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midzelink · 4 years

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What’s Going On with the Ears in Hyrule?

(Or: A Needlessly Comprehensive Deep-Dive into the Myst-EAR-ious Duality of Round-Eared Humans and Long-Eared Hylians, a Very S-EAR-ious Write-Up)

As some of you may remember from a few months back, I made an off-hand comment about my ideas surrounding the disparities between the different types of ears we see in Hyrule’s human citizens, and my desire to further expand on that at a later date. No, that was not a joke, and yes, I am finally Doing the Dang Thing. So! Let’s get started.

Long-time fans of the series will know that Hylians are a race of humans in the world of The Legend of Zelda with long, elf-like ears. Hylians most always dominate the land of Hyrule in nearly every installment in the series, with round-eared humans only making their first appearance in Link’s Awakening, a game that - spoiler alert - was all a dream in the first place. And though plain old humans again appear in the lands of Holodrum and Labrynna in the follow-up Oracle games, it is very in keeping with the theme of this blog that their most notable appearance happens to be in Twilight Princess.

Though it is never remarked upon in-game, Link is the only Hylian in a village filled with humans, such as Ilia and Rusl, leading the player to assume that he was not Ordon-born. Other notable examples include Ashei, who hails from the mountains, and even the inhabitants of (New) Kakariko (though only three in number) are all mere humans. The Hylians of this game seem to be centralized around Castle Town, with notable members including Telma, Shad, and Auru of the Resistance, and naturally, Zelda herself. Yet as I’ve already stated, the fact that there are two different sets of ears among the humans is never even a topic of conversation; it makes you wonder why the developers bothered to make the distinction at all, and indeed, plenty of fans have never even noticed that such a disparity exists. I certainly didn’t notice when I was ten years old, playing through Twilight Princess for the very first time - but we’ve come a long way since then, and I am delighted to finally be able to tell everyone why I think this disparity exists, and how it has bled into other aspects of the series. Let’s back away from Twilight Princess for a moment; all good theories have a beginning, and this one is no different. To understand where this all began, we must look thousands of years into the past, to Skyward Sword. More specifically, this all started...

...with this guy.

Yes, Beedle. That Beedle. But before we can even jump into how he relates to any of this, we must travel further back still, to the very opening cutscene of Skyward Sword.

In this cutscene, we hear a very dumbed-down tale of how Demise invaded the surface world that was ruled over by the Goddess Hylia; to protect the sacred relic placed into her care by the Golden Goddesses, Hylia rends a piece of land from the earth and sends it skyward, leaving the Goddess Sword and the Triforce with it. Together with the remaining peoples of the Surface, she seals Demise away, and millennia later the events of Skyward Sword transpire. The entirety of this cutscene is not in and of itself very important, but I would like to draw everyone’s attention to one particular line uttered by the narrator during this sequence:

“To prevent this great power from falling into the hands of the evil swarming the lands… The goddess gathered the surviving humans on an outcropping of earth.”

It is worth noting here that - though the word “Hylian” itself only appears in reference to the shield which bears its name - Skyloft is comprised entirely of people with long ears. Keeping these things in mind, let’s go back to Beedle.

Beedle is, by all intents and purposes, a fairly unremarkable character in Skyward Sword. That is to say, outside of providing Link with goods throughout his adventure, he bears no significance on the plot in any capacity, having only a single sidequest that involves retrieving a pet beetle (snickers) of his, for which the player’s reward is a small sum of Gratitude Crystals. But there is one, throwaway line of completely optional dialogue you can trigger towards the beginning of this sidequest, and it is upon this line that the entire basis for this theory has been built. When meeting Beedle on his home island apart from Skyloft for the very first time, the player is given the option...

...to comment on his accent.

[after selecting “Your accent!”] “Hmmm? The mellifluous timbre of my voice sounds different to you?

...Perhaps a touch, I suppose... But pray, what does it matter, hmm?”

What’s important to understand about accents is how they come about to begin with: namely, slight differences in pronunciation and rhythm of speech evolve over time as the language (in this case, some form of ancient Hylian) spreads to different locations. And of course, everyone who uses spoken language has an accent, but Link’s remarking upon Beedle’s is an indication that his pattern of speech is different from his own. In most other games, this would be unextraordinary - but in the context of Skyward Sword, where humanity has been isolated to a (relatively speaking) small outcropping of earth in the sky, it becomes extremely noteworthy. No one in Skyloft should have “an accent,” because theirs is a society and culture so small in scale that they should all have the same accent. Beedle having an accent makes sense if, and only if...

...he’s not from Skyloft.

And if he’s not from Skyloft, the logical conclusion would be that he must be from the Surface. In almost any other circumstance, this assertion would be smashed to smithereens by the sheer fact that getting to Skyloft without a Loftwing - companions blessed only to those who live in the sky - should be an unattainable feat. And yet, of all the people in Skyloft, Beedle is the only one who could have achieved such a thing...

...because his shop - which conveniently doubles as his house - is an electricity-powered flying machine. Within the context of the game, such a contraption seems almost nonsensical; if he were from Skyloft, why would he not just set up shop in a permanent location? Even if he wanted to live on a smaller island by himself, the people of Skyloft could simply use their Loftwings to reach him (which they still need to do, anyway!). Indeed, the existence of Beedle’s Shop makes far more sense...if it already existed by the time he arrived there.

Which brings us back to that introductory cutscene. The narrator states that Hylia gathered up all of the surviving humans (notice the use of the word humans here) onto an outcropping of earth and sent them skyward, and on a surface level, this seems straight-forward enough - but with the revelation that Beedle is very likely from the Surface himself, it’s very obvious that this is nothing more than a bold-faced lie. Some humans were left behind - they couldn’t all possibly have fit on such a small piece of land - and those humans were the ancestors of Beedle, in some way, shape, or form. What became of those humans is another matter altogether (one I will address briefly), as the Surface we explore in Skyward Sword is perfectly devoid of human life, barring Impa.

Now, let’s bring it back home: remember how I said that all Skyloftians have long ears? That was a bit of a white lie, though only if you count Beedle among that number. In truth, Beedle’s ears are obscured by the bowl cut of his hair - but this is true for every game he appears in, and the general consensus is that they’re round. This would make Beedle the only round-eared human in the entire game...and he, coincidentally, happens to be from the Surface.

Before I go any further, I’d like to establish a very base reasoning for the existence of long-eared qualities in the human races of Hyrule. Hylians are far from the only ones to bear long ears, what with the trait also presenting themselves in the likes of the Sheikah and, by the era of Breath of the Wild, even the Gerudo - though it is exceptionally notable that in Ocarina of Time, the Gerudo have round ears, and Ganondorf is no exception...at least, at first.

Y’see, what’s especially notable about Ganondorf is that he is the same exact character is each title he appears in, and in The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, his ears are long. This was actually something I only noticed quite recently, upon which I then fervently began scouring for information about his appearance in Ocarina of Time to try and make sense of it all, and the results are...very intriguing, to say the least. Below is a comparison of Ganondorf pre-timeskip vs. post-timeskip from the original Nintendo 64 version of the game:

As you can see, his model has changed in a number of ways, but... Well, I’m sure you can see where I’m going with this.

Amazingly, his ears got longer, which is...an interesting choice from a design perspective. Of course, it leads one to wonder why - and far and above the most significant thing to happen to him in the seven years between these two appearances is his procuring of the Triforce of Power from the Sacred Realm, a relic of the old gods. Evil or no, Ganondorf had forged a bond with a god unlike any had before him, and for some reason, this elongated his ears - so much so that by the time of Twilight Princess and The Wind Waker, they are indistinguishable from your typical Hylian’s. It is notable, too, that the Sheikah (who have always had long ears) also bear a special connection to the gods, living to serve Hylia and, later, her reincarnation as the princess in the Royal Family of Hyrule.

“They say we Hylians have big ears in order to hear the voices of the gods.”

So now, keeping everything I’ve talked about here in mind, I think it appropriate to go over the series of events that likely transpired, beginning from Demise’s invasion of the surface world:

In a bid to keep the Triforce out of evil’s grasp, Hylia formulates a plan to send both it and the Goddess Sword out of harm’s way. She selects - perhaps by chance, perhaps by choice - a not insignificant number of humans to live on this skyward isle, but naturally not all of them can make the cut. These chosen humans would go on to found Skyloft, a land whose culture revolves heavily around the reverence of the very goddess who saved them and enabled them to live in prosperity (the existence of the Wing Ceremony, the Statue of the Goddess, etc.), while the humans who remained on the surface, left in a world scarred by war and ravaged by monsters, sought new lands, becoming the ancestors of people who would found Holodrum and Labrynna, to name a couple. In their reverence of Hylia, the people of Skyloft would develop long ears, as even the Sheikah had - but the humans left on the surface world...would not.

That is to say, the Hylians we see in almost every major installment of the series are the direct descendants of the people of Skyloft, and round-eared humans are the descendants of the people Hylia left behind.

Of course, not all humans fled from their homeland - though we see none in-game, it’s important to remember that we also see no Sheikah aside from Impa, though we know they are great in number. Beedle was, undoubtedly, one of these very few stragglers, and with stories of a land beyond the clouds on his mind - legends that have been passed down over countless generations - he sought to find this paradise by any means, through sheer blood, sweat, and tears (but mostly sweat, if that cycling is any indication) if necessary. In the end, he was successful, and he lives among the people of Skyloft fairly unassumingly - yet he also lives apart from them, on his own island because, at his core, he is not one of them, and never will be. He doesn’t get all of this Hylia stuff, and frankly, he doesn’t care - so long as he can chill on his own little crop of land with a full belly, a full wallet, and his pet beetle, that’s really all that matters.

And speaking of Hylia - the reason they are called Hylians is because they are the descendants of those chosen by Hylia, even if the knowledge of Hylia’s existence has largely been lost to history by the events of Ocarina of Time and beyond. (In a very similar vein, it is my belief that Lake Hylia also gets its name from her because the crater that would later become that very lake was formed...when she lifted a gargantuan outcropping of earth into the sky.) Hylians largely dominate Hyrule for so much of its history because the people of Skyloft were the ones who founded it - yet by the era of Twilight Princess, we see that a great many of the humans who had moved onto different lands have slowly but surely made their way back towards the place they once called home.

But I would be remiss to neglect to go back to Breath of the Wild; this game is a much more peculiar case, taking place in an era many millennia after any game that came before it, where reverence for Hylia is once again commonplace - so much so that statues bearing her resemblance have been erected in every town, village, and city across the country. Humans are once again practically nowhere to be seen (except, again, perhaps for Beedle), and even the Gerudo, who have now long intermingled with Hylians for the sake of having children, have inherited the trait (perhaps in part due to the fact that some of their own may worship Hylia, if the statue in Gerudo Town is any indication). In every single instance, no matter where you turn, these long ears seem to be a direct correlation to the people’s connection to the gods of Hyrule - but rather than their ears being a predetermined factor in how strong this connection may be, it seems that their faith is what influences this trait to rise to the surface, over how ever many generations or centuries that just might take. (Ganondorf Dragmire, who lives in a castle and inherited a relic of pure godly power, is an outlier and should not be counted.) As Shad so eloquently states in Twilight Princess:

“Hyrule was made by the Hylians, who, as we all know, are the closest race to the gods.”

And as long as we’re talking about Shad, I’d love to begin wrapping up this post by bringing things round to Twilight Princess once more - specifically the context in which Shad says the above quote, which is far and away one of the most peculiar instances of casual lore-dumping in the entire series. The quote in its entirety from the North American version of the game reads thusly:

“At the moment I'm absolutely entranced by the sky beings known as the Oocca. Yes, according to legend, Hyrule was made by the Hylians [...] But also according to legend, long ago there was a race even closer to the gods, and some say these creatures made the Hylians. When they created the people of Hylia, they simultaneously created a new capital, a city that floated in the heavens.”

What Shad is saying here is extremely farfetched, particularly for those of us who are familiar with the Oocca. But in truth, this was a minor mistranslation on Nintendo of America’s part; the original text from the Japanese version of the game clears actually reads much more like this, when translated correctly:

“The common opinion is that Hyrule was created by the Hylia people, the race closest to the gods, but...truth be told, there's also a theory saying that in ancient times, there was a race even closer to the gods than the Hylia people, and THEY created it [Hyrule]. And they, simultaneously with the birth of the Hylia people, created a new capital, a capital that floated in the heavens.”

So the Oocca - the bizarre, Cucco-like creatures who inhabit the City in the Sky - did not create the Hylians, but rather established the kingdom of Hyrule itself in the world that the goddesses created. But even with this mistranslation squared away, that still sounds incredibly odd, especially taking the events of Skyward Sword into account; we know that the people of Skyloft are the ones who inevitably found Hyrule, because we see the beginnings of this happening at the end of the game. Funnily enough, it seems that the very line that was mistranslated in the North American version of the game...was the result of mistranslation itself.

In-universe mistranslation, that is. Millennia of history being told, written, lost, and found, translated again and again and again, until it barely resembles its original state. What likely happened was that the Oocca, who live in the sky, were wrongly credited with the creation of Hyrule because the Hylian people who would go on the found Hyrule also came from the sky, as they were the people of Skyloft. Shad’s claim that the Oocca were “a race even closer to the gods" than the Hylians may not be entirely unfounded, however, as it is incredibly likely like the City in the Sky we see in Twilight Princess is what remained of Skyloft after its human inhabitants abandoned it; the Loftwings that the people of Skyloft had for so long relied on would go on to evolve into more sentient beings, suspending the city above the clouds long after Hylia’s magic had worn off - and Loftwings were, as the people of Skyloft believed, beings bestowed upon them as a symbol of the goddess’s divine blessing. In this sense, it is somewhat true that the City in the Sky and the Hylians were created at the same time; when the Skyloftians abandoned their home to live in a new land where they were not long after christened the Hylians, the skyward isle that they had left behind found a new purpose, and a new “city” was born.

Of course, maybe Shad was off his marbles (even if the Oocca are evolved Loftwings, there is still much about them and their connection to the Sheikah that remains shrouded in mystery), but the crux of this entire narrative is that the people of Hylia, the Hylians - at least, up until Breath of the Wild is concerned - were the descendants of the people of Skyloft, and Beedle’s eccentricities in the context of Skyward Sword are rather convincing pieces of evidence that this did not comprise all people of the formerly-known-as “Land of Hylia.” It is therefore only natural that a conclusion could be drawn about where the distinction between the two peoples comes from.

But in the end, even if this can answer the question of why there are round-eared humans alongside long-eared ones, it does not answer the ultimate question of what this distinction means. Why does a connection with and a faith in the gods elongate the ears of the people it touches? The Zelda Encyclopedia states that “in the past, Hylians were able to wield magic of considerable might,” a trait that could possibly distinguish them from your typical human being - but the canon nature of the Encyclopedia is...shaky*, at best, and downright disrespectful at worst. Link and Zelda are two Hylians we see wielding abnormal abilities, but their power can be explained with their respective pieces of the Triforce, not to mention the countless magic users in Hyrule and beyond who aren’t Hylian. Even if there was a time when the Hylians had special abilities, those abilities have long since faded. They are no no taller, no smaller, live no longer than their round-eared counterparts; they are, in every aspect aside from the length of their ears, in every way identical. To finish the quote by the unnamed Hylian man who speaks to a young Link in the Castle Town Market in Ocarina of Time:

“They say we Hylians have big ears in order to hear the voices of the gods...but I've never heard them!”

So...there you have it. I must admit that it is entirely possible that the people of Skyloft had developed long ears before their ancestors had been sent to the heavens - after all, the Sealed Temple was, in millennia past, a temple erected in her honor. Yet this would also make the story of Hylia gathering the “surviving humans” in order to save them all the more grim; could the gods be so callous as to save only those who respect their divine might? One cannot help but think of the Great Sea in The Wind Waker - for in a world populated by the descendants of those who were chosen by the gods to survive the coming floods, it is difficult not to notice that ears of the round variety are once again nowhere to be found.

And yet, when you get right down to it - though some Hylians seem to rely on their lineage as “the closest race to the gods” to maintain an image of self-importance - the difference between a long-eared Hylian and a round-eared human appears to be, ultimately...only that. And unless we see our round-eared friends return in a potentially future title, and the difference remarked upon, that will likely be how things remain.

Until that time, I will continue to do my best to fill the gaps with which we have been left - even if, at the end of the day, I’ve written nothing more than a meaningless, nine-page word jumble...about ears.

EDIT (5/9/2020): It has been brought to my attention (courtesy of @heartenvy) that there is a mild inconsistency with the narrative that Beedle could be from the Surface: namely, the “unbreachable” Cloud Barrier, something Hylia herself created to divide Skyloft from the Surface and keep its inhabitants and the Triforce safe. However, I would argue that the Cloud Barrier is not a physical barrier so much as it is a mystical one, meant to both keep its location secret (the barrier itself is completely invisible from the Surface) and to ensure the people of Skyloft remain complacent in their isolation (believing Skyloft is all there is, they remain there, and in so doing their long-forgotten secrets are kept safe). Zelda is pulled through it long before any proper portals are actually opened, and I would argue that the portals (that is, the pillars of light that appear when we place the corresponding tablets) are largely a gameplay mechanic meant to keep the story linear, as in a real setting Link would have simply ridden his Loftwing to and from the Surface and would have been able to fly anywhere he chose. It’s possible the barrier acts to keep out evildoers, specifically (which would explain why Ghirahim had to summon a vortex to pull Zelda through it, where he could reach her), or, not unlike the Isla de Muerta in Pirates of the Caribbean, Skyloft could very well be “an island that cannot be found except by those who already know where it is” - which, to me, makes the narrative of Beedle finding his way there all the more entertaining (the dude must have been, like, super determined). In any case, I stand by what I’ve stated before: that Beedle is from the Surface, as his accent and the peculiarities of his shop make too strong a case to ignore.

* * * * *

*The Zelda Encyclopedia states that Termina is a Dream World, despite Link’s Awakening having already done this and in a much more satisfying way. I can’t take anything it says seriously.

(Special thanks to @ghiirahiims for the high-res screenshot of Beedle, and shoutout to @gaybellatrix for in no small part convincing me to finally sit down and write this all up.)

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cutiecrates · 3 years

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Cutie Reviews: Sakuraco March 21

I’m so sorry anyone who was waiting for this DX after getting it I realized that I should take a day or two enjoying everything, rather then opening it all at once. I got it Tuesday so my goal was to get it up Wednesday, then Thursday.

So then wouldn’t you know, when I got to begin working on this the first time, my laptop decides it don’t want to cooperate. Anyway, it seems to be fine again so we’re going to get into this. I hope you’re excited!

For anyone who might be unfamiliar with the blog, or hasn’t seen my post covering this new branding. Sakuraco is by the popular Japanese-themed series of subscription boxes from Tokyo Treat. What makes this different from their normal snack box, is that this one is more focused on the local unique items that you usually wouldn’t see outside of Japan, elegant snacks for tea, pastries, pretty utensils, and so on.

As a reminder, I was given an offer that grants me a bonus of 4 items. These seem to range to unique items and some repeats of the box content.

“Over the past year, our team has worked hard preparing Sakuraco and we are eager to finally share our hard work with you! While this year has been full of challenges for many, we hope to bring you a moment of indulgence and cultural discovery that you’ll look forward to every month.“

Before I get into the contents I wanted to take a moment to go over the book. It’s really thick, which made me start theorizing that this could be why the other brand booklets became thinner around this time last year. You might have seen me comment on that in some reviews.

Inside the book you get a greeting page, and a page featuring the team who worked on the box. We get pages covering the items in the box, the month’s theme and various special things about Japan; such as a page on Niigata prefecture, and pages related to Hanami/Cherry Blossom Viewing. Lastly, there is the photo contest page, and some social media stuff. The book also covers the makers of the items, if they are Vegetarian friendly, and have any allergens.

Sweet Sakura Tea

Our first two items are tea drinks, one was a bonus however, so I won’t be going into detail as I can’t exactly tell what it was supposed to be. This one however, was one of the main vocal points of the box, and very exciting! This tea only requires this pickled sakura/cherry blossom flower and very hot water. As you combine the two, the flower opens and you’re free to drink it. You can also re-use the flower to bake with if you wanted.

This tea comes from Japan Green Tea Center in Tokyo. This is vegetarian and includes no allergens.

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I hope I don’t offend anyone, but I didn’t like this. I mean, I don’t like tea very much to begin with but this doesn’t even taste like tea- it tasted like the salty water I throw together and gargle with when I have mouth work done, or throat soreness. It was really pretty to watch/try, but it’s taste isn’t for me. I guess I just have an immature palette.

Sakura Konpeito

In this box, we’ll also be seeing some items exclusively made for/by it. This was our first of those items, little konpeito (sugar candies resembling little stars, those things Mario collects in the Mario Galaxy series). These are by Sasaki Confections, veg friendly and no allergens.

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You’ve tried one basic konpeito, you have tried them all. I like how these ones are smaller though, and their colors are so pretty~

Sakura Monaka & Strawberry Castella

I decided to only name the items the box is supposed to have, rather then add in the names of the bonus items. The reason this plate looks so full is because the Monaka came in 2 shapes, and the small pink thing is a bonus item. It’s a little piece of mochi, I think specifically ohagi. It’s small and the very cute, it was also fun to squish both in and out of the package :D I’m not sure about the flavor, it seems to be plain/sugary, but there’s a hint of something vaguely like coconut.

Next up is the baby Dorayaki nearby. Not much to say, it was very basic with red bean filling, just several times smaller than normal.

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Next up, the Monaka, which as I said above came in 2 shapes and features a cute print resembling a cup or bowl with a brush used to whisk matcha. This one’s by Ito Confectionery in Nagano, veg friendly, no allergens. Filled with red bean, it has notes of sakura and a thin, melt in your mouth pink wafer outside.

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I like the taste of wafer, which is pretty non-existent. These are especially soft and melty, they stick to your lips a little. I can’t really confirm the scent of the sakura (my nose isn’t very reliable <3< it only works some times), but the red bean filling is very tasty, so I’d like to say it’s in there. I usually don’t entirely enjoy red bean, but it didn’t bother me here.

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The castella is a thin cake-like sandwich usually filled with cream, in this case strawberry! This is by Nisshindo Confectionery in Nagano, veg friendly, but it has soybeans, milk, egg, and flour in it. The cake itself is made from brown sugar, and it has a very light, airy texture.

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It seems kind of plain/basic when you look at it, and you don’t really get much cream. But it was still tasty in a gentle, delicate kind of way. Some people might say it’s underwhelming, but it offers a nice contrast to the other contents and you can still taste the cream.

Sakura Madeleine, White Peach Castella, & Uji Matcha Castella

(sorry for the lighting, it was the next morning when I took this picture)

The madeleine comes from Ebisu Confectionery in Osaka. Veg friendly, but it has the same allergens as those listed above. You can see an image of it opened in the next pic, but I’ll talk about it here. It has sakura extract worked into the dough prior to baking. It resembles a muffin, or non-decorated cupcake.

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I actually can’t remember this one in exact detail, but I know I liked it. It offered that hint of Sakura in a good way, and had a fluffy texture.

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These other two are another type of Castella Cake, which basically resemble a slice of plain cake. One is made from matcha/green tea, while the other is white peach. Both come from Ash Food Confectionery, located in Okayama. Both veg friendly, but they have the same allergens already listed, plus peach.

The matcha cake features a red beans baked into the dough, while the white peach uses peach puree.

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Both were very delicious x3 the cake was soft and moist, they tasted very fresh. I’m not big on green tea but I didn’t hate that one at all, I LOVED the peach one a lot though. It was sweet and the peach flavor was very noticeable. I’d recommend it out of the two, but both were winners in my book :3

Strawberry Dorayaki & Sakura Strawberry Crepe Roll

The madeleine ended up here because I completely forgot I already took it’s picture. I reviewed it above, so just try to ignore it’s presence here. Also, the plate you see being used was included with the box :3 isn’t it lovely~?

I’ll start with the crepe as there isn’t much to say, it’s in the packaging beneath the other two. It was all broken apart so I left it in the pack until I wanted to eat it. It comes from Nakajima Taishodo in Osaka, veg friendly, typical allergens. It has sakura worked into the batter to provide scent, and thin strawberry filling prior to being rolled up.

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Broken or not it still tasted good. The flavoring was light but noticeable, so I enjoyed it.

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Our dorayaki comes from Hiyoshi Confectionery in Shimane, featuring the semi-sweet, pancake-esque treat (another type of castella) with strawberry jam and red bean filling. Veg friendly, features flour and egg allergens.

The booklet suggests eating this with the sakura tea as it should enhance the flavors of the filling.

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It’s on the dry side, not enough to make someone choke. The pancake outside has a faint maple scent and it’s not very sweet, and I can’t really say I was a big fan of the filling. It only tastes like red bean to me, I couldn’t notice any sign of strawberry.

Peach Sandwich, Red Bean Taiyaki, & Sakura Mochi Monaka

Our first snack comes from Bankokuya in Kagoshima, veg friendly, typical allergens; but oddly, no peach allergen. There is traces of alcohol in it though, which I didn’t even notice. It’s a simple, cake-like sandwich filled with peach cream.

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The cake outside has a grainy, sugary texture which I wasn’t a huge fan of. But the cake is soft and the peach filling was sweet and fluffy~

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Next up is a Monaka with mochi filling, from Tenkei Confectionery in Nagano. Veg friendly, includes egg. The monaka wafer is filled with a red bean mochi flavored with sakura petals baked inside,

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For as much as I like unique textures, I found this to be... too unique for me. The combination of crispy wafer didn’t go with the soft and squishy mochi inside. The mochi wasn’t my favorite either, but it wasn’t bad.

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Our last item here is another Sakuraco exclusive, a red bean taiyaki created by Haraya in Shimame. Veg friendly, typical allergens. Taiyaki is a fluffy, soft snack similar to the dorayaki (minus the maple flavoring), which is usually filled with red bean, cream, or chocolate. There’s even a special pan one can purchase in order to make them, and they are very popular.

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It’s soft and maybe a little dry, but I was mainly impressed with the detail on it, given how small it is. It’s really cute x3 Again, I’m not the biggest fan of red bean, and this was filled with it. So if you like it, you’d probably love this, but if you never tried it before or are like me, it’s sort of a meh thing.

Sakura Senbei, Sakura Shrimp Senbei, & Sakurasen Cracker

Believe it or not, but we do get some savory items in here too! I love rice, especially when it’s in senbei form like this. These are each made by different companies and locations, so let’s start with the mini-sakura, shall we?

These are by Sakurado Confectionery in Niigata, and surprisingly are not veg friendly- because they include shrimp, flour, soybeans, and gelatin. They include soy sauce flavoring.

♥ ♥ ♥

Besides being really cute, they were pretty good. I wanted to love these and thought I would... but there is a shrimpiness that I could identify even without knowing it was in them. I used to like shrimp but for some reason I can’t stand it now. It bothered me a little, but it wasn’t a deal breaker.

- - - - -

Our rounded senbei comes from Sugi Confectionery in Aichi. It’s not veg friendly, and is made from flour, soybean, and squid. It has a mellow flavor and is a season limited edition item for Spring only, featuring the taste of Sakura.

The sakura-shaped senbei is from Kanazawa Kenroku Confectionery in Mie. Contains shrimp, not veg friendly.

♥

I felt the same way about both of them honestly. I tasted the fishiness so I really couldn’t tolerate them very much. Especially the round one, it’s crunch bordered on being unpleasant for me, but I loved the puffy-crunch of the other one. While they weren’t my favorites of the box, my mom (an avid seafood lover) liked them, in fact I think they perked her up a little that day when I gave them to her. She returned from chemo and was pretty hungry.

Yoshino Kuzamochi

I saved this item for last because I was the most excited for it! This one comes from Nakajima Taishodo again. Kuzamochi is like a stiff jello, usually with little taste that you enhance using things such as a caramel, maple, or brown sugar sauce and/or kinako powder, which tastes a bit like peanut butter in my opinion. It contains soy beans (you roast them to get kinoko powder), and is veg friendly.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

I know it doesn’t look very aesthetically pleasing (I made a little heart on top though~) but it tastes so yummy! The plain kuzamochi didn’t have much flavor, but adding both the sauce and kinako really adds to it. The brown sugar makes it sweet, while the kinako adds a gentle, toasty earthiness. The texture might be a little off-putting to some, given it’s jello-ish consistency, but I loved it.

Opinions

Content - 3 out of 5. One thing was broken but otherwise everything was great. I did have a couple of items I didn’t particularly like the taste of but it was so exciting to try everything!

Theme: 4.5 out of 5. It was an elegant feeling box, by that I mean, seeing all the flowery inspiration and items. It was kind of nice how the first box they made actually matched up with the name, but that was probably just a coincidence. There was a couple of items that didn’t fit the theme, but that’s a bit trivial.

Total Rank: 8 out of 10 Cuties. For the first box, I thought it was just lovely. As I said, I had some complaint over taste but you can’t please everyone. I was so excited to get this box, everything was fun to try, and I love learning more about Japan so I appreciate how full our booklet is x3 I can tell they put a lot of effort into making this box, so I can’t wait to see what else they have in store for us!

#sakuraco #cutie reviews

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ryqoshay · 4 years

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How to Handle a Nico: Pomme d’Maki

Primary Pairing: NicoMaki Words: ~2.4k Rating: K with just a hint of T Time Frame: Late during Maki’s 2nd year and Nico’s 4th year in college. Story Arc: Stand Alone

Author’s Note: I’m late for my timezone, but it’s still the 14th somewhere in the world! So... yay? Happy Velentine’s Day!

“Ne, Maki-chan.”

“Mmm?” The named redhead looked up from her book to see her raven-haired girlfriend leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Got any plans for the 14th?”

“The 14th?”

Wait for it. Nico knew Maki was in studying mode and it would take a moment for her to register the significance of… oh, there she goes. That’s the reaction she wanted.

“I thought that much would be obvious.” The younger girl stated.

“You thought what would be obvious?” The older girl couldn’t help teasing.

“Mohhh…” Maki protested. “It’s obvious that I’m going to go on a date with my girlfriend.”

Nico had to admit she was impressed Maki made it through the statement without stuttering. Of course, she also blessed Nico with an adorable blush as well, which always made the teasing worth it. Even after over a year of being together, officially, Maki would still get embarrassed when talking about their relationship, and Nico couldn’t help exploiting that fact for her cute reactions.

“Just like last year.” Maki added.

And technically, the year before that. Nico thought to herself. And the year before that. And the year before that…

“I thought Maki-chan didn’t have time for dates.” Just like last year. And the year before that. And…

Maki shot her a deadpan look. Cute.

“I suppose I could just stay in and study.” Maki stated flatly.

And that was exactly what Nico wanted her to say.

“You know, staying in might not be such a bad idea…” Nico pondered, complimenting her contemplative tone by putting a finger to her chin and glancing upward.

“Wha? Wait, I thought…” Maki protested.

“Valentine’s Day is to celebrate romance and couples and lovely dovely stuff, right?”

“Well, yeah…”

“But Nico is an idol, so Nico can’t be doing that kind of stuff.”

Now Maki tilted her head to the side. She had been able to return fire for the initial volley of teasing, but now she was confused. “We’ve been dating for over a year…” she pointed out.

“And we’ve gotten off lucky so far, but Nico can only make so many excuses.”

“Have your producers been accusing you of anything?”

“There are always going to be rumors, especially about the two of us, since we’ve been so close, even before we started dating.”

“So… do you not want to go on a date on Valentine’s?” There was no mistaking the disappointment in Maki’s voice.

“Of course Nico wants to spend time with her favoritest Maki-chan on Valentine’s.” Nico assured. “But maybe keeping a low profile this year might help me combat some of those rumors?”

“I suppose…”

“So, this year, how about we celebrate here?” Nico suggested. “I’ll make a super special Valentine’s meal for us. And you know, tomatoes are red and that’s one of the big colors of the holiday so…”

The change in demeanor was immediate. A home cooked meal made by her favorite chef and using her favorite ingredient was a temptation Maki seldom passed up. “I guess it can’t be helped.” The younger girl decided, turning her prior disappointment into some return teasing.

“I’ll be sure to decorate this place.” The older girl offered. “And we can still dress up. Maybe you can see what else your friend has in her closet?”

“You know I moved some of my own stuff from home. A while ago, in fact.”

“Well Nico can’t wait to see what Maki-chan chooses.” A timer going off caught her attention. “Oh, dinner’s done. Help me set the table.”

Maki nodded, closed her textbook and followed her girlfriend into the kitchen.

“Welcome home!” Nico called from the kitchen as she heard the door open. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” She added, knowing the identity of the new arrival without needing to see her.

“That smells delicious, Nico-chan.” Maki replied from the entry as she removed her shoes. “And the decorations are very… you.”

Nico chuckled at the observation. “Just trying to match Maki-chan’s Christmas zeal.”

Though delivered in a teasing tone, there was a lot of truth in the statement. Nico’s passion for the holiday had historically been strictly idol related, until she fell for Maki and it took on a new meaning for her. Then they started dating and it became her second favorite holiday overall, edged out ever so slightly by Maki’s birthday.

Nico smiled as she heard her girlfriend take a deep breath as she entered the kitchen.

“I’d tell you not to peek and ruin the surprise, but Nico knows she has more cards up her sleeves than just what you see here.”

“Tomato soup?” Nico could practically hear the salivation in Maki’s tone.

“Not just any tomato soup; Provencal tomato rice soup.”

“French?”

“Yup. Home of the pomme d’amour.”

“Home?” Maki closed the distance between the two and slid an arm around the other girl. “I thought tomatoes came from the Americas? Southern and Central?”

Nico giggled. Of course Maki would know her tomato history. “Yeah, but France is where they got the name.” She explained before turning her head to accept the kiss she knew her girlfriend wanted. “And Valentine’s is a day to celebrate love, thus pomme d’amour. Oh, and these are real pomme d’amours.”

“Pommes d’amour.” Maki corrected. “The apples are the plural, not the love.”

“Nico’s love for Maki-chan is plural.”

“I-I… I don’t get it?”

Nico laughed at her girlfriend's adorable reaction. “But as I was saying, these tomatoes are actually from France.”

“You had tomatoes shipped from France?”

“Well, their seeds at least. They’re a hybrid based off the Marmande and are called Marbonne.”

“You grew them?” Maki’s glance found the living room and drifted toward the hallway leading to the bedrooms. “Where? In Nozomi’s room?”

“At Eli’s. Hey!” Nico swatted Maki’s hand away. “When did you get that spoon?”

“I just…”

“You’ll be able to have as much as you want in a moment.” Nico pointed to the table. “Go sit down and I’ll bring this out and we can have a proper meal. No pouting.”

Maki pouted anyway.

“Alright, let me just get this off…”

Without a word, Maki’s reached up to beat Nico to the bow securing the cook’s apron. Nico relented and let her girlfriend untie the strings. She resisted the urge to tell Maki to be careful with her hair as Maki’s hands moved up to her neck. Thankfully, Maki seemed to realize that Nico had specifically chosen the apron with and adjustable neck strap and thus slowly and carefully worked the clasp loose to avoid the need of pulling it over Nico head.

“Had your fun?” Nico smirked once the apron was off.

“Some…” Maki admitted.

“Well we have all night to continue that kind of thing. But right now, Nico is hungry and knows Maki-chan is as well.” She glanced down, expecting confirmation from her girlfriend’s belly.

“Maybe if I could just taste…”

“Maki-chan is incorrigible.”

“Only because Nico-chan’s cooking is irresis…” Maki cut off as the inevitable growl finally came.

“Table. Now. Go.” Nico shooed the other girl away.

Maki took the hint this time and made her way to her chair. Nico followed with the soup.

“And now for the first course of Nico’s Super Special Valentine’s Day Tomato Banquet!” the raven-haired girl announced, ladling out a serving for both her girlfriend and herself.

“Tomato Banquet?” Maki’s interest was piqued. “You mean…?”

“Yup, you’ll soon find that tomatoes are not just in the appetizer.” Nico took her seat. “Bon appétit!”

Maki wasted no time in grabbed her spoon, filling it with soup and bringing it to her lips. “Mmmm… that’s so~ go~od!” Her eyes closed and her shoulders pulled up as she savored the aftertaste.

Nico felt herself smile as she watched the redhead go for another spoonful. Sure, Nico would agree that her cooking was superb, in fact she often bragged about her skill, but watching Maki’s reactions was far more enjoyable than eating it herself. As such, she was barely halfway through her own bowl when Maki was finished.

“More?”

“Please.”

“Alright, but be sure to leave room for the main course.”

Maki nodded enthusiastically before draining her second serving.

“Alright, on to course two.” Nico got up and made her way back to the kitchen. There, she retrieved a pan from the oven and moved its contents to a prettier serving plate. “Turkish style stuffed tomatoes!” She announced, bringing the food back to the table.

“You grew tomatoes from Turkey as well?” Maki asked in amazement.

“Yup!” Nico placed a couple tomatoes on each of their plates. “Diamontino is apparently a popular kind there, so it was easy to get the seeds. I wanted to find out more about them, but I guess there is a movie with that title, so I kept finding reviews about that instead of the tomatoes.”

Maki chuckled before slicing off her first bite. As far as Nico was concerned, Maki appeared to be on cloud nine as she savored each mouthful. Conversation was light and as tomato themed as the meal, but that was fine as both girls were happy; Maki with tomatoes and Nico in watching Maki.

“Ready for course three?”

“There’s another?”

“Dessert!”

Maki blinked. “A dessert made with tomatoes?”

Nico grinned before retrieving said dessert from the fridge. “Southern tomato pie from the United States.”

“Tomato… pie?”

“It’s popular during tomato season in the southern states.” Nico explained, dividing up the pie. “Obviously, February is a long way away from then, but when I’m growing them myself inside, it’s always tomato season.”

“And the tomatoes are… green?” Maki inspected the slice she had been given.

“Cherokee Green, in fact. They’re ripe even if they don’t look like it.”

“Interesting.”

“Yeah, I was skeptical at first, but the author of the recipe I found liked them, so we’ll see.”

Though initially seeming hesitant, Maki brought a sizable forkful to her mouth without a tasting nibble first. Her eyes told Nico everything before she spoke. “This is amazing, Nico-chan.”

“I’m glad.” Nico replied. “I must admit I was a bit worried about this one, but a tomato is a fruit like any apple or berry or whatever else you might want to put in a pie, so…”

“Tomatoes are actually berries,” Maki pointed out “unlike many things we call berries; strawberries or raspberries for example.”

“Of course, Maki-chan would know such things about her favorite food.” Nico laughed. “And now it’s time for the pièce de résistance!”

“There’s more after dessert?”

“Sort of.” Nico went to get the final item. “It’s edible, sure, but it’s more a gift than part of the meal.” She handed a colorfully wrapped box to Maki.

“Is it a chocolate tomato?”

Nico almost snorted. “Just open it already.”

Maki did as she was instructed. “Pomme d’Maki?” She read the label attached to the stem of the tomato within.

“The fruit of Nico’s labor.” Nico proclaimed proudly. “Literally. That is no ordinary tomato you are holding, Maki-chan, but a unique, special hybrid made by me.”

“You… bred a new cultivar of tomato… for me?” Maki’s voice wavered a bit.

“I first cross-pollinated the Cherokee Green with the Diamontino and the Marbonne with some local Momotaro, then did the same the two results, which lead to the creation of the Pomme d’Maki!”

“That’s… three generations…” Maki thought aloud “At least, assuming you didn’t have issues with the cross-pollination. And with each generation being…” She looked up at Nico “You’ve…” She swallowed. “You’ve been planning… this…” She choked on the last word.

“Pretty much since Valentine’s of last year.”

“Nico-chan, that’s…” She cut off again, this time reaching out and pulling Nico into a hug. From her sitting position, she buried her face in Nico’s chest. “That’s so amazing…” She managed to get out while trying valiantly to hold back the tears. “… no’ fair…” Nico could barely make out the murmur.

“Nico sometimes has to think outside the box when it comes to getting gifts for someone like Maki-chan.” Nico admitted, patting her girlfriend on the head.

“…an’ you…” Came a muffled thanks.

Nico chuckled. “You’re welcome, Maki-chan.”

It took a good several minutes before Maki was able to compose herself again and slowly pulled away from Nico.

“Say, uhm… I hate to ask…” Maki’s hand went up wipe the moisture from her eyes before she started to twirl her hair as she thought about how to phrase her question. “What happened to all of the other tomatoes?”

“Don’t worry, Maki-chan.” Nico laughed. “They didn’t go to waste. Some I gave to Eli and Nozomi in thanks for helping me tend to the plants, but most I used in my cooking here.”

Maki furrowed her brow. “But I would have tasted the difference with the Marbonnes or seen the color of the Cherokee Green.”

“I figured your discerning taste would figure it out if I used them on their own, so I blended them with the Momotaros you’re used to.” Nico explained. “There was a reason I chose that kind as the fourth for the cross-pollination process.”

“Wait, you told me you found a better supplier and that’s why the tomatoes tasted better.”

“Technically I did find a better supplier; me.”

Maki opened her mouth as though to protest, but closed it again, realizing Nico had made a good point. “Anyway, d’Amour shouldn’t be abbreviated since the romanization of my name starts with an M.”

Nico knew Maki was just covering her embarrassment from her emotions earlier and not actually criticizing her gift and so she just shrugged. “I’m not French.”

“Yeah, but… oh never mind.” Maki stood up and pulled Nico in for another hug. “Thank you, Nico-chan. This has been an amazing Valentine’s Day. But I kind of feel bad that all I brought for you in return are chocolates.”

“The same chocolates you’ve given me since high school?”

“Yeah…”

“I love those chocolates, Maki-chan. And I love that it’s become a tradition that you give them to me every year.”

“I love you, Nico-chan.” Maki leaned down.

“I love you too, Maki-chan.” Nico tilted her chin up to accept the kiss. “So,” she said, pulling away after a moment “what do you want to do next? We have plenty of the evening left for a movie or… ah!” She gasped slightly as she felt a tug on the zipper on the back of her dress. “Or I suppose we could pick up where we left off with the apron…” She decided, pushing back up for another kiss.

Author’s Notes Continued in Followup Post

#NicoMaki #Nishikino Maki #Yazawa Nico #How to Handle a Nico #Love Live #fanfic

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loquaciousquark · 6 years

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E23 (June 19, 2018)

Welcome to tonight’s Talks Machina. Today’s preshow: the weather throughout the Dwendalian Empire. I’m sure this isn’t foreboding at all. Tonight’s guests: Matt & Emmy-award-winning Sam Riegel. Sam has a prepared bit for the opening that he just found out he was supposed to prepare. He gets out, “How many... light bulbs...” before BWF has pity and throws us to the title screen.

Tonight’s announcements: New M9 shirt in the new CR store at shop.critrole.com. The show also now has their very own dedicated Critical Role Youtube & Twitch channels--however, don’t worry, as it’ll still be broadcast in all current locations as well. After Dark will continue to be available on After Dark only. There also will not be any Talks Machina or new Critical Role episode July 3 or July 5, as they’ll be making the move to a new studio during this week. (Marisha’s stepped down at G&S to make this move to full-time CR management as well.) There’s a summary post of these announcements with a FAQ on critrole.com, if you need more information.

Before we can get to CR Stats, Sam interrupts to ask Matt why they’ve never had an NPC with a French accent. Matt, answering in an excellent French accent, explains that they’ve not come across any regional areas that are analogous to France yet. He suggests they visit the Menagerie Coast.

CR Stats! The M9 have now officially rolled 99 natural ones. Nott’s in the lead with 22. Sam only has one d20 that he rolls, and he thinks Laura’s bad luck is rubbing off on him.

The M9 have now been traveling together for about a month. Matt, deadpan: “They’re such a tight-knit family.” He does like that everyone’s getting to see the ground-floor development and occasionally has to remind himself to set the scene because he gets sucked into the roleplay.

Kiri has imitated people 82 times--Sam loves Matt’s imitations.

The D&D Beyond theme song was a greater achievement than the Emmy (per Sam): “It was a thing that I just came up with...that became the anthem for a generation.” The Emmy is a bucket list, pinnacle professional achievement, but he loves that he got to write & make the theme song. (Also: two years on one cartoon vs. fifteen minutes on a song.)

Matt has a tumultuous history with the Streamys. He directed a web series ten years ago and was invited to contribute to a big montage...only to find out right before the show that it had been cut from the program altogether.

The battle with the Merrow played out fairly close to how Matt had envisioned it, although the players’ positioning led to some interesting situations. It was more challenging in certain moments without Nott, especially when Matt was trying to decide how certain events would play out. Sam sidebars to point out how much he loves it when a battle changes halfway through (either due to traps, additional enemies, or the map changing). Matt says there are many battles they’ve had in the past where certain traps were never triggered. However, you can’t do it too often or it becomes expected. (Matt does feel bad when he’s rolling well and the PCs are rolling badly.)

Nott’s water thing Sam invented during the game (because he thought it would be funny, natch), but he’s come up with a backstory since then that explains why she’s so afraid of water.

Matt plays out combat as designed even when a PC suddenly decides to not participate--unless it’s a new group that doesn’t fully understand D&D combat yet, and it would impact their enjoyment of the game. He wants people to understand that there are consequences with character choices.

Sam often finds it bothersome when they know they’ve missed something in game, especially when it’s an important story beat. It’s the worst when Matt gives them multiple chances to succeed, and they still end up failing all of them. Matt confesses sometimes he makes them roll checks on general knowledge they’d have known anyway just to make them feel a certain esoteric skill was useful for once.

Nott feels terrible she sat out the Merrow fight only for Caleb to come close to death. Sam: “Nott feels awful about it. Sam Riegel feels great about it! I love situations where it doesn’t look like it’s going well.” Plus, the night before she also got Caleb in trouble with the bowl thing. BWF’s a little worried it’ll affect their relationship.

Matt claims that Kiri was not at all related to wanting to prove he could do Jester’s accent. He rolls for random encounters when they’re traveling, and Kiri was one he’d considered to demonstrate the presence of kenku, while also highlighting that non-Empire people are moving away from the conflict. He half-expected them to ignore her altogether.

Matt reveals that Kiri has six (6) (SIX) hit points. “She’s practically a baby bird!” Sam has a retroactive panic attack that they’ve been bringing her to all these battles. Me too, bud. Sam accuses Matt of “not having brought anyone worthy of taking a baby bird off our hands.” Matt: “You haven’t even looked!” They wonder together about the possibility of a baby bird orphanage in Hupperdook.

GIF of the Week! @justjamesearle. It’s long and perfect and details the Fjord whack-a-mole death saga with the venom splashes.

Nott’s opinion of Kiri hasn’t changed at all with the reveal that she heard/repeated her conversation with Caleb. Sam thinks Nott should have known better than to talk with a recording device in the room, especially since she only ever repeats it when it’s hilarious or well-timed. “It’s hard to live with a soundboard.”

Matt keeps a list of notes of what Kiri can say. It’s super fun, and he sometimes gets so caught up in conversations he forgets to write down things for her to repeat later.

Nott wished Kiri hadn’t repeated the facts from her backstory, but she’d never considered being aggressive towards “little RiRi” (oh God it’s too adorable). She still doesn’t like a lot of attention. Both BWF & Sam applaud Matt for giving them little prods to reveal backstory.

Dagon, Matt & Marisha’s bird, provides a lot of inspiration for Kiri. Matt talks about being a bird owner after growing up with cats and dogs, and reveals that wanting to utilize that knowledge was part of why he introduced kenku.

Nott finds Beau the exception to her general mistrust of the group, which is why she let her care for Caleb after the last fight. She feels Beau has been weirdly sensitive and protective even through her lens of abrasiveness, and she respects that she hasn’t spilled the beans about Caleb’s backstory.

Fanart of the Week! @obeymybrain, which is a great group portrait in four vertical-column stylings after the Haunted Mansion from Disneyland.

If the troll hadn’t been slowed by Caleb, Matt thinks the group would have permanently lost someone. Matt loves the new monsters that are punishing to melee characters. He thinks they did a good job damaging it at range at first, and Sam waxes poetic on all the options they didn’t pursue instead (like Saran-wrapping the door before it came running out). Oh, what could have been.

Sam’s love for Liam is stronger than Nott’s love for Caleb, because “...Liam kisses back.” They’ve known each other half their lives now.

If the M9 pursue dynamite as a common battle tactic, Matt may need to prepare for his builds to be destroyed more often. It’s still limited by the relatively new availability of blackpowder and has a high possibility of backfiring depending on their rolls.

Nott wishes she could tell everything to Caleb, but is limited by the realities of their show, since it’s hard to find a time that’s not full of dick or drug jokes. There’s been times they’ve been alone together but Caleb hasn’t asked any questions; Sam thinks “He needs to do some Marisha-style questioning. That is an inquisitive monk, and I love her for it.” Matt points out it’s a critical aspect of her character that she wants to know everything.

Matt played out the last Fjord moment in front of the whole group in part because it would have interrupted the flow to have everyone leave, and in part because he trusts his players not to metagame now that they’re all learning bits and pieces of each other. He liked the visceral smash-cut of the vision to the party watching Fjord jam this thing into his stomach.

Matt does have to juggle all the party’s backstories since it’s such a large group; some will be long-game just because of the natures of their stories. He likes to drop threads as they go, though, so everyone feels more connected to their world. Players feel like the stakes are higher when they can see their stories reflected and affecting the living and breathing world around them.

Nott wasn’t particularly bothered by Molly immediately forgiving the bandits right after they hurt her. “They’re just dumb. They’re just dumb and they need to go. They’re too dumb to hurt.”

Matt knew the outline of Hupperdook before the party ever heard of it. Now that they’ve expressed interest in it, he’s begun filling in the details since it looks likely that they’ll visit it soon. It helps that they’re limited to speed of foot & horse; when they can start bamfing everywhere in later game, it gets a lot harder. Matt’s advice in that situation is to give the town a unique social structure or aspect, to make a bold choice that will cause it to stand out in their mind. It helps if you can ask what the players are looking for, then “yes and” based on what they’re seeking (he builds an idea of two competing taverns poaching clients from each other off a spur-of-the-moment request from a player asking if there’s an inn nearby).

Sam does rehearse his more performative ads ahead of time. He usually writes them the day of over lunch, although lately he’s been trying to get them done on Mondays and Tuesdays so he’s not as stressed on Thursday.

There’s no specific inspirational character for the Gentleman. Matt wanted to create an outside-the-law businessman who wasn’t your typical ~thief-lord~ while still seeming unique against the world. He wanted him to be charismatic and domineering, welcoming until you crossed a personal or business line, in which case he’d immediately put you in your place.

Nott still considers her old goblin tribe a threat to her & is reluctant to confront them. She does feel a little more prepared now that she has more allies, but is hesitant to meet old demons & old memories. Matt sidebars to point out that a lot of these character backstories could be self-driven, since there’s nothing keeping them from visiting Nott’s hometown now. They could pursue it at any time if they wanted.

The firearms in the world are a direct result from Percy & Ripley; she dealt them out in heavy trade areas like Marquet, which results in the technology being distributed in a way that now impacts the M9 in their world. They’re still limited by materials, though.

Matt loves the joy on Tal’s face every time they mention firearms are readily available in Wildemount.

Everyone’s distraught over Tal’s Vicious Mockery in the last episode. Bless his heart. Matt: “Sometimes you come out of the gate and realize you’ve come out without your pants on. You commit, and you walk away.”

Sam misses giving inspiration on a regular basis. He also has a lot of insecurities over his current inability to contribute to a battle with much more than crossbow bolts. BWF: “Just sent Nott to a bard college.” Matt: With a -3 charisma, I think you’re taking inspiration away from people.”

Favorite M9 voice to mimic as Kiri? Partially Jester, because it’s just funny, Nott is shrill and ridiculous, and has lately been enjoying mimicking Fjord for the few times he’s been echoed.

The Nott voice is not hard at all on Sam; it’s mostly falsetto, which BWF says he usually talks in off-camera all the time anyway.

After Dark: After This

In CriticalRoleLand, Dani would like to see Vex’s Flying Brooms. BWF suggests a waterslide that ends in Vex’s & Percy’s bathtub; Matt suggests it be a goldfish ride that goes over the side. He also likes a teleporting ride that goes into Umbrasyl’s belly, and Sam comes up with a dunk tank for heckling Tary.

Matt talks about that viral Youtube video with the weather forecaster naming the city that’s like 100 characters long. Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, that’s the one.

Nott’s Tinder profile? “Short, green, looking for mean. Buy me a drink and I’m yours.”

Matt wouldn’t be surprised if this campaign does eventually touch on family in the same way the first one did. However, Sam feels so far it’s much more about identity, and Matt tacks on regret & making amends. He also thinks trust & learning to accept help from others is still developing, since so many of these characters have been hurt in some way.

VM had a lot of very classical heroic archetypes; this campaign is full of many more human, subtly complicated characters. Matt loves the contrast.

The eyes. The EYES.

Sam agonizes that in his Friday retellings of the campaign’s story to his six-year-old son, it drives him crazy that he can’t answer his son’s questions as to why something happened. His son does ask “does Matt Mercer know?” and Sam is glad he can say yes.

Sam loves the idea of the world hinging on the bandit troupe they keep running into. I debated troop or troupe there, but given the hysterics they keep causing, I’m sticking with troupe.

If they met, Nott would steal every single thing from Taryon Darrington. Except that lame book, of course. “That’d be amazing. And! Possible! We’re on the continent, right?” Sam rubs his hands together gleefully...until Matt points out Taryon’s been relegated to NPC status & Matt would be the one controlling him now.

Matt usually prepares a guest for the show by meeting with them ahead of time. Depending on how much (or if ever) they’ve played before, he helps them build a character and teaches them the basics of the class. Mark, obviously, didn’t need that introduction, so instead they focused on loose backstory and finding ways to integrate that backstory into the existing world. When it’s time for them to actually play, they’ll discuss in advance a way to bring their paths across each other, such as Cali looking for a specific relic at the same time that the M9 were going to be investigating a safehouse full of stolen relics. As soon as they meet, it’s hands off. (It can be hard to get someone out of the group if they for sure can’t return the next week.)

MAJOR, MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE END OF CAMPAIGN ONE IN THE SECTION BELOW.

BWF jokes that last campaign Joe Manganiello just showed up and said, “Hey, so, I’m playing Arkhan,” and that was that. Actually...that’s pretty close to what really happened. Matt & Joe did meet for a long evening in Joe’s kitchen in advance to discuss backstory & motivations, after which he finally managed to convince Joe’s wife, Sofía Vergara, to play a small game with him, Joe, and Marisha. Sam laughs that at Matt & Marisha’s wedding, they had two sentences with Joe before the conversation immediately devolved into D&D and Joe’s wife rolled her eyes out of her head.

They did discuss that Joe wanted to steal the hand at the end of the last campaign. “You don’t have the Hand of Vecna, the Hand of Vecna has you.” They had a long conversation about Arkhan’s denouement after that episode.

END OF MAJOR, MAJOR SPOILERS.

And that’s all for the night! Have a lovely week, and is it Thursday yet?

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long post for ts

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dolly-decadatia · 3 years

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12/3 S.C notes Chap 7 continued

South- fire 🔥: the element of transformation, of passion and change, success, health, and strength. An oil lamp or piece of lava rock can be used as well.

West: water 💦- a cup or bowl of water can be placed in the west. Water is the realm of the emotions, of the psychic mind, love, healing, beauty and emotional spirituality

The altar should go in the center (according to Scott) but you have to be flexible about the amount of space you have. Some of us have to place it in a corner or against a wall. I for one currently live in a shitty trailer and will be moving into a tiny rv once my lease is up. It behooves me to not fixate on “my altar MUST be dead ass center in the circle.” A lot of us probably have similar poverty related space constraints.

Generally the altar is set up facing north (but see my thoughts above).

Take his altar set up with a huge grain of salt. He’s gendered it. He says the left is goddess, the right god and he’s gendered inanimate objects to reflect cis genitalia and assigned them to the left or right. Cis pussy to the left, cis dick on the right. It’s not so much transphobic as it is just weird and creepy. I probably want to completely design my own altar lay out to avoid this weird dick and pussy fixation. I need to double check how LaVey had his set up. It’s been a really long time since I actually practiced Satanism and I don’t remember his set up. I know he has a straight up phallus on his supply list but imo having. A representation of genitalia that looks like genitalia is less weird and creepy that randomly deciding Wands and athames are cocks and cocks somehow automatically are male. I think LaVey’s phallus was supposed to represent lust or something. Idk, I need to reread it. Don’t quote me.

If you’re working magic in the circle ⭕️, all necessary items should be within it before you begin, either on the altar or beneath it. Never forget to have matches handy, and a small bowl to hold the used ones. He says it’s “impolite” to throw them in the censer or cauldron but until I see someone I respect say that I’m ignoring it.

Chapter 8: The Days of Power

Here, I’m copy pasting notes I already took from the internet while I was waiting for the book to arrive. I skimmed through Scott’s chapter to see if there was anything to add but there wasn’t. These are my first draft of what May end up being my holidays/ Sabbaths/ whatever I choose to call them. They’re not done so don’t judge them too harsh yet:

“Wheel of the year” ideas

January- New Years

February- Valentine’s Day

March- bad things happened to me-day of healing ?

April- wedding anniversary and t date

June- my birthday

Aug- partner’s birthday

October- Halloween and dating anniversary

December Krampusnacht

9 in total this draft

Does not seem seasonal at all so “wheel of the year” isn’t a great name at all.

I do like some of the seasonal things but I’m having trouble figuring out how to incorporate them. Even when I was Wiccan I didn’t understand the significance of celebrating an agricultural cycle.

Wiccan wheel:(copy pasted with commentary)

Yule- When is Yule: December 20-23

Themes: rebirth, quiet introspection, new year, hope, setting intentions, celebration of light

In most traditions, Yule is the Sabbat that begins the Wiccan Year.

(I think January 1st makes more sense to me. As far as the winter holiday goes- I resonate with Krampusnacht and there’s nothing about Krampus that screams “new year” to me.)

This is the Winter Solstice—the shortest day and longest night we will experience in the Northern Hemisphere.

Yule, a fire festival, is a time of celebrating the return of the light. From this point forward, the days will gradually grow longer again, until we reach the height of the Sun’s power at the Summer Solstice.

Although we will still see comparatively little of the Sun’s light for several more weeks, this Sabbat reminds us to have patience—the waning half of the year is over, and warmth, growth, and light will reign again!

(This part resonates with me because I have seasonal affective disorder and the light returning is very meaningful personally.)

it is a relatively quiet, indoor holiday, as people gather within the warm shelters of their homes to be merry and give thanks. As a Yule ritual, many decorate their altars with evergreen branches, such as cedar, pine, hemlock and spruce, as well as bright sprigs of holly, pinecones, and other festive winter flora.

Food for simple feast/ gingerbread and ???

Candles are paramount to this Sabbat, of course, with Yule traditions emphasizing the colors red, green, white, and gold. Images of the Sun are also appropriate. Those lucky enough to have a fireplace can burn a sacred Yule log, but you don’t need an actual hearth to brighten up your home with candles galore! Interestingly, many traditions which are generally thought of as belonging to Christmas—including the Yule log, a decorated tree, wreaths, and even caroling—are actually rooted in pre-Christian pagan traditions. So it’s quite likely that you’ve already been celebrating Yule for years, with or without your knowledge!

Imbolc- This cross-quarter day—midway between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox—is a welcome milestone for many who eagerly await the warmer months.

(So do I need to celebrate the coming warmth in December? Wouldn’t this make more sense- or would it make even more sense to wait for the spring equinox to really say “fuck you”’to winter?)

celebrated on February 2nd. As a holiday celebrating beginnings and renewal,

(Seems like a beginnings and renewal holiday would be relevant to me but maybe I should do that on my t day)

Imbolc is often chosen as a time for initiation, whether it be through a coven or through a self-dedication ritual.

(Also seems like a tday thing) It is also a time for ritual cleansing after being shut indoors, largely inactive, for the past few months. (My t day is in April when spring is either here or near and that imagery can make sense then too) The ability of the Sun to cleanse and purify is recognized in various ways. Some people light several candles in each room of the house, or, in a more modern version of this tradition, turn on every lamp to set the old energy “ablaze” with the power of light. Some Witches will leave their ritual tools out in direct sunlight as one of their Imbolc traditions to cleanse and charge them—particularly metal tools and treasured crystals or mineral stones.

Traditional candle colors for Imbolc are white, yellow, orange and red, and altar decorations include fresh Spring flowers, besoms (small decorative ritual brooms) and figurines or images of young animals.

(The stated foods are all Imbolc specific and don’t make sense for me turning parts of it into my tday festival)

Ostara- (there do not appear to be any themes in Ostara that would be relevant or useful to my practice)

Beltane April 30 or May 1

Themes: passion, mischief, sensuality, sexuality, (rawr) beauty, romance, fertility,(eew) vitality, abundance

Celebrated on May 1st, Beltane marks the transition point from Spring to Summer. This is a heady time of lust, passion and fertility, marking the return of vitality to both the Earth and the Sun. Blossoms on the trees are giving way to robust leaf growth, young animals are growing into maturity, and the daylight continues to lengthen and strengthen as we move toward the full power of Summer. Love and commitment are themes of this Sabbat, along with abundance and creativity. Handfastings are traditionally held at Beltane.

(Wedding anniversary is April 14. Can possibly borrow some Beltane themes for that)

Beltane is a very sensual Sabbat in many traditions, celebrating sexual energy

One distinct custom in England and elsewhere that has never died out entirely is dancing around the Maypole—a tall, wooden pole said to represent male virility. Typically, people gather flowers and green branches to decorate the Maypole, or else use brightly colored ribbons. Many groups incorporate this tradition into their Beltane celebrations.

Fire is also a big focus at Beltane—so much so that many places host a Beltane fire festival. In ancient Irish culture, from which the name of the Sabbat is borrowed, people lit giant sacred fires on this day to purify and protect their cattle from illness. The cattle were driven between two fires to ritually cleanse them and connect them with the Sun. It was also considered good luck for people to jump over a bonfire at this time, and this is another Beltane ritual that is often found in celebrations.

The word “beltane” actually comes from an ancient Celtic word meaning “bright fire,” so it’s highly appropriate to include fire of some kind in your festivities. If, like many Wiccans, you don’t have the means to build a fire either indoors or outdoors, you can still decorate your altar with images of fire. If you have a mini-cauldron, place it over a few scraps of red and orange paper for a symbolic fire right on your altar!

Other ways to celebrate Beltane include making a “wedding feast” . Breads and cereal grains, oatmeal cookies and dairy foods are all traditional Beltane treats. Include seasonal spring vegetables as well for a true feast. Gather flowers and green leaves to decorate your altar with. Many people like to create a “mini-Maypole” for their altar and decorate it with ribbons. If you have long hair, braid it as a symbol of the union between (my partner and I) weaving in some wildflowers or tree blossoms if you like. Traditionally, couples would spend the whole night outdoors, romping in the fields and forests, but if this isn’t practical, take a long walk with your sweetheart somewhere out in nature. The important thing is to make sure you spend some time outdoors on this day! (we like nature and we got married on the beach so this is very useable)

Midsummer June 20-22 (oh hey thats so close to my birthday!)

Themes: abundance, growth, masculine energy, (love that for me) love, magic

This is the longest day and shortest night of the year, marking the pinnacle of the Sun’s power to fuel the growing season. From here on out, the Sun will set a little earlier each night until Yule, and so we recognize and give thanks for its warmth.

The crops are reaching their full maturity and the forests are bursting with lush growth. In just a few short weeks, the harvest season will begin, but for now we pause to celebrate the manifestation of what was planted in the early weeks of Spring. The warm sunlight is a welcome contrast to the cold and dark of Winter, and we bask in its comforts. T

To celebrate this Sabbat, you can decorate your altar with summer flowers, herbs and fruits, and summer colors like yellow, green and blue. This is a traditional time for rites of re-dedication as well as divination related to love and romance. Keep at least one candle lit throughout the day to honor the Sun, and if possible hold your rituals at noon, when the Sun is at its highest point in the sky. Have an outdoor picnic feast to bask in the warmth of the day, and eat fresh fruits and vegetables—ideally from a farmer’s market or harvested from your own garden. This is a good time for magic related to masculine energies and any situation that needs to be “fired up” in your life.

Lammas: August 1 or 2

Themes: first fruits, harvest, gratitude, benevolent sacrifice, utilizing skills and talents

(I don’t know what to do here. When I was Wiccan, this was one of my faves because I am obsessed with autumn but all the mythology here in the description is harvest related and I am not a farmer or about gratitude. Gratitude is lovely and I want to incorporate it into my practice but doing gratitude amongst the fall foliage aesthetic makes me think of American Thanksgiving which is super gross. This is going to need a lot of thought.)

Lammas rituals are related to harvest and gratitude, and recognizing the manifestations of our intentions that have unfolded so far during the course of the year. Bread-making is a common way to mark the holiday, as it represents bringing the seeds of intention into full fruition. People also might make a corn dolly—a traditional poppet made from straw—for use in ritual and magic. Decorate your altar with the colors of summer and fall—yellow, orange, red, green and brown. Use harvest imagery like scythes and baskets and, of course, loaves of bread. A Lammas feast should definitely involve bread, as well as late-summer fruits and vegetables, corn, and other grain dishes. Spellwork related to securing abundance and a happy home is particularly powerful at this time.

(see what I mean? What do I do here? Also I just glanced at the date and its early august which is hotter than the surface of the sun in the modern south where i am trapped. It doesn’t start feeling autumny down here until mid november. This one needs a lot of work)

focus their celebrations on giving thanks for their skills and talents as well as for the grain harvest, but the emphasis is on gratitude all the same.

Mabon: September 21-24- Autumn (or Fall) Equinox.

Themes: harvest, gratitude, abundance, balance, preparation, welcoming the dark

(wait, how is this different from lammas? I think this is the one I was actually thinking about when I said “this was one of my faves when I was actually wiccan.” My bad. Ok, I’m dumb but in my defense why do they have 2 back to back autumn colored gratitude holidays???)

Mabon falls on the Autumn Equinox and is the second of the three harvest festivals (Lammas, Mabon, and Samhain). Just like Ostara on the opposite side of the Wheel of the Year, at Mabon the days and nights are of equal length. Though temperatures may still be warm during the day, summer has truly come to an end. The leaves on deciduous trees have begun to turn colors and fall to the ground, (not in my state, homie) and there is a chill in the evening air. The days were longer than the nights until this moment, and after this the nights will begin their reign.. In these modern times, most of us are not involved in agriculture, but we can still take a moment to rest from our labor and relax, appreciating all that we have. It is a time to recognize the need for balance between work and play.

But how should you celebrate Mabon? For starters, Mabon rituals can include decorating your altar with acorns, pine cones, seasonal fruits and nuts, and/or a few of the first colored leaves that drop from the trees. (yes this was deffo the one I was thinking of, not Lammas) As with Lamas, harvest imagery like scythes and baskets can be used. (no wonder I mixed them up. They’re practically twins.) Candles and altar cloths in autumn colors like rusty red, orange, brown, and gold are appropriate. If you have a feast, whether solo or with others, include seasonal vegetables like onions, potatoes, carrots and other root vegetables. Spellwork related to protection and security is appropriate now, as are workings for self-confidence, prosperity, harmony and balance. If you are one who struggles with seasonal depression during the fall and winter months, (YUP) use this time to set an intention for inner peace and strength. You might make and charge a talisman for this purpose, to accompany you through the next two seasons. (OOH i LIKE THAT)

When is Samhain: October 31 or November 1

Themes: death, rebirth, divination, honoring ancestors, introspection, benign mischief, revelry

The third and final harvest festival on the Wheel of the Year is Samhain, observed on October 31. This Sabbat marks the end of the growing season and the beginning of Winter, which must be prepared for now in earnest. Herbs are dried for winter storage, fruits and vegetables are canned and preserved, and root vegetables are dug up and stored so they may nourish us through the cold months. The word “Samhain” comes from the old Irish and is thought by many to translate as “Summer’s end.”

While the cycles of life and death are implicitly recognized at every Sabbat, Samhain is when the necessary role of death is formally honored. The nights grow noticeably longer with each day. The God retreats now into the shadows of the dark season, symbolically dying back to the Earth before being reborn again at Yule. Many Wiccans and other Pagans consider this to be the most important day on the Wheel, a time when the veil between the spirit world and the mundane world is at its thinnest. Our ancestors and loved ones on the Other Side are said to be more easily able to visit with us and make their presence known at this time.

Samhain is arguably the most visible Sabbat in the mainstream world, thanks to the parallel holiday of Halloween. Many of the Halloween traditions celebrated in contemporary cultures today have grown out of customs dating back to pagan times. As far back as ancient Greece, people were leaving offerings of food to their ancestors, which is echoed in the modern tradition of trick-or-treating. The practice of leaving root vegetables hollowed out with lighted candles inside, to guide spirits visiting on Earth ultimately led to today’s jack-o-lanterns. Witches, of course, have always been part of mainstream Halloween lore.

. We also honor our ancestors and invite them to visit with us. You might decorate your altar with pictures of your deceased loved ones in addition to fall foliage, apples and nuts, dried herbs and even jack-o-lanterns. Many people will leave a plate of food and drink out for any spirits who happen to wander by. Samhain is one of the most powerful nights of the year for spellwork and divination. Magical workings related to just about anything will receive an extra boost, but waning-moon work will have the most potent effect. Banishings, protection spells, clearing of obstacles and astral projection are particularly favored. Scrying, tarot reading, rune casting and any other form of divination you practice will bring you very clear results, as well as possibly a visit from an ancestor or spirit guide. Be open to doing inner work as well—reflecting on what you’d like to let go of and what you’d like to improve in yourself over the coming year.

(Ok now I’m going to be repetitious and re paste my list of significant dates and combine my thing with the wheel if applicable. Ran out of time midway through that so I’ll put it into tomorrow’s study notes)

#atheist witch #witch journey #beginner witch #secular witchcraft

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togetherinspirit7 · 7 years

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[FAN ACCOUNT] 170304 INFINITE Fan Gathering III

******* WARNING: Super long post ahead! Like super duper extra long post this time! We apologize ahead of time!

Hi everyone! We know it’s been such a long time since we’ve posted anything besides asks, so we first want to thank you all for your patience and understanding! We’re not too sure why, but life has been kicking both of our butts simultaneously for quite some time now. Also, sorry it’s taken so long for me to do this. I’ve been hit hard with post-concert depression and I’m still quite busy. I also needed some time to collect all of the memories that have been slowly coming back to me. Good news is that our boys had a fan meet and I (dayounggie) was lucky enough to nab a ticket for the Saturday one. Unfortunately, since I work late hours, I was unable to even attempt to get tix for the Friday meeting, but luckily and LOTS of stress later, I managed to get a ticket for Saturday. I was really bummed out to miss out on L-soonie and the ladder game to pick the next member for the v app show, but the Saturday rally had its own perks!

My Saturday started at 5am when I woke up to wait in line for goods... by myself. I really wished that ohmangotango was here to wait out in the cold with me, but I guess I don’t really wish that upon anyone. Either way, I thought I went there thoroughly prepared with all the essentials but I was still freezing my butt off. Finally, it was time to get goods... but of course, life just likes to dump on me and the one item that I really wanted and braved hours of cold for sold out... literally by the person in front of me. I was going to cry. But at least I knew the boys and their love would be worth it. I was only worried about other fans in standing. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, the only ticket I could find was in Standing C. I was quite worried about having to stand and deal with the inevitable pushing in standing... esp since it’s a fanmeet and there would be lots of movement.

So after a well deserved nap at home, I went back out to the venue. When we finally got in, the screen played mvs as always but also told us to send in a selca for a surprise. It’s not really a surprise cause they did it at the last rally too. But if you send in a selca, during the last song, they choose a few to go up on the screens in the bg. Fast forward to the end, they didn’t choose my pic ㅠㅠ Even though I didn’t have the best number, I got a really good place by standing behind this guard who was letting people in. So, I was along the back rail where it’s a little raised and I had something to lean on. In general, I had a fantastic time. My section was super chill and not stuffed-packed, so there wasn’t a need to push or sway. Everyone just kinda kept to themselves and were very nice and polite and talked to each other and stuff. The girls standing in front of me staggered so I could see between their heads and had a great view 99% of the time. I know I say this often, but Inspirit is the best. They really have no bad intentions. I think if there is any pushing, it’s cause there’s no room and you can’t help but sway with the crowd, or because they’re younger fans who are still a bit rude. Either way, it was the easiest standing experience I had, which was good cause it lasted 4 HOURS!! Ugh, gotta love our boys!

Finally, the fan meet started and the boys came out after a short vid recapping what they’ve been doing since the last fan meet 2 years ago. The boys came out and performed ‘Bad’ and Dongwoo performed the dance break but he didn’t do the normal dance. Instead, he went full energetic Dongwoo and started break dancing and doing all kinds of jump things off the floor and flipping all over the place lol. Excited Dongwoo is the best... but I guess he’s always excited. Then the boys went into their first ment. They introduced themselves but I don’t remember exactly what they said. I only remember Woohyun introducing himself as everyone’s heart. They also talked about Dongwoo’s dance break and he said he wanted to do something a little more special so that’s why he was all over the place. So they made him do it again. They asked for the music but Sunggyu insisted on doing it without the music so we could ‘properly take in’ his dance lol. He did it again and added a pelvic thrust while lying down as well. While they were talking about what they’ve been up to for the past 2 years, they got to Woohyun’s album and everyone started singing ‘Nod’. Hoya suddenly stopped us and told Dongwoo to do the dance break again while we sang ‘Nod’ lol. It was quite a strange sight but Dongwoo was a good sport lol. I remember Woohyun also mentioned that our singing got better and I felt so proud in that moment lol. They continued to talk about the past and talked about Minseok as well (for those who don’t know, Kim Minseok, the actor signed with Woollim/good friend to most of the members, was the MC). They talked a little about the jungle and Minseok was a really good MC. He was really involved in the ments and interacted with the crowd a lot, which made Woohyun really jealous, but we’ll get into that later.

Next they performed ‘Between Me & You’. Idk remember when, but they said the first half would be songs from the ‘Reality’ album and the second half would be songs from ‘INFINITE ONLY’ or something related to the promotions over the last 2 years. After that, they went into another ment. I think they were asked to pick a member for something but I couldn’t catch what it was for. Hearing the answers, I think it was for who’s the most different or who tries the hardest or something, and they chose Sungjong. They said it was because he always works hard on his gestures and wants to show a good side to the fans. Sungjong talked about how all the hyungs take pictures of him and upload it to their group chat but it makes him happy cause that just shows they care or something. So Sungyeol said that he’ll upload everything he’s taken of Sungjong on SNS lol. Then they talked about an episode that happened during the ‘Bad’ recording. The CEO wanted a true/false theme and that instead of the line ‘betting on you’, Sunggyu and Dongwoo recorded a bunch of different things like ‘true/false’, ‘truth or a lie’ and Dongwoo ended the recording by yelling ‘CEO nice~’ and they went into digression about how if the song concept was ‘CEO nice’ then they would’ve gotten #1 for like 30 weeks and it would’ve been popular at golf ranges and bowling alleys lol. Minseok talked about how the boys’ live perf is seriously the best and he hinted that as a music show host, he saw some groups who lip synced and stuff. Then somehow, we got Minseok to sing the chorus of ‘Typhoon’ and he was pretty good! He also mentioned that he really likes that song and throughout the fan meet he mentioned that he likes their music lol all the bromance love. Then V line started humble-bragging about how they all sound so good live as if they swallowed cds and that it sounds like the AR version. That led them to talk about how they sing with small variations so people know it’s not the AR version and one time at an end-of-the-year show, Woohyun exaggerated a note and his voice gave out and then the members teased him. He said the moral of the story was not to exaggerate. They also talked about a time it was early in the morning and Woohyun couldn’t hit a high note at rehearsal and it was embarrassing cause it was in front of other groups too lol. This led them to talk about their second world tour and how they would break up into different teams to go out and do things. They’d break into teams like Myungsoo, Sungyeol, Dongwoo together, Hoya, Sunggyu, Woohyun together and then there was a Sungjong team. Then they said that the Hoya, Sunggyu, Woohyun team went to a performance (I’m thinking this was when they went to see ‘Phantom of the Opera’ on Broadway in NYC) and they had 2 managers but the Sungjong team had 3 managers. They were pretty much teasing him for being high maintenance lol. He said that he doesn’t mind doing things with the members but since he sees them all the time, he just wanted to do his own thing. This also led them to talking in different languages. Woohyun said that Dongwoo was in charge of English and Dongwoo said he’s not that good but can say simple things like ‘What did you have for breakfast’ (or something similar). Then Woohyun, so very cutely, was like ‘Morning rice?’ lol it was adorbs. They said that Sungyeol specializes in Thai and Yeol busted some out and it was so cute. Gyu said something in Mandarin and Soo in Japanese. Jong was in charge of Korean and they said Hoya was in charge of Indonesian, and then Hoya mumbled nothingness into the mic lol. Dongwoo said something in English and Woohyun told him to ‘Sit down’ in English and when asked what he specialized in, Namu said he specialized in the fans lol. What a cutie pie. Then Minseok said something along the lines of I’ve finally grown accustomed to your cheesiness kinda thing lol. They even talked about airport fashion and I think they picked Jong as having the worst. They talked about a lot of other stuff too but I specifically remember Jong talking about how at one concert, I think a fan helped him remember it was in London, where he was standing where the the fireworks were supposed to come out but at the last minute, Yeol grabbed Jong and pulled him out of danger so he was really thankful for that. Ugh... my Yeol feels were on fire. Then they talked about how Sungjong was the hard carry for ‘Knowing Bros’ and they brought out a soccer ball. They talked about how it was so funny cause he wasn’t trying to be funny and was super serious about it. He really was trying to trap the ball with his chest but, in Woohyun’s words, kept getting hit in ‘weird places’ lol. So Woohyun said that Jong has been practicing or something and threw the ball for Jong again and Jong headed it again. That boy needs more practice I think. Then they talked about if they ever wanted to try their hand at a character or drama that another member was in. We all teased Yeol and Soo for some embarrassing moments. They moved onto talking about Gyu’s solo songs for a bit and the hard time Soo is having filming lately (because of the weather). At one point, Gyu asked Minseok to ask them a question he’s curious about. He said he had none because he knows everything lol. Then he asked the fans if they had anything and knelt down close to the edge of the stage to ask a fan. This is when I could literally see the lasers of jealousy shooting out of Woohyun’s eyes. He even said something like ‘Don’t look at our fans that way’ lol. They talked about who was looking forward to the fan meet the most. I think most chose themselves but Soo chose Woohyun and Dongwoo chose Jong. They also made Hoya do an acrostic poem for 무한대집회. It was pretty good as far as I remember but I don’t remember what he said exactly. It had something to do with not going home until the sun comes out. Then they wrapped up the ment and performed ‘Take Care of the Ending’.

After the song, the escape the room game vcr came up. The point was to win money by completing missions and the king gets to do something special at the fan meet. The first mission was getting 95 or higher on a karaoke machine within 20 minutes. They did ‘Come Back Again’ and didn’t get a high enough score so Sungjong sang ‘The Answer’ and Gyu got all mad that he was ‘ruining’ it lol. Then, with 3 mins left, Woohyun was like ‘get outta the way, I’ll get 100 points’ and sang ‘Nod’ and got 99 points so they passed the first mission. The second mission was to get a combined amount of 3000 using pedometers. But, the trick was that they would have different combos of addition and subtraction for each member to make it more difficult, like ‘head - left foot + right hand’. Because of the weird combos, the members looked extra silly. It was quite hilarious, just thinking about it makes me lol again. Yeol was extra cute and with the headband, the members said Gyu looked like So Ji Sub in ‘I’m Sorry, I Love You’ and called him Gyu Ji Sub. Sunggyu’s part was funny too and when it was Namu’s turn, Gyu was staring at him and Namu got all embarrassed and was like ‘What are you looking at?’ lol. They did really well so they went to the 3rd challenge which was eating super spicy ddukbokgi in 10 mins I think. They were making all kinds of panting sounds so I think Woohyun said that the video was getting too raunchy lol. They finished (mostly because Gyu kept feeding everything to Yeol) and so they went to the 4th mission. It was a game of charades, but each member had to act out 3 words and they had to get a total of 18 correct. This part led to some funny moments too with lots of disses from Gyu, but they ultimately failed this mission, so the money they got at the end lessened. To choose the king they all had to one shot a can of coke and not burp. Whoever doesn’t burp for the longest wins. In the end, Woohyun won after drinking like 3 cans of coke and they came back out and performed the Korean version of ‘D.N.A.’

After the song, they did another ment. I remember the fans were trying to get Minseok to dance a part of ‘D.N.A.’ and he did a little after Woohyun taught him a part, but he said he’s not a good dancer. They also talked about how the original title of the song was ‘Virus’ but that word has a bad meaning in Japan so they changed it. They also mentioned how it was originally supposed to be released in Korea but the lyrics didn’t sound as good cause of the chorus where Sunggyu sings ‘Stop. It.’ sounded kinda weird and it fit better in Japanese. Suddenly, Minseok asked if D.N.A. stood for something and they were all like, ‘...DNA...’ and he was like I know what DNA is, I just thought that it meant something cause of the periods between the letters lol. He said it could be ‘돌았나’ (a Busan accented way of saying ‘are you crazy’ that comes off kinda harsh to non-Busan people) so they were like ‘No and stop swearing, there are adolescents here’ lol. Then they talked about going to Busan and the food there and something about Gyu going there with Minseok.

Then they brought out a throne and crown with a spinning wheel to carry out missions. The member spins the wheel and has to carry out that action wherever the king tells him to go to. With the very first spin, Dongwoo ousted Woohyun as king and Woohyun was so devastated and adorable lol. He was like ‘I wasn’t even king for one minute!’ Then they carried out different missions. I don’t remember the order but I think Gyu gave some of his clothes to a fan, Dongwoo gave a fan this gold necklace and he even put it on for her and moved her hair out of the way (everyone swooned lol), Woohyun acted out a scene from ‘Goblin’ with a fan on the third floor (and he was so cute because he was talking while he was walking through the venue where we couldn’t see him and also when he left, he stopped by every single door on the third floor to peek out and wave at fans cause he’s the biggest sweetheart), Hoya took a selca with a fan, Sungyeol danced to ‘TT’ and also gave a fan his practice shorts (which the members all sniffed to make sure it wasn’t nasty lol), Myungsoo backhugged a fan, and Sungjong danced to ‘Chaser’ at 2x the speed and even picked a fan to dance with him on stage and she did a bang up job too (you go Glen Coco!).

Then they performed ‘Love of My Life’ and then showed an interview vcr. I don’t remember exactly what they said, but it was pretty much about how they feel and thanking people/fans. Then they sang ‘One Day’ and went into ments again. They talked about the ‘Typhoon’ promotions and Sungjong’s killing part (the part where he does the choking dance move) and Woohyun said that more than this part, he thought the ‘I realized’ part that Sungjong does was the killing part and he imitated it. Then fans made Sunggyu do the choking dance and at first he did it half-heartedly and Woohyun scolded him and made him do it seriously and OMG IT WAS GLORIOUS. My little heart still hasn’t recovered. Then we proceeded to make them all do it and Hoya acted like he didn’t want to but Yeol called him out and was like ‘You do it all the time in the waiting room, don’t act like you don’t wanna do it’ lol. Then at the end, we made Yeol do it and he was like ‘I’m gonna do it EXACTLY like Sungjong’ and his facial expressions were hilarious. We made Minseok do it too, he was such a good sport lol. I don’t remember if it was here or some other time, but Woohyun was like ‘He’s not even a member, why are you making him do it?’ and his jealousy was on full display imo! Then they were like there’s only one song left and everyone got super down and kept whining but Woohyun was like, even though it’s our last song, you guys are gonna chant ‘Come Back Again’ and we’re gonna pop out and you’re gonna be surprised right? So don’t be sad’ lol. They kept asking, ‘Should we do the last song now?’ and everyone was like ‘yeah..’ and so they kept talking longer and longer cause they felt bad. Then Minseok said his goodbyes and everyone chanted his name and the boys performed ‘Typhoon’.

Then we did the chant of course! It felt like forever omg my voice was dying. The lights went down and the May comeback teaser came on. Then they came out from the second floor doors and walked around the second floor area while performing ‘Nothing Better Than This’. They started doing their last ments and Sungjong was first. He ended his with his typical ‘Honey, dream of me!’ Then Dongwoo started his by saying that Gyu once said, ‘There are many Dongwoos in the world, but none of them are like you.’ Then it was Soo’s turn and there was an event prepared for his birthday. We were supposed to hold up a slogan that said ‘Happy Birthday Myungsoo’ when it was his turn during the last ment and we sang Happy Birthday to him. The boys were chanting for him to cry and he was like wth lol. They also mentioned how during rehearsal Yeol was like ‘Maybe the fans will do a bday event for you’ and Soo was like ‘Nahh, they prob won’t’ and they apologized for having no sense and not buying a cake to make a proper event. They said that they really thought he’d cry but he didn’t and they said it’s cause they don’t have the pianist noona playing heartwarming music in the bg (no band for the fan meet). He also said that it was very touching and he’ll remember it forever and there was an ‘I love you’ chant. At the end of his ment, the boys started a ‘Cry’ chant and when we stopped, this little boy that was in the second floor seats behind my section kept chanting when everyone was super quiet and it was adorable and we all laughed lol. Next was Sunggyu, he didn’t really say anything too important. Then it was Yeol’s turn and he apologized for the lack of help on their side for Soo’s event and said, ‘I’ll make sure to make Myungsoo cry later and upload it on SNS’ and they were like ‘What are you gonna do? Yell “CRY CRY” while hitting him?’ He said a few other things, then it was Hoya. Someone asked him to do the I say Ho you say Ya thing so we did that. He then said, ‘Sunggyu-hyung once said, there are many Hoyas in this world, but none like you.’ and Yeol said ‘but there’s that genius dog Hoya!’ (a dog that came out on TV for being really smart). Then he used that line again and said ‘there are lots of fans, but none like Inspirit’ and mentioned his Golden Disk speech again about how it’s hard to be their fan and how he’s always grateful. He mentioned (and later Gyu and other members kept mentioning) that they made a promise to keep on going together, so fans think they were hinting at the contract re-signing. Then as he was wrapping up, I think a fan was being escorted out by security, prob for filming with a camera, and the boys were like, please just let it go this time! And they even apologized in the fan’s stead. UGH THESE BOYS! CAN THEY GET ANYMORE PERFECT? The right answer is yes. They apparently can... Then it was Namu’s turn and there was a part where he was talking about enjoying life and not living with too much haste and a fan yelled ‘Okay/got it’ and then after every attempt at trying to be heartwarming the members and the fans kept yelling ‘okay~’ and it was so cute!

Then this led to what I’m sure you guys have all heard about... the extra songs and acapella medley that lasted an extra hour. We kept whining for more songs or at least more talking, we just didn’t want them to go yet. And the boys with their weak hearts gave into our demands. Fans also said how they don’t want the wheel next time and they held a vote and said that they won’t do it anymore lol. They just really showed that they cared about us so much and that they didn’t care whether they’d get in trouble or not or anything, the only thing they cared about was us and our time together. (BRING ON THE TEARS ㅠㅠ) At first, they said that there’s a comeback in May so not to worry, after hearing our pleas for them to stay. Then they mentioned how they only found out about the comeback through the teaser on the first day and that they were just as surprised to hear that as we were. I love how they just hang the dirty laundry out there lol. (looking at you Woollim... you better do right by our boys -_- )

They kept trying to start the last song but we were whining and Namu was like, ‘If you guys keep doing that, then we really won’t be able to say no’ and I think Yeol mentioned ‘Chaser’. They first checked to see if they had the venue booked until a certain time or if they could keep talking for longer and fortunately, the staff said that we had it for the night. They always mention how they get lots of complaints from parents and stuff for how long their concerts are (they’re always at least 3 hours, which is quite long compared to other concerts) and they were like oh wells lol. They checked to see if they had the MR and said not to tease them and upload vids of them getting the choreo wrong since it’s been a long time. Finally, staff said they didn’t have the MR and after A LOT of going back and forth with the staff about MR/AR/acapella, they finally said they had the MR for ‘Entrust’ and ‘Cover Girl’ and they were like let’s just do both, so the boys put on an impromptu performance of those songs and they were walking around and going through the second floor again and some of the boys (like Gyu and Namu for sure) made sure to stop by and say hi to their families. You guys don’t even know how happy I was. ‘Cover Girl’ is my all time fav song and ‘Entrust’ is up there too. They’re just so happy and whenever the boys perform it, they always give lots of fan service so I was ecstatic. Woohyun ended it with ‘We’re yours!’ They had so much fun with it and Dongwoo was all excited and they were kinda like whatevers, eff it, let’s just keep going lol. So they were thinking of other fun songs to sing and Namu was like ‘Man In Love’ or ‘Nothing’s Over’?’ and the staff said they only had AR and we were like ‘IT’S OKAY!’ but they didn’t want to do AR cause they said they had pride and didn’t want to lip sync (ALL THE PRIDE IN OUR BOYS YASSSSS) and so Gyu was like the fans can sing and we can do ‘Nothing’s Over’ then all of a sudden, the music for ‘Nothing’s Over’ came on and they all got into formation and started dancing. Then once we started singing the ‘Yeah~’ part and they realized that it was the MR version, they were all happily surprised and kept going. And of course, we did the ‘Die die’ fanchant!

Then! They tried to do prepare for the last song again until Dongwoo started singing ‘Together’, and we all kept singing. That started the medley of us singing with the boys for like 15 mins. This is definitely on youtube, so I’m gonna skip over it. All I have to say is that I am INSANELY proud to be a part of this fandom and OVER THE MOON grateful that I found these 7 treasures. We started the medley for fun, but towards the end you could really see how touched and emotional the boys were getting. There was a part where Dongwoo tried to do ‘Inconvenient Truth’ but he picked a strange part to start at so fans didn’t pick it up quick enough and he was like why isn’t anyone singing? Dongwoo also started the Telemonster OST they did too lol. They all chimed in with different songs and it was so cool to see/be a part of. Woohyun mentioned how it’s fun for them and us but everyone else must be like wth. And they also mentioned that the only thing that matters is us together, since that’s what a fan meeting is all about. UGH ALL THE CRIES. Then Sunggyu put a stop to the medley cause they started singing the Digimon and Pokemon theme songs and were getting too off topic lol. Then they finally performed ‘Thank You’, went around and said their goodbyes, and finally, at the end, Myungsoo started to cry. Yeol was like, ‘Someone give me your phone so I can take a pic and upload it!’ lol. Then the list of official fanclub member names came up but I was so pissed cause the security kicked everyone out before I could see my name. They literally pushed me out the door and slammed the door in my face... and then some security guard manhandled me while I was waiting on the sidewalk trying to cross the street. I think it’s cause I had my phone in my hand and he thought I was trying to wait on the sidewalk for the boys’ vans to go by but I just wanted to go home at that point. So the end of the night was -___- but then as I made my way home, they start texting one by one messages through that number that you were supposed to send your selca to. Each member said a short cute message of thanks and love you’s.

Overall, this was probably one of the best INFINITE related anything that I’ve been to... and I didn’t know if anything could beat IEA. But ugh, seriously our boys... I have no words. You could feel their love. I’m so so sorry that this was so long, but since it was a fan meet rather than a concert, there was so much more talking! Even after the few hours I put into writing this account, I still feel like I’m missing stuff or left small stuff out cause there’s too much already. Hopefully we’ll all be lucky and blessed with a DVD of the fan meet one day! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave us an ask and thank you so much for reading to the very end! Also, from one Inspirit to another, thank you so much for supporting and loving the boys! They deserve all the love in the world, and I’m so happy to be a part of it with all of you lovely fans! It’s a bit early, but please make sure to put your 110% effort into streaming/tweeting/everythinging once May comes around! Thank you~ ^^

#infinite #인피니트 #무한대집회III #무한대집회3 #무집 #무집3 #sunggyu #dongwoo #woohyun #hoya #sungyeol #l #myungsoo #sungjong #fan account #170304 #togetherinspirit7

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omegaling · 7 years

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Allez Cuisine! ~Chapter Six

Allez Cuisine! Chapter Six: Smoke and Tomatoes

Rating: Mild M

Warnings: Mentioned sexual actives

Chapter Six: Smoke and Tomatoes (read it on AO3 here)

“Team Dameron, you have five minutes to get on set before we start rolling!”

Rey pounded on the door of the men’s bathroom again. “Did you hear that, Finn? We have to get out there, now!”

The lock on the door clacked open and Finn finally emerged, his dark skin ashen and blotchy. “I don’t know if I can even look at food right now, much less cook anything.” he grumbled, his voice raw from spending the better part of the last hour bowed over a toilet bowl.

“You can, and you will,” Rey said firmly as she passed him a few water crackers and a bottle of water so he could cleanse his palate. “Poe’s counting on us. Besides, you’re acting like we’re being shipped off to the beaches of Normandy or something. Time limit aside, we’re not doing anything different today than we do every single night.”

“You say that now,” Finn huffed, popping all three crackers in his mouth and then downing half the bottle in a single go. “This is going to be both the shortest and longest hour of our lives.”

“We’ll be fine, Finn,” Rey said with a tone of finality. “Poe wouldn’t have accepted the challenge if he didn’t think we didn’t have a chance of winning. We’re going to slap Kylo Ren so hard up the side of his arrogant head he’ll be walking backwards for a week.”

That was the biggest difference between them, Rey supposed. Finn had the tendency to picture all the possible outcomes at once, often catastrophizing them and putting those at the forefront of his mind, whereas Rey focused on a single goal and set out to achieve it at any cost. Besides, there was no going back at this point. They were here, ready to defend Leia Organa’s reputation and to show that they weren’t about to let some crusty old man intimidate them, damn this wealth or his connections. That was their goal; everything else was of non-consequence.

Poe wasted no time in getting them prepared after he made the announcement. The day after he told them they were going on the show, he wrote rough draft menus for each of the potential secret theme ingredients they could be given, then the three of them ruthlessly practiced each dish every night over the course of the next week leading up to the day of the competition. Sometimes they stayed at BB8 until three or four in the morning before Poe was satisfied with their final products.

“When we’re out there, timing is everything. Mere seconds can make all the difference in the world,” Poe said during one of their first practice sessions, making Rey make her sofrito base all over again because she waited too long to apply it to the next step of her dish she was in charge of. At times Rey thought he was being just as dramatic as Finn was being now, but she kept her comments to herself and did as she was told.

However…

She would be a fool to think that they didn’t have their work cut out for them. During the little free time she had to spare, Rey had looked up everything she could find online about Kylo Ren to get an idea of what they would be up against.

His restaurant, Vader, was rated one of the top ten in New York City and one of the top fifty in the world for the past seven years. At first, she wasn’t impressed. Compared to BB8’s warm, inviting interior, Ren’s choice of interior decoration was stark and harsh to the point of being unwelcoming, all black and chrome and metal chairs and starched tablecloths. It was all incredibly pretentious, but Rey couldn’t summon the disdain she knew she should have felt toward him. Not after seeing photographs of his food, in any case.

Rey didn’t want to admit it out loud, but Ren definitely deserved every iota of praise his food and culinary style earned him. While his dining area was cold and devoid of emotion, his food was vibrantly, almost violently colorful by comparison. She was also beginning to understand why people kept using a specific set of adjectives to describe it. Sexy, provocative, and erotic were just a few that particularly stood out in her mind, especially when she looked at the foods that inspired such lavish descriptions. Juices seeped from cuts of beautifully marbled, perfectly seared wagyu rib eye steaks, the meat looking ready to melt under the touch of a fork. Edges of freshly shucked oysters curled around plump pillows of glazed foie gras. Ren’s salads reminded her of miniature gardens, and multi-colored pastas swam in thick, rich sauces. Pink, butter-poached fish fillets lay atop beds of jewel-bright vegetables, and almost everything seemed to be garnished with glistening piles of caviar or a snow of shaved white truffles. Ren’s desserts looked like they should be hanging in the National Gallery, not set out on a dining table, the sorbets and glazes on cakes and drizzles as bright as swatches of paint. Rey couldn’t describe it, but there was definitely something tantalizing about his food and the way it was laid out on the plates, almost as if each dish promised more sordid affairs following their consumption.

Then, in what ended up being a major lapse of judgement, Rey searched for images of the man himself.

Kylo Ren looked exactly as he did from when she first saw him two years ago: the same intense gaze, the inky black hair that curled tantalizingly around his ears and at the nape of his neck, the wrong-but-oh-so-right proportions of his facial features. She could still remember the way her heart lurched against her ribs when he turned those eyes on her, the way her body hummed for hours afterwards and could only be soothed by her fingers between her legs. Afterwards she felt awash with shame that a man who was so clearly despised by her friends could invoke such a reaction from her. Fortunately, she became so obsessed with her new line of work that she didn’t have a lot of time to spare thinking about him.

Unfortunately, looking at the pictures of him brought that deeply-buried memory back. What was even worse was that the feelings it brought with them were even worse than before, because now she was envisioning those impossibly large, long-fingered hands wielding a chef’s knife to slice through plump, juicy tomatoes, laying strips of meat into a pan to be seared in melted butter, or fluffing emulsified foam into frothy perfection. Then her treacherous mind started to wander into uncharted waters, leading her to wonder what else those hands were good at. If they could turn food into fine art, then what could they do to someone lay stretched out on a bed beneath him, completely at their mercy…

The fantasies got so bad that Rey snapped the top of her laptop closed and immediately took a shower, trying to convince herself that it had nothing to do with the dampness in her underwear. She was not a religious person, but she prayed all things holy that the feelings Ren invoked her would not interfere with her performance once they were out there. If Poe lost because she was lusting after his rival she’d have to hang herself by her apron strings. That is, if she didn’t outright die of embarassment first.

The floor manager ushered Rey and Finn into the studio and directed them to where they needed to stand and wait for the battle to commence. Kitchen Stadium was like BB8’s kitchen on steroids, and she took that time before the filming started to reorient herself with its layout. Rey’s station was situated next to Poe’s so she could assist him with the savory dishes while Finn focused on desserts in the back. She visually mapped out where all the major kitchen equipments was in relation to where she would be working - the stove tops and ovens, the deep fryer, the location of every pot, pan, tool, and small appliance at their disposal - to alleviate any unnecessary scrambling and wasted time. As soon as the floor manager left her and Finn along Rey slid her rolled tool canvas into a small cubby beneath her cutting board, where it would be both out of the way and easily accessible. She wasn’t planning on using them, but even after dropping out of school two years ago Rey discovered that she wasn’t able to go anywhere without her tools in tow. It felt too much like abandoning a group of old, loyal friends. If nothing else, their presence would help keep her grounded if things started to get too heated.

“Well, well. Finn Trooper. What a surprise.”

Rey and Finn turned simultaneously toward the source of the accented voice. A man and a woman who could only be Ren’s sous chefs were now standing on his side of the stadium. For those first few second Rey’s attention was fully arrested by the woman, whose short, platinum-blonde hair, smokey eyes and towering height made Rey think of the Valkyrie warriors from Norse mythology. The ginger-haired man standing beside her was the least intimidating member of the opposite team, but there was something about him that Rey immediately didn’t like. While Kylo Ren reminded her of an apex predator, there was something about this man that made him seem much more sinister and dangerous, like a viper waiting in the grass for the perfect opportunity the strike.

“Hux,” Finn said in return, his voice as rigid as his posture had gone.

“I wondered what became of you after you abandoned your post at Finalizer. And so soon after Snoke recommended you for a James Beard Foundation nomination? Such ingratitude. We were all certain you’d never set foot in a professional kitchen again, Then again, I shouldn’t be surprised that someone like Dameron took you under his wing.”

Finn took a stomping step in the other man’s direction, but Rey put a hand on his chest to stop him. The motion was not lost on Hux; his ice-cold eyes turned on Rey, cocking one ginger eyebrow in lazy interest. “And you are…?”

“I’m Rey,” she said, holding his glare defiantly.

“And what are your credentials, Rey?” He said her name like he didn’t like the way it felt in his mouth. “Schooling? Previous employers and internships? Awards and recognitions?”

“I’ve been with BB8 for the last two years, if that’s what you’re looking for.”

“And before that?”

“I was an engineering major at NYU.”

Hux narrowed his eyes, and Rey felt her hackles rise in response. “What’s your usual station?”

Finn placed a hand on Rey’s arm and hissed something about Hux goading her, but she lifted her chin up and said, “I’m Poe’s prep cook.”

The blonde woman’s eyebrows shot towards her hairline. Hux openly sneered at them. “Is that really the best Dameron could come up with? A disgraced pastry chef and a girl who’s only a step up from a dish washer to help him? What does his think he’s playing at?”

“He probably wants to prove that intimidation can only get you so far when you’re up against real talent,” Rey shot back, taking Finn firmly by the elbow and steering him back to their side.

“Asshole. Who the hell does he think he is?” Rey hissed, pulling a honing steel from a wooden block set and running it across the edge of her knife. She had honed her knife last night before she went to bed, and then again before they left for the studio that morning, but she was in desperate need to give her hands something to do before she rushed back to the other side of the kitchen and wrung that skinny creep’s neck.

“That would be Armitage Hux, owner and executive chef of Finalizer on Carnegie Hill,” Finn explained. “He’s the new hot shit when it comes to molecular gastronomy in the U.S., right up there with Grant Achatz and Homaro Cantu. He’s also the most pretentious bastard you’ll ever meet. He actually requires diners to complete an application before he’ll approve their reservation because he doesn’t want to waste his food on people who won’t fully appreciate it. And yet his wait list is still eighteen months out. I just don’t get it.”

“Jesus. No wonder why you got out of there.”

Finn flinched. “It doesn’t…bother you knowing that I worked for Snoke before Poe picked me up?”

“Not unless you’re really a double agent who’s been biding your time for a chance to sabotage our boss.”

That got a laugh out of him. “Nah. I was young and overeager when I got out of the CIA and agreed to Snoke’s terms before I knew what was getting into. It only took me about a month before I regretted it. Hux is right about one thing; had it not been for Poe, the only restaurants I could hope to work at again were places like Applebee’s and TGI Friday’s, so I kind of owe my continuing career to him. Also the fact he’s my boyfriend makes double-crossing him a little awkward.”

“Just a smidge,” Rey agreed, replacing the honing knife in the block. “And her?”

“That’s Phasma. Don’t ask me if she has any other names. If she does, I’ve never heard it, and I think people are too afraid to ask her outright. To my knowledge she’s only ever been a sous for other chefs, but she runs a kitchen with military precision. There was a rumor flying around a few years ago that broke a supplyer’s arm who tried to cheat her out on a fish delivery. I don’t think anyone’s confirmed it, but I wouldn’t doubt it for a second. I’ve seen her cleave a side of beef with a single chop once, so I’d stay out of her way just as much as Ren and Hux.”

“Duly noted,” Rey said grimly, wondering for the first time what exactly Poe had gotten them all into.

“Quiet on the set!” the floor manager barked. The lights immediately dimmed, throwing everything except the center aisle into darkness. Stage fog billowed across the floor and the camera crew and boom operators moved into position. Bright spotlights swiveled toward the door at the back of the set where Poe would make his entrance. Mark Dacascos - better knows as the infamous Chairman - had already taken his place at the end of the aisle, and Rey caught sight of Alton Brown and Kevin Brauch moving in the dim light at the far ends of Kitchen Stadium. The director called out a few orders, and the filming of the episode began.

It all felt a bit ridiculous, if Rey was going to be perfectly honest. Without the music, editing and other post-production TV magic she felt like she was part of a dress rehearsal for a school play. Poe was cued to make his entrance, and after a brief exchange of clever words, the host and the chef strode to the front of the set where the Altar of the Secret Ingredient awaited them.

As did Kylo Ren.

Rey didn’t even seen him come onto the set, but there he was all the same, his black hair and chef’s jacket creating a void of darkness beside the altar. Then the studio lights were thrown on again, revealing Ren in all his dark, imposing glory. Fuck, he was massive. Cooking skills aside, it was little wonder why other chefs - or anyone else - was so afraid of him.

Poe took his place opposite Ren in front of the show’s trademark Altar of the Secret Ingredient. The whole studio seemed to become instantly saturated with tension, giving Rey the foreboding mental image of sharks being drawn to blood in the water. The two chef exchanged brief glances, but Poe only smirked at Ren’s glower. Ren’s full mouth suddenly seemed much less appealing to Rey, given that it did nothing but sit in a hard, straight line and occasionally sneer at other people.

The Chairman delivered another set of lines, then revealed the secret ingredient with a flourish.

Shit, Rey thought as her stomach dropped. They went with the aphrodisiacs.

Technically, the variation of food they got to work with would make the battle easier since they had more choices of ingredients to work with rather than having to stretch out only one over five courses. The meal that Poe planned for this particular battle was extremely solid and would showcase his style, his skill, and his mastery of techniques. However, no amount of confidence on their part could overshadow the glaring fact that this was still Ren’s specialty; the man made his whole career on creating food that made people moan and pant for more. They were on his home field in more ways than one, and the odds of coming out of this on top were getting smaller all the time. Next to her, Finn looked like he wanted to do nothing more than run back to the bathroom. Rey took his hand and gave it a squeeze. Come hell or high water, they were all in this together.

A smattering of banter was exchanged between Poe and Ren, swift and biting, aimed to agitate the other before the Chairman cut them off. Rey felt a small swell of pride for Poe for not quailing under Ren’s withering gaze; her boss still looked as cool and collected as she’d even known him to be.

Finally, the Chairman looked directly into the camera lenses to deliver his infamous lines: “So now, America. With an open heart, and an empty stomach, I say unto you in the words of my uncle: Allez cuisine!”

They were off like runners at the crack of a starting pistol. Rey sprinted to the altar to take the avocados and chilis Poe handed off to her before going back for more of the secret ingredients. Finn gathered vegetables, dairy, and other basic ingredients from the pantry and refrigerators, turning on stoves and burners as he went.

“Talk to me, Rey. What’s the plan?” Poe called out as he arranged the first of his ingredients at his station.

“Prep the smoker for the tomatoes for the cocktail sauce,” Rey responded even as she loaded the smoking pan with a combination of oak chips and dried seaweed. “Peel and boil the potatoes for the third course. Don’t start on the hollandaise until the final fifteen.”

“Excellent. How about you, Finn?”

“I’m on the flan and the cake. After those are going I’ll start on the ice cream.”

“Beautiful, beautiful!” Poe said jovially. “Alright, guys, let’s do this thing! Give it everything you got!��

Rey lay out some gorgeous gold and red heirloom tomatoes on her cutting board and began to slice away at them as she waited for her wood chips to start smoking. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ren converging with his own sous chefs on his side of the stadium. Ren was moving aggravatingly slow compared to their hustle, he casualness mocking the seriousness in which Poe took the challenge. Good, she thought. The more reasons she had to not be attracted to him, the better.

Hux said one more thing to Ren before breaking away to his station. Rey had a good suspicion of what it was, because an instant later Ren’s head whipped around to look directly at her.

Rey averted her eyes quickly, hoping he didn’t see the way her skin flushed around her neck. So what if she only had two years experience? The rules didn’t stipulate that a sous chef needed so many years working in a professional kitchen to participate in the battle. Poe knew she was good enough, and evidently that was good enough for the producers. Besides, growing up in the foster system had pre-conditioned her to know how to deal with people’s low expectations and judgemental glares. Just because Ren and his sous were hot-shot, world-class chefs wasn’t going to change that.

Better watch out, Kitchen Prince, Rey thought fiercely as she placed her tomatoes over the smouldering wood chips. We’re going to knock that crown right off your head and watch it melt in the flames.

#reylo #reylo fanfiction #reylo chef au #reylo iron chef au #iron chef america au #allez cuisine!#omegaling writes

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instantdeerlover · 4 years

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Boston’s New Restaurant Openings (2) added to Google Docs

Boston’s New Restaurant Openings (2)

If you tried to keep track of every brand new restaurant in Boston, you might go a little bit crazy. So just read this list instead. These are the new restaurant openings that seem like they have the most potential - although keep in mind, for the ones we haven’t tried, we make no promises. Go forth and be a pioneer.

We’ll be regularly updating this post. Once we check out each spot, we’ll add a note so you know where to read more about it - in our Hit List.

July Drew Katz Revival Cafe + Kitchen $$$$ 103 Newbury St

We’re fans of the breakfast sandwiches at this Cambridge spot, which has locations both in Davis Square and Alewife. Now they’ve opened a new branch on Newbury, making the street even more of a coffee destination (Blue Bottle, Pavement, and Thinking Cup are all there too).

Joel Ang The Lexington at Picnic Grove $$$$ 219 Jacobs Street

The team behind Puritan & Co. was supposed to open three new places in East Cambridge in June, but the pandemic altered that timeline. For now, they’re running an outdoor picnic pop-up of sorts with wagyu hot dogs, lobster rolls, and pretzel Rice Krispie treats.

Season To Taste $$$$ 2447 Massachusetts Ave

The highly acclaimed fine-dining spot The Table at Season to Taste closed in June, and the same team behind that Cambridge spot is opening a more casual gastropub in the space. They’ll have outdoor dining to start, with plans for indoor dining at a later date.

June Jamaica Mi Hungry $$$$ 225 Centre Street

The Jamaican food truck specialists now have their first brick-and-mortar location in JP. Curry goat, oxtails, and the Arboretum are now the top three reasons to move to that neighborhood.

Seis Pies Seis Pies $$$$ 1 Bow Market Way

Seis Pies, which translates to six feet, is a burrito pop-up that was born out of the pandemic. Now their San Francisco “mission-style” burritos are available at Hot Box in Bow Market - the menu can be found here.

Faces Brewing Faces Brewing Company $$$$ 50 Pleasant St

Faces Brewing is the newest brewery in town, and it’s now open for both indoor and outdoor dining. There are sandwiches and pizza to go, along with 11 different beers on tap at this Malden spot. Naturally, half of them are IPAs.

The Nu Do Society Nu Do Society $$$$ 125 River St

We weren’t sure either at first, but we can now confirm the Nu Do Society is distinctly different from the folks at Sandy Terraces. The team was scheduled to open a new brick-and-mortar location in Cambridge, but encountered some COVID-related renovation issues. However, they’re still serving noodles weekly - more information on their website.

Tasty Burger $$$$ 48 Winter Street

Tasty has added a fifth location to their ever-expanding patty empire - this time, it’s a new place in Downtown Crossing.

Mediterranean Grill $$$$ 2401 Massachusetts Ave

Kabobs, falafel, and spanakopita are all available at this new Mediterranean-inspired spot in North Cambridge.

may Dumpling Daughter $$$$ 1309 Beacon St

We suppose life would be a little easier sometimes with well-behaved, pan-seared pork dumplings instead of a screaming two-year-old. This Chinese spot recently opened a new branch in Brookline to go along with locations in Cambridge and Weston.

Chic Chick $$$$ 164 Brighton Ave

If you’ve never had the chance to indulge in Hainanese chicken rice, here’s your chance. Chic Chick in Allston is serving the classic poached chicken on rice and soba noodles. If you’re anything like us, you won’t be able to get enough of that ginger-jasmine rice.

April My Happy Hunan Kitchen $$$$ 1924 Beacon St

Admittedly, we’d be pretty happy too if we were served red-braised pork, spicy shrimp, and lamb stew every day. With this new Hunan spot in Brighton, it seems that a quick pick-me-up is pretty achievable.

Weltkuche Bistro $$$$ 5 Glassworks Ave

Weltkuche in East Cambridge claims to be an “international restaurant,” though it appears most of the items on the menu are more Northern Indian in nature. It adds another dining option for those living in the ever-changing Cambridge Crossing area.

March Sombrero Chiquito $$$$ 197 Massachusetts Ave

Sombrero Chiquito in Fenway opened right before the quarantine restrictions hit, but this Mexican spot is still making things like burritos, nachos, and street corn for takeout and delivery.

Mexicali Sushi Bar $$$$ 199 Sumner St

Mexicali in East Boston serves Mexican-inspired sushi rolls, which is pretty unique for the Boston area. The aguachile roll, in particular, sounds interesting.

February Yellow Door Taqueria $$$$ 354 Harrison Ave

Dorchester staple Yellow Door Taqueria has opened a second location in the South End. There are 12 taco varieties, like scallop frito and sunchoke, to choose from, all of which come on homemade corn tortillas. The restaurant also has a text-a-taco service, which you use to gift tacos to your friends. Turns out technology can actually be used for good.

Sam Swan Krasi $$$$ 48 Gloucester St

Wine bars are opening all over the city, and Krasi has joined the party. This Greek restaurant in Back Bay features lesser-known wines from the region and a large selection of mezze plates like celery root carpaccio and smoked monkfish. There’s also a “Feast of the Gods” for $349, if you’re feeling particularly divine.

Libertine $$$$ 125 Salem St

Libertine is a new North End restaurant that, shockingly, isn’t Italian. It calls itself a “gastropub,” serving a wide range of things from street corn to chicken pot pie to BBQ ribs. There’s also a number of mac and cheese options, probably because any place that doesn’t serve pasta in the North End will inevitably be shut down by the tourism board.

Alma Gaucha $$$$ 401 D St

Southie now has its own Brazilian steakhouse right next to Lawn on D. So this summer you could foreseeably eat an ungodly amount of meat and then play bubble soccer - Boston’s version of the Krispy Kreme Challenge.

Cosmica $$$$ 40 Berkeley St

The team behind Beehive has a new street food-inspired Mexican spot inside the Revolution Hotel in the South End. The menu has a variety of tacos and rice bowls, as well as a selection of larger entrees like cochinita pibil (pork that’s spent hours detoxing within a banana leaf).

Bubor Cha Cha $$$$ 45 Beach St

This Chinatown restaurant, which previously served Cantonese and South East Asian dishes, has now reopened with a focus on Hunan cuisine. Expect some spicy things like steamed fish with red peppers.

Barra $$$$ 23A Bow St

A small Mexican restaurant and bar has opened right next to Celeste in Somerville. There are mezcal and tuxca cocktails, as well as five to six small plates (like aguachile) daily. Weekend brunch is also available.

Mike Diskin French Quarter $$$$ 545 Washington St

The Theater District is now home to a New Orleans-themed restaurant, complete with fleur de lis, sazeracs, po-boys, and gumbo. No word yet on whether Drew Brees will make an appearance.

Lucie Drink & Dine $$$$ 120 Huntington Ave

There’s a new kind-of-American restaurant inside The Colonnade Hotel in Back Bay, and its goal is to become a “great neighborhood restaurant.” We’re not entirely sure what algorithm they’ll use to get there, but having Maine lobster pie and make-your-own-sundaes on the menu is a good start.

Brooklyn Ramen $$$$ 299 Harvard St

The speciality Japanese tea store Gen Sou En in Brookline recently closed, but the space has now been converted into a grocery store. There’s a deli housing Brooklyn Ramen in the back, which serves ramen and okonomiyaki.

Obosa $$$$ 146 Belgrade Ave

A casual West African restaurant is now open in Roslindale, serving staples like meat patties, puff puffs, and Jollof rice.

January Brian Samuels Grand Tour $$$$ 314 Newbury St

The team behind Select Oyster Bar now has a Tour de France-inspired bistro just around the corner in Back Bay. The menu has some unique takes on French classics, like escargot pie and rabbit with parsley salad. The most expensive thing on the menu is the caviar omelette at $60 - even if we were gifted one every morning, we still wouldn’t ride a bike for 3,570 miles.

50Kitchen $$$$ 1450 Dorchester Ave

Dorchester has a new soul food and Asian fusion restaurant, serving unique dishes like jambalaya egg rolls and a smoked brisket bánh mì. It’s more interesting than almost everything at Legal, where the chef used to work.

La Mei Hotpot $$$$ 230 Harvard St

The Coolidge Corner section of Brookline now has another hot pot restaurant in the neighborhood. There’s a “crazy spicy” broth option here - while Denny’s has a similar option, we guarantee it will taste better at LaMei.

Tsurutontan Tsurutontan $$$$ 512 Commonwealth Ave

Osaka udon-chain Tsurutontan now has its first Boston location inside of the Hotel Commonwealth in Kenmore Square. Udon’s not the only thing on the menu, though - there’s also sushi, donburi bowls, cocktails, and sake.

Kim Furnald Lulu Green $$$$ 246 W Broadway

Southie now has a Middle Eastern vegan restaurant. You’ll have salads, sandwiches, smoothies, and a mezze bar to choose from, as well as some bakery items. A Turkish coffee cardamom-cherry muffin seems like a delicious option to us.

M&M BBQ $$$$ 1246 Massachusetts Ave

Dorchester Brewing Company, one of our favorite Boston breweries, is now home to a BBQ restaurant. So the next time you’re “working from home,” you’ll be able to pair some pulled pork with an IPA during an important “lunch meeting.”

Poke By Love Art $$$$ 103 Beverly St

The Love Art team already has a sushi and udon restaurant, so now they’re adding a poke spot to the mix. Everything is gluten-free at this Downtown establishment, apart from the spaghetti self-portrait on the wall by local artist Nord Fine.

Bar 'Cino Bar 'Cino $ $ $ $ Italian in Brookline $$$$ 1032 Beacon St

Instead of another dispensary (which was originally supposed to be in this space), Brookline just got a new Italian restaurant from a Rhode Island restaurant group. The menu is made up of a variety of small plates and pastas, as well as a specific type of Rhode Island pizza made famous in the 1980s. Tracksuits and ruffled shirts are making a comeback, so we suppose there’s no reason to discriminate against pizza.

Longcross Bar and Kitchen LongCross Bar and Kitchen $$$$ 501 Fellsway

Detroit-style pizza places are quickly expanding around the Boston area, and perhaps some of them will make it on to our best pizza list one day. For now, you can enjoy deep-dish by the fireplace at this new Medford restaurant.

December Joyelle West Gray’s Hall $ $ $ $ American , Wine Bar in South Boston $$$$ 615 E Broadway

A natural wine bar and small plates spot has opened in Southie. Conveniently, the bar is located next to American Provisions, a full fledged cheese, wine, and charcuterie store, making this a one-stop-shop for all your self-care needs.

JM Leach Sound Advice $ $ $ $ Bar in West End $$$$ 60 Causeway St

If you’ve ever had the desire to drink at a movie theater without actually watching a movie, then this is the place for you. This cocktail bar is located next to the new ArcLight Cinemas in The Hub on Causeway.

Flight Club Darts USA Flight Club $$$$ 60 Seaport Blvd

Cocktails, darts, and cotton candy unite together at this Seaport bar, a unity which management believes will bring you “unexpected, ridiculous joy.” Hopefully it’s not of the Ed Norton variety.

Happy Crab $$$$ 1137 Broadway

Somerville is the location for yet another Cajun-style, eat-with-your-hands seafood restaurant. At this time, we will reserve comment on the emotional state of crustaceans within the institution.

Lily P’s $ $ $ $ American in Kendall Square $$$$ 50 Binney St

Kendall Square is apparently home to a startup that helps you learn the lingo for a variety of different industries. It is also now home to this fried chicken and oysters spot - which means, no matter what you do for work, “yes” is pretty much the only term you’ll need to know.

Cini's Cini's $$$$ 252 Friend St

Bite-sized arancini balls will now be served until 3am on Friday and Saturdays in the West End. Cini’s will also serve pizza until that time, so it may become your go to place for late-night cheesy Instagram photos.

Tavern of Tales Tavern of Tales $$$$ 1478 Tremont St

Board games are more fun when someone else is serving cocktails and your guests don’t have to sit on the couch that the cat constantly sheds on. Pizza and tater tots are also available at this Mission Hill cafe.

iFresh Noodle $$$$ 182 Brighton Ave

Allston is getting a new hand-pulled noodle store, which is great. We just hope that the “noodle-pulling” team is better than the “name-the-restaurant” team.

Tonkatsu King $$$$ 17 Brighton Ave

The Super 88 food court has a new vendor, one that will be royally frying up golden pieces of pork. We would be happy citizens under this monarchy.

Golden Krust Caribbean Restaurant $$$$ 41 Warren St

This Bronx-based Jamaican patty chain is continuing its expansion in the greater Boston area, this time in the Dudley Square area of Roxbury.

Only One Jamacian Restaurant III $$$$ 1345 Hyde Park Ave

Can you have three locations as a restaurant and still call yourself “Only One”? This Jamaican establishment, with a new spot in Hyde Park, is certainly not shying away from the question.

NOvember Mariel Underground Mariel Underground $ $ $ $ Cuban , Bar in Downtown $$$$ 10 Post Office Square

Mariel, a great new Cuban restaurant in Post Office Square, has opened a cocktail lounge underneath the restaurant. It’s open Tuesday-Sunday starting a 5pm and taking table reservations 9pm and later.

Woods Hill Pier Four Woods Hill Pier 4 $ $ $ $ American , Seafood in Seaport District $$$$ 300 Pier 4 Blvd

There’s a new seafood place in one of those brand new glass condo buildings on the seaport, and your dad will almost certainly mistakenly call it Woods Hole Pier 4 for years to come.

Omori Izakaya $ $ $ $ Japanese in Brookline , Brookline Village $$$$ 195 Washington St

Brookline has a new izakaya, and it’s right around the corner from a dispensary. If you’ve been in the mood for pot and robata skewers, you’re in luck.

Soup Shack $$$$ 401 Harvard Street

A JP spot for pho, ramen, and Thai noodle dishes opened a second location north of Coolidge Corner in Brookline.

Shake Shack $$$$ 322 Washington St

There’s a new burger option (and source of huge lunch lines) in Downtown Crossing, as Greater Boston gets its seventh Shake Shack

Tatte Bakery & Cafe $$$$ 345 Harrison Ave

We’re not quite at the point where there are as many Tatte’s as Dunkin Donuts in Boston, but we’re getting there, as a new one opened up in the South End.

Lola Burger $ $ $ $ Burgers ��in Seaport District $$$$ 11 Fan Pier Blvd

The people behind Lola 42 have opened up a burger joint around the corner on Fan Pier.

Bluestone Lane Harvard Square Café $$$$ 27 Brattle St

An Australian chain of coffee shops just opened its first Boston location in Harvard Square. It serves an all-day breakfast menu of things like lemon ricotta pancakes and shakshuka.

Nourish Your Soul $$$$ 208 Newbury Street

If you ever get hungry while shopping for yoga pants at the Lululemon on Newbury Street, now you have a place to eat bowls, smoothies, and other foods your spin instructor loves at Nourish Your Soul.

Dirty Water Dough Company $ $ $ $ Pizza in East Boston $$$$ 20 Maverick St

A Newbury Street slice joint just opened up a second location in Maverick Square.

October Guy Fieri’s Tequila Cocina $$$$ 110 Causeway

There are plenty of things that Boston has in abundance, like rotaries, wind, and 18-22 year-olds from New Jersey. But we’ve always had a conspicuous lack of donkey sauce. The drought may be over now that we have a Guy Fieri restaurant at North Station.

Distraction Brewing $ $ $ $ Bar in Roslindale $$$$ 2 Belgrade Ave

Everyone is understandably sad about the closure of Mystic Brewery, but thankfully it’s been immediately replaced by Distraction Brewing in Roslindale Square.

Brato Brewhouse + Kitchen $ $ $ $ Bar Food in Brighton $$$$ 190 North Beacon St

And right on Distraction’s heels, Brato Brewhouse is opening in Brighton. It looks like it has way more food options that most breweries.

Six West Six West $$$$ 6 W Broadway

Southie has its first hotel, and it comes with a hotel restaurant that serves potstickers, short rib tacos, and caviar paninis. A rooftop bar is coming, too, but it’s not open yet.

The Kenmore $$$$ 475 Commonwealth Ave

What used to be the Lower Depths in Kenmore Square is now a place called The Kenmore with beer and bar food.

Veggie Grill $$$$ 57 JFK St

West Coast vegan chain Veggie Grill has opened in Harvard Square. Expect salads, veggie burgers, and lots of other quick options.

Izakaya Ittoku $ $ $ $ Japanese , Korean in Cambridge , Porter Square $$$$ 1815 Massachusetts Ave

Ittoku is an izakaya that just moved to Porter Square from Brighton (closing the original location in the process). It appears to largely have the same menu, though it has a full liquor license now.

Lobstah On A Roll $$$$ 254 Newbury St

A South End sandwich shop that makes the [ninth best lobster roll in Boston[( https://www.theinfatuation.com/boston/guides/best-lobster-rolls-in-boston) just opened a second location on Newbury Street.

Pink Taco Boston $$$$ 374 Congress St

A Los Angeles taco chain has opened in The Seaport. They’re open for brunch, lunch, and dinner, serving tacos, enchiladas, burritos, and bowls.

Bulfinch Social $$$$ 107 Merrimac street

The Boxer Hotel in the Bulfinch Triangle has a new lobby restaurant, meaning we have a new place to eat and drink near the Garden that doesn’t have Larry Bird jerseys on the walls.

Rochambeu Rochambeau $ $ $ $ French in Back Bay $$$$ 900 Boylston St

Rochambeau is a big, brassy French restaurant in the Back Bay, which is already probably the capital of big, brassy French restaurants.

Bar Moxy $$$$ 240 Tremont

The brand new Moxy Hotel in the Theater District has a restaurant, and we’re pretty sure it’s the only place in town with a “food truck-inspired photo booth.”

Trillium Fenway $ $ $ $ Fenway $$$$ 401 Park Dr

Trillium has built a new tap room on the lawn outside of the Time Out Market, as it continues its quest to completely take over the Boston beer scene.

september Richard Cadan Mariel $ $ $ $ Cuban in Downtown $$$$ 10 Post Office Sq

Mariel is a big Cuban place in an old bank in Post Office Square. We don’t know why all old banks were built to look like Greek temples, but they make for some cool looking restaurants.

Richard’s $$$$ 1193 Cambridge St

Richard’s is a new American spot in Inman Square. They serve things like pasta and grilled bison.

Ghost Pepper Taco & Tequila Bar $ $ $ $ Mexican in Dorchester $$$$ 120 Savin Hill Ave

Savin Hill has a new taco and tequila bar and, let’s face it, every neighborhood deserves a new taco and tequila bar.

Chalawan $ $ $ $ Southeast Asian in Porter Square $$$$ 1790 Massachusetts Ave

Calawan is a Southeast Asian place in Porter Square. It looks like it has some really cheap wine, so it’s got that going for it, as well as dumplings, curries, and meatier dishes too.

Gantetsu-Ya $$$$ 318 Harvard Street

Gantetsu-Ya is a new Japanese street food stall in the Coolidge Corner arcade. There are few things in life we like more than Japanese street food, so we’re excited.

Roxanne's $ $ $ $ Bar Food in Beacon Hill , Downtown $$$$ 6 Beacon St

The former 6B Lounge - a Downtown bar that existed solely for the purpose of after-work drinks - has been replaced by a new tiki place with a menu of bar bites. Sounds like an improvement to us.

Jamaica Mi Hungry $$$$ 225 Centre Street

You’ve seen the jerk chicken food truck around town, and now you can find it in brick-and-mortar form in Jamaica Plain.

Pazza On Porter $$$$ 107 Porter Street

The owners of Caffe Dello Sport on Hanover Street are branching out with a full-service Italian restaurant in East Boston.

Family Affair $$$$ 554 Columbia St

How many different kinds of chicken and waffles do you know how to make? If your answer is somewhere between 0 and 51, then, sorry, you don’t know how to make as many different kinds of chicken and waffles as this new Caribbean restaurant in Dorchester.

Stillwater $ $ $ $ American in Downtown $$$$ 120 Kingston St

If you’ve ever had a friend visit Boston only to complain about our lack of restaurants that showcase the cuisine of Oklahoma, now you can take them to Stillwater for some Ritz cracker-crusted fried chicken.

Carolicious $$$$ 14 Tyler St

Aeronaut Brewery in Somerville already has Boston’s best brewery dining option in The Tasting Counter. But if you’re not up to a two-hour tasting menu, now you can get arepas at Carolicious.

august Alejandro Ramos OddFellows Ice Cream $$$$ 55 Boylston St

If you’ve never had olive oil and strawberry jam flavored ice cream, now you can at this NYC-based ice cream place that opened in Chestnut Hill.

Orfano $ $ $ $ Steaks , Italian in Fenway $$$$ 188 Brookline St

Now that the people behind Sweet Cheeks, Tiger Mama, and Fool’s Errand opened up an Italian place, Orfano, there’s now an entire block of the Fenway that’s almost completely controlled by one restaurant group. But we’re big fans of the first three restaurants, so if Orfano is any good and the city wants to let them name the street, we’re good with that.

Shy Bird $ $ $ $ American in Kendall Square $$$$ 1 Broadway

Kendall Square has a new all-day counter-service cafe, and this one serves beer and wine along with its specialty rotisserie meats.

Gre.Co Gre.Co $$$$

The fast-casual Greek spot opened its second location. It’s in the Seaport and, unlike the original Back Bay location, it has a liquor license.

Create Gallery & Cocktails $ $ $ $ Bar in Somerville , Union Square $$$$ 1 Bow Market Way

Bow Market may be officially finished now that there’s a small cocktail bar/art gallery that serves draft cocktails created by bartenders from around the city.

Taqueria El Barrio $ $ $ $ Mexican in Allston , Brookline $$$$ 1022 Commonwealth Ave

The people behind Bisq, one of our favorite restaurants in Cambridge, have opened a counter-service taco place on Comm Ave. near BU.

Boba Me $$$$ 1520 Tremont

A new cafe in Mission Hill is serving boba tea and “flaming hot cheese fries.” We’re all for interesting combinations, so you do you, Boba Me.

Pai Kin Kao $ $ $ $ Thai in Central Square $$$$ 80 River Street

What used to be Chick Chick Boom, a Central Square chicken place, is now Pai Kin Kao, and it focuses on Thai and ramen.

110 Grill $$$$ 1 District Ave

A new location of an American chain has opened in the South Bay area of Dorchester, and it calls itself “upscale-casual.” That doesn’t seem to make sense, but we don’t necessarily dislike things that don’t make sense.

july Brian Samuels The Emory $ $ $ $ American in Beacon Hill , Downtown $$$$ 21 Beacon St

There’s a new restaurant at the top of Beacon Hill and and it has a couple of things on the menu we’ve never heard off, like a lobster sausage sandwich and baked potato beignets.

Parlour $ $ $ $ American , Tapas in Brookline , Coolidge Corner $$$$ 308 Harvard Street

Parlour is a new tapas place in Coolidge Corner, so now you have a tapas place to eat at before attending a French film festival at the Coolidge Corner Theater.

The Oyster Club $ $ $ $ Seafood in Back Bay , Downtown $$$$ 79 Park Plaza

We don’t necessarily need more oyster bars, but we’ll always welcome them. This one is just off the Public Garden, and it seems like a place where a lot of people will be paying with corporate cards.

Dolce $ $ $ $ Pizza , Sandwiches , Ice Cream in North End $$$$ 272 Hanover Street

There’s a new restaurant on Hanover Street and, you’re not going to believe this, but it’s Italian. It’s called Dolce, and it specializes in pizza and gelato.

Kingston Cuts $ $ $ $ Steaks in Downtown $$$$ 25 Kingston Street

Downtown Crossing has a new steak-y bistro, with a separate bar and lounge area up front.

Black Lamb Black Lamb $ $ $ $ American , Seafood , French in South End $$$$ 571 Tremont St

The people behind Bar Mezzana, Shore Leave, and No Relation - three South End spots we’re fans of - opened Black Lamb, an “American brasserie and raw bar.” We’re excited.

Silk Road Express $$$$ 1 Brighton Ave

This is the second location of an Uyghur restaurant in Cambridge, and it’s in the wonderful Super 88 Asian food hall in Allston.

Nani Chick'n Bunz $$$$

It’s a delivery-only restaurant, which we’re not sure even counts as a restaurant. But if you live near their kitchen in Allston, then you can get some chicken sandwiches that look pretty good, and hopefully travel well.

Kim’s Tofu $ $ $ $ Korean in Allston $$$$ 160 Brighton Ave

Kim’s is a new Korean place in Allston, and it makes all its tofu in-house.

Peregrine $ $ $ $ Italian in Beacon Hill $$$$ 170 Charles Street

The people behind Juliet, an awesomely casual and affordable fine-dining restaurant in Union Square, have opened Peregrine. It’s an Italian spot in a Beacon Hill boutique hotel, and, as you’d from an Italian spot in a Beacon Hill boutique hotel, it looks to be much more upscale and pricey than their first place.

Sally’s Sandwiches $$$$ 492 Tremont St

The people behind Banyan and The Gallows - a Korean place and a pub, respectively - opened this sandwich spot inside Blackbird Doughnuts in the South End.

The Porch Southern Fare And Juke Joint $$$$ 175 Rivers edge Dr

We’re pretty sure that this new spot for barbecue and live music in Medford is the only juke joint in Boston, and we’re definitely sure it’s the first time we’ve seen the term “juke joint” since reading The Color Purple.

Black Jack Pasta Kitchen $$$$ 1401 Washington Street

Black Jack Pasta Bar was a pasta place in the Fenway that closed last year. This new spot in the South End is a grab-and-go pasta place, which is interesting.

Ilona $$$$

Ilona in the South End is the third restaurant opened up by the team behind Kava Neo-Taverna and Puro Ceviche Bar - two places we really like. It’s Georgian, but Stalin-Georgian, not OutKast-Georgian.

BearMoose Brewing Company $ $ $ $ Everett $$$$ 1934 Revere Beach Pkwy

Cool - we literally just finished our Boston Brewery Rankings, and now we already have to update it. Thanks a lot, BearMoose Brewing, a new brewery and taproom that just opened up with an in-house deli in Everett.

all the time out market places Saltie Girl Saltie Girl Fenway $$$$ 401 Park Drive

The Back Bay raw bar is selling a small selection of its favorites, including lobster rolls (both hot and cold) and clam chowder.

Tasting Counter $$$$ 401 Park Dr

One of the city’s fanciest and most expensive tasting menu places now has a place where you can wait in line for $22 king crab risotto.

Mamaleh’s $$$$ 401 Park Drive

The original Mameleh’s in Kendall Square is one of Boston’s best delis. This is now the third place you can get the shakshuka, along with its stand at the Public Market.

Jaclyn Rivas Ms. Clucks Deluxe $$$$

The team behind O Ya and Hojoko are serving up chicken and dumplings.

Jaclyn Rivas Gogo Ya $$$$ 401 Park Drive

The team behind O Ya and Hojoko are also serving up crispy nori tacos and bento boxes.

BISq $$$$ 401 Park Drive

The real Bisq is an excellent wine bar in Inman Square. This mini-Bisq is serving charcuterie and sandwiches.

Gelato & Chill $$$$ 401 Park Drive

They serve up gelato and wordplay.

Union Square Donuts $$$$ 401 Park Drive

If you haven’t already had one of these brioche donuts (either at the original spot in Union or the stand in the Public Market) now’s your chance.

Revolution Health Kitchen $$$$ 401 Park Dr

Juices, smoothies, acai bowls, and other things your spin instructor loves.

Michael Schlow’s Italian Kitchen $$$$ 401 Park Drive

Michael Schlow used to run, like, 16 really hyped restaurants in Boston. Then he left and closed them all for some reason, and now he’s back with an Italian stand here.

Monti $$$$ 401 Park Drive

Oh, apparently Michael Schlow is also back with a pizza stand here.

Anoush'ella $$$$ 401 Park Drive

Anoush’ella is a popular spot in the South End for fast casual Medeterranean food. Come here for mezze, overnight braised beef, and za’atar chicken.

Bar $$$$ 401 Park Drive

There are two bars at the Time Out Market. They’re both called Bar.

All the Casino Spots Waterfront $$$$ 1 Broadway

We hear it has a view of the table games instead of the water, but the more interesting thing about this seafood spot is that it’s led by the original chef from Neptune Oyster, one of Boston’s best restaurants.

Oyster Bar $$$$ 1 Broadway

It’s a place that sells oysters, in a casino, and it’s also from the old Neptune chef.

On Deck Burger Bar $$$$

It’s a place that sells burgers, in a casino.

Fratelli $$$$ 1 Broadway

The people behind three of our most cliched Italian places in the North End (Bricco, Mare, and Strega) have combined forces to build a (probably) cliched Italian place in a casino.

Rare Steakhouse $$$$ 1 Broadway

They claim to serve the only “certified authentic Kobe beef in New England.” We’ll fact-check that with the governor of the Hyogo Prefecture and get back to you.

Sinatra $$$$

It’s an Italian place, and it’s probably where all the guys who had Swingers posters on their walls in college are going to eat.

Red 8 $$$$ 1 Broadway

It’s a Chinese restaurant franchise of a chain that also has locations in Macau, which is in China, and Las Vegas, which is not.

Mystique $$$$

Izakayas are cool, and this one apparently has views of the skyline instead of a busload of senior citizens being hypnotized by slot machines.

via The Infatuation Feed https://www.theinfatuation.com/boston/guides/boston-new-restaurant-openings Nhà hàng Hương Sen chuyên buffet hải sản cao cấp✅ Tổ ch��c tiệc cưới✅ Hội nghị, hội thảo✅ Tiệc lưu động✅ Sự kiện mang tầm cỡ quốc gia 52 Phố Miếu Đầm, Mễ Trì, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Nội http://huongsen.vn/ 0904988999 http://huongsen.vn/to-chuc-tiec-hoi-nghi/ https://trello.com/userhuongsen

Created July 23, 2020 at 12:42AM /huong sen View Google Doc Nhà hàng Hương Sen chuyên buffet hải sản cao cấp✅ Tổ chức tiệc cưới✅ Hội nghị, hội thảo✅ Tiệc lưu động✅ Sự kiện mang tầm cỡ quốc gia 52 Phố Miếu Đầm, Mễ Trì, Nam Từ Liêm, Hà Nội http://huongsen.vn/ 0904988999 http://huongsen.vn/to-chuc-tiec-hoi-nghi/ https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xa6sRugRZk4MDSyctcqusGYBv1lXYkrF

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