#kitchen box

[metvmorqhoses]

Artemis smiled as Apollo opened the door to their oikos.

It was a beautiful house surrounding a garden filled to the brim with wildlife and even some vegetables. The walls were painted by Apollo himself and some even had mosaics on them. Artemis told her brother it was unnecessary but he wouldn’t listen, saying that if the garden and the outer walls have been left just as wild as she wished then the inner walls could be as colorful as he desired.

He was as dressed as a newly hatched baby bird, not that she could judge, her weapons where the only thing covering her pale skin. She looked as ready for battle as she was for xenia, as Leto was returning to Hyperborea. Apollo assured her of that fact a fortnight ago, eyes unwavering even now, eyes of the predator that he really was. Artemis was absolutely convinced that they looked laughable, hunter and predator working together.

She left the nymphs on the edge of the river Eridanos, Artemis knew they would wait for her, days and even centuries if they had to, although Artemis wondered how many of them would be pure by the time she came back.

She let Apollo drag her to the gynaeceum, where, on the klines, was the lovelies dress that she had seen. Stars woven together to play the part of a dress, just like she was

“Couldn’t let my sister not look the part of the hostess, could I?” He kissed her neck, knowing that’s the most she will let him do, knowing that she was only playing, just as they had when they we’re in the lovely forest for only a day, that lasted weeks, she could still fell those mortal’s terror when they realized that the day would not end, just as Apollo will never end. For what reason, not even Gaia herself knew, much less Artemis.

Artemis looked at her twin and her smile widened. She felt ready, sparks under her skin and an almost satisfied heart.

She put on the dress that Apollo gifted her. He watched.

He went to the andron. She followed.

He dressed. She watched.

She started to set the table. He brought the wine.

They get a cow and rip out its heart.

Apollo sets up everything for the symposia. Artemis cooks them dinner.

Divine siblings sit at the table waiting for their mother. They wait and wait and wait and wait…

The dinner never gets cold. The hostess never rises and the host never speaks. Neither move.

The day doesn’t end. Babies are morn and made of stone. Mortal scream and scream and scream…

The door opens. Apollo smiles. Artemis rises.

Nyx runs free, cloak falling freely behind her. Mortals scream in ecstasy. And a mother smiles at a predator playing the role of a hostess greats her in a place that she can’t bear staying for long, let alone calling it home.

-

So, you inspired me to write this, I used some actual ancient Greek words

Oikos refers to three related but distinct concepts: the family, the family’s property, and the house.

gynaeceum - women's room

Greek houses would typically contain an ‘andron’, or men’s room. This was a sort of lounge where men would host friends and associates and hold ‘symposia’, essentially dinner parties.

By then the Greeks had a couch/bed called a “kline” that was used for lounging and sleeping (hence our word “recline”). 

I love this to bits.

[xtrailadventures]

The Cook Box

One of the requirements for The Millennium Falcon was to camp from or in it & to do so we needed to be able to cook.

My chosen stove for vehicle based camping has been the trusty Trangia, which when combined with a gas burner (Gas burner GB74) becomes an extremely flexible way to cook for two.

What we needed, however, was a means of storing the stove & associated paraphernalia so we could brew or cook at a moments notice, simply by adding food &/or water. We also needed a surface for the Trangia.

It was whilst wandering aimlessly through the DIY section of our local B&M one day that I came across a rolling tool box (their own brand as I recall), inspiration struck & The Millennium Falcon’s Cook Box was born. Here it is in its first iteration, in use in Scotland on our first night sleeping out in the wild:

Cook Box Version A in use in Scotland.

The killer app was in creating a stable work surface on which to use the Trangia, whilst keeping access to the box & its contents.

A rummage through my plywood offcuts stash & a little work with a Stanley knife, jig saw, wood glue & varnish and the “Trangia Work Surface” was born:

The Trangia Work Surfaces from the two box versions to show the top & bottom surfaces & so the simple construction.

If you want to replicate this, the measurements will depend on your chosen rolling toolbox base, but the methodology will be the same:

The length of the top surface (the bit with the Trangia base sized hole) needs to be enough to sit on the extended arms of the towing handle. It needs to be short enough to fit inside your box.

The length of the bottom surface needs to sit snugly inside the extended arms of the towing handle.

The width of both pieces needs to be narrow enough to fit inside your box, allowing for any tool tray that you retain.

“Cook Box Version A” has since been relegated to “Beach Box Version A”, but the photos below show how it works, albeit in its new Rebel Alliance livery. (Because everything is better with Star Wars.)

“Cook Box Version A” in Star Wars Livery, so “Beach Box Version A”. (The holes in its wheels are for the axle of its all-terrain wheels.)

Beach Box Version A with its Trangia work surface stowed.

Beach Box Version A with its Trangia (now picnic plate) work surface deployed.

Version A worked very well in many ways for some time - the only exception being its height. The Millennium Falcon has a sprung bar across the rear load area which supports the cover that shields the contents from prying eyes. Version A didn’t slide under this, so couldn’t be stored out of the way towards the back of the rear seats, & quickly became annoying. (This problem is likely unique to the Nissan X-Trail & you may find any size box will work with your vehicle, but its worth taking some measurements & bearing this in mind before flexing your credit card.) It wasn’t for a couple of years fruitlessly wandering more DIY sections that Homebase finally yielded the Stanley Tool Chest 26". (At time of writing weirdly absent from the Stanley UK website, but still available for £36.00 from the Homebase website here.)

Cook Box Version B

Cook Box Version B with its Trangia work surface stowed.

Cook Box Version B with its Trangia work surface deployed.

Version B had its first test in the wild on Dartmoor recently, where it worked perfectly:

Cook Box Version B in use on Dartmoor.

Cook Box Version B in use in the back of The Millennium Falcon on Dartmoor.

Cook Box Version B stowed in day to day transit.

If you choose to replicate this means of storing & using you cooking gear then what you choose to accommodate will depend on your preferences. I’ve made it to fit my Trangia, and the space available in our vehicle, but it would work equally well for many other stoves. (Be sure it doesn’t transmit heat down or you may burn more than your dinner!)

I’ll list the contents we’ve found work for us in a separate post in due course. Our gear is constantly evolving & also depends on what we’re up to. It is beautifully flexible in that we can use it in the back of The Millennium Falcon, on our own lightweight table, a wooden picnic table/bench (as above) or even the ground.

One word of caution however is that if we use it car-based:

We use the gas burner, not the spirit burner. (Liquid fuel spilling inside the car will not end well.)

We are careful not to have the flame burning with nothing between it & the car roof. Once lit, the pot or kettle goes on immediately & we switch off before removing them.

If you borrow this idea, or adapt it in any way, we’d be interested to see pictures as we’ve never seen anything similar.

Happy camping!

[lustwithoutlore]

Barbara: What did you get Dick for his birthday?

Jason: I got him a Glutemaster

Barbara: Really? Me too!

Stephanie: I also got him a Glutemaster.

Duke, gesturing to himself and Tim: Looks like we had the same idea.

Jason, sighing: Kill me. Please tell me you didn’t get Dick a Glutemaster as well.

Cass: I got him… a Glutemaster 🥰

Later-

Dick, surrounded by Glutemasters: THIS IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!

[dinosaurchurch]

One of my favourite scents from Lush is the Yog Nog scent family. Lucky for me the November kitchen box had a couple of items that really scratched that itch for me seeing as this year they didn’t come back with their Yog Nog shower gel (I always stick up on it). Needless to say I was excited to see a Yog Nog perfume, it’s as good as it sounds and is absolutely lovely. Smells like I could eat it.

Personally I’ve really enjoyed the two boxes I’ve received, it’s one of the few decent mystery item subscriptions I’ve seen. I find the bulk of them aren’t worth the price.

It’s nice that there’s a wide variety of things to choose from in each box albeit most are fairly similar scent wise in the previous two boxes. The Halloween one had mainly floral scented items save for the shower bomb (which I really hope they come out with more of that scent - it was a sweet banana and smelled absolutely delicious).

The November box had some very fun items too that I thoroughly enjoyed. I’ve yet to use the bath bomb or the shower gel but I’m sure I will in the nearby future. I’m looking forward to what else Lush will be packing in their boxes for the coming months

Cheers! Happy self care folks!

[vintagehomecollection]

The Good Housekeeping Complete Guide to Traditional American Decorating, 1982

[remash]

i/o cabin ~ erling berg | photo credit: carlos rollán

[vecnuthy]

decode

@steddiemicrofic June prompt: stuff || wc: 483 || G || established relationship, moving in together, language, Eddie being chaotic

Confused, Steve grabbed the keys he'd just set down, and -- yep, right apartment number.

When Steve had left their brand new apartment that morning, he'd known that Eddie and Wayne would be relocating their things from point A(ll yours now, Wayne!) to point B(abe, this is ours. Ours.), but Steve didn't realize--

"Eddie?"

The apartment had been completely empty that morning when he'd left for work, the mattress that Steve had tied to the top of his Bimmer ("I'm not sleeping on the floor.") and yesterday's clothes being the only things left behind. Now, however, Steve wondered if there had been some kind of mistake with a hypothetical delivery service that he knew Eddie and Wayne definitely did not hire, because there were mountains of boxes in front of him. Towers. A miniature King Kong would have a field day in this apartment, and Steve could only stare, overwhelmed by the amount of....everything.

Until, finally, a familiar head of hair popped out from behind one of the towers.

"Eddie, is this really-?"

And then Steve's face fell, lips pursed at the sight of his boyfriend, blissfully oblivious to Steve's presence, absolutely jamming to the music blaring from the headphones clamped over his ears. Steve bit back a laugh at the guitar solo that Eddie vocally mimicked with his eyes closed as his air guitar got downright shredded.

Eddie bumped into a stack of boxes, then paused, hands held out placatingly to the swaying stack, and said, "Excuse me," before he went back to wailing along with the guitar in his head.

Steve could have taken him right then and there.

He settled for a light touch to get his attention, since it was obvious that Eddie would otherwise remain oblivious to Steve's presence, but when Steve touched his arm, Eddie's eyes flew open and the guitar wail turned into a banshee shriek, his arms flailing wildly as he fell back and into a tower of boxes in surprise. Steve tried to grab him, but it was no use. He followed Eddie to the ground, and the boxes crashed next to them.

"Jesus fucking CHRIST," Eddie cried, starfished on the floor, his chest heaving under Steve's hold. "Damn, Steve, you scared the shit out of me. I think I just lost five years of my life."

"I'm sorry," Steve couldn't help but laugh.

Eddie, winded, grinned back then winced and turned toward the toppled boxes next to them. "Hope those didn't have records in them."

Steve frowned at words scrawled on the toppled box. "It says The Prancing Pony?"

Eddie relaxed. "Sheets and stuff."

Steve's confusion only grew when he saw other names across the other boxes, until he landed on one that said Rivendell.

He knew that name.

"Why is Rivendell on that one?"

"That, my liege, houses aaall of your hair care stuff," Eddie smirked.

"....Eddie, no."

Eddie grinned wider and winked.

[arc-hus]

Guest Pavilion, Quintay, Chile - TIRONI BARTLAU

[post-it-notes7]

Please tell me this will be a happy ending

dearest anon, only time will tell

[mothsintherain]

headcanon/au where once jon starts reading ANYTHING, not just statements, he can't stop. when jon and martin arrive Somewhere Else, it doesn't go away. on roadtrips, jon has to let martin drive and not look outside too much or end up reading every road sign around them out loud. if he picks up a book, martin has to forcibly close it and take it from him to prevent him from reading the whole thing in one sitting. he gets a text from martin in the middle of work and sneaks a look at it, forgetting himself for a second. "i miss you baby crying face emoji heart emoji" he says in a deadpan voice to the customer waiting at his desk.

[hitwiththetmnt]

H'lo~! I rlly love ur au btw

Where’d you get that cash Donnie? WHERE’D YOU GET THA-

[idiotlovesongs]

people are getting angrier over a cis woman with high testosterone competing in the olympics than they are over a convicted child rapist competing.

[xtrailadventures]

Car Camping Cook Box becomes Beach BBQ Box

The Beach BBQ Box

Having everything ready to go makes eating outdoors far easier, particularly given the UK's unpredictable weather. We started using a tool box containing our camping cooking gear to permanently keep in the car a couple of years ago (see above) & the arrival of version two of that made the original available for the beach. After a few uses some modifications were needed.

Cook Box Version A in use in Scotland.

The contents are slightly tailored to make setting up, cooking & clearing up after a beach BBQ much easier. (If only all the people who use our beach while on holiday got the second part right - or at all.)

It's constantly evolving & we often add a few things from the car box, but the pictures below give you the idea.

Clearly it then needed to be made more Star Wars, because everything is better with Star Wars.

Beach Box in Rebel Alliance colours showing some of the contents

Once painted it then needed to be distressed:

Beach Box in distressed Rebel Alliance colours

The eagle eyed will notice that in the transition to beach box some holes have appeared in the wheels. This is because across sand (even a few yards - we live right on the beach) it's off-road ability was lacking, plus coming home after dark across cobbles was really noisy.

I had some trolley wheels spare (not the lightest but we work with what we have where possible) and some FloPlast solvent weld pipe & clips kicking around & this was the best way to add wheels without compromising the integrity of the box & making them removable.

Here it is in off-road setup:

Beach Box in off-road setup.

The box means we can BBQ easily whilst keeping our gear contained, sand free & food off the deck.

[solargeist]

any time i imagine kid xelqua lounging in grian's house, he is watching sesame street or dragon ball z, with snacks sat on the cushion next to him.

he shoves the snacks into the crease of the couch when he thinks he might get in trouble for eating on the furniture and doesn't want to get caught. (he would not have got in trouble, but now he will, just for that)

[vintagehomecollection]

Country Kitchens, 1991

[remash]

brick house ~ studio roam + with architecture | photos © jack lovel