.

"Oh my god, cut, someone get a medic!" the director called.

Anthony would blame the adrenaline, but events after that were a blur. The medic showed up and walked him through the proceedures. It was nothing more than a small first degree burn, but it still hurt like a bitch.

As the medic finished up bandaging Anthony's hand, Ian walked into the room. "Anthony, are... are you okay?" he asked.

Anthony looked to the medic. "Yeah, he'll be fine. Just be careful around the area." she smiled. "Take care now." And she left, leaving Anthony and Ian alone.

"That's... good." Ian said, running a hand through his hair.

"Yep. I've had worse, anyway. I was a teenager once, you know." Anthony joked. Ian didn't laugh, and shifted his weight.

"I was worried. About you."

Oh. Anthony felt a pang in his heart. He walked over to Ian, bringing the other into a hug.

"I'm sorry. I'm okay, I promise."

Ian smiled. "I'm glad."

[petermorwood]

That was lunch, made quick-and-simple * but dressed up nicely for its photo-op.

* Very quick-and-simple; it was based on a packet of just-add-water oxtail soup, because there are some days when I Could Not Be Arsed, even a simple tomato soup that’s just a couple of tins of tomatoes, an onion, some garlic, some peeling, some chopping, some oil, some seasoning, some cooking, some blending...

Yeah. Enuff said.

However, that didn’t stop me from a few grab-and-chuck-in enhancements - and once I’d announced that, @dduane​ said: ”Write it up for your followers, and take pictures.”

So...

The enhancements were some orzo and a splash of red wine vinegar from the cupboard, sweet paprika, smoked paprika, cayenne (it’s cold today) and ground caraway from the spice drawer, and some frozen red and green sweet pepper from the freezer.

(Side-note - I slice and freeze my own peppers on cookie sheets, then bag ‘em; also onions and carrots, i.e. the sort of thing I’d take from the freezer, weigh frost and all then throw straight into a pot when making soup or stew. Casual approach? You bet... :-> I’ve never done a price comparison, but I bet it works out cheaper-by-weight than buying them that way.)

So I made the soup as per instructions - add water, stir until boiling, heat down and simmer 5 mins - adding everything else at the beginning and extending the simmer to 15 minutes because of the orzo and peppers.

Then it went into a bowl, got garnished with a dollop of plain yogurt and another grind of chilli, and behold:

Soup even with pasta in it works better with bread, and it just so happens we’ve been baking interesting loaves recently.

So, some First Draft and Second Draft herb bread went into a bowl and onto a plate - these, like the cutlery, are mostly meant as photo props - and behold:

For something which started as little more than flour, salt and flavourings, that soup turned out remarkably well; warming, filling and tasty.

As for the bread, the 2-D herb loaf is just as good as the 1-D, but more herby since DD doubled the amount of herbs while reducing the variety. It’s possible for too many different herbs to argue with each other and end up cancelling out the very effect you’re hoping for, something I suspect happened with the 1-D loaf.

2-D loaf used just basil, tarragon and an “Italian Seasoning” (bought as a packet, put in a jar, so no ingredients list, sorry!) which seems to rely on oregano.

Also, confession time, I wrote in the 1-D recipe that DD was using pumpkin-seed oil (since ETA’d to correct); she actually used olive oil since she couldn’t find the pumpkin-seed oil because someone (cough) had put it away without saying where.

The 2-D bread did have pumpkin-seed oil, which affected both the colour and - wow! it’s nice - the flavour. This now makes us both wonder about using walnut, hazelnut and similar unusual oils in an otherwise basic bread recipe, such as the one I bake every couple of days for the house.

Something ELSE to experiment with. :->

[sysboxes]

In general, do you prefer sweet, spicy, salty, savory, plain/bland, and/or sour stuff

do the taste preferences vary by alter (if you’re a system which I think all the current mods are?) or is there some things the system generally likes?

If only most of the system likes it, why do others in sys not like it? (If comfortable sharing)

Mod Weeping ❤️- most of us prefer sweet stuff or occasionally savory stuff. We also love sour in the answer that we fucking love citrus- we will eat straight limes. And love lime and/or lemon on almost everything. We also loveee garlic. Although there are a handful of ppl who just LOVE spicy food, especially this one alter. She will eat spicy food until the body is crying but it doesn’t bother her- it usually burns the mouth of whoever is close by tho lmao. There is one alter who can’t handle citrus well tho and it makes him feel really sick for some reason?

Mod Morpho 🦋 — I have such a big sweet tooth, but I also heavily salt alllllllll my food. I don’t think the taste preferences really vary at all between us tbh.

mod wonder - oo, i think my preference is just carbohydrates in general. pasta, bread, rice. i adore salmon too. i love a lot of sweet stuff, but especially semi-sweet or dark chocolate things. sweet fruits like peaches are really fun. i can’t do spicy, partially due to allergies, and partially because i can’t handle a cheeto’s worth of spice. tastes very much do vary by alter for us, we never know what we’re gonna be in the mood for. some don’t eat meat, some prefer savory or salted or sweet, etc.

Mod luxray 🐈‍⬛️⚡️- Honestly anything that ain't plain ill eat, Being mexcian and all ya kinda half to lol, I LOVE LOVE LOOOVE dark chocolate and bitter-sweets, licorice, etc, though as a basis spicy candy will always br my favorite

Mod Bugz - My go to with the flavoring options is Spicy because any single one of those options (sweet, savory, salty, and I'd debate sour). I don't like bland food, to the point I won't eat bland things unless its a thing of being polite. Taste preferences do vary from alter to alter, and there's actually a really funny thing that happens each morning when the debate of "coffee or monster" starts bc it's a pretty even split of alters liking coffee or monster or both (and some who prefer teas, but they are usually fine with either option).

Mod Avon - SPICY!!! Love me some spicy food. I also love sour foods! Our parts do vary with what they like to eat. Also, yes, I do oversalt my food (I have POTS, the kind that is helped by salty foods, soooo).

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

Oh it's OK I will send it right away here so u don't have to search lol.

Good morning/evening hun! Now I know fnf hypno's lullaby requests are going heavily on you and I'm sorry but bare with me a little- creepypasta! Reader play with triple please! I would love if they were female but i don't mind gn lol. The reader look normal and friendly, you can make them get creepy when they start playing, if you want! You can make them play by any sides of the three or all of them go 3vs1 but make the reader win pls lmao, it's your choice, take your time and if you don't want to do it for whatever reasons feel free <3

your writing is beautiful and always make someone's day.

Take care of yourself and thank you for your time and sharing your talents with us

Awh thank you!! Reader will be gender neutral for this one

........

“Pasta Night”, as the local Creepypasta bar liked to call it, was always something you looked forward to!

Not only did you get to play games with your fellow freaks of nature (even though many were very much unnatual), but you could be yourself.

Blending in with humanity was often a challenge, and at first glance most people wouldn’t even suspect that you were hiding in plain sight. You looked like a plain old human being.

It sure fooled many folks who thought you walked into the wrong place at the wrong time.

Tonight was a perfect example, as when you arrived at the cards table, you saw three unfamiliar faces already having a go at UNO, of all things:

A scary hulking figure who resembled Mario with a large cigar in his mouth and a glowing blue block labeled “POW” beside him, a demonic hedgehog wearing a visor and sporting faded fur trying to peek at his friend's cards, and finally a Hypno who looks like it swapped bodies with a Machoke...holding a deck of Pokémon cards with psychic energy.

‘Just when I think I’ve seen them all..’ You smiled and headed over to the table with your drink.

“Seriously, I lose again?!! You two are insufferable..at least I play by the rules!!” The hedgehog hissed, annoyed as he shoved a pile of gold rings towards MK. "I'm not gonna have any rings left for spare after tonight..."

Then he noticed you sitting across from them, and his whole attitude changed, a wide yet closed smile growing on his face. “Why hello-”

“Beat it, human. We’ve already reserved this table.” The Mario lookalike snarled, briefly taking his cigar out to spit into a nearby metal bin. “Tell ‘em to scram, X.”

“That’s Lord X to you, MK...and you don’t have to be rude.”

“And you don’t have to lie either! I know damn well you’re peeking at our cards when you think we ain’t lookin’. “Play by the rules”, my ass...you deserve to lose every ring ya bet.”

“Just shut it! At least I’m not punching that stupid cube every five seconds and screwing up everyone's concentration!!”

“Don’t mind them,” Hypno spoke up as he set down his cards gently. It surprised you for a moment, considering most Pokémon couldn’t talk--or at least most normal ones couldn’t. “They act like children at times.” He shook his head with a sigh.

“Haven’t we all at some point?” You chuckled. “Forgive me for eavesdropping gentlemen, but..if Lord X needs any help winning back his earnings, then maybe I can assist. I'm pretty good at bets."

After hearing your offer, the hedgehog stopped arguing with MK and looked to you, surprised. “Ah, so you wanna go a round? That’s fine by me. Some help would be nice. But the question is...what’ll you wager should you lose? Cash? Valuables? Or maybe even--”

You blinked once and saw him dash out of his seat, sitting right next to you with a sinister grin. “Your SOUL?” As he spoke, skeleton hands emerged from the depths of his throat, a demonic laugh creeping its way out as well.

Yet you remained unshaken by his act, simply smiling and getting your own stack of cards. “If I lose, I'll pay for your next round of drinks."

"...that's fair."

Then you glanced at Hypno’s cards, frowning slightly. “By the way Hyp..you got trading cards, not UNO. That’s probably why you’re confused.”

“Huh--? Ohh...that makes sense.” The Talking Pokémon nodded, getting the right cards for himself before he and MK stared you and Lord X down, smirking. “Alright. Now...we play!”

........

“HAHAHA!! I WIN!!!”

“What?!”

“How?!!”

“That ain’t fair!!” MK slammed his fist down on his POW block, causing the whole table to violently shake, but nobody paid any mind to his temper flare. It was normal for them.

Nothing infuriated the Mario entity more than seeing your smug grin--now a rather creepy one that rivaled him and his buddies.

But Lord X and Hypno were impressed to see this was the real you..or at least the competitive side of you who always liked to win.

You definitely caught them all off-guard with your friendly looks. They just assumed you were a naive human trying to butt into their game night.

“Here you are, m’lord.” With a chuckle, you took the stack of rings from the other side of the table, sliding them back towards Lord X. And like a dragon hoarding gold, he gathered them all into his hands, grinning from ear to ear.

They were all his.

Every ring he’s wagered for the past month.

"Thank you, friend." He laughed. "You're an excellent player."

“Not even I could have predicted those moves with Future Sight.” Hypno remarked, scratching his head in disbelief. “What did you say your name was?”

“[Y/n].” You leaned back in the chair as you reshuffled your cards in your hands. “My story hasn’t hit the right crowd yet, so you probably haven't heard of me.”

“..ah, I get it now.” MK remarked. “I was thinkin’ they let a random human walk into the wrong bar. My bad.”

“It’s fine. If you guys don’t mind..I wouldn’t mind joining you for another game.”

“Maybe next time.” Lord X told you, shaking his head as he stood up from the table. “MK and I have some tortured souls to play with.”

“And I have to find Gold and bring him home.” Hypno stood up as well. His cards levitated around him and disappeared into his satchel. “That boy couldn’t have wandered off too far..”

“When you see him, tell him how stupid he looks with that bowtie, will ya?” MK sneered. “I mean..a bowtie on a hoodie??”

Hypno shot him a scowl. "If he didn't come with you, you don’t get to dictate what he can and can’t wear! He wanted to look “fashionable” and that’s the best I could do!!”

"Jeez really? Thought you were dressing him up for one of your game's "beauty contests".

You just smiled in amusement as they were the ones bickering this time around, with Lord X trying to quiet them down so Gold didn’t overhear their arguing.

‘They seem like a good trio..I’ll definitely play with them again.’

[gemsofgreece]

Only for cheese lovers!

Super random fun fact:

You probably know feta cheese. When it comes to Greece it's always feta this, feta that. The truth however is that there are many more types of Greek cheese and many are delicious! In fact, there are more than 60 different types of Greek cheese recorded.

Below is a list with some of the famous ones (and my faves). If you love cheese, check it out!

Feta

Okay, yeah, let's get the celebrity out of the way fast. Feta is a sheep and goat's milk brined white cheese. It accompanies perfectly salads (especially tomatoes and olives) and it makes a great filling for filo pies. It is often served dressed in oregano and olive oil. Feta has a slightly spicy and certainly distinctly salty flavour - if you buy or order feta abroad and it is not pretty salty with a hint of spice, then you have likely been played and given cheaper white plain cheese.

Anthótyros

This is a cheese already produced in antiquity. Anthotyros is a soft cheese made with milk and whey from sheep or goats, sometimes in combination. It has a mild but very distinct taste and it's low in fats, so it is commonly eaten by people on a diet. It's eaten with honey and nuts, on salads or on pasta.

Galotyri

Literally meaning "milk cheese", Galotyri is produced by fatty sheep milk, 4-5 months after the animal has given birth, which is usually in the summer. It is creamy and milky and has a very fresh, cool taste that makes it ideal for summer meals.

Graviera of Naxos

The best cheese in the universe, also known as my favourite cheese, Graviera of Naxos is a PDO hard yellow cheese made of cow milk (with some addition of sheep and goat milk). It has somewhere between a salty and an umami taste and it is enjoyed with wine. It also makes a fantastic filling for fylo pies. If you see in a pie shop a pie with "Graviera Naxou" in, it's a no brainer. Try it! I have yet to eat an underwhelming one!

(Graviera is also produced in Crete island and this version is very famous as well, but my personal preference is the one from Naxos island. )

Kalathaki of Limnos

Another protected one, Kalathaki Limnou is a white brined cheese dried in small baskets, from which it gets its name (kalathaki = small basket). It is similar to feta, but less sour.

Kasseri

Kasseri is a hard pale yellow cheese made from pasteurised or unpasteurised sheep milk and at most 20% goat's milk. Kasseri is a protected designation of origin, according to which the cheese must be made in the Greek provinces of Thessaly, Macedonia, Lesvos island, or Xanthi, however similar types of cheese are produced in the Balkans, Romania and Turkey. It is ideal for sandwiches and toasts, it has a buttery and salty taste and it goes well with wines.

Katiki Domokú

Katiki Domokú is produced in Domokós, in the region of Phthiotis. It is a soft white cheese with low fat content. It is made from pasteurised milk that curdles without rennet and it is drained in bags made of cloth. It can be served in toast or dakos. It can be added in salad as an ingredient and it fills pies.

Kefalotyri

Already popular in Byzantine times, Kefalotyri is a very hard cheese that can range from yellowish to whitish and is made of sheep or goat's milk. Kefalotyri can be consumed as is, fried in olive oil for a dish called saganaki, or added to foods such as pasta dishes, meat, or cooked vegetables, and is especially suited for grating. It is in fact our first choice to be grated on top of dishes, an equivalent of parmesan for the Italians, but harder.

Fried Kefalotyri with shrimps

Kefalograviera

A PDO cheese as well, the off-white Kefalograviera is in between the worlds of graviera and kefalotyri. It is produced and consumed in similar ways. It is saltier than a typical graviera and a little softer than a typical kefalotyri. It accompanies white wines very well.

Kopanistí

Kopanisti is a salty, spicy cheese, with protected designation of origin (PDO) produced mostly in Mykonos island for more than 300 years. It owes its special peppery and spicy taste to rapid and extensive lipolysis and proteolysis caused by abundant microbial growth encouraged by repeated kneadings performed during the ripening process. This is why it is called kopanisti, which means "beaten". The most popular way of serving is in a dish called "mostra" which contains dry bread with kopanisti cheese, chopped tomatoes and olive oil.

Manuri

Manuri is an ancient Greek PDO semi-soft, fresh white mixed milk-whey cheese made from goat or sheep milk. It is produced primarily in Thessaly, Macedonia and Crete island. It has a sweet and mild taste and is used in appetizers, salads, desserts and savoury meals. It is considered a gourmet choice.

Green salad with fruits, cranberries and manuri

Metsovone

Produced in the mountainous town of Métsovo, Metsovone is a PDO semi-hard, smoked cheese made of cow's milk. It accompanies white wines and is used in salads and appetizers.

Myzithra and Xynomyzithra

Myzithra  is a Greek whey cheese or mixed milk-whey cheese from sheep or goats, or both. It is primarily produced on the island of Crete but is widespread throughout Greece. The cheese is soft, snow-white, creamy, and moist. Since no salt is added to mizithra it has an almost sweet and milky taste. It is eaten as dessert with honey or as an appetizer. It is used as a table cheese, as well as in salads, pastries and in baking, notably in little cheese pies (handful size) and Sfakiani pita (pie from the Sfakiá region).

Myzithra that is salted and aged becomes dryer, denser, saltier and more sour (xyní). This version, xynomyzithra ('sour myzithra') is often grated. Xynomyzithra is considered the grating cheese par excellence of Greek cuisine, and is especially suited for sprinkling over hot pasta. (It is less common than Kefalotyri but more gourmet, in short.)

Xynótyro

Xynotyro is an unpasteurized whey cheese made from sheep's or goat's milk, with a hard and flaky consistency, a pungent aroma and a yogurt-like sweet and sour taste. "Xynotyro" means "sour cheese" in Greek. Xynotyro can be consumed either as fresh cheese or after being ripened with the use of naturally dominating microflora during a 3-month maturing period. The Lactobacillus strains in Xynotyro have antibacterial effects that kill Salmonella pathogens, a finding that is of special interest for producers of health-giving cheeses according to researchers at the French Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale.

San Michele

San Mihali in Greek, it is a traditional salty and spicy PDO cheese, that is one of the most expensive in the country. It is produced exclusively in Syros island. It is made of cow's milk.

Sfela

Sfela is a PDO semi-hard white brined cheese with a spicy, salty and a little sour taste. Its production is founded on old tradition and this cheese is permitted to be produced only in the south of the Peloponnese, in the regions of Messenia and Laconia - both the animals and the production facilities have to be there. Sfela is served with bread, Maniot lalangia (a type of local pasta), accompanies meals and is used as filling in pies.

Talagani

A cheese that took its name from the word for the shepherd's cape in the Messenian dialect, talagani is a white sheep-goat milk cheese which is especially delicious when grilled, as it does not melt and it becomes chewy. It is consumed as an appetizer or in salads and is great when accompanied with honey or marmelades.

BONUS: Hallumi

Hallumi is the famous PDO cheese of the Republic of Cyprus. It is made from a mixture of goat's and sheep's milk, and sometimes also cow's milk. Its texture is described as squeaky. It has a high melting point and so can easily be fried or grilled, a property that makes it a popular meat substitute. Halloumi is popular throughout the Eastern Mediterranean.

Honourable mentions:

Armogalo

Arseniko of Naxos

Thermiotiko or Kythnios tyros

Kariki

Cretan cheese

Ladotyri of Mytilene

Mastello of Chios

Batzos

Formaella

Gidotyri of Crete

Smoked kaniaki

Meriareno of Kasos

Xygalo

Ayotyri

and many more!

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #45

So I got my weeks confused! It is not soup at the place this weekend - it is potluck! Next week will be soup week! And I'm glad someone told me, because I would have felt very silly if I had brought soup!

I am always getting my days and weeks mixed up. Being AuDHD leaves me with a very shaky grasp of time and its passing. The fact that I must experience it in a linear fashion is occasionally very confusing to me. It just seems so arbitrarily limiting and just plain silly; you can bet that I'll be talking to tech support about it once I'm out of my meat-mech!! Bahahahaha! 🤣 🤪 😁

I can't help but wonder if you, from your position at the Edge of Creation, experience time differently than we do. I know you can't answer me, but… what's it like, the way things are over there? How does time and space flow? How do you flow within it? Are all your needs being met? Are you warm enough? Are you doing okay over there? I gotta wonder.

In any case! I am not, in fact, making soup this week! Instead, I am going to see about making a moussaka for the potluck! But I didn't have the ingredients on hand, so I went to the grocery, and as promised, I will write about my adventures and share pictures!

Curious: have you ever been to a grocery store? Does your world even have grocery stores, in the way that they exist in mine? In the media that we have of your world, all I ever see are little shops, so I had imagined that in most towns, there might be separate shops for things like dairy, a separate shop for meat, one for fish, and one for fruits and veggies, and so on. But maybe they have a grocery store in Midgar somewhere? Or maybe even in Junon? They seem like big places that likely act as relatively important trade hubs, so it wouldn't be too out-of-the-ordinary to see a grocery store in those places, right? I don't live over there (obviously), so I wouldn't know.

There is a grocery place nearby that I like to go to, and it takes maybe 5 or 10 minutes for me to get there. It's got a little bit of everything, so it's easy to gather whatever you need to make a meal. In this case, I went for moussaka supplies and some other odds and ends that were written on a list on a whiteboard in the hallway near the front door of my house.

(if you're wondering if I adhered strictly to this list... my brain is always generating tasty snack ideas a mile a minute, I'm utterly captivated by anything that looks new or interesting, and my impulse control in general is poor, so... the answer to such questions is almost always a resounding "NO!" 😜🤣)

Oh! It occurs to me! Maybe you don't know what moussaka is, because it is a Greek dish, and your world doesn't have a place called Greece in it. But then again, your world has pasta dishes, and pasta dishes are Italian dishes, and your world doesn't have a place called Italy. Hm. Well, I'll explain it anyways, because even in my world, not a lot of people know what moussaka is!

It's a baked dish that consists of a thick, tomato-based sauce made with spiced ground lamb in between layers of roasted eggplant slices. The top layer is a bechamel sauce - it's basically what happens when you whisk together butter, flour, milk, egg yolks, and cheese. It's absolutely delectable, and the leftovers are even better, because the flavors will have had time to mingle!

But it's a lot of work, especially if you're dyspraxic like me. It's gonna take me a bunch of hours to put it all together (which is why I usually need a compelling excuse to make it - like a potluck!), and with the stupid rib injury, I'm probably gonna have an even harder time trying to put it together than usual. But that's okay!! The results are always amazing, so it'll be worth it!

But first always comes the part where you get the ingredients. You start with some eggplants (you need 3, but I got a fourth because I know I'll wanna eat some slices as I'm roasting them, hahaha!), a couple of red onions, some garlic, and a lemon. I already have garlic, but I got everything else:

It's important to select a very pale lemon; you don't have to worry about ripening with citrus fruits, so the paler the lemon, the fresher it is, and the more juice it will have.

Since I was in the produce section, I also happened to notice that they had starfruit! It's one of my favorites, so I snatched up the best-looking one. For these, it's the opposite - you'll want darker fruits, because, unlike citrus, these ones are shipped not-quite-ripe. Darker means more ripe in this case, and therefore more juicy and sweet.

I ended up needing to take the rest of the pictures after the fact at home, sadly; I would have liked to show you the general pattern and structure of the grocery store that is familiar to me, but for some reason, it got really crowded all of a sudden, and I didn't want to be in anybody's way, trying to snap pictures for reasons that they couldn't possibly understand, which I'm not too terribly keen on trying to explain anyway, especially to someone who is rushing around and likely already cranky and irritable. Yeesh. 😬

In any case! Here are the rest of the ingredients that I got for the moussaka. These are used to make the meat sauce and the bechamel sauce:

We have here some tomato puree in a glass jar and some tomato paste in a tube; this is very convenient, because these normally come in cans, even though we're not going to need all of it. Cans are not resealable, but jars and tubes are! I will use the entirety of the cans of crushed and diced tomatoes, so we don't have to worry about that! We also have some ground lamb, a couple of different kinds of hard Greek cheeses (feta and halloumi) that I will grate for the purpose of incorporating into the bechamel. And we also have a VERY curious kitty named Hunter who wants to investigate my epic grocery store loot!! We'll pretend like his investigations are for quality control purposes, why not? Hahaha! 😄

Speaking of epic grocery store loot, I found a bunch of things that were definitely not on the list, but they seemed really neat, and I wanted to try them! Here's a photo:

Bison is kind of like a cow, but not really. Bison, cows, and buffalo are all in the Bovinae subfamily, in the Bovini tribe, as far as taxonomy on my planet goes; I wondered how it tastes, as compared to regular beef, so I thought to do a small science in order to find out. And venison is what we call deer after it's processed into something edible. I already know what deer tastes like because my father used to hunt, but you don't normally find it in grocery stores. I guess farming deer is becoming more popular. How interesting! It's good stuff, and I've missed the flavor, so I'm excited to use it in something yummy!

I also found a new kind of tea! This one looked potentially like it could taste nice, and it'll give me something warm to sip on at night that doesn't contain caffeine, which is always a plus!

Remember - don't drink caffeine too close to bed! It's bad for your sleep! It impairs the nightly brain-cleaning cycle, and disruptions to that cycle can do very strange things to a person's body and mind! Better to save the caffeine for morning or afternoon use only! Otherwise, things can get really weird!

I also found some of THESE:

So... I know that I said these were really good, but the truth is, I've never actually had them. I've only had the cookie butter that is made from them (yes, that is a thing!), and that cookie butter is REALLY GOOD, oh my stars! Here's a picture:

I assumed that these taste like the cookie butter, and I was a bit disappointed by the biscuit tea, and I also heard of a French tiramisu recipe that uses these instead of ladyfingers, and by all these reasons combined, I wanted to give them a try!

Here is what they look like, and yes, I can confirm that the flavor is practically identical to the cookie butter that I'm familiar with!

...I can already tell that I'm going to have to be really careful with myself around these, holy moly! Ahahahaha~!! I know you can't answer me, but do you have foods like that, I wonder? If there are foods that are irresistible to you, besides the pastas that we know about, what are they? Curious!

I also got some of these:

These are palm-sized balls of mozzarella cheese, filled with thick mixture of cream and very soft shredded mozzarella cheese. These are delightful in ways that I can't even begin to describe to you! If you don't hate soft cheeses (some people do; it's a texture thing and I can respect that), you should definitely give these a try if you ever find them somehow!

Finally, I got some of these to share with everyone in my house and in the various places I go:

I'm already familiar with the dark chocolate ones - they're my favorite kind. But the strawberries and cream ones were new, and they fascinated me as a concept, so I got them! They're a bit too sweet for me, but I know several others who will like them! I wonder if you might like either of these? Hm.

The rest of the things are just ordinary things, but sometimes I get struck by the simple beauty of them. Maybe it's a little weird, haha. But here, I tried to take some good pictures; maybe you'll understand, if only just a little:

I liked to look at the vibrant purple skin of these. Did you know that eggplants in the old days used to be very small and white? That's why they're called eggplants in the first place. I'm not sure why they ended up big and purple as time went on. In any case, I can't wait to slice and roast these; they're going to be delicious!

I know it's just a broccoli. But I thought it was a very good-looking broccoli. The green was a lot more vibrant than what I could capture with the camera, but the shape is good, and its weight is pretty hefty. This is a very good broccoli! I am pleased that I found such a prize; they're not normally this nice!

This is just mixed greens, but I liked the way the colors looked in the sunlight, and I liked the way all the colors blend together. The purple leaves really pop out! This one is especially nice, because usually boxes of mixed greens have a little bit of rot on the bottom, but I got really lucky this time!

These are just tomatoes. But I thought they looked like very good tomatoes. I loved the way the vibrant red of the fruit contrasted with the green of the vine as the sunlight splashed on them! And they smell really good, too!

I like these because I think they taste good (though my husband likes to tease me because he thinks they taste like stomach acid, but then he'll insist on trying whichever one I am sipping from, so I'm not really sure what to make of that, haha)! And they also are just generally pretty liquids that come in very pretty bottles! But you shouldn't drink more than one of these in a day if you don't want a tummyache. Or at least I get a tummyache if I have more than one of these in a span of 24 hours. I wonder if that's normal? Hm.

...Look. I know that maybe all these pictures don't seem to most folks like they're much of anything. Maybe it seems inconsequential in the grand scheme of things; I know that life can be very ugly sometimes. You've seen it. I've seen it.

But you know? Life can also be very beautiful if you know where to look, if you're deliberate about which spaces you choose to be in, and if you can learn to find joy in simple and ordinary things. I'd even argue, given how absolutely fucked-up the world can be, that it's essential to find the magic in everyday things. Maybe some grouchy person might try to tell you that grown-ass adults like us shouldn't still have a sense of wonder about things as though we're still new to this place, but... well... they're allowed to be wrong. People are wrong about things all the damn time:

Yes, the fuck I can!! 🤩 To be both is the birthright of any human being; the capacity to have these things in balance is part of what makes us amazing! So I'll be over here trying to be a kaleidoscopic rainbow of bright and awesome and joyful things while also being in touch with the various horrors of this world, no matter what anyone says. Because even if it was the case that I'm wrong for thinking and being this way (I'm not), I'm still happier and more balanced than any grouch-almighty who somehow doesn't have anything better to do with themselves than to try to make me feel small.

Hey!! If I can be doomy/gloomy and sparkly/rainbowy at the same time, then so can you! Heck, you'd probably do a better job of pulling it off than I do, given that epic, awesome brain of yours!

Take good care of yourself, okay? Remember you are loved! And stay safe! Try to find the delight in ordinary things. Treat yourself nice, and make good, kind, and loving choices.

I'm gonna make moussaka tomorrow! I'll take pictures to share with you along the way!! You will receive a moussaka-flavored letter!!! Look forward to it!!!!

Your friend, Lumine

[pastafossa]

pasta you should know we know need to know about matt and janes pokémon 🎤

YOU WANNA KNOW SOMETHING, I gave WAY too much thought to it because it WOULDN'T LEAVE ME ALONE and it's ANNOYING because I've loved pokemon way too long for it to be a SIMPLE thing I can just WAVE AWAY, no, I have to add MEANING, which means

Jane and Matt each have FOUR, and unbeknownst to THEM long BEFORE they met each other, they each end up with a pokemon that represents the other.

Jane leans dark type obviously, of course she does, and there's a lot of focus on getting away type pokemon, pokemon who scare others off, and avoiding a fight.

Absol, because absols sense disaster ahead of time and attempt to warn people - not only does this alert Jane, but it carries the metaphorical extra - people are afraid of absols and therefore avoid her. Sadly this also means that, to all appearances, disasters follow her wherever she goes, and that's not incorrect for a lot of those she's left behind.

Zoroark, because they use illusions to trick people and keep them from entering their dens. Naturally with all of the ways Jane disguises herself, a zoroark makes sense. Zoroark is out with her quite often since it can disguise itself as whatever it needs to be, and therefore change faces/blend in just like she does in city after city.

Ninetales, because A. psychic and she needs at least one psychic (Edit* pointed out: not psychic type, BUT just has psychic abilities) to journey with her into thread places, and B. vengeful and places curses upon those that harm it, which feels very fitting for how Jane sees the Man in the White Coat. Especially relevant if it's an Alolan one, and is therefore icy.

Our DD representative: Houndoom, because she's the Hound, duh, but ALSO because it represents Matt - it's a fire type, it frightens people, it's got a Devil aesthetic, and yet is absolutely loyal. Also sniffs and tracks things down with ease.

Matt, our boy MATT. He's got a little more variety, partly because he's torn between two halves of himself, but his pokemon would generally have some variation of enhanced senses.

Lucario, inherited from his dad after his dad died. Noble, reserved, prideful, but incredibly loyal, and can use its aura abilities to sense foes at distance. Excellent fighter, but also encourages Matt to remain calm and play it smart and focused.

Espeon, our Jane representative, but even beyond that, I stand by Espeon being a surprising but accurate choice for one of Matt's pokemon. Jane reasons - Espeon's not about brute force, it's about psychically outwitting. It requires sunlight, and helps to soothe Matt (much like Jane does later). Just plain Matt reasons: "Espeon's velvety fur is so sensitive that it can sense minuscule shifts in the air, allowing it to predict the weather and its enemies' movements." In other words, Espeon has a similar sensitivity to its surroundings that Matt does, and it's small enough to be out with him everywhere. He often lets his Espeon ride on his shoulders during the day, and whenever he 'slips' and uses his senses to do something he shouldn't be able to do as a blind person, he can tell them that his Espeon is essentially operating as his guide pokemon.

DEVIL POKEMON #1: Blaziken. Yes, the fire chicken - because FIRE TYPE which is very Matt when he's furious, and also fighting type. They practice a form of martial arts, and the stronger their foe, the more intensely they fight, their determination growing.

Devil Pokemon #2: Greninja! It's a NINJA, it's a dark type and is incredibly agile, has a propensity for leaping around, and its water stars are sharp enough to cut metal. Also knows the meaning of stealth, and can take out those farther back while Blaziken and Matt and Lucario focus on close quarters combat.

BONUS: Foggy has a dragonite, fight me.

[lamialamia]

Recipe review and recc pt.2

So, I had lot of fun doing this answering @gorgeousundertow's ask, so this is another round of new recipes I have tried and loved a lot. Sadly some of these links are to tiktok because that's where I found them and they didn't have any mirror on youtube or website :|

1/ Cà bung

Let's start with a recipe that is in vietnamese lmao.

Okay so, this is one of those dishes that you would never, ever, find in a restaurant. This is one of those dishes that only your mother or grandmom will cook; the dish you go home for. Or in my case, cooked because I miss home. A very traditional northern-style vietnamese soup, super hearty and have all food group in one serving. Eat with rice, of course.

2/ Tuna sandwich

I love this recipe because it give me the extra flavor in my tuna sandwich. I'm not saying other recipes are bland, but I personally prefer a lot more than just plain mayo alright??!?!?! Very quick morning meal now that I got myself a mini-grinder so I don't have to chop stuff.

3/ Korean Potato Pancake

An absolute banger and super easy to make. My favorite thing about this recipe is the dipping sauce. That thumbnail does not lie; this sauce is killer. You can use it for other savory pancakes, you can use it for dumplings, you can use it over egg and rice. So freaking good.

4/ Chicken Fricasse

Once in a while, I cook something french. Another great stew that hit the right spot when I want something really creamy and understated in its flavor yet very, very filling.

5/ Chicken Adobo

I know it is in vietnamese but this recipe is basically phillipine Chicken Adobo, which is another fantastic way to cook chicken stew haha. Try out this meal after you attempt the Chicken Fricasse above for something very different but still super delicious.

6/ Red Pepper Pasta

ok forgive me but i have to put another tiktok link here, the recipe's author sadly didn't have this on their official website which drove me nuts.

A really really really good sauce. But then again, red bell pepper, tomato, cumin, and paprika is so classic you can't go wrong with it. Add in any protein (i put in beef slices) and you have a pasta recipes so good it's unreal. No lie I finished mine and immediately miss it like I miss a best friend.