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fishmongeringstudies · 3 years

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scene four: tongues

one time someone asked me to say sorry.

'huh?' the asparagus clamped between my chopsticks began to slide towards the bottom of my lunch box, forgotten. i frowned. 'did i do something wrong?'

'no,' he said, laughing. 'i just want to hear how you pronounce it.'

'so i'm saying it wrong.'

'that's not what i mean.'

'then what do you mean?'

'i mean i'm curious.'

i stared at him. 'no.' i picked up my asparagus. he poked at his biscuits with his fork. time passed, birds sang overhead, snow fell outside the window.

'you know-' he started.

the asparagus on sundays sucks. on weekdays they roast it but on sundays they boil it in a huge pot of water in that grim, white-tiled kitchen that i've only gotten a few glimpses of and then it's a straight path to the metal pans that appear behind the glass when you step into the dining hall, hoping someone will betray your well-set expectations and for once, the 'fish' will be 'salted'. i didn't know why i'd asked for it to begin with. last week i hadn't. this week i had brought what i hoped would become a friend with me, though he was, by all accounts, still a stranger.

'what.'

'the way you say sorry feels kinda canadian to me,' he said thoughtfully. 'not justin bieber-canadian, but, like, old-fashioned canadian. see? like this.' he puckered his lips. 'sooh-ree.' he nodded to himself like he'd just accomplished an incredibly impressive feat. 'the way you emphasize the 'oooh' sound. no one says it like that here.'

when i was ten i had a weird phineas and ferb phase. we didn't have cable tv so i'd look up the episodes on youtube in splintered halves and thirds, watch whatever i could find in 240p and look up the plot synopsis for the bits i couldn't. perry the platypus was my favorite character at first, because he was turquoise (turquoise was my favorite color when i was ten) and he had a cool hat and he had a knack for appearing in places that one typically didn't expect a platypus to appear in, which both resonated with and annoyed me, but eventually i lost interest because perry the platypus didn't have a voice. he was a platypus, after all.

'huh.' there were still two spears of asparagus left in my box but i didn't feel like eating them anymore.

he leaned over the table, his eyes bright and searching, like a child's.

'am i right?'

when i was ten i sounded sort-of-american for a few months. i remember even my mom picked up on it after a while, commenting mildly over dinner that i was speaking differently wasn't i, i almost sounded like i did when i went to the international school, and i remember flushing with pride, choking on my rice, having to excuse myself to the bathroom immediately afterwards to hack it all up in the sink. after all, i'd been practising. if perry the platypus had had a voice, i would've practised his lines too. but he didn't. so i practised with the others. i hit pause and play and pause and play, repeating things out loud, sounding out the vowels, trying to nail each word to the wall on the other side of my room like i was holding a pistol in a gunfight, not my heart.

the first time i went outside in america we were in washington dc and my friend took me to target. it took everything in me to say thank you to the lady behind the counter. i don't know if she heard me.

am i right?

i shrugged. 'i dunno.'

'admit it,' he said smugly, which i thought was quite bold of him seeing how all i really wanted to do right then was punch a hole through the wooden floorboards and drop into the freezer section of the cafe below like a cannonball, killing myself and everyone in a fifteen-mile radius around me instantly. 'i got it right.'

there were a lot of things i could've said to him in that moment. i could've said i was born in texas nineteen years ago to parents from fifteen other parts of the world, or i could've told him about the dream i'd had last night where i was stuck in a supermarket and someone had ripped my vocal chords out but left every other part of me intact, or i could've told him about how there are between nine and ten thousand species of birds on earth and all of them are pretty cool, what do you think of birds, dude, what do you think of this country? did you know? most americans don't think they speak with an accent. to them the american accent is the default, is the way english should be spoken, is the thing they'll stick in the dictionary that the martians will discover thousands of years from now when humanity finally wipes itself out and the trees are left to retrieve their hands from their coffins. when you're american you're always right. the rest of us are deviations from the norm. aberrations. mistakes.

the first time i saw asparagus in america i was getting dinner in the dining hall and it was monday, so the asparagus was roasted, not boiled. 'can i get the asparagus?' i asked. the lady behind the counter looked at me for a moment, expressionless, then pointed at the stalks of green vegetables in the metal tray to her right. 'you mean the asparagus?' i nodded.

in the spring i took a class called intro to linguistics, taught by a kind, square-shaped man with round glasses and minecraft stans for kids who told us on the first day of class, his green beatles background flickering awkwardly behind him, that there is no such thing as bad english. i didn't believe him at first the way i am inclined not to believe anything i'm told without being slapped in the face with it a few times in times of dire need, but eventually i came around. 'i feel like every time i open my mouth i am standing on a big empty stage with a microphone in one hand and everyone is waiting for me to speak,' i wrote in my first assignment for that class. what i meant was: i am scared to death of being heard. what i meant was: i do not feel like a person here.

did you know? as far as we're aware, humans are the only species on this planet that uses words. we built this damn thing out of sawdust and sadness, pouring centuries of sound and sight and sensation into a system that's so fucked up, your only options are either to be born in it or to force your way in with a chainsaw. every day some guy in the youtube comments section of your favorite video, you know the vine where the kid smiles into the camera like she's just shaken hands with god and then points at the field of ducks behind her and goes, 'look at all those chickens!', every day some guy goes to that exact video and replies to some stranger's comment to let them know it's 'you're' not 'your'. every day someone derails a discussion about bitcoin on reddit with a well-placed apostrophe. every day someone laughs at a friend and says they sound a little old-fashioned, a little canadian, none of the kids say it like that anymore, you know? it's weird. you're weird.

so be weird. be a public riot. be that one guy who goes into the dining hall every day and mispronounces half the words on the board, because who the fuck learns how to pronounce asparagus in history class? english literature? i don't even LIKE asparagus. i'm just trying to eat my fucking vegetables, for fuck's sake. i'm just trying to make sure that every once in a while when i open my mouth and something climbs out, someone else catches it. like maybe one day it'll be something beautiful. like maybe one day it'll be a star.

and if you're ever trying to eat your fucking vegetables and someone tells you you're speaking funny, breathing funny, shaking your left leg under the table funny, and if ever you find yourself far from home and struggling to make the words look less like monsters and more like symbols for sadness and someone laughs at that, someone thinks your pain is amusing, then you know what? eat them too. and don't you even think of saying sorry.

in the remastered version of this scene he asks me am i right and i say no, you're a dick, and then i leave.

05.24.21

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dcbbw · 3 years

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Six Sentence Sunday January 3, 2021

I haven’t posted a Six Sentence Sunday in forever! Fortunately, for the first Sunday of 2021, I have managed to get words and thoughts out of my head and onto paper (or screen).

Everything is under the cut (and it’s a little bit of a lot)

The Life We Lived, Chapter 3:

His wife nodded and reached over into his plate to grab his fish sandwich. She wasn’t a fan of the seafood, but it was deep fried, and the bread was loaded with mayo, lettuce, tomato, onions, and jalapenos. It looked delicious.

She was on her third bite when her husband returned. His eyes widened in disbelief at seeing both of Riley’s hands gripping half his sub sandwich, mayonnaise dripping from her lips. Without a word, he sat down, pulled her beef lo mein in front of him. and began eating it.

“What did Thomas want? Is the job offer at the firm still open?” Riley licked her lips before taking another hearty bite.

Liam twirled flavorful noodles around the tines of his fork before spearing tender pieces of beef. His expression was thoughtful when he looked at his wife. “He offered me a case, but it isn’t immigration. It’s criminal. Murder.”

Riley’s eyes widened. “You’re not a criminal attorney.”

“I know enough to be a public defender,” Liam argued. “And it’s pretty open and shut. Apparently, the accused is admitting guilt; they just want to not get the death penalty or life with no chance of parole.”

Riley snatched her beef lo mein away from Liam; she shoveled a huge forkful in her mouth. “How much?” she asked suspiciously.

Liam’s eyes held hers. “One million even.”

Riley choked on her food. “What the FUCK?? When do you start?”

Liam chuckled softly before leaning over and kissing Riley with the slightest hint of tongue. “Not so fast, there. That’s a lot of money from a person admitting they’re guilty of murder, of all things. Which makes me think there’s more here than meets the eye.”

Riley nodded slowly. “So, you’re gonna think about it?” she asked hopefully.

Untitled #WackyDrabble #76:

The King stood at his study’s window, his dark eyes peering up at an even darker sky. He held a glass of scotch in one hand; he absent-mindedly shook it, causing amber liquid to swirl gently. In his other hand, he held a black velvet ring box. His eyes left the starry sky to look down at the box.

Inside was a symbol of his devotion, loyalty, and commitment. That he would slide onto his fiancée’s finger tomorrow morning.

He would have a wife. Cordonia would have a Queen.

Except Cordonia was an exacting mistress, not easily appeased. Demands for an heir would soon follow, then a spare would be required.

This wasn’t supposed to be my life.

With a sigh, Liam tucked the jewelry box into his suit jacket pocket before closing the curtains; he turned away from the window and sank into the chocolate leather of his oversized chair. His eyes roamed over his desk: personal photographs, stacks of paperwork divided by progress and priority, a Bible of the Orthodox Church.

He lifted his head at a knock on the door; hope and eagerness flooded his body as he called for his visitor to enter. It fled as quickly as it came when he saw who his visitor was.

White Sock Fuckery (SGL Ask):

The October evening was damp and chilly. Streetlamps glowed pale yellow against the night. The heavy rain that had drenched the nation’s capital from sunrise to sunset had finally eased into a light mist. The few leaves left on the trees lining Rhode Island Avenue at Logan Circle were bent and downward facing with the weight of moisture.

A figure slid from the vehicle double parked in the street, a large bag filled with purchases clutched in one hand. They didn’t turn around to watch the vehicle drive away; they were too busy searching for keys. With an audible gasp of relief, fingers pulled out a keyring and the person entered the building.

In the lobby of the apartment complex, the person headed directly up the stairs to Unit #2. The hall was quiet, the lighting dim. More keys were inserted into locks, and the person was inside. They leaned against the closed front door, exhaling a sigh as they inhaled patchouli and the faint smell of cigarette smoke. Their eyes traveled quickly over the darkened rooms.

Unopened wine bottles on the kitchen counter, remote control tossed carelessly on the sofa, a pile of laundry tossed atop the stacked washer/dryer.

Still clutching the bag, the person traveled the short hallway that led to the bedroom. Flipping a switch filled the somewhat spacious area with bright light. Tossing the bag on the bed, the person went to the chest of drawers placed in the exact center between two of the room’s four windows. A quick glance at their watch informed them they had 15 minutes before their ride returned.

Pulling the top drawer open, the person’s eyes widened in a hybrid of horror, disbelief, and humor.

What the actual fuck?

Dress Up (SGL x Riley B Kinktober ask)

“You know I wouldn’t do anything you’re not ready for,” he assured her. “But I think we’re both ready for something. Let’s call it a tension breaker.”

“Tension breaker?” Riley arched a brow as her arms circled his neck.

“It has to be done,” Liam affirmed as his lips pulled hers into a deep kiss.

When they parted a full minute later, Liam whispered in her ear. “I want to touch your body, Riley B.”

Riley looked at him with eyes dark with desire and clouded with wariness. “No sex!”

“I know,” Liam nodded.

“You think I’m silly. And I probably am, but …”

Liam shook his head. “No. You’ve been hurt. I’m fine with going slowly. I just need you to remember I’m not those other guys. I’m not gonna dump you in Target or pop in for 15 minutes of your time every six months like Bootycall Keith.”

Riley kissed him softly on the cheek. “Thank you. I just … I wanna get it right this time.”

“Me too.” His fingers raked through her hair.

“And it’s Keith the Bootycall. Like Chance the Rapper.”

Liam rolled his eyes as he shrugged out of his shirt; he didn’t see why he had to get that scrub’s name right.

Sunday Bruch, Chapter 10

Olivia ate a hearty forkful of her roasted quail and root vegetable casserole. “Hamid wanted to join us, but I thought it best that this luncheon be girls only.”

Riley looked at her confused. “Why? I’d love to meet the man who took you away from Court.”

Olivia set her fork down; she leaned across the table so she and Riley were practically nose to nose. “First, no one took me away from Court. I am still very much a member; I just choose not to socialize with you heathens. Second, you’re pregnant with no idea who the father is. You don’t want this to become an international scandal! You do realize Hamid has his own kingdom to oversee? And he can be a Chatty Cathy with an especially … juicy tidbit.”

Riley nodded as Olivia pulled away. A pale hand swept across her crimson locks before the Duchess of Lythikos brought a wine glass to her lips.

“So, what are you going to do?”

Riley shrugged as she scooped venison, rice, and gravy. “Honestly, I don’t know. I want to stay with Maxwell. Thinking all the men have brown hair; all of us except Maxwell have brown eyes. Maybe Max is the dad by default?”

Olivia blinked. This woman cannot be this fucking stupid! She lightly cleared her throat.

“How were you ever Queen?” Olivia huffed. “You do know none of these men look alike, right? As much as I love a good drama, the smart thing … the responsible thing to do is to have a DNA test done. Then sit down and have a talk with Maxwell and the child’s father.”

“NO!” Riley exclaimed, bits of food flying from her mouth. “I can’t do that! That’s just … out of the question!”

“You should have thought of that before having a threesome with Drake Walker and Rashad Domvallier.”

“It was just something to do,” Riley muttered.

“Now it’s become someone to raise.” Olivia sliced into a savory yam. “THIS is why I no longer come around. You people are a circle jerk of messy sex and share relationships. I have found keeping your circle small helps keep your hole tight.”

Untitled Laxwell:

In the kitchen, he found his lover sitting in the dark at the dining table. The flipping of the light switch revealed a decanter of scotch sat beside him, and a glass of the liquor was in front of him. His blue eyes lifted long enough to take in his boyfriend’s slightly disheveled countenance.

“Rain wake you up?’ he asked as he took a swallow of his drink.

Liam shook his head, frowning slightly. Maxwell wasn’t a drinker; he wanted to be, but the most the younger Beaumont could handle was a glass of wine. Two, at most. Anything more or something stronger went to his head immediately. And Maxwell tended to be a belligerent drunk, his ire fueled by jealousy.

Liam sat down cautiously across from his boyfriend.

“What are you doing up? And drinking?”

Maxwell shrugged while tugging at his wrinkled tee shirt. “Thinking.”

“About what?”

Maxwell said nothing as he picked up his glass to drink more scotch.

“How many glasses have you had?” Liam asked suspiciously.

“This is my second.”

“So, what are you thinking about that has you up in the middle of the night, drinking scotch?”

Liam settled back in his chair, outstretching his arm so his hand covered Maxwell’s .A slight smile quickly flickered across the young Lord’s lips. When he raised his face to look at Liam, his expression was blank but his eyes sad.

“My mother.” It was simply said, but Liam knew the pain that lay behind the two words.

Untitled JGL one-shot:

One night, soon after Liam Rys started, I found myself staying late to help out the accounting team. Quarterly reports were coming up which meant every broker needed their monthly numbers. Of course, a good broker keeps their own numbers, but with Barthelemy as Managing Director, there are no good brokers.

Just a bunch of good old boy club members who like to smoke cigars, drink liquor, and grope tits.

And then there are the rest of us.

I run the numbers for my team and go to drop Liam’s reports off at his desk; when I reach his cubicle, I stop short. It’s after 8 pm, and he is hunched over his desk. His cheeks are flushed, he’s gnawed his lower lip raw, and wears a scowl of vexation on his face.

“What are you still doing here?” I ask as I lay the reports in his inbox.

His dark eyes glance up at me before falling back down to the computer screen. “I have to put together a portfolio for a new client by tomorrow morning. Came straight from the Managing Director.”

“And it has you looking like that?”

“He has very specific stocks he wants to invest in, but none of them are going to give the client the yield the MD insists upon.”

I roll my eyes and hold out my hand to see the mock portfolio. With a sigh, Liam passes it to me before leaning back in his chair. He rubs his eyes, and glances at the clock. He pulls open a desk drawer and grabs an apple.

I look around for a place to sit in the small cubicle, but there isn’t any. Liam’s bicycle takes up all the available space. Instead, I kick off my heels and rest against the cloth-covered partition as I quickly review the documents.

“They’re playing you,” I state flatly as I pass the papers back.

Liam looks at me, confusion and an underlying hardness in his eyes. “What do you mean by that?”

“What they’re asking of you is impossible. All the stocks are duds, poor performers. They set you up to fail. Or go crazy, whichever one comes first.”

Not tagging folks; if you see it and want to play, feel free to do so!

#long post #dcbbw writes #six sentence sunday #choices fanfiction

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purplesurveys · 3 years

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1090

survey by --ranboweyes--

1.] What age is your youngest aunt? I have a relative who’s technically my aunt since she’s a cousin of my mom, but she’s like 3 years younger which makes her 18-19ish, I think.

2.] Do you miss someone right now? The only thing I’m missing is the weekend which is quickly ending lol.

3.] What can you see to the Northwest to you? I can see our living room couch.

4.] Do you like bowling? I love bowling. I wish I could do it all the time, only if a session wasn’t so expensive.

5.] Can you pronounce Italian words? I mean I can try saying the words but I know I’m definitely not pronouncing them in the native accent. @justsurveys definitely can though, heh.

6.] Do you prefer black or beige colored jackets? I have more black ones, but I’m not opposed to trying out beige.

7.] Do you own a hoodie? Yes, I’m wearing one right now because it’s pretty chilly tonight.

8.] Do you like roasting marshmallows on a bonfire? I’ve only done this once, which was in like Grade 3 when we had an overnight thingy in school and our teacher planned a bonfire for us. But I’m not a fan of marshmallows at all so the answer to this is no.

9.] Do you like cheesy puffs? No. I prefer other snacks.

10.] What's your name without vowels? Rbyn or Rbn, if we’re counting out the letter y.

11.] How many layers of clothing are you wearing? Just two, which is always the case if I do have to wear more than one layer; I have a shirt under my zipped-up hoodie. I’ve only ever had to wear multiple layers once; it was when we were in Sagada and I had to wear 4 or 5 layers if I didn’t want to shiver to death.

12.] When was the last time you got a takeaway? What did you have? I usually dine in the restaurant altogether or go to the drive-thru, but never takeout. Today, though, I did order a chicken barbecue at Starbucks originally meant to be for dine-in; but I got sad in the middle of my time there so I only had a few bites and brought the rest home. Which I guess technically counts as takeout.

13.] If you could climb any mountain or range which would you chose? Mount Pulag because I’ve heard so much about it and it’d be nice to experience it for myself.

14.] Do you alphabetically arrange anything in your room? What? Nope.

15.] Have you ever visited fat-pie.com? No.

16.] Do you prefer sweet or sour fruits? Sweet.

17.] Do you like Flo Rida? Which song of his? I mean, not really. There are a few songs he’s featured in that I find catchy, like Right Round, but I don’t like like them.

18.] How's your dancing skills? There aren’t any to speak of.

19.] What is your favorite number? I don’t have any. The idea of favorite numbers personally never made sense to me, but I do recognize that they can mean a lot to some people.

20.] Describe your best friend to me? She’s incredibly smart and creative, very motherly and responsible, and always knows the right questions to ask when her friends are troubled and what advice to give.

21.] What is your favorite alcoholic drink? Peach soju, Long Island Iced Tea, Zombie, and tequila are some of my favorites. I’m generally a fan of cocktails though, and I love it whenever bars have their own lineup because it lets me see how creative they get and because it also allows me to try their own spin on mixed drinks.

22.] Do you do any sports or have you done any sport professionally? I play table tennis, but I never played professionally or had formal training. It was a club I joined in middle school just because Angela dragged me but I ended up enjoying it, so I played and played until I unconsciously got better.

23.] What is your ringtone? Just the default Apple ringtones; I never changed them.

24.] Do you like chili flavored chips/crisps? Sure! Chili peanuts are great, too.

25.] Do you curl or straighten your hair? I don’t do either with my hair unless I’m headed to a special/fancy occasion.

26.] What's the nicest smell of shampoo? We used to have this brand that housed black shampoo and it smelled super elegant and nice, but I have no idea how to describe the scent.

27.] What smell turns you on? How about turns you off? It’s generally a turn-on when people make an effort to smell nice, e.g. applying perfume several times a day. BO and the smell of the sun are my main turn-offs.

28.] Whose your favorite comedian? I’ve only been able to watch a couple of her skits but Sindhu Vee is pretty high up on my list. I’m not really too big on comedians, though.

29.] RnB or Reggae? R&B, by a mile.

30.] What brand of batteries do you usually get? I/We haven’t had to use batteries in such a long time.

31.] Are any of your friends pregnant or have kids? A good number of people from my high school now have kids, but I don’t consider any of them friends.

32.] What is in your medicine cabinet? We don’t have one since no one in the family needs to regularly take meds. We do have a jar in the kitchen for multivitamins that my parents take every night.

33.] What's your favorite aspect of the natural world? The ocean. < I’d say so too. Mountain ranges are also beautiful.

34.] What's your favorite man made thing? Probs the internet.

35.] Can you whistle properly? Yasss.

36.] What song do you think is the most widely heard in the world? Happy Birthday or some Christmas jingle.

37.] Where's the strangest place a fast food restaurant was located? I mean...I think fast food restaurants are ubiquitous by nature, so I’ve never seen one and went, “That’s not supposed to be there,” lol. Whenever I spot a fast food restaurant, I’m usually able to make out the reasoning behind positioning it wherever it happens to be.

38.] What countries surround your country? Or are you not land locked? We’re an archipelago, so. Not land-locked. But the nearest countries are Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Indonesia.

39.] Do you own binoculars or nonoculars? What do you use them for? I don’t own either.

40.] Do you ever wish you had a telescope on the roof or attic to stargaze? I have always wanted one, yeah. I’ve always dreamed of placing it in my future living room, though.

41.] What's your favorite chocolate bar? Not a bar, but I like Reese’s peanut butter cups the most.

42.] Do you fall asleep easy in cars? How about planes, trains and boats? Unless I am extremely tired, it’s usually hard for me to fall asleep while in transport.

43.] Would you rather live a year of your life in every major country or stay in the same place you live forever without vacations? The latter sounds like an unfulfilling life to me, to be honest. Like I can’t even take vacations??? As much as I like routine, I do enjoy a bit of spontaneity and I think moving to a new country every year can do that for me.

44.] What will you not tolerate in a person? Someone who will make you feel stupid for asking a question. Also those who always have something mean to say about everyone.

45.] Do you forgive others easier or yourself? Why is this? Forgiving isn’t really in my vocabulary to be honest. Hahaha. I’ve always been more at peace this way.

46.] How was God made, if he exists? Key word here is if, so I’m skipping this question because it’s irrelevant to me.

47.] Have you ever done aqua aerobics or polo? Yeah we had to do a bit of water polo in swimming classes in high school.

48.] What age were you when you learned how to swim? I guess around 2? I have baby photos from when I was that age wherein I was having fun in our old inflatable pool. Swimming came naturally to me and I don’t think I ever had trouble with the water.

49.] What shows or characters scared you as a child? You know how older cartoons only featured the legs of some characters, like the housemaid in Tom & Jerry or the lady from Powerpuff Girls? The uncertainty of those characters always made me feel unsettled as a kid.

50.] Do you stay up all night on New Years Eve/Day or go to bed after 12am? I always go to bed well after 12 AM since my family usually holds a get-together for it.

51.] What's currently in your fridge? Some leftovers, some vegetables, essentials like bread and eggs, some condiments that need to be kept refrigerated.

52.] How about your freezer? Frozen goods like hotdogs and ham.

53.] What could you be doing now that is more productive? I should be working out but I’m skipping it for tonight because I hate Sundays, and I don’t want to make myself more tired than I already am.

54.] Give me some lyrics from the song that's stuck in your head? “Red lights, stop signs, I still see your face in the white cars, front yards...”

55.] What's your favorite type of firework? The grander the design the better for me, tbh.

#survey #surveys

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aperrywilliams · 4 years

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A Normal Conversation Ch14 (Spencer Reid x Maxine Brenner)

Masterlist

Ch01 Ch02 Ch03 Ch04 Ch05 Ch06 Ch07 Ch08 Ch09 Ch10 Ch11 Ch12 Ch13 Ch14 Ch15 Ch16 Ch17

———————

Summary: Spencer and Max's work does not allow them to see each other more often as they would like. Still they try to enjoy their time together as much as possible.

Word Count: 5562

Rating: Mature. Smut

Warnings: Oral sex (male and female receiving), penetrative sex, cursing.

A/N: I can't believe it took me 13 chapters to get to this!. The song quoted here is “Stardust” - Lyambiko

——————–

Chapter 14: The dance

Already in her apartment, Max dined and tidied the place before bed. She still let out a few frustrated sighs. Of course she wanted to stay, of course she would have liked to go with him to his bed. Of course she wanted to touch his body and being touched. "Are you thinking about that again?... You are incurable Max Brenner. You'll have to wait!" she told herself. But Max couldn't help it, it was a matter of thinking about how she melted every time that man kissed her. Of course she wondered how sex would be like with Spencer. But something also scared her. It's not like she's never been with a man with a complex past but she could swear Spencer's case is more than extreme. They only knew each other a few weeks ago and Max already discovered enough 'episodes' about Reid’s life. But unlike other times, she didn't feel compelled to just 'contain', and Max could even say she felt herself contained. "Isn't relationships about it? A mutual share?" she thought. Sure, dismissing the fact Spencer was a tangled man by default, Max was sure decency she saw in him when they first met was a hint enough to give him a chance.

She couldn't help but go over her love life so far, and her conclusion was it had been a disaster for several years now: between tortuous relationships with men who didn't know how to direct their own lives and others who only wanted to dominate hers, Max was sure his taste in men was a constant mistake. That was the reason why she didn't want to exchange numbers with Spencer the first time, and why she didn't want proximity to a stranger. But Max ventured again and she liked the result quite a lot. And after much thought, Max had already decided she was not going to fight the current.

The following days they couldn't see each other too much. Between his new trips and the longer hours she had at school, it had been difficult for them to coincide. Over a period of two weeks they managed to meet for coffee one morning and lunch twice. Of course, calls and messages were constant during this period. Max missed him and Spencer missed her. They were never very explicit in their messages, but it was evident that each had a hard time not thinking about the other.

Spencer had arrived in DC at noon after closing a case and called Max to see if they could meet. Max was finishing a class when her phone rang.

"Hey, are you back?" Max said answering the phone.

"I have just arrived. I'm at BAU now, but I think I may be free early. Do you have time for us to see each other today?”

"At night. Today I’ll be all day at school. Do you think we can having dinner?”

"Yes, it would be perfect. Where do you want to go?" Spencer asked.

“I was thinking… you could come to my place. I’d like to cook something today and you can check the disaster I'm in the kitchen” said Max laughing.

"Sounds good to me, but are you sure? We can go anywhere if you want... you're going to be tired today..." Reid replied.

"It’s ok. I want to do it. Also I want you to try my cooking skills and give me your honest opinion” Max said.

"Perfect. If you want it, it’s ok for me. What time can I come?" Spencer asked.

"Come at 20:00, if that's okay with you" Max replied.

"I'll be there" said Spencer.

"See you, bye" said Max. Hanging up, Reid saw Rossi looking at him with curious eyes and a smile on his face. "What…?" Spencer asked.

"Our genius boy is falling in love..." said Rossi.

"I don't know if I would say that… yet ..." Spencer said.

“Kid, I guarantee you are falling to the cliff of infatuation. After 3 marriages I can tell you about that" said Rossi laughing.

"Really? Do you believe that?"

"Yes, I do. And I’ll only tell you one thing... because I can perceive this makes you anxious: Just do it. Don't look back, don't look forward. Do it". Patting his back, he said goodbye and walked to the elevator.

As promised, at 8:00 p.m. o'clock Spencer was knocking on the door. When Max opened, Spencer gave her a smile.

"Hi" Reid said without moving from where he was.

"Hey... handsome, how are you?" Max said approaching to give him a welcome kiss. Spencer cupped her cheeks with both hands and leaned down to kiss her. After a long, soft kiss, Max spoke.

"I missed you Dr. Reid" Max said smiling.

"I missed you too. So much". Another kiss completed the mutual declaration. As he turned away, Max invited him inside.

Spencer could see the table was set with a tablecloth and dishes for two. It wasn't too elegant, but you could see the attention to detail. Max went to the kitchen to finish preparing dinner. Spencer followed her.

"Can I help you with something?" Reid asked.

“I'm fine… but if you want, you can open the wine over there. Meal is ready, so I’ll put the food on plates and join to you”. Spencer nodded and took the wine corkscrew that Max handed him. He went to the table and started to open the bottle of wine. Max put the plates together and came to the table with one for Spencer and one for her.

"This smells great, what did you did?" Reid asked curiously.

“It is quite simple, but I really like it: it is a slow-roasted meat in red wine with vegetables. The special touch is in the smoothie goes with it. It is a semi-sugary corn paste” Max explained.

"Wow, and where did you learn this?" Spencer asked curiously.

“My mom taught it to me as a child. I really like it. Of course she didn’t cook it with red wine” said Max with a smile.

They both sat down to dinner. They talked and catching up on the past few weeks. Spencer told her things at the BAU were a little strange, starting with JJ being able to accept a job outside the city, and although he saw nothing wrong with that, after so many years it was rare to think 'the gang' could separate. Max told him they called her from the Smithsonian that morning to tell her she was on the short list and would have a new interview in the next few days.

"That's excellent news Max!... you didn't tell me anything when we talked today..." Spencer reproached her.

"I wanted to tell you in person... of course if we had not seen each other today, surely tomorrow I would tell you on the phone" she said.

"Well, this require a toast" Spencer filled Max's glass and his own and raised it. "For your next new job" he said.

"So be it..." Max said. They toasted each and took a sip from their glass.

They had finished dinner and cleaned the dishes. Spencer had offered to order the wash and put it on the shelves. Max walked over to his stereo and put in a playlist. She sat on the couch, waiting for Spencer to finish his tasks. Once everything was in place, Reid sat next to her on the couch, opening his arms inviting her to rest in his embrace.

"Come here" he said as Max settled herself resting her head on Spencer’s chest. Reid closed the hug with one of his hands caressing Max's face and the other tracing soft caresses on her arm.

"It had been days since we could be like this..." Max reflected.

“Yes, our schedules have been complicated. I’m so sorry. We've had too many cases together these weeks…” Spencer sighed.

"Don’t be sorry. I'm not reproaching nothing to you, let's just take advantage of the fact we have this moment…”. They were silent listening to the music was coming out of the speakers. They were both relaxed and sleepy. One of the songs on the playlist caused Max to leave her sleepy state. An idea crossed her mind but she didn't know if Spencer would like it too. She looked up to meet his gaze. Reid looked at her with curious eyes.

“What’s wrong…?" Spencer said following Max with his eyes.

"Do you want to dance… with me?" Max asked looking at him.

"Ehhh… I think it wouldn't be a good idea…" Spencer said shaking his head with drowsiness. Max got up from the couch and stared at him.

"Why not? I think it is an excellent idea” She took his hand and tried to pull him up from the couch. "Come! Besides, nobody is watching us, so you shouldn't be ashamed... if that's what worries you"

"I'm not a 'dancing' kind of man... I think I told you so…" Reid stated reluctantly.

"I know, I know... but you can make an exception today, right?... Also, I must insist, we’re alone. There is nothing to worry about. Come on, let's go!, please?". Max kept tugging on his hand until she managed to get Spencer up from the couch.

Once standing, Max approached him and put her head and free hand on his chest. Max began to move smoothly starting the dance. Spencer squeezed her hand and wrapped his other arm around her waist.

"I see you don't handle a 'No' for answer…" Spencer said smiling and giving up on his initial refusal.

"Of course not. Come on, relax. You're tense” said Max, shaking Spencer's outstretched arm. "Dancing is supposed to relax you..."

"I just don't know how to dance Max... I can't relax with something I don't know how to do" he claimed trying to relax his muscles.

"You don't have to 'know' how to dance... just close your eyes and listen to the music... is a slow dance, we're not dancing tango". Spencer closed his eyes as rested his chin on Max's head. He relaxed his arms a little and began to move smoothly to the beat of the music. His feet moved awkwardly at first, but he slowly adjusted to the rhythm. Spencer was not a guy who liked to dance and if he ever did, it was quite reluctant. The last time he remembers dancing was in a dream where he was with Maeve, not even in real life. The memory shook him so he could only squeeze Max's hand tighter and cling to her waist. Reid kept his eyes closed and tried to let go.

Sometimes I wonder why I spend

The lonely night dreaming of a song

The melody haunts my reverie

And I am once again with you…

Neither spoke. They just moved to the beat of the music. Spencer no longer felt the clumsiness of his feet and preferred to focus on feeling the scent of Max's hair permeating his nose. He breathed deeply so could treasure it in his memory. It felt so strangely good. He was contained in her embrace. It was something Spencer could hardly describe. There were few times he felt able to lower his guard, to suspend his constant alertness.

Max, meanwhile, could feel Spencer's heartbeat. The deeper she buried her face in his chest, the more she listened to his heartbeat. Max could also feel his breathing. She wondered if it was possible to live without detaching herself from his body.

Beside a garden wall

When stars are bright

You are in my arms

The nightingale tells his fairy tale

A paradise where roses Bloom…

They both felt the rumble of music in their bodies as they continued to dance slowly. Spencer stamped a kiss on Max's forehead who responded by holding onto him tighter. Neither wanted to depart from the other. After a few minutes Max was the first to speak.

"Not bad for not knowing how to dance Dr. Reid" she said with a soft tone of voice as they continued to move to the music.

"I'm practically just swinging without moving my feet" Spencer said.

"But that's a good start. You just need a little practice” said Max.

"Are you decided to teach me how to dance?" Spencer said smiling and stifling the words as his mouth rested on Max's hair. She took a minute before answering.

"Among other things... I would like to teach you..." Max said as she gave him a subtle pinch on the ass. Spencer's heart stopped for a second, as did his feet. Reid could have sworn he stopped breathing for a few seconds. Max pulled away to look him. "Do you want me to teach you?" she asked staring at him.

"Perhaps... perhaps I'm a stubborn student... I don't know if you're ready for that" Spencer said smiling almost without blinking and with cheeks flushed.

"I’m willing to try" Max's arms wrapped around Spencer's neck as he leaned in close enough to reach her lips and start an intense kiss.

They both let out a stifled sigh as they kissed. Max's hands tangled in Spencer's hair as his arms gripped Max’s waist tighter each time. They were still moving to the music, but their hands could no longer be still. Just as their mouths and tongues were urgently sought.

After a few minutes and without much thought they moved to the edge of the couch where they dropped without unstuck their lips or their bodies. As the seconds passed, the kisses became more urgent as they caressed everything they could find each other: Max focused on Spencer's hair and neck, while he caressed her back and hips. With one of his hands he held Max's chin to avoid pulling her lips away. The music was still playing, but the dance had already lost priority. This was already a session of passionate kisses and caresses followed by deep sighs from both of them.

"I must say... you are a quick study" Max said as Spencer buried his mouth in her neck.

"Max… if you don't want me to continue, stop me now… please" Spencer said in a whisper and drowning out his words as he kissed her neck and chin. His hands were eagerly lost under her sweater.

"I'm not going to..." Max was eagerly untying Spencer's tie.

"Are you sure…?" he asked, alternating kisses between her neck and her lips.

"Do you remember what I told you the last time we were like this?" Max said with a sigh as she began to unbutton his shirt. Spencer bringing the memory to his head let out a groan.

"I don't want to do something you don't want..." he said as lifted her sweater and pulled it out.

"You won’t do it…". Max had already unbuttoned Spencer's shirt and was starting to caress his bared chest with both hands. A whimper escaped from Spencer’s mouth as he felt Max's hands play to remove the shirt from his torso. Spencer pulled his arms away to drop the garment to the floor, then with both hands began to touch Max's breasts over the bra that was still in place.

"Oh God... I need you so much..."

"Come on Dr. Reid... take all what belongs to you ... just do it ..."

Reid slowly lowered the straps to reveal the bareness of her breasts. He couldn't help but moan with satisfaction at being able to touch them as his mouth sank down Max’s neck again to kiss and suck. Max closed her eyes for a moment at the contact of Spencer's hands on her bare half. She let out a moan when Spencer caught one of her nipples with his mouth.

"Spencer... it’s feels so good..." she said with a sigh.

"You are so beautiful... your tits are amazing..." he said, interspersing kisses and sucking on one of her breasts. Max stroked his hair as Reid head sank into her breasts. His hands went down her waist to her thighs. Spencer hesitated for a minute about unbutton her jeans. His hands traveled anxiously across her belly, her hips, and her ass. It wasn't until Max began to unbutton her jeans herself and lift her hips enough so that he could slide them to her feet. Spencer looked at her with fire in the eyes and could see how Max was breathing quickly holding her eyes on him as he took off her jeans, one leg at a time. Without thinking twice, he put one of her legs over his shoulder and buried his mouth between Max’s legs, nibbling on the fabric of her underwear while he was holding her hip with both hands. Max couldn't help but arch her back and throw head back, letting out a deep moan.

"Oh my God, Spencer... this is ... ohhh" she managed to say not expecting to be consistent in words. Reid was determined to go further, so his hands began to slide down her legs. With one of them he took the fabric of the underwear and began to slide it gently down her legs. Just to remove the garment from her, Spencer momentarily lowered one of the legs rested on his shoulder. Then he returned it to its place. With the other hand, he began to explore the depths of her core by gently sliding one of his fingers. The moisture he found did nothing but excite him further and he dipped his finger in to feel it harder, letting out a moan. To the contact Max could not help but hop. She could feel how that finger managed to explore within herself beyond what she had imagined. The contact caused more arousal on her and began to move to feel more depth and friction.

"Please... Spencer... I need more...". This words made Reid raise his bet with a second finger. She shuddered on contact again. He couldn't help but bite his lower lip as he looked at Max's eyes stiff at the sensation running through her body. At the movement of Spencer's fingers within herself, she was unable to control her own, seeking to intensify the sensation by moving hard on them. Desperately Spencer kissed the leg on his shoulder, lowering his tongue until reached the same place where his fingers were working with great energy. Without further warning he slipped his tongue to catch some of its moisture mixed with his own saliva. A stifled moan made Max tremble at the vibration of his voice running through her body. As a third finger began to penetrate her, Spencer’s tongue captured her clit, licking and sucking the exposed nerve as if his life depended on it.

"Oh... fuck, Spencer..." Max let out almost a cry overflowing with pleasure. The more he accelerated the movements of his fingers and his tongue the more he could feel Max shiver under his touch. Also accelerating the movement of his tongue and fingers Spencer could feel her moaning louder as she held on to his hair. Hearing Max’s voice screaming his name excited him more, letting out moans that echoed in Max's skin. Spencer knew Max was close to her orgasm feeling her body tremble at every thrusting. His tongue left her clit and climbed up her belly, her breasts, and back into her mouth. With his other hand he went back over her clit, making circular movements over it. She was able to taste her own moisture in his mouth. The movements of his fingers in her core did not soothe either, quite the opposite, bringing desperate prayers out of her mouth as her orgasm approached.

"Oh fuck... I can't... Spencer... please... don't stop... I'm going to cum..." she said frenzy as her nails scratched Reid's shoulders.

"Do it beauty, cum in my fingers... just like that, do it..." he said trying to help her to find her release, while the movements of his fingers became more frantic than ever. Those words, the movements of his fingers and his mouth kissing and sucking her neck, was what ended up taking Max to the limit of her discharge of pleasure, which was warned by Spencer for the spasms of her legs and muscles from her abdomen. That along with the words that came out of her half-open mouth.

"Fuck ... Spencer ... uhhh, fuck!" It was the last she could say before falling exhausted at her ecstasy. She was blank and trembling completely with her eyes lost on the ceiling. When the spasms stopped, Spencer pulled his fingers out, still looking at her. Her messy hair, the sweat running down her forehead and her eyes full of pleasure. It couldn't have been more satisfying for him. When their gazes finally met, they both started laughing.

"Too bad?" Spencer asked as pressed an intense kiss to her lips, lowering the leg was over his shoulder and resting his head between Max’s shoulder and neck. Max didn’t reply. Her still labored breathing was evidence she was just coming down from the heights of her orgasm. After a moment, Max managed to get up from the couch. Without saying a word, she took Spencer's hand and pulled him to follow her. So she drew him to bedroom and without stopping looking at him she pushed him onto the bed. Spencer released his shoes and threw them to the floor, while Max leaned down enough to grab his belt and begin to release the buckle. Reid resting on his forearms watched ecstatically as Max managed to remove his belt and lower the zipper of his slacks, which were slid down his legs to the floor revealing his boxers and an evident erection. It only took Max a few movements to drop the last garment to the ground. She could see Spencer breathing hard and with his eyes fixed on hers. She leaned forward just enough to take the erection with one hand as tongue traveled across his stomach and chest. Moans escaped from Spencer's mouth, which grew as Max accelerated the movement of her hand. He drew her close enough to be able to kiss her as her hand continued to work on him. Due to the arousal, it wasn't long before Spencer's moans grew thicker and deeper. His ragged breathing was a sign that he was close. He said some loose words as the air that reached his lungs left him.

"Fu... Max, like this. Fuck yeah… oh fuck…” It was too late for any other reaction. Spencer began to tremble knowing it was close to cum. When he thought he was about to, noticed Max release his dick and lowered her head enough to catch it with the mouth. Her nails were scratching his abdomen as she began to suck. Spencer stayed with arms dropped and on back staring at the ceiling. Spencer was trying to keep his eyes open, but the feeling was so intense he found it hard not to moan and not squeeze his eyes.

"Max... you don't have... oh, fuck. It feels so good... shit…" He manage to said this words before feeling his body contract and find his own release in Max's mouth. A last growl tore from his throat before emptying completely.

After that only the ragged breaths of both were heard trying to regulate themselves. Max sat up on the bed next to him and with the same sheets wiped her mouth. They both laid in their backs looking the ceiling. Still with a ragged breath, Spencer turned his head to look at her. She did the same. When their eyes met they couldn't help but smile.

"That was... awesome" Spencer said, having already caught his breath.

"I'm sure you enjoyed it as much as I did" Max said laughing.

"Oh yeah, I enjoyed it" They both laughed. Spencer extended his arm so Max could curl up. Max stroked his chest as collected drops of sweat she found in his path with her fingers. Spencer stroked her bare arm with one hand. They were silent, enjoying the post-orgasmic moment as they watched the lights seep in through the half-open curtain. After a few minutes, Max left Spencer's embrace and got out of bed.

"I think I should go to the bathroom..." said Max.

"Are you ok?" Reid asked.

"Yes, I just... you know... need clean myself up a bit"

"Sure... oh yeah, my ‘disaster’" said Spencer laughing.

"Silly. I’ll be right back" Max replied before get in to the bathroom.

When Max returned to the bedroom, Spencer had settled laid on one side of the bed with eyes closed. Max lay down next to him. When Reid felt her, opened his eyes and offered his arm to settle against his body. They were silent as they rubbed each other. The contact of the fingers on his skin electrified Max, who couldn't detach herself from Spencer's body. He sought her lips once more, merging into a deep kiss, then they continued holding each other and caressing each other. At one point Max broke the silence.

"¿Spencer?” asked Max.

“¿Yeah?...”

“You know? I like how I feel with you..." Max said as they huddled together.

"And how is that…?" Spencer asked as he gave Max short kisses on her lips, nose and chin.

"Desired... beloved... protected... I don't know, all that at the same time..." Max said as played with the curls of his hair.

"And you know how you make me feel...?" Spencer asked.

"No... tell me..." she said as she stroked one of his cheeks.

"As if I never wanted to detach myself from your body, as if it was never enough to touch you..." Spencer said as leaned over Max's body to touch her hips and thighs. She caught his lips with hers searching for his tongue, which became entangled in a game making moans and sighs in both of them. Spencer found himself on top of her, sinking his mouth into her neck, his new favorite spot, as his hands began to trail her body again. Max could feel a new erection rubbing against her thighs. The contact only served to let more moans out of her mouth. They both wanted it. The two wanted to give each other the pleasure of their own bodies. Max wanted to feel him inside her and with her hands grabbed onto Spencer's back to make the friction more intense. Spencer paused for a moment.

"Are you sure?... is that what you want?" he asked looking her in the eye. She nodded.

"Spencer... I want to feel you in me... please...". That was the answer he expected. Reid quickly got out of bed and went to the living room looking on his bag and taking out a small package from one of its pockets. When he returned to the room Max was looking at him and couldn't help but laugh. Spencer blushed a little embarrassed.

"Sorry, I'm not very clever at these things. I should have had it closer…”

"Come here, I’ll help you" Spencer walked over and handed her one of the condoms from the box. He never thought putting on a condom could be so erotic and stimulating, but Max made that simple act more exciting than if he had done it himself. Once ready, he leaned over her on the bed, caressing her body and seeking to adjust his touch to her skin again. She felt a heat as his fingers went up her belly, her breasts, her neck and her cheeks. Max clung to her back as Spencer searched for the perfect position. His slow entrance produced a unison groan in both.

"Oh fuck... you're so..." was the only thing he managed to say before Max in an act of boldness raised her hips without warning. She wanted feel it completely. A roar tore from Spencer's mouth, which sank into Max's shoulder as he grabbed her hips to start moving inside her. Max circled Reid’s neck while her nails scratched the base of his head and back. The thrusts began slow but intense, accompanied by gasps and sweat that started to flow down the body of both. Spencer increased the speed of his thrusts while time passing. The desire to feel each other had reached a point of no return. The moans mingled with the vocalization of their names only increased arousal in both of them. Max could feel her walls tighten with friction and it drove her madder and louder. She was very close to losing herself in ecstasy and her body began to tremble, which made Spencer accelerate his pace. Max was not able to continue clinging to him so she stretched her arms over the bed so she could hold on to the sheets and sink her nape into the pillows. Spencer took the opportunity to slide one of his hands over her clit and with his fingers traced circular movements overstimulating Max who could not stop moaning.

“Spencer... oh yeah. Please… fuck me! yes! like that!… don't you dare stop…”. Those words seemed like prayers. She couldn't keep eyes open. Arching her back she was about to explode. Spencer was panting and trying to keep up the pace. He wanted so badly to see her cum so when he knew she was about to, he slipped the right words.

"Max, beauty... cum for me, let me feel how you cum with me inside you... that’s it, like that... you feel so good...". Max's body contracted and with a gasp she felt the shock of an intense orgasm. Spencer sped up his pace knowing he was close too. They looked at each other and Spencer seeing those eyes lost in pleasure could not hold it any longer and released himself in his own orgasm. A long, throaty moan accompanied his own spasms, which ended in knocking him over Max's body, dropping his head on one of her shoulders.

Neither moved. They were trying to regulate their breathing. Max could feel Spencer's breathing in her ear. She turned her head slightly to kiss him on the face. He responded by kissing her shoulder. Then he sit up a little so he could catch her gaze. Max gave him a smile as her eyes sparkled and he could still feel the agitation of her breathing. With one of his hands he wiped a line of sweat that ran down her forehead and smoothed her hair a little.

"I can't believe it... even at such a time you try to be a gentleman..." Max said. Spencer smiled.

Without answering, he gave her an intense kiss on the lips. Then she sat up on the bed. Max couldn't help but let out a small moan as she felt Spencer come out of her. Once Reid put the condom in the trash can next to the nightstand, he lay down on the bed again, on her back and next to her. Without thinking they held hands. After a few minutes they were both back from the highs.

"Not bad at all Dr. Reid" Max said laughing.

"Not bad at all, Miss Brenner" Spencer replied in the same tone. "Are you cold? Do you want to cover you?" he asked.

"I'm ok, really. Just hug me, ok?” Max's voice revealed some drowsiness from all the previous stimulation.

"Come here ..." Spencer wrapped his arm around Max into an embrace against his body. She could feel his breathing calming more with the passing of time. Max traced imaginary drawings on his chest, which rose and fell with each breath. After a while she could swear Spencer was falling asleep. Max closed her eyes too. They stayed like that for a long time until Spencer spoke.

"I should go home and let you sleep. It's late” Spencer said quietly stroking Max's hair.

"Uhm? I thought you were sleeping…” Max said opening her eyes to look at him.

"I was falling asleep... in fact" Spencer declared.

"And why do you want to go?" Max asked curiously.

"No. I don’t want to... but tomorrow we both have work" Spencer said with a sigh.

"No, please... stay tonight. I promise we’ll wake up early and have enough time to prepare for work” Max offered.

"Are you sure? Don't you want me to go home...?" Reid asked again.

"No... I mean, if you want to... but, is something wrong?" Max sat up to look at him.

"No, nothing particular... just..." Spencer said trying to explain herself.

"Just…?" Max repeated without understanding Spencer's reluctance.

"It's just it's not usual for me to spend the night with someone... I mean, you know, to stay after sex. I usually go home…”. Spencer shrugged at the statement. Max smiled.

"You don't have to do that today..." she said taking his chin forcing him to look at her. Spencer smiled.

"I don’t know if I snore too loud... or I talk asleep" he said in a warning tone. Max couldn't help but laugh.

"We'll see if becomes a problem, Dr. Reid". Max kissed Spencer and snuggled back against his body. Spencer closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and after a while he could feel his body surrender to sleep. Max took the comforter and stretched it out to cover both as she returned to her position with head on Spencer’s chest. After a few moments they both fell into a deep sleep.

#spencer reid #maxine brenner #maxcer #criminal minds #spencer reid fanfiction #dr. spencer reid #spencer reid smut

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purrincess-chat · 6 years

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RPM Day 4: Betrayal

Welcome to another “new” ship from me: Jaleo! Theo just seems to be older than the normal crew, so I really like shipping him with Alix’s older brother and having them be university students. Jalil gets a huge dork crush on him, and forces Alix to do his dirty work.

Read on AO3

Day 4: Betrayal

“Okay, so do you remember your lines?” Jalil asked his sister for the 10th time from where they hid behind a flower bed outside the café where Theo worked, and Alix rolled her eyes just as she’d done every time he’d asked on the way over.

“Yes, you dork. I’m 15; I think I can remember three sentences,” She said dryly, seeming bored and as if she’d rather be anywhere else. “You owe me a lot of chores for this.”

“I won’t go back on my end of the deal if you don’t go back on yours,” He said affirmatively with a nod, and Alix rolled her shoulders a little.

“Fine. Then let’s get this over with. I’m meeting Kim and Max to go to the movies in a bit.” She moved to pass him, but Jalil held out his arm with a nervous wince.

“Are you sure you remember what to say?” Alix gave him an unamused, slow blink, so he straightened his jacket with a nod. “Right. Good. Okay.”

Alix approached the counter where Theo was wiping up, and he glanced up when she approached, moving back to the register and plastering on a smile. “What can I get for you?”

“Can I have a medium roast please? Two sugars and a little cream,” She said smoothly, handing him cash once he rang her up. “Hey, aren’t you the one who tutors collége students in physics? I need a little help, so can we exchange numbers?”

“Of course!” Theo perked up a little while he made her drink, and she leaned against the counter, glancing back at her brother peeking through the bush anxiously and smirked.

“Actually, I don’t really need help. My brother just really wants your number because he has a huge crush on you or something,” She stated casually, and Theo’s eyebrows raised a little in surprise.

Jalil’s face burned, and he crouched down behind the flower bed, covering his face in embarrassment. He should have known better than to send Alix up there! Of course she’d betray him! This was pay back for all of those years he snuck his vegetables onto her plate at dinner. Why couldn’t he have just eaten his broccoli?

“Hey, what are you doing?” Jalil flinched, peeking through his fingers to see Alix standing over him once more, sipping her coffee.

“Alix! You didn’t stick to your lines!” He hissed angrily. “How could you just throw me out there like that? Now Theo probably thinks I’m a huge joke, so thanks a lot!”

Alix let him erupt, sipping her drink calmly with an uninterested stare while he went off. When he was finally finished, she extended a small napkin to him with a smirk.

“Theo thinks you’re cute and wants you to call him,” She said, cocking a hip to one side as Jalil stared at it in disbelief. “So, I believe what you meant to say was thank you.”

“Oh, Alix! You’re the best little sister in the world!” He squealed, scooping her up into a tight hug and spinning her around.

“Hey, hey, easy! Don’t get any ideas that I care about your love life. You still have to do my chores for the rest of the month,” She said with a grunt, wiggling free of his embrace and putting purposeful distance between them.

“Well, the deal was you had to stick to your lines, so I’m technically free to default my end of the bargain,” He said with a sly lilt, and Alix’s eyes narrowed.

“Fine, then I guess you don’t want his number,” She said, snatching the napkin from his hand and taking off up the street.

“No, Alix! I’m sorry! I’ll do your chores for a month, I swear!” He called after her, and despite being taller, he still struggled to keep up.

“Nope! My price is two months now. We just learned about inflation at school,” She laughed, waving the napkin above her head tauntingly.

“Alix!”

#miraculous ladybug #jalil kubdel #theo barbot #alix kubdel #jaleo #mlrarepair2018 #day 4: betrayal #my writing

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emmatrustsno-one · 7 years

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Food (and class) in Harry Potter A (lengthy) guide for fans who aren’t British

After another user asked me some questions about British food as it appears in Harry Potter I decided to make a post about it, as no doubt other foreign readers have similar questions. I will talk about EVERYTHING so sorry if you have to scroll through loads of stuff you know to find what you want, but I have written it to be accessible to literally anyone and I don’t want to assume people know what something is just because I do.

Also, it was impossible to make the post without referencing class. The fact that it was impossible only goes to show how it’s probably impossible to understand the books in depth without an understanding of class in Britain. The whole texts are encoded with references to class which are so subtle (much like class itself) that even I, who grew up being encoded in the same way, had to analyse the texts to find them. At some point I’ll make a post about just class, but for now we’ll stick to the light-hearted topic of food!

Foods eaten at Hogwarts:

Main courses:

Probably to give a subtle wave to the fact that Hogwarts is the magical version of a public school, nearly all the food consumed there is traditional and British. A public school here is NOT a state-maintained school, it is a private, extremely expensive, prestigious, boarding school, e.g Eton, which only the children of people with a lot of money and a lot of influence attend. By default, these people are usually upper class or aristocracy. (Obviously in the wizarding world money isn’t a factor in school attendance, but nevertheless that is what Hogwarts is modelled on.) There is never any mention of processed foods at Hogwarts except chips and a few common desserts. Here is a list, with explanation, of foods mentioned there:

stew/casserole (meat and vegetables cooked together with stock for several hours)

roast beef and chicken (the two most commonly eaten meats here, I would say)

pork/lamb chops (cuts of those meats with a bit of bone through the top)

sausage (usually made with pig meat in the UK)

bacon (here it is larger and softer than in many countries)

steak (a cut of beef, usually expensive)

boiled (in water until soft, no skins), roast (in the oven until brown, no skins) and mashed (boiled and puréed, no skins) potatoes

chips (not crisps, of course, but rather fat French fries)

Yorkshire pudding (pancake batter which is cooked in a muffin pan in the oven until risen and crispy; originated from the county of Yorkshire and usually served with roast beef)

PLEASE NOTE THAT ‘PUDDING’ IS NOT NECESSARILY SWEET, NOR A MOUSSE-LIKE SAUCE THING. I MADE A BLOG POST LAST WEEK ABOUT ‘PUDDING’.

peas (usually small and taken out of the pod, a bit like petit pois, – garden peas; occasionally larger and softer – marrowfat peas; sometimes mashed up into a purée – mushy peas, which are usually served with chips)

carrots (peeled and either boiled or roasted)

gravy (like meat jus, but nowadays normally made from a flavoured powder that you add water to and stir. It’s brown and fairly thick)

ketchup (this one annoys me because no-one I know says ketchup – it’s tomato sauce, at least in the north)

sprouts (brussels sprouts )

steak and kidney pie (pastry filled with steak and kidney in a gravy)

PLEASE NOTE THAT PIE IS USUALLY SAVOURY HERE. We do have fruit pies, but if someone says ‘pie’ a British person will picture a savoury thing, probably with meat in it.

steak and kidney pudding (steak and kidney in gravy encased in suet pastry, which is a crumbly, soft pastry made from just suet, flour and water. It is steamed, not baked, usually)

sausage rolls (a staple of British lunchtime foods – sausagemeat wrapped in a flaky pastry and eaten hot or cold)

jacket potato (also called a baked potato, it’s a whole potato baked in the oven with the skin still on until it’s crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, and is usually served with cheese in it)

porridge (oats cooked in milk or water, often called oatmeal in other countries)

marmalade (jam made from citrus fruits, usually orange)

PLEASE NOT THAT JAM IS NON-CITRUS FRUIT AND SUGAR COOKED UNTIL IT SETS INTO A SPREAD.

Desserts:

jam tart (a small, open pastry case with jam in it)

ice cream (the most common flavours here are vanilla, chocolate and strawberry)

apple pie (pastry case with sweetened apples)

treacle tart (pastry case with a sweet, thin filling made from golden syrup and breadcrumbs, not treacle)

éclairs (popular French cream cake – long choux bun filled with cream and topped with chocolate)

jam doughnuts (dough fried in oil and filled with jam, most often strawberry)

jelly (called jell-o in some countries – flavoured gelatine)

NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH JAM – AMERICANS CALL JAM JELLY.

rice pudding (short grain rice cooked for several hours in milk and sugar until it forms a thick mixture not unlike sweet porridge)

custard tart (pastry case filled with an egg, milk and sugar mixture which has been baked until set)

spotted dick (steamed suet pudding, which is like a warm sponge cake, filled with raisins and served with custard)

chocolate gateau (fancy chocolate cake with cream on top)

trifle (layered fruit, jelly, sponge cake, custard and cream – a classic)

mint humbugs (a hard mint to freshen your breath after eating)

At Christmas:

roast turkey (the meat we traditionally eat at Christmas)

chipolatas (tiny pork sausages)

buttered peas (just peas with a bit of butter on the them)

cranberry sauce (cranberries and sugar cooked together until set – served with savoury foods like turkey – it’s not as sweet as jam)

turkey sandwiches (literally the entire country eats this on Christmas night to use up some turkey)

Christmas cake (very rich, dense fruit cake topped with a layer of marzipan and then a layer of icing)

Christmas pudding (hot, very rich steamed pudding made from dried fruits, nuts and suet, often served with brandy sauce)

crumpets (these aren’t a Christmas food, they just happen to eat them at Christmas. They are round, flat buns, though not exactly bread, with holes in them, that you toast and butter. Often people eat them for breakfast, or, like in the book, as a snack at night. They are savoury, not sweet)

mince pies (small pies filled with a mixture of dried fruits, sugar and brandy – sweet, not savoury – they were made with minced meat a few hundred years ago, and the name mince pie has stuck)

fudge (a type of sweet made by heating sugar, butter and milk until it sets)

During the Triwizard Tournament:

bouillabaisse (French fish stew/soup that hardly anyone here has heard of/would try!)

goulash (Eastern European stew made with meat and paprika that a lot of people have at least heard of and would try!)

blancmange (French dessert which is a basically white, almond-flavoured jelly that some people have heard of and a few would try)

It’s necessary to mention here, how the fact that Hermione knows what the bouillabaisse is and has tried it is a DEFINITE indicator of class. She is upper middle class. I’ll talk more about why when I do a class post, but for now it’s enough to say that no working-class child, unless they have family ties to France or have learned about it in French at school, would even know what it was and would be very unlikely to try it if given the opportunity. You can’t read that scene, as a British person, and not understand that Hermione comes from a cultured, moneyed background.

It’s also interesting to compare these foods with the foods usually served at state-maintained schools at the time HP was written: we are talking about fatty, greasy, processed rubbish with no nutrition at all, e.g. turkey twizzlers, nuggets, pizza, chips, hot dogs, cakes. You do still find such foods in state schools but normally alongside more healthy options. Since Jamie Oliver’s war on school food things are a lot better, but the point is that the food at Hogwarts is a clear nod to the privilege of the pupils: working-class kids wouldn’t have been able to eat things like that at school. My primary school (ages 4-11) served stew sometimes, with overcooked vegetables, but that’s all, and my secondary school served pizza, hot dogs, nuggets and chips every day and that was it.

Foods mentioned but not eaten in the Great Hall:

sherbet lemons (real sweets, they are strong, lemon-flavoured hard sweets that contain a powder that makes your tongue fizz)

custard creams (biscuits made from 2 square simple biscuits with vanilla cream sandwiched between them)

Foods eaten at the Weasleys’:

Food is one of the main ways by which the Weasleys are coded as working-class. Everything they eat is either a comfort food your grandma makes or some cheap thing you eat and don’t mind but wish was something else.

corned beef sandwiches (corned beef is beef which has been processed and salt-cured and has the mushy consistency of cat food. It was popular during the war, when meat was scarce and rationed, and is associated with poverty and lack of better meat. That isn’t to say that people don’t like it, but it is true that many people don’t)

Speaking of processed meats, the Weasleys eat a lot of sausage and bacon, which are very popular but also available cheaply.

chicken and ham pie (this is the only time I can think of that it is mentioned that the Weasleys were having a ‘proper’ meat, as in unprocessed, and if I remember correctly it was for Harry’s birthday, so a special occasion. It’s pastry filled with chicken and ham in a white sauce and is the sort of thing your grandma probably made)

boiled potatoes (they do have boiled potatoes at Hogwarts, but alongside other types of potato.)

It’s hard for me to explain why, but boiled potatoes, specifically, have a working-class connotation. You are definitely more likely to eat boiled potatoes in a working-class family. Here are 2 anecdotes form my life about boiled potatoes to illustrate my point!

1. I know someone from a privileged background. Her father was an electrical engineer who held government contracts. She went to a grammar school (a school that’s free but you have to pass a test to go to) and lived in an affluent city where one of the main public schools is. As soon as she opens her mouth you can hear that she’s from an upper middle-class background. I once discussed cooking dinner with her and said I was making boiled potatoes. She scoffed and said she never did as she couldn’t see the point – if she has boiled them she might as well mash them.

2. At university my friend started going out with a guy from a solid middle-class background. His parents had a second home in South Africa, where his father worked for part of the year. They were staunch Tories (supported the political party to the right of the centre). She and I once discussed making dinner and she said it was her turn to make it tonight and the guy wanted sautéed potatoes. Her exact words next were “he’ll just have to make do with boiled, I’m too tired”.

Somehow the fact that the Weasleys eat boiled potatoes makes them working-class, an under-class. It’s somehow seen as lazy and simple by people from higher classes.

rhubarb crumble (stewed rhubarb topped with a flour, butter and sugar mixture that goes hard and crumbly, usually served with custard)

Again, this is a working-class mainstay. Many people used to grow rhubarb in their gardens because it grows easily and is hardy in our weather. Add a bit of sugar and it’s an almost free dessert.

chocolate pudding (not to be confused with chocolate pudding in American terms, ours is a suet pudding made with chocolate and served hot, usually with a chocolate sauce)

Foods eaten with the Dursleys:

a bun from the bakers (could be either a sandwich made from a bread roll or a sweet bun such as an iced bread roll, without more info it’s not clear. The word ‘bun’ is used to describe many things, and it’s different depending on where you are in the country. For example, I would never say ‘bun’ and mean sandwich but I know some people do. I personally picture an iced bun).

knickerbocker glory (an ice cream sundae)

fruit cake (dense cake made with dried fruits, like a dressed down version of Christmas cake, seems quite old-fashioned now)

roast pork (a joint of pork roast in the oven, often with a layer of fat over it that goes crispy)

soup (a common starter)

salmon (usually a whole fish, baked or poached)

lemon meringue pie (the French dessert anglicised – a pastry case filled with a layer of set lemon cream and topped with meringue)

grapefruit

I want to pause at this point to point out how clear it is that the Dursleys are higher class than the Weasleys. For one, Uncle Vernon just buys whatever he fancies from the bakers for lunch but Ron (and presumably the whole family) are given sandwiches made by Mrs Weasley, containing what they can afford. Secondly, roast pork and salmon are expensive and only eaten by people with more than the basic amount of money and even then really only on special occasions. Sometimes people will have a salmon on the buffet at their wedding, for instance. It’s a far cry from processed meats and chicken and ham pie. Not least because you can make a decent pie out of even poor quality meat, but to make a good roast, especially if you are trying to impress your boss, you need a good quality joint. Thirdly, if on a diet it’s unlikely someone working-class would eat grapefruit for breakfast. I know working-class kids who wouldn’t even be able to identify a grapefruit. Moreover, the fact that they served the meal to Vernon’s boss in three courses, followed by after-dinner mints shows that they either are middle-class, or, more likely, trying to appear so. The Weasleys just have their main course and pudding, even on special occasions. I don’t think I’ve ever had a starter in my life except for in restaurants. Furthermore, at the zoo Dudley and Piers get ice creams and Harry gets a lemon ice lolly. I don’t think there is any more striking a symbol of a working-class person in the 90s trying to treat themselves than cheap lemon ice lollies! All ice cream stands had one and it was always the cheapest thing. By doing this, Vernon is showing that he views Harry as a lesser-class than himself and Dudley. Lastly, while Petunia is preparing the meal for Vernon’s boss, Harry is given bread and cheese for his supper. Bread and cheese conjures up images of Scrooge sitting in the dark eating alone because it was so cheap: Victorian levels of poverty and definite allusions to being a lesser-class.

On a side note, the Dursleys still got their milk and eggs from the milkman, a man from a dairy who delivered to people’s houses in the mornings. In those days lots of people still did, and you do still get milkmen now to a lesser degree. My grandparents got their milk from the milkman and so did my husband’s parents, up until at least 2000.

whipped cream and sugared violets (I had to look up sugared violets myself. I think I am probably too working-class, or possibly too northern, to have heard of them. They seem to be the head of the violet flower dipped in egg white and sugar so that it becomes hard. I have never heard of putting them in cream to make a pudding before.)

Additional foods relating to Hagrid:

birthday cake (usually sponge and covered in icing. In Britain, unlike many countries, you do not buy your own birthday cake: your parents usually get one for you)

rock cakes (these are real, though I grew up calling them rock buns. They are a basically a blob of cake cake batter with currants in, baked for a short time. They are like a cross between muffins and cookies)

treacle toffee (hard black toffee, often eaten around bonfire night)

stoat sandwiches (as far as I am concerned these are not real! I have never heard of anyone eating that! A stoat is small animal like a weasel)

Foods sold by magical establishments, e.g. Honeydukes/the Hogwarts Express:

these foods don’t exist outside HP, but could theoretically be made –

pumpkin juice

pumpkin pasties (a pasty is like a pie but the pastry is filled and then folded over, not topped with a lid)

chocoballs filled with strawberry mousse and clotted cream (clotted cream is thick, rich cream that has thickened naturally, not by whipping)

mulled mead (you can get mead, though it’s not common, and mulled just means it’s cooked through with various spices)

cherry syrup with soda (to us, soda is carbonated water, not pop)

these foods aren’t real but are based on real ones –

Drooble’s best blowing gum (wizard bubble gum)

liquorice wands (you can get sticks of liquorice

fizzing whizzbees (imo based on a sweet called a flying saucer, which is a thin, rice paper-like shell shaped like a flying saucer and filled with sherbet

exploding bonbons (bonbons here are round and soft, sometimes with a powdery centre, which break apart easily and fill your mouth

these foods are real –

peppermint creams (icing sugar mixed with peppermint oil until soft but firm, often coated in chocolate

mars bars (chocolate coated nougat-cream and caramel)

these foods aren’t real and aren’t really based on anything, as far as I can tell –

butterbeer

gillywater

sugar quills

ice mice

cockroach cluster

blood pops

toothflossing stringmints

pepper imps

cauldron cakes

these foods weren’t real before HP but now exist as part of the HP merchandise –

Bertie Bott’s every flavour beans (they are like jelly beans)

Chocolate frogs

Two final things. Firstly, on the topic of class it is worth noting that Lupin felt he had to apologise for only having teabags. Literally nobody who is working-class drinks tea in any other form than teabags 99.9% of the time. You can get loose leaf tea, which is seen as fancy, nicer and is certainly more expensive. I got some for Christmas last year, for instance. Nobody working-class would ever even bat an eyelid at someone offering them tea in bag form. It’s totally normal. The fact that Lupin apologises shows that he is acutely aware that he is more lowly than the average Hogwarts teacher. He is embarrassed by something that most of the population find normal. He feels under them, in class terms. Even though he knows Harry grew up without privilege (though the Dursleys themselves are middle-class), now that Harry is part of Hogwarts he has ascended enough in class terms that Lupin is concerned he will disappointed to have tea from a bag. This goes some way to showing how class isn’t just about money: it’s about tastes and habits.

Secondly, in compiling this post it became really clear that sausages are a leitmotiv marking times when Harry feels cosy, familial and homey. The first thing Hagrid does is cook him sausages, which represent being lifted out of the world of cold and hunger he is living in; becoming someone who others care about and want to care for. When he is rescued to the Weasleys in CoS and is blown away by the wizarding house and starts to feel at home and safe, the first thing Molly does is feed him loads of sausages. Sausages are often mentioned at breakfast at Hogwarts, especially when Harry is in a good mood. Perhaps it was unconscious and JKR herself associates sausages with feelings of family and at home-ness.

One final thing and that’s it, I promise. While writing this it struck me how different what I mean when I say “privilege” is from what an American means when they say it. I have mentioned this before, and at some point will do a blog post about it, but race is bound up so intricately with American history and life that words like “privilege” are encoded with images of skin colour. I bet the average American read “privilege” and pictured a white person, but in the UK that wouldn’t be the case. Skin colour has nothing to do with it. Here, “privilege” means what you have access to, how valid other people see your tastes and way of life, what you have grown up doing, seeing, eating, hearing, believing. It is bound up inexorably with how much money you have, what you do for a living and where you live and, crucially, with your family’s status historically. That one thing is the reason that comparisons between death eaters and Nazis don’t really hold up: HP is about genealogy and not ideology.

#Harry Potter #british food #british class system #snapedom

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reynoldslevi10-blog · 6 years

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5 All-Natural Sweeteners That Are (Somewhat) Healthier Than Sugar

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Have you noticed just how many foods at your local market are now labeled “natural”? According to a recent Consumer Reports survey, 73% of shoppers seek out labels with this term (despite the fact that there's no FDA standard to define it). All of this means that artificial sweeteners and high fructose corn syrup are out-and a whole slew of natural alternatives have popped up in their place. Some are old-school favorites, like maple syrup; while others, like coconut sugar, are derived from familiar foods. Here's the lowdown on five such sweeteners-including what's unique about each one, and the best ways to use them in your kitchen.

Maple syrup

Maple syrup is still made the same way it has been for decades: by boiling sap from maple trees. The syrup can then be dried, powdered, and sold as maple sugar.

While maple syrup does contain some vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, the amounts in a typical serving are quite small. For example, one tablespoon provides about 1% of your daily needs for calcium, potassium, and iron. However, it does pack a solid amount of manganese-a mineral that helps produce collagen and promote skin and bone health-with 25% of your Daily Value.

When it comes to choosing a syrup, you might want to consider the color. Generally, syrup made earlier in the season tends to be lighter; while syrup produced at the end of the season, when sap flow slows, is darker. (That said, in some years, nearly all of a season's crop may be light.) Dark syrups may have higher mineral and antioxidant levels.

Plus, darker syrups tend to have the strongest maple taste, which may help you use less. In fact, that's another benefit of swapping maple syrup for white sugar: In recipes, you can use three-fourths as much. For example, if a recipe calls for a quarter cup of sugar (or four tablespoons), you can use three tablespoons of maple syrup instead.

Another trick I use is diluting syrup. I'll swirl together a teaspoon each of maple syrup and water, add spices, like ginger and cinnamon; then drizzle it over foods like oatmeal, yams, baked fruit, or roasted carrots. You still get the distinct flavor and sweetness, but with just 4 grams of sugar and less than 20 calories.

RELTATED: 5 Ways to Eat Less Sugar

Honey

Honey has been called the nectar of the gods, and used topically for centuries to heal wounds and fight infections. It also offers a number of other health benefits when ingested, as long as you don't overdo it. This natural sweetener has been shown to possess small amounts of nutrients, antioxidants, and antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory compounds.

A University of Illinois study that analyzed honey samples from 14 different floral sources found that honey from buckwheat flowers packed 20 times the antioxidant punch as the kind produced from sage. While clover honey (which is probably the most commonly available type) scored in the middle of the antioxidant rankings.

Other research, from the University of California, Davis, found that daily consumption of buckwheat honey raised blood antioxidants levels. And a study from the University of Memphis found that athletes who ate honey had steadier blood sugar and insulin levels for a longer period of time, compared to consuming other carb sources.

I recommend buying raw, USDA Certified Organic honey whenever possible, to get the highest quality honey with minimal processing. It can also be sold in dried, powdered form.

As with maple syrup, you can use less liquid honey in recipes than sugar: Generally you can replace every tablespoon of sugar with a teaspoon of honey. (You may also need to adjust the amount of the other liquids, as well as the baking or cooking temperature.)

Just don't adopt a "honey is good for me, so I can drizzle it on everything" mentality. One teaspoon provides about 20 calories and 5 to 6 grams of sugar.

I think honey is ideal for adding just a touch of sweetness to plain versions of foods, like yogurt and nut butter. It's also great for jazzing up homemade dressings or marinades. For a simple stir-fry sauce, I like to whisk together a tablespoon each of brown rice vinegar and low sodium vegetable broth, a teaspoon of honey, a half teaspoon each of fresh grated ginger and minced garlic, and a pinch of crushed red pepper.

RELATED: 7 Super-Moisturizing Honey Beauty Products for Your Skin and Hair

Date sugar

If you've ever eaten a date, you know they're incredibly sweet and a bit sticky-which is why they're used as a main ingredient in so many energy bars. Whole dates are a good source of several key nutrients, including potassium, manganese, magnesium, copper, calcium, iron, B vitamins, vitamin K, and antioxidants. However, the nutrient amounts in a teaspoon of date sugar (made from dried, ground dates) are minimal. And that one teaspoon contains 15 calories and about 3 grams of sugar.

Date sugar can replace white sugar in equal amounts, but using two-thirds also works well in most recipes, especially if you add cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cardamom, and cloves. These “sweet” spices help enhance existing sweetness. It's also important to note that date sugar doesn't dissolve well, so it's not the best choice for smoothies or coffee. And like brown sugar, it tends to clump. To soften it before use, try placing some date sugar in a glass or ceramic bowl with a moist paper towel and cover it with a lid or plate overnight.

Coconut sugar

Coconut sugar is made from sap extracted from the buds of coconut palms. Like table sugar, it has about 15 calories and four grams of sugar per teaspoon.

Coconut sugar does provide small amounts of nutrients, including thiamin, iron, copper, zinc, potassium, phosphorous, magnesium, calcium, and antioxidants. This sweetener also contains inulin, a naturally-occurring, indigestible carbohydrate that acts as a prebiotic, or “food” for beneficial gut bacteria.

Coconut palm sugar is also considered eco-friendly. Growing coconut trees requires minimal amounts of water and fuel (especially compared to sugar cane production); and the trees produce sap for two to four decades. Coconut sugar's consistency and flavor is similar to brown sugar, so many people use it as an equal replacement in recipes that call for brown sugar (like baked beans and cookies).

RELATED: 9 Ways to Quit Sugar for Good

Blackstrap molasses

This thick, dark syrup is the byproduct of processing sugar cane. In other words, it's the liquid left over after the sugar has crystallized. The sweetener retains some of the nutrients naturally found in sugar cane, including potassium, magnesium, vitamin B6, copper, selenium, and manganese. One teaspoon provides about 15 calories and 4 grams of sugar. It also contains a notable 6% of the Daily Value for iron and calcium. Plus, it has been shown to have higher antioxidant levels than any other sweetener, according to research from Virginia Tech.

However, the rich, intense flavor and aroma of blackstrap molasses can narrow its use. I've used it in coffee and tea recipes, gingerbread cookies, energy balls, overnight oats, pumpkin pie and pumpkin smoothies, baked beans, and yam dishes.

One final note

While all of the sweeteners above are natural, and less processed and more nutritious than white table sugar, it's important to note they still count as added sugar. So you should consume them within the recommended limits for added sugar. That's no more than six teaspoons (or about 25 grams) per day for women, and nine teaspoons (or about 37.5 grams) for men.

Some of my clients don't even come close to these limits. But I've seen others overindulge in treats, smoothie bowls, and drinks made with these sweeteners, thinking it was fine because they're natural.

So, yes, stir maple syrup in your coffee instead of sugar or an artificial sweetener. And opt for one of the sweeteners above when cooking or baking. But be sure to moderate your total sugar intake from every source, and don't fall into the trap of thinking that better-for-you means it's okay to eat an unlimited amount.

Cynthia Sass is Health's contributing nutrition editor, a New York Times best-selling author, and consultant for the New York Yankees. See her full bio here.

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foodgemsg · 6 years

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http://ift.tt/2EW25qN Read on our visit to Top 12 Places To Celebrate Chinese New Year 2018 Part I by FoodGem

Media Invite

Chinese New Year is here again. This means that it’s time to feast on delicious and auspicious dishes for a prosperous year ahead and take a holiday over the long weekend. What do you look forward to indulging your favourite dishes in Chinese New Year? From poon choi, yusheng, suckling pig, golden fish, pineapple tarts to cookies, we’ve got you covered in this blog post. We have a list of the recommended restaurants here in Singapore, if you can’t decide where to eat, here’s what we enjoyed personally! The list below is not in chronological order.

Sky22, Courtyard by Marriott Singapore Novena

Helmed by Executive Chef John Chye, Sky22 in Courtyard Singapore Novena Marriott serves locally inspired and innovative dishes that aims to satisfy the most discerning palates. The Chinese New Year menu is culturally inspired and offers many alternatives, from sumptuous delicacies to all-time favourites like Singapore Laksa. You can expect lo hei, salad bar, cold sides, soups, cold cuts, cheese, dressings to desserts. Enjoy exclusive dinner buffet selection from seafood on the ice including poached prawns, crayfish, mussels. mains including red wine braised beef cheeks, pan-seared sea bass with sambal olek to all-time favourite Singapore Laksa Station. The buffet spread comes with a complimentary prosperity lo hei platter with a minimum of two diners.

Chinese New Year Buffet from 5 February to 2 March 2018.

Lunch: 12PM to 2.30PM Adult at S$38++ per pax | Child (age 6-12) at S$19++.

Dinner: 6PM – 10PM Adult at S$48++ per pax | Cchild (age 6-12) at S$24++.

* This menu should only be used as a guide to daily offerings. The Chef reserves the right to make changes to the menu, depending on freshness and availability of ingredients.

How to go Sky22, Courtyard by Marriott Singapore Novena

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99 Irrawaddy Road, Level 22 Singapore 329568

Contact: +65 6378 2040

Email: [email protected]

Elemen

Dedicated to promoting natural and meat-free lifestyles, Elemen is a favourite among both our vegetarian and carnivorous friends with its innovative recipes. This Chinese New Year, they have launched a curated 8-course menu which promises a light and healthy reunion dinner. Here are some of our favourites from the menu:

Replacing the common salmon sashimi with Konnyaku, their Prosperity Truffle Yu Sheng might be easily one of the best Yu Sheng I had. Fresh vegetables elevated with the light fragrance of the truffle, the Yu Sheng was pleasant on the palate and not cloying.

Boiled for hours in a coconut shell along with the fresh coconut juice, the 5 Elements Soup is light and sweet. Along with the healthy ingredients, the coconut flesh can be easily scooped and eaten along with the comforting bowl of soup.

Akin to its bright red appearance, the Firecracker Nest is one smoking hot dish that captured all our hearts that night. Deep-fried monkey head mushrooms in a spicy red coating. There is nothing more addictive than these crunchy red bites. The texture was so similar to chicken that it blew my mind. Blind-folded and you will think you are devouring KFC spicy popcorn chicken.

To end off the meal, the tangy and sweet Strawberry w/ Plum Sauce drink is not only beautiful but also refreshing. A modern approach to a traditional favourite – Bubur Pulut Hitam, Elemen has nailed this delicious humble dessert and we are left craving for more.

Chinese New Year Menu (Meatfree) from 12 February to 02 March 2018, you can enjoy their Prosper-licious 8-course Menu at S$108.80++ (2 pax) or S$208.80++ (4 pax). Savour these dishes and kickstart your Chinese New Year on a healthy note!

How to go Elemen

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1 Maritime Square #02-85, Singapore 099253

Contact: +65 6904 9568

Xin Cuisine Chinese Restaurant at Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium

Heralding the year of the Dog with 8 special menus from Xin Cuisine Chinese Restaurant. Celebrate Lunar New Year with an auspicious reunion spread that features abundant feast and festive treats.

Diners can toss to a year of prosperity and good health with the new Salmon Yusheng with Fish Skin and Passion Fruit Yogurt Dressing (S$78 small, S$98 large). The obligatory Prosperity Yu Sheng filled with crunchy slithers of deep-fried fish skin in a healthy passion fruit yoghurt dressing that pretty much completes this Lunar New year tradition.

Xin Cuisine’s range of treasure pots that feature premium ingredients delicately and painstakingly prepared by Executive Chinese Chef Chan Shun Wong and his team of master chefs. Xin’s Signature Traditional Treasure Pot is packed with layers and layers of indulgent ingredients; 14-headed Whole Abalone, Scallops, Prawns, Dried Oyster, Soya Chicken, Roast Duck, Roast Pork, Pork Rind, Fish Ball, Dried Bean Curd Skin, Ling Zhi Mushroom, Lotus Root, Baby Corn, Flower Mushroom, Black Moss, Baby Chinese Cabbage and Radish. Just like a treasure cove, allowing everyone to unveil layers of goodness together.

Xin’s Signature Traditional Treasure Pot at S$248 onwards. Available for dine-in or takeaway.

8 Special Menu available from 12 January to 3 March 2018.

Simple yet comforting of having lunch celebrations with your family and friends. These dim sums are handcrafted by Chef Cheung Kin Nam. Some of the masterpieces which include Steamed Pork Dumplings with Truffle, Pan-fried morel mushroom and pork paste bun and deep fried crab claw dumpling with fish roe.

Lunar New Year Dim Sums (Lunch only) at S$21 per serving.

Made with real durian flesh, the right amount of durian to impart fragrance and taste without overpowering the dish.

D24 Durian Nian Gao at S$58 per box.

Lunar New Year takeaways are available now until 2 Mar 2018.

Available until 2 March 2018, order online now and receive up to 20% off!

How to go Xin Cuisine Chinese Restaurant at Holiday Inn Singapore Atrium

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317 Outram Rd, Holiday Inn Atrium, 169075

Contact: +65 6733 0188

Email: [email protected]

Royale at Mercure Singapore Bugis

More than 40 festive dishes available at the buffet spread. Some of the festive dishes including DIY Prosperity Yu Sheng, Chili Crab with Mantou, Hong Kong Style Waxed Meat Rice wrapped in Lotus leaf, Assorted Sashimi, Sautéed Scallop and Asparagus in X.O Sauce, Peanut Butter Supreme Layer Cake. Having a buffet is always a good dining option when you want to try a bit of everything.

Exclusive on Lunar New Year’s Eve & Day, enjoy festive delights including Roasted Suckling Piglet, Crispy Pork Belly and Assorted Tempura. The whole suckling piglet is roasted into golden crispy.

It’s hard to say no when it comes to chilli crab. The sauce pairs beautifully with deep-fried Chinese mantou. The mantou sops up the scrumptious and tangy and sweet flavours sauce. Do note that the chilli crab sauce is mild-spicy.

Featuring my favourite dish from the Chinese New Year buffet spread; Sautéed Scallop and Asparagus in X.O Sauce. Simply loves the umami flavour in scallops and stir-fried with XO sauce, the whole dish is enriched with a kick of hot and sophisticated flavours that will surely make every taste bud dance.

Lunar New Year Festive Buffet from 9 February to 2 March 2018.

S$58++ (Adult) S$29++ (Child 6-12 years)

S$68++ for free flow juices & soft drinks

S$88++ for free flow wines & beer

Children under 6 years dine free

Lunar New Year Eve & Day Buffet for 15 & 16 February 2018.

S$68++ (Adult) / S$34++ (Child 6-12 years)

S$78++ for free flow juices & soft drinks

S$98++ for free flow wines & beer

Children under 6 years dine free

How to go Royale at Mercure Singapore Bugis

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Mercure Bugis, 122 Middle Rd, Level 3 Singapore 188973

Contact: +65 6521 6030

Email: [email protected]

Ginger at PARKROYAL Beach Road

Loved by many for its fresh crustacean buffet, Ginger at PARKROYAL has recently introduced their Sea-Fruits Mania buffet spread in an attempt to tingle our taste buds. Featuring endless servings of the crowd-favourite Mentaiko Lobster, this is truly the feast of a lifetime.

Fresh lobsters are covered in mayonnaise and creamy mentaiko sauce; and blow-torched to a beautiful char. One thing to note though, the richness of the Mentaiko Lobster might be albeit too overwhelming after the second and third helpings.

Savour your heart’s content with their signature crabs served in three styles – Black Pepper Crab, Chilli Crab and Steamed Crab with Sliced Aged Coconut. Don’t forget to soak the mantou bun into the different sauces!

An unusual twist on the classic Goreng Pisang, a strawberry is deep-fried in place of banana, and served with vanilla sauce. Delicious crunchy coating with a warm and gooey centre, the deep-fried strawberries might not appeal to everyone’s palate but is interesting enough to warrant a try.

Exclusively for FoodGem’s readers, you will get a special price of S$54.50++ per adult (U.P S$68++) when you quote “Ginger-Lobsters” upon making your reservation. It will be available from now until 4 February on Fridays (dinner), Saturday and Sunday (lunch and dinner).

How to go Ginger at PARKROYAL Beach Road

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7500A Beach Road, Level 1, 199591

Contact: +65 6505 5710

Email: [email protected]

Peony Jade at Keppel Club – Michelin Bib Gourmand

Usher in the auspicious Year of the Dog with an exquisite Michelin Bib Gourmand-crowned dining experience at Peony Jade at Keppel Club. Restaurant jazzes festive up a notch with their regular dining repertoire, festive takeaway and handcrafted festive pastries.

‘Prosperity & Smooth Sailing’ with 18 Premium Ingredients Poon Choi.

1. 8-head Australian whole abalones 2. 1/2 roast goose 3. A whole pork knuckle 4. Golden oysters 5. Roast pork 6. South African spiked sea cucumber 7. Whole scallops 8. Pork tendons 9. Fatt choy 10. Fish maw 11. King-sized prawns 12. Shiitake mushrooms 13. Sea-grouper fish dace 14. Dried conpoy 15. Taro 16. Beancurd skin 17. Radish 18. Broccoli

And enjoy five prosperity blessings with every takeaway pot of poon choi including Norwegian Salmon Sashimi Yusheng with organic radish & golden roe, bird’s nest & premier fish maw stuffed with minced prawn in a rich chicken consommé and more!

Standard Premium Pot Package at S$518.88 NETT (serves 6, enjoy 30% off on the second pot) Large Premium Pot Package at S$748.88 NETT (serves 8-10, enjoy 50% off on the second pot)

The plate of sticky and caramelized roasted char siu marries the deep-fried Australian oyster. Enjoyed the crispy crust crackling, our mouth is filled with the appetising home-blended vinegar and nostrils fill with the smell of a salty ocean breeze.

Priced at S$48.88++ (minimum of 3 guests is required), and is available for dine-in only at Peony Jade @ Keppel Club. A 1-day advance order is required.

“Reaping Prosperity’ Deep-fried Australian Fresh Oysters-on-shell with Jinhua Ham infused with Cha-siu.

The traditional nian gao is popular during Chinese New Year but this year I stumbled upon a MAO SHAN WANG Durian Layered Nian Gao. The durian nian gao is layered one on top of another that symbolise of raising oneself taller in each coming year. The texture of mao shan wang nian gao was rich and creamy and ended with a bitter-sweet note on the palate. Honestly, I am not a fan of nian gao, but I do enjoy this durian nian gao.

Peony Jade’s Signature ‘The Steps to HUAT! HUAT!’ Gift Set. Prosperity Gold Bar 100% Pure Black Gold Mao Shan Wang Durian Layered Nian Gao at S$118.88 nett per order, serves 8-10 guests.

I’m getting excited ’cause there are 8 new types of cookies this year including Almond Hazelnut Butter Cookies (featured), Sambal Chilli Bak Kwa (featured), Champagne Raisins Cookies and also Walnut Cookies in limited quantities. These Nyonya cookies are homemade and each cookie has a very nice buttery flavoured bite! Another must-have for Chinese New Year will be Peony Jade’s Bestseller Nyonya Coconut Rich Love Letters. Each piece of love letter rolled crepes were very crispy and paper-thin with a fragrant eggy taste. The cookies smell amazing and make me want to eat them before this shot. Grab yours before it’s sold out!

Priced at S$32.88 per jar.

Traditional New Year Homemade Prosperity Nyonya Cookies are available from now to 14 Feb 2018.

How to go Peony Jade @ Keppel Club – Michelin Bib Gourmand

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10 Bukit Chermin Rd, M Level, 109918

Contact: +65 6276 9138

Email: [email protected]

This post is contributed by Rachel and Yi Xuan.

The post Top 12 Places To Celebrate Chinese New Year 2018 Part I appeared first on foodgem: Food & Travel.

#Top 12 Places To Celebrate Chinese New Year 2018 Part I #Food #FoodPorn #FoodGem #AsianFood

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talesfromafork · 7 years

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When I moved to Amsterdam in 2015, there was something I was very disappointed in– the food scene. Yes, you can find good food but compared to New York where I’m from, the price-quality ratio here is incomparable. This is especially true for Asian food like Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese food, which except for One Dim Sum, I tend to avoid at all costs in Amsterdam.

However, be still my Asian foodie heart, when I went to Rotterdam a few weeks ago, I found delicious ramen and pho among other foods. In just one weekend in Rotterdam, I discovered a handful of places I loved whereas in Amsterdam, it’s taken me over a year of continuous trial and error. Anyways, enough food snobbery and comparing Amsterdam to Rotterdam to New York, let’s get on with where to eat in Rotterdam.

– Pin now, eat later! –

Hinoki Noodles

If you want authentic Japanese ramen, then Hinoki is the place to go. They import their noodles from Japan and store them at an optimal temperature so by the time they’re cooked and served, the texture of the noodles combined with their ability to cling to the broth soothes your palette and soul. The broth at Hinoki Noodles is on the lighter side and makes for a great ramen that won’t weigh you down.

What to Get: My husband has been here three times over two trips, and every time has gotten the Special Black Garlic Ramen. I’ve also gotten that one and the one without the black garlic. They’re all really good. I also recommend getting Karaage as an appetizer. It’s five pieces of tender fried chicken.

Good to Know: This place has vegetarian and no pork options. See the menu here.

Address: Keizerstraat 52

Located Near: Blaak station, Cube Houses, Markthal, Cool District

Pho Hanoi

Out of all the phos I’ve tried in Europe, Pho Hanoi has broth taste, meat rawness and types, and even noodle thickness that I love. It’s a no frills type place so it’s all about the food, not the ambiance. However, on a nice day, you can sit out on the square that’s full of cozy cafes and independent shops.

What to Get: Pho bo (traditional beef noodle soup) and Goi Cuon (summer rolls with shrimp)

Good to Know: This place has vegetarian options.

Address: Botersloot 58A

Located Near: Blaak station, Cube Houses, Markthal, Laurenskerk

P.S. I’ve been to two pho places in Rotterdam over my two trips there. This place is clearly the winner.

POSSE

Before diving into your food, you will be wowed by the decor of this restaurant, or rather, this restaurant/gallery. It is full of knick-knacks, art, and vintage furniture, and for lack of better words, is a really cool place. But to be honest, I’m not into how a place looks when it comes to restaurants. It’s all about the food, and luckily here, the food is on point. Everything is cooked to the right temperature and has the right flavors and sauces to complement whatever the star of the dish.

What to Get: I believe the menu changes, but when I came here I got the calamari in tomato sauce appetizer and duck breast as a main course. Considering that those two very different dishes that most places cannot do well were good, I’d feel ok with choosing anything on their menu!

Good to Know: This place has vegetarian options.

Address: Veerlaan 19a

Located Near: National Photography Museum, Pinball Museum, and in a neighborhood that reminds me of Brooklyn about 10 years ago

Sajoer

Ever go to a European city and have trouble finding a decent salad, or at the very least, something healthy to eat? Well, that’s not a problem in Rotterdam with Sajoer around. This spot is the vegan or health conscious person’s dream eatery. Its full of sweet and savory juices, acai bowls, soups, and drinks.

What to Get: I got the acai bowl, which was tasty and surprisingly so filling. For someone who eats a lot, I really had to struggle to finish it. Oh the pain.

Address: Botersloot 46A

Located Near: Blaak station, Cube Houses, Markthal, Laurenskerk

Lof der Zoetheid

Lof der Zoetheid is full of tempting desserts and pastries and is a great spot to come in the afternoon after a day of shopping or playing tourist. If you’re a tea lover like me, you’ll be quite impressed with the quality of their tea as well as the presentation. You get a bunch of looseleaf teas in jars, scoop what you want into a tea bag, then pop it into your glass of hot water.

What to Get: Not exaggerating– every dessert was delicious. As you can see, we tried a bunch. Also, if you like tea, then get the house blend named after the cafe.

Address: Noordplein 1

Located Near: a good shopping street that has &designshop, Kitchen Supply Store, and a specialty whiskey store

Notable Mention: Op Het Dak

I fell in love with Op Het Dak’s concept as soon as I entered the restaurant. They have their own garden, which they source from, and use local, organic, and sustainable products. For those who care about where their food comes from, this is an absolute dream. Also, being able to walk around the garden and see Rotterdam from a rooftop is quite reviving.

This deserves a notable mention because the ambiance and concept is fantastic and the visual plating of the food is quite artistic, but the food didn’t quite get me there. I loved it because I knew where the food came from and how healthy it is, but all the flavors combined didn’t do much for me, and I thought some things could’ve been cooked better like the roasted vegetables.

But I’d come back here again to support an establishment like this. Plus, the staff and chefs have an extremely jovial air about them, which adds to the already pleasant environment. I came here for a five course dinner in which Op Het Dak partnered with a local restaurant so perhaps lunch from their own daily menu would be way to go.

Address: Schiekade 189

There are sooo many places in Rotterdam to eat that I have yet to uncover, but I’m sure to be back again soon. Now what are you waiting for? Enjoy yourself, and eat!

Thanks for stopping by! xo.

Things I Packed for Rotterdam

If you liked my suggestions on where to eat in Rotterdam, then you may like these items I traveled to Rotterdam with.

Sneakers That Match Almost Everything & Look So Fresh

Something Cute But Easy to Pack

Charging Station to Charge Everything at Once

Sony A6000: Lightweight But Kicka$$ Camera

Mini Portable Charger I’ve Had Since 2015

Dual-Voltage Hair Straightener (Read everything you need to know about using hair appliances abroad here.)

Reusable, Foldable Bag (See 8 Reasons Why Here)

Windproof Umbrella ‘Cause the Netherlands is Quite Rainy

So you know, these are affiliate links. If you buy a product through my blog at no extra cost to you, the fairy blogmother pays me a teeny amount to help me keep my blog afloat. I take that money and put it right back into the blog so I can write more helpful posts like this. If you don’t feel like buying anything today, you can always bookmark this link and use it whenever you shop. Whatever you decide, thank you for stopping by my blog. I hope it helps!

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