#all there has been for me to eat is cup ramen and grilled cheese. AND SOMEONE WHO WASNT FUCKING VEGAN ATE ALL THE VEGAN CHEESE IM GENUINELY

[genekies]

screaming in the club

time for another vent in tags

#so i was joking and i thought it came through but im also dumb and autistic and my jokes dont always cross. sO #i was joking about one of my roomates not seeing Nightmare Before Christmas before bc i was showing 2 of them my picture vinyl of it and whe #n one of them said they never saw it i said “but you were a loser on tumblr in the 2010s wdym” and their fiance was just rude to me and i th #ought it was clearly a joke but ig not and they lowley attacked me for it? im just?? i tried to clarify that i was joking and they know im a #utistic. hell the one i was joking to is also autistic but idk so now i feel like utter shit especially after all i did today thst juet drai #ned me. ive been trying to fix our 2nd shower. i had a meeting. i had an extremely hard therapy session. and i showered today. its been hell #like i am trying to get thru relapsing on SH and my ED and ofc they dont know but that shit made it worse and i dont want to say anything bc #then ill feel like im guilt tripping? idk but im also super nervous about a HRT appmt i have coming up and i cant afford it and we have no #food in the house i can eat rn and no one has gone shopping. i cant go shopping either bc i cant drive/dont have a car. and its making it #harder to help get back on track with eating when theres nothing for me to eat? so everything is fucking amazing right now. #the only meals i could POSSIBLY have and all claimed by the one roommate i was joking with. it all takes up half our freezer too so thats #fucking awesome. all this food for one person and none that i can eat or the other vegan in the house can eat. i have been hungry for DAYS. #all there has been for me to eat is cup ramen and grilled cheese. AND SOMEONE WHO WASNT FUCKING VEGAN ATE ALL THE VEGAN CHEESE IM GENUINELY #SO PISSED OFF? like dude yall have your own cheese wtf #the thing is its already really hard for me to tell when i am actually hungry bc of years of ignoring it so when i actually feel it and ther #es nothing it really gets to me. im so tired and idek where my EBT card is to get myself something. its all just so much. #i just want to lay in my bed and sleep for days. but i cant. i have too much shit to do. like even just tomorrow i have to clean the #bathroom. mop the kitchen. do dishes. shovel snow. and just generally take.care of shit because since we have 2 roomates MIA right now and #no one else wanted to do shit i had to step up and i am STRUGGLING. i have been for a while. the thing is everyone that didnt sign up for sh #it didnt have much going on besides probable seasonal depression #i relapsed. have debilitating mental health. i can barely get out of bed before 4 pm. and i have to take care of myself and my cat. #im so close to snapping on them at this point #i need the one roommate i actually like to come back or i swear i will lose my shit. hes only been gone for 6 days but HOLY SHIT #everything has gone to shit #vent over ig im going to sleep soon. still hungry if i cant find something.

[hadestownmodern]

Whole Foods and Grilled Cheese

You got Eurydice and Persephone at Costco. Here is the prelude to that: Orpheus and Hades at Whole Foods. This was such a wild thing to write and I hope it brings someone a bit of a smile in these hard times. -A

The bustling of the grocery store was not a welcome sight to Orpheus who had not expected the action filled morning when he called his uncle the previous night. 

“She’s been staying a lot..”

“Orpheus, I don’t want to know about your late night antics with that girl-”

“No no thats not- I’m not trying to talk about that!” Orpheus stuttered though he knew his blush was not evidence through the telephone. “She doesn’t eat well and she works so much- I wanted to try to make her some things.”

“Make her some things?”

“I want to learn to cook. Can you help me?”

“....” Silence, so Hades could hide the slight pride in his voice. “I’ll be there in the morning.”

The 8 a.m. knock on his apartment door, with his uncle demanding to get going for a ‘long day ahead’ had not been what he was anticipating when he rolled out of bed scrambling for pajama pants. 

The morning was nothing short of exhausting. Hades dragging Orpheus through the busy streets to a high end department store and making a beeline for the kitchen department. A long lecture on different pots, pans, and cooking utensils ended with Hades buying ‘one of everything’ and having it promptly delivered to Orpheus apartment so they could continue on their day. 

By afternoon, after Hades spent a small fortune to equip Orpheus with “the best of the best” for cooking, he would not relax on the ride to the local Whole Foods. 

“Amma says you should buy from Farmer’s markets…” Orpheus had commented, between drinks of a free sample smoothie that was a rather unsettling shade of green. 

Hades tried to hold back the sharp retort, biting his tongue and gesturing Orpheus forward in the store. “You can go to the farmers market once you have pantry staples, Orpheus. But you need a solid base. Spices, rice, pastas, flour.. Spices especially. Eventually you can make most of it yourself. You can make broth and pasta but for now, we’re starting easy. You need a solid start. A pasta dish, a chicken dish, some sort of eggs.. We’ll get to soup later. We’ll cover steak next week.”

“Next week?” Orpheus squeaks, eyes wide at the assortment of fruits and vegetables around him. His fingers lingered on star fruit a few extra moments before Hades deep voice pulled him out of his reverie.

“Yes, Next Week, do you want to impress the girl or not?” Hades is perusing a meat case, conversing with the butcher in words Orpheus cannot comprehend, taking brown paper wrapped packages and placing them in the cart. “We’ll start easy today. Scrambled eggs. Maybe a nice red sauce. Simple things…. What can you make now?”

“I can...heat up frozen chicken nuggets. And make grilled cheese! With tomato Soup!”

“Is the tomato soup from a can, Orpheus?” He isn’t even looking at him as he examines a dozen of eggs and places them in the shopping cart as well, before grabbing a few cheeses. 

“...yes…”

“Then thats not cooking. What kind of cheese do you put on the grilled cheese?”  

“The little slices that come wrapped one by one-”

“Thats not even real cheese. Okay. No red sauce today. Eggs. We do eggs.” He loops back to grab an extra dozen.

Hades directs Orpheus through each aisle, taking time to pause and teach Orpheus about all the possibilities. Different types of pasta for different sauces (Light sauce with spaghetti, bolognese with rigatoni), types of beans to use for different fillings, how different flours affected baked goods. 

They were in the spice aisle, a deep discussion on the values of garlic salt versus garlic powder when Orpheus asked a new question. 

“So you need garlic and onion powder, but can add your own salt. I really suggest you use real garlic and onion but on grilled cheese or eggs this is easier. I also think freshly cracked black pepper makes a difference-”

“When did you know you wanted to marry Persephone?” He asks, looking up from his notebook full of spice notes. 

“...not after six days, Boy, back to the spice. Now bay leaves are quintessential to a good soup base..”

“I bought a ring!”

“And you should use real homemade broth, Persephone used those bouillon cubes as a nausea quick cure but- I’m sorry you did what?”

“I bought a ring! Yesterday. I love her so much, I just..I know she’s it for me. Amma always says you know and I know!” He has an innocence in his eyes that Hades doesn’t want to crush, but innocence too closely accompanies naivety. 

“Orpheus. You met six days ago. You don’t marry a girl because she took your virginity!”

Orpheus’ face turned the color of the canned tomatoes in his hand, the poet losing his words. “No! I love her! I know I do! She makes the world have color and reason and I look at her and see the whole world. I just imagine waking up next to her and holding our babies and-”

“Six days. Six days ago. You met her six days ago, stop talking about babies and marriage and focus on, I don’t know, getting to no her as a person with clothes on?” He grabs a handful of jarred spices and pushed on through the store. “Two years, Orpheus. We were together two years before I even thought about it. Now come on, we need to start cooking.” He ended the conversation, gesturing Orpheus towards the checkout. 

They stopped at his apartment to drop off and properly store the frozen ingredients, a lesson all in its own of proper pantry filling and food storage, before taking the car to Hades townhome, where Orpheus was already spending so much of his time. 

“We’ll do Eggs and grilled cheese. Scrambled eggs, you can’t do an omlette yet.” Hades decided as he keys into the front door, grabbing the mail on his way in. 

“Is seph home? Is she gonna try it-”

“Of course. You don’t have to impress her though. Even if it tasted like garbage, that woman would never hurt your feelings. It’s Junie you need to impress-”

“..Junie?”

Just then Hades pushes the door open, and within seconds tiny yet quick footsteps were audible, getting closer by the second. 

Junie, in her little purple tutu, ringlet curls bouncing as she ran, flew into her father’s legs with her arms in the air. “Daddy! I miss-ed-ed you!” 

He chuckles lowly, scooping her onto his hip and kissing her cheek as the toddler wrapped her arms around his neck. “Hey, Princess. Where’s your mother?” 

“If she’s the princess, does that make me the queen?” Persephone appears, long curls falling loose around her face. She somehow looks put together even in a sweatshirt far too big for her and flannel pajama shorts left over from last years christmas. “How was your shopping trip?”

He kisses his wife, tugging her closer by the fabric of her shirt. “You were the queen long before she was the princess. And it was eventful. He uses prepackaged cheese.”

“Well, I ate cups of ramen noodles and you loved me anyway.” Persephone winks, holding a hand out to Orpheus. “I hope he didn’t scare you, it’s sweet, that you’re learning to do this.”

“Well I want to be with her forev-”

He is interrupted by Hades voice, as he bounces Junie once “Hey Junie, why don’t we go set up to cook. Come, Orpheus.”

“Yeah, come on Ophie!” Junie gestures for him to follow, as her father carries her to the kitchen. He sits her on the chair at the island, before Persephone sits beside her and pulls her into her lap. 

“Why’s Ophie cookin’ daddy?” She asks, kicking her little legs before pressing her back into her mother’s chest, snuggling into her. 

“Because he’s trying to impress a girl, Junie.” Hades says off handedly, placing a loaf of bread on the table top. “Remember, Junie, if a man can’t cook, he isn’t good enough for you.”

“Noone’s good ‘nuff for me, Daddy.”

“Thats right, baby. Thats right.”

“Are you tryna impress Princess Rydice, Ophie?” The little girl asks, craning her head to look at him, standing in the doorway looking suddenly horrified. 

“Oh, Yes I am Junie, I love her so much and I want to make her happy!” He has a dreamy look in his eyes, looking off in admiration. 

“Are you gonna marry her?” Junie inquires, cocking her head.

“I want to, so badly!”

“Now Orpheus, we talked about this-” Hades grumbled before his wife cuts him off. 

“What are you making us tonight, my little culinary masters.” Persephone teases, resting her chin on Junie’s head. “I’m in the mood for glazed salmon with-”

“Eggs. We are making eggs. And grilled Cheese.” Hades shoots her a look, signifying that even this may result in ordering takeout late in the evening. He grabs butter and an assortment of cheeses, a carton of eggs, and some other small ingredients. 

“Thats not a real meal, daddy. Wheres the veggie?” Junie questions, resting her little face on her hand. 

“Orpheus has to learn not to burn his house down before we can teach him to blanch veggies, baby.” Hades shakes his head, but hands Junie a handful of grated cheese to munch on in the cooking process. 

Orpheus looks stunned as an egg is placed in his hand, and a small glass bowl is given to him. “Do i just..”

“Crack the egg Orpheus.”

Orpheus slams the egg into the bowl, shell going everywhere in both the yolk and on the counter top. “Oh..”

“Try again.” 

They do this half a dozen times before Orpheus can confidently crack an egg, and learns whisking skills with a fork. He learns to add milk and butter, salt and pepper. He burns the first try, and under cooks the second. The third try is plated, and slid across the island to Junie and her mother. 

Persephone gives Junie a bite before taking one herself. Persephone, either being overly kind or with overly low standards, gives orpheus a thumbs up. 

Junie, however, stares at the pale eggs and shakes her head. “Ophie you aren’t impressin’ any-body with this. You need salt.”

“Juniper! Be nice!” Persephone lectured, but hid her face in her corkscrew curls to laugh to herself. 

“I just telling the truth! It’s bland!” Junie defends, looking to her dad. 

“She’s not wrong..Just use a little more salt and you’ll be golden Orpheus. Eat your eggs then we’ll try the grilled cheese.” 

The grilled cheese does not go any better. 

“For the love of god Orpheus, you put the buttered side on the pan, and the cheese on the inside!” 

“He’s hopeless, Daddy.” Junie pokes in, eating the still uncooked cheese set out on the island. “ Rydice will marry you anyway Ophie, it’s okay if you can’t cook! Mama can’t cook either!”

“I made you, thats close enough to cooking.”  Persephone teased, poking Junie’s stomach and making her erupt into brilliant giggles. 

Orpheus is distracted by the sound, suddenly drawn to a future where it is a dark haired little girl laughing in the arms of Eurydice as he cooks a meal for his own family.  He is so distracted by the thought of Eurydice’s dark eyes on a child that he doesn’t hear Hades in the background. 

“Orpheus...Orpheus...ORPHEUS you are BURNING the toast.” He takes the spatula out of Orpheus’ hand and tosses the offending blackened sandwich away. 

“I’m sorry i’m usually not this bad...I don’t burn my own grilled cheese.”

“Because you use fake cheese. Now remember. Butter bread. Butter side down. Gruyere. Cheddar. Mozzarella. Bread Butter side up.” 

Orpheus follows the instructions, and this time, successfully develops a golden crust on the bread, with cheese oozing out just right. 

He cuts the sandwich in half and presents it to his niece/pseudo sister with pride. “Here you go Junie B.”

Junie eyes him carefully, examining all of the sandwich. “Pretty color..smells good…” She takes an apprehensive bite, then another. “It’s good, Ophie...but..”

“Whats wrong, Junie?” Hades muses, leaning down to her eye level. 

“If you were on chopped, you’d be chopped. But thats okay. My Daddy’s just better than you.” 

#orpheus can't cook eggs but he can fertilize them #orpheus #hades #Junie tag #persephone #modern au #hadestown modern au #hadestown #hadestown au

[iamtheblondestblonde]

Slides and Serendipity

Part 7 (4.2k)

Masterlist

Warnings: Broken heart for Bennguin shippers, (slightly, I’m talking veeeery slightly implied sexual content like it’s nothing explicit?) and also language

My hangover thankfully wasn’t as bad as I’d anticipated, probably because I stayed clear of wine this time. I even woke up earlier than I’d anticipated but that was only due to Yogi jumping on my bed. How I’d managed to carry him up the stairs without falling while also half asleep would forever remain a mystery unsolved.

I checked my phone to go look at the pictures from last night but then I saw a text from Tyler, asking if I was ready for breakfast yet. In my sleep deprived state I’d completely forgotten about his invitation from last night. I told him I’d be over in a few and then hopped under the shower, something I’d skipped last night because I’d been afraid that I’d fall asleep while standing up.

Whenever I went out I usually only drank until I had a good buzz going but last night I guess I hadn’t stopped early enough so the alcohol had practically knocked me out as soon as I was outside. 

After changing the bed sheets to get rid of the smell of clubbing I finally made my way over, Yogi excitedly bouncing ahead. Tyler’s dogs were howling as soon as I rung his doorbell which of course made Yogi even more excited. I was a bit anxious to see if he would tried to bring up my not so subtle move from last night. While having him strip me down to my underwear had sounded like a great idea last night, I had probably taken it a bit too far in hindsight.

“Hey, no skates today?”, Tyler greeted me and I reached up to hug him while Yogi was running around him, effectively tying him up. He was wearing a hoodie with grey shorts that made it really hard to look anywhere else and I was really tempted to make fun of the way he’d pulled up his socks too high.

“Nope and I already regret it, he has way too much energy right now.” I tried my best to untangle the leash from Tyler’s legs but now his labs were there too demanding attention and it was just one big chaotic mess. Four dogs was a bit much at times like this but I eventually managed to get everything back under control, Tyler hadn’t made an attempt to help me at all and had instead only laughed at my struggle. Yogi and Gerry disappeared together into the backyard and Cash hopped up on the couch while Marshall stayed by my side.

“Are you hoping I’ll make you some breakfast Marsh?”

“He’s not the only one you know.” Tyler’s pout was cute, an adjective that I never thought would fit a guy like him. He was probably the only guy in the world that managed to look adorable and sexy at the same time and it was really distracting.

“What if I only came over so you could make me grilled cheese tho?”

“Then I’ll gladly oblige your wish, ma’am.”

I threw Yogi’s collar at him for calling me ma’am but of course he caught it before it hit his face like it was supposed to. Stupid fast reflexes.

“One more ma’am and I’ll never make food for you again”, I threatened with my finger pointed at him and I could see that it cost him his last bit of self-control to not respond with a ‘yes ma’am’. The salute he gave me in turn wasn’t any better.

“I was actually planning on making something else but I need to check if you have all the stuff for it first because your grocery shopping is anything but top notch.”

He complained to Marshall about me only ever insulting him but Marshall followed me to the step as I walked into the kitchen, not caring about the little crisis his dad was having at all.

For being a pro athlete his fridge and pantry were terribly stocked and it reminded me of the time I spent in the college dorms. The amount of beer in his fridge was equivalent to a frat house and the only thing missing to complete the college student life were the instant ramen cups.

“You should be glad that the nutritionists an trainers don’t visit your house”, I scolded him. He had some fresh produce around but not nearly as much as I’d liked. As I kept pulling out stuff the pile on his kitchen island kept growing after I finally decided on omelette with some avocado toast. The avocadoes were at the tipping point of being too ripe and I didn’t want them to go to waste.

“Well I’m sorry that my kitchen doesn’t look like a Whole Foods ad the way yours does. As soon as the season starts up again I’ll either be gone or eat the majority of my meals at the rink like most of the guys so I don’t see why I should stock up.”

He did have a point but to me a homecooked meal beat everything, even if cooking for just one person was always a bit of a hassle that always resulted in leftovers. Since my move I had been living on my own for the very first time ever and I had to admit that I missed cooking for other people as well.

“Well I’m teaching you how to make the perfect omelette today anyway. You really need to learn to take better care of you and your body.” I made him help me chop stuff to put in the omelette and instantly felt reminded of all the times I’d tried to teach Lisa to cook. She’d been hopeless as well but as soon as we moved off campus during our sophomore year I’d took her under my wing, making a decent cook out of her by the time we moved to Denver. I was convinced I could do the same with Tyler.

He knew how to handle a knife at least and while he mixed everything together I took care of the avocadoes and tomatoes. I tested what he remembered from my spice lesson, letting him make suggestions as to what could go well with our food and he did better than expected, only messing up once.

“No no no you need to turn down the heat or you’ll burn it before the eggs are done”, I said and quickly reached around him so I could reach the stove and save our breakfast. He looked so determined with the spatula in his hand, I knew that he really wanted to do well and was trying his best.

He had put on a snapback a while ago so his hair wouldn’t fall in his face and I already missed his messy bedhead. Without produce his hair looked so soft and all over the place and I really wanted to run my hands through it as much as I could. He really was a walking temptation and every time we spent time together I could feel my resolve weaken.

After everything was done I tried to tell Tyler that the presentation of the food was important as well but he took a bite out of his toast before I was even done putting the tomatoes on it. Sighing I grabbed my plate and walked outside so we could enjoy our breakfast in the sun. I still managed to sneak a picture of our plates before Tyler proceeded to eat his food at a speed that shouldn’t be possible.

I was nervous to meet this Jason guy because I really really hoped that our dynamic would work out. I had looked up some more people that I could meet over the next few days but I really wanted to trust Mia’s judgement.

I even had the cleaning lady come over yesterday so every surface in my house was shining and I’d done some last-minute decorating in the office. My degrees were now on the wall, the online Master of Software Engineering not as pretty as the undergrad degree in computer science from MIT but I still didn’t regret taking online classes instead of real ones. My success during college had given me lots of opportunities that I would forever be grateful for, one of them being the job offer to Denver straight out of college. The experience I had gathered over the last three years working was better than anything I could be taught in stuffy classrooms.

Mia arrived a bit before Jason and this way she’d be there to introduce us properly. It was good to have some one-on-one time with her while we waited, something we’d never really had. Since we didn’t study together Lisa and I would usually only see her when going out or meeting up in groups but it was nice to actually have normal conversations with her.

I didn’t want to create a stiff office atmosphere which is why I was now dressed in jeans and a nice top. Mia was wearing a summer dress and Jason had put on a button up but still managed to look casual. Yogi was sniffing him curiously before plopping down on his bed in the living room again, deciding that this was beneath his attention.

We shook hands and I led them to the office while starting some casual conversation. My desk was already set up and Mia had already told me her hardware preferences so there was some stuff waiting for her which she inspected while I talked to Jason. The conference table really came in handy at this part.

He was funny and gave off a pretty chill vibe but I still had to see some references because unlike with Mia I had no idea if he was any good at what he did.

He was good, better than expected and a while later I was sold on him. He seemed happy with what I was willing to pay and character wise he was a perfect fit for the team. I told them both about the requests I had already lined up and they both seemed super excited to start.

“So you think you can start next Monday?”, I asked after I’d finally satisfied my curiosity and his face lit up as if he thought I wouldn’t offer him the job.

The three of us moved towards the kitchen to get something to drink because all of this talking had made us thirsty. Mia was just telling me that she’d come over tomorrow with Elias after picking him up from daycare when I heard my front door open.

“Hey sorry I kept texting you but you didn’t respond and it’s already half past two so I thought I’d check up on you.” It took a few seconds before Tyler’s words registered with me. I hadn’t even realized that it had gotten this late and that I was supposed to meet up with him half an hour ago to go roller skating with him and Yogi. He walked into the living room and then did a double take when he saw all of us lingering by the kitchen island.

“Oh shit you have company.. I’m sorry but uh hey everyone I’m Tyler”, he introduced himself and waved at Mia and Jason with one hand, a pair of skates in the other. Only now did Yogi wake up from his nap and as soon as he realized what was happening he ran over to Tyler who was now crouching down so he could pet him.

“Holy shit you’re Tyler Seguin! This day just keeps getting better and better”, Jason exclaimed, almost spitting out the sip of water he’d just taken.

“Tyler who?”, Mia asked then and I had to laugh. She had never been interested in watching sports and it was nice to see that nothing had changed in that department at least.

Tyler was still awkwardly standing in the living room and I walked over to give him a hug before turning around to explain to Mia that he was a hockey player for the Dallas Stars and also my friend. At least she’d heard of the team name before. I introduced Mia and Jason as my new team to Tyler and Jason shook his hand excitedly before congratulating him on his amazing last season.

“I know you’ll do even better this year”, Jason said and I was pretty sure that I was the only one that had caught Tyler wincing at the statement. He’d told me how much the expectations of the fans and the rest of the team really weighed on him even if people only meant well.

After Mia and Jason had left Tyler tried to apologize for interrupting again but I wouldn’t let him. It was my fault that I’d forgotten to check my messages for well over three hours so really it was my turn to apologize.

I ate a quick snack before grabbing my roller skates and Yogi and then we were out the door. Even if Yogi was still too small to pull Tyler, he’d told me that he still wanted him to come with us when we had talked about going skating.

We skated around the neighborhood, Yogi’s leash loose in my hand while we made some casual conversation.

It turned out that pulling Tyler was harder than it looked, not because of his weight but because grabbing his hand didn’t leave much space between us to gain the momentum or speed that was needed.

“Your arms are so short. The next time we do this I’m putting a leash on you as well”, Tyler joked and I tried to hit him but of course he simply swerved until he was out of my reach. He was surprisingly graceful for a guy his size.

Sometimes he’d take Yogi’s leash to try and outrun him on the skates but despite his impressive speed he was no match for my husky mix. After I’d taken way too many videos and they managed to tire each other out we made our way back to my house.

“Hey so you know I’m leaving for camp Thursday afternoon but I’m having an end of summer party on Wednesday over at my place and you should come too”, he said as we were skating up my driveway. I could tell that he was really excited, both for camp and the party.

“Of course I’ll come. Do you want me to bring anything?”

“No you don’t need anything I’ve got it covered. Most of the guys from the team are going to be there and some close friends so you’ll have the girls to keep you company as well.”

Tyler wasn’t lying when he said that his place would be packed. The weather wasn’t too spectacular today so nobody was in the pool, making the house and backyard seeming even more crowded. He’d told me to bring Yogi as well, seeing as there wouldn’t be any super loud music tonight and as soon as I had him off the leash he was walking around the room, basking in the attention.

The girls spotted me before I could even look for Tyler and pushed a drink at me before we caught each other up on the last few days. They were really interested in what had happened with Tyler after he had picked me up from the club and it took me several tries until I had finally convinced them that there wasn’t really any tea to spill. I was introduced to even more wives and girlfriends and I was happy to get to know everyone, having always been a social butterfly.

I finally spotted him across the living room and excused myself to go say hello.

“No bikini today?”

“No it’s too cold to go swimming today.”

“That’s too bad because I really like what happened last time in the pool.”

Before I could even respond to his flirty remark I was being dragged away from him and towards the beer pong table that was set up on the outdoor patio. I was glad I’d brought a sweater with me this time. The dogs were chasing each other around the pool but even they didn’t feel like going into the water today.

“I need a rematch to make up for last time”, Roope said after finally letting go of me, settling on the other side of the table with Rads.

“Two on one? That hardly seems fair”, I pouted and tried to get Dobby to join my team as he was closest but he just laughed at me and refused, sitting back on a chair to watch instead.

“Let me help her drink at least”, Tyler insisted from behind me and I hadn’t even noticed that he stood so close to me until he spoke up

“No need to play hero Segs, you know the girl can drink”, Rads said and gave Tyler a stern look until he backed off with his hands raised in surrender. I had to smile at the compliment, a Russian being impressed by your drinking skills was serious business. I sighed as I realized that there was no getting out of this and cracked my knuckles to get ready. I needed to make this a quick win because I noticed that they’d filled my cups a bit more than usual and I really didn’t want to drink this much beer before dinner.

We had gathered quite the crowd over the course of the game that was now witness to me absolutely destroying the two of them. They had only managed to hit two cups of mine while I was on my second try to make the last shot so I would win after some double scores. The girls were cheering on me while their boyfriends were supporting their teammates. With each point that I’d made the chirping had increased and now neither of us three could make a move without there being screaming from all sides. I only knew a few words in Russian and had no clue about Finnish but even I could tell that whatever was coming out of my opponents’ mouths was anything but pretty.

“You got this Liv, show ‘em how it’s done!”, Katie yelled and I blew her a kiss.

“You better miss”, Jamie said, which earned him a light punch to his shoulder from his girlfriend. I closed my eyes for a second to concentrate and then made my shot.

Groans and high pitched screams rose as the ball tipped into the cup, making me the winner. I was hugged from multiple people at once and Tyler lifted me to spin me around. He was the only one from the team that had been on my side.

“How are you so good at this?”, Roope asked, his accent stronger because of the frustration. Tyler was smirking down at me, probably thinking of the time he’d asked me the same question.

“I take in the wind and the distance to calculate the perfect throwing angle.”

“Really?”, Rads now asked, his eyes big.

“No, you guys just suck.”

Tyler had asked some people to man the grill and we didn’t have to wait long until the delicious smell of steaks was wafting around the property, which I was thankful for because I had been looking forward to this part all day. I grabbed some food and sat with the girls, resuming our discussion on which potato form was the best. Wedges, obviously.

After dinner some people left and everyone else proceeded to get even more drunk. I could tell that this was the last time that the guys would be able to really relax because they had all kinds of stupid ideas. At some point Tyler had taken off his shirt and while I certainly wasn’t complaining about the view I still had to laugh at him taking whatever chance he got to strip. Perhaps a trade to the Golden Knights would allow him to flourish in this side business. Jamie was the most fun to watch because with every drink he got less and less shy until Tyler and him were running around the house laughing their asses off and jumping on each other.

“Bennguin is real, get used to it”, Katie commented with a sigh and her exasperated expression had me laughing so hard that I had to put my drink down so I wouldn’t spill it all over the couch we were currently on. I could only imagine the amount of shit she’d had to put up with because of these two acting like children.

“I want to play a gameeee”, Tyler whined and I already knew that nothing good come out of the look he was giving his friends. With all the alcohol going around everyone had loosened up and it didn’t take long until I was dragged into a round of ‘never have I ever’ on the floor of Tyler’s living room.

“You guys didn’t go to college and it really shows”, Katie commented and I had to agree with her. We’d made it our personal mission tonight to make as much fun of Tyler and Jamie as possible. I’d played the stupid game so many times, usually at frat parties so they could expose the virgins but I also couldn’t wait to see what I could learn about these big dumb idiots.

The first few questions were timid and I could tell that everyone was still trying to figure out how far everyone was willing to go to expose their secrets, especially with some of the partners present, but every new statement pushed further.

“Never have I ever had a threesome.”

I didn’t even pay attention to who had said it, going around the circle having long been abandoned in favor of someone randomly throwing in questions.

Even though I had been absolutely plastered that night, I still remembered this particular event, one of the very few one night stands that I’d ever had. We’d started day drinking even before breakfast on a boat off the shore of Ibiza and while I wasn’t even into girls, lots of shots and pitchers filled with sangria had led to me tangled in the bed sheets with some hot guy that I didn’t even remember the name of and Lisa. The guy didn’t really know what to do with the both of us at the same time, so we had to get creative and I’d vowed to myself that I would stick to guys after, scarred for life.

As I raised my cup to my lips I noticed that Tyler was about to do the same so I raised my cup towards him in a toast. I only hoped his experience had been better than mine.

“You two are perfect for each other”, Rads said with an eyeroll but I only laughed.

“You had a threesome and this is the first I’m hearing of this?”, Katie yelled from beside me and I turned just in time to see Jamie lowering his cup across the room after having taken a sip.

“Holy shit! Was it with Tyler?”, I asked, knowing full well what was said about them on Tumblr because of Mara. The way both of them visibly recoiled at my words should have been preserved for eternity. Sadly that didn’t happen.

“No! What the fuck Liv?” Tyler’s disturbed exclamation had me leaning on Katie, who was now also shaking with laughter, the news of her boyfriend’s sexual adventures momentarily forgotten.

“Do you hear the sound of millions of Bennguin hearts breaking?”, she asked in between shaky breaths and now we were lying back on the floor, tears threatening to run down my cheeks from laughing so hard.

“I just want to make it clear that I only took a sip because I was thirsty. I wasn’t paying attention and besides you know I would’ve told you babe”, Jamie spoke up after Katie and I had finally calmed down again. The alcohol had made everything ten times funnier than it probably actually was but Katie and I were still clutched together and she only waved at Jamie in dismissal. I would’ve had to reevaluate my people reading skills if he actually had taken part in a threesome because there was no way I could’ve seen that coming.

Our loud cackling must have woken up the dogs from their nap because now Yogi was trying to snuggle up against me while Gerry curiously looked around, probably trying to figure out why there were so many people stretched out on the floor. As soon as Yogi had made himself comfortable with his head on my lap Gerry came over as well, lying down on my legs. There was close to a hundred pounds of dog on top of me but I couldn’t be happier, gently petting them while completely forgetting that we were playing a game at the moment.

Alcohol mixed with cuddly puppies, the greatest thing since long before sliced bread.

Tyler insisted on taking a picture of the three of us all snuggled up and then proceeded to beg until I finally let him post it to his story. Me giving in didn’t come as a surprise, I was this close to doing almost anything he wanted me to after all. I wouldn’t let him tag me though, desperately trying to hold on to the last shred of anonymity , and dignity, that I still had left. 

Part Eight here

#Slides and Serendipity #tyler seguin imagine #Tyler Seguin #nhl writing #nhl imagine #nhl players #nhl #Dallas #dallas stars #tyler seguin fanfiction #fanfiction

[emjenwrites]

Picnics and Bonfires [A TRC Fanfic]

This is written for @oldkingyounggod for @trcspringfling. She asked for a fic where the Gangsey has a bonfire and hangs out, so I delivered. This also proves that I'm capable of actually writing fluff when I mean to not just by accident. It tries to veer into sad things a couple times but I think I managed to save it each time. We'll see I guess. 🤷‍♀️ Hopefully you enjoy it, Aurum.

Also, the title is terrible, I'm sorry.

It was interesting the way that endings had their own feel even when objectively not much was actually changing.

Blue’s bedroom was the as it had always been. In fact, the only thing different was the old duffle bag she’d dug out of the basement and stuffed full of clothes and toiletries and a blanket and a few other things she’d deemed necessary. It sat on the foot of her bed along with her school backpack, also stuffed full. Somehow that changed the whole feel of the room. It wasn’t like she was moving out of anything. She was just going to be gone for a little while, but it still felt like something was ending. Maybe it was. Maura had always been diligent about giving Blue her independence, but this would still be the first time Blue had spent any long period of time away from her mother and the other women of Fox Way. All that new independence was bound to change someone. Still she was excited. Last year this trip had seemed like an impossibility. It was amazing to actually be able to do it.

“Blue!” Calla yelled up the stairs. “Your Raven Boy is outside!” As if Blue’s window wasn’t open and she hadn’t the Pig pull up outside.

“Coming!” she hollered back, stuffing her feet into combat boots and flying down the steps with the laces still untied. She left the duffle bag and backpack on the bed; those were for bright and early tomorrow morning.

She hurtled into the kitchen and retrieved the perfectly ordinary fruit salad she’d made that morning from the fridge. Calla and Maura were sitting at the kitchen table watching with fond smiles on their faces.

“Tie your shoes before you trip,” Calla said.

“I’ll tie them in the car!” Blue called over her shoulder as she raced out of the house and into the bright early summer sunlight. It was summer, everything was going to be alright.

Gansey was just getting out of the Pig to come knock on the door. Blue almost reached him before she stepped on her shoelace and tripped. Gansey’s eyes widened and he only barely managed to catch the fruit salad before it hit the pavement. They stared at each other for a minute then Blue burst into laughter. “Calla told me to tie my shoes before I tripped,” she told him.

Gansey grinned. “Then I guess it’s good that I was here.” He set the fruit salad in the driver’s seat and turned back to hug her. No kisses. Even though Gansey hadn’t shown on St. Mark’s Eve this year, neither of them was quite ready to confirm that meant they could kiss without him dying.

When they broke apart, Blue circled to the passenger seat and got in. Gansey handed the fruit salad to her and got in as well. Blue looked into the back seat. It was just the two of them. “Where’s Henry?”

“He wanted to drive himself,” Gansey said. “I think he wanted to take his car on one last spin.”

“Does he know where the Barns are?” Blue asked.

“I gave him directions,” Gansey said. Officially speaking the Barns didn’t exist so you couldn’t exactly find it using Google Maps. “He should be fine.”

Gansey pulled the Pig out into the street. Blue had offered to let him drive the car Ronan had given her—they’d started to call it the Green Pig—these last few months to get used to it but he’d refused. She got the feeling that he regretted not being able to take his Pig on this trip, but was too aware of the problems with taking a car that reliably broke down on the drive between home and school on a cross country trip to mention it.

“Did you tell Ronan we’re on our way?” she asked, rolling down the window and smiling as the wind blew through her hair.

“He said to be there by two,” Gansey said. “We’re going to be there a little bit after so it’ll be fine.”

“Your phone’s still off, isn’t it?” Blue asked. After winning the battle of wills and cited studies about the benefits of gap years with his parents, Gansey had turned off his phone so he had a valid reason to pretend not to have known if they changed their minds. Sometimes he turned it on to make important phone calls, but overall, he was harder to reach than Ronan these days. It had been sort of funny at first, but it was starting to get old. Blue was glad he’d probably turn the thing back on once they were on the road and his parents couldn’t stop him anymore.

Overall, though, Blue did her best not to think about the cultured but undeniably giant blowout which had happened in the Gansey family when Gansey had announced his intention to take a gap year. She especially tried not to think about the fact that Gansey had eventually won that argument by agreeing to start college the next fall—"probably at Yale, Mom and Dad, possibly Harvard, but probably Yale.” He confided in Blue that he still thought he’d won on that front too because, “Yale has a good history program and it’s not like they can force me to major in law or something else stupid like that.” Still, Blue tried not to think about it because she didn’t like to be reminded that this year was simply delaying the inevitable: next fall Gansey and Henry would go away to fancy colleges and Blue would still be stuck in Henrietta. She knew that Gansey would give her all the money she needed if she asked, but she didn’t want to be in his debt like that—especially since she was fairly certain he’d never let her pay him back—so she made sure not to bring it up.

“You really should turn your phone back on,” she told him. “You’re eighteen now; it’s not like they can stop you.”

Gansey just shrugged and focused on the road.

~~~~

Even if you hadn’t known the Barns was literally magic, you would have felt something different about it. Being there felt a little like how you’d imagine stepping into a fairy tale did. It was the sort of place that radiated a feeling that here all things were possible.

Blue loved it. She’d grown up surrounded by magic, but the kind of magic the psychics of Fox Way practiced was a different kind of magic than the magic of the Barns. The magic of Fox Way was subtle and careful. It was easy to miss or brush aside as a lucky guess. The magic of the Barns was loud and ostentatious and uncanny. It was glorious and Blue loved it.

When she and Gansey arrived, preparations for a picnic were well underway. Ronan was in charge because it turned out he was the only one of the Raven Boys who could cook (Adam had been informed that knowing fifteen different spices to mix with rice did not count as cooking). Blue was a better baker than cook anyway, so she didn’t complain. She did question why Ronan and Gansey had subsisted on take-out, cereal, ramen and microwavable mac-n-cheese cups while living at Monmouth if Ronan had been able to cook the whole time.

“There’s no stove there,” Ronan explained, taking the fruit salad from her and somehow conjuring a place for it in the overpacked fridge. “How was I supposed to cook?”

“You could have bought one,” Adam spoke up from where he was shucking corn at the kitchen table. “It’s not like you two don’t have the money.”

Ronan and Gansey both shrugged like the idea had never occurred to them. Maybe it hadn’t.

Henry was a bit late. Turned out he had managed to get lost despite following Gansey’s directions to the letter. He first called Gansey and when Gansey obviously didn’t answer because his phone was off he called Ronan and Adam answered. Despite first Adam and then Gansey’s best efforts, Henry wasn’t able to find his way to the Barns despite it sounding like he was in the right place. Eventually, Ronan took the phone from Gansey, and Henry was arrived in five minutes. This led Blue to believe the Barns hid itself from new people, which was at once both utterly ridiculous and utterly unsurprising given the feel of the place.

Once Henry arrived things kicked into high gear. Adam and Ronan pulled a grill out of one of the outbuildings. It had no charcoal and no propane tank, but somehow it lit right up when Ronan tossed a match into it. No one questioned it.

Blue was put in charge of the other food while Ronan grilled because Ronan (correctly) judged her as the only other person who could be trusted not to accidentally make the food inedible. Adam was pressed into service as the fetching things, so he spent a lot of time running back and forth. Gansey and Henry were (also correctly) judged as the most incompetent where food was concerned so they stayed out of everyone else’s way by attempting to teach Opal to play catch in the driveway. That ended rather quickly when they realized Opal was perfectly capable of taking a bite out of a baseball like it was an apple.

“Does she have guts?” Henry asked when he and Gansey finished relaying the story to Blue in the kitchen.

“I don’t think I want to know,” Blue said and set them to work cutting vegetables for the veggie plate that Ronan insisted was a vital part of any picnic. Who would have thought Ronan Lynch would ever be in the position of advocating for people eating their vegetables?

When all the food was done they laid it out on the kitchen table and countertops and filled their plates before going to sit on the front porch. The weather was beautiful and the air smelled like hope and new beginnings. The food was very good too—it turned out Ronan really did know how to cook.

Everyone went back for seconds and thirds—Opal went back for fourths and then ate her paper plate too. While they ate they talked only about good things. No mention was made of demons or death prophecies or dead fathers. It was good.

After lunch, they put the food away and went on a walk around the full perimeter of the Barns. Walking the Barns was not quite as uncanny was walking in Cabeswater had been—the Barns was not alive—but you still came across a number of odd, obviously dreamed features. For a start there were the sleeping cows. Most of them were still in the fields where they’d fallen asleep upon Niall Lynch’s death. None of the Lynch brothers had been at the Barns long enough afterwards to figure out how to move them—the cows might be dreams but they were just as heavy as real cows—but now that he was living at the Barns again, Ronan had plans to dream something that would make them easier to move.

“It feels wrong to leave them outside in the elements,” he mentioned.

There were lots of other things to discover as well. In the far back of the property they found a camouflaged wooden cover hiding a dark shaft that vanished into the ground. Henry kicked a rock into it and it fell out of sight before a horrible, hair-raising grinding emanated from the depths of the pit like the rock was being ground to bits. Ronan didn’t know what the pit was and admitted that he and Matthew hadn’t been allowed this far from the house so it was likely it had been here since Niall was alive. Given the horrible noise, they all decided they didn’t want to know what it did so they covered it up again so nothing fell into it and headed off again.

The rest of the walk was much less exciting and by the time they got back to the house the shaft had mostly faded in favor of ideas for what to do next. Unsurprisingly, there was a large assortment of lawn games in one of the outbuildings—Blue was fast realizing that just about anything could be found at the Barns if you knew where to look. They divided into teams—a feat that ended up requiring them to all take turns being the judge which in turn rendered the concept of teams rather useless. Still, time flew by until dusk when it was getting too dark to play anymore. They were just beginning to get set up for a bonfire and S’mores when a car pulled into the driveway.

Henry was the first to notice because he was in the process of carrying things outside. “Are we expecting anyone else?” he called through the screen door.

“Because someone’s here. It’s a gray Volvo.”

Everyone else paused. Ronan and Adam looked at each other. “Told you he’d come if you asked him to,” Adam said quietly.

“It’s been hours; you’d decided he wasn’t going to show too,” Ronan growled. “Don’t kid yourself.”

Adam didn’t deny it.

A car door slammed and then someone was pounding up the steps and across the porch. The screen door banged against the wall and Matthew threw himself at Ronan in a full-on leap that nearly knocked Ronan off his feet. “Ronan!” Matthew squealed. “It’s so good to see you!”

“Good to see you too,” Ronan said, sounding a little like he’d gotten the wind knocked out of him.

“I’m sorry we’re so late,” Matthew said, speaking so fast Blue had a hard time understanding him. “I had to retake a test for school. Ms. Fischer said that if I didn’t retake it I’d fail sophomore year and Declan said that wasn’t acceptable so he helped me study real hard and then I went into school today and Ms. Fischer came in so I could take the test again and then when I was done we went back to the house to pick some things and came right here! How much did I miss?”

“Well you didn’t miss the bonfire and S’mores,” Ronan said. “I’m glad you made it.”

“I brought popcorn, jellybeans and chocolate chips,” Declan said from the kitchen doorway. Blue jumped. She’d been so focused on Ronan and Matthew’s reunion that she hadn’t even noticed the oldest Lynch brother come in. He was dressed in a suit as always and holding a Walmart bag that did indeed appear to contain popcorn kernels, jellybeans and chocolate chips.

“That’s an interesting combination,” Henry said.

“It’s hideous,” Gansey said. “Really, Ronan? You let me go all this time thinking that monstrosity was a you thing not a Lynch thing?”

“It’s even better when you mix caramel sauce and chocolate sauce in too,” Matthew said emerging from Ronan’s arms with a huge smile. Ronan and Declan at least had the decency to look a bit grossed out by that proposed addition.

“Alright, it’s good you came,” Ronan said to Declan his voice much more level that it usually was when the two brothers met. “We’re going to be starting the bonfire so if you’re making popcorn, you should start it now.”

“Alright,” Declan echoed with a nod and that was that.

~~~~

Blue half suspected the bonfire to be lit with some kind of dreamthing, but it turned out that Ronan and Adam planned to light the fire the old-fashioned way—at least it seemed like the old-fashioned way, though she supposed there was no guarantee the matches or firewood weren’t dreamed. In a surprisingly short time the fire was blazing.

Blue went inside to use the bathroom. On her way back out she peaked into the kitchen where Declan was hard at work making two huge vats of popcorn. A paper plate with some of the leftovers from their picnic feast was sitting on the counter next to him. Blue was going to continue on outside, but then Declan looked over his shoulder. “Can you take that out to Matthew?” he asked pointing at the plate. “I want him to eat some actual food before all this junk.”

“Sure,” she crossed the kitchen and picked up the plate.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” Declan called after her as left the kitchen. “The popcorn’s almost done.”

Blue made her way back to the bonfire and handed the plate over to Matthew who pouted a bit but started eating when Blue told him that Declan said he should. Matthew listened to Declan like he was his father not his older brother, it was a bit unexpected, especially given the state of Declan and Ronan’s relationship. Blue had gotten used to thinking of Declan as the hated outsider of the Lynch family; Matthew’s obvious adoration of him was disconcerting. 

Declan came out of the house about five minutes later, carrying two large bowls—turned out he’d thought of those who didn’t think the popcorn, jellybeans and chocolate concoction was edible. Matthew immediately held out his hands for the bowl with jellybeans and chocolate. Declan raised an eyebrow Matthew showed him the plate Blue had brought out which was somehow already empty. Declan handed the bowl over without comment and gave the other bowl to Gansey who looked very relieved to have some normal popcorn. Ronan passed sticks and marshmallows around and the bonfire was on for real. 

There was a lot of talking and laughing and many sticky fingers. Blue and Henry tried Declan’s popcorn concoction and it turned out to actually be pretty good. Gansey jokingly muttered about being betrayed and took the normal popcorn over to sit with Adam who had said he, “abstained from that kind of culinary insanity on principle.”

Eventually, Gansey and Adam headed off to get more wood for the fire. Matthew jumped to his feet and announced that he was going inside for caramel sauce and chocolate sauce. He vaulted over his bench and bolted for the house. This left Declan and Ronan—who moved so he could better talk to Matthew—sitting on the same bench with no buffer between them. Both brothers fidgeted and avoided making eye contact.

“Thank you for inviting us,” Declan said after a while, his tone slow and halting. “It made Matthew really happy.”

“No problem,” Ronan said, equally slow and halting. “I’m glad he’s here.”

They lapsed back into silence until Ronan ventured, “Is he doing alright at his new school? He said he was flunking.”

“He didn’t study for a final,” Declan said. He was sitting very rigidly, staring into the fire. “Some of his friends decided they were going to go on some kind of trip instead of studying and talked him into coming with them. I was able to smooth things over with his teacher and he says the retake he did today was better.”

He lapsed into silence for a moment then went on, “I’m a bit worried about him actually. It’s not that he bends to peer pressure, it’s that I don’t think he knows was peer pressure even is. He believes the best in everyone, and I don’t want to know what would happen if he fell in with someone who wanted to manipulate him. We talked about it on the way down here, but I can’t tell if he listens to me half the time.”

Privately Blue thought that tonight she’d seen plenty of indication that Matthew listened to what Declan said to him, but she didn’t think it was her place to say.

“I could say something to him if you’d like,” Ronan ventured sounding like even he was a little surprised he was even offering. “Tell him about the importance of being your own person and not letting other people make your decisions for you.”

There was a long pause. “Sure,” Declan said right when Blue started to think he wasn’t going to respond at all. “If you would do that, that would be helpful.”

“Okay,” Ronan said. He looked like he was going to say something else but then the screen door slammed and Matthew pelted back across the dark grass, clutching two bottles to his chest. Blue wasn’t sure where he’d been able to find them. Caramel sauce and chocolate sauce didn’t seem like the kind of things Ronan would buy for himself; maybe he’d bought them knowing Matthew might be here today. Declan took another handful of the popcorn concoction and held the bowl out to Ronan who did the same. Then Declan offered the bowl to Blue and Henry. “Last chance,” he said quietly. “It only gets worse from here.” Blue and Henry took handfuls as well, just as Matthew leaped back over the bench.

“I’m back!” he announced the world’s biggest smile gracing his face.

Matthew joyously squirted the sauces into the bowl of popcorn and mixed it together with a spoon he conjured from his back pocket. They all watched in growing horror as the bowl turned into a sticky mess and Matthew dug in with relish. After a minute he realized everyone was staring at him. “What?” he asked. “Would you like some?”

Before anyone figured out how to say no without hurting his feelings Adam and Gansey were back, only they didn’t appear to have any wood. Instead they were lugging a large crate between them.

“What’s that?” Henry asked, looking a bit confused.

Adam and Gansey heaved the crate up onto the bench. “Fireworks,” Adam said grinning. “Are they dreamed or regular, Lynch?”

“I have no idea,” Ronan said, which answered the “does Ronan know everything you can find in the Barns” question. Then he grinned back. “Do you want to find out?”

“You bet we do!” Matthew plotted the popcorn concoction bowl into Declan’s lap and leaped to his feet. “Where did the matches go, Ronan? Where should we set them off?!” --

#trc spring fling #trc spring fling 2020 #the raven cycle #the gangsey #the lynch brothers #blue sargent #ronan lynch #declan lynch #matthew lynch #henry cheng #richard gansey iii #adam parrish #blue x gansey #bluesey #ronan x adam #pynch #mine #trc spring fling fic

[micaelatubo]

FOOD BLOG

For the rest of you, pull up a chair, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and let’s get at it! So, you write a food blog. First off, virtual high five for that (let’s face it, you’re pretty awesome)! But, back to the topic at hand… Sometimes, no matter how much you love what you do, it can be hard to come up with material. Sometimes you just hit the proverbial wall that is writer’s block, where you find yourself staring at your computer for hours and you just got nothing. Not a single idea.

If life has been kinda ho-hum or I’ve just dry for anything interesting to talk about, then it probably makes the most sense to get started by just writing about the recipe. WhIch is kind of a “duh” moment because we are talking about food blogs. But even though it’s so simple, it can be surprisingly hard. It’s like I sit down, get the recipe in there, have the pictures in place. Now, uh, what do I have to say? Yum. The End.

Well food bloggy friends, this is for you.

CHEESY BEEF QUESADILLAS

I have yet to meet a combination of ground beef and cheese that doesn’t make the people I live with extremely happy.  They are not unusual in that respect, I know, which is why tucked amidst the salad recipes and salmon dishes, I continue to pepper this blog with dishes such as One-Skillet Cheesy Beef and Macaroni and Grilled Cheeseburgers with Herb Sauce.  Really, let’s hear it for ground beef.  And cheese.  And Cheesy Ground Beef Quesadillas.

Only in this case the candy is ground beef and cheese.

And here, tortillas!  But look, also spinach or kale!  A leafy green can help validate/justify a lot of cheese, says me.  A great way to elevate a beef quesadilla.

This is a perfect answer to the perennial “what to do with that ground beef” question.  You can use ground pork or ground turkey instead of ground beef, if you like, as well.

 DEAR SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS

Good pasta will have a chewy texture that has a bounce to it when chewed. These are qualities that you cannot determine until the pasta has been cooked but if the pasta wants to stick in a clump after being cooked or has too soft a texture when chewed, you will want to try a different brand of pasta in the future.

Spaghetti are eaten with many sauces, from the classic ragù to carbonara to fish sauces. They are cooked in boiling water from 8 to 14 minutes (depending on the thickness), then drained and topped with the chosen sauce.

KOREAN CORN DOG

Korean hot dogs are a popular street food from Korea. Hot dogs are coated in batter and deep fried. They are then lightly coated in sugar before finished with condiments of your choice. The sweet and salty combination works surprisingly well. There are also several variations, including a mozzarella dog only filled with cheese (this one is especially popular on social media), and ones that are coated in potatoes or ramen noodles.

Korean corndog is a unique twist on a hot dog prepared by coating a sausage in corn dog batter, dipping it into french fries, then deep-frying the whole thing in oil. The dish is presented skewered on a stick and it is usually consumed on the go.

Hot dog vendors sell them throughout Korea, and there are a few variations, so they can also be wrapped in bacon, mashed potatoes, or seaweed, while tomato ketchup is typically used as the main condiment.

TRADITIONAL FLUFFY JAPANESE SOUFFLE PANCAKES

Japanese take pancakes to new heights. Think cottony clouds of heaven that melt in your mouth! Have you seen Fluffy Japanese Souffle Pancakes (スフレパンケーキ) on social media or maybe even tasted when you visited Japan?

They are fluffy, airy, delicate pancakes that probably look too fancy for a weekday breakfast, but impossible to resist making on the weekend. These pillowy, soft pancakes are a must-try. You can’t miss the fizzy, bubbly sound from the souffle pancakes when you cut them open to enjoy!

Pancakes are comfort food. The happiest comfort food. I’m sure you have many joyful memories of waking up on a Saturday, looking up at a stack of pancakes on your plate. And now as an adult, you are probably like me, always searching and trying different pancake recipes, happily eating your way on a journey to find the perfect pancake.

VEGAN CREAMY BEEF AND SHELLS

Creamy Beef and Shells is a hearty pasta dish that is perfect for a quick dinner for the whole family! It is rich, flavorful, and cheesy and even kids will love it! Creamy Beef and Shells is such a tasty dinner! It is meaty, never dry, and the flavors are awesome! 

The combination of marinara sauce and dairy makes it so yummy. And you get all sorts of savory flavors coming from the aromatics and the different herbs and seasonings.You have protein and carbs in one dish and that makes this hearty and filling. Serve it with a side of veggies, and you get yourself a complete lunch or dinner!

.   CREAMY AND SMOKY RATATOUILLE

Ratatouille – we probably all know the famous movie, but have you tried making it at home? Ratatouille is made with thinly-sliced tomatoes, zucchini and eggplant layered into a casserole dish. The vegetables are topped with an aromatic tomato sauce, then baked until the vegetables are tender. It’s super easy to make and one of the most aromatic and delicious dishes ever! I’ve partnered with Pompian to share my smoky and creamy version of this classic French dish! 1

This vegetarian recipe is great as a side dish, too! Try it along with meaty recipes, such as my ‘Grilled Chimichurri Chicken’ or ‘Lemon Herb Salmon’.

There are a few keys steps to follow to make sure your dish is the best!

Make sure to use the freshest ingredients. I love to use locally grown heirloom tomatoes, sweet yellow zucchini and green squash; and Chinese eggplant, which is more mild in flavor.

Slice all vegetables the same thickness! This is super important so everything bakes evenly. Use an extra-sharp knife or madeline slicer to get the best results.

Be patient! Let the dish bake away while you build up an appetite. Then, let it cool for at least 15 minutes before digging in to enjoy.

I love to enjoy my smoky ratatouille with warm French baguette – it’s perfect for mopping up all that amazing sauce!

 CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER BANANA STUFFED FRENCH TOAST

Peanut butter and bananas is such a classic combination that always tastes good. 

First, chocolate peanut butter. Automatically a leg up on regular peanut butter. You could also use Nutella. Second, rather than just making sandwiches, I made French toast. The bread is slightly crisp on the exterior, soft in the interior, and heating the chocolate peanut butter so it melts slightly is the best idea I’ve had in awhile. 

Peanut butter and bananas is such a classic combination that always tastes good and chocolate peanut butter is automatically a leg up on regular peanut butter. The bread is slightly crisp on the exterior, soft in the interior, and heating the chocolate peanut butter so it slightly melts is the best. If you’re looking for an easy yet decadent comfort food breakfast, brunch, or breakfast-for-dinner recipe, make this. You can scale up the recipe to whatever sized crowd you’re cooking for.

 CHEESY CAULIFLOWER MUSHROOM STEAKS

This cauliflower steak recipe is served with a rich, creamy mushroom and cheese sauce.   A hearty low carb main dish for vegetarians and cauliflower lovers.

If you are a meat eater, don’t run away from this cauliflower steak recipe!   The delicious mushroom sauce would be divine with a steak or chicken. It’s such an easy sauce to make too and can be ready in under 15 minutes.

Used gorgonzola cheese for this cauliflower steak sauce as I wanted a strong cheese to go with the mushrooms and much to my delight it was on special offer at the supermarket that week.  That may have been my real influence, but I’m sticking to the strong cheese story!   Any other blue cheese would work just as well with this sauce.  

Sour cream was used for the sauce as it has a creamy texture when heated.  If you wanted to use another cream, I would recommend another thick one.  I haven’t tried it, but can’t see why not it would not work.  Add extra cheese for more creaminess perhaps.

[retrauxpunk]

Rain, I ask you: ALL the quarantine asks!

Animated character that was your gay awakening? not really an ‘awakening’ so much as a ‘hint’, but Azula from Avatar: the Last Airbender ... yep

Grilled cheese or PB&J? GRILLED CHEESE

What show/YouTube video(s) do you put on in the background when you when you don’t have anything to watch but you want something on? I don’t really experience this mood, but my go-to watch is the vlogbrothers YouTube channel

Your go-to bar order, if you drink? if it’s a low-key/work outing, lager or cider (esp the ones with non-apple fruits too); if it’s getting more serious (lol) or with closer friends or a more celebratory mood: vodka with sparkling apple juice

What’s your favorite pair of shoes that you own? these Doc Martens that are white with red hearts got ’em with my first ever full time design job paycheck. i did not take care of them well so they’re super scuffed/beat-up and very much not Perfectly White ... but they’re still comfy as heck, i still love the design, and they’ve lasted 3 years so far, let’s see how much longer we can make it ... also i think they’re a limited edition so i likely won’t get my hands on any replacements...

Top three cuisines? my cheap-ass answer would be, like: East Asian, South-East Asian, Western European ... but my non-shit answer is... Japanese, Chinese, Italian (ftr i’m not a seafood fan ... i just love the ramen and non-seafood stuff that japan makes hehe)

What was your first word as a child (that wasn’t a variation of “Mom” or “Dad”)? i have no clue

What’s a job that you’ve had that people might be surprised to find out you’ve had? cold-calling strangers to ask them to do market research phone surveys (y)

Look up. What’s directly across from you? the kitchen

Do you own any signed books/memorabilia in general? i have a messenger bag that i got signed by Jeph Jacques of the Questionable Content webcomic that i once adored ... and I think my boyfriend has gifted me a signed Matthew Reilly hardcover.

Preferred way to spend a rainy day? curled up indoors wearing something cosy, reading and eating something delicious. playing animal crossing lol. aaaaand listening to music, a good podcast, watching stand-up comedy, drawing, getting intoxicated...

What do you get on your bagels? What WOULD you get if you had access to anything you wanted? occasionally the standard smoked salmon and cream cheese, but i slightly prefer the meat to be, like, prosciutto

Brunch or midnight snacks? ehh fuck it, both???? both!!

Favorite mug you own easter limited edition waitrose mug, squat and round and yellow, painted/shaped like a very round chick. a Borb,,,,

What coffee drink would you describe yourself as? i actually thought about this and, uh, peppermint mocha. not for everyone, slightly weird, never fitting in with the regulars/being a default, but???? obviously awesome?? also: about 65% on the mainstream/hipster scale

Pick a song lyric to describe your current mood (and drop the name and artist!) The Wombats is the artist. lyrics are either “Let's dance to Joy Division / and celebrate the irony / Everything is going wrong, / but we're so happy” from Let’s Dance to Joy Division or “the edge of nowhere’s such a beautiful place” from Emoticons

Fruity or herbal teas? herbal but i agree with @queenofslime, black tea is the best

What’s that one TV show that you’re a little bit embarrassed to watch but you still like nonetheless? ...do i experience embarrassment about what i like to watch on TV? i don’t know if i do, because i watch relatively few shows ... and have relatively little shame? maybe???

That book you were forced to read for class but actually ended up enjoying? ftr i wasn’t bitter about this before reading, i had no preconceived biases against, and i was pretty open to liking it -- The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

Do you match your socks? if they’re of a really nice design then yes always, if they’re of a more standard/generic design then ... not necessarily

Have you ever been horseback riding? yes a few times ... on the last time which was like five years ago ... the lady said i was a natural and asked if i’d ridden much before, which was. flattering. and yes this is a Brag.

What was your “phase” when you were younger? (i.e., Mythology Nerd, Horse Girl, Space Geek, etc) didn’t have much of a hardcore phase but i was pretty much always into fantasy ... oh wait yeah i did! i had a spy phase :)

Have you ever been to jail? to closed-down ones, yep

What’s your opinion on Lazy Susan’s (the spinning tray in the middle of tables)? pretty great idea unequivocably, right?

Puzzles? i tend to enjoy riddles/lateral thinking puzzles, i am impartial about jigsaw puzzles. i enjoy escape rooms.

You can only have one juice for the rest of your life, what is it? apple ... but elderflower if i’m feeling reckless (y)

What section do you immediately head for when you walk into a bookstore? young adult ... or stationery

What’s one thing you’re trying to learn/relearn in your downtime right now? Russian language :( it’s going не так хорошо

Who’s your go-to musical artist when you’re feeling upbeat? not sure if i have a go-to artist so much as go-to playlists i’ve made but some good ones are The Wombats and Bastille 

Where could someone find you in a museum? mammals/birds in natural history

What’s that one outfit in your closet you never get the chance to wear but want to? i swear i was talking about this recently but i clean the fuck forgot what it was ... oh yeah, i have this short-sleeved black minidress festooned with silver buckles/buttons and also featuring decorative suspenders ... which, yes, does make me look like a sexy military officer,,, anyway it’s pretty badass and somehow it hasn’t occurred to me till now that i can just wear that every day now if i want? ftw i do get the chance to wear it, it’s just a little bit Extra so i get self-conscious. i’ve worn it a few times though. including to work. because fuck it, right? i didn’t become a graphic designer to be shy about sometimes looking like a prototypical emo/scene kid-turned-adult??? (ftr i was never an actual emo/scene kid. i lacked the requisite guts, commitment of feeling, and permissive parents.)

Rainbows, stars, or sunset colored clouds? sunset-coloured clouds :)

If you could own any non-traditional pet (dogs, cats, fish, rodents, etc), what would it be? how about a shapeshifting feathered dragon that could range from, like, two thirds of a foot long (20cm) to sit on your shoulder, to ... the size of a massive draft horse? (but longer and thinner)

Do you have more art on your walls or more photographs? photos, though if i didn’t live with a partner, it might be art

You have to get one meme tattooed on your body, what meme is it and where does it go? i’ve already got a meme tattooed on my body ... a private meme i have with my boyfriend, one on each leg (left: outer side, just above knee; right: outside, a few inches above the ankle)

Pick a superhero sidekick to hang out with ?????? is this a sidekick to a known superhero, or a superhero to act as your sidekick? also i don’t know? who are the standard heroes? i’m not up to date on this.

Lakes, rivers, or oceans? rivers or oceans

Favorite mid-2000s song i can’t decide a favourite, it’s too stressful, but one that i like is Rob Thomas’s Little Wonders

How do you dress when you’re home alone? either a t-shirt and PJ pants, or a dress (usually short-sleeved/sleeveless minidress)

Where do you sit in the living room (we all have a preferred spot, and you know it)? on either side of the couch haha

Knives or swords? BOTH but ok swords.

A song you didn’t think you’d enjoy but ended up loving hmmmmm like all of Linkin Park’s first three albums with some exceptions? hahahah

Pick an old-school Disney Channel Original Movie i don’t think i.....know any????

Are you a “Quote that relates to the photos” caption-er, an “explanation of where I took the photos” caption-er, or a no caption kinda person when you post pictures online? explanation, though on instagram quite often the photo and caption are unrelated

Name a classic Vine there’s only one thing worse than a rapist...

What’s the freezer food that you stock up on when you go to the grocery store? dumplings! as in the gyoza type.

How do you top your ice cream? that ‘magic’ chocolate sauce that hardens into chocolate. that stuff. i watched those ads all childhood long but my parents were immigrants and therefore very thrifty so we NEVER bought it iirc and then in my adulthood i got it a bunch of times. but now i live in the uk and can’t find it. and forgot it existed. and have never seen it anywhere.

Do you like Jello? the kind that’s served on a plate as a dessert? meh. the kind that are found in asian grocery stores as individual fruit-flavoured serves in little plastic cups? YES 

What’s something that you don’t have a picture of that you wish you did? future stock prices? LOL ... or i’m gonna go with @queenofslime‘s answer again -- how others see me. it’s a great answer.

How are you at climbing trees? not............ good. i mean, i like climbing, but i have absolutely terrible upper body strength. i did bouldering for a couple months but only stuck to the first like... three out of nine difficulty levels.

#thanks!! hehe #quarantine asks #queenofslime #asks

[thisiswhymomworries]

What foods do you usually eat then? Lately everything's just been pretty much disgusting for me too and I'm at a loss

bread

ham and cheese sandwich + potato chips

peanut butter and jelly sandwich

eggos + peanut butter and maple syrup

eggos are super easy lil bitches to pop in your toaster and then slap some peanut butter on

cinnamon toast + maple brown sugar oatmeal

try mixing grown flax seeds into the oatmeal. it doesn’t taste super great, but the brown sugar and cinnamon pretty much mask it and flax seeds have protein, fiber, and omega 3

blueberry / lemon poppy seed muffins

if you don’t have the spoons to Make muffins, get a box of muffin mix designed to be made in a mug! you can find them in the breakfast aisle, and you just add milk or water and microwave for a minute, and they taste great~

pizza (alfredo sauce; I hate marinara)

you can also add garlic powder and shredded cheese to the crust mix for extra goodness!

wheat rolls

you can buy pre-cooked rolls in the frozen section that just need to be heated up in the oven

protip: rub some olive oil on your pan / baking sheet, salt it lightly, sprinkle different cheeses, and THEN press your rolls onto all that goodness. it will bake onto the bottom of the roll and taste great!

pasta

I buy Knorr pasta sides, usually in the boxed meals aisle but they come in bags and lots of different flavors

I like bland stuff, so I buy: spinach and kale, herb and butter, alfredo sauce, broccoli and alfredo but they have lots of flavorful stuff too

macaroni and cheese

my mom made me a really great recipe for homemade mac’n’cheese if you want it

but Kraft is super easy and tastes great too

secret ingredient!! boil your noodles in half water, half chicken broth or get some broth concentrate and add a few teaspoons of that to add flavor and a tiny bit of protein!

gnocci is really good if you need something kind of different

they’re made from potatoes but taste and feel like noodles after being cooked

you can cook them in whatever sauce you want or buy boxed meals with sauce already included; I buy Italia four cheese gnocci

ramen

I just buy regular chicken flavor in those orange packs you can get for .50 but there’s lots of flavors usually available

you can also look up a ton of recommendations on how to add more good stuff like spices and vegetables but I am BORING so here are my fave picks:

oil / butter - add a drizzle of olive oil and/or a pat of butter at the very start when you put your noodles in; this is solely to add calories bc since I struggle to eat anything at all, I rarely hit 2000 a day and bodies need that

an egg - add about halfway through; you can crack it directly in there and let it bake on top of the ramen, but I prefer whisking it up in a cup and then pouring it in while stirring to get a scrambled egg effect; adds protein!!

parmesan cheese - don’t add until you’ve scooped out what you want into a bowl bc if you try to cook it with your noodles it will goop up in your pot; sprinkle some shredded or dusted parmesan on top of the ramen in your bowl, it tastes great with the egg

ravioli

I get Buitoni cheese ravioli with the matching alfredo sauce, but they also have pesto and marinara sauce

you can get meat-filled ravioli too, and ravioli made with spinach and kale baked into the noodles / cheese filling for some extra nutrition

goes great with wheat rolls!

soups!

I’ve started buying canned soups to start with and then just adding whatever I want to them

things to add to soups: potatoes, carrots, broccoli, celery, corn, peas, chicken broth, you can buy shredded meat like chicken or roast beef if you’re into that, vegetable stock / bullion

I also have a quick and easy homemade chicken noodle soup recipe

boil egg noodles in chicken broth plus herbs (rosemary, thyme, celery flakes), then add cut up carrots and potatoes, (plus any other meat or vegetables you want) and boil until everything is tender

goes great with cornbread muffins!

I found little “snack packs” of carrots that had exactly the right amount of carrots for one pot of soup, and there were four packs. so that might be easier than buying an entire bag of carrots that you’ll only use ¼ of

and a good recipe for potato and broccoli soup

don’t have it on me rn so message me if you want it and I’ll find it

it has potatoes, broccoli, sharp cheddar cheese, and a creamy sauce; also great with cornbread

if you want minimal cooking, heating up a can of campbell’s chicken noodle soup is fine!

I make a grilled cheese sandwich to go with it

protein

anything with peanut butter

I like Munchies peanut butter crackers bc they taste the Best

lots of stuff with cheese

protein shakes!

I buy Bolton’s Farmhouse bc they also make good strawberry banana fruit smoothies and their protein shake tastes like chocolate milk

Cliff granola bars

very expensive, but I like peanut butter banana, chocolate chip, and peanut butter flavors; super easy to eat when you don’t have the spoons to make anything

yogurt

greek yogurt has the most protein if you can suffer through it like I do. oreo crunch isn’t bad and salted caramel is OK. whipped yogurt tastes the best but it doesn’t have as much protein

smoothies

you can buy a bag of mixed berries in the frozen section, then add plain yogurt, orange juice / pomegranate juice (fucking expensive), kale or spinach leaves (you really don’t taste them) Body by Vi (also expensive!), and blend it up

if you don’t have the spoons for that, you can buy smoothie drinks like I mentioned above with the protein drinks. I mix in some Vi stuff with that since it has a lot of vitamins and extra protein. I like the cream cheese flavor bc it’s sweet

roast beef and mashed potatoes

obviously cooking a roast takes a lot of time, so I just buy a package of precooked roast beef next to the tubs of premade mashed potatoes. you can heat up both in the microwave in about 5 min each, and it goes great with wheat rolls

I hope this helps and message me again if you want recipes for anything!

#food #protein #recipe #recipes #ask #anon #answered

[wlwtsubomi]

Can any of your OCs cook? Where are they on the spectrum from “I’ve been cooking since I could walk and I’ve never made a bad dish” to “last tuesday I tried to make a microwave lasagna and my house burned down.”

oh wow ill kill for u hmmmmm

might have to limit these to just. major characters. bc yeah as i said before i have,,, a lot,,,,,, of ocs kasgjsadj ;w; so ill probs go thru this in order by works 

(list under the cut!)

osas;

merope Definitely cooks. he makes the food he serves at his bar himself and he kinda had to learn after [redacted]. since merope can cook, he occasionally has bodil help him cook so she Also can cook. not as good at merope can, but its more than nothing.

iovita probably also helped people cook. namely his moms. he goes on to pick up on cooking later on (stress baking?) so he can also cook!! hes p good!!! daresay a lot better than merope bc the place where iovita is from has A LOT more variety in food than meelat does

sorin can maybe make a mean olive oil on bread. but thats Maybe It. hes really interested in cooking (mainly bc he couldnt rly cook fullblown meals in ruresi) so i can see him watching iovita cook?? just kinda lurking. iovita might drag sorin into helping him cook. wow thats a rly good and soft idea i came up w just now good job me.

aludra and conan just dump things into a pot and pray to the gods. aludra set her family kitchen on fire once trying to make rice. conan tries to get sorin help but sorin also doesnt know how to cook. they make the most bland food in history bc sorin still gets overwhelmed by spices and conan doesnt measure anything. he dumps in a whole cup of milk when the recipe asked for a quarter of a cup. its terrible. bodil iovita and merope are crying. iovita eats it anyway out of pity. he wants to be supportive of sorin.

red eyes (tag is yesterday it rained (today the sky fell));

literally calanthe is the only one out of the three of them who can cook. she picked it up sometime thru the series id think. saga probably pitched the idea to her as an alternative to smoking. bc i mean, cooking is technically a thing that cal herself can control? so. saga is so proud of cal despite the fact that saga herself cant cook.

seven literally existed to fill in a background role. he cant cook. BUT i can see after canon him asking calanthe to teach him, once he realizes he can be More than what he was created to do. god did ur ask make cooking a significant thing for red eyes? i think u did. omg

contact (tag is longness of semper);

burumu is the houses’ designated cook. he can actually make consistently good food. ivy can KINDA cook but its rly a toss of the coin with her. its either ok or its terrible. theres no inbetween. nebula can make mac and cheese. thats it.

blake can live off of those weird dried compressed ration things they sell in those sports stores. they cant cook. they CAN cut things p well though. but thats rly the extent of what theyre able to do i think.

landry throws whatever they can get their hands on into a blender and chugs that shit. they dont fear any god.

saccha is. odd. bc he can only bake. thats rly it. he ALSO stress bakes. which is to say, hes stressed a lot. hes good at baking though! but like if you asked him to make idk soup or something he gets so nervous that he freezes over the entire thing and you can Tell that it was just reheated in the microwave but you just give him a really tightlipped smile and nod.

reynold can make some food but like. not a lot. its mostly just like rly easy to make things that take rly fast like grilled cheese or ramen. hes doing his best.

molly cant cook for the sake that she would let landry chill with her in the kitchen and landry would yell for molly to turn up the heat and against all common sense (which no one in this godforsaken source) molly WOULD. they burn down an entire building. alex cant get too angry bc honestly if they were in the same position as molly, they would also listen to landry.

mx lux (tag is put out your beating heart);

surprisingly, all three of the main group can cook. anja can cook bc she wanted to be able to cook for maria so she SPEEDRAN cooking lessons. now she can cook. then sol was like :O holy shit u can cook can u cook for me??? and anja was like ‘no’ so she forced them to learn how to cook for themself. marty also knows how to cook bc he cooks for himself?? so.

nike and faustus cant be trusted to cook. for the point that nikes wings are Big so either he cant fit in the kitchen if its too small or he accidentally catches his wings on fire. faustus goes and is like “well if im gonna cook then i should try to figure out if i can Cheat The System by familiarizing myself to the cooking things” but then faustus zones out and just ends up sitting in the oven for like 3 hours. then faustus doesnt even end up cooking.

my warriors ocs are cats. they cant cook.

also im still not finished with the class for season 37. so i have no clue if they can cook for not. 

#sagjasd wow this was fun #just gonna. put all the works tags #osas #yesterday it rained (today the sky fell) #longness of semper #put out your beating heart #wash speaks #sugarwithoutspice

[easyfoodnetwork]

Eater Staffers on the Kitchen Tools They Can’t Live Without

Shutterstock

These pots and pans, appliances, and utensils have made cooking in quarantine a little bit easier

As the weeks of social distancing and recommendations to stay home as much as possible stretch on, cooking has taken on both more urgency and more burden. Luckily, there are products that, whether by intention or not, can ease the load, making spending so much time cooking so much easier.

Below, a roundup of the tools and products that have made Eater editors’ kitchen lives better. And if you’re looking for more on what to cook with said tools, check out our guide for folks who literally never cook as well as our pantry-cooking guide.

Pots and Pans

Whirlpool nonstick griddle

“Maybe the best part of a recent move has been playing with the nonstick griddle that straddles two burners atop my new stove. I’ve used it to char tomatoes, peppers, and garlic cloves for salsa, revive leftover steak, toast slices of sourdough, and inflate Indian chapati to accompany this cilantro chutney chicken recipe. A quick wipe down keeps it clean, so that accounts for one less dish to wash while the sink piles up.” — Gabriel Hiatt, Eater DC editor

Cook N Home nonstick wok

“I never knew that I could fall in love with my wok, but here I am. This wok brings me so much joy when I’m cooking. It’s sturdy so it can hold a lot of stuff; it’s big enough to cook a family-sized portion. The pan’s marbling coat makes sure that nothing gets stuck on the bottom, from braising short ribs to frying eggs. I use this pan for everything from stews to fried rice; it’s incredibly versatile! I know it’s overwhelming to look through different wok options, but for home cooks who want to cook many different dishes without having to clean up any residuals, this is the one. The price is also extremely affordable, so what’s not to love?” — James Park, social media manager

Great Jones sheet pan

“This is the first ‘fancy’ sheet pan I’ve ever had, generally preferring basics from restaurant supply stores or else the cheapest available from retailers like Williams-Sonoma. Intrigued by the company’s promise that it doesn’t warp, I ordered one last year and have not been disappointed. Since shelter-in-place started, though, I’ve found myself reaching for it over my other sheet pans, and I’m 99 percent sure it’s because the vibrant color stands out among my pans and makes cooking feel that much more lively. I’ve used it to make cookies, nachos, and all sorts of roasted vegetables, but also as a Bananagrams board and a photo backdrop.” — Hillary Dixler Canavan, restaurant editor

Appliances

Panasonic toaster oven

“I grew up in a toaster oven family — even now, everyone in my immediate family has the same one — but even I, a super fan, did not fully appreciate the appliance until I moved in late March, just as the COVID-19 outbreak hit NYC, and found myself living in an apartment with no gas for about a week and a half. As a result, I spent a lot of time with my toaster oven, sometimes cooking three square meals a day in it. It’s fast and versatile, good for so many things: roasting vegetables, baking brownies and small cakes, and, of course, just toasting bread or bagels or nuts and spices.” — Sonia Chopra, director of editorial growth

Ninja Express Chop

“I never really thought I needed a food processor — big or small, really — until I got the Ninja Express Chop. I had somehow managed to avoid all recipes that required one, since it seemed so bulky to move and a pain to clean. Once I got the Ninja Express Chop, all that changed. It’s small and easy to fit in the cabinet; and it easily comes apart into four simple pieces, all of which fit in my sink or dishwasher, so I don’t mind cleaning it, even when it’s coated with oil from herby salad dressings or flecks of basil from my homemade pesto — all things I never would have made until I got it.” — Ellie Krupnick, managing editor

OXO tea kettle

“Weirdly enough, I have been relying heavily on a tea kettle. I’ve been using it every single day at various times to boil water. I start with it in the morning to make oatmeal for breakfast and continue throughout the day to make tea and repurpose hot tea for iced to switch it up. I am trying to stay as hydrated as possible while I am home.” — Stephen Pelletteri, executive producer

Anova sous vide machine

“We’ve been using the Anova to cook large portions of pork shoulder that we then eat for days and days in tacos, ramen, and more. It’s a multi-day process including a 24-hour sous vide, 24 hours in the fridge, and then oven-roasting before pulling — lots of time, but mostly hands-off. (Try J. Kenji López-Alt’s recipe to start, and then experiment with your own variations. We’ve enjoyed adding a molasses glaze before it goes in the oven.) Hint: Reserve the cooked pork juices after the sous vide process to use with ramen — boil with the water in a one-to-one ratio for the best fancied up packaged ramen you’ve had.” — Rachel Leah Blumenthal, Eater Boston editor

Hamilton Beach panini press

“My cheap-ass panini maker is so much more than a device on which to make grilled cheese, even though that’s its most common use. It’s also a lovely way to make toast (that’s a grilled cheese sans cheese) or just warm up bread enough to apply butter. Going further off-label, I’ve been using it to cook up frozen hash brown patties (they’re done in a flash with a nice crispy crust, way better than the 20 minutes in the oven version) and grill baby asparagus (while full-sized asparagus is too girthy to cook completely, the babies do just fine). Is this why people bought George Foreman grills back in the day?” — Eve Batey, Eater San Francisco senior editor

Utensils

Sur La Table fish spatula

“I’m an evangelist for this tool even under normal circumstances, and have gifted it more times than I can count. One of its purposes is obvious from its name: it’s great for flipping fish without having it break apart or damaging the skin. But I find myself using it daily, whether it’s to remove my meatloaf from its loaf pan or lift up a focaccia to see if it’s browning underneath.” — Missy Frederick, cities director

McoMce plastic bench scraper

I’ve gotten really, really tired of cleaning my kitchen during shelter-in-place, but this plastic bench scraper is a life-saver. It’s good for pushing dough out of bowls or scraping stubborn bits out of pots and pans, but I mostly use it to clean my kitchen sink. It makes quick work of collecting food scraps without having to pile them all into my hand (yuck). Once I’m done cleaning, I rinse it with a bit of soap, so that it’s ready to cut cinnamon rolls, collect herbs on my cutting board, and clean the sink — again.” — Elazar Sontag, staff writer

Storage

Comfy Package plastic kitchen containers

“During this time where I’ve been cooking a lot and ordering a lot of food, plastic food storage containers have been my saviors. It’s a habit I picked up from my dad, who works at a New York City market. The multiple sizes, from the slim eight-ounce cups to the large 32-ounce containers, makes it easy to store anything, from leftover cream cheese to portioned-out frozen lentil soup. The sizes also make it easier to downsize leftovers in the fridge, thus clearing up space for more food.” — Nadia Chaudhury, Eater Austin editor

Ball glass jars

“Last summer we had a crazy infestation of pantry moths, so on the advice of our exterminator I started saving all of my glass jars to store flours and cereals and other moth-attracting ingredients in. Now that my pantry is more valuable than ever, I’m using these jars to keep all of my bulk staples like beans, grains, and pastas organized and easily visible. I use old peanut butter jars for the most part (my kids go through a jar a week), but I’d actually advise going a little bigger if you’re buying them new, with some wide-mouth half-gallon Ball jars or invest in some fancy straight-sided ones like these wood-topped ones from Target.” — Lesley Suter, travel editor

Other Stuff

Final Touch rocks glass with ice ball

“I wanted to up my Manhattan game during the coronavirus pandemic, and the only new tool I bought was this rocks glass that includes a silicone mold to make a round ice cube. The rocks glass has a glass cylinder at the bottom so the round ice cube will roll around the bottom of the glass. It feels sophisticated to drink out of this glass, almost like I’m at a restaurant instead of at home.” — Susan Stapleton, Eater Vegas editor

Aerogarden countertop garden

“Two words: Breakfast salad. Yep, That’s been a thing in my life anytime I have my AeroGarden up and running and this quarantine called for it. Fresh herbs and lettuce in just a few weeks. I even threw some wild flowers in this time for some much needed cheer. Take that shallots-in-a-jar.” — Maureen Giannone Fitzgerald, production executive

from Eater - All https://ift.tt/2zxaSRX https://ift.tt/3euFvpS

Shutterstock

These pots and pans, appliances, and utensils have made cooking in quarantine a little bit easier

As the weeks of social distancing and recommendations to stay home as much as possible stretch on, cooking has taken on both more urgency and more burden. Luckily, there are products that, whether by intention or not, can ease the load, making spending so much time cooking so much easier.

Below, a roundup of the tools and products that have made Eater editors’ kitchen lives better. And if you’re looking for more on what to cook with said tools, check out our guide for folks who literally never cook as well as our pantry-cooking guide.

Pots and Pans

Whirlpool nonstick griddle

“Maybe the best part of a recent move has been playing with the nonstick griddle that straddles two burners atop my new stove. I’ve used it to char tomatoes, peppers, and garlic cloves for salsa, revive leftover steak, toast slices of sourdough, and inflate Indian chapati to accompany this cilantro chutney chicken recipe. A quick wipe down keeps it clean, so that accounts for one less dish to wash while the sink piles up.” — Gabriel Hiatt, Eater DC editor

Cook N Home nonstick wok

“I never knew that I could fall in love with my wok, but here I am. This wok brings me so much joy when I’m cooking. It’s sturdy so it can hold a lot of stuff; it’s big enough to cook a family-sized portion. The pan’s marbling coat makes sure that nothing gets stuck on the bottom, from braising short ribs to frying eggs. I use this pan for everything from stews to fried rice; it’s incredibly versatile! I know it’s overwhelming to look through different wok options, but for home cooks who want to cook many different dishes without having to clean up any residuals, this is the one. The price is also extremely affordable, so what’s not to love?” — James Park, social media manager

Great Jones sheet pan

“This is the first ‘fancy’ sheet pan I’ve ever had, generally preferring basics from restaurant supply stores or else the cheapest available from retailers like Williams-Sonoma. Intrigued by the company’s promise that it doesn’t warp, I ordered one last year and have not been disappointed. Since shelter-in-place started, though, I’ve found myself reaching for it over my other sheet pans, and I’m 99 percent sure it’s because the vibrant color stands out among my pans and makes cooking feel that much more lively. I’ve used it to make cookies, nachos, and all sorts of roasted vegetables, but also as a Bananagrams board and a photo backdrop.” — Hillary Dixler Canavan, restaurant editor

Appliances

Panasonic toaster oven

“I grew up in a toaster oven family — even now, everyone in my immediate family has the same one — but even I, a super fan, did not fully appreciate the appliance until I moved in late March, just as the COVID-19 outbreak hit NYC, and found myself living in an apartment with no gas for about a week and a half. As a result, I spent a lot of time with my toaster oven, sometimes cooking three square meals a day in it. It’s fast and versatile, good for so many things: roasting vegetables, baking brownies and small cakes, and, of course, just toasting bread or bagels or nuts and spices.” — Sonia Chopra, director of editorial growth

Ninja Express Chop

“I never really thought I needed a food processor — big or small, really — until I got the Ninja Express Chop. I had somehow managed to avoid all recipes that required one, since it seemed so bulky to move and a pain to clean. Once I got the Ninja Express Chop, all that changed. It’s small and easy to fit in the cabinet; and it easily comes apart into four simple pieces, all of which fit in my sink or dishwasher, so I don’t mind cleaning it, even when it’s coated with oil from herby salad dressings or flecks of basil from my homemade pesto — all things I never would have made until I got it.” — Ellie Krupnick, managing editor

OXO tea kettle

“Weirdly enough, I have been relying heavily on a tea kettle. I’ve been using it every single day at various times to boil water. I start with it in the morning to make oatmeal for breakfast and continue throughout the day to make tea and repurpose hot tea for iced to switch it up. I am trying to stay as hydrated as possible while I am home.” — Stephen Pelletteri, executive producer

Anova sous vide machine

“We’ve been using the Anova to cook large portions of pork shoulder that we then eat for days and days in tacos, ramen, and more. It’s a multi-day process including a 24-hour sous vide, 24 hours in the fridge, and then oven-roasting before pulling — lots of time, but mostly hands-off. (Try J. Kenji López-Alt’s recipe to start, and then experiment with your own variations. We’ve enjoyed adding a molasses glaze before it goes in the oven.) Hint: Reserve the cooked pork juices after the sous vide process to use with ramen — boil with the water in a one-to-one ratio for the best fancied up packaged ramen you’ve had.” — Rachel Leah Blumenthal, Eater Boston editor

Hamilton Beach panini press

“My cheap-ass panini maker is so much more than a device on which to make grilled cheese, even though that’s its most common use. It’s also a lovely way to make toast (that’s a grilled cheese sans cheese) or just warm up bread enough to apply butter. Going further off-label, I’ve been using it to cook up frozen hash brown patties (they’re done in a flash with a nice crispy crust, way better than the 20 minutes in the oven version) and grill baby asparagus (while full-sized asparagus is too girthy to cook completely, the babies do just fine). Is this why people bought George Foreman grills back in the day?” — Eve Batey, Eater San Francisco senior editor

Utensils

Sur La Table fish spatula

“I’m an evangelist for this tool even under normal circumstances, and have gifted it more times than I can count. One of its purposes is obvious from its name: it’s great for flipping fish without having it break apart or damaging the skin. But I find myself using it daily, whether it’s to remove my meatloaf from its loaf pan or lift up a focaccia to see if it’s browning underneath.” — Missy Frederick, cities director

McoMce plastic bench scraper

I’ve gotten really, really tired of cleaning my kitchen during shelter-in-place, but this plastic bench scraper is a life-saver. It’s good for pushing dough out of bowls or scraping stubborn bits out of pots and pans, but I mostly use it to clean my kitchen sink. It makes quick work of collecting food scraps without having to pile them all into my hand (yuck). Once I’m done cleaning, I rinse it with a bit of soap, so that it’s ready to cut cinnamon rolls, collect herbs on my cutting board, and clean the sink — again.” — Elazar Sontag, staff writer

Storage

Comfy Package plastic kitchen containers

“During this time where I’ve been cooking a lot and ordering a lot of food, plastic food storage containers have been my saviors. It’s a habit I picked up from my dad, who works at a New York City market. The multiple sizes, from the slim eight-ounce cups to the large 32-ounce containers, makes it easy to store anything, from leftover cream cheese to portioned-out frozen lentil soup. The sizes also make it easier to downsize leftovers in the fridge, thus clearing up space for more food.” — Nadia Chaudhury, Eater Austin editor

Ball glass jars

“Last summer we had a crazy infestation of pantry moths, so on the advice of our exterminator I started saving all of my glass jars to store flours and cereals and other moth-attracting ingredients in. Now that my pantry is more valuable than ever, I’m using these jars to keep all of my bulk staples like beans, grains, and pastas organized and easily visible. I use old peanut butter jars for the most part (my kids go through a jar a week), but I’d actually advise going a little bigger if you’re buying them new, with some wide-mouth half-gallon Ball jars or invest in some fancy straight-sided ones like these wood-topped ones from Target.” — Lesley Suter, travel editor

Other Stuff

Final Touch rocks glass with ice ball

“I wanted to up my Manhattan game during the coronavirus pandemic, and the only new tool I bought was this rocks glass that includes a silicone mold to make a round ice cube. The rocks glass has a glass cylinder at the bottom so the round ice cube will roll around the bottom of the glass. It feels sophisticated to drink out of this glass, almost like I’m at a restaurant instead of at home.” — Susan Stapleton, Eater Vegas editor

Aerogarden countertop garden

“Two words: Breakfast salad. Yep, That’s been a thing in my life anytime I have my AeroGarden up and running and this quarantine called for it. Fresh herbs and lettuce in just a few weeks. I even threw some wild flowers in this time for some much needed cheer. Take that shallots-in-a-jar.” — Maureen Giannone Fitzgerald, production executive

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[mvssmallow]

Cloudy With A Chance

Part 20: …of Ex and Why

Masterlist

He’s back at work and back with a sense of dejà vu.

“So. It’s just…over?” Donghyuk asks gently.

He nods and looks out the window instead of making eye contact.

Donghyuk furrows his brows and chews on the take-away coffee cup in confusion. “Oh. I thought things were going well…..wait wait, that’s not important right now. How are you holding up? Do you want to talk about it or do you want to get back to work?”

He just shrugs and twirls his pen around his fingers. “I don’t know what I want. My head is like…I don’t even know. Like a bomb went off.”

“You don’t have to tell me but why did you guys break up?”

He sighs heavily. “My parents found out. I kind of went crazy.”

Donghyuk takes a sips and nods all knowingly, as usual. “Hmmm.”

“Was it the wrong decision?” He asks.

“Well. What do you think?”

“Of course it was the wrong decision.” He says quietly, almost to himself. “It was a stupid decision.”

“So why did you do it? If you knew it was wrong?”

The frustration and anger floods him all over again. “I don’t know Donghyuk! I don’t know! It was like, everyone wanted me to be something. My parents wanted a normal son. Jiwon wanted a normal boyfriend. They just all wanted something from me, constantly. I was just so pissed off at everyone. I just wanted everything to go away and leave me alone for a day.”

He starts drawing circles in his notebook and colouring them all in black. “I don’t deserve him anyway. He’s dealt with enough of my shit. All I did was hold him back from the life he should be living. He’s a rapper. What am I? Some boring writer just dragging him down with all this. I don’t know. It’s probably for the best. He’s probably sitting there wondering why he even bothered with me in the first place.”

Donghyuk stops nodding in agreeance. “Is that what he said?”

“No, he never said it but I know he must think it sometimes. Like when he can hear me lying to my mum on the phone. Or when people want to come over and I say no. He’s social. He likes people. I’m the opposite, all I want to do is stay home. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes. It’s better that we broke up before any real damage was done, you know?”

Donghyuk just sips his coffee in silence.

“Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“Only if you want me to…..”

He rolls his eyes. “Why would I tell you if I didn’t want your opinion? Do I look like I can figure anything out by myself right now?”

Donghyuk frowns before putting his cup on the table between them. “I’m not sure what to say but do you want to hear a story?”

He nods, relieved for a distraction at least.

“So, there used to be a writer here called Alex. He was from London and worked with us in the year before you started. We were inseparable after a month. It was just the biggest type of foolish love you could imagine. The type where you matched on every level there was to match on. He could already speak Korean but I insisted on learning English anyways and he’s probably the reason I can still speak it so well now. We used to co-write articles, all crazy concepts and unique ideas that really got Daily Grind more popular in the initial stages of the magazine. They’re part of the reason I got promoted so fast. Anyway, four months down the road, the overanalytical-paranoia kicks in, and I ask about the ex-relationships. I didn’t want to know but I had to know, had to figure where I stood in comparison. It turns out that his last few relationships were with all these mensa level professors and published authors. You know, of actual books and literature.”

“Sometimes it’s a mistake to dig into the past.” Donghyuk says with a shake of his head. “All it did was make me more afraid. After he told me I just felt small, like I was lacking physically, intellectually and in experience, like I didn’t fit his trend and was just some experiment. And here’s the messed up thing: I let everyone convince me it was true. That he was just going to eventually go back to being with what he’s always been with. Of course he was nice to me, he was in South Korea, what other choice did he have? So I friendzoned him instead of waiting around to get hurt. It didn’t make a difference, I got hurt anyway. What I completely did not understand was that he didn’t even think like that. He wasn’t looking for those guys any more. He was looking for regular me. By the time I figured this all out, it was too late. He had moved on and all I had to show for it was regret and some of the best pieces I will probably ever write.” 

“He was The Guy. I knew that from the beginning. In some ways, I’m always going to be looking for someone like him.“

There’s a long pause after Donghyuk finishes. “That’s the problem with people like us. We always end up with too many regrets. Life is easy if you let your brain decide everything, it’ll always reason and pick self-preservation. But reasoning doesn’t work when it comes to these things and the heart doesn’t know any logic or rational thought. It doesn’t care about self-preservation. That’s why they say, crazy in love.”

He thinks about Donghyuk’s words long after work finishes. He thinks about it as he eats alone, watches TV alone and sleeps alone. There’s no messy apartment to tidy up, no wrinkled shirts to iron, no mismatched socks to fold. He thought he wanted to be alone. He’s used to feeling alone. Alone protects him. But now? He can’t stand it anymore.

*****

“So, your apartment is still available if you want to move back.” Yo says over dinner. “I made a few enquiries today.”

He nods. “Yeah, thanks. I’ll, um, give them a call tomorrow.”

Yo reaches over to pat his back. “There’s no rush, you know that right? We’re happy to have you here until you sort things out a bit. It’s okay.”

“It’ll be like college all over again.” June says with a chuckle. “Only I’m less poor, Yo can cook more than instant ramen and grilled cheese toasties and you’re slightly cleaner. Slightly.”

They all laugh. It feels good to laugh, even if it’s just for a little while.

But after the distractions of work and playing video games with June or helping Yo tidy the kitchen, he’s alone again. Alone in the spare bedroom with all his belongings in a bag on the floor and staring at someone else’s ceiling. Even the traffic outside the window sounds different. Everything is different. And even though he’s known Yo and June for almost his entire life, this isn’t his home. He already has one.

Part of him still can’t believe it. Part of him is just waiting for Hanbin to answer his phone calls tomorrow. He doesn’t want to think about the other part. He can’t let himself think about it. It’s been so long since he let himself go to all those dark places and who knows how long it’d take him to get out of one again.

So, no.

He won’t believe it’s over.

He won’t until Hanbin gets married to someone else.

Then it’d be over.

But he doesn’t want to think about that either.

Turning over, he punches the pillow in frustration. “Arghhh!”

This is the cruelest part of a break-up; the thoughts. Loops and movies and highlight reels of moments, smiles, words, feelings. They play over and over again in his head and after awhile it’s nothing but torture. He wants to remember them, hold onto them, file them somewhere nobody can reach but at the same time, he wants them just to fade away and let him sleep.

But sleep doesn’t come easy anymore. Not when there’s no warm weight next to him and no-one clawing at his arm in the middle of the night.

He tries to think about the upcoming mic night instead but scrolling through all the half-finished verses on his phone just gets him more depressed. He’s written better, been better, and rapping about cars and money just seems trivial right now. It’s 2:30 when his eyes finally close out of exhaustion and in the darkness there are only images of Hanbin’s sad face staring at him as he leaves the apartment.

Sleep isn’t really sleep anymore.

He goes back to eating breakfast alone. There aren’t notes or sneaky Oreos snuck into his lunchbox. There aren’t any random messages on his phone to read and laugh at. No jokes over dinner or in bed. His entire being misses Hanbin but the worst thing, by far, is going to sleep alone and knowing that he’s just going to wake up alone in 6 hours.

His mind hangs on for a few days, it even makes it to a whole week, but everything falls apart by the second. That’s when he starts to believe that life without Hanbin might be permanent. So what if he feels sorry for himself? So what?

“Jesus, slow down Jiwon!” June says in exasperation and reaches over to take the shotglass from his fingers.

“Hey! I need that!” He tries to grab it back but the contents are already gone.

“I think you’ve had enough. How are you gonna perform like this?”

He shrugs. “I’ve been worse.”

June looks at him with skeptical concern. “You sure you wanna go on? You can just back out, say you’re sick or something. It’s just a mic night. Probably no record company scouts here.”

He shakes his head. “No, I want to do it.”

By the time the music kicks in he’s regretting it and wishes he had just listened to June after all. It’s not bad but it’s a mess, as if his heart was just bleeding erratically all over the stage. If he was any more sober he’d feel embarrassed but with 4 shots and a beer in his stomach, he can’t say there’s anything beyond the numbness.

forget a promenade, let’s juggernaut down memory lane,  leave no thought alive, to the slaughter house i’m taking my pain time to sever my brain from my heart and soul my knees are burning hot, but God is cold, I’ve been told

One day you’ll know too much of heaven’s a sin after the show, it’s only hell that it brings so take it slow and let time heal everything they say that time flies, but you keep breaking its wings you’ll never fade, fade to black please fade, fade to black but the nightmares come back

-t.t

When it’s over he ignores everyone’s concerned looks and walks straight back to the bar.

“Shit, Kim. What’s up with the depressing lyrics?”

He looks up to see one of the rap competitors grinning at him. He can’t even remember the guy’s name and takes the time to swallow his gin before answering. “Just felt like it.”

“What have you even got to be depressed about anyway? You’ve been killing it lately, even Mino’s getting scared. Hey, where’s that guy you’re with?”

He clenches his jaw. “Not here.”

“Why? He dump your ugly ass?” The guy jokes.

He doesn’t answer. Just shakes his head and keeps drinking.

The guy doesn’t stop talking and it grates on his already frayed nerves. “His fucking face, man. Half the guys backstage want to fuck his face, the other half want to fuck-”

He remembers reaching the bottom of his glass of gin before his right fist connects with a slackened jaw. There’s a sickening crunch and collapse of bone as the guy stumbles back in shock.

They just stare at each other for a second before launching forward, fists swinging and connecting with anything within reach. A punch to the gut, knuckles across his left eyebrow, nails scratching a trail down his face and finally, a knee into his chest that has him falling head first into the corner of a table and splitting his lip. 

He ignores the nose bleed, the taste of blood in his mouth, the bursts of pain every time his fist hits the face beneath him. He had it coming. They both had it coming. 

“JIWON! What the fuck-”

June’s loud voice rings in his ears before four strong arms eventually pull him away from the fight. His left eye is swollen and his vision blurry but he can see security dragging the other guy in the opposite direction. 

“No wonder he dumped your ass. You’re nothing but a fucking loser!” The guy shouts at him through a mouth full of bloody teeth. 

He makes to stand up again but June’s hard face comes into view. “NO. ENOUGH.”

Yoyo stands in the middle, placating security and the club’s management with the kind of diplomacy and level-headed intelligence that both he and June lack. His shirt is roughly peeled off and used in some vain attempt to slow down the bleeding.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Is this is how you’re gonna act now?” June asks. It comes out more sad than scolding and that just makes him feel worse somehow.

Yo eventually comes over with a stern face and hurried words. “We need to get out of here right now. You’re lucky they like you so much.”

He lets them lead him through the club, right past the half-cheering half-judging crowd, and buckle him into the backseat of June’s black Audi. 

His right hand is twisted, swollen, deformed. He looks at it with fascination, knowing somewhere in the back of his mind that it would be screaming out in pain if not for the industrial levels of alcohol in his system. 

“I can’t believe this!” Yo exclaims from the driver’s seat. “I can’t believe this is how tonight ended. He’s lucky that that other guy is stupid and won’t remember enough to press charges.”

June shakes his head. “That other guy is a dick. I know him. He was probably starting some shit as usual. He’s done it before. It must’ve been something really bad for Jiwon to do that.” 

“Don’t defend him June!” Yo replies in irritation. “That other guy might be a dick but what about our guy? He dislocated a jaw. That’s hardly something to be proud of!”

“I’m not defending him! You’re talking like he just randomly decided to punch a dude in the face. He’s not like that.”

The car lurches forward abruptly as Yoyo breaks hard at the red light. “I know he isn’t! Don’t you talk like I don’t know him too! I’ve known him almost as long as you have.”

He sighs in the backseat. He always thought he was a good person. He was a good person wasn’t he? So why was he ruining everything around him?

“Let’s just get him to the hospital. We’ll talk about the rest at home.”

Hospital.

What.

“I don’t need to go to a hospital-” He starts.

“Yes, you do.” Yoyo says, warning and finality loud and clear in his voice. “And if either of you have a problem with it, so help me God, I will end you both right now.”

****

He gets a Emergency Department resident stitching him up. It hurts more that the actual fight.

“Rough night huh?”

“Something like that.”

“Get into a fight?”

“Yep.”

“Wasn’t over a girl was it?” The resident teases him with a crooked smile. “Please tell me it was a better story than that.”

He chuckles and lets himself relax a bit. “No. It wasn’t over a girl. It was over a guy.”

“Oh yeah? What’s his name?”

“Hanbin. You know how everyone thinks their boyfriend is the best guy on the planet? Well, he is actually is the best guy on the planet. Too good for me anyway.”

“So, what did he think of all this?” 

He can feel the pull of the sutures against his left eyebrow. It was weird and foreign and everything just felt so strange right now. “He wasn’t even there. We broke up. I got into a fight and he wasn’t even there to see it.”

“Well, this might leave a scar. Show him that.” The resident says, sitting back after he’s tied the last suture and applied a bandage over the top. “Guys loves scars don’t they?”

He laughs again, he likes this guy. “I’ll be even uglier than when he left me.”

The resident stands and starts clearing away the examination table. “If he’s the right guy, he’ll come back and not even notice the new level of ugly. Now. Let’s see this hand of yours.”

It’s a mess. Bruised, swollen and-

“Broken.” 

“Broken?” He echoes in disbelief. 

The resident nods and points out the fracture on his xrays. “Fifth metacarpal. Also know as a Boxer’s Fracture. Luckily for you there’s minimal angulation or rotation.”

“And that’s good?”

“Yes. You won’t need reduction or surgery. And it’s not an open fracture so all you’ll need for it to heal is time. I’m going to apply a support bandage and get you a sling for elevation.”

He nods and watches as his hand disappears behind layers of white crepe bandaging. 

No home. No boyfriend. And now, with his broken hand, probably no job.

Thank God they gave him morphine.

“Remorse?”

“Yeah.”

“People do crazy things for love.”

“Yeah, I know. You ever done anything crazy, doc?”

There’s a pause before the bandaging continues. “Well, I got into med school to impress a girl and to convince her parents to let us date. She left me for some long haired musician by second year. All I have to show for it is this medical degree, a stable job and my Lexus.” 

They both laugh. 

“Damm, that’s cold though. Did you forgive her?”

The resident tapes up the ends of the bandage. “Over time. I could never resent her anyway. She changed my life. Some pains are just worth it in the end.”

****

“You’re a cliche.”

He’s hearing things. 

He must be. 

“A stupid cliche.”

And tripping hard on the morphine they gave him.

He turns over and sits up too fast, causing his head to spin, vision to black-out and headache to spike behind his left eye. “Argh….”

A hand pushes his shoulder until he’s lying against the hospital bed again. “Stay down.”

That voice. He knows that voice. 

He loves that voice.

“My head hurts.” He groans, eyes still shut to calm down the vertigo.

“Probably from carrying around that big brain all day.”

When the world stops moving, he opens his eyes, blinks a few times to get rid of the blur and once his vision clears, Hanbin’s face comes into view, like a picture from a dream. 

That must be the morphine talking.

“Are you really here? What are you doing here? Why are all dressed up?”

He takes in the crisp white shirt, pressed black pants and neatly styled hair. He has never seen Hanbin dressed up like this. This is a fever dream. Or maybe his batch of morphine was spiked with LSD.

“I heard some rapper got into a fight. It was all over the news.” Hanbin says with a shrug. 

His eyes widen. “I was on the news?”

Hanbin shakes his head with a small smile. “No. June told me. What the hell were you-”

“Okay, Jiwon. You’re free to go!” The resident walks back into his cubicle holding a box of pain medication and discharge papers, only halting when he sees Hanbin. “Oh. Hello. I’m Dr. Lee. And you must be…”

“This is the Hanbin.” 

“Ohhh. You’re Hanbin. Right right.”

It’s the drawn out ‘oh’ that has Hanbin furrowing his brows in confusion. “Yes….hello. Um, thank you for taking care of him. So he can go now?”

“Yes. But he came with two others. Will they-”

Hanbin shakes his head. “I sent them home. I’ll take him.”

“Oh good!” The resident says with a smile. When Hanbin isn’t looking he swears he saw a wink thrown in his direction. 

He watches as Hanbin listens to the instructions on medication use and reads the letter detailing future follow up appointments. Where was June? Where was Yo? Why was Hanbin even here? 

“Well, good luck Jiwon.” The resident says with a knowing grin before leaning closer to his ear and whispering, “Looks like it was worth it in the end, huh?”

He looks over his shoulder to see Hanbin folding his bloody shirt away and reaching into a bag to pull out a clean hoody. 

“Yeah.”

But if he thought their reunion was going to be some beautiful montage of hugs and apologies, he was sadly mistaken. 

“What were you thinking? Were you even thinking?” Hanbin rants at the wheel as they drive down the highway. “What if the other guy makes a report to the police? And you were drunk? I’ve seen you drunk. You’re all useless drunk. How can you even fight drunk?”

He lets Hanbin talk and finds himself smiling out the window as the world whizzes by. 

“Why are you smiling? Is this funny to you? Yeah, it’s really funny getting a text saying you were at the hospital with an emergency. And June! He didn’t even reply for 10 minutes about why you were there so I got a speeding ticket and heart attack on the way. He can pay for it. No! YOU can pay for it. Well, no you can’t. How are you even going to go to work with a broken hand. A broken hand, Jiwon! Jesus.”

They get to a red light and he starts giggling at the absurdity of the entire situation. It really doesn’t help Hanbin’s mood.

“This isn’t cool. You could’ve really injured a guy. You could’ve really injured yourself! Did you even think about that?” Hanbin asks, distress etched all over his face. 

He stops laughing as the guilt begins to eat away at him. “But I’m fine. I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, you’ll be just fine. What about me, huh? Not like I’ve been mentally unstable lately or anything. I really love having to think about you dying or something.”

“I’m sorry.” He says as the light turns green. 

Hanbin looks over at him, eyes softening for a moment before changing gears. “It’s okay.” 

He watches Hanbin drive for a few minutes and it hits him: this is the first time he’s been in the passengers seat in Hanbin’s car. Hanbin hates driving anywhere so why was he even driving now?

“Why did you send June and Yo home? They could’ve taken me. I’m staying there anyway. It doesn’t make any logical sense for you to come all this way-”

“I didn’t come because of logic.” Hanbin says. 

He doesn’t get it. “So why did you come?”

“I just….I just thought something happened to you.”

“So what? You came because you were curious?” 

Hanbin shakes his head in frustration, his knuckles white and tense at the wheel. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I didn’t want to end things like this.”

It hits a nerve. “Like what? Things already ended. You told me to leave, remember?”

“And you’re the one that left!” Hanbin snaps.

“I left because you told me to!” He snaps back. “You said you wanted time alone! I didn’t do it because I wanted to leave.”

The cars pulls up into a familiar driveway. 

He just stares out the window before turning towards the driver’s side. “How sick are you? Or do you just like it when we suffer?”

“What?” Hanbin looks at him in confusion.

He gestures out the window and points up to the fourth floor. “Why did you drive me back here? To remind me of everything I’m not allowed to have? No offence but I think I’m all maxed out on bad luck tonight, okay? I’ll walk back to June’s if I have to.” 

He tries to take off his seatbelt but his right hand is bandaged and it’s too awkward reaching around the sling with his left. Not that it stops him from trying. 

“Jiwon. Stop…stop…” Hanbin’s words are soft, scared, sad. He has to ignore it. He can’t get dragged back into this game where all he does is lose. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I just wanted to take care of you. It should be me.”

“Why should it be you? Why?!” He can hear the sharp edges in his voice. He’ll regret this later. He regrets it now. “I don’t want your pity, okay? You think you can just tell me you don’t want me one minute then suddenly decide to come back when you feel guilty? You can’t do that to people! You can’t play with them like that! Do you really think I’m going to just sit here…..”

He finally struggles out of the seatbelt and gets out of the car. 

"I’m not! That’s not what I’m doing.” Hanbin scrambles out of his seat to follow him down the driveway. “Can you just stop and listen for a minute!?”

He stops walking as they get to the corner of the road. His mind is spinning and the thoughts inside his head are all jumbled by the alcohol and drugs in his system. “Fine. But no more bullshit, Hanbin. Say what you need to say. I can’t think about this anymore. It’s fucking killing me.”

“I just….I came to take you home.” 

“Why?”

He knows it’s cruel, putting Hanbin on the spot like this, he can see the struggle on his face but it’s too late, they were too far gone and he needs to know. Now or never.

“Because….I wanted you home.” 

He looks at Hanbin’s scared face and takes a step towards him. “Why?”

“Because I missed you.”

He shakes his head and keeps walking. “Not good enough. Why?”

“You know why.” 

He stops when they’re only an arms length away. “I told you, no more bullshit. Why did you come?”

To his credit, Hanbin doesn’t look away this time. The scared expression replaced with some kind of quiet defiance. “I came to get you back. I wanted you to come back.”

He wasn’t expecting Hanbin to be that blunt and honest. “Why?” He says, softer this time.

Hanbin scowls and punches him on the arm. “Now you’re just being annoying.”

He grins smugly, causing the cut on his lip to bleed again. “Yeah, I know. But tell me. Just this once.”

Hanbin rolls his eyes and sighs before reaching out to dab at the cut with the sleeve of his shirt. “Because I like you. You asshole.”

He uses his good arm to pull Hanbin forward until they’re inches apart. “See, it wasn’t that hard right?”

Hanbin grimaces, pretends to resist. “Because you weren’t the one saying it.”

“Okay. My turn, then?”

“No, you don’t have to say anything…”

“I’m an asshole and I like you too.”

The small dimple-smile that he gets in return is worth every hit he took. He holds Hanbin’s face with his good hand, taking his time to remember everything again. Just in case.

“Hi, baby.”

“Hi.” 

“Wanna go home now?”

“Yeah.”

Hanbin’s fingers find his, their bodies fitting neatly against each other’s as they walk back up the street and take the familiar stairs to the fourth floor. 

He lets out a loud sigh when they step inside the apartment. He was only gone for two weeks but it felt like so much longer. He missed everything, even the stupid wall clock that always ticks too loudly. He really just wants to dive head first into their bed but the grip on his arm pulls him from going any further. 

“You’re all sweaty and bloody. It’s kinda gross.” Hanbin says, screwing up his nose. 

He yawns, suddenly overcome by exhaustion as the long day catches up with him. Toeing off his Jordans he’s surprised at the way his feet automatically jam themselves into the Winnie The Pooh slippers by the door. They never even moved from their position in the line-up. 

He doesn’t remember that much after that. Hanbin draws him a bath, tapes a plastic bag around his right hand and makes him sit in the warm bubbles. He rests his head on a stack of towels and blinks sleepily. 

“I haven’t had anyone give me a bath since I was a kid.”

Hanbin snorts. “You’re still a kid.”

Hanbin’s fingers massage his scalp gently and he sighs as the warm water runs down his skin. “Mmmm, it’s nice.” 

“Jiwon?”

“Hrmm?”

“What happened at the club?”

“Some guy was talking shit.”

“That deserves a punch in the face does it?”

“He was talking shit about you.”

The damp towel scrubbing at the dried blood near his jaw pauses for a split second. “So what? You’re going to start a fight with every guy who talks shit about me?”

He shrugs. “Maybe. Depends on the shit.”

“Stupid…..so stupid….” Hanbin mutters. 

He hums in agreeance. 

“Hey, you got blood all over Richard Parker.” Hanbin says, holding out his right arm and scrubbing at all the dried blood splattered over his tiger tattoo. “Makes him look badass.”

“He was already a badass. He knows maths.”

Hanbin laughs and he smiles into the stack of towels, it splits his lip again but some pains really are worth it in the end.

****

Soundtrack for this chapter: 

The Scientist | ENL | Someone Like You (for Donghyuk)

#Cloudy With A Chance #those songs have some of the best lyrics #My favourite lyrics for a really long time was that line from The Scientist #because it's so true #especially for people who always try to use logic and reason on the heart #it doesn't work hahaha #Donghyuk's monologue is inspire by Chasing Amy (which is one of my favourite screenplays) #text #fic #double b #hanbin #bobby #ikon #cwac

[loafseat0-blog]

Breakfast Fried Grits with Sausage, Onion and Cheddar Cheese

Looking for a make-ahead breakfast or brunch recipe? These breakfast fried grits are loaded with sausage, onions and cheddar cheese. (Jump directly to the recipe.)

It’s been like the 1990s are back in my household as of late. It all started when I realized all the bands and artists that I listened to in college were doing reunions and recording new albums or re-releasing 25-year anniversary version of their classic albums. From Liz Phair’s Exile to Guyville to the Breeders and Belly reforming in their classic lineup and releasing new albums, to the third act of Tracey Thorn’s musical career (she’s amazing) my playlist looks like the mix tapes I made back in sophomore year of college. Then I realized TV shows were doing reboots of themselves, from X-Files to Will and Grace to the rumored Mad About You revival (they better bring back Cyndi Lauper and Ursula Buffay). Soon you’ll see me wearing stone washed jeans and flannel shirts (actually I started wearing this exact outfit about two years ago when I started taking ceramics at my community college, so that ship has sailed).

So it only makes sense that I would start revisiting the food from my college. And no, I’m not talking about instant ramen and grilled cheese (though I still have a soft spot for individually wrapped sliced cheese but don’t tell anyone that). I’m talking about the food that I would get post going out to the bars and clubs like waffles, biscuits and gravy, southern style grits and bacon. Total diner food that is so bad for you but also so very good. I don’t eat it much (just like I don’t go out the bars and clubs anymore) but I still have a nostalgia for it.

Then I had my mom over for brunch. I rarely have anyone over because our apartment is tiny. “Entertaining” someone with a meal usually means setting up the card table in the middle of our living room and covering it with a tablecloth I found at Marshall’s. Because we’re fancy like that. But it’s my mom and I had been meaning to having her over for awhile. Making brunch also means making a Brunch menu plan. And thus, I ended up making updated versions of the food from my college days. But better. Because I’m not getting any younger.

One of my favorite dishes that I made included fried grits. They’re adapted from a recipe in the cookbook One Good Dish from David Tanis. His original recipe was inspired by scrapple, a pan fried meat dish found in the Midwest and the East coast. He interpreted it using Italian sausage and polenta. I took it back to its breakfast roots, using stone ground grits and breakfast sausage. It’s my new favorite breakfast/brunch dish because it is mostly made ahead of time, with a quick pan fry right before serving. Like Tracey Thorn’s latest album Record, it’s a new classic with old school roots.

The idea of griddle frying grits isn’t new. You can find it all over the internet and in restaurants and cafes in the South. The hardest part of making this dish is the time in cooking stoneground grits ahead of time. You might be tempted to use instant grits but I implore you to skip them as they have all the flavor of kindergarten paste. You can find stoneground grits at well stocked grocery stores as well as online. It may take longer to make but you’ll be rewarded with actual flavor.

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup stoneground grits not instant – see headnote above

2 cups chicken stock or broth

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

2 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 medium garlic cloves minced

1/2 medium yellow onion chopped

3/4 pound bulk breakfast pork sausage or remove from casing if necessary

1/2 cup shredded Dubliner or Cheddar Cheese

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

To finish

2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

Place the grits, chicken stock, water, salt, pepper and butter in a medium to large pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover, cooking 30 minutes, stirring regularly to make sure the grits aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add the milk and continue to cook another 45 minutes, continuing to stir, increasing the frequency of stirring near the end of the cook time as the grits thicken. The grits porridge should be thick in the end, but tender and cooked completely through.

While the grits cook, place the oil in a pan with the garlic and onions. Cook on medium heat until the onions have softened and start to turn translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the breakfast sausage and cook until brown and no pink remains. Set aside to cool.

Once the grits are done cooking, removed from heat. Add the cheese, thyme and the cooked sausage, garlic and onion mixture to the grits. Stir to combine and taste (careful it will still be hot!) then add more salt and pepper to taste.

Lightly spray a 9 x 9 inch baking pan with cooking oil. Pour the grits into the pan and smooth out evenly. Let cool to room temperature then cover with aluminum foil and place in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, invert the pan onto a large cutting board. Cut into 9 square pieces (3 x 3) then cut each square in half into triangles. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet until it starts to shimmer then carefully place half the grits triangles in the pan. Reduce heat to medium then fry until golden brown on one side, then flip over and fry the other side until the same color. Move to a warm plate, cover with aluminum foil to keep warm and repeat with the remaining triangles of grits. Add more oil if the pan looks dry while pan frying

Source: https://www.eatthelove.com/fried-grits/

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

[creekerror44-blog]

Breakfast Fried Grits with Sausage, Onion and Cheddar Cheese

Looking for a make-ahead breakfast or brunch recipe? These breakfast fried grits are loaded with sausage, onions and cheddar cheese. (Jump directly to the recipe.)

It’s been like the 1990s are back in my household as of late. It all started when I realized all the bands and artists that I listened to in college were doing reunions and recording new albums or re-releasing 25-year anniversary version of their classic albums. From Liz Phair’s Exile to Guyville to the Breeders and Belly reforming in their classic lineup and releasing new albums, to the third act of Tracey Thorn’s musical career (she’s amazing) my playlist looks like the mix tapes I made back in sophomore year of college. Then I realized TV shows were doing reboots of themselves, from X-Files to Will and Grace to the rumored Mad About You revival (they better bring back Cyndi Lauper and Ursula Buffay). Soon you’ll see me wearing stone washed jeans and flannel shirts (actually I started wearing this exact outfit about two years ago when I started taking ceramics at my community college, so that ship has sailed).

So it only makes sense that I would start revisiting the food from my college. And no, I’m not talking about instant ramen and grilled cheese (though I still have a soft spot for individually wrapped sliced cheese but don’t tell anyone that). I’m talking about the food that I would get post going out to the bars and clubs like waffles, biscuits and gravy, southern style grits and bacon. Total diner food that is so bad for you but also so very good. I don’t eat it much (just like I don’t go out the bars and clubs anymore) but I still have a nostalgia for it.

Then I had my mom over for brunch. I rarely have anyone over because our apartment is tiny. “Entertaining” someone with a meal usually means setting up the card table in the middle of our living room and covering it with a tablecloth I found at Marshall’s. Because we’re fancy like that. But it’s my mom and I had been meaning to having her over for awhile. Making brunch also means making a Brunch menu plan. And thus, I ended up making updated versions of the food from my college days. But better. Because I’m not getting any younger.

One of my favorite dishes that I made included fried grits. They’re adapted from a recipe in the cookbook One Good Dish from David Tanis. His original recipe was inspired by scrapple, a pan fried meat dish found in the Midwest and the East coast. He interpreted it using Italian sausage and polenta. I took it back to its breakfast roots, using stone ground grits and breakfast sausage. It’s my new favorite breakfast/brunch dish because it is mostly made ahead of time, with a quick pan fry right before serving. Like Tracey Thorn’s latest album Record, it’s a new classic with old school roots.

The idea of griddle frying grits isn’t new. You can find it all over the internet and in restaurants and cafes in the South. The hardest part of making this dish is the time in cooking stoneground grits ahead of time. You might be tempted to use instant grits but I implore you to skip them as they have all the flavor of kindergarten paste. You can find stoneground grits at well stocked grocery stores as well as online. It may take longer to make but you’ll be rewarded with actual flavor.

Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup stoneground grits not instant – see headnote above

2 cups chicken stock or broth

2 cups water

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

2 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 cup whole milk

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 medium garlic cloves minced

1/2 medium yellow onion chopped

3/4 pound bulk breakfast pork sausage or remove from casing if necessary

1/2 cup shredded Dubliner or Cheddar Cheese

1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Salt and pepper to taste

To finish

2 to 4 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

Place the grits, chicken stock, water, salt, pepper and butter in a medium to large pan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cover, cooking 30 minutes, stirring regularly to make sure the grits aren’t sticking to the bottom of the pan. Add the milk and continue to cook another 45 minutes, continuing to stir, increasing the frequency of stirring near the end of the cook time as the grits thicken. The grits porridge should be thick in the end, but tender and cooked completely through.

While the grits cook, place the oil in a pan with the garlic and onions. Cook on medium heat until the onions have softened and start to turn translucent, about 3 minutes. Add the breakfast sausage and cook until brown and no pink remains. Set aside to cool.

Once the grits are done cooking, removed from heat. Add the cheese, thyme and the cooked sausage, garlic and onion mixture to the grits. Stir to combine and taste (careful it will still be hot!) then add more salt and pepper to taste.

Lightly spray a 9 x 9 inch baking pan with cooking oil. Pour the grits into the pan and smooth out evenly. Let cool to room temperature then cover with aluminum foil and place in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, invert the pan onto a large cutting board. Cut into 9 square pieces (3 x 3) then cut each square in half into triangles. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a large skillet until it starts to shimmer then carefully place half the grits triangles in the pan. Reduce heat to medium then fry until golden brown on one side, then flip over and fry the other side until the same color. Move to a warm plate, cover with aluminum foil to keep warm and repeat with the remaining triangles of grits. Add more oil if the pan looks dry while pan frying

Source: https://www.eatthelove.com/fried-grits/

#read more #see more #check it out #interesting #learn more

[faucetdouble51-blog]

72 Hours in Seattle

Hi, it’s Abby. My mom asked me to write an introduction for this post about our last-minute trip to Seattle a few weeks ago. I was invited to play in a soccer tournament there and this one was different than most because there was only one game a day, which means there was plenty of down time to explore a city. (That is how I convinced my mom to go.)  We flew out the morning after my last final and stayed with her college roommate, Jenn for three nights and three days. Mom already told you that the culinary highlight of our trip was eating a Dutch Baby with backyard raspberries in Jenn’s kitchen nook, but that doesn’t mean we didn’t pound some pavement in search of great food around town. Here, Mom and I take turns giving you a run-down of our packed 72 hours.

DAY 1: THURSDAY

1:00 [Jenny] I am forever in search of counter-service spots when I travel, especially for lunch, when you don’t want to spend an hour-plus lounging around while the sun shines on a brand new city that is calling for you. That’s why we dropped our bags at my friend Jenn’s house (in Ballard) at 12:45, then headed straight to The Fat Hen, a sweet, bright fast-casual spot that served avocado toasts, ricotta toasts, freshly squeezed juices, and good coffee. It killed us to forgo Frankie & Jo’s, the vegan ice cream shop sensation right across the street (they have multiple locations around the city) but we were saving room for dinner. FYI: Delancey — remember Delancey? — was right there, too. [Photo credit: Seattle Magazine]

2:30  [Abby] We walked from Fat Hen down 15th Street to Ballard Avenue, the main drag in Ballard, a neighborhood that reminded me of Brooklyn. There was a ton of stuff to do and a lot of fun shopping including a cool second-hand furniture store called Ballard Consignment, an aesthetically pleasing succulent store (I can’t remember the name, can someone help me?), and a trendy clothing place called Prism where my mom tried on a thousand dresses but ended up just buying my sister an iron-on patch for her jean jacket that said “Stay Wild Child.”

4:00 [Abby] We met up with my mom’s friend Jenn, who got out of work early for us, and headed to Golden Gardens Park for a walk. It was so beautiful! I got a virgin pina colada at Miri’s, a new cafe right on the beach. Also, even though everyone says Seattle weather is not so great, look at our sky! It was like that for most of the time we were there. (Here’s a tip to future travelers: Go there in late June, early July.)

5:30 [Jenny] I think the only reason why I agreed to take Abby to Seattle was so I could try to snag a table at The Walrus and the Carpenter, the original Renee Erickson French-style raw bar in Ballard that opened almost ten years ago and that I tried to get into during my last visit, only to be turned away by the long wait every time. This time I wasn’t messing around. At the very un-glamourous hour of 5:30, I dragged Abby, Jenn, and Jenn’s 15-year-old daughter Stella to dine on fried oysters and small plates in their bright happy space. FYI: Erickson has opened a bunch of other places in Capitol Hill, including a steakhouse Bateau, another oyster bar with the greatest electric mint color scheme (Bar Melusine), and stuffed doughnut mecca General Porpoise, which, for Abby, might’ve been more of a reason to go to Seattle than her soccer tournament. (More on that below.)

7:30 After dinner, we walked back up Ballard Avenue to get ice cream at Salt & Straw, the Portland-based makers who have won over legions of fans with their artisanal concoctions…think Fresh Sheep’s Cheese and Strawberries or Oregon Wasabi and Raspberry Sorbet. But the line was too long, and even though it was still early, we were on East Coast time, so we headed home to bed. (For those of you interested, here’s an interview with Salt & Straw founder Tyler Malek on the always awesome Bon Appetit’s Foodcast.)

DAY 2: FRIDAY

10:00 [Abby] I had a soccer game in Redmond (we won 4-0!) where the most exciting food moment of the morning was a pretzel that came with that fakey nacho cheese that is so delicious. We didn’t get to start exploring again until lunchtime and decided we wanted to spend the afternoon checking out Capitol Hill. First stop…

12:30…Rocket Taco for lunch, where we ate some of the best carnitas tacos I can remember.

1:45 It was Pride Month! We loved the rainbow crosswalks which made for especially good instagram posts. (That’s me with our friend Maylie. And this was at the intersection of East Pine and 10th Ave.)

2:30 [Abby] And of course, we had to hit Elliott Bay Books. My mom bought me a paperback copy of The Handmaid’s Tale — I’ve been watching the TV show and it’s very disturbing, but she said I’d like the book. (She wants me to tell you that for school I also had to read Hiroshima and Take the Cannoli)

3:01 [Abby] Then the funniest thing happened. I had been looking forward to going to the iconic General Porpoise Doughnuts from the moment we booked our flights — we practically planned our entire Capitol Hill outing around it — but when we got there at 3:01, we tried to open the door and it was locked. It closed at 3:00! For about ten seconds we were all super disappointed but then, out of nowhere, an employee walks outside and asked “Does anyone want a dozen free doughnuts?” I guess they like everything to be fresh, so at the end of the day, they give away what hasn’t sold instead of selling them the next day. That might’ve been the highlight of the trip. And those doughnuts were some of the best I’ve ever had– the vanilla stuffed ones especially!!

4:00 [Jenny] We hadn’t planned on it, but we decided to hit Pike Place Market (because: of course!) on our way home to Ballard from Capitol Hill. We bought fruit and a lovely flower arrangement for our lovely hosts, but for the most part we just walked up and down the long hallways and gaped at the offerings. Maybe the most amazing part was that I got a parking spot on Pike Place right in the middle of everything (across from the flagship Starbucks.) I kept looking at the spot and looking at the sign saying This is too good to be true (once a New Yorker always a New Yorker, I guess) but it was actually true. Over a month later, I’m still on a high from it.

6:30 [Jenny] I know this is hard to believe, but we still had more to eat. I’ve written about this before, but the way Abby and I go about planning where we want to eat in a new city is completely different. I go to tried-and-true sources like Bon Appetit City Guides or Eater’s Heat Maps. She goes right to instagram, searches by locations, then studies the grid until a particularly inspiring pastry or bowl of ramen shows up. That is how she landed on Fremont Bowl where we went with Jenn’s family. Abby’s review: “Crazy good Japanese bowls, with fish, chicken teriyaki, and so much more. I’m not really a tofu fan, but according to my mom she had the best tofu she’d ever had in her life at this place. Fremont’s a fun area to walk around, too.” She’s totally right, the fried house-made tofu that our friend Maylie ordered was off-the-hook delicious. I was psyched because right next door was Book Larder, a store that specializes in cookbooks and community culinary events, but sadly they were closed for a private event. I guess that’s as good an excuse as any to return to Seattle in the very near future.

DAY 3: SATURDAY 9:00 [Abby] Mom, Jenn, and Jenn’s husband, Ben went for an early run around Green Lake Park (about a 3-mile loop she says) then we all gorged on Jenn’s now legendary Dutch Babies and plotted the day. Ben pointed us in the direction of the giant Asian Market Uwajimaya which was awesome (Oh, before that, Mom stopped for another cup of coffee at Anchored Ship in Ballard) but we ended up eating around the corner at at Dough Zone due to some intense soup dumpling cravings, aka the best food in the world.  It’s a good thing my next soccer game wasn’t until 4:00 that afternoon. We pretty much rolled out of there. Those dumplings were amazing.

6:00 [Abby] After my soccer game (lost 2-1) we drove to Mulkiteo and caught a ferry to Whidbey Island, about 25 miles north of Seattle across the Puget Sound, where Jenn and Ben have the sweetest cabin. The ferry was only about 25 minutes, but involved spectacular views of islands and huge mountains in the distance.

7:30 We only had about 12 hours to hang on Whidbey, but we got a good taste of it, snacking on their porch (above), chilling out by the campfire for an epic sunset; Ben grilled some local salmon and hot dogs for dinner. The house only had two bedrooms so my mom and I got to sleep in a tent listening to the crackling campfire. 

. Side Note [Jenny] Those of you who follow me on instagram might remember this photo. Jenn and Ben were torturing themselves trying to decide what color to paint the cabin — they were going for a dark Scandinavian cottage look — so I conducted an insta poll asking which combo you all liked. Most of you were in favor of the navy/white palette, the third one down. Last week, she sent me this pic:

How beautiful is that?!?!?! They went with Sherwin Williams Inkwell for the house and Benjamin Moore Oxford White for the trim.

DAY 4 SUNDAY

8:30 [Abby] We had an early afternoon plane to catch, so didn’t have a ton of time to explore, but we did manage to squeeze in a walk on the beach and a quick trip to Langley, where we ate eggs and cinnamon rolls at Useless Bay Coffee, then took a walk to a dramatic sandbar called Seawall Park. The town was so charming! From there was a convenient shuttle from Whidbey to the Seattle Airport, and we were on our way home.

Boy you fed us well, Seattle. We miss you so much!

Related: 36 Hours in Austin; 36 Hours in Portland, Maine; 48 Hours in Montreal.

Source: http://www.dinneralovestory.com/72-hours-in-seattle/