draechaeli

[draechaeli]

Wonder Woman/Lara Croft by Stjepan Sejic

#DC #Art #Wonder Woman #lara croft

[draechaeli]

Nie Huaisang: i may look like a cinnamon roll...

Jin Guangyao:

Nie Huaisang:

Jin Guangyao: ... but you can kill me?

Nie Huaisang: :O!!! What! Sect Leader Jin! How can you say something like that :((((( but i mean if you insist,,,

Jin Guangyao: wait no-

#mdzs #nie huaisang #jin guangyao #mo dao zu shi #mxtx

[draechaeli]

Hanguang-Jun Reads Thirst Tweets

#mdzs #cql #lan wangji #the untamed #mxtx #mo dao zu shi #chen qing ling

[draechaeli]

“Crowley? Crowley, it’s time to wake up.”

Crowley heard the familiar voice calling him, but didn’t quite want to open his eyes yet. He had the distinct impression that he’d been having a lovely dream, and even now the echo of a nearly forgotten melody played in his head. Soft breeze brushed his cheek, lifting the hair from off his forehead.

“Crowley, you’re safe now. Please, I need to see you open your eyes.”

It was a voice he could never resist, and so he forced his eyes open.

He was greeted with the light of thousands of stars, covering his body, and emitting a warm luminescence that caused the face of the angel bending over him to glow. Crowley was tucked safely into Aziraphale’s arms, the angel’s wings curled around him, those, too, decorated with starlight.

(Link to the fic below)

Keep reading

#good omens #fanfiction #art #fanart

[draechaeli]

"A Date at Lotus Pier" is my art for the MDZS Reverse Big Bang 2022. I had a lot of fun creating this and my writer Draechaeli made a wonderful story that exceeded my simple inspiration behind this art. Thank you so much!

(Links posted in first reblog)

@mdzsrbb

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #the untamed #cql #chen qing ling #mdzsrbb #reverse big bang #shardsart #wangxian #art #Lan Wangji #wei wuxian #fanart #fanfic

[draechaeli]

Lotus Root and Pork Rib Soup 莲藕排骨汤 Recipe

The recipe that many people who have read MDZS or watched the donghua or CQL have wanted to try!

This is being posted as another companion to for my MDZS Reverse Big Bang WangXian fic A Date at Lotus Pier So, you can enjoy great fic over delicious soup, just like Shijie always made! Wondering why LWJ would need this recipe when he is on a date? You’ll have to read and find out.

If you keep scrolling you’ll see a picture of WWX personal flair on the soup.

There is also a Recipe Keeper link at the end

Here is the original Chinese recipe I have translated.

I first made the soup for Gish 2020, and I had originally planed to make something else but couldn't get all the ingredients, and I ended up looking through Lotus Root and Pork Rib Soup recipes at the grocery store. So, any reference to other recipes I did not save at the time and that is why there are no links.

When I make soups I usually do it in my 4L rice cooker with 500g of whatever meat is going into the soup. When I make Lotus Root and Pork Rib Soup I adjust the recipe for 500g pork ribs. So, all the notes are based on this adjustment and my pot size. the pictures are from my first try which had been made with no adjustments unless stated.

Ingredients:

姜片 Ginger                                                6g 克

莲藕 Lotus Root                                        300g 克切片 cut into pieces

将排骨 Pork Ribs                                      400g 克

小葱一根 A Small piece spring onion

红枣 jujube                                                 3个 (50g)

枸杞 Wolfberries                                      2g克

水Water                                                      500ml

盐 Salt                                                           2g克

Directions:

将排骨，小葱一根，姜片，红枣，枸杞，水500ml放入锅中，放入锅中 大火煮沸 Put pork ribs, spring onion, ginger, jujubes, wolfberries, and water into a pot and bring to a boil let cook for 3 hour

撇去浮沫 skim off the foam

之后小火炖半小时 let simmer for 30 minutes

倒入莲藕，小火炖半小时 add Lotus Root and let simmer for another 30 minutes

放入2克盐，即可出锅 add 2g salt and serve

Notes:

Lotus roots oxidise like potatoes when cut. Chop them right before putting them in the pot. One site I looked at said to cut them with a ceramic knife. Or you can just put them in a bowl of water until they are needed.

Traditionally the soup is made in a ceramic pot (since I usually make 4L soups I bought a 4L one (top right picture))

The first time I made this soup I matched the actual water amount and it boiled away too quickly, so I add extra water (I did not see a pot size in the original recipe but if you look at the bottom left picture the pot is smaller than mine). As the soup seen in CQL has a lot of broth I think it makes sense

Jujube, wolfberries, spring onions, and ginger can be skipped, some recipes didn’t have them, and they appear to be missing in Jiang YanLi’s recipe (top left picture). You don’t want to eat the Jujube, wolfberries, or ginger. I think the broth colour come mainly from the jujubes (though my first soup (see picture above) had the darkest broth and this was the time that the water had boiled away). The ginger gives it a bit of spice, and the spring onions taste nice I think I add too many.

Chinese soups tend to have thin broth. One other recipe I looked at added in chicken bouillon. I tasted the broth after skimming the foam and then added in pork bouillon. I added in 2 32g bouillon gelatinous cube packets which the recipes on the box say 1 packet for 600-1500 mL of water (it says for example 2.5小碗水(600g) according to this site a small bowl (小碗) is about 100 ml. but 100 g of water equals about 100 ml so there is that).

One time I had to buy three times the amount of ribs and I ended up boiling all of the ribs to make broth and so the ones I didn’t use initially in the soup wouldn’t go bad. The broth when cooled became gelatinous. But didn’t have a lot of flavour so I still added the bouillon.  

I always skip the salt as with the addition of bouillon I don’t think it is needed

I’ve also made it without pork ribs and just with cubed pork instead and it tastes the same, if you can’t get ribs or don’t want to pick bones out of your soup.

Timing:

If you don’t want crunchy lotus roots, skim earlier and add the lotus roots earlier or put them in at the beginning.

The spring onions will practically disintegrate when put it at the beginning. I add them about halfway through.

I’ve made this in my rice cooker that has a 2-hour soup setting, I added the spring onion at the hour mark and the lotus roots 30 minutes before the rice cooker had finished. The broth did not come out as dark as the usual but tastes the same.

Personal additions I have tried:

Add chili oil, to add a touch of WWX to your soup (picture is of when I accidentally spilled the jar into the soup)

Add a clove or two of minced garlic. If you like garlic this is a nice complementary flavour to the soup.

Carrots; I had too many and if it didn’t finish them they would have gone bad, they were very good in the soup.

I tend to thicken soups with puréed cauliflower, eggplant, or zucchini. I added the cauliflower purée once, it gives off a strange smell, but doesn’t taste bad. But also something I haven’t done again.

Recipe Keeper link

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #cql #untamed #mxtx #recipes #jiang yanli

[draechaeli]

Hubei Teas Possibly Drunk in YunmengJiang

This is a companion for my MDZS Reverse Big Bang WangXian fic A Date at Lotus Pier. So, readers can see pictures and tea enthusiasts that find this post first can read fic.

To start off today’s Yunmeng is a district in Xiaogan (孝感) City, Hubei Province.

In my own head-canon YunmengJiang’s territory encompasses the entire of Hubei province

This includes no teas from Yunmeng district, but two from Xiaogan and one from Xianning (咸宁), Hubei that in my experience is a rarer type of tea, and then a Lipton tea that sounds Lotus Pier like.

I have a glass tea pot and no way to keep it heated. My general habit is to steep tea extra-long, pour about half a mug, and then fill the rest with boiling water from the kettle. It generally maintains flavour and heat well.

Unless stated otherwise, I let the tea steep for about three minutes then snaped the picture and took the initial taste, before letting it steep longer.

 Tea names link to Taobao and some of the pictures of brewing instructions are from the taobao pages as well.

Xiaogan Teas

I found the teas on this site and picked the ones that I could get the names in Chinese for: Zhouxiang Phoenix Tea (周巷凤凰茶) and Dawu Green Tea (大悟绿茶). And then I put the names in Taobao and bought the ones that came up, looked like the pictures from the original site, and shipped from Xiaogan.

Zhouxiang Tea

I put the Chinese into Taobao but I did not get a Phoenix tea instead I ended up getting a Zhouxiang Longjing Roasted Qing Tea (周巷龙井明前炒青茶). A green tea of the qing cha (青茶) variety picked before Qingming Festival and roasted.

Qing is a colour that is officially translated to English as cyan. But gets contemporarily translated as blue, green, or black. Because qing is a colour that really talks more about the shade/tone then the actual colour.

It had the same flat leaf style as the Phoenix tea according to the original website. The original website said: the leaves are bright and green as well as long and flat, and it has a long-lasting fragrance.

Brewing Instruction According to the Seller on Taobao:

Warm the cup by pouring in hot water and swirling it around then discard it

Add about 3-5 g tea to cup

Pour in 90°C water until it just covers the tea leaves and let soak for about two minutes

Fill up the cup with 85-90°C water at a ratio of 1:50

I made a tea pot. I always do step one when making tea. There was a sample packet of tea, so I used that instead of opening the tin of tea. My teapot has a strainer cup so I couldn’t really do step 3 like in the picture, but I did my best, I also didn’t check water temperature I just let the kettle sit for a few moments after it had boiled.

The flavour didn’t change noticeable after the initial tasting.

Tea Features

The tea I bought was not nearly as green as I was led to believe, it was noticeably greener than the other teas.

The flavour profile started out bitter and then mellowed out.

It also cleansed the palette

The palette cleansing was very noticeable

I had drunk a yoghurt-based breakfast shake before the tea and the sour yoghurt after taste disappeared.

I still had tea at lunch and had a supreme pizza with garlic butter dipping sauce for the crust and the tea cleansed that as well.

Later, I knew I was going to have dumplings for lunch including a dipping of black vinegar (香醋), minced garlic, and chili oil/sauce (香辣酱). I purposely made this tea and it worked better than any breath mint. 

Dawu Green Tea 

Dawu green tea was collected before the rain from an alpine climate (大悟雨前一��高山绿茶). There is a subset of Dawu tea call Wudao (悟道) which I believe is what I got in a big bag even thought that whole long name was in the Taobao sellers title for the tea. It also came with samples so I brewed the Dawu specific sample. But I could still be telling you about the wrong tea.

Brewing Instruction According to the Seller on Taobao:

Pour in hot water, warm cup, and discard; add 3g of tea

Fill the 1/3 of the cup; gently shake and fully wet leaves

Fill the cup with water and the tea leaves will unfurl slowly; you can drink it in a moment

This was made in the same pot with the same adaptations as the last tea, minus attempting to let the kettle cool.

Tea Features

Yellow-ish colour lighter than that of the white tea with lotus leaves (see below).

The taste was completely mellow from start to finish and very light.

 Chuanzi Zhaoliqiao

It is a black brick tea from Xianning. It is alternately called black tea/hei cha (黑茶) and qing cha (青茶). Since I had mentioned to my co-workers that I wanted to drink hei cha and this is the taobao link I was given from the co-worker who grew up in Xianning I’m counting it as a hei cha.

Why This Tea Was Included

Hei cha literally translates to black tea. When I first arrived in China in 2012, I would tell people that I liked all kinds of tea but ‘black tea’ was my favourite. This was up in Shandong province, but I remember my friends from Guangdong province being some of the biggest protesters.

Black tea like British Breakfast, or anything else someone in any English-speaking country would call black is called red tea/ hong cha (红茶) in China. I was told by many Chinese people that ‘black tea’ didn’t exist.

When I went to the Longjing Tea Museum in Hangzhou, Zhejiang in 2015 I learned that all tea that has tea in it (not herbal and some flower teas) comes from the tea plant. What makes it white, green, qing, red, black, etc. is how the leaves are prepared sun-dried, baked, rolled, chopped, etc. And ‘black tea’ was shown called ‘dark tea’ in English. I took a picture of the Chinese description and showed it to all my nay-sayers, at the time. But apparently only took pictures of Green Tea (Lü Cha/绿茶), Black Tea (red tea/ hong cha/红茶), and Dark Tea black tea/hei cha/黑茶), so I don’t have the blurb for Qing Tea, White Tea, etc.

Seven years later, minus that one co-worker from Xianning every time I’ve mentioned dark tea I’ve been told that it doesn’t exist. So, this is included because I like the idea of YunmengJiang have this ‘rare tea’ that they can pull out when needed.

~*~

This tea comes in a very solid brick that isn’t crumbly at all. The Seller said to use a tea knife and I assumed that either a tea knife would come be included or some other knife in my kitchen would work. I was wrong.

I tried, butter, paring, and fruit knives, and ended up sawing off a corner of the brick with a bread knife. I ended up with mostly tea dust and it took forever to get 8-10g.

Buy a tea knife it is very similar to a leather working awl.

Brewing Instruction According to the Seller on Taobao:

      1.  Using tea knife remove 8-10 g

      2.  Boil water in pot on stove top

      3.  Put tea into pot

      4.  Simmer tea until the tea is thick

      5.  Strain leaves

I made mine in a sauce pan since I didn’t have a fancy stove teapot. Since the Zhouxiang Tea was 3-5 g for a cup, I used 750ml of water the size of my teapot for this and all teas.

Tea Features (some of which I used the sellers words for):

Deep reddish-brown liquid

It has a faint woody smell

A “distinct” aroma of almonds according to the seller, I would say faint and more pronounced in the milk tea version

It is thick but there were no hints of bitterness

It is mellow but not mellow like the Dawu tea.

It was favoured by the Mongols for hundreds of years according to the seller. They prize this tea as one of the best for making tea in their own style. Done in the Mongolian style. It is mixed with milk and a bit of salt.

Mongolian Style Brewing Instruction According to the Seller on Taobao:

(continue from previous directions)

      6.    Continue cooking the tea for a while

      7.    Stir, the Chinese says “raise the tea with a spoon”

      8.    Add appropriate amounts of fresh milk and salt

      9.    Stir until blended

      10.  Boil the tea again until fragrant

I did not measure the amount of milk, I just added milk until I thought it looked like milk tea. I used goat’s milk since that is what I have. I only added a pinch of salt, I figured I could add more if need but I could taste the salt, so I didn’t add more.

Tea Features

Creamy brown

Smells somehow sweeter but doesn’t taste sweeter.

Smelled more of almonds

The milk and salt brought out the woodsy taste that makes the tip of one’s tongue dry and left a faint salt taste under and on the sides of the tongue.

I bought a tea knife because I bought 2kgs of tea by accident.

And made a second pot with it which is the pot that I took the milk tea picture with. I didn’t dig in as deep as the seller’s picture shows for how to remove tea from the brick. I would suggest breaking off the tea on a large cloth/clean table. As even with the tea knife it was still hard to do and bits of tea got everywhere and had to sweep the leaves off the table and into a bowl.

Lipton White Lotus Leaf Tea

It was included because it sounded YunmengJiang what with Wei WuXian’s Lotus Wine is CQL. It is a tea that I found in my local grocery store and had been buying since I first saw it a couple years ago. Is part of a series of teas in triangular tea bags. I tried other in the series, but I like the flavour of this one the most.

Taobao has a lot of lotus leaf teas (荷叶茶) and other white lotus leaf teas (荷叶白茶) that aren’t Lipton, but on this one I was just lazy instead of ordering a new one. The couple I looked at on Taobao were not from Hubei but there was a lotus leaf tea from Henan.

Brewing Instruction According to the Seller on Taobao:

Put tea bag in cup

Add about 250ml of water at 90°C

Wait three minutes

Remove the bag “Shake the bag 5 times” and drink

I use two teabags in my pot, and it still has a good strong taste after three minutes.

Tea Features

Yellow-ish colour

Mellow taste that moves to bitter taste

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #cql #untamed #mxtx #yunmeng jiang #tea

[draechaeli]

this is huge. don’t get me wrong, both shows are amazing and I know it’s not a competition, but the fact a show with queer romance as its main storyline, that hardly got any promo from HBO Max, managed to top a big Disney/Marvel show proved people want actual LGBTQ representations that couldn’t be edited out or completely dismissed by skipping 6 seconds forward.

#our flag meets death #lgbtq

[draechaeli]

173 it was missing my fav Stephen King book but seemed to have all the others

I got 60 out of 1000 😂

#literature

[draechaeli]

MDZS Audio Drama S3 Extra: Raising Rabbits

LWJ = Lan Wangji; LXC = Lan Xichen Xiongzhang = formal address for older brother

Friends, the audio drama team spoils us so much. Please enjoy this translation by yours truly again.

… … …

[footsteps] LWJ: Xiongzhang. LXC: Wangji, you’re here. LWJ: Mn. These rabbits…?

Keep reading

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #mxtx #mdzs audio drama

[draechaeli]

mdzs stuff part 1

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi #mxtx novels #fanart

[draechaeli]

Happy Birthday Lan SiZhui!

Not Strength But Gentleness

Rating:  General Audiences

Categories: Gen, M/M

Fandom: 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù

Characters: Lán Yuàn | Lán Sīzhuī, Jīn Líng | Jīn Rúlán

Additional Tags: ensemble cast mentioned, Cute, Post-Canon, Parallels Between Generations, trip down LSZ's memory lane, One Shot

Language: English

Published: 2022-01-12

Words: 3375

For the @mdzsnet Lan SiZhui Birthday Event Challenge 2:

“Sometimes it’s not the strength but gentleness that cracks the hardest shells.”

- Richard Paul Evans

Jin Ling just wanted a moment alone; away from the other sect leaders that treated him like a child, away from the politics. When Lan SiZhui interrupts his solitude, Jin Ling thinks he is there for more politics. But Lan SiZhui is just there for his friend.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/36376141

#mo dao zu shi #mdzs #lan sizhui #mdzsnet #lsz #happy birthday lsz #fanfiction #Fanfiction challenge

[draechaeli]

「12.01」 ✧  LAN SIZHUI BIRTHDAY EVENT

On the 12th of January the MDZS Network celebrates Lan Sizhui’s birthday, one of Mo Dao Zu Shi’s most gentle characters. Please join us in celebrating his birthday by participating in our Lan Sizhui birthday event!

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Reblog this post to spread the word.

You do not have to be a member of the network to participate in this event.

Post your content on Lan Sizhui’s birthday – January 12th.

Mention @mdzsnet​ and tag #mdzsnet in the first five tags.

If something is not clear, don’t be afraid to send us an ask!

Keep reading

#mdzsnet #mo dao zu shi #mdzs #the untamed #cql #chen qing ling #lan sizhui

[draechaeli]

do u ever think about how lan wangji and jiang yanli would’ve been the softest siblings-in-law who would cook for wei ying together 😭😭

#mdzs #mo dao zu shi

[draechaeli]

MDZS x The Four Gentlemen [x]

In Chinese art, the Four Gentlemen or Four Noble Ones (四君子 “sì jūn zǐ”) refer to four plants: the plum blossom (梅 “méi”), the orchid (兰 “lán”), the bamboo (竹 “zhú”), and the chrysanthemum (菊 “jú”). In line with the wide use of nature as imagery in literary and artistic creation, the Four Gentlemen are a recurring theme for their symbolism of uprightness, purity, humility, perseverance against harsh conditions, among other virtues valued in the Chinese traditions.

梅：探波傲雪，剪雪裁冰，一身傲骨， 是为高洁志士；

兰：空谷幽放，孤芳自赏 ，香雅怡情，是为世上贤达；

竹：筛风弄月，潇洒一生 ，清雅澹泊，是为谦谦君子；

菊：凌霜飘逸，特立独行，不趋炎势，是为世外隐士。

*cracks knuckles* Normal Chinese translation is tricky enough but this is Flowery Idiomatic Chinese so please excuse my attempt

Plum blossom: growing proudly in the snow; cutting through snow and ice; proud and unyielding; noble and unsullied, a person of ethics and integrity

Orchid: blooming quietly in the empty valley; alone but extraordinary; fragrant, elegant, and joyous; a prominent person of high esteem

Bamboo: leaves dancing and stem standing tall and straight; a carefree life without restraints; refined but content with a simple life; a humble gentleman

Chrysanthemum: bravely overcoming adversities; independent and unique; not blindly following; a recluse detached from the world

Descriptions & characteristics [x] [x] [x] [x]

Flower art [x] [x] [x] [x]

#nature #cql #chen qing ling #the untamed #mdzs #mo dao zu shi

[draechaeli]

Sketch prompt: couple sleeping, curled up together entwined. Would love either WWX/LWJ from Untamed or Jester/Caleb from CR. Your art is gorgeous!

Oh thank you! I’m still deep in the mdzs zone so this was the instant winner, then it also became fic art because that’s just how it is some days.

#cql #chen qing ling #the untamed #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wangxian

[draechaeli]

one moment of silence for Jiang Cheng

#cql #chen qing ling #mdzs #mo dao zu shi #wangxian