#non alcoholic apple beverages

[individualapplereviews]

Honeycrisp apple soda? I'll allow it.

Review: it's delicious.

[themodernwitchsguide]

altars for greek gods (pt.2)

this post includes zeus, hera, poseidon, hestia, hephaestus, dionysus, ares, demeter, and athena. for part 1 including hades, persephone, artemis, apollo, aphrodite, hermes, and hekate click here.

keep in mind that typical offerings to any god includes meat, wine, grain (usually barley), honey, and incense (myrrh and frankincense would be period appropriate), but i'm listing some specific offerings that can be given if you'd like

colors can be used for candles, banners, decor, whatever you want

ZEUS

Colors: white, blue, and grey for association with the heavens, yellow and black for association with storms. gold because he's the King of the Gods

Offerings: rain water, oak, olives/olive branches/olive leaves, vervain, cinnamon, laurel. images of himself or lightning bolts are particularly recommended for Zeus

Crystals: diamonds, gold (i think pyrite, aka fool's gold, would be offensive), turquoise, lapis lazuli, celestite, iron/steel, any quartz

Animals: eagle, bull

POSEIDON

Colors: blue and white for association with the seas, gray for association with storms, brown for association with the earth/earthquakes

Offerings: coffee, mint, ocean water, salt, seashells

Crystals: coral, petoskey stone, abalone, opal (especially water opal), blue calcite, aquamarine

Animals: horse, bull, dolphin, hippocampus

HERA

Colors: red, pink and white for association with love and marriage. gold because she's the Queen of the Gods.

Offerings: iris, rose, patchouli, coconut, cypress, maple, peacock feathers, pomegranate

Crystals: pearls, garnet, citrine, diamonds, lapis lazuli, topaz, opal, moonstone, rose quartz

Animals: peacock, cuckoo, cow

HESTIA

Colors: red, orange, and yellow for association with fire, brown or white for the hearth/home.

Offerings: tea/coffee (especially if you drink it with her), pine, bread, cider, apples, anything on fire, cinnamon

Crystals: amber, jade, garnet, ruby, carnelian, sunstone, amethyst, honey calcite

Animals: donkey, pig, crane

HEPHAESTUS

Colors: red, orange, and yellow for association with fire, metallics for association with metalworking.

Offerings: spicy things, hot beverages, handmade things, dragon's blood incense, seashells, anything on fire

Crystals: metals, fire opal, honey calcite, obsidian, hematite, carnelian

Animals: donkey, dog, crane

DIONYSUS

Colors: purple and green for association with grapes/wine, leopard/tiger print for his holy animals

Offerings: grapes (or any derivative), alcohol, cinnamon, ivy, pinecones. there's a particular emphasis on non-physical offerings with dionysus, like playing music, partying or sex/masturbation

Crystals: grape agate, leopard jasper, crazy lace agate, tiger's eye, garnet, rose or rutilated quartz, amethyst, jade

Animals: panther/leopard, tiger, bull, serpent, dolphin

ARES

Colors: red and purple for association with war

Offerings: spicy things, yarrow, chocolate, basil, cinnamon

Crystals: bloodstone, garnet, red jasper, smokey quartz, black tourmaline, hematite, metals, obsidian, carnelian

Animals: eagle owl, barn owl, poisonous snakes, boar, vulture

DEMETER

Colors: green, brown, and yellow for association with the earth/harvest. black for her ruthlessness

Offerings: oats and grain, anything baked, flowers, spices (like cinnamon or cloves, allspice is good too), leaves that have begun to change colors for fall, mint, poppy

Crystals: jade, tree/moss agate, carnelian, amber, aventurine, rutilated quartz

Animals: serpent, farm animals (especially pig), gecko, turtle-dove

ATHENA

Colors: white and grey/silver for association with wisdom. red for association with war

Offerings: anything handmade, olives/olive oil/olive branches/olive leaves, snake shed, cedar, cypress, cinnamon

Crystals: metals, celestite, fluorite, lapis lazuli, bloodstone, obsidian, iolite

Animals: snakes and owls

[nochukoo97]

netflix and chill;

Pairing: Jungkook x OC

Summary: Your boyfriend and you settle down after a long day of work, what seems to be like a peaceful night of netflix and pizza turns out to be a disaster when someone unexpected turns up at your front door

Warnings: Mentions of alcohol and nicotine, Jungkook almost gets caught 😮, italics are in korean

Word count: about 1k

“Hi Jagi,” Your boyfriend greets you with a boyish grin as he leans down to peck you, “Miss you,” Jungkook mumbles as he climbs on top of your body and pecks all over your face. You giggle at the sudden burst of affection as your body wrapped in a blanket is caged by your boyfriend’s muscular one.

Jungkook had been at the tattoo parlour the whole day today, busy with new customers and appointments, so the moment you woke up, the space beside your bed was empty of your boyfriend.

“I bought pizza for us, come outside and eat?” He breaks the silence after a while, but you whine in response, “I’m a bit lazy baby, I just got in bed, don’t wanna leave,” you bury yourself further into the mattress and bring the blanket up to cover your face.

You almost scream when Jungkook pushes his arms under your body and lifts you off the bed, but somehow you’re already used to your boyfriend's usual antics, so you had guessed he would have done that. “Hey! Put me down,” You slap his tattooed arm as Jungkook stares at you in amusement. Still, you drop the blanket off your body and allow your boyfriend to carry you to the sofa outside.

When Jungkook rests you down on the couch, you immediately smell the pizza from the kitchen, and you trail behind him secretly, now in excitement at the smell of the food. “I thought you didn’t want to get up? Suddenly so eager huh?” Your boyfriend raises an eyebrow at you.

——————————————————————

The atmosphere is rather calming as you two sit side by side quietly munching on your food as you watch “The Glory” on your TV. There’s an absurd number of candles being lit up around the coffee table by your boyfriend who insists that it adds ambience, as well as Jungkook’s galaxy projector that lights up the living room further.

You notice at the corner of your eye, Bam chasing the lasers being flashed on the wall and you immediately whip out your phone to capture the moment. Jungkook laughs at the sight as he walks towards the fridge to grab two bottles of beer for you and him.

It's peaceful for another good thirty minutes when suddenly, the doorbell of the apartment rings, your boyfriend looks at you puzzled, both of you sure that no delivery was scheduled nor had you invited anyone over.

“Aigoo, look at you, have you been eating well?” The voice of Jungkook’s mum sounds throughout the apartment as your eyes widen in surprise. Jungkook’s parents were known to come unannounced, which was definitely not a good thing for your boyfriend since he was into many non-traditional things that his parents would typically frown at.

In this case, the bottles of beer and his Lost Mary on the coffee table were out on display for the whole world to see.

You approximately had a maximum of ten seconds to get rid of both items, so you grabbed the bottles and ran to the fridge to shove them with the many other alcoholic beverages stored in your shared fridge.

However, you end up being far too late to retrieve the other item as Jungkook’s parents walk into the living room with your boyfriend following behind with a nervous look on his face.

His eyes widen as he spots his Lost Mary on the table, head jerking almost vigorously in an attempt to get you to try and sneakily hide it away. But you also have no clue how to approach this situation as your boyfriend’s parents start to shower you with questions.

“Look at you! You’ve become even prettier since the last time we saw you, Aigoo,” Jungkook’s mum reaches for the apples of your cheeks as your boyfriend winces and gives you an apologetic look. You reply to her questions with eagerness as you tell her about you and Jungkook’s whereabouts in the past week.

“Gguk-ah, you have to eat healthier too, this pizza looks very oily!” Jungkook’s father starts to nag at him as he takes a closer look at the box of pizza on the coffee table.

Shit. One more look to the left and your boyfriend is busted.

“Hahaha, yes we were just about to keep it,” you put on a laugh as you reach to close the box, strategically reaching for his Lost Mary and hiding it under the box and you bring it to the fridge.

You then decide to shove it in your pocket for the time being, deciding that it was a better hiding spot than putting it in the fridge.

After about thirty more minutes of Jungkook’s parents catching up with the both of you, they finally decide to head back home.

Your boyfriend sighs as he shuts the front door.

“You saved me, almost got caught again,” your boyfriend talks between kisses as he cages you against the wall and kisses down your neck. You laugh as you reach into your pocket to give him back the item.

You push back his white beanie as you card your fingers through his hair, and your boyfriend sighs at the touch.

“Come on, let's go to bed, you’ve got work tomorrow again,” you free yourself from his hold, taking his hand you lead Jungkook back to your shared room after turning off the TV, and blow out the candles. Jungkook insists on bringing one to the room, to which you reluctantly agree, but your boyfriend looks happy as he stares at the flickering light with huge eyes, and you laugh in amusement at his antics.

[prolibytherium]

questiokn do you still have your evil tea recipe to clean out ur sinuses 🙏 i miss being able to breathe

I can't find the post so remaking it

EVIL HOT TODDY

Ingredience: (*= hard requirement)

Water *

Garlic (as much as you can handle) *

honey *

some sort of throat-soothing tea for a base like licorice or echinacea or etc. You won't be able to taste it

liquor* (traditionally Fireball, you kind of want this beverage to be as dogshit as possible). If non alcoholic add apple cider vinegar I guess

apple cider vinegar

lemon or lime juice

cayenne pepper *

Actually hot pepper, dealer's choice. Sometimes I chop a habenero.

anything else in your possession that seems vaguely medicinal. Herbs. Juices. Dissolve a couple of cough drops. Who gives a fuck.

STEPS

Boil water and steep tea base and add everything except the garlic/liquor

chop/crush garlic. Let it sit for 10 minutes, which I read somewhere 'activates' its antibacterial properties, which is probably bullshit but I like the mystery so I'm not fact checking it.

Add garlic after 10 minute 'activation' period

Steep until it has started to cool enough to drink. DO NOT REMOVE THE GARLIC. YOU HAVE TO DRINK IT WITH THE GARLIC.

Add liquor once it's at a drinkable temperature, you don't want the alcohol content reduced.

Consume

Eat the garlic too

You are now at least a little drunk and have no remaining sensation in your throat, thus solving the problem of your sore throat

You will now smell like garlic for days

[booksbabybooks]

It took me far longer than it should to realise that when American TV shows refer to "sparkling cider" they always mean a non-alcoholic drink. I used to get so confused that you'd watch Hallmark Christmas movies and wholesome characters would be day-drinking cider at the Christmas market*, or you'd see it being drunk by pregnant women or recovering alcoholics (ok, by that stage I could tell from context).

I think it causes such cognitive dissonance because in England cider is, famously, a drink broke people drink to get trashed - certainly, when and where I grew up, anyway, in the working class North. It's what teenagers drink with their mates sitting in bus stops or graveyards; it's what homeless people have stashed under their coats; add a splash of "black" to it and it's what working class Goths drink in nightclubs. (I once worked a Gary Numan club night and I think I served about 4 drinks the whole night that weren't cider and black).

There's a reason one of the most lethally alcoholic drinks on Discworld (scumble) is "made from apples. Well, mostly apples." Because all English readers will get the joke. When I used to work in a real ale pub, we sold scrumpy cider that was the highest alcohol percentage pint we had, a favourite of all the hardcore drinkers.

There are whole advertising campaigns now by drinks manufacturers designed to change our minds on this and see cider as a pleasant, classy summer drink; there're regular Government noises about increasing how much it costs to stop the sale of giant plastic bottles of the stuff being too cheap (already in existence in Scotland, which has minimum pricing rules about alcohol).

All of which means even though I *know* American shows mean "classy non-alcoholic beverage often used in fancy celebrations" my instinctive reaction is... Not that.

So when I watched the "Tarlos announce their engagement scene" in Lonestar and Paul** notices it's sparkling cider not champagne in the ice bucket so TK can drink it my first reaction was NO BUT THAT'S WORSE!

Then common sense kicks in and I'm like, oh wait, right.

*Obviously I would not be surprised to watch a British Christmas movie where characters were day drinking at the Christmas market.

**It was Paul, right? I've seen this scene giffed a million times on here but can't remember!

[ian-galagher]

weekly tag wednesday

thank you for tagging me Kat @mybrainismelted Nosho @creepkinginc Becki @francesrose3 and Evie @energievie 🥰🧡

name: Willow

location: underneath a tree

and now for the randomness! tell me your most and least favorites of:

candy?

most - Halloren kugeln least - listen, is there sugar in it? then I love it 😂 so maybe salted caramel, the novelty of that has worn off for me 😂

seasons?

most - autumn least - summer

hot beverage?

most - hot chocolate with whipped cream 😋 least - everything else 😂

cold beverage?

most - water 😋 least - alcohol, all the kinds

colours?

most - orange least - blue

vegetables?

most - sprouts least - chicory

traditional foods from your country?

most - asparagus but with potatoes, eggs, ham, and bechamel sauce 😋 not that stuff from a packet, homemade with butter, flour, milk, maybe melt some cheese in it if you wanna be fancy least - herring

insects?

most - ladybug least - woodworm

cake flavours?

most - chocolate, apple, a proper carrot cake 😋 I love cake 😋 least - mocha, I don't like coffee

non-gallagher or milkovich shameless characters?

most - Kev & Vee least - Paula Bitterman

tagging a few lovely people 🥰🧡 @spacerockwriting @skylerwinchester @stocious @juliakayyy @jrooc @deathclassic @look-i-love-u (HAPPY BIRTHDAY VEY) and everyone else who'd like to play!

[yekokataa]

i cut back on my alcohol consumption and an unexpected side effect has been that i've developed really strong feelings about non-alcoholic beverages

top tier beverages are:

guayaki yerba mate (sparkling gold is the best one) - it's no club mate but it's the closest thing we're going to get in the us, and it's really grown on me.

trader joe's sparkling lemon and strawberry apple cider vinegar - tasty and pleasantly acidic. like a mocktail that doesn't call itself a mocktail.

culture pop soda - i'll forgive it for having unnecessary probiotics because i like all the flavors. kind of in between a spindrift and an actual soda. could have more flavor but still a solid pick.

bottom tier:

anything that's snuck some stevia in without me realizing it. horrible demonic flavor. get it away from me. i can't even finish an entire can. this includes poppi probiotic soda and clean sparkling yerba mate

[count-alucard-tepes]

What’s the OP Hotties favorite thing to drink?

I’ve done their alcoholic beverage so I’ll do their non-alcoholic beverage 😆

Kizaru ✨: black tea with one sugar

Akainu🌋: green tea

Ryokugyu 🌱: still water

Fujitora 🐅: green tea

Sir Crocodile 🐊: double expresso shot

Doflamingo Donquixote 🦩: vanilla latte

Benn Beckman 🔫: earl grey tea

Katakuri Charlotte🍡: peach ice tea

Killer🔪: Coke Zero

Kaido🐉: black tea

King 👑: coffee with milk

Queen👑: iced coffee

Izou🔫🔫: ginger tea

Dragon D Monkey 🐉🐒: pineapple juice

Oven Charlotte 🍞: chai latte

Buggy🤡: strawberry milk

Marco the Phoenix 🦅: cucumber water

Eustass Kidd🤘🎸: Chocolate milkshake

Rosinantè Donquixote aka Cora-San💕: Apple juice

Who’s Who ❤️‍🔥👹: Expresso

Gecko Moria🦇: lemon tea

Iceburg💜: Oatmilk Macchiato latte

Gild Tesoro⚜️🏅: Cappuccino 

Rob Lucci🐆: Americano flat

[otakusparkle]

Identity V x The Chara Cafe Collaboration

Menu

Food

- Fiona's Calavera Carbonara

- Aesop's Pan de muerto style set dedicated to all those who have departed on their journey

- Norton's Fun and refreshing tortilla

- Luchino's Chili Con Carne to share with your amigo

- Grace's Delicious seafood omelet rice handed down from fishing village

Dessert

- Victor's Jack O’Lantern’s Pumpkin Parfait with the Power of the Soul

- Emil's Fondant chocolate to convey love to your beloved

- Ada's Muffin promises to her beloved that will be together forever

- Lily's Inspiring and supporting friends with Pon Pom Pancakes

- Jack's Tiramisu strudded with hearts

Beverage

- Fiona's Blue Raspberry Yogurt Drink

- Aesop's Black Milk Tea

- Norton's Sparkling Kiwi and Muscat Drink

- Victor's Hot Choco Caramel

- Luchino's Warm Tomato Soup

- Lily's Red Melon and Popcorn Sport Drink

- Emil's Chocolate Chip Coffee

- Ada's Choco Vanilla Latte

- Jack's Hot Wine (non-alcoholic)

Novelty

- For every drink order, you will receive 1 random coaster

- For every drink order, you will receive 1 random bromide

Merchandises List

Acrylic Stand

Badges

Acrylic Keychain

Acrylic Pen Stand

Bromide

- Grace's Apple Cider

Mousepad

For more information :

[whoa-its-dani]

From the Official FNAF Cookbook, for @shrimpmandan (and other Monty enthusiasts!) 🐊⛳

Sorry for the shoddy pics, I was in a hurry. I don't have the book right now so I can't take better pics yet (ˉ▽ˉ；)

If anyone can help me with the image descriptions, I'd be super appreciative. Running on low spoons now & I'm not sure the two I made are any good. Gotta remember the visually impaired Monty fans.

The last one looks like you're on a date with Monty. He's buying you family-friendly non-alcoholic drinks before asking you to golf.

I own none of this content. All of it is © Scott Cawthon.

Text under the cut:

"Montgomery Gator's Beverages" "Running around the Pizzaplex arcade is definitely thirsty work. While animatronics rarely stop for liquid refueling, human visitors need hydration of the highest order. Cans of Sodaroni (a weird pepperoni-flavored drink) can be spotted everywhere, but a more sophisticated and enjoyable selection of beverages are about to be revealed. Cheers!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Monty Gator's Green with Envy!" "With his glamrock attitude and star-shaped sunglasses, Monty Gator makes a healthy smoothie that puts all other Pizzaplex drinks in the shade. It's speedy to make, so use your spare time for a quick game of Gator Golf!"

Serves: 2 | Preparation Time: 10 Minutes

What You Will Need: 1 apple, cored 1 banana, peeled 1 tsp grated fresh ginger Small handful of spinach Small handful of kale 1 Tbsp chia seeds 1/4 cucumber 15 mint leaves Juice of 2 limes 3 ice cubes Scant 1 cup/7 oz/200 ml apple juice, plus extra if needed 1 tbsp honey

Place all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.

If it feels thick, add more apple juice. Serve right away. This is certainly a boost you need first thing in the morning.

"Monty Mystery Mix is a strange green pizza-topping goop which can be used to lure- and finally destroy- Chica. Mean and green!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Monty's Mouthwatering Melon Meltdown" "Show that you have a smooth side, too, by serving up this marvelous fruity mocktail. The watermelon, mint, lime, honey, and soda combo comes together perfectly for quite a unique taste. Top work!

Makes: 2 | Preparation Time: 10 Minutes

What You Will Need: 3/4 cup/7 oz/200 g watermelon, seeds removed 1 tbsp honey 5 mint leaves Juice of 2 limes 1 1/4 cups/10 fl oz/300 ml soda water, chilled

To Serve: Ice, for the glasses 2 Tbsp grenadine (optional) Extra mint leaves 2 slices lime 2 watermelon wedges

Put the watermelon in a blender with the honey, mint leaves, and lime juice and blend until smooth. Add the soda water and blend for another couple seconds.

Add ice to two tall glasses, top with the watermelon drink, and pour in the grenadine, if using. Garnish each glass with mint leaves, a watermelon wedge, and a slice of lime. Serve immediately.

"Freddy Fact: Don't forget to visit Monty's Gator Golf (aka Monty Gold and formerly Monty's Wild Golf). Home of the Hurricane Hole-in-One!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I hope it's not to difficult to read. IDK why there wasn't a "hurricane hole-in-one" drink.

[jiskblr]

A Non-Locavore's Guide to Proper Apple Cider

Apple cider is a bizarre thing, in that it is only legal to buy it from the people who grew the apples and pressed them themselves.

You may say "Jisk, I see apple cider in the supermarket right here!", and I am here to tell you that the supermarket is full of profane lies.

I am not talking about hard cider (alcoholic), which does not taste like apples and thus is sorta lies, but a perfectly respectable beverage for those who like their alcohol beer-like but non-beer, which I do not. And that's all I'm going to say about hard cider.

No, I'm talking about this.

This substance is made by the archdevil Geryon, lord of deceits and heresies, in his orchard of snakes and lies, in order to convince people that apple cider is just pretentious apple juice.

And it works, because supermarket apple cider is just pretentious apple juice. It is cider that has taken behind the woodshed and shot, and its corpse carried around in the style of Weekend At Bernie's, paraded as the real thing. It is not the real thing.

This is the real thing:

This is Smit Farms cider, made from apples grown in Smit Farms orchards and pressed in mechanical presses owned by Smit Farms, hosted on the premises owned by Smit Farms and probably on the orchard grounds itself, then bottled by Smit Farms, also on the premises of Smit Farms. This cider is then sold either at their shop next to the Smit Farms orchard (fairly inaccessible) or at a Smit Farms booth in a range of farmstands within driving distance (in this case, mostly or totally in California), one of which is where I buy it. This is the good stuff.

The fact that it is from Smit Farms specifically is irrelevant, but other than replacing the name 'Smit Farms' with something else like 'Derby Orchards' or 'Oxford University Gardens', the good stuff all fits that precise description. To do otherwise is illegal. (At least in the US of A. It seems to be rare in other countries too, and I don't know for sure.)

The core problem is pasteurization. Pasteurization turns cider into apple juice. If you're careful about it and do the lowest temperature allowed for a brief burst of heat (flash pasteurization), you'll keep the ghost of the flavor of proper cider. But only a ghost of it.

And you are legally required to pasteurize cider before sale, unless you are a farm doing farm things to your farm products on your farm premises, which gets you an exemption from a great many United States laws, this being one of them. And so, if you wish to drink good cider, you must be a locavore for the day you do the shopping.

And it's so fucking worth it. I promise you. You know how they say that compared to real beer, Budweiser is 'fucking close to water'? Apple juice is the Bud Lite of cider. Real cider has the same relationship to it that Guinness has to Bud. Everyone should try it.

Now, I will admit it has drawbacks.

The first one is that it's usually unfiltered, and filtering it does actually make it worse. So you need to shake the bottle around a bit before pouring. It's much less intrusive than citrus pulp, though.

The second is that if you leave it in the fridge for a month it will have gone very slightly alcoholic. (I don't know what ABV.) This does have a solution - cider freezes well. Leave it in the freezer for a year if need be, then melt it over a day on the counter and stick it back in the fridge.

QUESTIONS YOU MAY HAVE FOR THE CIDER SNOB

"Jisk, how can I tell if the cider is the good stuff?"

Unfortunately, you will usually have to ask, and the answer will often be 'it isn't' even if you're at an orchard. Check if the label says 'pasteurized' in any form - if so it is the knockoff type. If you don't see that, the question you want to ask is "Do you press and bottle it yourself?"; if the answer is yes, they will almost certainly know, and only if the answer is yes is it the good stuff. You can also ask "Is it pasteurized?", and this may appear on the label, but there are weaselly ways to say it's not when it is and well-intentioned people can be honestly wrong about this being good enough.

"Should I get the good stuff for cooking with?"

It is almost certainly not worth it. You'll mostly denature it in cooking and that will remove most of the flavor benefits. For this I would go with supermarket cider or somewhat boiled-down boring apple juice. Some recipes may benefit but that's beyond my cooking skill to predict.

"Should I get the good stuff for mulling?"

Personally I cannot tell the difference once it is mulled. If the effort and money to get the good stuff are cheap for you, go ahead, it's probably slightly better, but it will not be a groundshaking improvement. Same goes for anything you're spicing heavily even without heat.

"Okay, I see where you're going, here. Is it a waste to heat up the good stuff?"

Absolutely not. Go for it! A simple mug of cider, heated up in the microwave, is a wonderful thing in a way apple juice is not.

"How about cocktails?"

I have limited experience here but I think it is usually a noticeable, significant improvement, but not always. My family favors the Suicider, which has some nutmeg, a large spike of dark rum, and the heart of a bad pun. On the other hand, something like a mule where you are mixing several strong flavors may overwhelm the difference. Use your best judgment, and if you do a taste test please tag me or send me an ask, because I'm curious.

"Why is the good stuff so rare, if it's so much better?"

The process is time-consuming and effortful, it's either hard to scale on an orchard's budget or hard to scale without incurring the wrath of the regulators, and the margins aren't great. I pay $20 for a gallon and a half and I'd probably pay twice that, but I am a snob; most people aren't and wouldn't.

In my hometown, there were six pick-your-own apple orchards, all of which sold cider in their attached store. Of these, only one, the aforementioned Derby Farms, sold the good stuff - this was a local secret, not available to the tourists who came out from Boston. The others had mechanical presses available, but pressing cider is slow, exhausting work and the margins aren't great, so they paid someone else to press it and bottle it, which meant that the pasteurization requirement came in. Even Derby's has ceased to make the good stuff, as they are getting old and didn't have the manpower in the proper season anymore. This is a tragedy but kind of inevitable.

"Why are you writing this?"

Because I think a lot of people would be snobs if they experienced the difference, and the only way to fix aforesaid tragedy is to make the margins better by increasing demand.

[peashooter85]

Suntory Toki --- Whisky Review Time

Founded in 1899, Suntory was originally a small store in Osaka which sold imported wines. Over the next century that small store grew into a powerful multi-national corporation. Suntory specializes primarily in alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine, and spirits as well as some soft drinks. Recognize these famous brands of liquor; Jim Beam, Makers Mark, Knob Creek, Courvoisier, Cruzan, Lamphroaig, Pinnacle, Old Crow, Canadian Club, Skinny Girl. Well, they are all owned by Suntory.

In 1923 Suntory opened it's first distillery and began making whisky. Japanese whisky grew in popularity as American GI's brought it back home with them after serving in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. By the 1970's Suntory was rapidly expanding and began heavily marketing overseas. They even hired Sammy Davis Jr. to do commercials.

Suntory Toki is their most common overseas product. A blended whisky created from malted barley, it is produced from the Yamazaki, Hakushu, and Chita distilleries, aged at lest three years in American oak barrels, and then blended into one product. I think I bought this for around $30, in Japan I bet it's much cheaper.

Drinking from a glencairn, the whisky gives off a sweet aroma. Very very light, to the point where it almost doesn't smell like whisky at all. It smells more like a dry white wine, like a pino blanc, chardonnay, or riesling. Is this really whisky? With it's very light color it almost looks like a white wine. After tasting I can confirm that it is indeed a whisky. It has tasting notes of honey, green apple, green grape, and a bit of vanilla. It finishes with a very dry oakiness, and leaves a dry taste in your mouth that quickly goes away, the aftertaste does not hang in the mouth long like other whiskies. The flavors of this whisky are very light and subtle, for me perhaps too subtle.

To me this is a good whisky, not great, just good. It could be better. If it had a little bit more body to it and a bit more flavor, I would rate this higher. As it stands I rate it 3.2 out of 5 stars. I might buy a bottle every once in a blue moon, particular if it is on sale. I will drink it if it is put in front of me. But I probably would rather drink something else. Now I must come forward and admit a big bias, I'm a bourbon and rye drinker, whiskies which tend to have much bolder and richer flavors. So perhaps this whisky doesn't fit my palate. I could see someone who enjoys dry white wines likewise enjoying this. Perhaps Scotch drinkers who enjoy the non-peated Scotches would like this. But it's just not for me.

[luna-the-bard]

👁️👁️teeny tiny giant infodump about terranian foods

* Skeets has never had chicken noodle soup before Samus made it for her when she was sick

* Terranian cultures have broths and soups, but they’re usually veggie soups with lots of turnip & potato-like veggies/starches. That’s not to say they can’t add meat in them - but there’s only one species of chicken exists around these parts (the Big Blue Dinochicken), so it’s off limits.

Some soups have grain in them, too - mix some potatoes and buckwheat together in poultry/meat broth, add some other vegetables to it like carrots, and maybe even some meatballs if you’re feeling fancy (the ones that are specifically for soup, they’re different), and you have yourself a pot full of nutritious deliciousness.

The broths themselves are usually a lot spicier than one might be used to, and oftentimes have stuff like ginger or seafood-related products like seaweed in them. Those make things a bit more flavorful - since terranians can’t really taste spice, they go for sour or salty tastes when they want to make something less bland.

They also have lots of herbal tea blends, caffeinated and not. Terran tea has to be brewed ice-cold, the temperature of that water being crucial to the leaves releasing the light toxins stored within them, and a cold drink is usually well-appreciated in a warm climate like Te’rra’s.

There’s a kvas-like (carbonated fermented non-alcoholic drink) beverage that can be made at home from concentrate or from scratch. Put it in a big pot/bucket with a lid and let it stand in the shade for a couple days, and you’ll have yourself something nice and refreshing to sip on during the hot day cycle.

* Anyways the chicken noodle soup became an act of care for Skeets, like it becomes for a lot of people that were fed it when they would get sick. Also both Skeets and Samus add diced Swiss cheese to it because it’s delicious and I said so.😒

Terranians have many delicious stew recipes. The most popular ones are beef veggie stews (whatever equivalent to beef Te’rra has to offer, anyway), and several types of shepherd’s pie (which also utilizes terran beef; it’s easier sourced than the elusive poultry).

There is a number of pickled vegetables that are popular on Te’rra, and some pickled fruit, but I personally only care about pickled cucumbers bc those are superior. Also Skeets is mildly allergic to pickled beets.

Preserved fruit is mostly peaches and a crunchy apple-like fruit named grabi (because the shrub it grows on feeds on small animals via grabbing and entangling them in its branches, to prepare for digestion).

Speaking of flora, because the plants are so springy and often dense (aside from nectar flowers/honeyplants, which have a mushy inside - in case of being squished, it feeds the soil and attracts insects with its smell so they can spread the pollen/seeds), a lot of veggie dishes have to be steamed, stewed, slow cooked or sautéed for a long time to prepare them for consumption. This is why cooking in large portions for a crowd of people is so common; it’s just less time-consuming to throw everything into a big pot and make a bunch at once. It gives other terranians more time to dedicate to their own tasks, as they don’t have to prepare meals as often.

This is also why there’s so many stews, and steamed veggies, or veggie blends fried in oil (they’re usually steamed a bit before or during the process, too, to soften the fibers). Skeets likes the fried blends a lot. If she’s eating steamed veggies, she tends to add a lot of salt to them to compensate for the blandness. She loves meat stews, too, even if the meat is just in the sauce. At some point, when her and Samus were visiting a tourist hotspot somewhere outside of Te’rra, they stopped for dinner at a small restaurant. This is how Skeets was introduced to fettuccine bolognese. To this day, this is one of her favorite non-terran dishes; at least a third of her and Samus’s dates now involve going somewhere that serves it (lucky for them, those places aren’t hard to find).

While eating honeyplant nectar is great, its petals and fruit are also often harvested and either eaten raw/with little preparation, or cooked, or preserved/pickled. Raw or slightly cooked, the petals and fruit retain a very nice ✨crunchy✨ texture (crispy crunchy watery like a cucumber on the outside, sweet and sticky like fresh honey on the inside). Preserved, the skin tends to soften a little bit and lose that crunchiness, but the petals become a lot sweeter because of the added sugar.

Also, terran shrimp. Are blue and green. That’s it that’s all I have to say about them👍🏻

Enjoy, @coldgoldlazarus

[radgepacket]

i hate seeing ciders here advertised as "hard ciders". there is no other kind of cider if it's non alcoholic it's just apple juice or the world's greatest beverage appletiser

[copperbadge]

Hi Sam! I hope you're doing well! Could you tell me (or point me to a previous post) about the farmshare thing you get? Is it local or could I sign up for it in a different state?

It's local, I'm afraid, but you may have one near you that's just as good! Especially during the pandemic a bunch of new ones popped up. If you google "farm share" or "farm CSA" in your area you may find a few.

Mine is through Urban Canopy. They call it a "LUCSA" which stands for Local Unified Community Supported Agriculture. Some just go by "CSA" but when I called it that someone pointed out that people who don't want to see discussions of child exploitation have it blacklisted, so I started calling it a Farm Share, which is another common name for it. I'm actually super lucky; prior to the pandemic a lot of the community agriculture in Chicago either didn't deliver to my area or didn't deliver at all, and now there are several.

The idea is that farms local to your region create a box of their product on a regular schedule and you pay a flat fee per box. Usually you can't choose what goes in it, it's just what's in season. Farm share boxes tend to be more expensive than what you'd pay at the grocery store, but I'm now in a position where I can pay more for fresh food and feel good about supporting local small farms and businesses without worrying about the cost.

I pre-paid for the season (15 boxes) and bought a meat add-on, so I pay somewhere around $60-$70 per box (plus delivery tip), brought to me twice-monthly from October through March by a delightful woman named Yarrow. In each box I get roughly a gallon of beverage (some alcoholic, some non), a loaf of bread, a dozen eggs, a pound or so of mushrooms, and, once monthly, three pounds of meat. Those are what convinced me to invest, because as someone who doesn't eat a lot of veg I wanted at least a handful of things I was guaranteed to like, and I love eggs and mushrooms and meat. In addition to the above, the box usually contains a large bag of greens (last one was kale) plus 5-8 different in-season veggies and fruits, like potatoes, onions, apples, peppers, radishes, carrots, et cetera.

So I've...basically stopped having to go to the grocery store. I still go once in a while for staples, but it's gone from once a week to about once a month, and I live mostly on what's in my CSA box and the occasional meal out.

There are some farm shares now where they send you a list of options and you pick; in Chicago, it's Tomato Mountain, which I'm going to look into when this farm share runs out, although I've been very happy with Urban Canopy so far in terms of food quality, amount, and convenience. I was thinking I probably wouldn't renew my subscription for the summer season, but after a few months of the winter season I'm reconsidering that.

So yeah, if you have the money and can eat veg and take regular deliveries, I think it's a cool way to get your food -- you're supporting local businesses and at least in my case learning how to cook new dishes or improvising with familiar ones.

[twofrontteethstillcrooked]

Suptober 8 Oct.: Sober

Dean and Cas sat in companionable silence for approximately three seconds before Dean was motivated to speak. "All right, ask already."

deancas, new relationship au, Claire. Additional prompt courtesy of @clenster (many thanks!)

Dean, having taken one drink of something called Honkytonk Smashed Apple, promptly did not know what to do with the liquid in his mouth. He glared at the bottle in his hand like it had called his mother a nasty word, and swallowed, eventually. 

"How is it?" Cas asked, a skeptical look on his face.

"It's great." The coating on Dean's tongue was…unnatural.

Claire snorted. "You could go buy a regular beer from one of the 90 booths selling 'em."

"No, I'm fine." Dean perceived the frown on his face and worked to erase it. He took another drink and forced it down. "It's, hmm. Crispy."

Claire grabbed the bottle from him and slung back a swallow. "Oh. It just tastes like bad fizzy apple juice." She held out the bottle to Cas. "Wanna try it?"

"Hey," Dean said, grabbing the bottle back from her. "This isn't– Sanitary." He ignored the narrowing of Cas's eyes and continued, "And besides, you both have your own beverages so you can leave mine alone."

"Whatever." Claire stood up and rapped on the wooden picnic tabletop a couple of times. "I'm gonna go buy a corn dog. Either of you in?"

Dean sighed. "Yeah, I'll have one. With mustard."

Cas asked, "Do you have enough money?"

Claire waved around a silver money clip of cash. "Thanks to a couple of drunk-ass college kids who didn't know a ticky shot from a kiss, yes." She pushed off and wove through the crowd towards a flashing food truck named The Big Dog.

Dean and Cas sat in companionable silence for approximately three seconds before Dean was motivated to speak. "All right, ask already."

Cas didn't rise to the bait. "We are at an autumn festival where a goodly amount of cider is being sold from a multitude of vendors. It doesn't seem entirely out of character that you'd choose to try a non-alcoholic one."

Dean took another sip of the cider in question, regretted it, and sat the bottle down firmly on the table. He looked at Cas with a rueful glance. "Yeah, but I'm not, like, Mr. Designated Driver usually."

"I'm capable of driving your car without causing her any harm," Cas pointed out. 

"I'm just…" Dean trailed off. "Trying new things is. Advisable."

"That doesn't mean you have to keep drinking a beverage you clearly despise." Cas pushed his own bottle of something called Stumptown Spice 8% ABV over to Dean. "You're welcome to try some of mine." He looked away. "Unless you think you'll catch cooties from me."

An unexpected laugh burst out of Dean. "Where did you even hear that word, much less know the right context to use it in?" 

Cas shook his head with an embarrassed smile. "I genuinely don't know."

Wiping his eyes, Dean felt laughter bubbling through him. Cas made him laugh like this at least once a week and it was the best every time. He probably needed to be a little cooler about it. 

"Okay. Whew." His stomach hurt from his attempt to get himself under control. He knocked his shoulder against Cas's. "I don't think you have cooties." 

He locked eyes with Cas as long as Cas would let him. 

Cas broke first; there were two splotches of color on his cheeks that Dean liked to think were caused by him and not the frosty night air.

"Well. That's a relief." Cas tipped his head at the food truck. "She seems to be doing all right."

"Yeah, Claire's a champ. I'm glad she decided to meet us here." Dean smiled as she approached.

Claire slid his corn dog in a paper tray over to him. "Fresh from the fryer, so eater beware."

A longtime corn dog aficionado – and he didn't mean that in any euphemistic way – Dean attempted to bite into flaming hot meat on a stick without being childish or obscene about it. There was, after all, a child present. 

"So you guys are officially dating, huh?" the child in question asked pleasantly, and Dean almost choked to death on a mouthful of what was probably ground up horse nostril and pig anus.

Cas took a long drink of his mystery ale and handed Dean a clean napkin.

When Claire grinned at Dean, her teeth were smeared with neon yellow mustard. On purpose, he was sure.

His awful non-alcoholic cider did provide some throat-soothing moisture. He guessed that made it worth suffering. By the time he was no longer drowning in grease, Cas had answered affirmatively on both his and Dean's behalf.

Claire rolled her eyes but took a breath and smiled, with at least some true kindness (and far less mustard), at Cas. "Seems like you're pretty good for each other, so. Cool."

Dean knew that the guilt Cas felt over Jimmy and Amelia was never going to go away; it was just something he'd learned to carry. He also knew when Cas said, "Thank you, Claire," it meant something bigger than could possibly be conveyed in three words over dinner.

"Yeah, thanks, Claire," Dean said in a faux-mocking tone. 

Claire stuck out her tongue at him. She'd wolfed down her food and was standing up again. "It's caramel apple time."

"You got a hollow leg or something?" Dean asked, fishing around in his pocket for a fiver. "Get me one with peanuts."

"Cas?" Claire wiggled her eyebrows at him and snatched up Dean's money. "C'mon, man, you gotta try one of these."

Cas nodded. "I'll have one."

"Back in a mo," Claire said, dashing away.

Dean finished his corn dog in relative safety and resigned himself to drinking the last dregs of Honkytonk. He shifted a little closer to Cas on the bench and placed a quick kiss on his rough jaw.

"What was that for?" Cas asked, eyes bright.

"Just 'cause," Dean said. "Plus, Claire's right."

"I said I'd eat a caramel apple."

"I meant about the other thing."

"Oh." Cas looked down, pleased. "Yes."

By the time Claire was back again, Dean had gathered the courage to try a new thing. He called it Holding Cas's hand in public, and it worked out much better than the cider had.