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english8muffin · 4 years ago

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Cozy winter

Summary: going to the market, being cheeky in the parking lot and a warm cuddly morning sprinkled with some funny-business

Warning: Cute banter, smut (NSFW), fluff

Word count: Around 5300 words!

I want to open this with one of my favorite quotes ever, so if you allow me ;)

“Go into the arts. I’m not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possibly can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.” -Kurt Vonnegut

“We need muffins.”

“We don’t NEED muffins, what we need are some fresh fruit and vegetables, ” Henry butts in. You frown and look up at him, “Oh whatever, Hen. You eat your greens, beans, potatoes and tomatoes, while I get fat by munching on some sweet, sweet, delicious chocolate muffins.”

He sends you a smirk from across the aisle. It was always fun to do mundane things, like going to get coffee together or grocery shopping, when he was home from filming. The last year you went to university it was very hard to be away from him for such a long time, especially when you still lived in Europe. You would fly over to England once in a blue moon, when Henry was in London and your schedule would allow it. Other times your relationship existed out of phone and video calls. It was a rough period, if you have to be honest. But It made the two of you closer and your bond stronger. It’s true what they say, absence does make the heart grow fonder.

You let Henry know you were going to get the ingredients for the muffins and start pushing the shopping cart in the direction of the baking supplies. As you walk back to the fresh produce section, you get distracted. So many colorful packaging was just screaming your name…

“What the- lovey! I thought you were going to get your muffin ingredients,” Henry cackles and almost doubles over seeing the now full shopping cart.

It took you a second to answer, a bit too focused on his beautiful face and the smile lines that appeared when he laughed. You quickly try to defend yourself, so he doesn’t think you have no self-control, even though, you know your eyes were bigger than your stomach.

“No! I did get them, they’re just underneath the other bags,” you trail off, eyes drifting to the floor. You sigh, “I just saw this aisle with all the snacks. These magnificent snacks. And, Hen, I’ve never wanted anything more in my whole life! And, Hen-Henry! Henry, listen! Stop laughing at me! It was a moment of weakness! You can’t judge me! You don’t even know how they taste, I promise you, you will understand once you take a bite of everything!”

Henry wipes away a small tear at the corner of his eye and kisses the top of your head. You stroll around the aisles, trying to work through the rest of your grocery list, but suddenly you stop dead in your tracks.

“Hen,” you say, trying to get his attention. He gives you a hum in return, letting you know he heard you, “why on god’s green earth does my grocery list say ‘sex’?” You tilt your head up to his face, seeing a bashful grin.

You shake your head, clicking your tongue disapprovingly, “it isn’t even on top of the list! You put your oatmeal protein shake before sex, fuck, you even put curry before sex, you really need to get your priorities straight!”

After getting some more stuff, like pak choi, steak, tofu and the ingredients for Henry’s beloved curry you always make him, you walk to the register.

The petite Asian lady gives you a smile and takes a little peak at Henry, who was too busy looking at the various Chinese cough drops that are displayed in front of the counter. Her brows rise behind her thick glasses, “哇，大帅哥。你很幸运啊。” (Wow, big handsome man. You are very lucky, ah.) She says, turning back to you and winking. You can’t help but chuckle. Grinning you send her an ‘I know’-look.

Hearing your laugh, Henry looks over his shoulder with a questioning look. But you just smile and shake your head.

You two quickly get everything in the reusable shopping bags you brought with you. It was getting late and more people were getting off of work and wanted to do some last-minute grocery shopping. Henry takes both of the flower printed bags and the two of you walk to the car. It was getting colder, your breath turning into puffs of smoke. You look up at the sky glooming over you. They promised snow tonight.

Seeing Henry load the bags in the trunk, his ass proudly sticking out in the air, you give it a pinch. You just couldn’t resist. It was just there, so you better make use of the situation.

Feeling your hand touch his behind, Henry turns around, an unamused look on his face.

“Excuse me, miss. But that is mine,” he says, really playing up his posh accent. “I sure hope you disinfected those filthy little paws of yours.” He cutely scrunches his nose, doing a once over and trying so hard to keep himself from smiling, but failing miserably. He turns back around and arranges the bags in the booth so they won’t tip over.

There is a moment of silence, just the noise from cars driving up and off the parking. From the corner his eye Henry sees the stare you give him but ignores it with a small smirk.

“You know,” you begin with a cheeky undertone, making him curious, “I bet I could kick your ass,” you grin, looking at him and trying to gauge his reaction.

“What was that, doll?”

“You heard me, big lad!”

“Oh really?” He asks and looks at you, towering over you like a brick wall. His eyes glimmering with mischief. Yeah, no, this was NOT a good idea.

You squirm a little and a small nervous giggle leaves your lips.

“Yes, I can. Watch m-AHHHH! HENRY!” You squeal as he lifts you and throws you over his shoulder, fully forgetting you are in public. “Let me down, you caveman!” You laugh, slapping his left ass cheek. But he ignores your plea and just slaps your ass in return.

Wiggling a little, you challenge him, “Beat me up! Come on, do it!”

He turns his head and playfully bites the exposed skin by your hip, making you shriek like a little kid.

Henry lets out a loud belly laugh and puts you back on your feet. As soon as the tips of your Dr. Martens touch the pavement, you get pushed against the car. Trapping you between the icy cold black metal and his warm body. His arm goes around your waist and pulls you closer to his front.

“I love you.” The words are hushed but you hear them loud and clear, making a shiver go down your spine. The both of you look at each other, completely enamored and grinning like idiots. Noses and the apples of your cheeks rosy, bitten from the cold.

“I love you too,” you whisper back. His hand glides inside your coat and underneath the thick knitted jumper you finished to other day. He just needed to feel you. You lean up a little and gently push your lips to his, adoring the familiar warmth that fell over you whenever you’d kiss. Before you can come in for a second smooch, he frowns at you.

“Thought you were going to beat my ass?” He mocks, trying to imitate your accent.

Lightly tapping your finger against your chin, you pretend to be in thought.

“Well, this is much more fun.”

“Hmm, agreed,” he grins, already eyeing your red swollen lips and tilting his head towards yours.

You hear heavy footsteps coming closer, the wooden floorboards slightly creaking under the weight. It was getting dark outside, the overhead lights in the kitchen casting a homey hue down on the oak countertops. Your ‘cooking playlist’ was filling the room with some gentle tunes. You also had a ‘dancing in the kitchen playlist’ but that one was mostly used in the mornings. You hum along to the melody when stirring in the stew you were preparing for the evening, rocking your hips side to side. The stew was softly bubbling away, spreading an amazing aroma around the house.

The footsteps stop behind you. A moment later two big, sweater wrapped arms envelop around you, delicately caressing you. Henry lovingly pulls your loose braid to the side and places his head onto your shoulder, trying to get a peak at what was in front of you on the stove.

“What smells so good in here?” Just then Henry’s stomach makes a loud grumbling noise from the mouthwatering smell going on in the kitchen, you chuckle.

He had been gaming before this, you could hear the tiredness in his voice, it was a bit lower and more hoarse than normal. Whenever he was tired like this, he’d just turn into your big cuddly bear, you loved it.

Dinner was almost done. You made one of the dishes your grandma used to make for you when you were younger. You won’t lie, it was pretty difficult at first to decipher the little recipe she send you in the post, but now you knew it by heart.

“Cantonese style braised beef stew with white radish, bean curd sheets and a side of rice,” you inform him and brush your hand over his, that was placed on your stomach. Hearing that, he has to make sure he’s not drooling.

“And for dessert…” You nod your head toward the piping hot apple crumble pie currently cooling on the kitchen island. “We still have some vanilla ice cream if you want to have that with your pie. I know you want to be healthy, but I just really wanted to make a pie and this one does have filling,” you ramble, joking on the last part about the filling. He probably thought you were pestering him with his diet that most likely didn’t allow him to eat it.

You wince a bit, feeling him tense against you. “You don’t have to eat it, my love, promise!”

“No petal, you’re just… you’re just so perfect,” Henry admits, pressing a kiss just below the strap of the pistachio green apron you were wearing, nuzzling his nose in your tousled hair.

It was a gloomy Saturday morning in London. If your alarm hadn’t gone off, you wouldn’t have known it was morning already.

Yesterday after dinner, the two of you cuddled up on the sofa, under a warm blanket with Kal snuggled up on your lap. His head resting in your lap, while his tail occasionally slapped Henry in the face, making you burst out laughing and Henry almost choke on the fur. The akita would fondly press his snout deeper against you, really loving the head scratches he was receiving. Both you and Henry were fully satisfied with the tasty dinner you had paired with a glass of wine and were now cheekily flirting with each other while watching a detective movie, of which you missed the plot because you were, well, differently occupied…

Now the bedroom held a calm, soft aura, a dim light streaming in through the linen curtains. You let out a little whimper, not wanting to leave the bubble you are in and stretch out your limbs. A bit sore from sleeping in a weird angle, amongst other things. Behind you, you hear a small sound of protest and before you know it, you are engulfed by a strong arm. Henry hides his face in the side of your neck, keeping his eyes closed, groaning, clearly displeased with the fact it was morning already.

You smile, this was your favorite kind of morning. Warm and cozy in bed, cuddling with your boyfriend. You turn around, careful to not let any cold air under the duvet, your arm going around the large form beside you and curling your fingers in the mess of curly hair. Henry moaned, burying his face lower, between your breasts. Now fully content and still a bit dazed by sleep, he lets out the most awful snore. Even though he sounded like a drowning goat when he snored, you couldn’t do anything other than coo and gently scratch your fingers on his scalp, lovingly gazing at the man beside you.

“Are we going to be lazy couch potatoes today?” You chuckle, placing a kiss on his forehead, wild curls tickling your nose as you do so. Your voice was still a little raspy, but Kal apparently still heard you, and pushed open the door to come snuggle in bed with his favorite humans.

“What time is it?” Henry groans.

“Around 8.”

“We can be busy bees if you want,” Henry whispered against the swell of your breast, peppering delicate kisses on the bare skin. ��Or better yet, busy bunnies.”

Kal was now situated on the end of the bed, head on his paws while the serenity of the room made him doze off. His dad on the other hand was now slowly waking up, as his hand crept lower and lower over your body. You giggled and pushed his hand away.

“There is a child present ,” you motion towards a sleeping Kal, who lays stretched out on the feathery duvet, already heading off to dreamland looking content as ever. Henry lifts his head, peering at his buddy and snorts, “he’s seen much worse, haven’t you bear?” But he doesn’t get acknowledged.

Laying his head back, he reaches up to push your hair out of your face before grabbing your cheek and pulling you down for a kiss. He places three kisses on your swollen lips, lightly sucking on the bottom one.

“May-,” you try to say something, but he just pushes his mouth harder against yours. Quickly taking the opportunity to stop you from making excuses. A hoarse chuckle rumbles from his chest, as he wraps you in his arms.

“Stop talking, woman, and kiss me back.” You let out a small moan and grip the curls you were playing with moments ago. He deepens the kiss slightly, tongue invading your mouth, surprising you. A subdued hum escapes your mouth, resulting in him grabbing the back of your neck, as the other rests on your hip. The kiss gets deeper and more passionate as the minutes go by. Getting a bit overwhelmed you pull back slowly, softy panting.

“Hmm, so sweet, darling,” he says smugly, earning a little smack to the chest as a bright blush covers your cheeks. Like it wasn’t already hard enough to resist him and stay in the warm bed all morning, he does this. Henry rolls your naked body over so you’re straddling him, a large hand wraps itself around your hair. He tugs, not too hard though, so he has more access to shower open mouthed kisses on your neck and chest. Leaving you a breathless mess on top of him. His hands trail from the top of your back to your rear, squeezing your cheeks before giving them a fast slap, making you take in a breath.

From all the shuffling, little snickers and kissing noises, Kal woke up and groaned, irritated that his humans couldn’t just hanky-panky somewhere else. With a last disapproving look, he jumps off the bed, landing with a thump. From the sound of paws hitting the wooden floor and toddling down the stairs, you look over your shoulder, duvet falling down so you sat there fully naked, much to Henry’s delight.

Then you felt it. It was normal for Henry to get hard in the morning. To be honest, he would be a bit worried if his cock wasn’t hard first thing when waking up.

Involuntarily you grind down, drawing a heavy moan from deep in his chest. Holding intense eye contact with him, you start humping over his bare front, mewling like a kitten in heat. It was embarrassing how he had you wrapped around his finger. A cheeky smile formed on his face, “look who came around.” Your body was practically begging for sex.

Pouting, you keep on moving your hips in a tantalizing slow rhythm, scratching at his hairy chest. Making sure you kept your eyes on his, he licked his three middle fingers and a second later you feel him reaching between your thighs, wiping his fingers down your slit. Tensing up a little, you try to hold back a grunt at the sensation.

“Oh darling,” he started, his voice going an octave lower, “what a mess you’ve made.”

He pulls back and observes your reaction when he pops his finger in his mouth.

“Wet and sweet, like always.”

“You are so nasty,” you whisper in total awe at what he manages to do to your body. He snickers and you quickly grab his hand, pushing it back between your thighs, “I didn’t tell you to stop, though.”

Your jaw goes slack, the moment you feel his thick fingers moving in and out of you. He was hitting just the right spot, making you groan and throw your head back. He felt like he couldn’t hold back anymore, he quickly flips you over so he’s on top of you, fully trapping you underneath his body and smashes his mouth on yours. Everything was happening so fast that you couldn’t pay attention to every incredible thing he was making you feel. Taking his cock in hand, he rubs his shaft against you, up and down, pressing it so you could feel the length. You look up at him, veins bulging in his neck, eyes dark, face already becoming flushed. God, he was so sexy. Grabbing your legs, he pushes your knees back so you were completely spread open and at his mercy.

He curses under his breath and lines himself up with you sticky center. Stifling your moans and pants, by pressing his lips to yours, when he slowly sinks his thick cock inside.

“Oh my god,” you whine, feeling him stretching your walls apart, pushing himself deeper and deeper.

“Y’feel so warm and tight, my love. M’so hard it hurts.” Henry whines against your lips, lacing his fingers in between yours. He trails kisses in your neck and under your ear, trying to get as close to you as possible. He loved feeling your body against his. Your walls were so plushy and wet for his cock, he wanted to stay buried in you forever.

“M’gonna make you feel so good, darling,” he whispers in your ear. You whine softly, getting worked up, “please.”

He smirked, obviously liking your plea.

Instead of giving you a nice, hard pounding, Henry wanted to go slow. It was still very early in the morning, the both of you still barely awake and he wanted to savor this moment with you.

“Oh, Hen-,” you pant softly, loving every bit of it. As he pushes deeper into you, you can feel his entire weight pressing down against you. The weight comforted you in a sense, like others would with a weighted blanket. He prolonged his strokes, making sure that when he slid out you could feel every centimeter of him, but then slid back in quickly.

“Fuck.” He grumbles into your neck, “feels so good, love,” he praises, nibbling on the skin under your ear, grabbing a handful of your hair pulling it back. You move you hands from his grasp and push them up his broad shoulders, pulling him closer to you.

“So good,” you moan out to him, feeling his cock nudge at the extremely sensitive spot deep inside your core. He lifts his head to look at you, seeing your mouth formed into the letter ‘o’, head tilted back into the cloud-like pillow and eyes screwed shut. A string of desperate moans falls from your lips.

This was what he loved, seeing his love, his girl react to the way he was pleasuring her. Just looking at you in this state made his orgasm coil up in the pit of his tummy. He never would have dreamed that another person could give him this feeling, the feeling of utter bliss when you were together. The unconditional love he felt for you was indescribable.

Henry continues to thrust into you and attaches his lips to yours, feeling you squeeze around him. You manage to spread your legs even wider and wrap them securely around his slim waist, digging your heels just above the globes of his perfectly sculpted ass.

He was aiming his stokes into the deepest part of you and you felt yourself getting closer and closer to your release.

“Fuck,” you whimper out to him, digging your nails into the skin of his back. He knew you were about to cum. You let out another loud moan.

“Come on, petal. Cum f’me,” he pants, trying to coax you. Hearing the almost desperate tone in his voice, combined with the sound of him slapping his hips to yours and the feeling of his cock moving in and out of you was becoming overwhelming.

“Oh my god!” A loud moan ripples through you, the feeling of your release coming near.

“Almost, my love,” he moans, speeding up the pace of his thrust. He inhales sharply, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulls you up, quickly pounding into you. Completely losing control, trying to get deeper as if that was possible and lets his forehead rest against yours. With one last push of his hips, you get to your breaking point and cum, screaming. Henry feels your walls clamp around him and let’s go, fully satisfied. The noise he made was an orgasm on its own. He keeps himself against you when he lets go inside of you. You could feel Henry’s cum filling you as you slowly come down from your high. You feel his cum dripping out of you, almost proud of what you made him do.

He is about to roll off of you to cuddle up beside you, but you stop him by tightening your legs around him. “Please stay like this,” you whisper, your brain still a bit muddled by the amazing orgasm you just had seconds ago. He smiles down at you.

“Don’t be a silly goose,” he kisses your nose, “I would crush you,” Henry says endeared with a cheeky grin and pulls you into his side. You feel warm and safe. You yawn, blinking away when your eyes become watery.

“I can’t move,” biting your bottom lip, you snuggle closer to him, “and my throat hurts like hell.”

Henry lowers his hand to your ass and gives it a firm squeeze, “I’m not surprised. Oh doll, the sounds you were making,” he bites his bottom lip, closing his eyes.

You laugh and roll your eyes. Henry nipped at your neck, making you erupt into a fit giggles. He chuckles, leaving a kiss on the spot he had just bitten.

Henry trails his hands up and down your back. You closed your eyes and tangle your leg in between his, really liking the feeling. His chest was heavenly and just being in his arms felt amazing. He almost lulled you back to sleep the moment he began to run his fingers through your hair.

“That good, huh? Almost fucked you back to sleep,” he chuckles.

“It was alright, I guess,” you tease him. He raises his eyebrows, eyes twinkling with joy.

“How would you rate the experience?”

Tilting your head to look up at him, “Hmm, ten I guess.”

He looked very pleased with that.

“Out of twenty,” you finish.

“OUT OF TWENTY?” He sobered up, staring at your face with a shocked expression.

You snicker, climbing into his lap, “No, honey, I was just joking, I’m sorry.” A big pout forming on your face, making you look oh so innocent.

“If you keep looking at me like that, I’m going to put you up on all fours and take you like that, don’t tempt me,” he says, shaking his head. Wiggling your brows you grin and kiss the dimple on his chin.

“As much as I would enjoy that, I think Kal has to go potty and we have to eat.”

After some hushed pillow talk and hoarse giggles between the silky sheets, you two decide to move downstairs and start making some fresh coffee. When you lift your body out of the bed, a light throbbing shoots between your legs. You almost fall back into the mattress, making Henry roar with laughter. You end up getting a piggy back ride down the stairs, only wearing a v-neck shirt from Henry that fell just below the curve of your ass and showed plenty of cleavage. Your lilac panties were fully on display and your almost black hair looked like a lion’s main on top of your head, but you didn’t care.

The both of you were still in that bubbly, fulfilled state of mind, looking like two drugged out kids, wearing blissful smiles. When you got to the kitchen, Kal bounded around the corner, coming from the sitting area, his tail wildly sweeping through the air. Eyes sparkling with happiness when he saw his parents finally had left the bed.

“早上，宝宝” (morning, baby) You greet him, still on Henry’s back. Kal gives you a high “woof” as to say good morning back. After living with Henry and Kal for around eight months now, the akita started to pick up on a few Chinese phrases. He even decided the pet name ‘宝宝’ (bao bao), which means baby or darling, was only to be applied on him and nobody else.

Every time you would video call with your Chinese speaking friends, and they talked about or to their children, Kal would cheerfully patter over, thinking they were cooing at him instead of the small infant in the background. But you thought it was the sweetest thing ever, he was your little fur baby after all.

“I’m going to make us some omelets, is that alright with you, darling,” Henry asked, already opening the fridge and looking for the carton of eggs.

“Yeah, ‘course,” you call out to him. You give Kal his breakfast and receive many, wet kisses in return. Shuffling back over to your boyfriend, you lean against the dark green counter with its wooden countertops, and look at him carefully chopping up some bell peppers and onion, only wearing his joggers and a tank top. You were a lucky girl, and you knew it. Henry sends you a grin and winks before turning back to cutting the vegetables.

You begin to brew some fresh coffee for Henry, and put on the kettle for your morning tea. While he was finishing up breakfast, you start to read the newspaper to him. He absolutely adored it when you’d read to him, due to your accent becoming more noticeable. Kal came over to you, stuffing his wet nose against the hand you held out to him. “You’re such a good boy, Kal. Yes, you are,” you tell him in a baby voice, “you’re my little angel aren’t you? 我的小天使”

You clean the table, after eating your breakfast and get ready for the day. Henry was already out to go on a walk with Kal. It did indeed snow last night and everything outside was hidden underneath a thin sheet of white snow, so you made sure Henry was wrapped up in a thick scarf you made him and a black beanie. After giving you a kiss as if he was off to fight in a war, he and Kal happily walked through the front door, into the freezing cold. Him whistling and Kal buzzing with excitement.

Brushing your teeth and doing your makeup, you dance through the bathroom, in a good mood. You grab your phone that was propped up against the mirror, planning to put on the podcast you had been enjoying lately. You freeze seeing all the notifications, not having heard your phone due to it being on ‘quiet’. You swallow.

Oh shit.

There you were, plastered on the internet for everyone to see and laugh at. You and Henry making out on the parking lot of the Chinese supermarket. Was he going to be angry with you? It was your fault for teasing him after all. Oh no no no…

‘Henry Cavill and girlfriend were spotted having a steamy make out session outside local grocery store’

The headline read, making your face as red as a tomato. Trying to fight against it, you couldn’t hold yourself from reading the next paragraph.

Being in the middle of winter, doesn’t stop these two lovebirds from having a heated make out session in a parking lot!

Yesterday early in the evening, Witcher-superstar Henry Cavill was spotted with (to some) much younger girlfriend, designer, Y/N Y/L/N. The two have recently confirmed their relationship with an Instagram post from Cavill, showing a candid of Y/N, with the short caption ‘My sunshine enjoying the sun shine’. Last month Vogue came out with a video featuring Y/L/N in which Cavill and his dog Kal made an appearance, making fans go wild. It seems like the two really are living the life and we are excited to see more of them together!

Want to know more about the stars? Subscribe to STAR NEWS!

This was it. You could already hear your sweet grandma, praying to the ancestors to forgive you for your sins, lighting all the incense she could find. You were a disgrace to the family now. It wasn’t that you were ashamed or felt bad about doing it, hell, everybody in the position would gladly sit on Henry’s shoulders and stick their tongue down his throat. You were just disappointed you got caught.

From downstairs you hear the door close with a loud thump and the pitter-patter from Kal’s nails on the hardwood floor, letting you know your two boys were back home. You nervously descend the flight of stairs, holding your head low and tightly clutching your phone in hand.

“Hey, lovey! you really missed something, Kal and I could practically ice skate over the walking trails, it was so much fun!” Henry says enthusiastically as he hears you wander into the living room. You ignore him and plop down on the couch.

“I’m sorry,” you whisper, not meeting his eyes.

A frown makes its way onto his face.

“What are you sorry for, sweet girl?” His eyes hold a concerned look, not understanding what you were talking about. You huff out a breath and hand him your phone so he could see the article.

A roaring laugh sounds through the open space, making your head shoot up. “Yeah, I saw it this morning when I went and checked my Instagram,” he chuckles, face still rosy from going outside.

“We really gave the paparazzi a field day, didn’t we?” He continues.

“Your ass looks great in this pic, though. Look,” pointing to the one were he had you lifted over his shoulder, but softens his voice when he sees how tense you were.

“Aw, doll, loosen up, I’m not mad or anything, if that’s what you think. I’m rather pleased now that everybody can see how happy we are and how much joy you bring me,” he lets you know nonchalantly, pressing a smooch to your forehead and starts to march towards the kitchen.

“You want another cuppa, lovey?”

And just like that, you were back in your good mood, perplexed at how well he took all of this.

Don’t be a silent reader! Show some love by reblogging and commenting, did it make you laugh, scream, smile? Let me know, it would make my day!

Much love, Nahmi xxx

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sgwrscrsh · 4 years ago

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winter days: underneath the tree

☁️a/n☁️ this made my heart very warm to write even though i pulled an all-nighter to get it done because my time-management has gone to shit after finals. requested by @sachirou-senpai. thank you, ellie, for giving me a reason to bring back my boys. i’ve missed ‘summer on you’ so much. this can be read as a stand-alone or as a spin off of ending b, my fave. either way, merry christmas to my babes who celebrate! i have one more christmas fic for tmr and then i’m hiding away to plan + write an smau.

includes: female!reader, poly!seijoh four, post-timeskip (very minor manga spoilers), lots of domesticity, a little suggestive bit, a lot of eating and sleeping now that i realize, a christmas tree, matching pajamas, a very special christmas gift, makki slapping your ass once, a lil teary moment w tooru, homemade curry + pancakes (but not together), lots of cuddling, lots of love, happy holidays, 4.35k words

☁️masterlist☁️

shivering slightly, you unlock the door to the rather spacious apartment you shared with your four boyfriends later into the evening than you would’ve liked.

yes, four boyfriends. whom you love very much and are loved by in return.

living with four towering hunks has it’s ups and downs, but you wouldn’t trade tooru’s extensive skin care regiment sprawled across the bathroom counter; hajime’s bag of protein powder that he always forgets to put away; issei’s boots that you always tripped over when you came through the front door; or takahiro’s costco-sized box of cream puffs in the freezer that he insisted he would finish by the end of the month, almost half a year ago, for the world.

you made sure to stomp off the snow stuck on your boots before entering the building, but you couldn’t help but sigh at the warmth that greets you once you toe them off.

“ahhh,” you think. “thank goodness tooru convinced us to invest in heated floors.” another perk of having four boyfriends was that two of them brought in enough bank for you to seriously consider becoming their cute little housewife. snorting, you shake your head, though the idea of prancing around in a maid outfit to tease them seemed very appealing. “maybe we should make hiro dress up and clean the house since he still hasn’t found a new job yet.”

“what’s so funny, sweets?” speak of the devil. makki’s head pops out from the bathroom nearest to the front door, steam rolling out and droplets falling from his hair, signifying that he had just taken a hot shower. wordlessly, you stare at him, lost in thought imagining the water caressing his toned body, but a second later, he gets a better look at you and laughs. “you look like a wet dog!” your glare loses some of its edge when he takes in your own damp strands.

“did someone say something about a dog?” tooru comes bounding round the corner, and you could’ve sworn he drooped a little when he realized it was just you in the hallway sans dog. turning your icy glance on the setter, you open your mouth to complain about how mean the two of them were being to you when your prince charming comes in to save the day.

“you two, stop bullying the poor girl and let her take a warm bath before she gets sick!” iwa chides as he helps you unbundle the layers that protected you from the snow and sharp winds of the winter. pressing a sweet kiss to your forehead and promising to pick out comfy clothes for you, he ushers you into your spacious en suite where a steaming tub full of rose petals awaits you. hajime chuckles at the starry eyes you give him, heart warming at the love and appreciation shining clear as day on your face, before he leaves to grab a clean pair of underwear, one of issei’s t-shirts, and a pair of his own sweats, knowing you much prefer to wear their clothes at home.

submerged in the bath, you exhale contentedly, eyelids fluttering shut as you enjoy the product of iwa’s consideration and foresight. letting the stress of work and the chill of the outdoors melt from you, you stay in the water until it cools and your fingers prune. a lone thought of how much more you would’ve enjoyed the bath if the boys had joined you flits through your mind, but you jolt when you open your eyes and find issei sitting on the counter with a towel and your robe in his lap, some of the water sloshing over the side of the tub.

“oh thank god, i was scared you fell asleep and would drown or choke on a rose petal.” you giggle while he wraps you up in your robe before gently toweling your hair dry. “you can’t leave me to deal with the three of them alone.”

rolling your eyes, you retort easily, “if anything, i’d feel bad about leaving hajime to deal with the three of you alone. the poor man puts up with enough from his team, he doesn’t need you guys ganging up on him, too.”

“well i’ll have you know, sometimes he really enjoys us ganging up on him.” his cheeky quip paired with his wiggling eyebrows earns him a smack on the chest but regardless, you let him sweep you up into his arms and drop you on the massive bed the five of you shared. “get dressed, babygirl. as much as i’d love to spend more time with you naked, i gotta help haji finish dinner.” with a quick peck on your lips, issei leaves you to do just as he said.

emerging revitalized and relaxed, your mouth waters at the smell of homemade curry, distracted enough to not notice tooru’s arms wrapping around your shoulders and waist.

“hey, cutie, i’ve missed you,” he sings, face snuggled into the junction of your shoulder and neck. you spin around in his hold to slip your arms around his slim torso, relishing his firm lines against your soft curves.

“‘ve missed you too, tooru.” and you really did, grateful that all of you were able to take time off work and he was able to come home a week before the holidays, giving the five of you a whole month to spend together before he had to jet back to argentina for his next bout of training and practice games.

“hell yea! group hug!” makki comes running towards you guys, only for you to twist out of his reach at the last second, sending him straight into the sofa behind you. “oof, that was cold, y/n.”

you stick your tongue out at the strawberry boy. “yea, well that’s what you get for laughing at me when i got home. sucker.” still entangled in tooru’s embrace, you feel his body shake with mirth and bite the inside of your cheek to prevent yourself from dissolving into giggles when you see a pout take over hiro’s pretty face.

“dinner’s ready,” comes iwa’s call, beckoning the three of you into the kitchen before you could antagonize each other some more. once you all got your servings of curry, you settle into your proclaimed seats on the large sofa, your body comically small compared to their tall frames dwarfing the cushions. noting the way tooru threw his long legs over iwa’s and how mattsun and makki leaned against each other as they ate, you fold your legs to tuck your feet under takahiro’s thigh and dig in to your meal with some trashy reality show lighting up the tv screen, completely certain that the warmth in your chest was from the company of your loved ones more so than the piping hot potatoes in your stomach.

during breakfast the next day, you blearily rub the sleep out of your eyes before taking a sip of your coffee, a satisfied “ahhh” escaping your parted lips as you lean against the kitchen counter. slowly peeling your eyelids open, you notice all of their gazes were focused on you. “yes? can i help you?” you ask amusedly, awake now that caffeine had be introduced to your tired body.

“how are you still so gorgeous in the morning?” you blink at the dreamy look on iwa’s face propped up in his hands with his elbows on the surface of the island. looking around, you see the other three matching the athletic trainer’s pose and expression next to him. thinking over your messy bedhead, mysteriously stained pajamas, and almost impressively dark eyebags, you want to scoff, but the unfairly handsome men giving you their undivided attention despite all of that (“because of all of that, y/n-chan,” tooru would argue) make you blush instead.

“you’re one to talk, haji,” you opt to remark, hoping to divert their focus from you and your rosy cheeks. “and don’t look at me like that,” your pointed finger swinging wildly between the four of them like the needle of a compass. “you already know you guys are way outta my league, you don’t need me to tell you that.” with one last flourish, you wave your hand dismissively before grabbing your mug with both hands, palms warming against the ceramic.

“as wrong as you are, you can’t blame us for wanting to hear the love of our lives compliment us first thing in the morning as we admire her natural beauty,” mattsun grins once he sees the success his words have at deepening the flush on your face. tooru nods gravely in agreement, but it’s makki’s one-two combo of a wink and an air kiss that breaks you. you roll your bottom lip between your teeth to stifle a laugh but release it immediately when the playful atmosphere takes a heady turn. clearing your throat, you pay no heed to their hungry expressions, knowing full well that they all noticed your little action and how they would react to it.

“a-anyways,” you stutter, “i’m gonna go get ready ‘cause i have things to do today so-” you try to slip by, leaving your empty cup in the sink, only to get caught in your tracks by hiro’s long arms.

“ah, ah, ah, princess. and where do you think you’re going?” soon enough, you find yourself surrounded by your smoking hot boyfriends and heat up in anticipation of their next moves.

“this so isn’t fair,” you complain aloud, though you were just as eager as they were to get you out of your worn sleep clothes.

“tough shit, babygirl. guess you’re just gonna have to add four more things to your to-do list, huh?”

naturally, you leave your errands for some day later in the week when you’re able to walk properly again.

the opportunity comes when you rise earlier than the rest of them, a rare occasion where you found yourself graced with the freedom of sleeping on the outside instead of being sandwiched in the middle of the bed. tiptoeing about, you brush your teeth and get dressed, somehow managing to not wake any of the sleeping beauties. you scribble little love-filled messages on post-it notes and stick them around your apartment on your way out, but not without one last soft smile in the direction of the bedroom, the sight of the four of them cuddled together through the door left ajar renewing your motivation to accomplish your tasks and come home sooner.

with your laptop bag in tow, you set out for your first destination, settling into a corner booth at the coffee shop with a full cup and a pastry. once you finish your breakfast, you pull out your laptop and get to work, scouring the internet for the perfect gifts for your lovably imperfect partners. you rack your brain for any recollection of any moment where they would’ve let a potential present slip into conversation and light up when you come across volleyball print pajama pants. you check the availability of the sizes you needed and upon realizing that they were all in stock and would be delivered before christmas, you place your order without a moment’s hesitation. satisfied with your progress, you pull up the animal shelter’s hours before heading out of the cafe, the barista’s greetings and the jingling bells echoing behind you.

by the time you return home, it’s late in the afternoon and you’re greeted by a wall of warm bodies as soon as you step through the front door.

“where’ve you been, babe?” once again, takahiro is the first to meet your return, but this time he plants a sweet kiss on your lips with his long fingers encircling your waist after his inquiry.

“oh, you know,” you sigh, dazed from the saccharine embrace. “out and about.”

“busy day? hope it was productive.” you nuzzle into tooru’s chest, feeling the timbre of his voice through your skin, and nod.

“as a matter of fact, it was.” their eyes soften at the proud grin stretched across your face. but your grumbling stomach just had to ruin the moment, making the three of you stare at each other before bursting out in chuckles.

“you skipped lunch?” oiks asks, wrapping each arm around yours and hiro’s waists and guiding you into the kitchen. you rub the back of your neck sheepishly.

“i guess so? i didn’t really notice i was hungry until now.”

“good thing we saved your favorite from that chinese place down the street for you,” mattsun comes up behind you and lands a kiss on the crown of your head. you beam gratefully up at him and skip over to the fridge to retrieve the takeout.

“welcome home, love,” iwaizumi emerges from the bathroom to complete the set and gives you a once over. “you look tired.”

“gee thanks, hajime.” he rolls his eyes playfully at you while you wait for your food to heat up in the microwave.

“what time did you get up this morning?”

“uhhh,” you start, mouth full. at iwa’s stern glare, you swallow before answering, “seven-ish? earlier than i would’ve like for a vacation day but it was worth it.”

“hm, well i’m glad you had a good day at least.” you shuffle over to kiss his cheek before dropping yourself on top of where tooru and hiro were cuddling on the sofa, eyes drifting around the room to take in the holiday decorations adorning the space.

“thanks, haji. but you’re right, i am sleepy.” suppressing a yawn, you lean back against the broad chests behind you and tuck back into the paper container. “can we take a nap once i’m done?”

“sure thing, babygirl.” the innocent smile mattsun sends your way turns mischievous with his added comment. “we really tuckered ourselves out while you were gone.” you nearly choke but makki’s hand thumping your back helps you dislodge whatever food got caught in your throat. iwa shakes his head and looks to the side in an attempt to hide his face, but the reddening tips of his ears give him away. meanwhile, oikawa catches your eye and winks.

“how else did you suppose we keep ourselves occupied when our baby wasn’t home?” you get up to toss your now empty container, shaking your head as you go.

“i’m glad to see you at least got the christmas tree up before going at it. god, you’re all insatiable.”

“i mean, it’s hard not to be in this relationship,” hajime grumbles.

“aww, iwa,” makki pushes his lips into an overexaggerated pout. “you make me hard, too.” full-bellied chortles escape the four of you, ignoring iwaizumi’s indignant huffs.

“whatever,” comes his miffed reply, but you know he takes all your antics in stride. soon enough, he returns to the living room with a stack of blankets and finds you and issei added to the pile of limbs tooru and hiro founded. somehow, hajime situates himself to fit perfectly in your cuddle fest, blankets sprawled about to keep you warm.

one last yawn leaves your mouth before you mutter a sleepy, “night, guys. love you,” barely registering the quiet “love you”s you get in return as you drift off, the lights adorning your christmas tree twinkling above you.

christmas day, you wake up before the others again, this time more than willing to feign sleep and revel in the warmth of your shared bed. luckily, you don’t have to wait long for your boys to stir. sitting up, you stretch your arms above you head and begin to climb out of bed only to be caught by the wrist and dragged back down.

“haji, please,” you draw out. “we can finally open the presents under the tree!”

“i don’t care, it’s too early for you to leave me, princess.” you hum as he pulls you closer to him, revisiting your mental note that iwa is much more openly (and selfishly) affectionate in the mornings.

“oi, the rest of us are still here you know.” face buried against tooru’s back, mattsun’s muffled complaint gets hajime to loosen his hold on you.

“yea, yea,” he props himself up on his elbow to lean over you and kisses the former middle blocker’s temple. “unfortunately.”

“so mean, iwa-chan,” oikawa pipes up, stretching his arm across you to caress your boyfriend’s toned arm before lacing his fingers with makki’s. the pink haired man himself, still half-asleep, squeezes tooru’s hand before sitting up.

“hey, wait. it’s christmas, isn’t it?” takahiro’s question reminds you of the package you received a couple days prior, prompting you to spring out of bed before one of them could reel you back in. the four watch you rifle through the closet and resurface with the pajama pants you ordered.

“merry christmas!” you cry excitedly, tossing each boy their respective pair and eagerly awaiting their reactions. “they’re matching pj’s! look, i got one for myself, too.” thankful that you chose to go to bed in just one of iwa’s godzilla t-shirts and underwear last night, you rush to slip on your volleyball print pants. the boys take in your childlike joy, chests tightening at how precious you are. “hurry up, i want you to try them on so we can match!” at your insistence, they roll out of bed and dutifully don your gifts.

“oh these are actually really soft,” tooru murmurs thoughtfully, fingering the fabric on his thigh.

“right?” you pipe up, nearly bouncing off the walls. “i wanted to do something to commemorate our first christmas together in this apartment and i thought these were really cute since volleyball is what brought us together in the first place.” eyes meet each other as you all reminisce that special summer, grateful that you stayed close despite your individual journeys after graduation.

suddenly, the doorbell ringing catches your attention. a brief glance at the clock on the bedside table tells you it’s much later in the morning than you though, but you’re quick to answer the door.

“who could that be?” the boys are left wondering, wandering out into the living room in time to see you wave goodbye to whoever it was with a large gift-wrapped box sitting on the floor next to you.

“babe? who was it?” tooru is the first to ask the question on all of their minds.

“oh, just my best friend. they wanted to drop this off on their way to their parents’ house.” you gingerly pick up the box and bring it to where your boys were waiting for you. “go ahead!”

“go ahead?” hajime parrots.

“yea! open it!”

“it’s not for you?” takahiro ponders.

“well yes and no. c’mon just open it already!” you’re bouncing on the balls of your feet at this point. tooru finally takes the initiative to remove the lid of the box, eyes widening when he sees what it hid.

“oh my gosh,” he breathes. the other three nearly knock heads with how quickly they lean over the opening.

“is that-?” a furry little head pops up over the edge of the box, round eyes peering up at the four of them.

“a dog! yes!” you squeal. “he’s a shelter dog!”

“he is?” hiro is in awe, slowly reaching out to cradle the little guy in his arms.

“i met him the other day when i woke up early and ran errands without you guys. isn’t he just the cutest?” big hands dwarf the small pooch as they gently pet his head and stroke his fur.

“does he have a name?” tooru has the good sense to ask.

“mhm, the lady at the shelter said his previous owner named him ponyo.”

“ponyo…” issei whispered, eyes shining.

“i know we’re nowhere near ready to start thinking about kids,” you start, the topic of the conversation instantly drawing their attention. tooru even ignored ponyo’s little tongue lapping at his fingers. “but i thought we could use an addition to our family.”

“y/n, princess, we obviously all love him already, but we’re busy with work- well, most of us are. who’s gonna take care of him?” hajime questions, almost reluctantly.

“i mean, hiro is home all the time since he’s still unemployed (“i said i was looking, damn!”), but i actually got promoted so my schedule is way more flexible and i can work from home most of the time.” your voice trails off bashfully, but they give you no time to be embarrassed, swallowing you up in a huge hug.

“why didn’t you say anything sooner, baby? we’re so proud of you!” now you know how the dog felt being smothered by their affection, not that it was anything new for you.

“uhh, surprise?”

“fuck yea, surprise! god, you’re incredible. lemme make a list of things we’ll need to get for ponyo once the stores reopen tomorrow.”

“actually…”

“you didn’t.”

“i did, with help from my best friend.” going into the lowest cupboards in the kitchen, you show off the bag of dog food and water and food bowls you bought soon after visiting the shelter. “his bed and crate are in the other closet by the washroom.”

“how did we get so lucky?” takahiro asks aloud, making you blush as the others nod in sync, all of them blown away by your thoughtfulness.

“this is nothing. i just wanted to show you guys how much i love you.” you play with your fingers, a little overwhelmed now that the initial excitement has worn off. “oh wait!”

“there’s more?” tooru asks, shocked.

“but wait, there’s more!” mattsun and makki chime in simultaneously, making you laugh as you retrieve the last present. you hop over to where tooru was sitting on the sofa with ponyo on his lap, scooping the dog up and locking the two of you in the bathroom. a couple minutes later, you open the door to let ponyo scurry over to his dads, who coo softly once they see him come around the sofa.

“when did you have time to do this?”

“my pants were a little long, so i hemmed them one night after you guys passed out on the sofa watching your old volleyball matches. i kinda guessed ponyo’s measurements based on standard info i found on the internet, but it fits perfectly so i’m glad!” looking at the little sweater you made for your new family member out of the extra fabric from your pj pants, you couldn’t stop the pleased grin that broke out on your face. “now even ponyo matches with us!”

while your gaze was trained on the tiny dog that was exploring his new home, theirs were stuck on you, your resemblance with a proud mother struck something in them, giving them thoughts of you with their children. yes, children. but for now they shoved those images to the backs of their minds, meeting each other’s stares to confirm they were all in silent agreement.

“we’re gonna make breakfast, you just sit there ‘n look pretty while you watch ponyo, yea?” issei announces before pulling you into a searing kiss as he walks by.

“not that that’s hard for you,” iwa tags on, kissing your cheek and ruffling your hair following mattsun into the kitchen.

“but i’m always hard for you.” you yelp when hiro playfully slaps your ass, flipping him off as he trails after the other two with a loud hoot. tooru comes up behind you and rubs your sore cheek, spinning you around so that you were face to face.

“why’d you do this to me, y/n-chan?” you meet his frown with a confused look of your own. “now it’s gonna be even harder for me to go back to argentina.”

“oh, tooru,” you wrap your arms around his neck, standing on your tiptoes to bring him close. “you have the next few weeks to spend with us and our new baby.” as if he knew you were talking about him, ponyo pads over to sit by your feet, tail wagging. oikawa sighs melodramatically.

“a few weeks is nothing compared to the months i’ll be gone!”

“oi, shittykawa, you better not be complaining after everything this morning,” hajime hollers from the kitchen.

“love you, too, iwa-chan!” tooru calls back instinctively then he looks back down at you, his eyes giving away how much leaving will hurt him and it nearly makes you tear up with him.

“tooru, baby, it sucks every time you leave us, but you’re following your dreams and doing what you love. and we want to support you all the way, even if it means doing so from across the world. but with my new work schedule, i’ll be able to call or text you pretty much whenever. and just think how much sweeter it’ll be the next time you do come home to us. so don’t be too sad, okay, my love? we’ll all be here waiting for you.”

as the last words leave your lips, tooru has you pulled flush against him, arms wrapped tight around your body. his face was hidden, but you could feel the sobs in hot breaths against your shoulder. you guided him over to the sofa and let him cry, petting his hair and peppering kisses on his tear-streaked face until he tired himself out.

issei, hajime, and takahiro come out of the kitchen with stacks of pancakes and all the fixings, setting them down on the coffee table in front of you once they see tooru snoozing in your lap. iwa picks ponyo up before he could get a bite of your breakfast while you gently shake your boyfriend awake. mattsun and makki set up ponyo’s crate and bedding, leaving him with a toy to keep him occupied while the five of you filled up your plates.

sitting in the living room of the apartment you shared with your four boyfriends on christmas day, stuffing your face with fruit and whipped cream topped pancakes that they made, in matching pajamas with your new rescue dog scampering about, you couldn’t ask for a better gift underneath the tree.

taglist: @lovemeafterhrs @sachirou-senpai @honey-makki @kenmaki

#skye writes fluff #seijoh four #seijoh third years #oikawa tooru #iwaizumi hajime #matsukawa issei #hanamaki takahiro #haikyuu fluff #haikyuu x reader #haikyuu #hq #haikyuu poly #haikyuu post time skip #skye writes a series #summer on you: the series

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artisticestheticreads · 5 years ago

Text

The Heat of Trinidad (2)

A/N: IT IS M’BAKU SATURDAY. In this chapter, M’Baku finds Rae and they spend a little time together..kinda. ENJOY.

WARNING: none. Just long as heck. Sawwy.

SONG RECOMMENDATION: Good Morning by Peter Ram

" ‘How can I see you, again? I mean when can I see you again?’ She turned to him with a straight face and said “don’t worry. Ye will find me, only if it’s meant to be.” She walked over to her driver’s side, honked her horn once and drove off. He looked over to the painting to see she had painted a woman with her hands out to her hands out and eyes to the sky. He wondered how can she be this extraordinary then said to himself “I need to see her again.’ ”

M’Baku was up early in the morning and the first thought he had was “I have to have her. Why did she not throw herself at me like the other women back home have?” N’Jabu sat across from him at the table, sipping coffee and reading the paper as they had breakfast. “Who is she sir”, he asked and M’Baku looked at him. “Who are you talking about, son”, the Lord asked and the agent said “the one you ‘have’ to see.”

“Can you read my mind?”

“No, sir. You have been talking aloud this whole time”, N’Jabu said as he got up to wash his breakfast dishes. “If you must know, her name is Raelyn. She is the most beautiful woman I have saw.” N’Jabu walked back over to the table to see M’Baku’s plate was completely full. N’Jabu went to place his hand on M’Baku’s head but he barked and the young man jumped back. M’Baku stood from the table, heading to his room and yelled over his shoulder “GO GET READY��.

M’Baku wore a chocolate toned suit, white dress shirt with his chain and the shoes transformed into matching dress shoes. N’Jabu wore his uniform and they were off to the station. As they were on their way, M’Baku saw Aura and thought about her again.

Two Hours Later

“In conclusion, we should enforce a safer environment by finding evidence then take action. Thank you”,

N’Jabu said and the whole office clapped. M’Baku stood against a wall looking at them all, completely unamused. N’Jabu came up to him and said “Lord M’Baku, I will stay here with the others to train them. Will you join us?” M’Baku shook his head and said “this is your thing. You did well but I have a private engagement to tend to.” With that, he said his goodbyes and walked out. He went back to the car as his driver stood by. “Where to, Lord M’Baku”, the older man asked and that gave M’Baku an idea.

On their way there, M’Baku took off his jacket and rolled up sleeves, opening the first three buttons of his shirt. When they parked, the building was in the shape of a dome. There was a wide garden of different type of flowers to his right as he walked to the door. He stood at the receptionist desk and dark skin woman with wavy hair sitting there. She looked up with wide eyes and her mouth gaped open. “W-welcome t-to the T&T Y-outh Centuh, Lord M’Baku it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“Yes, yes. Thank you, miss. I am looking for the art program.” She helped him down the hall and when they got to the door, he looked through the small window; he saw here. She wore a white tee, loose-fitting but still hugged her breasts. She paired with a pair of high waist jeans and the same shoes she wore the other day. Her hair was in a high bun with a few loose strands. “Now, it always helps to stand away from de painting and see what we can add. Ye can never be too careful. Now, let’s add a mountain or two here and let it dry. Ok, class. Now, remember. Neva doubt yeself. I’ll see ye all Monday.” All the kids ran out instead of Mandy. Mandy walked up to Rae and pulled her on the hem of her shirt.

“Are you okay, Mandy?” Mandy looked up to her and held up her painting. “I don’t tink I did it like yours.” Rae looked at hers then at Mandy’s. “You are right, Mandy. Yours is better.” Mandy smiled at her and blushed. “Never compare ye self to anyone else, okay? We are all different in our own way.” Mandy nodded and gave her a hug. Rae watched her walk out when she noticed M’Baku walking in. “Well, well, well. Looks like the great gorilla found me. What do I owe the pleasure of ye visit, me lawd?” He smiled with a tilt of her head before saying “well, my driver was giving me a tour around after my meeting and thought I would come by and pay a visit.”

“Oh, how nice. Well, have a nice day”, Rae said as she cleaned up. “I don’t hear any feet moving”, Rae said but when she turned M’Baku stood right behind her. Even though she was a very statuesque woman, she had to admit it was nice to stand in front of someone that she can look up to. “Ye stand awfully close to people, don't ye?” M’Baku looked into her eyes and said: “maybe so.” She turned back to the art supplies and finished cleaning. “Well, it was nice to see ya but I have to get going.” She grabbed her book bag and began walking, so did he. When she began walking, he could not help but stare. “Would you like a ride? My driver is still here.”

“Me fine. I’m just walking a few blocks.” He sped walk and stood in front of her. “Well, lemme walk you. A woman as beautiful as you should not be walking alone.” She gave a sarcastic grin and said: “I tink I can manage, Lord M’Baku.” She walked past him but he still followed as the car did the same. “Miss Rae, please get in the car.”

“Me mudda always said neva get in cars with men I have neva met.”

“You can trust me though.”

“Too late. I’m already here.”

The house had a peach undertone and a red shingle roof with a nicely trimmed lawn. There was a young dark skin man with his shirt off trimming at the bushes. He looked up to see the pair walking towards them and said “Ey, Rae. Why de big fella followin’ ye?” Rae stepped up to the lawn and folded her arms. “He followed me on his own.” M’Baku nodded to the young man and said: “I am Lord M’Baku.” All of a sudden, the man dropped the clippers. “Lord M’Baku? Of Wakanda?”

“Yes, young man.” The man walked past Rae and held his hand out. “Ya are really the Lord Of Wakanda?”

“Miles, get away from him”, Rae said to her little brother but he was still in front of the Lord. “Hush, Rae. I’m meeting me hero. Lord M’Baku, I look up to you.” All of a sudden, an older woman in a sunflower momo came to the porch. She had salt and pepper hair and wrinkles covering her dark skin. Rae looked up to her and saw her. “Ello, mudda. Sorry, I’m late.” Her mother sucked her teeth and said “My Rae of Sunshine. You are fine, me chile.” She walked down the steps to get a closer look and kissed her daughter’s cheek before she looked to the younger man who stood before them.

“Well, well. Who is this handsome young man”, she said waking up to him and her son. “Ello, what is your name?” He stood proud and said “Lord M’Bakau”, he held out his hand and she shook. “Ah, I see you on my TV. It’s nice to meet you. Rae, did you invite Mr. M’Baku to dinner?” Rae looked up to him with his cheesy smirk and rolled her eyes. “I guess. But he may be a very busy man. He might have plans-”

“I am actually free. I would love to join your family, Miss-”

“Miss Edwards”, Miss Edwards said and smiled. “You may come in. Miles, bwoy. Come and help ye mudda wit the table.” Miles bowed to M’Baku before walking behind his mother. Rae folded her arms and he approached her. “What are you trying to do”, she asked and he said, “well, it was meant to be I guess.” He held his hand out so she can lead the way. Once they walked in, a small brown cat caressed against her leg; she picked up the cat and massaged her scalp. “Hello, Cookie.”

“Raelyn, give him a tour, honey”, her mother said from the kitchen. “Yes, mudda”, the tour started. First, was the living room. Very nude tones filled the room and something caught his attention. There were frames of pictures on the mantle. He stepped closer to see one of Rae. She was probably in high school, face was chunky but her smile was so bright. He hoped to make her smile like that one day. Another was her way younger, maybe five. Her afro was in two puffs and she had a focus face with her tongue sticking out; she was painting.

Next was the Miles room, navy blue walls and typical guy stuff then it was her room. She walked in first and it surprised the Great Gorilla. Her room was like his back home with slight changes. Her bed was a queen-sized with a plush comforter and tons of pillows against the wooden headboard. The walls were a dark cream shade and a vase rested on a table. Rae sat on her bed, slipping out of her shoes and watched as he walked around. “You like dandelions”, he asked and she nodded. “Yes, if you must know, my fadda used to plant them all the time while I was younger.” She stood and he watched her walking towards. “My mudda might be done with dinner. Wash ye hands in the bathroom.” He looked to her and she shooed him away. “Bathroom to ye left.”

Minutes later, Rae sat with her mother at the head of the table and she smiled at her without looking at her. “Yes, mudda? Why are ye staring at me, hm?” Her mother smiled as she placed her napkin in her lap. “Very handsome, man. Now I see why everyone is going to Wakanda.” Rae rolled her eyes, playing her napkin on her lap. “Well, he has plenty of women around him. Don’t know why he following me ‘round like a lost puppy.”

“He remind me of ya fadda. Strong man, handsome and a leader. He was just like M’Baku. I see something in him.”

“For who?”

“You, chile.” Rae kissed her teeth and said “I am fine. I don’t need a man and don’t want one.” Before her mother can say anything, M’Baku came out with his sleeves rolled up and drying his hands with a paper towel. Rae watched him sit at the end of the small table and scoot his chair in. “M’Baku, I hope ye don’t mind but I made a vegan dish for dinner; curried potatoes.”

“That is fine. I am actually vegetarian.” Miss Edwards looked to him them Rae with a smile. “So, are we but Rae was the first to transition to dat lifestyle.” Rae sipped her long glass of iced tea before looking towards her mother. “Miles, can you do the prayer please”, Rae asked as she held her head down. “Sure”, he took his mother’s hand and M’Baku’s. M’Baku looked between them and saw Rae’s hand on the table while the other took her mother’s. Rae had her eyes closed when she felt fingers intertwine hers. She eyed to see his big hand in hers. She looked at his face but his eyes were closed, looked so soft but fingertips were calloused. Probably from battle. She wanted to feel more but heard the prayer coming to the end and shut her eyes fast.

They began to scoop potatoes over their rice with pieces of buns passing around. “So, M’Baku. What brings ye here”, Miss Edwards asked and he looked to her before eating another bite. “Well, Wakanda is helping to plan a safer environment and to stop police brutality. We noticed a lot of our own kind are losing their lives to gun violence and we want to help stop that problem.” Rae looked over to him and still ate. Miles sat proudly and said, “I wish was from Wakanda then I can help.”

“Help like how, young man”, M’Baku asked. “Well, I wanna help the world make a better place and stop the violence. I wanna be apart of the WPS.” Miss Edwards kept eating when she said “no, Miles. It is very dangerous.” That’s when M’Bakue heard it. “Mudda, their uniforms are made of vibranium from head to toe. It repels against all danger and impact and doubles it by a hundred as it attacks the enemy. Miles will be safer than our own armies and police department.” M’baku looked to her impressed with her knowledge of the suits. “I see you have done your research.” She sipped her drink and said, “Miles, told me.”

“No, I didn’t “, Miles said but was caught off with a kick to his shin. Rae gave him a brow raised and Miss Edwards asked next “Lord M’Baku, how did ye stand single all these years?” Rae knew where this was going and she folded her hands in her lap. M’Baku cleaned his mouth with the napkin before speaking. “Well, Ma’am. I never found a woman who I can be equal to. It is very hard to find a woman as such back home.”

“Do ya think ye will find one here”, she asked and Rae looked to her right, feeling like she was in the hot seat. M’Baku looked to Rae, noticing how uncomfortable she was. “Well, ma’am. I am solely here for a mission. I do not have time to try and find love in this beautiful place. Like a beautiful woman told me before ‘only if it’s meant to be’.” Rae looked to him and a small smile came to her face. She relaxed and began eating again. M’Baku looked to Rae and asked “Rae, I was looking at one of your murals the other day and I wanted to ask how do you come up with something so fast? I mean you and I were talking and you created it so fast.”

“Well, it just happens. I paint what I see and feel. The ideas just come to me”, she explained and M’Baku nodded. “Well, you do very nice work.” She smiled as she ate and he did the same. After dinner was over, Miss Edwards asked if he would like to stay but he politely declined and said he had to get going. Rae walked him out and to his car that came back when he pressed the button on his beads. “Thank you for having me for dinner. It was nice.” Rae folded her arms and said, “yes. It was. I should apologize for my family. They talk about ye alot and they got excited seeing ye in person.” M’Baku chuckled and mentioned that he was used to it back home. They stood a while before he said “I would love to come and watch you paint during one of your sessions at the center.” Rae looked around him and nodded. “Well, the center opens back up on Monday at 8 am. Ye may come if ye like.” He bowed his head with his hand to his chest. “I will be there.”

“Okay then. But where something comfortable because we will be going out for the rest of the day. We have to start a mural soon and as tall as you are you can help.” He looked down at her and nodded. I will be there, Miss Raelyn.” He shook her hand and watched her walk to the house before getting in the back seat. Before pulling off, he noticed the dandelions and got an idea.

The next morning, Rae woke up around six am to go for a walk but decided to make a little snack first. She got up in her pajama set with her hair tied up after brushing her teeth and before she hit the kitchen, she noticed a huge bouquet yellow dandelions wrapped in green tissue paper and saw a note attached, smiling after when she read it.

“Everyone needs a little Rae of Sunshine in their life. I hope this is yours. Yours Truly, The Great Gorilla.”

*𝒯𝒜𝒢𝒢𝐸𝒟 𝐿𝒪𝒱𝐸𝒮*

@muse-of-mbaku

@im5ftbutmythroat66

@chaneajoyyy

@melanin-samii

@theunsweetenedtruth

@doux-ciel

@unicornluvin8765

@vikkidc

@wakandantings

@thadelightfulone

@mzamethystp

@simbiann

@tropicalsun10

@babydoll756

@notoriouslynay

@vminax

@quinsly

@pinkdemolition

@quietstorm-73

@chaoticcashfancroissant

@bugngiz

@chocolatedippedinhoney

@yafavcocoa

@lostgalaxies

@mbakuwife

@youreadthatright

@babygotl01292003

@acceptyourselfloveyourself

@madamslayyy

@yoyolovesbucky

@theogbadbitch

@wakanda-inspired

@bitchacho25

@toniilaney

@wakandascrystal

@girlsneedlovingfanfics

@raysunshine78

@melodyofmbaku

@hearteyes-for-killmonger

@silenceisplatinum

@thickemadame

@shookmcgookqueen

@heykillmongerluhme

@fonville-designs

@cutewylie

@allhailqueennel

@10bsatatime

@nickidub718

@lildashofmelanin

@allhailqueennel

@amirra88

#M'Baku #m'baku x reader #m'baku x oc #m'baku series #The Heat of Trinidad series #bp fandom #bp fanfic #artisticestheticreads

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sohaveyoubeento-blog · 5 years ago

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Jerk Chicken and Holiday Pants

This week we decided to turn our attention to Caribbean food, an old favourite of mine after discovering it while living in south east London, and spending my ‘lunch break’ wondering round smoky barbecues in busy markets, near my old workplace.

When I moved back to Leeds after nearly a decade of eating everything Caribbean that came my way, I was disappointed with what slim pickings we have up here. There’s a few absolute belters, in fairness, though. One of which is Jenny’s Jerk Chicken, in Kirkgate Market.

Considering how quintessentially northern Leeds market is, one of the biggest indoor markets in the region, it really took me by surprise when I found their ‘Indie food hall’.

The Indie food hall is basically a collection of permanent Street food residents, littered around the far end of the indoor market, heading towards the outdoor section. It’s as diverse as it gets in there, and the eateries (and there are MANY) aren’t just restricted to this Indie food hall area, in their cute little booths. There are what looks like even more permanent fixtures dotted around the permineter as you enter, from traditional Baklava and Turkish delight to old style sweet shops. There are Morrocans, an open Thai kitchen where you struggle to get a stool and eat at the kitchen window, a chinese restaurant that literally couldn’t get any more plain – more like a tile shop than a restaurant but packed with locals, none the less. It’s a complete treasure trove is Leeds (Kirkgate) Market, and I’m thoroughly enjoying working my way through it.

Jenny’s Jerk first came to my attention as a trailer type situation on lower briggate. I’d not long since returned from London, saw Jerk and grabbed it. With both hands, literally.

Now I’ve broadened my horizons, I get the curry goat more often than not and stray away from the chicken, although I still got some extra jerk chicken skewers just so I wasn’t missing out. Laura Got the classic Chicken rice and peas, with jerk gravy ladelled onto the rice – So. Bloody. Good.

Dani opted for a jerk burger and sweet potato fries and as it was her first time at Jenny’s we made sure she had a dumpling. Traditionally Caribbean dumplings are steamed or deep fried, and often chewy and bready and a bit… much. Jenny’s dumplings are absolutely in a league of their own to be fair – they’re actually crumbly – no sogginess and just perfect to mop up the curry goat gravy. I felt bad for the girls having to watch me in their horror – the curry goat was massive chunks of slow (REALLY slow) cooked goat and there were massive pieces of bone in there, but if there wasn’t it wouldn’t be a real Caribbean, to be honest. The bone releases the flavour as it’s cooked, and makes it even nicer. They were preoccupied with their own offerings, and the chicken patty broke it all up with yet more chicken, but quite spicy inside with a yellow puff pastry case. That’s the turmeric, apparently Cornish tin miners went to the Caribbean and introduced them to the concept of pasties, and they added their own spices to the recipe. Hence, the patty was born. How true this is, I’m not sure. Barbara who works in Asda in Holt Park told me when I went through a checkout with one hanging out my mouth, mumbling about the bar code being intact on the wrapper. Every day’s a school day.

Dani’s jerk burger was on a brioche bun, and we all had a pretty impressive salad with mango mayonnaise, and I must admit, when the guy made our lunch I was surprised at the attention to detail he was taking. He seemed like a really young guy, just on his own cutting up sweet potatoes when we arrived. We got there just before the rush kicked off at 12. He seemed to be running the whole operation, really. He took so much care in all of it, the little box was a work of art really. Gravy here, sauce there, dumplings in the fryer… so much to remember. He had a colleague turn up halfway through but by this point the queue was down the road. It was the busiest eatery there, for sure. At £9 a head with a drink (just a can, keep it simple and all that), you can’t move after it, it’s an awesome feed. Highly recommended.

Afterwards, we went for a mooch around the market and had a look at some of the offerings in the homeware section…. This is where leeds market really comes in to it’s own. I mean, some of it really is naff old tat, and a lot of the fabrics have a bit of a reoccurring theme of diamantes and crap slogans, Adibab trainers and Reedod hats spring to mind. But then dotted around the nonsense and awful quality interior décor are a few genuine gems.

I treated myself to a few pairs of knob head trousers – you know the ones. The gap yaaaar trousers covered in elephants that are drawstring and always a really garish print. Yeah, I bought three pairs. £5 each, why wouldn’t you!! They’re good for the beach, and I’m going this weekend. She says. Pulling her apron down at work, over said trousers…. Alright, they’re cotton and breathable and they minimise chub rub. Leave me be.

I bought a few necklaces from another tat stall outside that claimed it was ex ‘high street stock’ and to be fair they are really cool. I think on a hot day a green neck will be imminent but it was a nice idea at the time. Once again I had Parker in tow and he was starting to kick off at this point, we decided it was time to head back anyway and called it a day.

All in all, Leeds Market (or Kirkgate Market) is an absolute diamond. It’s just a complete winner really, there’s some amazing little plant shops as well as food shops, masses of bakeries, cafes and food joints of course, but some unexpected little nik nak shops that are definitely worth a look. Nik Naks as in strange things to wear or put around your house. Not the crispy maize snack that was most popular in the 90’s (nice and spicy all the way). Although, that too, would be cool.

Laters taters,

Alex, Laura and Dani

Jenny’s Jerk Chicken https://www.instagram.com/jennysjerkchicken

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misstinapie · 7 years ago

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T&J Travels #9: Kuala Lumpur & Melaka 2017 (Part 5)

+ Stadthuys (Red Square) +

Christ Church, the Muzium Sejarah dan Ethnografi and the Clocktower are right on that square. Christ Church even if it's currently under renovation (?) is still open even if the front doors aren't. There's a small door on the left where you could go in for free. They do take donations if you wish.

It's a quaint one. It's a bit hard to take photos around especially that people love to take the altar for their own. Interior is small so it would certainly be much crowded at it's peak. When we were about to leave there were even more coming in.

There's an upper deck outside where you could take a photo of the entire square. It's very much an ideal post but that area is congested with selfie addicts. All the time Reagan and I just kept nudging at each other to all of them, giggling on the side.

The Museum was next. It's a large complex. There were a lot of exhibits inside so it's easy to lose track of time. I also found it funny when in paying for the entrance fees we were charged a foreigner's rate. I just realized that at this part of the world, WE were the foreigners.

Entrance Fee: 10MYR (for foreigners)

+ Lunch at Famosa Chicken Rice Ball (Jonker Walk) +

It's only the second day but I found myself hating chicken. It's unfortunate because the place is peppered with chicken balls we never tried. And even if it's past lunch time it was hard for us to get anything to sit down to eat. We just went to the first one that allowed us in. We got pork which was enough for us two. I also had a mango shake that tasted bland. What's good with this restaurant is they served our orders really quick!

+ Baba Nyonya +

We have just arrived on time for the 2PM schedule. Photos are only confined at the lobby area where all the guests are confined which is unfortunate because I would have loved a keepsake from our trip. The story telling is engaging even though I had to adjust my stupidly deaf ears on a different accent. While we are all about Fil-Ams, Fil-Japs, Fil-whatever, Malaysia has Baba Nyonya. It's a bit pricey but the cultural knowledge gained is so much worth it.

Entrance Fee: 15MYR + Street Food! +

Not much but we were able to eat small ones, like the freshly made peanut tikoy (don't know what it's called there) and some puffs filled with yam and sweet potato.

[gallery ids="6100,6101" type="rectangular"]

We've seen an extremely huge empanada like bread (Curry Chicken Bun) which looked delicious but I don't think we could finish it nor take it home (too early for a souvenir). When we're done we walked to the path that will lead us to St. Peter's Hill.

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twocoursemeal-blog · 8 years ago

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TCM Eats: Pho Basil

Pho Basil (Symphony)

This week, we turned to an old favorite: Pho Basil; right around the corner from both Northeastern University and Berklee College of Music, it’s everything you’d want in a college spot - cozy and unassuming, always tasty, and pretty cheap. An enormous menu means you rarely feel stuck ordering the same thing twice, but you might get overwhelmed and do it anyway, so be warned: analysis paralysis is real.

We ate:

Special Curry Puff

Xe Lua (Extra large pho with beef steak, tendon, and tripe)

Spicy Eggplant Tofu

We drank:

Iced Vietnamese Coffee

Hot green tea

Matt’s Thoughts

Angela and I chose Pho Basil based on two criteria: Where can we go to get food, and where can we go to get food that won’t be mobbed by the extra 250,000+ people in town for the Women’s March? Chinatown was, surprisingly, out of the question, so we hopped on a train over to Hynes made our way to this neighborhood staple.

We were lucky – the wait was only 10 minutes for two people, and the weather was surprisingly agreeable, as there wasn’t much space to wait inside. Looking at the menu was both a mistake and a great decision. Pho Basil has a huge, sprawling menu that makes you want to order a cup of tea and some reading glasses before you dive in, but damn if looking at that menu didn’t make us hungrier.

The table in front of us ditched on their spot in line, and we got in early. A few minutes later, and our food had been ordered, and we were enviously eyeing the steaming hot, beautiful bowls of soup that were going out to the other diners.

Unsurprisingly, the hungry versions of ourselves were completely susceptible to some off-the-cuff marketing of their “Daily Special – Curry Puff”, so we got to have that as our first bites. Three small hand-pies with a perfectly flaky empanada-like crust, filled with potato, veggies, ground chicken, and a unexpectedly mild (and non-spicy) curry flavor. The puff was rich and savory, and for my palate, benefitted tremendously from the crunch, acid, salt, and funk from the accompanying cucumber sauce.

I had felt groggy that day, and decided to get myself a pick-me-up in the form of a glass of Vietnamese Iced Coffee (the place had Pho in the name, so I figured I’d give it a chance). I mixed it up, tasted it, and blissed out. This was some incredibly strong coffee that managed to keep its bitterness in the face of a generous portion of sweetened condensed milk. If it was this good on a dreary day in January, I couldn’t imagine how welcome it would be on a hot night in July.

Finally, the main dishes came. Angela’s arrived first, and she was kind enough to share a few bites with me. The vegetables were all well-cooked and well-seasoned, and held the sauce nicely, but the real star was the eggplant. Soft, caramelized, sweet, savory, and spicy, it was difficult to stop eating.

My pho arrived with a wonderful present - a piece of beautifully pink steak sitting on top of it, ready to be scarfed. I augmented the broth with my standard sriracha+tamarind and dug in. This broth was incredibly beefy and savory, and the sourness and spice from the condiments contrasted and lifted it. The beef itself was steak and brisket, both excellent (though the steak got tough after being in the broth for too long). The tendon was pleasantly gummy, if a bit bland, and the tripe was by far my favorite. The long, thin pieces sunk to the bottom and mixed into my yellow noodles (a slightly heartier choice on my part to combat my raging pre-meal hunger), but every time I was able to fish a piece out, I was in heaven. The tripe picked up all of the aromatics from the broth, and had that perfect crunchy-rubbery texture. I would have happily eaten twice as much as I had.

As I should have expected, I was ultimately bested by the generous portion (I’m amazed there’s anyone out there with a stomach that can fit that much in it). Despite that, the entire bowl was barely $10 - an incredible steal. If I lived closer, I’d be happy to call Pho Basil a regular spot.

Angela’s Thoughts

I’ve had a really nasty head cold for the last week 😷. This is following up on my cold in the first week of January, so I’ve officially been sick for more than half of the new year! /pityparty. I was in pretty rough shape for this visit, so I don’t know how worthwhile my review will be -- I was congested, and couldn’t smell anything, so my taste and appetite were pretty diminished. With that large caveat taken into account, I really like Pho Basil, and this visit was no different.

As Matt and I approached, there was a short line out the door. We put our names on the list, and waited about 15 minutes. As we were waiting, we saw a few advertisements for their special curry puff on their signboard and a flyer in the vestibule in front of the restaurant. Their advertising totally worked on us, because I suggested to Matt that he order it, and he immediately agreed. There were 3 good-sized puffs in an order, with a sweet cucumber sauce and pickled vegetables (do chua) on the side. When eating it, I was pretty sure that I was missing out on some of the subtleties of the flavor, but I thought it was well-cooked, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. The curry flavor was on the sweeter side, to my palate, which was very pleasant. There was supposed to be meat in the curry puff, but neither of us could really taste it -- if the ingredients hadn’t been on the signboard, I wouldn’t have noticed, though. It’s something I might not order frequently, but I enjoyed it overall.

One of my favorite dishes there is the Spicy Eggplant Tofu. I love asian eggplant, and the dish is a delicious blend of eggplant and other vegetables with stir-fried tofu in a light spicy curry sauce. I wasn’t sure how well I’d evaluate a new dish in my sickly state, so I ordered one I knew I would like. As usual, the portion was more than generous, and the vegetables were cooked perfectly. The crisp green beans, peppers, carrot, and bamboo shoot complemented the tender tofu and eggplant beautifully. There were also mushrooms -- I am not a fan of mushrooms, so I gave them all to Matt; he seemed to like them!

The only negative thing about Pho Basil is the location -- it’s too far from me, all the way down near Symphony. It was very convenient when I used to work in the Longwood Medical Area, but now I don’t find myself down that way very often anymore. Otherwise, I’d go there a lot more than I do. I tend to be a creature of habit and only order my favorites, but we definitely had some food envy looking at other people’s plates that made me want to branch out and explore the menu. For Vietnamese/Thai food, it’s good, and for the price, it’s excellent.

Overall:

Pho Basil is a solid restaurant with an enormous menu, and everything we’ve had there has been good. They’re cheap, reasonably quick, and have friendly service. We can’t say it’s our favorite Vietnamese or Thai place in the city, but for the niche it fills, Pho Basil hits the spot. We’d happily point any friends who’re in the neighborhood to its doors for a fast and tasty meal.

We give Pho Basil 4 special curry puffs out of 5.

#boston #symphony #vietnamese food #thai food #asian food #southeast asian food #pho #coffee #4 stars

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alicethecook · 5 years ago

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Indian Cooking - North Indian Breads

New Post has been published on https://homekitchen.info/indian-cooking-north-indian-breads/

Indian Cooking - North Indian Breads

The world over, Indian food is largely perceived as curries. While this isn’t strictly true-considering the large amounts of spices and their quantities and types used-it is really quite inevitable, unless one is aware of the cooking styles in this country.

India is a land of abundant cultures and sub cultures, each having their own unique way of cooking, with very little in common between them. Cooking styles vary, and so do tastes, textures and spices used. However, three main spices are common throughout India- Turmeric (Haldi), Salt (Namak) and Red Chilli Powder (Mirch). Keeping these as a base, Indian cooks create a huge variety of dishes by varying add-on spices.

In this article, I’ll introduce some common and not so well known north Indian breads. For the record, the term ‘North India’, from a cultural point of view, includes New Delhi, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, and Rajasthan. Except New Delhi, which is more of a cosmopolitan city-state, all these places have their own distinct food culture and traditions. It is therefore slightly unfair to club them all in a single term when discussing food, but it will have to do for the purpose of this article.

North India typically has a multitude of griddle (tava) baked breads made with unleavened dough for the most part. The base dough for most consists of whole meal flour mixed with water and a little salt, the whole of which is then kneaded to a soft pliable consistency. This is then made into different types of breads as below.

Roti or Chapaati

For this bread, a small ball of dough is rolled out flat (about 1 – 2mm) in a circular shape (about 6 inches in diameter), these are dry baked on a hot griddle until splotchy brown and cooked through. The Roti has a few variants which are mentioned below.

Phulka

A very close relative of the Roti, Phulkas are cooked on one side on a griddle and then laid on an open flame, which causes the Roti to puff up, at which point it becomes a phulka. The term ‘phul’ means to puff up or to bloat, hence the derivative Phulka.

Makki Ki Roti

This is a favorite winter time roti made using corn flour (makki ka atta). After making a simple dough with water (and perhaps some grated veggies like radish or carrots) a ball of the dough is pressed down on a piece of cloth or flexible plastic, as the dough is very brittle and doesn’t hang together. When the circle is roti sized, it is flipped over on to a hot griddle and usually served with vegetable pickle or sarson ka saag (mustard greens).

Ulte Tave Ki Roti

Literally translated, this means ‘Rotis cooked on an upturned Griddle’. Made the same way as normal Rotis, these are about double the normal thickness and placed on a hot griddle after wetting both sides of the uncooked Roti with water. This makes it stick to the griddle that in turn produces the desires effect when the griddle is upturned and the roti exposed to a naked flame. These Rotis are normally eaten with non-vegetarian dishes, but that’s mostly a matter of individual preference.

Missi Roti

A Missi Roti is actually a normal roti, made with the normal dough as described earlier, to which various other types of flour and spices have been added. There isn’t any fixed recipe for this – it’s each one to his own here. One simple example would be to mix equal proportions of whole meal wheat and gram flour with some red chilli powder, salt, kasuri methi and perhaps a little cuminseed, add some water and make a soft dough. You could also knead in a little oil if you like. When done, cook on a hot griddle like a normal Roti.

The Tandoor

The Tandoor is an upright cylinder with an outer sheath of metal and an inside made of a very thick layer of baked clay. Rotis made inside it are plastered to the inner walls. When roasting meats or cooking kebabs, the food is threaded on long metal skewers or Seekhs hence the name of the very popular kebab – Seekh Kebab.

Tandoori Roti

Similar to Ulte Tave Ki Roti when rolled out, these are cooked in the Tandoor. After rolling, the roti is placed on the inside walls of the Tandoor and left to bake. Tandoori Rotis are usually a little more than double the thickness of normal Rotis.

The Kashmiris have a variant called Lavasa, which too is quite bland as it doesn’t have any seasoning. The dough uses refined flour as opposed to the wholemeal flour used for the Tandoori Roti. While it can be eaten with anything, it is typically eaten with highly spiced Kashmiri style mutton stews.

Tandoori Paratha

Tandoori Parathas are made much the same way as Lachha Parathas. The only difference is that they are cooked inside the Tandoor, rather than a hot griddle.

Naan

Naans are made using dough made of refined flour with a leavening agent of some sort. Some use fermented dough, others may use yeast and few people mix active yoghurt into the dough. The end result however, is the same – the dough must rise. Naans vary in size from a few inches across to a monster I’ve personally had the pleasure of demolishing, which was a little more than 1.5 feet in diameter. Typically, Naan’s are cooked in the tandoor, though an oven does the job too. Coal however, delivers a flavor that cannot be matched by a conventional oven.

Stuffed Naan (Amritsari)

Amritsar is an important city in the state of Punjab. The stuffed Naan takes its name from this city and is also called Amritsari Naan. A stuffed naan is made using the Naan dough, stuffed with a filling similar to a stuffed paratha and usually rolled into a circle. It is then stuck to the inner walls of the Tandoor to cook.

Paratha

There are many types of parathas and they’re all high calorie and quite delicious.

Typical Paratha

A thin layer of oil or clarified butter (ghee) is spread on the surface of the rolled Roti and folded until it’s a square about an inch across, with oil being spread on every un-oiled surface that’s exposed upwards. It is then rolled again and the process is repeated a few times. The Paratha is then cooked on a hot griddle, with liberal splashes of oil or ghee. The final result is a crisp (or not) bread that is multi layered and tastes quite good with just about anything. Typically, it isn’t eaten with non-vegetarian dishes. In ethnic Muslim cuisine, this is also called Roghani Roti, where ‘Roghani’ refers to ‘fat’.

Stuffed Paratha

The stuffed paratha starts out as a Roti rolled out, in the centre of which is placed a dollop of stuffing (spiced, mashed boiled potatoes, cauliflour etc). The Roti is then picked up by the edges, sealed (by pressing together) and then rolled out again. This is then cooked the same way as a Paratha. Typically it is served crisp, with yoghurt (sometimes whipped) with pickles. An idea after-paratha drink is sweet, milky tea.

Lachha Paratha

A Lachha Paratha is composed of many layers – many more than a normal paratha. Also, the layers here are horizontal as well as vertical, as opposed to only vertical in a normal Paratha. This is made by rolling out a Roti, spreading oil or ghee on the surface and then cutting it into strips. These strips are place one on top of the other and holding the pile by both ends, twisted into a roundish shape. This is then rolled flat and cooked on a griddle. Another way of making this is to make a long cylindrical shape with the dough, coating it with oil and starting from one end, making it into a wheel shape with concentric circles. As with technique #1, this is then rolled flat and cooked on a hot griddle, or in a Tandoor.

In the context of Muslim cuisine, this is also known as a Warqui Paratha, where Warqui means ‘leaves’ and is similar to the word Warq, which refers to the beaten silver or gold sheets that are used to decorate sweets.

Roomali Roti

This is more of a technique than a recipe. Literally translated ‘Roomal’ means ‘Handkerchief’ and the Roomali Roti is just that. A very soft, thin and large bread that folds and bends just like cloth. While it can be eaten with just about anything, it is a particular favorite when it comes to making rolls or wraps.

Cheela

Cheela is a variant of the Roti that is made with gram flour instead of the normal wholemeal wheat flour. However, unlike the humble Roti, there’s considerable scope for creativity here. Various additions can be made to the basic gram flour mixture like finely chopped onions, green chilli, coriander and just about anything else that has been well drained, like the outer flesh of tomatoes for example. The Cheela is also quite well seasoned, usually with Ajowan (carom, ajwain, or bishop’s weed), powdered black pepper, red chilli powder and coriander powder (dhania). After mixing everything together with a little water to make the dough, Cheelas are cooking just like Parathas, on a hot, flat griddle, brushing each side with a little oil before turning over.

Kulcha

The Kulcha is a variety of baked flat bread that is made using refined flour. It is leavened with baking powder and active, whole milk yoghurt. It can be eaten as is or lightly toasted in a pan or toaster. It tastes slightly sour and is sometimes garnished with chopped coriander leaves on top. Kulchas are usually eaten with a chickpea curry and are also good with Indian pickles for breakfast.

Another variant is the Kashmiri Kulcha. Made with a dough that is quite similar to the one used for Tel Varu, the Kashmiri Kulcha is quite different from the normal Kulcha. While the normal Kulcha is slightly sour tasting and quite soft, the Kashmiri Kulcha is quite crisp and rusk-like. It comes in two flavors – sweet and salty with a spot of cumin seed. The Kashmiri Kulcha too is normally eaten with tea – Sheer Chai, Kahwa or normal tea.

Bhatura

Bhaturas are one of my all time favorites. Usually thick and soft, they can be crispy too and are traditionally eaten with one of many varieties of chickpea curry. Refined flour forms the base for this bread, which is leavened with yoghurt and yeast and flavored with a little sugar and salt. After rising, the dough is rolled out and pulled from one side to make it slightly elongated, after which it is deep fried in hot oil.

Puri

Puris are made using the same dough as that for the Roti. The only difference is that a little oil is added and the Puri dough needs to be stiff as opposed to soft for the Roti. After allowing the dough to rest for 30 – 90 minutes, the dough is taken off the main mass in a hunk, rolled into a ball, a corner dipped in oil and then rolled in a circular shape to about 4 inches in diameter. When frying, the Puri must inflate and swell out, which is usually accomplished by tossing hot oil over it from the pan in which it’s being fried. When lightly brown on top, it is taken out and drained. Puris are usually eaten with potato or chicken pea curry. In some parts of India, puris are also eaten with a sweet mango puree or semolina halva (a sweet dish made using clarified butter, nuts and roasted semolina)

Another variation is the Luchi. Using the same dough as the Puri, it usually more than 2 feet across, sometimes nearly a meter in diameter. Luchis are made on festive occasions and obviously require special utensils for the oil and for retrieval. Quite light in texture, they are shallow fried, not deep fried like the Puri.

Sheermaal

Sheermaal is a baked flatbread from ethnic Muslim cuisine. It is made using a dough comprising refined flour, milk, a pinch of salt, sugar, clarified butter (ghee) and Vetivier (kewda). This dough is rolled into circular shape about 2 – 3mm thick. The saffron is mixed with some warm milk and used to brush the bread from time to time when it’s baking in the oven. This gives the bread its characteristic orangish yellow color. When done the sheermaal must be brushed with some white (freshly churned) butter and served immediately.

Bakarkhani

Bakarkhani is a spongy, thick, round bread that has its origins in ethnic Muslim cuisine. Made with leavened flour, mawa and eggs, it is baked in an oven and is usually eaten with mutton dishes such as Nihari or Korma. The preparation process is quite time consuming as the dough needs to be kneaded for hours then rolled out and folded over (with clarified butter and flour sprinkled on every fold) several times before it is ready. When the dough is ready, it is rolled into disc about a centimeter thick and 4 to 5 inches in diameter. These are then sprinkled with sesame seeds and baked. While baking they are basted twice with whole milk. The texture of Bakarkhani can be a bit dry at times, however, considering it is eaten with curries in most part, this feature actually helps soak up and retain flavor while eating.

This bread too has a Kashmiri variation called the Katlam. The only difference is in the size, where the Kashmiri version is usually smaller and crisper than its mainline cousin. Like many Kashmiri breads, it is eaten with hot tea.

Bhati

The Bhati is quite unlike any other Indian bread. Predominantly eaten in the state of Rajasthan, Bhatis are made with unleavened wholemeal flour dough into which a little salt and clarified butter have been mixed. The dough is shaped into small balls and baked in a moderately hot oven until brown on the outside and soft on the inside. Bhatis are traditionally served in a container that is then filled with clarified butter. They are eaten after being allowed to soak for a while.

Tel Varu

This bread is Kashmiri in origin. Tel Varu closely resembles a bun and is sprinkled with sesame seeds on the crust, which is quite crisp. Slightly salty in taste, it is made with normal bread dough – really a local variation of bread as we all know and love. Tel Varu is usually eaten with Sheer Chai, which is salty Kashmiri tea.

… and that completes the list, though there are probably a few regional specialiaties I’ve missed out.

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quieteating · 7 years ago

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New Post has been published on Quieteating

New Post has been published on https://www.quieteating.com/jamavar/

Jamavar

In a change from my usual weekend plans, I had been booked for some bouldering later in the afternoon. I was not familiar with that particular pasttime but was to soon find out that it involves people climbing, without ropes, on a variety of man made climbing walls. For safety, the walls are of limited height, so as to prevent rather graceless plummets from becoming lethal falls. A good thing for me as I would usually eat far too much for lunch. Makes maintaining balance and wall hugging antics slightly difficult. As I was tempted to tell my fellow climbers, this is the tough life of an amateur (and often uninvited) food critic. Wishing to give as accurate a review as possible, I try to often eat as much of the menu as possible, and sometimes too much. Ahh, the trials I go through in the name of objectivity.

So arriving at Jamavar, with its dark and woody decor in the middle of Mayfair, I steel myself for the show.

Tellicherry Pepper & Garlic Soft Shell Crab with damson chutney & garlic chips. Delightfully spicy, artfully soft and carefully spiced, this was something great and that’s not just because I love deep fried food.

Pan-Seared Achaari Pork with masala puff, quail’s egg & pickled garlic. Meaty pork set off with boiled and fried egg, this was a cacophony of flavours and textures, smooth, substantial with meaty and clear, greater than the sum of its parts.

Malai Stone Bass Tikka with mace, green cardamom & avocado chutney. Inspired with avocado on the side and delicately dressed fish. Flaky, fulsome in a fishy way and with interesting spices, it was a good catch.

Duck Seekh Kebab, Kashmiri chilli with mixed sprouts chaat, caper’s chutney. A feast of textures. Crunchy, soft and creamy all in different parts of this dish. I was particular enamoured with how they had managed to make a kebab of duck. I would think a more troublesome task than the usual lamb, as duck is not so easy to carve up.

Andhra Beef Uthappam, slow-cooked in mustard & southern spices. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the beef to be up to the standards of what went before. Although, as I was recently berated on twitter by a cook, maybe that is just because I don’t know what real Indian food tastes like. It was a bit too dry for me and lacking in the flair (or perhaps I should say fire) of the other dishes I had tried.

Macher Jhol Bengali fish with chilli, aubergine & potato. Carefully seared skin, full flavour tomato based sauce. A carefully judged hint of spice. Deliciously full of creaminess, and with deep flavour, this was a delight to eat. So much so that my dining companion proceeded to mop up every single last errant drop of the sauce.

Palak Paneer, spinach and cheese. The spinach was lovely, creamy and delicious. The paneer was good, a little bland for my tastes though, even though I know it is meant to be that way. Perhaps not something I will order in the future.

Basmati rice. Decent but nothing to write home about. Although it was to prove an interesting comparator to what followed next.

Bread. This was some of the best naans I have had. Light but slightly chewy, smooth but slightly charred. A joy and excellent to mop up any wayward sauce that escaped my spoon.

Dhungar Dal. After having 40 consecutive meals of dal in Nepal, I think I am somewhat qualified to pass judgement on this lentil curry. It was smooth, with a little kick underscoring the deep flavour of the lentils. An excellent side.

Mango Rasmalai, Alphonso mango pulp, mixed berry chutney, wheat biscuit base. Again, here I will seek refuge and excuse in my barbarian ways. This was an interesting dessert but a little too sweet for me. I’m sure it is very authentic but didn’t really hit the spot for me personally.

Coconut jelly, cinnamon cake. Inspired. Treats I had not been exposed to before, these were inspired with melting and firm, airy and dense contrasting in my mouth to create a delightful finale at the end of the meal.

At the denouement of the meal, I was worried. Not because of possible trouble later on (you have no doubt heard the saying, it burns when it goes in, it burns when it goes out), the cost of the meal (a fairly reasonable price in Mayfair) but instead encouraged by the standard of the food I ate too much. Usually, this would not be an issue for me but when I was quickly to follow this up with some rock climbing, I did question whether I might be a bit unbalanced. Then again, maybe it was worth it.

A quiet eating 8/10.

Lunch (4 courses) was GBP32 excluding drinks and service.

Jamavar

8 Mount St, Mayfair, London W1K 3NF

#achaari pork #beef uthappam #bread #cinnamon cake #coconut jelly #dhungar dal #duck kebab #Indian #jamavar #macher jhol #mango rasmalai #palak paneer #rice #soft shell crab #stone bass

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quill-ink-parchment · 8 years ago

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The Miserable Meal

I found the food diary that I’d kept when I was taking a module called the Sociology of Food in university, and it’s inspired me to write about the food I ate during my weekend trip to Lyon with my friend Steph.

You’d think in France, we wouldn’t have a problem finding food. And it did seem so at first. I saw a Relay outlet at the train station near our hotel, and got all excited because I subsisted on ham & cheese Relay baguettes when in Disneyland for two days and I thought it to be Da Bomb, cos it was cheap and it tasted great. But when I checked out the baguettes in these relay outlets, they were more expensive than I'd remembered so I wasn't about to buy one. Moreover, I thought perhaps it was cheap only relative to Disneyland food, and possibly delicious because we were ravenous. We got some recommendations from the hotel staff (who introduced us to some apparently local food such as salade lyonnaise, somethingorother lyonnaise, some frog leg sort of dish, and Tarte tatin) and set off, opting to take the bus. HOWEVER, we ran into some trouble regarding our unvalidated tickets (we’re tourists! We don’t know anything about your transport system, you bunch of corrupted, money-faced conductors), and when we got to the first restaurant, we were told that it was fully booked. They recommended us another restaurant a few streets down, so that’s where we headed, and we realised to our delight that this was a Michelin starred restaurant! But it was full too, no surprises there. On the bright side (or maybe not, given what happened after), we could make a reservation for dinner so that’s what we did.

After that, we headed for the other side of the town where there was a restaurant that Steph’s friend recommended. When we got there, it was half empty so we trooped in, thankful that we would be getting a meal at last, but oh no! They were closed!

So we traipsed through the streets, more or less having given up on getting a proper meal and just banking on being served a gastronomical dinner. We passed several chocolatiers and patisseries, and we got one macaron each, while I got a Nutella crepe and Steph got some weird chocolate pudding.

We visited a church (where we took pictures with mops of hair in front of our faces - well, Steph’s face, really. She started a fashion trend) and went to see the Roman ruins (these were the ruins that made me set my sights on Lyon. I have to say that they were not THAT impressive; I was hoping for more artefacts).

We headed back to the middle island, where we strolled around and looked for other rpotential restaurants or ice-cream parlours to try, and then window-shopped at this interesting shop which sells pasta making machines and other food wares.

We then trudged to the restaurant. We stopped by an Italian restaurant that appeared to have many accolades. It was completely empty as it wasn't opened for business yet, and when we went in the snooty angmoh seemed very reluctant to serve us and he very quickly told us that it was fully booked. Then we entered the restaurant we reserved. The waitress remembered Steph’s name, which was very sweet and welcoming. She then proceeded to give us the low-down on the menu, and we decided we’d order the Salade Lyonnaise, which was one of Lynn’s specialties, and then the quenelle.

The Salade Lyonnaise was good! I finished almost everything, except for the fatty parts of the meat. Steph suddenly asked if there was alcohol in the dish, and I said I couldn't taste any. She then clarified that she thought so cos I was very red in the face, hahaha. It was only after the mentioned that I realised that hey, yeah, she was kinda pink too. Next came the quenelle. It looked interesting, like two big buns in some gravy that looked like curry. And given my Singaporean food-loving heart, I thought it looked good - I always dip my bread in curry anyway.

So I took a bit of the bun, only to realise that it was not bread. It was meat, but the processed kind. Something quite like fish cakes. The quenelle came with a bowl of rice, which I took only a few spoonfuls of. The gravy with the rice was good, but to eat the deceptively-bun-looking fishcakey was really tough. I didn’t even finish half when I decided to cut my losses, as it were.

We asked for the cheese, just a small mouthful. One was cheese with garlic, and the other was cheese to be eaten with sugar. Mine was the sugar one, and we didn’t manage to finish the sample-sized ones we were given.

So then last was ice-cream. Ah! How can you go wrong with ice-cream? We were so thrilled! Here, we'd be stepping on home ground, especially with my one year's experience of working at an ice-cream parlour. We confidently asked for the next course. ... Only to find a blood red sort of sorbet being set in front of us. Berries. I ordinarily like berries; Steph does not. Both of us didn't like this one: it was so sour that we had to grimace after each tiny spoonful. Although to be fair, as Steph said, it truly does clear the palate.

After that we were full and really quite nauseated from the meal, so I suggested walking home (also because I was keen to avoid a run-in with those carrion conductors). It was a long walk back, down dark streets that were at times slightly alarming, but not without beauty - the view across the river was lovely. And then we went back to our room and collapsed.

The next morning (after a pretty decent night's sleep notwithstanding dusty pillows with a singular strand of pubic hair beneath them) we were determined to not be caught off guard by poor food choices, so we spent a looong time asking the concierge (same dude as the previous morning) about places to go for breakfast and also some places of interest to visit (Steph researched on some special underpass thingamajigs and a fountain). He was superbly industrious and kept googling, and even printed out places to go. Trouble is, he was a little slow because he was very thorough, so he gave us many many choices and kept some guests waiting for their cab.

We wanted to check out a genuine patisserie for breakfast, and avoid the carrion again, so we took the scuttle service (ie our legs) to where the shop was. Only we never made it there. We got distracted by a row of cars parked outside an industrial looking building that I thought was a car showroom, but it was really an indoor market, something like the Takashimaya food hall you'd see in Japan. There were many people doing their marketing there, and we oohed and ahhed at some of the patisseries, which had macarons. We decided to buy two petit caneles and one medium sized tarte tatin, and we got the shopkeeper to cut the tart in half so we could share. The petit canele had a texture a little like niangao, and it also had alcohol, according to Steph. And the tarte tatin was good! I liked it, as it was sweet.

We then walked further along, and we came across a small local and quiet bakery with tarts of many different kind. They had a mini range of tarts, and we thought it would be good to get those because then we'd be able to try a huge variety! I mistakenly took the price per mini-tart to be €0,50, and of course our auntie souls were delighted. We plotted to get about four mini tarts each, only to realise that actually each tart was €1,10. Not. Cheap. So then we cut it down to two tarts per pax. I chose the meringue looking one, plus one with three raspberries. Steph, on the other hand, went with a walnut one plus the famous praline tart we've been seeing everywhere. We then painstakingly divided each tart into halves so we could sample all four. The lemon meringue tart was great, as was the praline one (although the pink still scares me off). The raspberry one was not bad, and the walnut was great.

By the time we'd finished, we reached the pharmacy of the previous night (where I found a toothpaste that was named Marvin and where there was the slowest. Moving. Queue. Ever.). Turn out it was just round the corner of the chocolate ball shop the concierge recommended and we went in for a look. It seemed very atas! We took one each of the bestselling chocolate ball, then happily guzzled it down. It was sweet, so I liked it. We then nosed about at Starbucks cos I wanted to check out their cards (none were on display) and Steph considered buying some packages of caneles but decided against it. We then went to see the fountain, which was under maintenance. They'd removed all the figurines.

Then we went to see the special underpasses (for the life of me I cannot remember what they were called), and discovered a funky staircase that was apparently a tourist attraction and we stumbled upon it like the blurkids we are. There, Steph was shocked by the quickness at which an old man and his ladder elevated themselves. Because I hadn't realised what we'd seen WERE the underpasses, I made us climb all the way up the hill, until we got to the newer part of town where the residences were.

We took a walk, exploring the street markets and taking pictures with strawberries and a shopkeeper who wanted to mime poking Steph's cheek (don't ask us why).

We then decided to eat at one of the first cafés we saw. We were given the French menu where we only recognised confit and profiterole. We tried to order but the server thought we wanted English menus, so he brought us two, only these English menus had no profiteroles in them. So when we ordered we asked them for profiteroles as our dessert. I ordered the confit and Steph the salade lyonnaise (again). It was my second duck confit on the trip and the better one (although both are much better than Saveur, which has pretty much gone down the drain). So savoury and I loved the potatoes! Steph's salade lyonnaise was of some standard too. Then came our profiteroles. They were apparently huge by profiteroles, but we're just nice for me. Loved the chocolate and vanilla ice-cream and puff-bun, though they were nothing spectacular, just very pleasant in a peasant way. It was the best meal we'd had in France, and we spent it observing the parental skills of the various couples next to us. (There was a baby who just kept staring and smiling at us, so utterly adorbs.)

We then decided to head back to our hotel, but using public transport, as the trauma had worn off somewhat. When purchasing tickets at the station we realised that actually, the bus driver hadn't cheated us. We made sure to validate our ticket and got back to a bus stop near our hotel, where I decided I wanted to check out their mall, which was a huge disappointment because it was a Sunday and everything was closed apart from the cinemas. Yet there were loads of people loitering around! Cannot believe it, they really seemed to have nothing better to do. Then we winged it back to our hotel, considered the menu of the restaurant with the nice name card, but concluded it was too expensive and we hadn't enough time anyway. So we went to the toilet instead. And therein concludes our French gastronomic journey.

#lyon #france #6and7may2017

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