#irish trash can drink recipe

[hottakehoulihan]

Thoughts on coffee?

I basically drink it black, with cream and sugar, or I get funky. Ways to get funky: Bread Cheese aka Finnish Squeaky Cheese, which is a boring white farmer cheese that has been toasted so it looks a bit like bread but if you just cut a bit and eat it you'll be like "man this is worse than string cheese it's like a pencil eraser!" but if you nuke it on a triscuit and add a dollop of jam it's good, and if you cut it into fries or small cubes and put it in coffee the coffee makes it soft and tasty and a bit coffee flavored but you're drinking coffee so you like that. And the cheese bleeds some whey and salt and oil into the coffee and it's good it's good lovely mouthfeel honestly and if I have leftover coffee from yesterday and I'm microwaving it warm (sacrilege perhaps but I'm not rich or wasteful) and it won't taste good the bread cheese makes it nice. I won't list booze ways here mostly because there are as many "Irish coffees" and "Italian corrected coffees" as there are permutations of ingredients, but adding a dollop of Sambuca (licorice-sugar booze) in coffee is interesting to me and I like it sometimes at dinner time. Others often disagree. I read about a trendy bar somewhere that made "cereal milk" by toasting trays of cereal (I'd use cheerios or cinnamon life or granola), soaking it in milk, straining out the solids, and using that with their coffee. I tried it once. It tasted like coffee with milk to me, but I do love cereal milk when I'm eating cereal. The plant rue (which I grew mostly because of a whim and the fact it's in a Seanan Mcguire book) is beautiful with rounded lace-like blue-green leaves , and it can cause abortions! Who wouldn't love that! Also it has oils in it that you should be careful about handling when it's growing because the sun can cause those oils to be very bad for your skin depending on your sensitivities. ...but if I add some to my coffee grounds? It makes the coffee taste, somehow, EXTRA dark. it's cool. I'll do it again until my plants finish dying (but I'll keep 'em going when I can; what if someone needs some?) New Orleans sells yellow cans of "chicory coffee" where they've "cut" the grounds with toasted chicory root. I didn't like the mix much but not sure if it's because it's canned or it's cut. ...but I do like toasted dandelion root brew which tastes like coffee a bit to me, and allegedly tastes like chicory root, so maybe I'll try that yellow can stuff (popular in asian stores when you're not in the US South) again some day. I don't fuss about how to brew it; french press, pourover, percolate... They're all good and I'm happy with coffee that was percolated in a clean-enough machine within the last 40 minutes. Once on a whim I made cold-brew but I screwed up the recipe and soaked an entire liter of ground coffee in a three-liter bottle of water overnight, then painstakingly forced it through a filter to make "cold brew" that was so insanely strong (I think I used like 12x the amount I should have) I felt my heart bruising the back of my ribcage when I had a cup. It was still very tasty, though. I haven't tried heating cold-brew up but maybe I should. I think that's all the content I've got on coffee. I don't drink it every day or even week, and if someone offers and I realize they're using a Keurig I'll avoid it because I'm not looking to make more plastic trash or help support a company that adds DRM to their stupid dinguses. ...and something about fast food coffee always tastes wrong. Also, coffee needs to cool a bit before I can drink it; the Japanese say that people like me have a "cat's tongue" and their folklore suggests cats don't like hot fluid. I wonder if this has anything to do with "geographic tongue" in Japan.

[pillage-and-lute]

Geralt attempts to bake cookies. That’s it that’s the prompt

Hi Cabbage-with-legs!

This is a Modern AU with Tired Dad! Geralt. + bonus pining

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Geralt? Geralt what’s all this.”

Geralt’s shoulders slumped and he scraped dejectedly at the blackened hockey pucks on the cookie pan. “Cookies.”

“I’ve seen charcoal briquets less black, dear heart. What’s this about?” Jaskier said, leaning his shoulder against his best friend.

Geralt sighed and leaned into the touch, hardly even registering Jaskier’s neon pink Hawaiian shirt. “PTA bake sale. They need me to bake something so I’m trying but, well...” Geralt shuffled a spatula under one pathetic hockey puck and flicked it into the trash.

“Lucky you,” Jaskier said. “I am a world class baker.”

“You burn water.”

“Cooking and baking are very different, my friend.”

“We aren’t friends,” Geralt huffed.

“Not if you keep up that attitude. How much food does the bake sale need?”

Geralt sat in a creaky chair and looked at the ugly yellow wallpaper of his kitchen. “They said anything helps, but the school is really underfunded, they need to make a lot of money off of this.”

Jaskier sat across from Geralt and bumped his foot against his friend’s boot. He smiled sadly. He saw Geralt almost every day, and Geralt never saw him, not really. He never looked at Jaskier and saw him.

It didn’t matter because Jaskier saw Geralt, and would continue to do so until Geralt threw him from his life.

“Alright,” Jaskier said standing up. “It’s Saturday, so Triss won’t have work, I’ll text her, she can bring by some bread.”

“Don’t bother her,” Geralt said.

“She’ll want to help. Yennefer too, she’ll bring something by the bake sale as well.”

None of them had much money, but baking, well, for Ciri they could all do something.

“You and I,” Jaskier said, “We’re going to bake up a storm.”

Geralt stood. “No, Jaskier. Go away.”

“No, you need my help.”

“I don’t need your help.”

“Fine,” Jaskier said, hand on one jutted hip, “Then take a bite out of one of those.” He nodded his head towards the blackened tray.

Geralt growled, but it was acquiescence. 

“Great,” Jaskier said. “Now, lets start this again.” He tidied up the kitchen, loading the dirty dishes into Geralt’s ancient dishwasher and pressing start. He knew Geralt’s kitchen as well as he knew his own. When Renfri had died and left Ciri and Geralt all by themselves he’d done all the cooking here. Geralt had just sat in the chair in the living room and wouldn’t let go of Ciri. Jaskier had practically hand fed him.

Triss had called it sitting Shiva, even though she was the only Jewish person among them. From what she’d told Jaskier, though, Geralt had been doing something similar, even if he didn’t know it.

Now, though, they both moved about the kitchen. Geralt measured flour and sugar as directed and patiently took the bowl of frosting Jaskier pressed into his hands, stirring as directed.

Jaskier moved around him, orbiting Geralt like he always did, adding almond extract and nutmeg and an extra dash of salt because Geralt used too little. At one point their little dance messed up and Jaskier placed one floury hand on Geralt’s chest to keep him from backing up against the open oven door. 

He looked at the dusty handprint on Geralt’s black hoodie, right over his heart. Geralt smiled softly.

“Thanks, I would have fallen right into the oven, there,” he said. 

Jaskier chuckled, “Yeah, Hansel, can’t eat you yet I have to fatten you up,” he poked Geralt in his rock hard abs. “You’d be awfully stringy.”

Geralt rumbled a laugh, deep in his chest. “I guess I’m not prime cannibal fodder, huh?” He crossed to the laptop, open to their recipe. “What’s next?”

“I’m sure there’s someone who’d take a bite out of you,” Jaskier said absently. “But we’re done with the cookies now that they’re in the oven, onto the cake.”

“We’re making a cake?” Geralt said. He looked in dismay at the cookies already in the oven.

“Unless you’d rather make the pies first,” Jaskier said. “And yes, we are. You and I are going to nail this PTA bake sale.” He watched the way Geralt sighed, the rise and fall of his shoulders, the little roll they did to loosen the tension. 

He patted Geralt on one such shoulder, looking into a pale hazel gaze. “Drink some coffee, we’ll be up a while.”

Geralt moved to start the coffee. “Is the--”

Jaskier handed him the little scoop that Geralt used to measure out his coffee and Geralt turned around to face Jaskier.

“You didn’t even know what I was going to say,” he said.

“I did, I know you.” Geralt stepped close and looked at Jaskier with lazer focus. 

Please, Jaskier thought. For once in your life just, see me. 

“You have flour in your hair,” Geralt said, then turned back to the coffeemaker.” 

Jaskier held in a sigh and began pulling up the recipe he liked for chocolate cake. “Do you have cocoa?” He asked. 

“Cupboard,” Geralt grunted. There where multiple cupboards in the kitchen, but Jaskier knew which one Geralt meant.

They descended again into their orbiting dance.

-- -- -- -- -- --

Morning dawned to find a messy kitchen and two men asleep at the kitchen table. Ciri looked around, registered the mountain of cookies and muffins, four pies and two cakes, then got herself cereal. Jaskier woke up, the seam of his sleeve had pressed into his face in his sleep.

“Have you kissed my dad yet?”

Jaskier blinked away sleep to see Ciri, still in her Wonder Woman pajamas, eating a bowl of coco puffs while standing in the middle of the kitchen. He made to stand to give her the chair, but she shook her head.

“Stay put, you must’ve worked hard. When I went to bed Dad had just burned his second batch of cookies. I repeat, have you kissed my dad yet?”

“Um, no.”

“Why not?”

“He doesn’t want to kiss me,” Jaskier said. “He looks right through me.”

“Hmmm,” Ciri said. It was so like her father that Jaskier had to smile.

“Hello darling,” Triss said, closing the door with her foot behind her. “Jas, you’re up, I figured you’d be asleep...oh,” she glanced at Geralt, conked out on the table, then looked at the pile of baked goods. “Nice job, I brought Challah, soda bread, and Irish brown bread.”

Jaskier stood and kissed her cheek. “Thanks, I appreciate it, Triss.”

“Aunt Triss,” Ciri said. “Do you think my dad wants to kiss Jaskier?”

“Of course, why?”

“He doesn’t even really know I exist,” Jaskier said. 

“He does too.”

“He knows I exist but he looks right through me, Triss, I’m a ghost in his life.”

The front door creaked open then slammed, startling Geralt awake. 

“Whazzit?”

“It’s probably Yennefer,” Jaskier said.

Geralt blinked his eyes hurriedly and brushed back his pale hair. 

Yennefer stomped in and set down a tray full of lemon bars. “For the bake sale.” She looked up at Geralt, who was smiling at her. “You have frosting on your face.”

Jaskier stepped into the other room and Triss followed. Ciri stepped out after them, still spooning cereal into her mouth.

“He sees her,” Jaskier whispered.

“You like Yen,” Triss said. 

“I do, she’s terrifying and fun, but I just wish he looked at me like that, like he noticed me.”

“He notices you,” Ciri said. 

“Jaskier,” Geralt called from the other room.

Ciri smirked. “See?”

Jaskier reentered the kitchen. “What’s up.” 

“I’m loading stuff into my car, help.” 

Jaskier promptly took a few trays of muffins and began to walk them out to Roach, Geralt’s ‘84 Chevy Nova. It wasn’t a beautiful car but Geralt loved her, and Jaskier had grown to love her too. The four of them, watched by Ciri, loaded up the baked goods and Jaskier went to get in the passenger seat. 

“You’re not coming,” Geralt said. 

Jaskier faltered but recovered well. “Oh, well of course. And since I’m your very best friend--”

“Not my friend.”

“I’ll stay and clean up the kitchen,” Jaskier finished.

Triss made a sympathetic face at him, kissed Ciri on the forehead, and left. Yen nudged him in a mostly friendly way and swept out after her. 

Ciri watched him clean up, sitting on the counter in the corner of the kitchen. Unusually, neither of them said a word the entire time. When the last dish was put away she said.

“You know, I’m not sure Dad sees many people, not sees them. I’m not always sure he sees me. It doesn’t mean you aren’t important to him.”

Jaskier smiled wanly. “You’re very wise for fourteen.”

“I am. Extremely.”

“He sees her.”

“That’s because he’s slightly scared of her.”

Jaskier leaned with both hands on the counter and stared between them. “Ciri, you know I love you dearly?”

“Yes.”

“And I won’t stop loving you. Not ever. But I might not come around so often. I promise it doesn’t mean that I don’t care about you.”

“Just that you think Dad doesn’t care about you.”

“I know he does,” Jaskier said, looking up and crossing to where Ciri sat. “But he can’t even call me his friend. I can’t do that anymore. I need to...I need to not do that. At least for a while.”

“I’ll miss you,” Ciri said, setting down her empty bowl and hugging Jaskier. “He’ll miss you too.”

“I’m going to miss both of you too, but I need to do this. I’ll still come to every last one of your gymnastics meets. And I’ll still be your Uncle Jas.”

Cir pulled back from her hug, jaw set but her eyes dry. “I wish you could be my papa instead.” Jaskier kissed her on the forehead. 

“Bye Ciri, I’ll see you next week when you get another medal.”

She waved at him as he left.

Jaskier didn’t look up from the bus floor the whole ride back to his shithole apartment. The ugly green carpet on the floor of his room still looked the same. He shrugged and began to work on grading papers. There was no more he could do. 

-- -- -- -- -- --

Jaskier was surprised to find that the day had passed easily. He’d only had to turn his thoughts away from Geralt every time he started to think of him. 

Then there was a knock on the door and Jaskier suddenly couldn’t stop thinking of Geralt. There he was, drenched, from the sudden rainstorm and dripping in his apartment’s doorway. 

Geralt shoved a fist out, holding some supermarket flowers, the daisies they dyed in obnoxious colors. Usually Jaskier found them ugly but these, battered and very, very neon, were the most beautiful things he’d ever seen.

“What?--”

“We aren’t friends I want to kiss you,” Geralt said in one breath.

“What?!”

“I don’t want to kiss friends. I want to kiss you a lot. All the time.”

“You never even look at me,” Jaskier said.

“I do, just not when you’re looking.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want you to catch me staring at your lips I want to kiss you, Jaskier.” He stared into Jaskier’s eyes, unwavering. “I see you.”

“Who told you?”

“Triss. I came home and the kitchen was clean and Ciri was sort of mad at me and you were gone so I called her and panicked,” Geralt paused for breath. “And she told me. I see you. I promise I do. maybe not all the time but I’m not good at noticing people all the time I’m...Renfri could do that. I can’t. You can notice people all the time but I just don’t. I’m sorry. I do notice you though, I see you, I promise.”

“You see me,” Jaskier said. He watched Geralt’s eyes as they looked downwards. At his lips.

“I don’t want to kiss friends, Jaskier,” Geralt whispered. “Please, please may I kiss you.”

Jaskier nodded.

Geralt tasted like the peppermint Chapstick that he bought around Christmas and hoarded all through the year. A kiss had never been so good. 

Geralt pulled back and handed Jaskier the flowers. “You don’t like this kind but I like them because they remind me of you.”

“They do?”

“They’re bright and if you were a flower Ciri said you’d be a daisy.”

Jaskier smiled. “You got her advice, on what flowers to get me.”

Geralt nodded. “She knows these things. There’s cookies, back home. I bought some from the bake sale. Someone made white chocolate macadamia nut and I know they’re your favorite.”

“Fine, Geralt. I’ll go back home with you.”

“You’ll stay?”

“I’m not moving all my stuff in tonight, but yes, eventually I’ll stay.”

“Good.”

“Ciri’s going to have to stop calling me uncle now. It’ll give people the wrong idea.”

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It got away from me. Whoops. Happy ending for all, though.

[katsens-writing]

The Cake

Summary: It’s Pepper’s birthday so Peter and Tony decide to make her a cake.

A/N: Ok, so today isn’t really Pepper’s birthday but it is my birthday and this is an idea I’ve had for awhile but never got around to writing. My plans I had for earlier this week got cancelled, so I thought, what better time to finally get this written? If you like this, check out my masterlist. As always, if you want to be added to my taglist for Marvel, Good Omens, humans-are-weird, or anything else, just shoot me a message. Enjoy! :D (p.s. this was not betaed so please excuse any mistakes. If I catch them I’ll probably correct them later.)

Word Count: About 1.9k.

Content: Fluff. Bad baking. Sarcasm. Maybe one tiny bad word. More fluff. Please me know if I need to add anything!

- - -

     When the smoke alarm went off in the morning, Peter groaned and rolled over, pulling the blanket up over his head. Aunt May was probably trying to make breakfast again. He opened his eyes and glanced blearily at the clock. 7:13. He closed his eyes for a second before the shot wide open again. He levitated out of bed and flew down the hall toward the kitchen, his heart racing. Aunt May was never up this early in the morning on a weekend and as he ran down the hall he remembered he and Harley had stayed the night at the compound to help Tony with a project. Smoke filled the kitchen making his eyes water the moment he entered it.

     “FRIDAY, wake everyone up! Activate the fire suppression protocol!” Peter yelled.

     “No! Cancel that Fri, just... open a window!” Tony coughed, fanning at the grey plumes.

     “I got it,” Peter choked. “What’s going on, Mr. Stark?”

     Tony sputtered as he turned to the oven and opened it. “That.”

     Peter walked to Tony’s side and crouched down, peering into the oven at a charred, lumpy mass. “That... doesn’t answer any questions.”

     Tony gave Peter a flat look before rubbing his face. “Today is Pepper’s birthday and I wanted to make her a cake. She’s coming home from visiting her parents and I wanted to surprise her.”

     “That’s a cake?” Peter blurted. He broke out laughing, tears nearly streaming down his face. “The great Tony Stark, defeated by a simple dessert pastry.”

     Tony shot him a withering look before exploding and throwing his hands up in exasperation. “I earned two masters degrees before I turned 19, you think I’d be able to make a birthday cake!”

     “Yeah, masters degrees in engineering. Baking is chemistry, Mr. Stark!” Peter snorted, pulling on oven mitts to pull the molten monstrosity out of the oven.

     Tony’s face lit up and he turned to Peter with a look on his face that made Peter freeze.

     “You’re right, Peter! Hm, if only there was a chemist around who could help me.”

     “Nuh-uh, Mr. Stark!” Peter shook his head vehemently, backing away toward the hall. “I studied biochemistry! Unless you plan on making a cake that’s alive, leave me out of it!”

     “C’mon, Peter, it’s for Pepper!” Tony pleaded, calling after him.

     Peter turned to face Tony, walking backward. “Mr. Stark, you do know that everything I learned about cooking and baking I learned from Aunt May, right?” Peter arched his eyebrows.

     “I promise I won’t hold that against you,” Tony replied quickly, suppressing a shudder as he grabbed Peter by the shoulders and directed him back toward the kitchen.

     Peter groaned. “Why don’t you ask Harley?”

     “Because he’s babysitting Morgan. He owed me after what you two did to the lab last time you were here and you still owe me.”

     Peter stopped in his tracks. “Harley is babysitting Morgan? That’s about as good an idea as you making a cake.”

     “Hey!” Tony snapped.

     “Ok, fine, what about Sam? Bucky? Natasha? Vision?” Peter asked, going through the list of Avengers he knew could turn on an oven without setting something on fire.

     “Sam, Bucky and Steve are out for their run, Natasha and Wanda are gift shopping, Clint and Rhodey are in Quantico screening possible candidates for SHIELD, Banner is in Wakanda helping Shuri research gamma radiation and you know Vision was banned from using the oven after the pancake incident.”

     Peter groaned, slumping his shoulders in defeat. “Ugh, ok fine. Let me see the recipe.”

     Tony stared at him blankly. “Recipe?”

     Peter pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “This is gonna be a long morning.”

- - -

     “Ok, next it says gently beat the eggs into the dry ingredients...” Peter read from his phone, the device and himself equally covered in flour and other miscellaneous ingredients. He looked up at Tony. “Gently,” he emphasized.

     “‘Gently beat’? How do you gently beat something?” Tony grumbled.

     Peter shrugged. “I dunno. Maybe there’s a gentle setting?”

     Tony peered over his glasses at the knob on the device. “I don’t see anything that says gentle,” he huffed, his impatience growing.

     “Well, it also says you can whisk it by hand,” Peter glanced at his phone. He brushed some flour away from the screen with his sleeve and squinted. “At least I think that’s what it says.”

     “Oh, now you tell me!” Tony rolled his eyes with exaggerated sarcasm, setting the bowl down heavily on the counter with a thunk.

     “Sir, if I may...” FRIDAY interjected.

     “Not now, FRIDAY,” Tony interrupted tersely. “I’m thinking of a way to murder Peter and have it look like a horrible baking accident without destroying the kitchen.”

     Peter looked around the kitchen, surveying the aftermath of four failed cake attempts with a raised eyebrow. “Too late for that. Kitchen’s already destroyed.”

     “I’ll buy Pepper a new one,” Tony gritted as he picked up a spatula and lunged at Peter. “Now come here!”

     “But sir...” FRIDAY tried again.

     “Hey! Is this how you thank me for helping you?” Peter cried as he dodged a swipe from Tony.

     “Oh yeah, being a smart-ass is so helpful!” Tony rolled his eyes and swung at Peter again.

     Peter jumped up and landed on the kitchen island in a crouched position, balancing on the balls of his feet. “Hey, you have no one but yourself to blame for that! I was never this sarcastic before I started hanging around you.”

     “Ay, feet off the counter!” Tony snapped, swatting at Peter’s feet with the floppy cooking tool.

     Peter looked down. “Whoops, sorry.” He put a hand down on the counter and kicked his feet out over the side, his heels bumping into the cabinet drawer below as he let his legs hang down.

     Tony groaned and rubbed his face. “It’s hopeless. Pepper is gonna be home in two hours and the place is trashed.” He sighed and leaned back against the counter behind him.

     “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Tony Stark is giving up,” Peter commented, setting his phone down next to him.

     “You said it yourself, kid, I’m an engineer, not a chemist and certainly not a baker,” Tony sighed. “Maybe I should’ve just bought Pepper a cake.”

     Peter glanced at this watch then looked around again at the disaster of a kitchen and bit his lip. Mr. Stark could’ve bought any number of cakes for Pepper’s birthday but he wanted to make her favorite from scratch. He wanted it to be as special as she was to him. Peter glanced at the mix in the bowl Tony had sat on the counter and perked up. He jumped down from the island and spoke up. “Hey FRIDAY, call Happy.” He turned with a grin to a confused Tony and tossed him his phone before picking up the bowl. “You read, I’ll do. I’ve got an idea.”

- - -

     Pepper stretched as she climbed out of the back of the town car, giving the driver a polite nod as he held open her door. The ride from the airport seemed longer than usual and she had been anxious to get home. It was nice visiting her parents and having some time away from work, but she had missed Tony and Morgan. She declined the chauffeur’s offer to carry her luggage for her and she tipped him as he said goodbye. She pulled her suitcase up the compound drive, so lost in her relief to finally be home that she didn’t notice the silhouettes darting back and forth hurriedly in the window.

     “Welcome home, Ms. Potts,” FRIDAY greeted, her familiar Irish lilt putting a smile on Pepper’s face.

     “Thank you, FRIDAY. It’s good to be home,” Pepper smiled as the doors slid open for her. She walked through the foyer to the living room. Her purse slid off her shoulder and down her arm as she sat it on a sideboard with a small frown, wondering why the usually bustling place was so quiet.

     “Surprise!”

     Pepper gasped as colorful, shiny confetti and streamers fell from the ceiling and everyone jumped from their hiding places.

     “Happy birthday!” Peter grinned, standing up from behind the couch with Morgan perched on his hip. He bent over to let the little girl down. She ran over to her mom with a big smile, her party hat lopsided.

     “Happy birthday, mommy! Were you surprised?” the little girl asked, her eyes shining.

     “I sure was!” Pepper laughed as she stooped down to pick up her little girl.

     “Yeah, so were we,” Natasha smirked as she took Pepper’s suitcase for her. “Tony called us over about an hour ago.” Pepper laughed as the spy turned away.

     “The pizza should be here any minute now,” Peter glanced at the clock. “The presents are set up in the den, but first Mr. Stark and I wanted to show you something.”

     Everyone turned to the kitchen to see Tony walking out carrying a serving platter with a round, chocolate frosted cake adorned with whipped cream florets and ruby red cherries. Happy was right behind him, looking a little worn.

     “Black Forest cake!” Pepper gasped as Tony sat the cake down. “Wow, did you guys make this?”

     “Yeah, it took a few tries, but we got it eventually,” Tony scratched the back of his neck modestly.

     Happy bent down and handed Pepper a drink. “Just don’t go in the kitchen any time soon,” he muttered under his breath.

     “What was that?” Tony shot a suspicious glance at Happy.

     “Nothing boss, just wishing her a happy birthday,” Happy replied quickly. Just then the doorbell rang. “Oh, that must be the pizza. I’ll get it.” Happy hurried to the door, pulling out his wallet as he went. Pepper giggled as Tony glared after him.

     Morgan slid out of Pepper’s lap. “I’ll go get your gifts, mommy!” Pepper chuckled as she rose, smiling at Tony.

     “You did all of this for me?” she asked. She sat her drink down and wrapped her arms around her husband’s shoulders.

     “Of course,” he replied, slipping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. “I wouldn’t do it for anyone else, you know.” Pepper hummed in amusement as she pulled his face closer to hers, their noses brushing lightly.

     “Do you really like it?” Tony asked, meeting her eyes hopefully with his.

     “I love it,” she replied, bringing her lips to Tony’s tightening her arms around him.

     Suddenly Peter cleared his throat awkwardly, blushing. “Uh, Mr. Stark? I think Happy needs help carrying the pizzas...”

     Pepper chuckled as Tony pulled away, rolling his eyes. “What, were the two super soldiers busy?” he complained crossly, following after the kid.

     Pepper shook her head in amusement as she looked around at all the Avengers gathered before her. She smiled and waved at Banner on the plasma screen as Steve video chatted with him. Clint and Rhodey stood in the corner by the snack table complaining about the traffic coming out of Virginia to Sam who just rolled his eyes. Natasha and Wanda helped Morgan sort the gifts for Pepper while Harley made drinks for everybody.

     “Ms. Potts?” FRIDAY’s voice chimed above Pepper.

     “Yes, FRIDAY?”

     “Should I tell Mr. Stark that your birthday is tomorrow?”

     Pepper laughed as she took a sip of her drink. “I’m sure he’ll figure it out. Eventually.”

- - -

Tags: @parkerspicedlatte @xmarveled @myworstdays

- - -

Masterlist   Buy me a coffee? :)

[sergeant-angels-trashcan]

Okay okay okay so: Noh/Kate/David

Send me a ship and I will answer the following questions about them:

1. Who kissed the other first? like, as a Triad, David was the one who initiated it because he’d been working on the logistics for like an absurd amount of time.He’d also been anxious about his attraction to Kate and Noh for what felt like EVER and worrying that he was misreading their signals (even though they were so obvious!!!) and eventually David reached that point where he couldn’t tolerate it, knowing and being rejected could in no way feel worse than not knowing. 

2. What was their first fight about? David said something about Noh and Kate being the “primary” couple and Kate lost her shit. She hated that David thought that his relationship with them was somehow lesser? Noh was obviously upset as well but he’s not always the best with words so he gave David a blow job and then cuddled him

3. Who sleeps in the couch more often? ok ok i know this is supposed to be ON the couch but Noh is part cockroach and would absolutely lay IN the couch, under the couch cushions for Comfort reasons. It’s not really comfortable which prompts Kate and David making some really epic pillow forts so that Noh can be in a cool dark place

4. Who drinks coffee and who drinks tea? David drinks Irish Breakfast Tea, Kate drinks coffee, Noh–DON’T DRINK THAT IT’S WINDEX NOT GATORADE!!!!

5. Who goes grocery shopping more often? David, who does extensive meal planning. He plans culinary experiments and does fancy recipes. Noh is NEVER allowed to go grocery shopping solo.

6. Who brings breakfast in bed? Noh, once David and Kate have made sure he understands what is edible to humans

7. Who sleeps first? David, because he does some meditation while in bed. Kate tosses and turns for thirty minutes. Noh snores like a freight train.

8. Who watches the other sleeping? Noh watches them sleep and thinks about how lucky he is :’). One time he couldn’t sleep and was watching Kate and David snuggling and David woke up and SCREAMED because of how the moonlight was reflecting off of Noh’s eyes. All he could see were these unusual circles glinting. Noh felt really bad but after he started breathing again, David thought it was hilarious. Kate did not wake up.

9. Who met the parents in law first? They met Noh’s creator or whatever and dragged him to space jail. Does that count? It was the culmination of MONTHS of searching by Kate and David.

10. Who does the laundry? David starts it, Kate finishes it. Noh cleans out the lint trap because he thinks it’s a snack

11. Who washes the dishes? Noh and David

12. Who clean up the house? Noh cleans but not on purpose? He just…kinda…eats trash. He has a love/hate relationship with the Roomba David made.Kate and David have to reassure him once every three months that no Roomba could ever replace him.

13. Who washes the car? washing the car isn’t a huge deal, but twice a year Kate and David take a day to to a deep clean, vacuuming, polishing, the works. When they’re done they go get margaritas.

14. Who brings take outs? Noh and David do METICULOUS restaurant research. They have a list of places to try, which are good, which are bad. It’s a whole Process.

15. Who calls the other to ask if they want something from the street? Noh, but it’s more like “i found this random thing on the street, can I bring it to the apartment?” the answer is usually no

16. Who’s more likely to make plans? David and/or Kate. oh is the one who derails those plans

17. Who dreams about a big wedding? Kate, cuz like, LOOK HOW LUCKY SHE IS. She wants EVERYONE to know that David and Noh are HERS

18. Who breaks the cups? David is usually lost in thought and bumps into things without realizing it.

19. Who holds the umbrella? Noh, because that means he gets to stand in the middle

20. Who takes the other to the dance floor? Noh isn’t a huge fan of flashing lights and loud noises but he lives vicariously through Kate’s snapchat as Kate and David have a night out and stumble home at 3 am, slightly drunk, smelling awful, giggling and falling into each other.

21. Who does the big romantic gestures? hint: it’s the man responsible for the giant “fuck you” fires. Noh’s romantic gestures don’t always succeed, but they’re always genuine and make Kate and David go all melty.

22. Who’s more likely to serenade? Kate plays stuff on her cello for both of them. She and David compose stuff together, too!

23. Who forgets the wet towel in bed? Noh doesn’t forget it so much as he purposefully leaves it there because he likes how it feels. When he does this, Kate and David banish him to one side of the bed.

24. Who don’t pick up things when they fell? it’s so bad but Kate doesn’t because she knows roomba or Noh will get to it.

25. Who keeps losing the keys? Noh. David would NEVER lose his keys to THEIR apartment, it’s THEIRS and he TREASURES that key. Kate’s thought process is more along the lines of “twenty X-Men, all the Young Avengers, and five Avengers have keys to this apartment, why did we even bother putting a lock on the door”

26. Who sings the rap part? David, but secretly. Noh gets the Macklemore raps

27. Who pretends to be sad just so the other will cheer they up? they don’t have time for pretending to be sad, they have to be very open emotionally to make this work while also being traumatized superheroes

28. Who wakes up ready for a marathon? David and Kate are READY 2 GO. Literally, they go for a run in the morning and have run a half marathon together. Noh is a very enthusiastic cheerleader but doesn’t believe in running unless it’s for his life

29. Who buys them tickets for shows? Noh is a closet theatre nerd

30. Who choose the movie? David is constantly trying to expand their minds, making them watch foreign films and stuff. right now he’s got them hooked on Oh My General and the Untamed

31. Who says ‘I love you’ more often? Kate says it all the time. Both David and Noh say it, but they’re more wary of it. Kate just wants them to kNOW, you know??? they’ve been through enough shit without ever doubting for a second how she feels about them

32. Who keeps waving at people after they got engaged? DAVID IS SO EXCITED. Also Kate got him and Noh really blingy but classy rings. he can’t stop instagramming his and Noh’s hands.Kate is bursting with pride. She’s kinda possessive tbh

33. Who uses the most ridiculous nicknames for the other? David, because the X-Men are all about those names

34. Who’s responsible for date nights? Kate is SO GOOD at date nights you guys, like, SO GOOD. Picnic on another planet? fancy dinner? rooftop grilling? she has this on lock

35. Who wakes up one day and decides to stay in bed? noh is the one who always wants to stay in bed. in his defense, it’s a really nice big bed. Kat3e and David pretend they are not impervious to this, which is a LIE

[budugaapologist]

Cooking Headcanons: How Shit With Food Are Your Faves?

·        Altair: Look, it’s edible. It won’t give you food poisoning but it’s kind of bland, which Malik reminds him of every single time Altair tries to be nice and share his food. It’s the thought that counts, Malik, let him live.

·        Ezio: He only makes Italian food. He refuses to attempt anything else after he tried cooking a very complex rogan josh recipe with Yusuf and they failed miserably. He knows Italian food and doesn’t want to look bad in front of his family and friends with a poor dish, though both Sofia and Leonardo would support him through trying something new.

·        Connor: He loves barbequing and always remembers to make vegan and vegetarian options. Whenever the Kenways are throwing a party they make sure to say Connor cooked the main dish even if he didn’t so the guests always come. He also loves to bake, though he is better behind the grill.

·        Haytham: He hates cooking. He doesn’t think he’s good at it and, to be honest? He’s right. He is one of those dads that makes one dish and only one and doesn’t make anything else because it’s the only thing he knows how to make. His signature dish is grilled cheese with a tomato slice on it. Ziio thinks it’s okay and that’s enough for him.

·        Edward: He used to be pretty trash at it. But during his time at sea he learned how to make Cuban and Jamaican dishes like a pro and thanks to Adewale’s nagging he now makes sure he seasons his food. When Jennifer and Haytham were younger he used to bake cookies with them. To avoid another Haytham, when Connor was old enough, he would cook and bake with him. It certainly stuck with Connor, which makes his grandpa instincts really happy.

·        Adewale: He likes meal planning and makes all of his dinners for the week on Sundays. He uses a lot of wine in his dishes, though it’s mainly so there’s a bottle nearby in case anyone tries to talk to him about their problems while he’s cooking. Listen, he understands everyone has their struggles in life but he never came into your kitchen asking for reparations. He has his own things to worry about, he doesn’t want to hear it.

·        Arno: He always follows a recipe book and measures everything exactly if he is trying to impress somebody (Elise, mainly). Otherwise, if he can’t make it in a microwave, he isn’t gonna make it.

·        Elise: She likes her food burnt. It’s a choice that not a lot of guests like since it makes the house smell bad and the smoke detector goes off nine times out of ten, but so long as you aren’t trying to mooch her food, she’s happy.

·        Shay: He is really into stuff you can eat with a spoon, especially traditional Irish stews, which he makes himself when he has company over or has spare time. He has two shelves just for bowls and two cabinets that just have cereal and soups in them. Just don’t take Lucky Charms anywhere near his property, you will never be allowed back (Jacob and Edward know who they are).

·        Aveline: Her cornbread is to fucking die for. Fights have been started over the last piece. She loves the bloodshed over her food and will purposely make fewer than she needs. Her Thanksgiving dinners never have more than a plate of food left over. In her dining room it isn’t regretting how much you ate; it’s regretting how much you didn’t eat.

·        Jacob: He can’t cook. At all. Do not let him have free will in a kitchen.

·        Evie: She makes fun of Jacob relentlessly but has anyone ever seen her cook before? Like, there is no documentation of her touching a stove in her life. She says she’s too busy to cook most nights and swears she uses her crockpot but if you ask me, she’s afraid her and her brother might share a missing skill.

·        Lydia: To avoid the Frye family curse, she’s made sure she’s practiced since she was young, and it’s definitely paid off. Good on you, girl, finding time to learn basic life skills.

·        Henry: Luckily for the twins, he can actually cook. And he loves to. He makes meals from scratch and has his own vegetable garden. He doesn’t mind cooking for the twins, so long as Evie and Jacob don’t mind setting the table and cleaning up afterwards.

·        Bayek: He loves to bake. Pies, cookies, cakes, muffins, cupcakes, brownies, bread, all of it, he loves it. And he’s great at it, too, making at least one pie a week as a date night with Aya.

·        Aya: She doesn’t measure anything. She just eyeballs it and assumes she’s good. Bayek and Aya’s date nights usually rely on Bayek watching her closely so she adds the correct amount of an ingredient and doesn’t destroy their pie. More often than he likes to admit her eyeballing technique works out.

·        Kassandra: So. No one trusts her to make food. She isn’t bad, she just… enjoys a lot of weird combinations. There’s only so many times a person can refuse hot sauce on watermelon or pickles in peanut butter before they just outright tell her to stop bringing her food over and she’s designated to sulking in the living room with Jacob. She also makes protein shakes constantly for breakfast, eats four meals a day, not including dessert, and only eats healthy foods during weekdays, her cheat days being during the weekend. She also only uses exotic meat and venison.

·        Alexios: Much like Kassandra, he has weird snacks but not to her extent. His are just annoying. He’ll take the pickles Kassandra wants with her peanut butter and put them aside in a Ziploc bag then drink all of the pickle juice. He also eats other people’s leftovers. Not because he wants to piss them off, he just doesn’t read when he’s hungry. He makes up for this bad habit though, he’s great at making dips and is a wrap machine.

·        Chronicles Squad: Shao prefers ordering a pizza or getting carryout, but she can cook, especially after Ezio’s lecturing on “authentic Italian cuisine” and “the importance of homemade meals.” Arbaaz always uses ginger powder and turmeric and judges his son’s food with a critic’s eye, but Henry has yet to let him down, well, as far as cooking goes. Nikolai likes to cook but he doesn’t like help. Like Adewale, stay out of his kitchen when he’s cooking, the food tastes better when he doesn’t spit in your plate for ignoring his one rule.

[inactivesimblrr]

get to know me tag!

tagged by @literalite (thank u lamer clone!) n im not tagging anyone bc.............. every1 i think i know has already been tagged so thats calm, there r 125 questions below!

1. WHAT IS YOUR FULL NAME? Pat[REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED] [REDACTED]

2. WHAT IS YOUR NICKNAME? pat

3. BIRTHDAY? 23rd of nov!!!!! <3 (2001)

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE BOOK SERIES? hmhmhnnnn,,,,, lotr, the hobbit, harry potter, anything from the grishaverse,,, idk man i like books a lot,,, the raven cycle,,, hnmgmg,,

5. DO YOU BELIEVE IN ALIENS OR GHOSTS? aliens 100% i believe in them! ghosts? i mean... i half kind of do half dont but my kind of ghost aint the same as the usual idea of a ghost yanno? mine r nicer <3

6. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE AUTHOR? leigh bardugo, tolkien, i would say j.k rowling but shes trash! her books r good tho ://

7. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RADIO STATION? ??? idk so im gon pretend this means podcast and in that case im listening to the black tapes rn! 

8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FLAVOR OF ANYTHING? matcha or strawberry!!!!!!

9. WHAT WORD WOULD YOU USE OFTEN TO DESCRIBE SOMETHING GREAT OR WONDERFUL? thats swag (i began using it ironically but now i cant stop)

10. WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT FAVORITE SONG? uhhh eve or the wonderful world by mark joshua! orrr shiloh by little chief!! 

11. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE WORD? grinned

12. WHAT WAS THE LAST SONG YOU LISTENED TO?  walking back to georgia by jim croce

13. WHAT TV SHOW WOULD YOU RECOMMEND FOR EVERYBODY TO WATCH? honestly.... drop dead diva... im sorry.... but tbh i dont watch tv all that often!! ACTUALLUY HECK i would def recommend merlin the bbc tv series and ofc sherlock the tv series but keep in mind both those recs will rip out your heart MULTIPLE times,

14. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MOVIE TO WATCH WHEN YOU’RE FEELING DOWN? .......... im down all the time lolol but tbh all the harry potter films + the 1st fantastic beasts movie, all the lotr films and all the hobbit films AND sherlock both the rdj and jude law films and then the bbc sherlock christmas special the abominable bride

15. DO YOU PLAY VIDEO GAMES? yah! my all time favourite game is tes oblivion!! it has been my fav since i was 6!

16. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST FEAR? my life not working out the way i want to!! i want my life to be happy and long and spent with the people i love and not having 2 worry abt money or health!!!

17. WHAT IS YOUR BEST QUALITY, IN YOUR OPINION? i think maybe my ability to find everything funny??

18. WHAT IS YOUR WORST QUALITY, IN YOUR OPINION? my temper is beyond vicious honestly like im not kidding my temper is.... disgusting

19. DO YOU LIKE CATS OR DOGS BETTER? birds

20. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SEASON? winter

21. ARE YOU IN A RELATIONSHIP? nah!

22. WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU MISS FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD? im still a kid im only 17!!! and uh,, i miss the innocence!! i miss being oblivious!!

23. WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? i dont have one!

24. WHAT IS YOUR EYE COLOR? brownn w/ a bit of green!

25. WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOR? dark brown!

26. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU LOVE? my parents and my family!

27. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU TRUST? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

28. WHO IS SOMEONE YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN? jude law, sebastian stan, emma stone

29. ARE YOU CURRENTLY EXCITED ABOUT/FOR SOMETHING? back to school shopping!! also i get to eat fried chicken and cheesecake tonight because even tho my birthday was yesterday im celebrating it today!!!!

30. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST OBSESSION? stationery??? video games?? FOOD??

31. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW AS A CHILD? jane and the dragon!

32. WHO OF THE OPPOSITE GENDER CAN YOU TELL ANYTHING TO, IF ANYONE? i dont know what a male is sorry

33. ARE YOU SUPERSTITIOUS? a baby bit only

34. DO YOU HAVE ANY UNUSUAL PHOBIAS? n’aw i dont think so!

35. DO YOU PREFER TO BE IN FRONT OF THE CAMERA OR BEHIND IT? i mean... if i weren’t as ugly as i am id love to be in front of a camera doing fun acting stuff or whatnot! but bc i am ugly im usually behind the camera + i do film at school!

36. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HOBBY? lettering/calligraphy!

37. WHAT WAS THE LAST BOOK YOU READ? what if its us by becky abertalli + adam silvera (its so cute but the ending was.... not satisfactory...)

38. WHAT WAS THE LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? fantastic beasts the crimes of grindelwald!!!

39. WHAT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS DO YOU PLAY, IF ANY? used 2 play piano, accordion, and violin! but i dont do tht anymore!

40. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ANIMAL? bird!! 

41. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 5 FAVORITE TUMBLR BLOGS THAT YOU FOLLOW? too many 2 pick from !!! im srry!

42. WHAT SUPERPOWER DO YOU WISH YOU HAD? gdgs all of them!!!!! maybe the power to warp reality bc i could do anything then?? a reality where im married to jude law or emma stone? done, a reality where i have all the powers in the world? done

43. WHEN AND WHERE DO YOU FEEL MOST AT PEACE? a cliff somewhere where its cold and the water is vicious underneath!

44. WHAT MAKES YOU SMILE? babies, animals, happy couples, pregnant people, old people, a lot of things really!

45. WHAT SPORTS DO YOU PLAY, IF ANY? i used 2 do karate but now i dont do sports!

46. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DRINK? idfsng idk! strawberry milkshake maybe?? matcha boba??? milk!!

47. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WROTE A HAND-WRITTEN LETTER OR NOTE TO SOMEBODY? last week!!! i love handwriting!

48. ARE YOU AFRAID OF HEIGHTS? nah!

49. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST PET PEEVE? ppl who r rude for no reason and also ppl at school who just pick on other ppl for no reason looking at you rahni teagan and the other f*ckheads!!! hope u die literally i know thats a horrible thing to say but you all deserve it

50. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A CONCERT? i went to two twenty one pilot concerts!! the first one was in the forum in melbourne and then the other one was a few years or one year later and it was in a sold out stadium!! both were in the mosh! and then idk if this counts as a concert but i went to and did the meet and greet for dan and phil’s first tour! i dont like them anymore tho ! ://

51. ARE YOU VEGAN/VEGETARIAN? no way in HELL!!!!

52. WHEN YOU WERE LITTLE, WHAT DID YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GREW UP? a lot of things!!! famous actress, spy, war general, prime minister, pro wrestler, explorer, cartographer, filmmaker, architect, interior designer, dragon, PIRATE

53. WHAT FICTIONAL WORLD WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE IN? i know this is a bad idea but honestly the harry potter universe PROVIDED i had magic!! bc like,,, yah

54. WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WORRY ABOUT? a lot of things! my future mainly lol :(

55. ARE YOU SCARED OF THE DARK? no but i gotta say sometimes in the middle of the night when i wake up and the undefined shape my clothes sitting on my desk chair looks like That i get a bit worried yanno it looks like a demon im not gonna lie

56. DO YOU LIKE TO SING? ya but i dont htink im any good at it!

57. HAVE YOU EVER SKIPPED SCHOOL? only due to sickness, funerals, or holidays!

58. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PLACE ON THE PLANET? my house! OR the cliffs of moher :o)

59. WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE? in some old old old european castle in the middle of nowhere on a mountain and next to the sea

60. DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS? nuu :( but i do feed a lot of birds that come to my house and ive named them and love them even if the lorikeets dont love me back which is fine!!!! :(

61. ARE YOU MORE OF AN EARLY BIRD OR A NIGHT OWL? early bird i guess

62. DO YOU LIKE SUNRISES OR SUNSETS BETTER? sunsets??

63. DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE? yes! but i dont have my full lisence only my learner’s permit!!

64. DO YOU PREFER EARBUDS OR HEADPHONES? headphones (noise cancelling!!)

65. HAVE YOU EVER HAD BRACES? yup!! they were green!!

66. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE GENRE OF MUSIC? soft rock, indie folk, indie-everything mainly except for indie-rock,,, country music dont hate my i love country music as long as its certain country music!! aint having none of this keith urban rubbish in my house!! we only listen 2 the james taylor brand of country music in this house!!! so i guess country folk. folk music in general is my jam!!! i love ballads as well and ofc blues!! theres so many more jbdsgjbas but i cant possibly list all of it!!!

67. WHO IS YOUR HERO? the idea of me living out the future i want if that makes sense!

68. DO YOU READ COMIC BOOKS? yah!!

69. WHAT MAKES YOU THE MOST ANGRY? a lot of things honestly!!!! 2 many to list im really passionate!

70. DO YOU PREFER TO READ ON AN ELECTRONIC DEVICE OR WITH A REAL BOOK? real book but i read more on electronic devices bc its easy and i dont have to worry about lights !!

71. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE SUBJECT IN SCHOOL? idk!!!!!!!! maybe history!

72. DO YOU HAVE ANY SIBLINGS? nup!! im an only child thanK GOD

73. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT? movie tickets to crimes against grindelwald last night!!

74. HOW TALL ARE YOU? i think im like 176cm??

75. CAN YOU COOK? only if i have a recipe! but i can make really good drinks (non alcoholic ofc!!)

76. WHAT ARE THREE THINGS THAT YOU LOVE? rainy weather, good literature, my family

77. WHAT ARE THREE THINGS THAT YOU HATE? hubris, wrath, pococurantism

78. DO YOU HAVE MORE FEMALE FRIENDS OR MORE MALE FRIENDS? female

79. WHAT IS YOUR SEXUAL ORIENTATION? ?????????? who knows

80. WHERE DO YOU CURRENTLY LIVE? australia!!

81. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TEXTED? my group chat

82. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? my birthday yesterday lol

83. WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE YOUTUBER? dont want youtube tht much anymore tbh

84. DO YOU LIKE TO TAKE SELFIES? nah

85. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE APP? procreate

86. WHAT IS YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR PARENT(S) LIKE? incredibly close with both parents but fight with my dad like cats n dogs

87. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOREIGN ACCENT? irish or strong strong american or posh english also scottish

88. WHAT IS A PLACE THAT YOU’VE NEVER BEEN TO, BUT YOU WANT TO VISIT? israel, republic of ireland, and so many more places like nksgskbgs i cant list them also all the nordic countries

89. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE NUMBER? 3

90. CAN YOU JUGGLE? no

91. ARE YOU RELIGIOUS? nah 

92. DO YOU FIND OUTER SPACE OF THE DEEP OCEAN TO BE MORE INTERESTING? both!!!!!! 

93. DO YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF TO BE A DAREDEVIL? daring in terms of i like to do things that could potentially kill me for the adrenaline rush but not daring in terms of introducing myself to other ppl lol

94. ARE YOU ALLERGIC TO ANYTHING? nah thank GOD

95. CAN YOU CURL YOUR TONGUE? oui

96. CAN YOU WIGGLE YOUR EARS? non

97. HOW OFTEN DO YOU ADMIT THAT YOU WERE WRONG ABOUT SOMETHING? ill happily admit i’m wrong provided the other person wasnt a douchebag about it but even then ill admit im wrong! aint no shame in recognising ur wrong ma dude

98. DO YOU PREFER THE FOREST OR THE BEACH? dont like the beach but i love the sea?? so forest i guess bc i dont like sand

99. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIECE OF ADVICE THAT ANYONE HAS EVER GIVEN YOU? "two things stand like stone, kindness in another’s trouble, courage in your own” - adam lindsay gordon

100. ARE YOU A GOOD LIAR? an excellent one, but i dislike lying and value honesty so!!

101. WHAT IS YOUR HOGWARTS HOUSE? ssssss slytherin!

102. DO YOU TALK TO YOURSELF? ya

103. ARE YOU AN INTROVERT OR AN EXTROVERT? cop out answer here but it depends on the situation

104. DO YOU KEEP A JOURNAL/DIARY? yes

105. DO YOU BELIEVE IN SECOND CHANCES? depends

106. IF YOU FOUND A WALLET FULL OF MONEY ON THE GROUND, WHAT WOULD YOU DO? try and find the owner and track em down but if i cant ill hand it in to the place where it was lost

107. DO YOU BELIEVE THAT PEOPLE ARE CAPABLE OF CHANGE? yes

108. ARE YOU TICKLISH? yes

109. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON A PLANE? yes

110. DO YOU HAVE ANY PIERCINGS? ears but theyre closed up!!

111. WHAT FICTIONAL CHARACTER DO YOU WISH WAS REAL? thorin oakenshield

112. DO YOU HAVE ANY TATTOOS? nah

113. WHAT IS THE BEST DECISION THAT YOU’VE MADE IN YOUR LIFE SO FAR? ? idk man

114. DO YOU BELIEVE IN KARMA? no, too many bad people are living good lives right now

115. DO YOU WEAR GLASSES OR CONTACTS? nope! perfect vision here my dude!

116. DO YOU WANT CHILDREN? in the future i want 1 child only

117. WHO IS THE SMARTEST PERSON YOU KNOW? my little cousin

118. WHAT IS YOUR MOST EMBARRASSING MEMORY? a Lot

119. HAVE YOU EVER PULLED AN ALL-NIGHTER? a few times only, but i value sleep

120. WHAT COLOR ARE MOST OF YOU CLOTHES? black and green

121. DO YOU LIKE ADVENTURES? hell ya !

122. HAVE YOU EVER BEEN ON TV? audience member for the xfactor!

123. HOW OLD ARE YOU? 17

124. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE QUOTE? “so comes snow after fire, and even dragons have their endings.” -tolkien OR “always seek the giant.”

125. DO YOU PREFER SWEET OR SAVORY FOODS? savoury

[chasingbeetles]

For the ask meme, all the odds (or however many u want to do lmao)

i thought this posted?? but for some reason it didn’t......hmmm tumblr work challenge

1. your favourite playlist (made by yourself or someone else)

hmmmmmmm considering i’ve just listening to one album all the way through on repeat for the last month i am Not Good at playlists, but def your ggcyd playlists

3. your favourite “grounding” activity (anything that involves using the hands/doesn’t involve “spacing out” or escapism - something like gardening, knitting, dancing, cooking)

okay well first bold of you to assume i’m not spacing out at any given moment regardless of what i’m doing. second, i crochet and bake or else get into some one-off project of Making Weird Stuff

5. 5 tv shows that cheer you up

criminal minds (yes really)

the amazing race

top chef

ummm i don’t know if i have any more i don’t really watch a lot of tv shows/use tv shows to cheer up hmmmmm this is hard actually!!

7. your favourite board game

go! i’ve been playing for just under half my life and it’s a lot of fun

9. a quote that you would consider getting tattooed or putting in a frame

hmmm i know what i’d get tattooed but as far as in a frame? hmmmm maybe “if the muse is late to work, start without her” (raphael soyer), or maybe all of “july in appalachia” by keaton st. james

11. a tip or hack you’ve learned that makes cleaning or tidying easier

it’s something i’d already sort of done, but seeing ira prince’s comic about it made me actually consciously think about it: break steps down into literally their smallest possible unit and then do each unit. “clean around the bed” and “move stuff off the bed onto the desk, pull up duvet, throw away trash on the nightstand” are the Same Task but broken down fairly differently

13. the last so-bad-it’s-good joke you heard

there once was a girl from purdue,

who kept a young cat in a pew.

she taught it to speak

alphabetical greek,

but it never got farther than μ

15. the last tv episode that made you laugh out loud

it was gonna be an episode of nailed it but then i watched a grown-ass government agent talking about “blending the beavers” and i lost it

17. a bath, shower, beauty or toiletry product that makes you feel revived, or that you always re-order when it’s running out

hhhhhhh i don’t have anything that i order regularly enough atm, but i’m hoping to change that bc i finally found a shower gel i really like

19. the sport/exercise you enjoy the most, and what’s helped you get better at it

so i’ve been a martial artist forever, and i get super in my head about it when i can see how something should go but can’t physically do it yet, so having instructors who’re like “hey. i know you know what you’re doing. chill out and stop beating yourself up.” has been really helpful

21. a youtube video you find useful, entertaining or relaxing

there was a traditional mosaic tile making video i used to watch sometimes but i cannae find it atm, otherwise i like watching asl covers of songs

23. the book you just finished and what you thought (no spoilers!)

i have a horde of books i just got to read but i still haven’t read anything new since the collected schizophrenias by esmé weijun wang. it’s really good and a necessary read for me, but i think i need to read through it one more time

25. a game you’re playing that takes your mind off things

jfdsklfadsa chess, don’t @ me

27. your favourite flavour and brand of tea

i’ll drink practically any tea and enjoy it, but a couple years ago i came across twg’s 1837 black tea and it’s a solid favourite

29. a favourite easy recipe: 5 ingredients or less, or takes less than 30 min to make

irish soda bread! definitely a latchkey kid staple (for some reason when i was like eight i was really worried about using yeast while home alone?? but turning on the oven/hob/deep-frying stuff unsupervised was totally safe lmao)

4 - 4.5 cups AP flour

1 tsp baking soda/bicarb

1 - 1.25 tsp kosher salt

1.75 cups buttermilk (if you don’t have buttermilk, add 2 tsp white vinegar or lemon juice to 2 cups whole/2/1% milk and let it sit ~10 minutes, then use 1.75 cups of that)

preheat your oven to 425 F/220 C

sift dry ingredients together and then mix in buttermilk til dough forms, then turn out onto floured surface and knead it very lightly (the dough will be sticky! don’t over-knead or add flour until it’s not sticky!)

shape into round loaf and cut an X across the top with a floured knife

you can bake it in a greased/floured round cake pan with another cake pan on top to simulate a bastible pot, or you can be like me and stick in on parchment paper on a sheet pan and slap some tin foil lightly over it

bake for 30 min covered (with cake pan or foil), then 15 uncovered. the bottom will sound hollow when the bread is done

eat immediately with a fucking ridiculous amount of butter

[cuckoomagazine]

Interview with blogger Amy McColgan (a.k.a. Green Leafy Gael)

Tell us a little about yourself.

I was born and bred in Donegal and went to an all-Irish primary school. I went on to study Irish and Spanish in college and then did a Masters in translation after that. Before I went to college I also did a diploma course in TV Production through Irish in the Donegal Gaeltacht. I’m now living in Spain working as a freelance translator but hoping to move to Barcelona soon and get something a bit more secure!

When did you become a vegan and what made you decide to change your lifestyle?

I lived in Spain in 2012/2013 during my Erasmus year. It was my first time owning a smart phone and I took a liking to Instagram. I followed a lot of health and fitness accounts and took a big interest in health and wellness. One week in February 2013 I watched around 6 documentaries about food production, animal welfare and the links between a Western diet and all the most common Western causes of death (heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke). The Monday after that was the last day I ever ate meat. Over the course of that year I educated myself on how the meat and dairy industry have essentially paid their way into the food pyramids. There are so many deceiving scientific studies done and articles written to promote this kind of food and it’s tragic because that is the very food that’s killing us. When people from Asian and African countries move to Western countries and adopt the Western diet, they also adopt Western diseases that they wouldn’t have gotten if they continued with their traditional mainly plant-based diets. Learning bits of information like this just astounded me and yet it made so much sense. Never in my life have I understood something so well – the only thing holding me back from going fully vegan was our culture and society. Saying no to family members’ food and learning how to go without dessert in a restaurant is hard work and it takes time to get brave enough to do that! Eventually, within a year I was fully vegan – although at home and when cooking for myself I was always vegan. 

Throughout that year, I allowed myself to learn of the horrors of the animal agriculture industry. Not just the sick conditions of factory farms but standard, legal practices that are done on the most highly praised farms, such as pulling piglets teeth out and castrating them without anaesthesia, dehorning calves without anaesthetic, separating calves from their mothers so soon after birth so they don’t drink the milk meant for us humans, keeping sows in crates so small they can’t even stand up; I could go on. Standard farming and slaughterhouse practices are seen as “necessary and humane” but only because they’re part of the farming business. There’s nothing ethical about it. If someone shot a bolt gun through a dog’s head and then slit his throat and skinned him before he even properly died – the country would be up in arms about animal cruelty because it’s not normal for us to eat dogs. It’s “normal” for us to eat cows so we don’t bat an eyelid when it’s done to them. Knowing all this made going vegan an absolute necessity. I could never ever live with myself if I knew I was contributing to modern day slavery and torture of the most innocent and docile creatures on earth.

Who would you consider to be your biggest influence?

I really admire Dr. Michael Greger who runs the website nutritionfacts.org and wrote the book “How Not To Die”. His selfless contribution to the health of the world and sharing true and factual scientific studies has made it so easy for everyone to learn about food and how it impacts out health. He makes complicated scientific studies make sense to the layperson through his short and snappy videos on the NutritionFacts.org YouTube channel. He does all this for free and even the proceeds from his best-selling book went to back into the nutritionfacts.org non-profit.

 How do you source content for your blog?Do you stumble upon recipes or create your own? 

I don’t source content no. I just write about different vegan products that I might have tried or different tips or tricks that I think might help people on a vegan journey. At the start my recipes were inspired by my local Ballyholey Farm in Donegal. They grow a vast array of vegetables completely organically and every week they’d throw me some random veg and say “do something with that” – so a lot of my recipes are purely experimental! They always turn out surprisingly tasty though!

 What would you consider to be the main purpose of your blog & YouTube videos?

To inspire people to go vegan or to assist people through their vegan journey. I want to educate people on the true effects of the food we’ve grown up eating. It’s not something you can learn about in the mainstream media (although slowly but surely that’s changing). I like the idea of leading by example so I just try to share my life experiences and show people what I’m doing and why I’m doing it – that way is the least “preachy” I find. People are always interested in other people, so, if I can get people interested in my way of life, they might end up saving their own life. Also, I feel it’s my duty to the animals. I can’t sit back and do nothing about their suffering. If I can get someone to buy a cruelty-free and vegan foundation the next time they are buying make up instead of an animal-tested one – I’m happy. If I can get someone to choose a soy milk latté instead of cow milk the next time they order a coffee – I’m happy. If someone tells me they’ve decided to cut out meat altogether – I nearly cry with delirious excitement.

Do you find it easy to maintain your blog while living your daily life?

Not when I’m working a full-time job -  it’s very hard to find the time to work, eat, sleep, blog and vlog. Often times, social interaction with friends suffers! But now since I’ve lived in Spain I’ve been working at home on a freelance basis. So, when the work is quiet that means I get more time to focus on editing videos and writing blog pots. However, it also leaves me stuck financially which in turn leaves me with no nice ingredients to make nice recipes! I’d absolutely love to be able to focus on my blog and my channel full-time. As well as being beneficial to people’s lives, it’s also really fun to do and I get to use skills I’ve always loved using as a child such as taking pictures, editing pictures, making videos and acting the eejit in front of a camera!

 Is there a particular vegan dish that stands out as being the best you have tried?

No – because there are too many. Think of all the vegetables in the world (not just peppers onions and carrots), and all of the fruits in the world, and all of the grains, beans, legumes, spices, and herbs. Now think of a combination of each and every one – we’re talking millions upon millions of options! I’ve made some delicious meals in my life but as soon as I’ve made them I move on and try something else. In restaurants (that serve vegan food) I always try and get something different. I absolutely love weird combinations of food. I used to put random things in sandwiches and my mum said I get that from my late Granda. My mum is the complete opposite to me though and makes the same dinners every week – all are fantastic. But I have to say her lentil shepherd’s pie is a winning family dinner. It really is delicious and nutritious. (recipe on the blog if anyone’s wondering!) The meal I had in Sova Vegan Butchers in Dublin was one of the best vegan meals I’ve ever had. They’re so innovative and creative and it’s such a good experience eating there. I had the “scallops” and a “schnitzel” – 100% vegan, 1000% tasty. Recently I was in London and that whole day of eating was probably the best day of eating I’ve ever had – from breakfast to brunch to lunch to dinner. The Ethiopian food I got at Spitalfield’s Market was phenomenal. I have a vlog on my channel from that day again, if anyone’s interested!

 Tell us a little about the fashion side of your blog. You mention you like to buy clothes that are not brand new and ethically produced. Can you explain that a bit more? 

Well I’ve always heard about sweat shops and child labor, all my life. I don’t think that side of fashion has ever been unknown to anyone, but we definitely do just turn a blind eye to it. I did most of my life, but then when I went vegan, I kept thinking to myself that I shouldn’t be ignoring the plight of these poor sweatshop workers. I didn’t know too much about it though, but it was on my mind. I shopped less in fast fashion places because of it, but, only in the last 2 years have I completely quit fast fashion. I decided to become a minimalist 2 years ago and with that I learned a lot about the environmental impacts of clothes production, the vast amount of waste and pollution it produces, and the working conditions of the garment workers. 

The factory collapse in Bangladesh that made headlines should have caused a worldwide shift to ethical fashion but profits of the big companies actually went UP that year! Shocking. I would recommend anyone interested to watch the documentary “The True Cost” – it’s extremely interesting. Since I quit fast fashion I’ve obviously still had to buy clothes. My budget hasn’t exactly allowed for me to buy better quality and sustainably-made clothes because they tend to be more expensive, so, I tend to focus on second hand clothes. This is even better though because it reduces waste and doesn’t use any resources. I love using Depop and Ebay, and I absolutely love vintage shops like Nine Crows in Dublin. Etsy is a great place to get handmade and vintage items as well. My proudest purchases, though, have to be the ones I’ve found in local charity shops. It literally is a case of “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”.

For people out there who are looking to start their own blog, what advice would you give them?

Being Irish I think we have a tendency to get embarrassed about promoting ourselves or speaking up online. There’s something about our culture that makes it slightly weird for us to see someone doing their own thing and being different in public/online. I’ll admit, even I find it strange sometimes if I see someone I know doing something a bit “different” online. It’s in our nature and I’ve no idea why. That said though – this is changing fast! One good thing about globalisation is that some of our very Irish ways are dissipating and more people are deciding to do what they want and put themselves out there. So, I would say to anyone who feels like they want to speak out through a blog or share anything through a blog, try not to be embarrassed or scared about what the ones down the road will think of you! If you have a good message to share people will benefit from it. I was terrified about putting myself out there – especially on YouTube – but I felt the message was too important not to share. Some people definitely thought I was mad, but I’ve had more people tell me that they’ve changed because of my blog/channel, or thank me for sharing what I’ve shared. So, you could be shocked at the impact you could have!

What is your proudest moment to date?

The Irish language is a big passion of mine and I love to promote it, so, when I was invited to be on Róisín on TG4 I felt like that was a big moment for me. Speaking Irish, working with the media, and promoting veganism all in one day – it definitely was one of the highlights! I also loved being in my local paper, The Donegal News, last year, as I grew up reading this paper every Thursday night when my Dad would bring it home. Plus, the title of the piece was “Champion of health” – that was cool! But, one of the best things that has happened since I started trying to spread this message was my family, one by one, ditching meat. My mum is vegetarian, my dad is vegetarian (sometimes pescatarian) and my younger brother is also vegetarian. Having that burden of worry off my shoulders is a great thing – now I only need to worry about my youngest brother whose diet gives me anxiety!

 Have you any particular goals for the future?

Get my youngest brother to go vegan! It’d do wonders for all his football injuries…No but really, I’d love to be able to work full-time on helping people go vegan. I’d love to take people shopping to Dunnes or Tesco and teach them all about what they can eat and what recipes they can make for their families. I find blogging and making YouTube videos really enjoyable so it’d be great to somehow be able to do it full-time. I’d love for veganism to grow massively in Ireland over the next 5 years and I’d really love to have some part in it.

To find out more about Amy’s blogs, recipes and vlogs, follow her below on the following links:

www.greenleafygael.com

@greenleafygael

YouTube

Facebook

[supercoolgamesstuff-blog]

Free Browser Games - New Browser Games

New Post has been published on https://www.coolgamingzone.com/free-browser-games-new-browser-games/

Free Browser Games - New Browser Games

Facebook Games – List of all social games on Facebook network | Free Browser Games – New Browser Games

Restaurant City is a 2D social restaurant management game that allows players to start and run their own restaurant from the ground up. Re-arrange and design your new restaurant with a variety of decorations. Hire a complete staff made up of friends, set the daily menu, gather ingredients, and keep the customers happy. Although comparable to other games like Café World and Pet Society where players can cook up savory meals in Restaurant City it’s all about the ingredients. Players buy, earn, trade, and even grow necessary recipe ingredients to create meals. Work with or compete against neighbors for the position of the top restaurant on the block.

Starting Your Own Restaurant, the Gameplay

In Restaurant City players are in charge of their own fully functioning restaurant. Each player starts out small with several tables, chairs, and stoves. Before the game can begin users have to hire some of their Facebook friends to work for them. A quick click on their avatar and then desired job will accomplish this task. Once all of the waiters, chefs, and janitors have been assigned players are ready for business. Restaurant City has a helpful Open Hours feature that allows players to choose opening and closing hours to fit into their playing schedule. This option prevents users from having to rush and log back in simply to check on their restaurant. There are various shifts available for managers to choose from. Each shift has a coin fee. Shorter shifts earn more profits since they’re cheaper. Players can schedule their employees to work any length of time from 30 minutes to 24 hours. Employees complete tasks automatically following their assigned duties. Janitors clean up spills, waiters serve meals, and chefs stay busy behind the stoves cooking. Players take on more of a managerial role so the gameplay is fairly slow paced. Coins and XP are earned through leveling dishes, serving customers, and visiting neighbors. Players spend most of their time using strategy to boost their rank, collecting necessary ingredients, and decorating. Each restaurant has a popularity number. The more satisfied customers the higher the rating will go up. Users have to figure out how to balance the staff in a way that will serve all of the incoming customers in a timely manner. Customers who have to wait too long will walk out and decrease the restaurant’s popularity rating.

The Ingredient Hunt

Restaurant City has a very diverse menu. It’s divided into four categories consisting of a starter, main, dessert, and drink. Players can serve customers Tuna Steak with Vegetables, Russian Cappuccino, Lobster, Hamburger and Fries, Pink Lemonade, Mango Pudding, Pork and Apple Chops, Chocolate Cake, Beef Enchilada, or Strawberry Milkshake. In order to cook a variety of meals, ingredients are needed. The ingredient market is limited and very expensive. There are only three items are on sale per day for coins. The rest of the ingredients require Playfish Cash to purchase. If a player doesn’t want to spend real money for common items like water, ice, bread, butter, flour, sugar, cheese, and eggs than they have to rely on their neighbors and other methods to obtain them. Players can receive ingredients daily for free by logging in and correctly be answering the Food Quiz. The questions often vary from real life cooking techniques to food trivia. It’s quite challenging. This is a unique feature in the game that educates players in a fun way. In Restaurant City an option to a garden is available similar to the game Pet Society. Players can grow their own fresh ingredients. The garden lot expands as a user levels up. Although it’s a nice touch there is no choice in the type of seeds that you can plant. A mysterious bag of unmarked seeds will produce random spices, vegetables, or fruit when ripe. New dishes can be learned and leveled up to increase XP when all the required ingredients have been collected. Neighbors can assist in the hunt for ingredients as well.

Checking Out the Competition

In Restaurant City friendly competition and friendship work hand in hand. Players can visit their friends’ restaurants to help out or take a trip to a random street to see how other restaurant moguls businesses are operating. Visiting neighbors can earn coins, XP, and a free ingredient. Remove trash from their floor like spilled soda cans, discarded pizza slices, and banana peels by clicking on them. Sometimes their restaurant may have a nasty leak, a blazing fire, a penguin invasion, a sleeping bear scaring away customers, or giant mushrooms in the garden that requires immediate attention. The first time a player visits a new neighbor they earn one free ingredient. This makes neighbors an essential part of gameplay. Users must rely on friends to earn a significant amount of XP to level up and to receive ingredients which can be tedious at times. Players can also trade ingredients with each other by clicking the Ingredient Trade icon. For some players who do not like to depend on their friends to advance in games constantly joining neighbor adds lists and bargaining for ingredients can be exhausting. All neighboring restaurants on the street are ranked in order by popularity. This system lets players know exactly how their restaurant measures up when compared to their buddies. Restaurant City takes full advantage of its multiplayer aspects allowing users to travel to random streets with players who are not neighbors and rate their restaurants.

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

The customization in Restaurant City is exceptional. Everything can be personalized from a player’s avatar to the minuscule details in the building’s exterior. Users have the option of keeping their avatar basic or personalizing it. Give your avatar a rock star Mohawk, a Princess Leila hairdo, villain attire, or cool shades. The game has dozens of various themes to choose from including a Roadside Diner, Saloon, Moroccan, Medieval, Eastern, Chinese, Japanese, Mexican, Psychedelic 60s, and Victorian style. There are also some fun unexpected designs like the UFO, Zombie, Ghost, Anime, and Princess available. It’s possible for players to create any kind of restaurant they want. The necessary basics like chairs, tables, stoves, toilets, and even drink dispensers come in an assortment of customized styles. Depending on the theme or desired look users have hundreds of items that they can add to renovate their restaurant. Click and drag new patterned tile floors, colored wallpaper, arcade machines, dividers, walls, aquariums, stereos, and arcade machines. The outside of the restaurant can be redesigned also. Change the building size from a small size to a behemoth building base. Attach various roofs or use decorations like a roving spotlight, balloons, lanterns, flags, flowers, canopy, menu signs, bouncer, benches, robot chef, and a magical unicorn. A very cool feature in Restaurant City is the music player that can be customized as well. Users can change the default elevator melody that plays over and over again to a catchier tune. Choose from the classic Pineapple Overture, upbeat My Irish Heart, Asian-inspired Delicate Spring, Latin Fiesta Brothers, or the cool mellow Lounge Lizard Slide.

Final Verdict: Great

Players participate in a competitive world overcrowded with restaurants all vying for top rank. In Restaurant City users have endless possibilities for customization. There are also some very cool features that keep the game entertaining. Explore the virtual streets in search for ingredients, listen to the music player while menu planning, message friends, or test your knowledge as a foodie in one their quizzes. It goes beyond other similar games like Cafe World or Pet Society by adding more social multiplayer options like the ingredient neighbor trade system. The slower paced gameplay with the Open Hours setting for scheduling play makes it perfect for busy gamers.

Source by Zdravko Lukic

[passportrequired]

A Valentine Cheer in Europe

I decided on a solo Europe trip because I wanted to do what I CAN’T call Eat Pray Love BECAUSE I still have yet to watch this movie. However, after the senseless murder of my niece on Valentine’s Day a couple years prior and my mom’s lost to a battle with cancer a year after, I figured V-Day needed some coloring.

I decided on a flight to Istanbul that would transfer to Milan and then EasyJet from Milan to Paris and then to Barcelona and back to Milan and jump back on Turkish airlines to Istanbul and finally home to Dulles.

When I told my family I was heading to Europe alone, they asked if I didn’t see the movie Taken. I told them no one is taking a big boned black girl. What I was really saying is no one will stop me from traveling solo in search of a valentine cheer.

My niece was stabbed over 20 times. The guy got 60 to life. But how do I look at Valentine’s Day the same? My mom cried. The next year she died. She chose not to do the 50 to 50 chance surgery. I wrestled with that. Why did she choose to die and not to fight? But I realized now she wanted to go on HER terms. Death is something that the living has to deal with. We are left to grieve and miss and yearn.

My trip was to live like they had not. Do things that they couldn’t…

I arrived in Istanbul on a six-hour layover. When I touched down on the tarmac, I remember thinking it looks just like the hallmark card my friend had given me for my birthday in January. I started my EAT’ing. Opened faced smoked salmon sandwich with eggs sunny side up. Delectable for airport food. I pictured my niece Tiana and my mom Valeria sitting across from me. Enjoying. Complaining about the runny eggs. Laughing and ready to explore our first leg of the trip.

The Coconut Curry Chicken (or Shrimp). INGREDIENTS: Organic Chicken from Whole Foods or bag of shrimp from Trader Joes. Trio pepper, red onions, scallion, thyme, habanero skin, garlic, turmeric, paprika, ground cayenne (optional, but good for spicing up your life), black pepper, sea salt (or salt), Basil (fresh or dry), one canned Trader Joe’s organic coconut milk, olive oil, one small sweet potato or Irish (russet) potato. Add olive oil to pan with fresh and dry seasonings. Stir on high heat and add canned coconut milk. Add peeled and cut (tiny pieces) of potato to pot. Let it boil on medium for 30-45 minutes until desired taste. If using shrimp, add shrimp at end and let cook for 15-30 mins until desired taste of shrimp and sauce. If using chicken, add chicken to beginning prior to adding coconut milk. Once cooked, enjoy over bed of Whole Foods basmati or Trader Joe’s jasmine rice OR with some fresh naan.

The Rice. INGREDIENTS: Basmati white or brown rice OR jasmine white or brown rice. Irish / Icelandic butter or olive oil. Sea Salt. Place rice in pot with one-inch water above rice level (use finger tips to judge), stir in salt and butter or olive oil. Cover rice and let come to a boil on high fire setting. As soon as it boils over, turn fire on lowest setting and let sit for 30 minutes then turn stove off.

My mom probably made curry differently. But I added my twist. Let the EAT’ing begin.

ENJOY.

I people watched in that Istanbul airport until I cracked myself up. A couple smooching, others rushing. I wonder where they are heading. Maybe they are off to someplace romantic. To celebrate. An engagement or an anniversary or maybe it’s new love or young love. Perhaps the Maldives or Fiji. I made up stories about strangers and laughed with my mom and Tiana until it was my turn to head someplace. Milan in particular.

Industrial and not what I expected. I used to read my sister’s romance magazines. Soap opera in a book. Lancio published them. Those cute Italian boys were in Milan. I figured I would find cheer there. But instead I found the Duomo. When I walked inside, a feeling came over me. Like God had reached out and grabbed my soul, telling me it’s okay. I know you lost your sister, Brenda years earlier to a routine knee surgery. I know Kenneth, Nicole and Dwight are gone too and I know you lost mama (grandma) and Lattie and more recently, your sister, Luna, niece Tiana and mommy, Valeria. But I’m here now. It was either that or a memory of a Catholic Church in Morant Bay, Jamaica. Either way, something inside the Duomo moved me. I felt it and I sat on the church bench, PRAYed and made the sign of the cross against my chest. A sign you couldn’t forget even if you left the church behind.

I could hear Ave Maria in my head. Maria Ferrante singing by Franz Shubert. I have it on my playlist. “Ave maria, äiti maan lapsien, taas meihin katsoo suojellen, kun poika syntymäpäivä on…” I sat in the church and quietly recited, “Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.” I used to hear my dad praying this prayer often. How many Hail Marys do you need to cleanse your soul of its sins? I didn’t want to imagine the sins of my father.

I walked out of the Duomo and took a long trek back to my hotel room. Quietly. I felt my mom and Tiana on the walk back. It wasn’t creepy. It was all LOVE.

Prior to the Duomo I took some photos of the church from the Museo Del Novecento. Museums give me a sense of peace. Perhaps because it’s a quiet observance. No need to discuss in the moment. Just observe and soak it in.

I felt snow on me and knew something was brewing. Later, I was stuck at the airport. EasyJet put us up near the airport with food vouchers and free hotel. I almost got rerouted to Germany. I didn’t take it. I stayed in Milan. Stuck in the hotel room and eating breakfast, lunch and dinner with complete strangers. I had to walk a scary dark walk for dinner. I chatted with some of the strangers so I didn’t have to walk the dinner walk alone. No dinner was served in my hotel. When I couldn’t find a stranger, I said a few Hail Marys and walked the walk to have decent Italian food and frizzante. Every time I tried to have a croissant it was filled with something. I don’t like fillings, but Europeans do. I do; however, like cappuccinos and I had good coffee there. I decided to write and think while waiting for the snow to clear. Two days later I ended up at Charles de Gaulle and got to my hotel a few minutes before midnight. My flight for Barcelona was leaving the next morning.

I arrived at the Le Meridien bummed that I wouldn’t see Paris. But my friend, Jessica from Scotland had been there waiting for me. She had already gotten a chance to see it and decided to give me the midnight tour. I tucked mommy and Tiana away and me and Jessica walked the streets. On our walk I saw a prostitute on the side of the street down on her knees with a client. Paris is gangsta. I watched the Eiffel tower’s lights go dim and I took pictures at the Arc de Triomphe.

I wanted to be up close and personal but not on this trip. The chef opened the kitchen to serve me creme brûlée. I talked with Jess and ate the best creme brûlée I’d ever tasted. If only I had gotten to go out and about, I’m sure there’s better crème brûlée in a small Parisian bakery. We decided to forego sleep. I hadn’t seen Jessica in years. It was good to see her and touch her and talk with her. We had so much to talk about. We didn’t let the sleep in our eyes stop us. We talked and talked and talked and talked. I grabbed a quick breakfast and hugged Jess goodbye. I was going back to solo’ing in Barcelona.

No plane issues this time. I waited for my flight and met two Parisian girls who thought it was cool I was on a solo trip and from America. We chatted and laughed and swapped stories. I thought Parisians were snobby. Not these two. Friendly and sweet. We took pictures and said a proper goodbye.

I arrived in Barcelona and in LOVE. I couldn’t stop staring out the window of my transport on the way to the hotel. Another Le Meridien hotel. Thanks to my sister Colleen’s discounts. I was on a budget in a fantastic Starwood hotel. It was in the midst of La Rambla. I didn’t waste a minute in Barcelona. I took to the streets and spoke as much Spanish as I could remember. I ate a burger and fries and drank local beer in a small friendly bar. After beer two I packed up and went to an art museum where the guard asked for my hand in marriage. I laughed and continued my quiet observance of the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art.

That night I watched a Spanish jazz singer over dinner. I had a chance to meet and chat with her. She flirted and I blushed. I told her I’m straight and kissed her on the cheek. My valentine cheer was coming in little packages. I imagined Tiana in full Spanish mode. Her mom, Kathy is Puerto Rican. She was enjoying Barcelona. Swinging her hips and trying to teach me salsa and mommy laughing. When she was younger her favorite thing from grandma was Jamaican fried dumplings. My mom made it so good. I wasn’t yet there in America. But when I came, she was older. I met her and she still wanted fried dumplings from grandma. Had there been fried dumplings in Barcelona I would have had some just for her.

My best friend Misha loves this soup. She had been asking for the recipe for years. I told her I didn’t know how to write recipes. But this one, you can EAT with LOVE. Just don’t forget to PRAY before you eat. Wait don’t we drink soup. Yeah, but don’t mess with my EAT, PRAY, LOVE vibe. I think that was Tiana correcting me. I’m sure it was actually.

One canned coconut milk. More coconut milk. It reminds me of the million ways my mom used coconut. Curry Rundown: made from freshly grated and squeezed coconut juice (milk). Rendered down to base of almost oil with Saltfish inside (boiled and strained of all salt). Serve with fried or boiled dumplings. Coconut Cake: made from the coconut trash (grated) with sugar and fit for a dessert. OR coconut diced into tiny pieces, again with sugar. Another dessert, same name. Wait that’s not the soup.

Soup With No Name: INGREDIENTS: one canned Organic Trader Joe’s coconut milk. If you have time on your hands, go to the Asian market, buy a coconut, grate, squeeze and make fresh coconut milk. Sweet potatoes, bok Choy, spinach, white beans, Grace Cock Soup packet (best to put it in at the end, not sure why, this is just what Jamaicans do. Cho, stop yuh noise mek mi cook nuh). Trio pepper, red onions, scallion, thyme, habanero skin (the seeds are too hot), garlic, turmeric, paprika, cayenne (NOT optional, spice up your life), black pepper, sea salt (or salt), Basil (fresh or dry). Add water to a big pot and coconut milk and all dry seasonings. Go light on turmeric. It’s just cause I love the yellow color for this soup. Add scallion, garlic, onion and thyme along with trio pepper and habanero. Boil for 30-45 minutes. Add chopped bok choy, whole spinach (nuh chop it up mahn) and sweet potatoes (cut up in cubes). Add seafood mix and Grace Cock Soup. If using chicken add in the beginning with coconut milk. Taste. Add sea salt if additional is needed. Serve hot. PRAY.

ENJOY.

There was an ice cream truck outside the hotel. I had Nutella and vanilla swirl and chatted with the ice-cream guy. I can’t remember his name. He was sweet. Super nice and the ice-cream was great. Europe loves Nutella.

The next day I spotted a robbery as I was about to jump on the metro. I stood and watched. Three men with sheets over their shoulders running. Filled with clothes from a nearby department store. The cops showed up and jumped out the car and ran after them. Why oh why didn’t they drive after them? They didn’t catch them. Barcelona is also gangsta. My sister Michelle would worry if I told her about the gangsta shit. She was the one who asked me if I didn’t watch Taken. I bought little gifts from different places. I was on some street I can’t remember. I wondered if anyone noticed I was alone or could they see mommy and Tiana?

I arrived in Milan on my last leg. I had taken risks and seen things that made me realize solo travel is better. You get to notice every stranger. You meet people from all over and you really connect without distractions. I wrote, I thought, I laughed, I cried and I imagined I had my eat, pray, love moments. I still have to watch that movie.

On my way back to the airport I decided to ride the train from Milan. I lugged my heavy ass suitcase and got confused about which train to take and how to buy my ticket when a stranger rescued me. Though I didn’t need rescuing, this man was seeing me as a damsel in distress. His name eludes me, but he was from Georgia. No not Georgia USofA but the country. He showed me how to buy my ticket, lugged my suitcase on the train and sat next to me. Maybe for protection. He shared stories of his childhood in Georgia. And I equally of Jamaica. We laughed and talked and parted ways in Malpensa. I felt a little guilt that I forgot about mommy and Tiana.

I made my way to Istanbul and then touched down on the tarmac in Dulles. As I rode the transport back to Rockville, I couldn’t stop thinking about my trip. All the details, the quiet moments, the conversations. But mainly I felt I got just what I went looking for. I see now that today – on V-day, there’s more to remember. Not the tragedy of loss, but great memories and positive light. Not the blackness the man doing 60 years to life tried to give us. But the light that was left behind to shine.

“Alvin, I know today is a tough day but Tiana was very brave even though she knew she wouldn’t make it, she made sure the Devil got caught… so Live, Love and Laugh on her memories. Happy Tiana Notice Day.” – Colleen Burgher.

“To my family, each and every Valentine’s day my heart is torn apart. However, I have to come to the fact that life must go on and Tiana’s memories will forever live on. With that said, tonight at 9:42 pm please stop what you are doing and give a moment of silence to Tiana Angelique Notice. Tiana’s work will never be done, may her soul R.I.P.” – Alvin Notice (father of Tiana and my brother).

“A moment of silence for our dear Tiana. Love always. ♥” – Marceen A. Burgher

para mi madre y mi querida sobrina dulce – from Barcelona with love.

per mia madre e mia cara dolce nipote – from Milan with love.

pour ma mère et ma chère douce nièce – from Paris with love.

annem ve sevgili yeğenim için – from Istanbul with love.

…for my mother and my dear sweet niece – from Dulles with love.

–          Marceen A. Burgher

A Valentine Cheer in Europe was originally published on Passport Required

[newhealthyrecipes2016]

SUPERFOOD JUNKIE | OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO | PATRICK HAIZE W/ GOLDEN TRIANGLE

http://www.buyspirulinaalgae.com/ http://www.buyspirulinaalgae.com/best-spirulina-powder/ sitemap http://ow.ly/10kjVU Blogspot This song is for all the herbalists and super food Junkies!! Check out the album on bandcamp: https://goldentriangle1.bandcamp.com

Website: http://patrickhaize.com

Bandcamp: https://goldentriangle1.bandcamp.com

Bandcamp: https://patrickhaize1.bandcamp.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/patrickhaize/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/patrickhaizelive

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/patrickuli

Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/patrickhaize

Lyrics This song is dedicated to all my herbalist friends out there, and all you superfood Junkies

Verse 1 I used to drink 40’s but now i take Fo Ti, used to pop OC’s now I pop goji, traded in the codeine for some theobromine, cats i used to roll with now don’t even know me. It’s wild cuz for years as a kid I ate pure trash and lived on packages of crap mixed with weird additives but wen’t from beer battered chips to deer antler tips and adaptogens packed with revered saponins. I moved into the natural by removing my boots to get in tune with my roots, I don’t use a glass tube when I need a fast boost I keep it grass roots. Uproot the grass and drink some grass juice. I keeps it earthy baby, I’ll eat the turkey tail but not the turkey baby. and as my rebirth keep emerging daily I’m reuniting with spirit, Gaia’s excited to hear it and all the birds are singing –

Chorus- Yeah Homie I’m on that natural high, you can tell from my eyes I’m just a magical guy. I like to dance with the plants and splash with the tides and if it looks like fun you should have it a try. We’re like yeah homie we’re an that natural high you can tell from our eyes we’re just a magical tribe. We like to dance with the plants and splash with the tides and if it looks like fun…

I got from ocotillo to yellow dock and chaga, Yo hook it up with a little ashwaganda no I don’t drink liquor but I got that Kava Kava and we can mix it with a tincture of some bomb Shizandra. I don’t like shit talk but I like shiitake and if you got a toad pipe don’t try and stop me I’m an irish man minus the irish coffee though you might catch me swimming where that irish moss be. This is more than just rapping it’s the source of my passion. I feel like I’m a channel for the forrest in action. Whirling like a vortrap with toroidal fashion. Its like I’m an enormous human Ormus extraction, and you might catch me chilling by the sarsaparilla patch, peeling the cordyceps off of caterpillar backs. A panacea’s in the forrest where the magic’s still intact so grab and fill your bags and pass this healing back like…

Chorus- Yeah Homie we’re on that natural high, you can tell from my eyes I’m just a magical guy. I like to dance with the plants and splash with the tides and if it looks like fun you should have it a try. Yeah Homie we’re an that natural high you can tell from our eyes we’re just a magical tribe. We like to dance with the plants and splash with the tides and if it looks like fun…

You won’t catch me in a club, rarely see me in a city, I like to steal clear of where machinery is heavy, I prefer to live freely where the scenery is pretty, and spread the seeds of eden with the people that are ready screaming welcome to Aquarius, an entheogenic and psychedelic experience for the healthy American to develop their merits and excel their awareness until they cherish this planet with an angelic endearence. I ain’t no cowboy, I’m a cacao boy baby, bare footing outdoors with them brown spore reishi. As radiant health sprouts out the ground floor daily I keep a smile worn loud through the cloud storms makes me proud to be a human, when i truly live connected, rooted in a movement this in union with the blessed, and when my truth is blooming it’s my duty to express it, and spread this beauty thru to you so you can feel its presence like…

Chorus- Yeah Homie We’re on that natural high, you can tell from our eyes We’re Just a magical tribe. I like to dance with the plants and splash with the tides and if it looks like fun you should have it a try. We’re like yeah Homie we’re an that natural high you can tell from our eyes we’re just a magical tribe. We like to dance with the plants and splash with the tides and if it looks like fun…

The post SUPERFOOD JUNKIE | OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO | PATRICK HAIZE W/ GOLDEN TRIANGLE appeared first on Healthy Recipes.

[germanottaisgodxo]

All the top threes..

1:Top 3 ice cream flavorsToffeeChocolateCookie dough

2:Top 3 Disney MoviesSnow whiteLion kingRapunzel

3:Top 3 vacation destinationsFranceAustraliaAmerica

4:Top 3 places to shopPrimarkNew LookAsda… hahaha

5:Top 3 subjects of study/classes to takeEnglishBiologyGeography

6:Top 3 make up productsI don’t use make up so

7:Top 3 music artistsLady Gaga x3

8:Top 3 spices/herbsBasilCan I count korma since it’s a curry spice (??)Can’t think of a 3rd

9:Top 3 drinksIRN BRUApple juiceMilk

10:Top 3 apps to useLike game wise?Choices: freshman yearDiner dashVirtual families

11:Top 3 months of the yearJuneJulyAugust

12:Top 3 clothing itemsHoodiesSkinny jeansDecent top

13:Top 3 binge perfect tv showsBig bang theory (I need to catch up ahhh)8 out of 10 cats (does countdown)Jeremy Kyle hahaha

14:Top 3 romantic datesI honestly have no idea cause I’ve never been on a date haha

15:Top 3 kinds of flowerDon’t like flowers really

16:Top 3 christmas moviesMiracle on 34th streetElfThe one where 2 sisters are reunited- one was adopted- cause they end up as neighbours, idk the name of it

17:Top 3 OTPsGX rivalshippingSharkbaitshippingScoopshipping

18:Top 3 quotes to describe your lifeNo

19:Top 3 characteristics you love about yourselfI don’t hahahaha

20:Top 3 kinds of candyFruit pastellesJelly babiesChewits (especially tropical fruits)

21:Top 3 ways to exercise/ be activeUsing gym equipmentRun Crying’s good exercise haha

22:Top 3 spirit animalsLady GagaJon RichardsonRussell Howard

23:Top 3 petnamesPet names are ew

24:Top 3 books read outside of schoolAny that’s a biography/autobiography really

25:Top 3 most used websitesThis, facebook & indeed

26:Top 3 people you last textOooh, I’ve not texted anyone in ages haha so I can’t remember

27:Top 3 hashtags you useI don’t really

28:Top 3 instagram accounts you followGaga’sMy friend’s@glittermatsu-trash ’s because cute kitties

29:Top 3 guilty pleasuresFood x3

30:Top 3 summer activitiesGoing on holidayGoing to a water parkHoping that we actually get more than 4 and a half days of sun here??

31:Top 3 things to draw/doodleMy crush’s name hahaThat weird S symbol thingThose massive overlapping circle thingies that you colour in

32:Top 3 aesthetics???

33:Top 3 things you’d buy if you gained three million dollarsPay off debtsGive loads to family, friends & charityHoliday

34:Top 3 ways to treat yourselfEating loads of food haha

35:Top 3 celebrity crushesStefani GermanottaJon RichardsonRachel Riley

36:Top 3 books from your childhoodTorey Hayden’s series

37:Top 3 accents to hearIrish!!FrenchAustralian

38:Top 3 scentsLady Gaga’s fame perfumePickled onion crispsPetrol (ye idk??)

39:Top 3 “Friends” quotesI don’t watch friends haha

40:Top 3 cupcake flavorsTriple chocolate chipStrawberry & white chocolatePlain chocolate

41:Top 3 fruitsPineappleKiwiPears

42:Top 3 places you’ve had amazing pizza fromAsda (seriously)Pizza hutDominos

43:Top 3 sports teams to watchSports is a load of shite

44:Top 3 crayola colorsCan’t think

45:Top 3 things you hope to accomplish in collegeTo go back???Gain new skills/better my qualitiesGain more confidenceTo do well overall to get to go to uni

46:Top 3 fanfictions you’ve readCobaltBehind blue eyes (both versions)Can’t think of a 3rd ffs but there’s got to be thousands I’ve read in the past 10 years so don’t make me pick

47:Top 3 people you miss right nowMy best friend & her babas My mum & all my familyPeople I used to stay withStaff & kiddies from my volunteering, more than 3 people but oh well

48:Top 3 fearsLike phobias?LiftsThe darkDogs

49:Top 3 favorite literary devices???

50:Top 3 pet peevesPeople calling the person they’re in a relationship with (or married to) partnerThose stupid leash things you get for kidsWhen people put an x instead of a question mark when asking a question- looking at you middle aged people I have on Facebook

51:Top 3 physical things you find attractiveSmileEyesHair (??)

52:Top 3 bad habits(I’m assuming my ones?)Licking my lips all.the.damn.time Peeing like 700 times a dayPicking scabs

53:Top 3 pets you’ve had/wish to haveCats/kittenSnakeHamster/gerbil

54:Top 3 types of foreign foodToo lazy to try & think of any haha

55:Top 3 things you want to say to someone in your lifetimeCan’t think

56:Top 3 dog breedsNone

57:Top 3 cheesy romance moviesPS, I love youThe vowSilver lining

58:Top 3 languages you speak/wish to speakFrench!!GaelicJapanese

59:Top 3 series (book, movie, television)(I’ll do one of each)Cathy Glass’s biographies/autobiograpiesRoomBig bang theory

60:Top 3 pizza toppingsCheeseHamPepperoni

61:Top 3 youtubers you’re subscribed toI’m not subscribed to any

62:Top 3 tattoo / piercing ideasI really wanted my tragus & industrial done & my ear(s) stretched but they’re too wee 😞&Fix the tattoo I haveGet positive vibes only on my wristPortrait of the gags somewhere

63:Top 3 awards you want to winNone tbh

64:Top 3 emojis💖😂😛

65:Top 3 cars you dream of owningDon’t really care for cars

66:Top 3 authorsCathy GlassCasey WatsonRosie Lewis

67:Top 3 historical figuresIdk

68:Top 3 baby namesNo idea tbh maybe Ally (short for Alison) Louise, either double barrelled or first & middle names

69:Top 3 DIYsDon’t care for them

70:Top 3 smoothie combos/flavorsEhh I’ve only had a strawberry one so

71:Top 3 songs of this monthThe cureColdGreenlight

72:Top 3 questions of this post you want to be askedWell I’m answering them all so73:Top 3 villainsNone, don’t like villains haha

74:Top 3 Cities you want to seeParisSydneyNew York

75:Top 3 recipes you want to tryHave more than 3

76:Top 3 dream jobsTeacher or classroom assistant

77:Top 3 lucky itemsDon’t have any

78:Top 3 traditions you haveSleeping all dayComplaining Winding people up

79:Top 3 things you miss about being a kidNone of it

80:Top 3 harry potter charactersDon’t like Harry Potter

81:Top 3 lies you were toldIdk

82:Top 3 pictures in your camera roll right nowThey’re all screenshots of quotes or jobs I need to apply to

83:Top 3 turn onsI wouldn’t know…

84:Top 3 turn offsSee above

85:Top 3 magazines/news papers/ journals to readNo idea

86:Top 3 things you wish you had known earlierCan’t think

87:Top 3 spongebob episodes😂

88:Top 3 places to be in the worldMy bed x3

89:Top 3 things you’d do differentlyEverything

90:Top 3 TV shows from your childhoodTeen titansPokemonPpg

91:Top 3 meals you loveChicken fried riceMacaroniSpag bol

92:Top 3 kinds of teaNone

93:Top 3 embarrassing momentsEvery moment of my life from birth till the present

94:Top 3 holidays to celebrateChristmasNew yearEaster

95:Top 3 things to do in the rainStay inside

96:Top 3 things to do in the snowBuild a snowman Snowball fightEat it

97:Top 3 items you can’t leave the house w/oKeys

98:Top 3 movies you’d like to seeDunno what’s out just now

99:Top 3 art mediumsDunno what this means

100:Top 3 museums you’ve been toCan’t remember their names, does Dynamic Earth count?

101:Top 3 school memoriesLeaving

102:Top 3 things you don’t/Won’t missSchoolBeing unemployedStruggling cause of the above

103:Top 3 pick up lines“It doesn’t matter what you call me, as long as you call me”“Are you a stamp? Cause you’re world class”“Are you today’s date cause you’re 10/10”

104:Top 3 sports to watchWas this not already a question…?

105:Top 3 taylor swift songsShake it offNew romanticsStyle

Thank you for these! Bit late cause I was out all day yesterday & most of today (soz they got shite towards the end, I’m really tired hahaha)

[springkleinmagazine]

Enjoy an environmentally friendly St. Patrick’s Day

Green is the color most associated with St. Patrick’s Day, and green also can be the primary mindset of hosts and hostesses when planning Paddy’s Day revelry. As celebrants prepare to pay homage to Irish culture and the accomplishments of St. Patrick, they can include eco-conscious practices in the festivities.

For many people, St. Patrick’s Day is a day to let loose and have a good time. Parades are abundant, and food and drink often are enjoyed in copious amounts. While this excess can make for a fun and raucous day, those who are conscious of their carbon footprints can scale back in some clever ways.

Enjoy a local brew

While many may prefer a pint of Ireland-brewed Guinness on St. Patrick’s Day, imported beers have larger carbon footprints than local beers thanks to trans-Atlantic shipping and delivery to nearby retailers. Instead of Guinness, consider a locally-brewed beer. Homespun breweries are a growing niche business in communities big and small. If you’re more adventurous, invest in a home-brewing kit and try your luck with your own flavor profile.

Skip the confetti or ticker tape

Attending a parade can be the pinnacle of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. When so many people gather in one place, there’s a greater propensity for waste and litter. Although garbage cannot be avoided, towns and cities can help curtail the mess by avoiding confetti, balloon drops and ticker tape. Birds routinely get snagged by balloon strings, or they may inadvertently swallow popped latex balloons thinking they’re food. Confetti can wash away into storm drains or clog sewers. Bubbles, laser lights and other plastic- or paper-free items can be used instead and are better for the environment.

Invest in reusable products

If your’s is the go-to house for St. Patrick’s Day revelry, purchase tablecloths, dishes and cups that can be used again and again. This cuts down on the number of disposable items that get put in the trash and eventually find their way into landfills.

Transform your leftovers

Irish soda bread, corned beef, potatoes and much more are par for the culinary course come St. Patrick’s Day. Rather than discarding leftovers, consider recipes that will put those leftovers to good use. Dice up the corned beef to add to egg dishes or quiches. Post-Paddy’s Day sandwiches also make a delicious treat. Potatoes can be mashed and transformed into croquettes. Or they can be diced to make hash browns to go with those corned beef-enhanced eggs. Spread soda bread with a sweet jam and instantly turn it into a dessert. Or crumble the bread to use in a delicious bread pudding.

Splurge on an experience

Rather than material goods, if you want to set your party apart, invest in an experience that produces no waste. Contract with Uilleann pipers who can add a Celtic flair to the festivities. Although bagpipes are more widely associated with the Scottish, they have become synonymous with St. Patrick’s Day as well.