#and i have leftover chicken soup... save me

[phagodyke]

so glad to be home earlier today so I can cry and eat soup before I go out to the gym.. didnt even have to work any overtime for once 🫣

[annaphoenix1994]

Welcome to the World - 1

Previous Chapter - Masterlist - Next Chapter

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The following morning, Kiera awoke with the beginning of intense contractions. Though they were over a few minutes apart, Simon began to grow more and more nervous as it slowly consumed him that he was soon to meet his son and daughter for the first time. "Sleep okay, love?" He asked as he entered their bedroom with a bowl of chicken noodle soup he had made for her. He smiled at her obvious glow, the way her hair framed her round face as she was sat upright in their bed, the white sheet concealing her legs and her robe still clung to her shoulders. I'm so fucking lucky. 

"Somewhat," She shook her head, smiling at him as he entered the room, setting the bowl on the side table before getting a pillow to sit on her lap so she could eat in bed. "Thank you, babe." 

"Are you comfortable?" 

She nodded, leaning her head against his lips as he pressed a kiss to her forehead. He frowned as she tried to eat, not able to eat the entire bowl even though it was probably the best chicken soup she had ever had. Sorry, mom, but Simon makes really good soup.

Contractions were now less than five minutes apart and Kiera began to grow nervous. "Babe, I think we need to start getting ready." 

"Is-Is it happening?" 

"I think so," She sighed, pressing her hand against the side of her belly. "Will you help me take a shower?" 

"Of course. How far apart are your contractions?" 

"About four minutes, but they're not bad contractions and that worries me. They feel like period cramps. What if it's like second stage or something? Hell, I don't know." 

"It's alright, love," He assured her, picking up her phone to look at the app she had been keeping track of her contractions on, seeing that they were averaging at least every three minutes and thirty-eight seconds. "May just be an early warning to get to a hospital before they get worse." 

"I hope so. They're just not hunched over and taking me to my knees bad." 

His adrenaline was pumping at this point, noticing how his hands were subtly shaking as he took the bowl from her, rushing it into the kitchen and putting the leftover soup into a Tupperware bowl and setting it in the fridge in what he felt was record time before he made his way back to the bedroom, offering his hand for her to grab as he assisted her out of the bed, Kimber sitting at Kiera's feet, nearly tripping on her on her way to the bathroom. "God, my ankles are huge!" 

"You'll miss them," He poked. "Those were your all-access pass to unlimited foot rubs." 

"Oh, so that's why you always offered foot rubs even before I was pregnant?" 

"You know you'll always get them without asking," He shrugged, reaching towards the tub to turn on the shower head before helping her untie her robe. "I think this is going to happen today," He smiled with excitement. "You're glowing more than you have before." 

"I'm so nervous." 

"Me too, love, but you've got this. Already mum of the year." He assured her, letting her grasp his hand as she stepped over the side of the bathtub, letting the warm water cage her shoulders as she refrained from washing her hair to save time, Simon keeping a close eye on her as she began to suffer through another contraction, leaning against the shower wall and shifting her body to where the water was running against the small of her back - a desperate attempt to relieve any type of discomfort. 

"Can you mark another contraction on my phone?" She panted, Simon doing as requested and moving to the countertop where her phone sat, marking another contraction on her app, frowning at having to see her in discomfort with nothing he could do to stop it, only able to provide a soft hand and encouraging words to get her through it. This is going to kill me watching her go through so much pain.

That contraction lasted for more than a minute, Simon taking the loofa from her hand and scrubbing the soap along her back, careful with his gestures along her scars, afraid he would hurt her if he gave too much pressure. "I really think this is going to happen today." He grinned.

"You're so confident, babe." 

"I can tell by just looking at your bump that they've dropped." 

"I can definitely feel it. My hips are aching." 

Simon was her personal pit crew - helping her dry off with a second towel and rushing to grab the set of clothes she had set out days prior: a simple t-shirt, sweatpants, and a pair of her favorite Hey Dudes that she had to buy a size bigger to accommodate her swollen feet. As much as she didn't like how she looked in the "pajamas" she had picked out, Simon thought she was the cutest thing to walk in front of him. 

He walked closely behind her as they walked towards the front door of the house, Simon turning off the lights as he passed by before he took Kimber into his grasp, remembering that Eva was eager to keep an eye on the puppy for when the time came and Teeter offering to check on the cat every few hours as well as help take care of the puppy. "Hello?" Kiera's mother said from the other side of the phone, Kiera holding an excited grin on her face to tell her the news. 

"Can you come outside and get Kimber? We're on our way to the hospital-"

Eva shrieked in excitement, making both Kiera and Simon laugh, "R-Right now?! Oh, my goodness! Yes, I'm on my way!" 

"We're parked right outside the house-"

"I see you, sweetheart!" She laughed, ending the phone call as she sat her phone on the outside table, rushing down the stairs to meet Simon at the truck, Kimber in his arms as he stepped outside to meet Eva. She gave Simon a comforting hug, able to tell that he was anxious as he stood at the front of the truck, escorting her to the passenger side to see Kiera for the last stage of her pregnancy. He opened the passenger side door, grinning at Kiera as she and her mother shared an embrace as well as Kimber desperately trying to lick Kiera's cheek as she was still in Eva's arms. "You look so beautiful, honey," Eva whimpered, her cheek pressed against Kiera's as her free arm clutched around her shoulders. "Promise you'll call me when you need me?" 

"I will, momma," Kiera replied, fighting tears of her own. "I'll call you after I get settled at the hospital." 

"Having bad contractions?" 

"No, just uncomfortable right now, but they're less than five minutes apart." 

"You're definitely close!" She smiled, kissing Kiera's forehead. "I'll see you soon. I love you, honey." 

"I love you too, momma." 

She placed another kiss to Kiera's temple before turning to Simon, embracing him and frowning at how she felt him nearly trembling against her. "It'll be alright, honey," She assured him, rubbing her palm against the skin of his shoulder. "I love you. You'll be just fine. I think you're only shaking because you're ready to be a dad." 

"I think so too, but I'm not going to lie: I'm scared," He frowned, returning the hug. "I'm even afraid to drive her because I'm worried about someone running a red light." 

"It's okay to be scared, Simon, but it'll all be okay. Keep me updated when you can."

"I will," He nodded. "I love you too." 

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Once at the hospital, Simon offered his arm to her to cling to as she leant against him as they walked across the parking lot to the hospital entrance, Kiera occasionally having to stop to catch her breath as her ankles felt as if they were on fire, aching with every step. He helped her sit in the nearby chair of the lobby before informing the receptionist as to why they were there. Within ten minutes, a nurse met Kiera in the lobby with a wheelchair, Simon walking behind the nurse with only one bag he had managed to get after he had parked the truck.

It was the bag that had all of her clothes and toiletries in it, knowing she'd either want a snack or a shower later in the day. 

Once she was settled in the room as well as changed into a hospital gown, Simon's hand couldn't keep away from rubbing her belly. "Looks like a beach ball under there, love." 

"Definitely feels like a rock," She giggled, sighing. "I feel like shit - like I've been wanting to throw up." 

"Well, you look really beautiful right now." 

"Thank you," She blushed, reaching towards him as he took a seat beside her. "Ever since we got here, this is so surreal. I thought I was ready, but I'm terrified." 

He nodded, grasping her hand and placing a delicate kiss to her knuckles, "Me too, love. I don't think I can handle seeing you in pain." 

She giggled, "You do know that when these contractions get worse, I'll probably blame you at some point, but don't take it to heart because I'm going to say shit I don't mean-" 

"Your mum warned me in advance," He chuckled, placing another kiss to her knuckles. "She told me you might say worse things than that, actually. Then it turned to a story time where she cursed your father out when having your brother. Something about him being nearly nine pounds when he came out." 

"He also had a cone head," She giggled. "She told me the same story too. Except when she was cussing out my dad, he was laughing because she rarely cusses and he said it was cute." 

"Your mum is one of the most precious people I've ever met. It would definitely catch me off guard if I heard her curse." 

"It's pretty funny when she does."

About ten minutes later, two nurses arrived in the room to prep Kiera with the heart monitors for the babies that wrapped around her belly as well as a heart monitor for herself complimented by an IV in the crease of her elbow. 

As the hours continued, Kiera began to grow more and more restless with her contractions beginning to get more intense. It broke Simon's heart to see her like this, trying his best to empathize with her, but he knew he couldn't compare any of his pain to hers. 

By hour six, Simon kept his sharp gaze on her as she was finally comfortable enough to sleep, sitting back in his chair next to her bed to find the time to call Soap to inform him that not only was it time for Kiera to have the babies, but that he needed to check on the cat. "Hope you know you're interrupting Big Chief, mate-"

"Shut up, Soap, fuckin' hell," He grumbled, irritated that Soap had begun laughing on the other line, knowing he struck Simon's nerve. Per usual. "Can you or Teeter check on Church?"

"Why aren't you home?" 

"Maybe because Kiera is in labor and we're at the hospital?" He scoffed sarcastically.

"Oh, shite!" He shouted, the phone being muffled by the sound of Soap moving with his phone in his grasp. "Teeter! Kiera's having a baby!" 

"Bout damn time!" She shouted from across the room. "Are they here yet? What's going on?!" 

"We've been here for about seven hours now. No babies yet," He sighed, frowning with anticipation. "The nurse told me she's going to come back and give her some Pitocin to help induce labor. Hopefully soon." 

"That's good news, L.T. We'll go and check on the cat. Where's the dog?" 

"Her mum is puppy-sitting. She's leaving her with her father and is on her way." 

"Why didn't you tell me when all of this was happening?" Soap poked. 

"It was need-to-know." 

"What if I needed to know?" 

"You'll know when they're here, how about that?" 

"So... are you going to give me the official title of being an uncle?" 

"Keep pushing your luck, Sergeant." 

"I'm just poking," He chuckled. "Looks like you've finally got a win, L.T." 

"I always win." 

"Yeah, in the battlefield. You winning in life is definitely new." 

"Ain't that the truth," He scoffed, turning his attention to another moan of discomfort as Kiera had woken up with another contraction, struggling to move onto her side in a desperate attempt to ease the pain. "Got to go. Call you later." 

Giving no time for Soap to respond, he hung up the phone, setting it on the nearby table to tend to her. The sound of the babies' heartbeats from the monitor had Simon's anxiousness at top-tier, glancing over every chance he got to see them again, thankful that they were still there. "I-I'm not ready, Simon." She panted, her eyes squeezed shut. 

"I don't think you have much of a choice right now, love," He sighed. "You've got this. You're more ready than you think." 

Another two hours went by and Kiera was still showing no signs in active labor. With contractions still roughly three minutes apart, a group of nurses piled in to administer Pitocin as well as break one of Kiera's waters manually to further along the process. 

As much as Kiera didn't like it, she obliged to not only letting them break her water, but for Simon to peer his curious eyes over the leg he was holding to watch them do it. He rubbed gentle circles on her bare knee for comfort as well as reassurance as he got to watch her water break, which was truly an amazing experience for him. You continue to amaze me every day, love. 

Kiera's mom watched from across the room, wanting to give Kiera space as well as standing back to let Simon have his moment with her - to be there for her like he vowed to be, even though he felt Eva had every right as much as him to be there. After all, she was her mother. She deserved to be there for her daughter in such a beautiful moment. 

"How're you feeling, sweetheart?" Eva smiled, approaching her bedside after the nurses had left to let the Pitocin kick in as well as administering a catheter. She fought tears as she leant over the bed to kiss Kiera's temple, the smell of her sweet and loving scent filling Kiera's nostrils. 

"Better, for now," She sighed. "I feel lighter after they did that." 

"I'd say so. There was a lot of fluid that came out." Simon commented. 

"I brought you some food," She smiled, reaching into her purse - tote - to reveal a bag of Chic-fil-A she had snuck in. Complementary with a bottle of Coke and Dr. Pepper from the vending machine on her way to Kiera's room. "Two chicken sandwiches and a large fry." She giggled. 

"I-I can't eat anything, mom." Kiera frowned. 

"Who said?" 

"The nurses?" 

"Well, I didn't hear it myself. A little bird told me you hadn't eaten since this morning and didn't eat all of it if I heard him right. I know those pretty eyes of yours are eyeballing this bag." She giggled, getting a chicken sandwich out for her and setting it on the tray next to her bed before handing the sandwich she had gotten for Simon to him.

"Might as well say it was Simon who told on me." Kiera chuckled, laying her head back as she felt another contraction on the horizon. 

"I didn't want to put him on the spot." Eva poked, handing Simon a bottle of Coke as she noted it to be a soda he had enjoyed, taking the seat on the opposite side of Kiera's bed to keep an eye on her daughter. 

"Know me so well." Simon chuckled, opening the sandwich.

"You're not too hard to figure out, honey. Besides, Kiera told me so much about you while you were gone and by the time you came home, I already knew you like one of my own." 

Home. 

A subtle word to come from Eva's mouth, yet it made him feel whole.

[the-wize-1]

Thawing the Widow (A Natasha Romanoff Story): Chapter 5 - Spidey Saves the Day

Chapter Summary: Being homeless is like... kind of hard. Cat hustles a girl scout and nearly gets mugged. Luckily, there's a red and blue superhero with a high-pitched voice ready to save her.

Chapter Warnings: Mugging, Fighting

Notes: Hope you enjoy this chapter! As always, please reblog and like and share this story if you’re liking it! Also I think I’m going to start adding gifs to hopefully attract more readers. :)) Please don’t repost it anywhere else impersonating me.

Thawing the Widow Masterlist

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January - One(ish) month later - Soup kitchen

“What up, Maxine?”

“Hey, Beck,” Cat said.

“Back again?”

“Can’t seem to stay away.”

Beck slid Cat a piping hot bowl of pasta. He winked at her. “Well, for such a flattering compliment, this one’s on the house.”

“How generous,” she commented dryly.

He slapped a buttered slice of bead onto her tray. “My pleasure, little lady.”

Beck was a volunteer at the soup kitchen. He couldn’t have charged Cat for the pasta if he wanted to. Cat had been coming every now and then for about a month, and it was easily the best decision she ever made. Not only did the food taste great— or maybe she was just so hungry she no longer cared— but no one asked any questions, barely anyone decided to strike up a conversation with her, and Taco was allowed to sit on one of the chairs if he was quiet and not disruptive.

Beck had told her he was nineteen, had three sisters and a brother, had been volunteering at the soup kitchen since he was thirteen, and also worked at a local deli. He was in med school, and was going to be a neurosurgeon. He’d asked her questions too, but Cat always had to sidestep them or lie. She liked Beck, but the further away she held him at length, the better it was for the both of them. To him, her name was Maxine Wheeler, her parents died when she was young, and her dog was called Sandwich.

She didn’t know why she felt the need to lie about Taco’s name, but the less he knew, the better.

Cat tugged on Taco’s leash, leading him towards one of the tables in the corner. She’d gotten him a red one, so she could tie him to a lamppost whenever he wasn’t allowed in supermarkets or libraries. She wasn’t concerned that he would run away, but rather that if someone saw a dog without a leash, they might take him away. But if they saw a dog tied to a lamppost, they might think, Hmm, looks like someone tied this dog to a lamp post. That must mean someone owns this dog.

At the beverages station, Cat made herself a cup of coffee. It was easily the most repulsive watery coffee she had ever tasted, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. This turn of phrase applied to her quite literally now. At the end of the day, she’d rather have a cup of disgusting watery coffee than nothing.

She unceremoniously dumped five packets of sugar into her coffee and stirred in a large amount of milk, diluting the bitterness tenfold. She drained half of the cup in a single gulp, the hot liquid scorching her throat.

Cat took a seat at a table and fed Taco the piece of bread on her tray. He gnawed on it aggressively. She felt bad she didn’t have any meat to give him, but then she saw Beck walking over. He had a small plate with a chicken leg and sausages in hand.

“Beck, you’re amazing. I could marry you right now.”

Beck grinned at Taco, who had leapt on the chicken leg almost immediately after seeing it. “I think I might be too old for you.”

“Seriously,” Cat said. “We both appreciate it.”

“Aw, it was no trouble. Just leftovers from breakfast. We would’ve had to throw it away anyhow.”

Cat didn’t know Beck to be the type to waste food, but she was still grateful to him. She gave him a rare, genuine smile as he waved goodbye, heading back to the serving table.

After he was out of sight, Cat turned back to her meal and began to think. She’d had lots of time to do that these past few days, with no one but Beck and Taco to talk to. She saw other kids at the park, of course, but they never came to talk to her. She noticed the looks the mothers gave her, and how they whispered and pointed. She couldn’t blame them— she knew how she must’ve looked to them. Unkempt and shifty, with her backpack holding all of her belongings.

Cash was a problem.

Cat was down to just a handful of twenties, which wouldn’t last her long at all. It was frightening how fast it had all vanished. Money spent on food, warmer clothes, a bigger backpack, supplies at the cheapest convenience store. Money that dwindled away, day after day. Maybe Trevor hadn’t really had that much money in his drawer to begin with, and maybe Cat had just thought that was the case because she was so unused to seeing it.

“Mo’ money mo’ problems” did not apply here.

Less money meant more problems. Significantly more problems.

No more washing her clothes at the laundromats. No more food or supplies. She’d been surviving off the soup kitchen’s meals, but she was careful to travel to several different kitchens in the city so that no one would notice her consistency and call CPS.

The cold was definitely a problem. New York winters were rough, and Cat only had the shabby gray coat she’d gotten from a homeless shelter and a couple of blankets in her bag to brave the cold. She was no longer going to homeless shelters to sleep. She didn’t feel comfortable being so vulnerable amongst a bunch of untrustworthy strangers she barely knew. Who knew if she was going to wake up with half of her possessions stolen?

For that entire week, she’d found less windy spots to bundle herself with coats and blankets, Taco wrapped in them, and eventually drift off to sleep. Sometimes, she hid behind the bookshelves in the library after closing hours, where it was warm and cozy, and fell asleep. But she wasn’t doing that anymore, because one of the librarians had caught her in the morning and chased her off. They were being more careful now.

For the first time, Cat was scared.

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January - Apartment Lobby

Cat was scared, which meant she was desperate. And a desperate Cat was a Cat with great ideas.

Wonderful, amazing, life-saving, great ideas.

For instance: pretending to be a Girl Scout in order to get free unused cans from people’s apartments.

What a great idea, right?

She couldn’t keep going to the soup kitchens every day. It was tiring to travel to another one every day, and if she went too often they might call CPS on her. She’d gotten the Girl Scout idea from seeing one of them walk into an apartment, bags in hand. There was only one problem: Cat didn’t look like a Girl Scout. At all.

Luckily, that sort of problem could be easily fixed. She’d cleaned herself off using sanitary wipes and a shower she’d found in an old gym, switched her dirty clothes out for clean ones, and arranged her hair so that it no longer resembled a rat’s nest.

Now, there was only one thing she needed.

“I’ll give you ten dollars for it.”

The Girl Scout wrinkled her nose at her. “Ew, no! Why would I give you my sash, anyway?”

They were both standing in the lobby of the apartment, close enough to the entrance so that they were out of earshot of the disapproving receptionist. Cat had managed to flag the girl down as she was on her way inside, holding two empty black bags meant to be filled with cans. The apartment had a no pets policy, so she’d had to tie Taco to a pole outside.

The Girl Scout was maybe a little older than Cat, and looked every part like a Little Miss Perfect. She had long, curled dark hair in a ponytail and tiny manicured nails. She was decked out in a crisp Girl Scout uniform, looking like a miniature summer camp cabin leader. Her eyebrows were scrunched up in a permanent tiny frown.

“How about twenty?”

“Are you kidding me? Mom will kill me if I tell her I traded twenty dollars for my sash.”

“You could always tell her you lost it,” Cat suggested, but the girl reacted as if she’d suggested flinging herself into the middle of a roaring fireplace.

“Lost it!?” Miss Perfect all but shrieked. “What makes you think I am the sort of person who just loses my sash? All of my badges are on this thing. Do you see these?” She violently stabbed a finger towards a badge on her sash. “They were earned by sweat, blood, and tears.”

Cat squinted at the shiny little sewn-on patches on her sash. “Yeah, ‘Finding a Daisy In the Woods’ sounds like it took some serious training.”

“Whatever,” Miss Perfect sniffed. “I don’t expect you to understand.” She looked Cat up and down with a snobbish expression. “Where are your parents, little girl?”

You’re not even that much older than me!

“Don’t have any.”

“Oh, that’s sad,” Miss Perfect said, unperturbed. “Well, if you need a sash so bad, you should become a Girl Scout, it’s not that hard. They’ll probably give you a sash then, but you probably won’t earn as many badges as me.”

If I was a Girl Scout, you’d bet I’d earn as many badges as you, Cat thought viciously . Probably two, three times as many, and then I’d parade them around just so I could see the stupid look on your stupid smug stupid face.

(What? No, Cat wouldn’t consider herself a competitive person.)

“Well, I don’t want to be a Girl Scout.”

“What?” Miss Perfect asked, aghast. “Why?”

Because I’d rather die than wear one of those tiny matching uniforms, Cat nearly said. Instead, she opted for, “‘Cause I’m homeless.”

She gasped, a manicured hand flying up to her mouth. “What?!”

“Yes, I’m a sad, sad, homeless orphan,” Cat said impatiently. “And you’re supposed to be a friggin’ Girl Scout. Aren’t you guys supposed to be a bunch of walking Mother Teresas or something? Helping people is your whole thing.”

“You’re homeless?” she repeated, like she couldn’t wrap her head around the idea. Her eyes had turned wide and disbelieving. “But you’re my age.”

“It’s a long story, okay? Anyway, that’s why I need your sash. So I can get cans from people who don’t need them.”

“What are you going to do with them?”

Cat stared at her like she was stupid. “Eat the stuff inside. What else would I do with them?”

“That is dishonorable!”

“Not really.” Cat was not getting through to this girl. She needed to go in another way. She thought for a moment. “Think about this.” Which might be pretty difficult for you. “You’re collecting cans from people, right? So where do you think all those cans are gonna go?”

“Well… the food bank, of course.”

“Right, and that’s probably going to go towards people like me, homeless people. So by giving me your sash, it’s basically the same thing, but faster. See?” Miss Perfect didn’t look very convinced, so Cat added, “Plus, you’d get twenty dollars from me. That’s probably enough to buy you two sashes.”

Miss Perfect thought about this for a long time. She was silent for so long that Cat was beginning to think that she was ignoring Cat to see if she’d go away, but then she finally said, “Fine. Fifty dollars and we have a deal.”

She stuck her hand out. Cat didn’t shake it.

“What? No,” Cat groaned. “You are seriously the worst Girl Scout ever.”

“Fifty,” she insisted, “or I walk.”

Clearly, Miss Perfect was watching too many action movies.

“Thirty,” Cat bartered.

“Fifty.”

“Thirty-five.”

“Fifty.”

Cat’s hands flew up. “Unbelievable. Do you not know how to barter?”

“Barter?”

“You know! You want one price, I want another. I slowly start raising the price, you slowly start declining until we reach a satisfying consensus.”

Miss Perfect’s frown deepened. “Why would I do that? Then I get less money.”

Un-freaking-believable,

Out of the corner of her eye, Cat noticed their argument had drawn the attention of a few men, lurking in the corner of the lobby. They were dressed darkly, in baggy clothes, and looked very shifty, whispering and laughing to themselves. One or two of them was smoking, filling the lobby with the smell of it. Cat didn’t like the way they were looking at the two of them.

Cat wasn’t going to win this argument, and she really needed to get out of there. However, there was also no freaking way she was about to pay this girl fifty dollars for a little brown piece of fabric with colorful other pieces of fabric on it. She made a show of sighing and rifled through her backpack, opening a small zipper in the lining where she kept her cash. She didn’t like looking in there because it was depressing how little there was now. She stuffed a handful of ones in the center and covered them with a ten and a twenty. Cat held the cash up to her, covering the bills just enough so that it looked enough to be fifty dollars.

Miss Perfect’s eyes widened in awe. She’d probably never been given this much cash to spend in her life. She reached to take it, but Cat held it back from her reach.

“Sash first.”

Miss Perfect crossed her arms. “How do I know you won’t just take it and run?”

“How do I know you won’t just take my money and run?”

“At the same time, then.” She slid her sash off her shoulder and held it out. They exchanged their items.

“Better hide it in your pocket, fast,” Cat suggested, before Miss Perfect could inspect the cash she’d been given for too long. She lowered her voice and darted her eyes at the darkly dressed men purposefully. “You don’t want anyone stealing it. And you’ve gotta tell your mom that you lost the sash or something, so you can’t have her seeing that money.”

“Huh,” Miss Perfect said, surprised by the reasoning of this. “Good idea.”

As Cat had expected, she didn’t bother counting the cash. Rookie. She probably had enough faith in humanity to expect that even scrawny homeless orphans were trustworthy enough not to attempt to scam her out of receiving her money. In a way, Cat envied her.

Cat eyed her bags, thinking of how full her backpack already was. “Hey, uh— you won’t mind if I take those too, do you? I’ll need something to collect the cans with.” She didn’t think Miss Perfect would actually give them to her, but it was worth a shot.

To her surprise, the girl handed them over. Cat was nearly about to say thanks, but then she asked, “This is giving me points, right?”

“Points?” Cat echoed. Is she serious?

“Yeah, like in class. You get good points for doing good things.”

The intelligence of this girl was fascinating and terrifying at the same time. Cat wanted to inspect her under a microscope to see what other miracles her brain might produce. Yet at the same time she wanted to flee in case whatever disease Miss Perfect had might be contagious.

“Yeah, sure, you get ‘points’ for this.”

“Great. Well, it was a pleasure doing business with you, random homeless girl.”

“Likewise,” Cat responded.

She stole a glance at the darkly dressed men in the corner, and saw that they had stopped laughing. Most of them were watching her like hawks. Cat left the building in a hurry, not bothering to say goodbye to the Girl Scout.

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January - Outside

The Girl Scout routine had been a success. Cat had done her best to make herself even more presentable, copying the sensible ponytail Miss Perfect had put her hair in. She washed her face three times in a restroom of a dingy little restaurant and practiced her most sweet, innocent smile in the mirror. It made her facial muscle stiff. She hadn’t smiled that wide in a long time.

It surprised her how many people were willing to give food away. Maybe her smile still had some usefulness. Or maybe it was her young, hopeful face. A lot of people asked if they could pet Taco, so maybe it was that. By the time Cat had collected cans to fill up a bag or so, it was getting dark.

She was hoping to find a quiet place where she and Taco could enjoy a can of cold chicken noodle soup with the single metal spoon that she carried with her, but of course that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.

In New York, the air was filled with so much honking, voices, music, and movement that it made it hard to focus at times. But Cat had been living on the streets long enough to sense when someone was following her. She’d see reflections of the same people in glass doors, or hear the same jingling of clothing accessories behind her. Sometimes, she would get a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach.

It was usually nothing but paranoia. The people who followed her usually meant no ill will. Usually, they were just heading towards the same direction she was. But this time, it was different.

Cat had recognized the four men who were walking behind her. Darkly dressed, baggy clothing, mischievous expressions. She’d turned three corners, and they were still a few yards away from her. Close enough so that she could hear their footsteps, clumsily falling on the New York sidewalk. They weren’t laughing or talking. They were silent.

Cat walked faster. She tugged Taco closer to her. Taco seemed to sense that there was trouble. Instead of pitching a fit and plopping down on the sidewalk, the beagle hurried along and matched her pace. Cat inwardly thanked whoever was the god of beagles, because they’d come through for her on this one.

It’s probably nothing. They’re probably a bunch of nice people. Like… really intense but nice dentists who are following me because they’re concerned for my dental health.

Even the voice inside her head sounded ridiculous.

Don’t turn back. If they ask you to stop, keep walking. If they walk faster, you walk faster. If they start running, run like hell. But don’t run yet, in case that makes them run. If they catch you, turn around and punch them in the face like you did to Trevor that one time.

At the word Trevor, a shiver passed through her body. If she had the nerve to actually punch her uncle, she should have the nerve to punch these random guys who may or may not be a bunch of nice dentists. She’d clocked Trevor right in the face. The punch had landed somewhere next to his nose— somewhere squishy. (She preferred not to revisit what happened to her after that had happened.)

No, a punch wouldn’t do it. There were— how many?— about four of them, and one of her. She needed her knife. The kitchen knife she’d stolen from Trevor’s kitchen. She suddenly remembered Natasha’s knife as it sliced through the ropes, and cursed herself for not stealing one of them when she left. The woman had to have at least ten of them, missing one wouldn’t have done her any harm. Pushing the bag of canned goods into the crook of her elbow, Cat reached into her jacket pocket, and with great relief, noted that the kitchen knife she’d stashed in there hadn’t been stolen.

Cat fisted the hand that was holding the bag of canned goods. She could feel her heartbeat all the way throughout her body, thrumming in her ears, ramming against her ribs, pulsing at her wrist.

Cat steeled herself. You’re not scared.

As she told herself this, her grip on Taco’s leash had tightened so that her knuckles were white. She didn’t realize how fast she was walking until she took a glance at Taco and saw his legs moving faster than usual.

Her heart was thumping against her chest.

Cat had been so deep in thought that she hadn’t realized that she’d accidentally wandered into a darker part of New York. She hadn’t been here before, and she certainly had no idea where she was. The narrow streets were gloomy, lit creepily by streetlights. Buildings loomed above her, hiding the moonlight. Even creepier, she could still hear the footsteps. This was not where she wanted to be.

Thumpthumpthumpthumpthump —

“Hey!” one of the men yelled. “Little girl! Are you lost?”

It wasn’t friendly enough to be convincing. She walked faster. She made up a rhythm in her head that went to the beat of her steps. Maybe if she focused on that hard enough, the footsteps and voices would fade away… But no luck.

“We can help you, if you’re lost!” a different voice called. It was deeper.

“Yeah, just turn back around!”

“Hey! Why’re you in such a hurry, little lady?”

Cat turned her head back, quickly. They were closer than they had been before. “I’m not lost!” she called. “Leave me alone, please.”

There was a sprinkling of laughter.

Cat’s thoughts were flying every which way, her mind was a mess. What was she going to do? It would be dumb to turn around. It would be dumber to stop. But what would happen if she just ignored them? Cat only had time to notice that her footsteps were slowing down before the men moved on her.

It all happened so fast.

She didn’t have time to scream, let alone grab out her kitchen knife and make the decision to stab one of them. One of the men smashed into her, pulling her into an abandoned alleyway. The rest surrounded her. The canned goods crashed to the ground, cans rolling in every which way. The sash was ripped off of her shoulder violently, and it fluttered to the ground.

“Taco!” Cat screamed.

She didn’t know why she was screaming for the beagle when it was her being attacked. Maybe it was easier being worried about someone else’s safety than her own.

“TACO!”

There was more laughter from the men.

“What the hell is she screaming about?” the man with the deep voice rumbled. “Is she hungry?”

“Whaddya lookin’ at me for, man? I don’t freakin’ know anything about kids.”

Cat scrambled to her feet. She had to strain her eyes to see the dark shapes of the four men, all standing above her. She scanned her surroundings, looking for Taco. With an inward sigh of relief, she noticed that the beagle had retreated in a dark shadow. Part of the red leash was lying on the ground, illuminated by the circle of light cast by a street lamp. Cat hoped the muggers wouldn’t notice as well. More so, she prayed that Taco wouldn’t try and bark at the muggers, which would be sweet but unhelpful.

Deep Voice picked up a fallen can of chili from his feet. “Why do you need so much food, Fake Girl Scout? You have so much money.”

“Don’t you recognize us?” another asked. Cat could make out a bright red fedora on his head. It clashed horribly with his hair.

“We saw you give that Girl Scout some money,” chimed Deep Voice.

“It looked like a lot of money,” agreed Red Fedora.

“You got any more in that backpack?”

“How ‘bout you share some of that money with us, huh?”

“There’s no more left.” Cat hated that she couldn’t stop her voice from shaking. She tried to make it sound braver. “Too bad, so sad. So suck it.”

One of the other mens’ smiles turned menacing. “I think she’s lying.”

He was essentially a giant. Every part of his body looked like it had been enlarged and stretched out by some type of machine. His muscles bulged on his neck— which was a weird place to notice muscles bulging, but whatever.

“How about you show us what’s in that backpack of yours, and we’ll see for ourselves?”

It was at that point Cat started screaming. First it was nonsensical yelling, then it turned into cries for help. “HELP! HELP!”

No one came. The only response to her shouts was jeering from the men. She realized that no one was coming. Of course, no one was stupid enough to get in the middle of a mugging with dangerous men in the middle of the night. In no time, her fear morphed into anger, then she was cursing and swearing up a storm at them. She wouldn’t repeat the things she said, because they weren’t very nice things.

It only made them laugh harder.

“My! This one’s got a filthy mouth!”

“It’s getting annoying. Shut her up!”

Cat refused to shut up. She screamed and screamed and screamed, until the giant man clamped his hand over her mouth. It was so large, it covered the entire bottom half of her face. She flailed around in his grip and chomped down on one of his fingers. Giant Hand Man withdrew his hand with a howl of pain.

That seemed to make him mad. Red Fedora threw her against a wall and held her there, which knocked the air out of her so that she stopped yelling for a moment. Her backpack was still hanging onto her shoulders. She heard something in there crunch painfully. Before she could regain control of her breathing, Giant Hand Man reared back and punched her in the stomach. Cat’s head jerked forward as pain exploded where his fist had rammed into her abdomen. The laughter had ceased.

The last man was standing a little further back. “Jeez,” he whispered to Giant Hand Man, “no need to be so rough. She’s just a kid.” His voice was higher than the rest. He seemed younger, and a little uneasy with it all. Cat hadn’t heard Young Guy participate in the taunting and laughing. He was glancing around like he was expecting to be caught any moment.

“She’s a bitch,” Giant Hand Man replied.

Damn right I am. Cat spat right in the Giant Hand’s eye. She cursed at him again.

He recoiled in disgust, wiping the spit off of his face with a roar. “The hell did you just say to me?”

She saw the blow coming but her shoulders were pushed against the wall— she couldn’t do anything to stop it. She struggled helplessly as the man’s hand connected with the right side of her cheek. It stung.

In the darkly lit alley, the Giant Hand Man’s face looked startlingly like Trevor’s. Cat was still. Her arms hung uselessly at her sides, the right side of her face burning.

“Where’s the money?” he demanded.

“I told you, idiot,” Cat snarled through gritted teeth, “there’s no more money.”

“Check her backpack,” Deep Voice suggested.

Giant Hand Man reached for her shoulder, and Cat reacted by kicking him hard in the groin. He collapsed with a strangled groan. Before she could kick Red Fedora in the face and run, both him and Deep Voice secured her arms so that she was pressed against the wall. Deep Voice maneuvered her so that Red Fedora could wrench the backpack from her. He tossed it to Young Guy, who nearly dropped it.

“Dang,” he muttered. “This thing is heavy.”

“Quit messing around and find the money,” Red Fedora snapped.

Young Guy fumbled with the zippers, opening and closing all the pockets and rooting through her stuff. He tossed some of her clothes on the ground as he searched for it.

“Hey!” Cat protested. “Don’t just throw my stuff on the ground! It’s going to get dirty!”

Red Fedora shook her so hard that Cat could nearly feel her brain rattling around in her head. “Shut up!”

Young Guy looked up. “There’s nothing in here.”

“Give me that!”

Red Fedora let go of Cat’s arm rifled through the bag. Deep Voice’s attention had been diverted; his grip on her other arm was starting to loosen. With her right arm free, Cat’s hand dropped to her coat pocket, where her knife was. Giant Hand Man was helping Red Fedora look through her bag, with no success.

“I already told you, dimwits,” Cat said, turning her voice into an indifferent, bored drawl. “There’s nothing in there. Zip. Zilch. Nada.”

Giant Hand Man turned to Red Fedora with an almost laughable sheepishness. “There ain’t nothing’ here, man. We should just go home.”

Red Fedora turned on her. “Don’t lie to me, girl!”

“Hey, listen,” Cat said. She was no longer scared. These were a bunch of silly men whose blows couldn’t hurt her, and she didn’t have anything that they wanted. “You’re in denial. I get it. I’ve been there. But trying to beat up a little girl while your buddies are holding her against the wall ain’t the way to go about it.”

“I know you’ve got more money hidden,” he repeated. “Where is it?”

“Trust me, if I had money to give, I’d sure give it to you. Only, you chose the wrong homeless orphan to terrorize tonight. Facts are, I’m broke, dude. And you’re just pathetic.”

That did it. He viciously backhanded her. The blow made her ears ring and the blood pound in her ears. This time, Cat didn’t stop yelling.

“Okay, fine! You really wanna know where the money is? It’s at the North Pole with Santa’s goddamn reindeers!”

Another punch. It didn’t faze Cat. Her cheek was numb. She had taken worse hits before. She felt herself slipping back into an old routine. Before Red Fedora could strike her again, something weird happened.

“HEY!” a voice called out. It was a high-pitched male voice, coming from above their heads. “That isn’t very nice!”

Thwip! Thwip!

Two strands of a translucent-white material attached themselves to each of Red Fedora’s wrists. Cat saw his face transform from anger to shock, then increasing horror as the white material yanked him upwards into the air.

“Karen,” the same voice said, quieter, “that was your cue to do the thing.”

Cat had extremely good hearing, but even she had to strain her ears in order to hear the sound of a robotic voice going, “My apologies. I wasn’t sure what you meant.”

The voice sighed. “Just do the sedative web thingies.”

“Sedative webs initiated.”

There was another thwip, the noise of something hitting flesh, then Red Fedora’s groaning fell suspiciously silent. Cat’s, and the other three men’s, gazes followed the sound of the groan to see a blue and red figure perched on a balcony about five stories above.

“Howdy, gentlemen,” Spider-Man said pleasantly. He tilted his head towards Cat. “And lady. I just have one question for you all. Why do you need four guys to mug one little girl?”

“It’s Spider-Man!” Giant Hand Man gasped.

“Hey! You know me! Then you should know that I don’t condone mugging people in dark alleys.”

“Wait! Wait, wait— ahhhhhhhhh!”

Giant Hand Man’s screams followed Red Fedora’s as he was yanked up into the air as well. Cat was shocked how easily Spider-Man was able to pull him up, considering how his lean frame compared to Giant Hand Man’s hulking mass of muscle.

“Sedative web!” Spider-Man called as he shot a strand of web towards him, cutting his screaming short. Cat saw Giant Hand Man’s hand fall down to his chest like he had fallen asleep.

“First of all,” Spider-Man continued conversationally, as if nothing strange had happened, “it’s cliche. Like, how many movies have you seen where people get mugged in dark alleys? Second of all— hey, where are you going, man?”

Spider-Man flipped down from his ledge, landing neatly in a stance on the ground. Deep Voice had been dumb enough to try and run away. Young Guy, who’d been trying to do the same thing, froze in his place. Spider-Man shot a web that landed in the middle of Deep Voice’s back and pulled on the strand, yanking the man back so hard that he flew over their heads and crashed into a Dumpster.

“Hey, you trying to leave without even saying goodbye?” asked Spider-Man, making his way towards the Dumpster. “Rude.”

Deep Voice got to his feet. His eyes were panicked. Once he realized that Spider-Man was after him, he changed tactics. With a cry, he started charging at him, fists raised. Spider-Man stopped walking towards him. He awkwardly stood there until Deep Voice was just a couple inches away from making contact before he caught his fist mid-air and flipped him hard on his back, as easy as someone might squash a cockroach. Deep Voice let out a long, drawn-out groan. Spider-Man threw him— yes, threw him — into the air and webbed him to the wall next to Giant Hand Man.

Spider-Man then turned to Young Guy, who already had his hands up. He was shaking like a leaf. “I-I’m a huge fan,” he said.

“Thanks. I appreciate that, man,” Spider-Man said amiably, pointing his web shooters towards his face. “Too bad you’re a huge jerk. Otherwise, we would’ve gotten along great.”

“W-wait!”

Spider-Man paused, humoring him. “What?”

“Um.” Clearly, Young Guy hadn’t expected that to work. His face held a shoot, what do I do now expression. “Please d-don’t hurt me!”

“Why?” Spider-Man’s voice was disgusted. “You were perfectly content to hurt this girl a few seconds ago. Why shouldn’t I give you the same treatment?”

“I didn’t even want to do this! The other guys, they’re my cousins! They made me come with them!” Young Guy babbled. “I didn’t even hurt her!”

“So? You could’ve stopped them. Did you?”

“Well, no, but—”

“But nothing. Bye now.” Spider-Man threw him up with the rest of the guys and stuck him to the wall, shooting two more sedative webs up to silence both Young Guy and Deep Voice.

“That’s a neat trick,” Cat commented, clutching Taco to her chest. While the chaos was going on, she’d grabbed him from the shadows to make sure the beagle hadn’t been trampled. Luckily, they were both still in one piece.

“What? Nah, it’s nothing. It’s just a little— thwip! Thwip! Bam!” He made und motions with his web shooters, mimicking the sounds they made.

“Are they completely knocked out?”

“Yep. Probably gonna stay that way for a bit, until the police find them. I left them a nice note, stuck it in that big hairy guy’s beard.”

“That was really cool of you to save my life. Thanks.”

“Hey, it’s what I do. Friendly neighborhood Spider-Man and all.” His lenses widened as he focused on her. “You okay?”

“I’ll be fine.”

A wave of exhaustion crashed over her. She swayed on her feet, nearly toppling over before Spider-Man steadied her. “Whoa, whoa, whoa— yeah, I don’t think so. You look pretty beat up. No offense.”

Cat imagined she looked awful. She could feel her right cheek burning and her left eye beginning to puff up. Her ribs ached from the hit she’d taken from Giant Hand Man. Not only that, but she probably had dark circles around her eyes from lack of sleep, messy hair, and generally looked like a homeless girl who’d lost a fight with a giant.

“I’m fine,” she repeated. It was her motto these days. She set Taco down on the ground and started picking up the fallen canned goods that had rolled away.

Spider-Man joined her on the ground. “Whew,” he said, loading his arms full of cans. He picked up nearly all of them at the same time, lifting them with ease. “Whaddya need all these for?”

“It’s food,” Cat said, picking up the torn Girl Scout sash. She could probably fix it with some duct tape from the soup kitchen. No one would even notice. “So I can eat. Duh.”

“Oh. Wait, are you—”

“Homeless? Orphaned? Pathetic? Yeah.” Cat was getting tired of explaining all this to people. But this was Spider-Man she was talking to, so she’d give him a pass. (She’d have to add a third tally to her mental Avengers I’ve Met list. Maybe her good-for-nothing luck was starting to be a little more good-for-something.) She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a little in awe of him. But now that the adrenaline was ebbing away, she was feeling a little too drained and sleepy to properly fangirl.

“Oh, uh,” Spider-Man seemed embarrassed. He slid the armful of cans he was holding into her bag—

“Thanks,” Cat said.

—- and straightened. “I didn’t mean—”

“You sound younger than I thought you would,” Cat interrupted. She really didn’t want to get into the pity zone. “You sound like a kid.”

“What? No!” His voice raised an octave, sounding suspiciously panicky. Then, he not-so-subtly deepened his voice. “I mean— no, of course not. Why would you even think that?”

“Hey.” She raised her hands. “Just an observation, no need to get so defensive.” She tilted her head. “But the fact that you did get defensive makes me think I’m right.”

Spider-Man opened his mouth to realitate, but she talked over him.

“I’m not hating or anything. I think it’s super cool. But you should invest in one of those things— what are they called? Oh! Voice modulators. Yeah, they make your voice sound super weird, like Darth Vader.”

“Huh, I actually tried that once. Didn’t go so well. Which is not me admitting that you’re right, by the way,” he added on quickly.

“You don’t need to. I already know I’m right. But I can play along, if that makes you feel better, Spider-Boy.”

Spider-Man frowned at her. At least, Cat assumed that he was frowning because the mask creased a little in the center of where his eyebrows should be. “It’s Spider-Man.”

“Really? That seems a little misleading, since you’re obviously not a man.”

His shoulders sank a little. “You really think I should go with the voice modulator?”

“Not unless you don’t want people thinking you’re Spider-Boy.” Cat lowered her voice. “Don’t worry, though, I won’t tell anyone.”

“I’d appreciate that.” Spider-Man held out the bag full of cans as well as her backpack to her. He’d picked up all the items Young Guy had scattered all over the floor and zipped them shut inside her backpack.

“Thanks,” Cat found herself saying for the third or fourth time.

Spider-Man patted Taco on the head. “Whoa! Cute beagle.”

“Don’t encourage her,” Cat told him. “I think she’s getting full of herself.”

“What’s her name?”

“Taco.”

“That’s adorable!”

“I know. She doesn’t look like a taco, though. I named her that because the first time we met, she tried to steal my taco.”

“Good dog,” Spider-Man crooned at her.

“No,” Cat frowned. “Bad dog. Very bad dog.”

Spider-Man looked at her thoughtfully. “What’s your name?”

Cat nearly told him Maxine, but to her surprise, founding herself telling him her real name.

“It was nice meeting you, Cat. I gotta swing now—” He stopped to snicker at his own joke, then coughed. “Stopping crime and all. But is there somewhere I can drop you off? I know you don’t have, like, a house or anything,” he rushed on hurriedly, “but maybe like a shelter? Or— I don’t know— a warmer place? It’s pretty chilly out here.”

Cat almost declined his generous offer, but at that moment an idea at the back of her mind nudged her. She was cold, hungry, and tired. Collapsing in the middle of the street in this shady neighborhood was not the best of plans. No, she needed a place to stay, preferably a place with food and heaters. It had to be a place that allowed dogs and had food for Taco. But… where?

Suddenly, a light switched on in her brain, and Cat knew exactly where to go.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

Notes: Our favorite redheaded assassin makes her return next chapter! What did you think of the Spider-Man interactions?

[angelmush]

my cooking endeavors this week:

- for tonight (monday) i will try to be crafty and use the leftover chicken breast i saved from when i roasted the whole bird a few days ago. i think if i just reheat it in a pan and we eat it on top of jasmine rice cooked in chicken stock and turmeric and maybe buttered, it could be good to soothe the nausea that my gf was suffering from yesterday

-on tuesday i don’t work so i have pretty lofty cooking plans that involve a meaty slab of slow cooked pork shoulder and a wealth of whole toasted spices (curry leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves, cardamom, coriander, cumin, fennel, etc) to grind and make into a curry powder. i want to slow cook the pork w coconut milk and lemongrass and stock for a few hours and serve it steaming hot over rice

- i also have a square of pie dough i made last week when i made quiche that i want to utilize for a gooey tart cherry pie with (my gf’s wish is my command ofc <333)

- on wednesday my gf won’t be home for dinner so i will probs just have like . a pb+j LOL

- for thursday, it’s a bit of an experiment. the best part of the roasted chicken i made last week was the wings, and it wasn’t even close. they came out sooo crispy and juicy and flavorful and spiced. i want to try recreate them on just a batch of wings, and maybe eat them w steamed jasmine rice and cucumber salad ? i’ll dry brine them and roast them in the oven and see how close i can get

- on friday we are going to have rice bowls w crispy skin salmon (our faveee) and rice and nori and cucumbers and avocado and toasted sesame seeds and chili oil and scallion !! easy and fast and flavorful

- saturday i work late so it’s leftovers in my lunchbox eaten hastily in the breakroom lol

- and for sunday dinner, my gf sent me a link to a video of this cold noodle soup dish w a cashew butter broth and buckwheat soba and soft boiled eggs and cold crisp veggies (purple cabbage and cucumbers and lime) that we both are eager to try !!

[transactinides]

i'm super bad at cooking and never know where to start because every recipe out there asks for ingredients i simply don't have at home so do you perhaps know what basic ones would be good to stock up on? like eggs and stuff...especially when it comes to spices i have no idea what is okay to use

Haii o/ very honored that you sent me an ask, and ofc I’ll do my best to help! This reply got a bit out of hand so. Long text under the cut. Behold. Feel free to reach out in asks or dms or whatever with any future questions (@ everyone tbh).

Food is, of course, very subjective, so my idea of a perfect list of foods to keep a stock of will not be universal, but I hope this will, at least, give you some ideas if anything. 

First of all, I usually mentally break down my typical weekday recipe into vaguely carbs source - protein source - veggies, buy a couple of options for each category and just switch them around for variety. My standard set is

rice / pasta (usually spaghetti re:shapes) / glass noodles

eggs / chicken / tofu / bacon

random pack of frozen vegetables, bell peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, cucumbers, leafy greens. garlic and onions too

I have an option of making egg fried rice with chopped up bacon and added frozen vegetables one day, then blending the leftover vegetables with bell peppers and tomatoes to use as pasta sauce with chicken and spaghetti the next day, then branching out and making eggplant tofu stir fry with glass noodles, then using whatever eggplant tofu stir fry i had left as rice balls filling and making myself a quick vegetable salad on the side… And all those things are easy to make and don’t need much fussing around. 

Other options to consider would be potatoes (you can roast them with whatever, boil, fry, etc), buckwheat (my wife doesn’t like it otherwise I’d use it more often), kidney beans and chickpeas for your carbs*; fish and meat for your proteins (those are. a bit too expensive for me usually); carrots, cabbage, leeks etc. 

The list looks long, but, again, you just need to pick out a couple of things from each group and throw shit in a pan so to speak. And a lot of them are easily soup-able (boiling water chicken potatoes carrots rice? boom soup. etc), which is another easy base recipe to exploit.

Now to the matter of spices. Salt and pepper are obvious enough, but a good thing to look for are, especially if you are just getting into cooking, spice blends. Something something French Herbs™ something something Taco Seasoning™ something something Seven Spice™ something something Garam Masala™. There’s a lot of different ones, but they are, essentially, a formed flavor profile in themselves, so you don’t need to worry about mixing spices and herbs that might not go well together, and by paying attention to contents you can learn for yourself what individual seasonings are commonly used together.

Also, everyone, hold your judgement real quick and trust me with this, but ooh I always save leftover flavor packets from instant ramen and reuse them in other dishes. Egg fried rice just doesn’t taste right without suspicious red powder courtesy of shin ramen… It’s probably MSG my beloved or something…

While I’m at it, bouillon cubes are handy to have, you can use them for soups, crumble them up in other recipes. Adding one to the water you’re cooking rice in is a great hack at making it more flavourful.

In general, while I do actually have way too much spices (and keep buying more… very excited about my newly acquired dried tarragon…), the ones I’d advise to have for an average person would be:

Salt (ideally both coarse grain and fine grain, but fine grain only serves you just right)

black pepper (both in a mill/grinder and peppercorns), red pepper flakes

paprika, garlic powder, ginger powder

bay leaves, dried oregano, basil, thyme, dill, cinnamon, coriander, cardamon, cumin, turmeric, sumak....

I really got a bit carried away by the end, but. You don't actually need to buy all of them and at the same time, just start with whatever couple of things you'd need for whatever you are cooking and let your collection build up over time, since spices aren't something you need to buy often anyway 👍

Other things I think it’s nice to have in stock in your kitchen would be flour and baking powder, vinegar (distilled vinegar, rice vinegar… I like to have balsamic vinegar too but it’s so expensive it’s ridiculous ngl), soy sauce, cooking oil of your choice (I use sunflower oil, olive oil and sesame oil), panko or breadcrumbs, starch (i have potato starch, cornstarch and tapioka starch, I would suggest just getting cornstarch at first).

* going to clarify here that while beans are often brought up as a source of protein, most are rich in complex carbs, excluding edamame and green beans for example. And since I mostly often cook beans with meat, they check out my daily carbs in my head.

[cerusee]

Brunswick Stew

I think the ur-version of this family recipe was drawn from some version of The Williamsburg Cookbook. My dad might even still have a copy of that. I remember reading it, when I was teaching myself this recipe as a teenager, and learning for the first time, as a very new cook, the difference between a recipe as written, and how it evolves when it is getting made. I also distinctly remember that the cookbook specified squirrel as an alternative meat to chicken, a fact that amused me for decades.

I kind of kicked THIS recipe to the very end of the line to write up both because I don’t have a written version to refer to, the way we make it—I have made this so many dozens of times that I don’t need one—and because this is, in a way that not many things are to me, the taste of my childhood, and linked to a lot of memories for me. My mom and my sisters never liked this one much, so this is just kind of a personal favorite recipe that my dad developed, made often enough during my childhood that I completely imprinted on it, and one of the first things I taught myself to cook, specifically because I loved it and wanted to eat it. I am a cook because I love this stew. This is, in a very real way, the absolute essential heart of all of my cooking. Every time I go into the kitchen, I’m trying to recreate what this stew makes me feel like, what it was like to smell this cooking, for hours, when I was a child, and eagerly awaiting getting to have it for dinner, and then for leftovers.

I used to think that this was a truly random family recipe that no one else had ever heard of (despite its cookbook origins), until I read an article in the NYT a couple of years ago, that make me realize that “Brunswick Stew” is in fact a whole regional tradition, with corn, lima beans, and tomatoes as the core elements, and the choice of meat and other ingredients left up to the cook’s preferences. My favorite family recipe does, in fact, come from a long tradition! Does anyone else do it like this? With all these canned goods?!? Probably not. But this is how my dad made it, and it’s how I do it, and I wouldn’t do it any other way.

Ingredients:

1 large onion, chopped

1-2 cans 8 oz lima beans (or 1 lb frozen lima beans)

1-2 14 oz cans yellow or gold corn (or 1 lb frozen corn)

1-2 14 oz cans whole or cut green beans

1-2 14 oz cans whole or cut wax beans

1-2 28 oz cans whole or chopped tomatoes (I’ve become a big fan of San Marzano, which have a much richer flavor than anything else you’ll find on a supermarket shelf, but anything will do)

3-4 lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

2-4 Idaho potatoes, peeled and diced into 1-inch chunks

Very rich chicken or turkey stock - 1 quart or more, depending on how good it is.

Salt, pepper, sugar to taste

Preparation:

Put the chicken in a large stockpot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover, and cook for 15-30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove the chicken with tongs; set aside to cool. Skim the water to remove any scum or sediment.

Add the onion and all the canned or frozen vegetables, including any liquids from the cans. If you are using whole canned tomatoes, squeeze them by hand, chop them, or otherwise break them up with a wooden spoon.

Depending on the volume in the pot (this will vary depending on how many cans of veggies you've included), add 1 quart of rich chicken or turkey stock, or until the pot is topped up. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

Simmer the vegetables and broth for 2-3 hours, stirring every 20-30 minutes. If you were not able to add the full quart of chicken stock before, add it in increments as the soup boils down and there’s more room in the pot.

While the soup simmers, debone the cooked, cooled chicken. Discard the skin, bones, and cartilage, or save those for making future chicken stock. (Trust me, you can get a lot more out of this stuff than just 30 minutes of light simmering.) Cool the deboned chicken in the refrigerator, until the stew is ready.

When the stew has cooked down and the broth has become very rich and intense, adjust the seasoning with salt, pepper, and if necessary, a tsp of sugar (if your canned tomatoes are really nice, you probably won’t need any sugar).

Add the potatoes, bring the soup back to a boil, then reduce and simmer 8-10 minutes until the potatoes are cooked through.

Add the deboned chicken, and stir thoroughly to combine. Adjust the seasoning.

Serve with crackers, or buttermilk biscuits.

Notes: this freezes very well until you add the potatoes. I often make this up to that stage, freeze half, and then add the potatoes for the part I’m going to eat/serve. I think it’s also better if you also hold off on adding the chicken until the potatoes are done, to reduce the cooking time on the chicken, but this can get pretty fussy when freezing comes into the equation, so don’t knock yourself out.

You really, really, really want a very good, very rich chicken or turkey stock here. At its core, this version of Brunswick Stew is a very intense chicken and vegetable stew. See the note on chicken broth.

[trivialbob]

Argh! The washing machine isn't fixed yet. Nate the repairman showed up exactly on time. Initially the company told me "Between 8 AM and 4 PM." Later that was adjusted to 8:20 AM. Whew.

The repair is covered under warranty, but Nate didn't have the part. He'll be back Thursday. I really miss my working washing machine.

Laundry, which I tend to do one small load per day, has been stacking up like I-494 during rush hour. Or even like I-494 on a Sunday morning (and no way are that many people on the way to church).

After Nate departed I went to a nearby laundromat to run a few loads though the heavy-duty commercial machines. I think I might want one of those for my next washer. The coin box would be a good savings account.

Luckily my dryer still works. I brought the clean, wet clothes home where I can dry them for almost free. The sad, broken washer sat empty, with no lights for the settings lit up, as I focused my attention on the dryer. It felt like taking just one dog on a walk while the others stayed inside, forlornly watching me through the front window.

Just before I left for the laundromat the kitchen sink backed up. Oh dear. It's bad enough when one thing is wrong with the house. Now two!?!?

I went nuclear and poured a ton of drain cleaning gel in the sink. It could sit for an hour while I was gone, not just the prescribed 15 minutes. When I got home the sink was empty. I ran a lot of hot water through that drain to make sure it had not just slowly drained. The drain could handle as much water at the faucet could supply. Back to only one thing not working in the house, besides me who isn't working all week.

Again I'm making chicken soup with whatever leftovers I have in the house. Earlier I Googled "What else can I add to homemade chicken soup?" I'm going with a few of the suggestions: ginger and small amounts of turmeric and curry.

It smells wonderful. I started eating it well before usual lunchtime. The extra spices work well. Next time I'll go even stronger.

When I go to Target later, to restock drain clearing gel and listen to the soothing sounds of the always available crying children, I won't be hungry shopping.

Get this: In the last two weeks there have been two murders within walking distance of my preferred Target store, in a city that almost never sees any homicides at all. I'd better keep my eyes open!

[kirnet]

What’s your favorite soup recipes? Your post about making a ton and freezing it may or may not have just saved me lol

yes absolutely!! im glad it might be helpful! i make a cabbage soup all the time that ill write out a bit later that’s really simple and filling! the most recent one i made was adapted from this post. I make this one with bacon AND diced chicken and it’s so divine, but it takes a lot of steps and requires a blender so it’s not as fatigue friendly, but worth trying if you have the energy!

other than that unfortunately i dont really use recipes. I mostly will just use whatever leftover I have on hand and add it to stock, like leftover rice, veggies, meat, pasta, etc. soup is great for me bc you can really just throw in whatever is about to go bad as long as it works with the flavor profile you’re going for, and if you’re already comfortable with cooking then it’s the same principle. if you can’t make your own stock than just use the store bought stuff. Use frozen veggies too if you dont wanna worry abt produce going bad. Also im lactose intolerant and have celiacs so i use almond milk instead of milk and cornstarch instead of using flour as a thickening agent, but it always turns out really good! if you’re not then adding some splashes of cream/milk and some melted cheese on top of different soups will probably be really good.

Del Real Foods has these precooked and preseasoned packages of different meats that you can use too if you have anxiety abt raw meat or you dont have the energy to do a full recipe. A lot of the time I’ll use their chicken and just throw that in with some chicken stock, whatever veggies i have like carrots or potatoes or celery and some hunks of onion, and then finish with some rice or pasta for a quick and homey chicken soup! :D

cabbage roll soup

- one onion

-preferred amount of garlic (i usually use 3-4 cloves)

- a whole cabbage

- about 4 cups of broth or stock, two of those cartons you buy at the store

- 1-2 cans of tomato sauce depending on how much you like tomatoes

- pack of ground beef or turkey

- cup of rice

- a healthy splash of balsamic vinegar and some spoonfuls of brown sugar optional.

You can do this all in a big pot so you dont have to worry about multiple dishes! sauté your onions until translucent and season with salt and pepper, toss in your garlic cloves for like 30 seconds and then throw in your meat. brown that then throw in your tomato sauce and stock. chop up your cabbage and throw that in and also toss in your rice. add the vinegar and some sugar to make it a little more tangy and deep, but it works fine without it. then just bring to a boil and wait until your rice is cooked and your cabbage is tender! its really easy to double this recipe or just add more rice to make it more filling. I’ve frozen this plenty of times to it freezes and reheats well!

[wordnerdworld]

NaClYoHo Day 6

Hey there Salty Pirate Pals,

Yesterday was a long, painful, heartsick day. I am exhausted in so many ways.

It's absurd and awful that when terrible events are happening...you still have to do the most mundane things. Go to work. Answer emails. Run errands.

Food is really the only thing that got me through yesterday. At work we'd already planned to get food catered for lunch (a rare treat). So we had delicious butter chicken, vegetable korma, and naan to share as we all processed events. We were able to find moments of humor and reaffirm our support for one another. It helped so much not to be alone, to see and interact with people I know share my values and my feelings.

Driving home, my head was pounding and my eyes were swollen from 24+ hours with no sleep. With still more work to do. I honestly didn't know how I was going to make it through. And then I remembered...

Soup.

When I have the energy, I enjoy cooking, especially soups and stews. I always have leftovers to freeze. Lately I've been having Food Issues that make it difficult to cook, eat healthy, and find satisfaction in what I make (thanks depression). So I was feeling pretty "meh" about it when I pulled some soup out of the freezer this week. Might not have eaten it.

That was such a satisfying bowl of soup. Nourishing, warming in so many ways, and truly tasty. Even though when I'd originally made it, I focused on its flaws and wondered if it was worth saving at all.

It was. It was so worth it because it really did get me through the rest of the day. It was a good reminder to stop being so hard on myself and to keep doing favors for future me. She needs them.

So that's my advice. Share food and company with friends. Use your resources. Do favors for future you when you can. Eat soup.

[missguomeiyun]

Homecooking [March ed]

Hiiiiii~

Rolling into spring with some spring rolls xD sorry, that was bad :P

Nothing much this month, I would say. Weather getting warmer. Sun out for longer. .. etc. I did a sketch of my favourite short tracker this season: Kim Gun Woo of Korea. I am watching a Kdrama called The Impossible Heir. Started strong, I caught up . .. & then the female lead kinda got on my nerves. I'm not familiar with her acting profile; however, I'm not sure how she got casted for this role. Were there no other options?! Anyway, you watch for yourself (& maybe let me know!).

I ate out several times this month as well. In fact, I've eaten out the most number of times this month since the pandemic lol it's an achievement. Will work on those posts after this one! But for now. ..

The carbonara Samyang spicy chicken noodles WITHOUT the spicy chicken sauce. I've added some baby bokchoy, tofu & kimchi with it.

Kimchi pancake- I'm trying diff batters. This one was unsuccessful so I won't share. It was so. .. 'hard' =/

Homemade wontons with noodles & baby bokchoy.

Yes. .. more bokchoy -.-" this was thick rice noodles with hot pot fatty beef slices. Threw in some soup seaweed as well.

Pasta - for dinner, then leftovers for lunch the next day.

Also the carbonara Samyang spicy chicken noodles but without the sauce xD I keep the sauce for hotpots & stuff now.

Bro made fried chicken using a new batter recipe. It was alright.

"A little bit of everything" rice noodles - bean curd, bokchoy, napa cabbage (it's so pale in colour that you can't even see it), soup seaweed, kimchi, chicken. .. in a deonjang jjigae base.

Yeah I know, it's expired but it was still good. I smelled it haha I ate the Korean franchise congee recently ("Bon-juk" brand) & I was inspired to create something similar. I used this expired soybean paste soup sauce with another Hmart product that I've eaten before, instant vegetable-flavoured congee, & cooked the two together!

& it became this ^ soybean paste congee. It was actually very good! I had a little taste test while cooking it & it was way too salty (the instant congee pack is seasoned) so I added regular rice to it & more water . .. I essentially diluted out the contents. Ended up with way too much product lol oh well, leftovers, right? This was super successful. I would recommend it, especially if you wanna make a bigger batch & save some for later or if you are feeding 3-4 ppl.

That's all~ Bye byeeee~~

PS: I visited the Stanley A Milner (downtown) library for the 1st time since the renos were finished. I don't exactly know when the renos were done as I don't travel to that area often. ..

The atrium area between 2nd and 3rd level, feat. my nieces.

The facility was actually really nice! I remember spending time here when I was in high school . .. it was sooooo dim & the place was so old-looking. The most amount of time I was here was during extended essay writing period.. . had to read, write notes, & cite references for my paper, which was on Sun Yat-sen lol I don't recall the title of my paper anymore...been too long! But yeah. The library is very good-looking, with some really cool areas. The crowd. .. ughhh.. There was a strong security presence, which was good, I guess, but the amount of questionable ppl was also abundant. Sometimes I wonder if having a security gate/bag xray machine at the door would be a good idea. Of course, I acknowledge the fact that it's a "public" library but I also think measures should be taken to make all members of the public feel safe. Then again, if such measure was applied to a library, malls should get it too? *shrugs* Let's just say the facility was upgraded BIG time but the population hasn't changed.

Off I go to work on other things now :P seeeee ya!

[masaotheheckindog]

shioyaki is an easy go-to meal for me when I don't feel like cooking because it doesn't require you to stand in front of a stove. Yeah it requires a little prep, but then you just stick it in the oven (unless you're lucky enough to have a fish toaster) and that's it. I usually make takikomi gohan with a meat in it and have it be the main dish, but this time, I just made it with various types of mushrooms and seasonings. One difference this time was that I put a piece of konbu in the rice steamer with it, and it actually made it noticeably tastier. Below are some recipes.

If you want to make shioyaki, I recommend soaking the fish in sake for at least 30 minutes in a container in the refrigerator. Then pat it dry, lay it out on parchment paper, salt both sides, and let it rest for 20 minutes. At this point, if you're using an oven, preheat it to 220C/425F. After 20 minutes, the salt will have drawn more moisture from the fish, so pat it dry once again. At this point, you can put it in the oven on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Cook it in the oven for 25 minutes or until desired crispiness is achieved. As for the kinoko gohan, start by soaking dried shiitake and a strip of konbu in water for at least 30 minutes. Saving the water, cut off the stems of the dried shiitake and cut the caps into strips. Cut 3-4 each of fresh oyster and shiitake (or whatever mushrooms you want to use). Put a cup of uncooked rice in the steamer pot with 2 tablespoons each of soy sauce, mirin, and sake. Add the mushroom water and top off with plain water until there's enough liquid in the steamer to cook the rice. Stir to mix. Now place the strip of konbu on top of the rice, then add your mushrooms. Don't stir--these should stay on top of the rice while cooking. If your rice steamer has a 'mixed' setting, use it. Otherwise, just cook as normal. When it's finished cooking, remove the konbu and mix the mushrooms and rice together before serving. You can leave leftovers in the steamer on the warm setting and they'll stay good for a while. If you want to, you can make this a full meal by adding cut up chicken thighs or pieces of fish--I especially recommend salmon or red trout. Both of these dishes go well with miso soup and vegetables .

[happi-meals]

Breakfast, lunch, dinner – March 27, 2024

Today wasnt the best eating day for me. Between a few leftover snacks, like chocolate covered almonds, I didnt eat a lot. 😭

Executive dysfunction can cause some brain fog sometimes, and I didnt get enough sleep again cuz my mattress and pillows .... well let's just say theyre tired and expired lol. But I managed to go back to sleep long enough to have enough energy to make a quick breakfast of vegan grilled cheese with Daiya slices, 2 clemintimes, and a few pickle slices. I added pickles to resemble a grilled cheese order at my job lol (we use spears but chips suffice).

After finally gaining a sense of focus and reorganizing my kitchen to the sound of nostalgic breakcore, dubstep, and hyperpop, I almost forgot to eat a late lunch lol. I was pretty consumed in my efforts, esp since its been days since I could muster up focus and energy to get any tasks done. And my goodness am I behind on so much lol!!! But today was good. I even knew that I'd be busy with chores, so I put a cup of white rice on ahead of time and let it stay warm in the rice cooker. I unplugged it eventually to save on the electricity bill (which, last month's was almost $40 cheaper!!!! YEASSS), so it was a lil cool when I tried it. But before I started the rice when I sat down to eat, I finished a chicken siopao bun first. Always good shit!!!

I poured a bit of sweet chili sauce on the rice bed but then had a craving for platains lol. The local Jamaican store I've been frequenting serves them and while there a bit pricey I like to patronize there cuz i try to support local, small business in a town getting eaten up by corpo franchises and receding small business sectors. I drove out to the restaurant, got my fried plantains to go, and headed to my lola's house to pay a visit and also eat what I got there. (As an aside, I have a feeling that I got it that way bc I arrived 30 mins before they closed but they put the plaintains in a small brown bag, which couldnt quite handle all the grease lol. Just thought that was a lil strange but nothing personal or bad! The cashier offered a seperate bag to me to carry it all in and declined bc I was gonna put the plantains in my rice bowl anyway). I ate the plantains with my rice when I got to lola's house and while the commute made the food a bit cold, the sweet chili sauce gave it a bit of spicy heat to make it a good side dish to the soup lola offered me!

She is filipina and loves to cook. When I got there we were watching a movie, but shortly she asked if I wanted any soup she made, which was hot and sour soup. She makes everything homemade and since a kid I enjoyed her food. It was so good I had two bowls. I'll have to ask her one day how to make such delicious soup her way, so when she returns to the Philipines (one of her goals), I can have more things I learned from her. From what I could taste soup had shitake mushrooms, bamboo stalks, egg flower, and baby corn. So savory yet sour. And vegetarian this time! I could go for another bowl as I type this 🤤.

I left half the rice and a few plantains as leftovers but I might eat them as a night snack before bed. I like the flavor combos and I need to up the volume on my serving sizes to get adequate energy and nutrition. This "taking care of urself" shit is hard!

Salamat po, Lola ♥️

[etes-secrecy-post]

Hi, before I explain my post, I want to say something important.

• What you see my blog has become a major overhaul. And despite the changes, I decided that my 2nd account will be now my artwork blog with a secret twist.

⚠️NEW RULE! (W/ BIGGER TEXT!)⚠️

⚠️ SO PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY 2nd ACCOUNT TO EVERYONE! THIS SECRECY BLOG OF MINE IS FOR CLOSES FRIENDS ONLY!⚠️

• AND FOR MY CLOSES FRIENDS, DON’T REBLOG IT. INSTEAD, JUST COPY MY LINK AND PASTE IT ON YOUR TUMBLR POST! JUST BE SURE THE IMAGE WILL BE REMOVED AND THE ONLY LEFT WAS THE TEXT.

⚠️ SHARING LINKS, LIKE POSTS, REBLOG POSTS, STEALING MY SNAPSHOT PHOTOS/RECORDED VIDEOS/ARTWORKS (a.k.a. ART THIEVES) OR PLAGIARIZING FROM UNKNOWN TUMBLR STRANGERS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE BLOCKED, RIGHT AWAY!⚠️

😡 WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EVER LIKED & REBLOG MY SECRET POST! THIS IS FOR MY SECRET FRIENDS ONLY, NOT YOU! 😡

Okay? Capiche? Make sense? Good, now back to the post…↓

Take a Taste: with Mang Inasal Pork Sisig [Recorded: Jan 10th, 2024]

Hello! It’s time for another “Take a Taste”! The series is about delicious food with my two paper dolls.

Alright, we're back on track with our 1st delicious meal episode for 2024! (The OG 1st episode was exclusively to super secret blog(s)) We're at the Mang Inasal restaurant from a different branch, with our food review is one of their famous meal, the Pork Sisig. Mmmmmmm! 😋🇵🇭🍴🍖🍚 Will this 'Pork Sisig' worth our taste buds, or what? Let's find out, right now!

NOTE: For those from outside of my country, including my secret friends, "Mang Inasal" (means "Mr. Barbecue") is a Philippine-based chain restaurant 🇵🇭🍗🔥, mainly with their signature famous 'Chicken BBQ' known as 'Chicken Inasal', as well as other meats that we're grilled and sizzled, not to mentioned Filipino-based traditional cuisines. For info, please → [CLICK ME!].

BTW: This is the same date as I captured the big hole, hours ago → [CLICK ME!]. 🤳🏙️

IMPORTANT NOTE: No #OnThisDay throwback post for this date.

If you haven’t seen my previous episode, then please click here → [CLICK ME!].

So, without further ado, let’s get started:

1st & 2nd Image(s): ↑

• Here's the picture of the entire set of meal, including our main food to our left. The Pork Sisig! 😋🇵🇭🍴🍖🍚 Although, its not sizzling hot from the stove it is A-Okay to us. Same goes to the warm cooked rice.🙂 However, there's one thing that we can do, so I'll get to that after numerous images. 😉 My paper dolls are excited to taste! 😋

3rd & 4th Image(s): ↑

• Here's a closer look at the Pork Sisig, and... "What's that on the right?" My paper dolls said. That, my friend is their traditional 'Tamarid Soup'. 🇵🇭 🫘 🥣 When we ordered any meal at Mang Inasal, we get a free Tamarid Soup. Its delicious, I would tell ya. But, we have to save it for our huge meal, okay? 😉

5th to 7th Image(s): ↑

• Anyways, here's my paper dolls attempts to squeeze and mixed our pork sisig with tiny citrus fruit, we called it 'Calamansi'. 🇵🇭🍋➡️🇵🇭🍖 Unfortunately, they forgot to remove the seeds once they mixed together, but that's alright. Let me handle it. 🙂

BTW: There's also a chili on our plate if we want our Pork Sisig 'extra spicy', but we decided not putting it. 🌶️❌✋

8th & 9th Image(s): ↑

• And once its done mixing, its time to eat! 😁🇵🇭🍴🍖🍚 Here's my first scoop of pork sisig with rice! *munching* Mmmmm! I'd say, its pretty delicious with a touch of Calamansi fruit juice. Here have some! 😊 "Yummy!" My paper dolls said! Meaty and juicy, huh?

10th & 11th Image(s): ↑

• Now, you've seen our taste test. Let's finish it off before we proceed, ey you two!? 😋🍴 And after we ate the rice, it is done! 😊

• However, we still have our Pork Sisig. "So, what now?" My paper dolls said. 🤔 I don't know, should we takeout our leftover Pork Sisig? Nah! ❌✋ I've got a solution! As I shouted my words said, "Waiter can I get another round of rice, please?" ✋😄

12th & 13th Image(s): ↑

• TADA! 😃 My paper dolls' reactions → "Woah!" 😲 I know right! 😁 This restaurant offers an "Unlimited Rice" upon ordering a meal! If we served a green leaf plate as their color code, that means we can request from a waiter/waitress for some delicious warm rice! 😋🍚🍚 For me, I requested two scoops of rice just for us! Cool, huh? 😄My paper dolls was amazed that concept. Indeed because we Filipinos (like ME) can't eat delicious dishes (whether meaty or vegan) without rice. After all, "Rice is Life", you know. 🍚😉 However, we have to moderate our bodies to prevent immobile. So, we've heard "Drink Responsibly" for alcoholic beverages, but in the food world that's "Eat Responsibly". ☝️😮

• Anyways, let's have a experiment with our glutton rice, shall we!? 😁🍚 I put a half a rice onto my Tamarid soup, while the main plate is mixing with two condiments of Soy Sauce (left) & their famous Chicken Oil (right). Step aside the Tamarid Rice Soup, later. 🙂

14th & 15th Image(s): ↑

• Let's try with the latter! 😋🇵🇭🍴🍖🍚 And uh, did I mentioned, that Pork Sisig has added with mini pork cracklings (known in the Philippines as "Chicaron", as well as other selected latin countries)? Yup, its quite crunchy to our meaty goodness! 😊 Here have some, you two! "Delicious" My paper dolls said! 😋

16th & 17th Image(s): ↑

• Now, what about my 'Tamarid Rice Soup'? 🤔 No problem, we still have Pork Sisig so let's put it in! 😁 *munching* Mmmm, A-Okay. The combination of sour Tamarid soup, and meaty bits from Sisig was an interesting to some. 🙂👌 You want some of this, you two? "Its alright" My paper dolls said. ☺

18th Image: ↑

• *Sigh* Looks like my stomach is full after eating too much rice. 😮‍💨🍴🍚 Hey, do you want to eat the rest of my Sisig, you two? "Yes, please!" My paper dolls response. 😋🇵🇭🍴🍖 They happily to oblige by munching the rest of my meaty Pork Sisig.

19th Image: ↑

• And as I quenched with a refreshing cold water 🧊🥛, our entire meal was gone! With the exception of one raw chili. Hey, you two would ya want to eat raw chili? Their response was passed because they're also full. 🌶️❌✋ Sorry, Chili but we don't want to put it on our mouths and stomachs. Things could be worst if we can't hold ourselves, you know. 😅

Overall & Asking Price:

• It was a satisfying meal for us! From offering free soup after purchasing to munching meaty bits with unli rice! And yes, we can order it with another type of dish, such as their main signature 'Chicken Inasal' or their Filipino style BBQ sticks, etc... Plus, there's also serving 'Java Rice' with 'Unlimited' option of the same gluttony. 😊 For now, our stomachs full means its time for us to burn some calories, once again! 🔥🏃📏

• As for the price (2024 update), I ordered the Solo Pork Sisig variant for ₱99 🇵🇭💵 ($1.77) (while the additional drink of choice for ₱119 🇵🇭💵 ($2.13)), with the additional 'Unli Rice' choice for ₱35 🇵🇭💵 ($0.63). A total of ₱134 ($2.40) 🇵🇭💵 was not only a fair cheap price, but also a worth for your wallet because you can eat unlimited rice on your plate as much as you want, as long as you have a meaty Entree left. 😉 But once again, "Eat Responsibly" because eating rice too much can lead to diabetes. So please, do moderately as much as I am. ☝️😮

Well, that's all for now. 😊

If you haven’t seen my previous episodes, then I’ll provide some links down below.↓😉

Take a Taste:

○ 2021 Food Reviews: ○

• Popeyes U.S. Spicy Chicken Sandwich [Dec 6, 2021]

• Jollibee Chick'nwich & Crisscut Fries [Dec 21, 2021]: Part 1 [CLICK ME! #1], Part 2 [CLICK ME! #2]

○ 2022 Food Reviews: ○

• Mini Stop Chicken Fillet XL Sandwich [Feb 7, 2022]

• Minute Burger Cheese Burger(s) [Mar 1, 2022]

• Pepper Lunch Teriyaki Beef Pepper Rice w/ Egg (& Honey Brown Sauce) [Mar 5, 2022]

• Bacsilog’s Sulit Combo Bacon-Tocino & Samgyup Day’s Pork Herbs [Mar 12, 2022]

• Burger King Whopper w/ Sides & Drink [May 6, 2022]

• Marshmello’s Limited Edition Coca-Cola Zero [Aug 26, 2022]

• Cheesy Burger McDo with Lettuce & Tomatoes Meal [Recorded: Sept 16, 2022]

• Mcdonald’s PH McSpicy & Apple Pie (featuring their World Famous Fries) [Nov 14, 2022]

• Mcdonald’s McCrispy Hamonado Sandwich [Dec 31st, 2022]

○ 2023 Food Reviews: ○

• Foods from Delicious Restaurant & 1919 Grand Cafe [Jan 8th, 2023]

• Homemade Churros by my lil’ bro [Feb 12th, 2023]

• Lugaw Sisig from Mang Boy Alfredo Lugawan Restaurant [Recorded: Feb 18th, 2023]

• La Prato Stakehouse [Recorded: Apr 10th, 2023]

• Salt ‘n Light Snack Shack’s Cheesy Bacon Burger & Fries [Recorded: Apr 14th, 2023] (Published on May 5th, 2023)

• Delicious burger meal at Tokyo Tokyo Restaurant [Recorded: May 6th, 2023]

• Delicious meals at the Valenzuela Food Fiesta Christmas Bazaar 2023 [Recorded: Dec. 10th, 2023]

[sohannabarberaesque]

Postcards from Snagglepuss

"Can it really be soup already?!"

Doubtless you know the tale of The Three Bears, who decided to go out for a walk to let their morning porridge cool off, unaware that a certain Goldilocks was in the neighbourhood bound to cause mayhem.

And, in a way, a certain commercial for Lipton's instant soups where the tagline was "Is it soup yet?"

I bring these up, reader, inasmuch as the other afternoon, notwithstanding the general dampness of the moment interspersed by an occasional episode of misty rain, prompted some of us at the Crazy Claws retreat to do a little walking amongst the colours of autumn in the neighbourhoods of Lake Delton, Crazy Claws "himself" and the Hair Bear Bunch staying behind. No real reason behind the desire to walk as we did save for a desire to just release some nervous energies while Crazy Claws was preparing some soup in a slow cooker he had for dinner, with the Hair Bears preparing some brown-and-serve Italian bread to serve alongside the soup.

And you probably wonder what our crowd was probably thinking all this time ... but you wouldn't be interested, considering.

Yet when all was said and done, coming back in the late afternoon (even if it meant Pixie and Dixie being perched almost precariously on Huckleberry's shoulders) ... things couldn't have smelled more aromatic as a cream of wild rice soup with bits of ham and chicken was cooking away in the slow cooker. And who amonh us couldn't resist such a fascinating soup with some hard crusty bread, to begin with?

Believe you me ... the soup was flowing as generously as the conversation all around, never mind that the rain was becoming a little more obvious as soup was being served. And with us Funtastic types, conversations can get to be especially lively, even with cranberry-orange juice enhanced with mulling spices served in wine glasses adding a sort of sophistication in its own way. With hardly any leftovers, even!

And enough for Crazy Claws to ask "is anybody ready to join Peter Potamus and crew for some diving in the Caribbean this winter?!" ... the which had all of us in some rather hilarious double-takes, but especially so Huckleberry Hound and yours truly.

*************

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[motherhenna]

For easy, cheap meals my go-tos are usually:

- Breakfast burritos (you can keep tortillas in the freezer/fridge, salsa, sour cream, cheese, eggs however you like, if you have extra lunch meat or leftover meat it can be thrown in)

- Tuna rice bowls (canned tuna with a little mayo, rice, I usually keep frozen edamame in the freezer, if you have furikake or seaweed snacks those are nice to top with, sriracha)

- Basically lunchables (crackers of choice, cheese, lunch meat if I have it, any fruit I have on hand but honestly grapes and apples are my favorite with the cheese)

- In college I used to keep a jar of pesto on hand and whenever I made pasta would just finish it in a pan with pesto, cheese, and milk to make a creamy pesto sauce

Whenever I do have like a really good weekend day or burst of energy, I try to make something that I know will last me a few days or will freeze well (like jambalaya, an easy soup from scratch, etc). I’m not the biggest fan of slow cooker recipes but honestly they’re often low effort and I will make some every now and then to save energy!

Thanks a lot, anon! I'll keep all of those in mind--I actually just bought some tortillas earlier today for chicken quesadillas so burritos are certainly another option!

[roseverdict]

hamburger casserole. i will always advocate casseroles wherever possible. casseroles will save you. no fucking idea where my mom rediscovered the recipe (she lost track of the original copy at some point in the past 20 years) but it's how she taught me and it's how her mom made it before her. it is pushing the idea of an easy/quick meal by OP's metrics sliiightly but each individual thing really isn't super hard and then it's just combining it all and tossing it in the oven and waiting.

you get ground beef. 2-3 lbs suffices for our family but we're voracious enough that we need to make 2 9x13 dishes of this every time we make it. also we are huge advocates for making and eating leftovers. 1 lb should be more than enough for a single 9x9.

you get medium or wide egg noodles. we usually make 24 oz but, again, we hungy. 8-12 should suffice for one 9x9

you get corn. we usually do ~2 lbs frozen sweet corn, but ~1 lb should be fine.

you get cans of chicken noodle soup and of cream of chicken soup. we do 3 each. 1-2 of each or 1 of one and 2 of another should still be fine. or keep the 3 and 3 for extra creaminess i'm not your dad

these are all a bit loosey-goosey measurements also. it's not gonna explode if you do a little more meat and a little less pasta or smth

preheat the oven to 350℉

brown the meat. don't rush it but as long as you're checking it so it doesn't burn you should be fine. once it's browned, drain it.

cook the egg noodles as directed on the pkg. usually this entails bringing a pot of water to a boil, dumping the noodles in, and waiting 5-7 minutes for the noodles to cook before then draining those. honestly if you used a colander/strainer for the beef you could probably reuse it by bringing the drained beef back to its original pan so it's empty. it's all going into the same casserole after this anyway so having the noodles pick up little beef shnibbles from the strainer isn't gonna ruin it or anything.

we usually steam the corn in the microwave for 6 minutes on high. this is generally done using one of mom's Doohickeys™ and via running a very small amount of water in with the corn before microwaving it. if you do not have a Doohickey™ then putting the corn in a microwaveable bowl and covering with a microwaveable Small Plate will work too. this is the Doohickey™ btw:

get a big bowl (or even reuse the pot from when you cooked the egg noodles (which is very important if you go the verdict family route and make 2 9x13s at once lmao)) and mix everything together. this includes the various chickeny soups.

pour into the dish(es) you're gonna bake it in.

bake for 30 minutes.

revel in the comfort of casserole.

it also reheats in a microwave really nicely so if this is something that might take more spoons than you usually have, you can make it for dinner on a night you have more than the usual amount of spoons and then eat casserole goodness for multiple meals without any further spoon expenditure afterwards

i made some two days ago and this is what we have left

casseroles are dunked on on occasion but genuinely this will fill you up and be a nice change of pace from sandwiches. it fills me up and i'm the kind of person who eats like 2-3 platefuls at buffets and has only ever been "uncomfortably full" from it like once. and while i'm not really an adherent to "eat healthy food, by which i mean cut out all foods that give you joy" this does have a lil bit of red meat, a lil bit of poultry, a nice delicious chunk of carbs, and a fair bit of veggies, which probably explains why my mom made it a lot when me and the brothers who existed at the time were toddlers

Do any of u have decent recipes that are like 5 ingredients (not including spices) and take 45 mins or less to prepare i gotta stop eating sandwiches for dinner