#then you gotta cook the meat most of the way and then add the veggies and cook That for a while and then add the tomato sauce and cook and

[polarfarina]

Made some easy meat tomato sauce for dinner and mmmmm even though the tomato part was pre-done it was still so so good and satisfying. Look

So filling. So delicious

[detentiontrack]

I’m in the same boat with vegetarianism. I’m currently a minor, but when I turn 18 i plan to start eating meat (i have some health problems due to malnourishment but my parents are super religious and strict). What foods do you recommend for someone eating meat for the first time?

That’s almost exactly how my upbringing was, so I understand how transitioning to eating meat can be intimidating. If you’ve been vegetarian your whole life/a long period of time, you’re most likely going to have some minor stomach issues when you first start eating meat. These will eventually go away as your body gets used to processing the new foods. I recommend starting with meals you already know you like, and then eat the meat version of it. My first meat food was chicken noodle soup because the soup was familiar. If you like meat substitutes (like the beyond meat/impossible meat/morning star brands) I would go with having the meat version! If you like veggie chicken nuggets, try regular frozen chicken nuggets! If you like veggie burgers, try having a small hamburger. Something I do NOT recommend until you’ve been eating meat for a while is trying to cook with raw meat. Pre cooked meat will be your best friend. If you don’t know how to properly prepare meat, there’s a higher chance of getting yourself sick. Do your research, get used to cooking with pre cooked meat, and then try something where you cook something all the way (like baking chicken instead of pan frying it. It’s harder to undercook). Just remember that over cooking meat is better than under cooking meat and getting sick (I’ve been eating meat for 2 years and I’m still too scared to cook with chicken. I only eat precooked chicken, canned chicken, and chicken from restaurants where I KNOW it’s safe). You might have been told that meat is bad for you or unhealthy (I was told this) but it’s an EXCELLENT source of protein and nutrients. Go slow, take your time figuring out what you like, and enjoy this new food group! Below the cut is some meat dishes I enjoy. Some are precooked, and some I get from restaurants or fresh from the store.

Hot dogs (you just gotta boil them or put them in the air fryer. They’re already cooked)

Chicken apple sausage (precooked, in the air fryer on 400°f for 5 minutes)

Sausage patties and eggs (precooked, you just need to fry them so they defrost and get a bit of searing on them)

Frozen corn dogs (precooked, air fryer or oven)

Breakfast sandwiches with sausage or bacon

Chicken salad sandwich/chicken salad with crackers/on a bed of lettuce (I used canned chicken, drain the juice out, and mix in miracle whip, mustard, and desired seasonings. Canned chicken is precooked)

Canned soup with meat in it (precooked, just microwave it or heat it on the stove)

Pizza with pepperoni or sausage on it

BBQ shredded chicken or pork on bread (you can buy it at the store and all you have to do it microwave it to heat it up. It’s precooked)

Breakfast sausage links (not precooked, but it’s easy to cook them. Just fry them until the outside is golden brown and then cut them in half. If it’s not pink inside, you’re good to go)

Burger patties (same as above. It’s easy to cook them in a pan, just make sure the inside isn’t pink. A cut in half burger is better than a food poisoning burger)

Chicken quesadilla (use canned chicken, shredded, with the juice drained, and add whatever seasonings you want.) (chicken is really bland without seasonings like tofu, so you want to heavily season it)

Chicken enchiladas (same as above. Use seasoned canned chicken if you’re not comfortable with cooking chicken and shredding it)

Any meat frozen microwavable TV dinners (super easy to make and it gives you a wide selection of meat dishes without having to actually cook them. I like frozen chicken alfredo or chicken pad thai)

Spaghetti with meatballs (meatballs are super easy to make. Get some ground beef, follow a recipe for seasonings and stuff that binds the meat together, and pop them in the oven. Once again, cut them open to see if they’re pink inside) (or invest in a meat thermometer if you want to cook meat often. It really helps with food poisoning anxiety)

Tacos/burritos with ground beef (see above)

CHICKEN PAD THAI WITH PEANUT SAUCE (I’ve mentioned pad thai before but I could eat this every day for the rest of my life. Find a local thai restaurant and try it. The tofu version is also really good)

Beef sticks (personally I don’t really like them because of the texture, but they’re a really easy source of protein and good to have around)

That’s about all I can think of right now, but I hope your journey leads you to new foods you like and your health improves! Always feel free to message me if you have any other questions or need any guidance (or send me an ask if you want to stay anonymous!)

[pigeonflavouredcake]

I'm an adult now take my advice

(or don't i'm not your dad)

Idk how old my followers are overall but i want to make this post in case any of you are actually teens... I am Officially 20 now. I am no longer a teenager so here are some things I learned as a poor teenager that helped me as a poor adult. Some are witchy, some are just about life, most are food related. Buckle up this will get pretty long.

Write as much down as you can bc puberty can really fuck with your memory.

Staying up late because you simply can't sleep is not something to be worried about unless you want to change that. It's pretty much all your natural body clock.

Get a big folder. Like a massive accordion folder and put all your personal documents in, birth/adoption certificates, bank statements, prescription receipts, diplomas, etc. So if you're ever in a dangerous situation at home you can make your escape a lot easier.

Now is a good time to learn new things that aren't school related. Practice cooking your favourite meals, learn how to properly clean a bathroom, if cleaning is overwhelming there are methods online that can help with that. Like playing a spot the difference game.

NO, tarot is not a closed practice, tarot is a tool for everyone and NO, tarot decks do not have to be gifted to you, you can buy one for yourself. I don't even know where that came from but it's complete bs.

Save the little gift baggies you get when you buy jewellery and use them as spell bags.

Stay away from any woman who calls her vag a yoni. it's weird.

You may want to be seen as smart and mature because it's better than being treated like a kid but you are still a kid. Your safety matters more than how mature and responsible you are. An older person should NOT be talking to you in a romantic/flirtatious setting and if they say it's because you're mature for your age or they can't wait until you're legal fucking bully the living shit out of them then block them and warn your friends. that attitude is creepy as hell bc they want someone they have power over. Same with any friends that brag about their partner being 15/16/17 when they're 18. BULLY THEM THEY'RE GROSS AND THEY DESERVE IT.

If you're in a country with the NHS USE IT NOW WHILE IT'S FREE. The first 6-8 weeks of therapy is free from the NHS. Eye tests and dentist check ups and medication are free untill you're 19 GET THEM NOW.

You can make your own oat milk by blending up oats and water. You don't need to cook with oil, there's enough of it in processed food and fresh veg have enough water in them to cook straight in a pan. You don't need the seasoning packet in ramen you can make your own. Tamari sauce has less sodium than soy sauce. Food always tastes better when it's in season. Try to find space for two food wastes, one for processed/cooked food one for raw. The raw food can be composted and given back to the earth

Best healthiest dinner option I can think of is steamed veggies. Here's my recipe: Heat up a pan on high, pour a bit of water in and then your veggies, stir frequently until all the water is gone. Turn heat down to low. Coat with something like balsamic vinegar and add any seasoning you like. Cover and steam for 10 minutes ish and you're good. You can serve that with a grain or some noodles.

Locally sourced meat and fish is WAY better for the environment than supermarket because there's less preservatives and they're more resourceful with their products.

A standard pie dough is one of the easiest things you can make and the trick is in the amount. Half the flour equals the fat, half the fat equals the sugar. so if you have 200g of flour you need 100g of fat and 50g of sugar. Just throw them in a bowl and mix together and add some cold water to bind together into a dough. It should be solid and little sticky, if it's crumbling add more water, if it's not holding it's shape add more flour. then just fridge it for a few hours to set and you're good.

You made your own soup/stew/pot thingy and you got left overs for the next day? Put it back on the cooker and bring to the boil on high, once it's bubbling take the heat down to low and simmer for 10 minutes (keep stirring if it keeps bubbling). This will help kill any bacteria that developed overnight that might make you sick.

Foraging is good but wear gloves, don't take all from one place and don't eat anything you pick until it's been thoroughly washed. Don't be afraid to go hog wild on things like blackberries, dandelions, or nettles. those things are an invasive species.

Deer are bigger than you think they are.

Air drying takes longer but it will help your clothes last. You can also hand wash with a bowl of hot water and about a teaspoon of washing up powder. Air drying also goes for your hair too.

Stock up on your favourite scented candles any size is ok and use them for spells and rituals.

You got a ghost in your house? Leave them be they're usually just passing through.

If you can't focus on work without music but it needs to be specifically wordless and needs to be easy to fill your brain so you don't focus on every noise other people make listen to animal crossing music that shit got me through two years worth of academic reading.

Bus is late or can't find your keys? Stop looking and start complaining. They'll turn up as soon as you give up.

Piercings are a medical procedure and are safer when they're done with a needle because they're hollow, so they're carving out the skin and cartilage instead of just pushing jewellery through like a gun does. Go to a tattoo parlour that also does piercings bc they're likely to be a lot stricter with rules and customer care.

Life is gonna kick us all in the but so we gotta be there to help eachother out however we can. It definitely feels like it's everyone for themselves but it doesn't have to be.

[y0itsbri]

it's pizza night at the gallagher-milkovich household!

word count: 2k

usually they order a couple pizzas from some local joint: thin crust chicago supreme for ian and deep dish meat lovers for mickey, though they steal pieces of each others' all the time (even if mickey has to pick off all the onions from ian's chicago supreme.)

but tonight ian wanted to do something different. the tomatoes and bell peppers from the garden were finally looking ripe. ian, with his green thumb, had spent most of spring and summer nurturing a row of plants in the community garden of their apartment complex. mickey had thought it was boring as fuck at first when nothing seemed to be changing, but eventually seeing the plants shoot up and seeing ian excited about all the new growth gave him a paternal kick somewhere from deep inside him. he even found himself wondering how the plants were holding up after a particularly bad thunderstorm one night. for fuck's sake -- was he a plant dad now? when the fuck did this happen?

and if they were going to make their own pizzas with ian's fresh vegetables, they sure as hell weren't going to cut any corners with the store-bought dough. though mickey would never admit it, he was getting pretty good at baking, which was something ian was both a little jealous and very proud of. at this point, mickey was basically a pro specifically at making orange cranberry bread (which ian had become immediately hooked on for a few weeks after jill brought over a loaf as a 'sorry-my-boyfriend-pissed-off-mickey' gift) and also at his favorite peanut butter chocolate chip cookies (mickey has such a sweet tooth, and ian has no idea how he hasn't had more cavities.) surely pizza dough couldn't be too much different than the rest of mickey's pretty impressive baking skills.

after work wednesday evening, mickey emerged from the shower with just a towel wrapped around his waist. he peeked out into the living room expecting to see ian zombified on the couch with the usual two boxes of pizza balanced across his legs. however, mickey was thrown off a bit as he spotted ian behind the kitchen counter rummaging through cabinets, occasionally opening the fridge, and proudly wearing his "i like to get high (quality ingredients)" apron, which had been a very appropriate birthday gift from lip.

"what's with all the ruckus in here, big bang," mickey teased. ian's wild eyes calmed a beat after they had finally noticed mickey standing in the doorframe. he checked out his husband up and down once over as a mischievous smile blossomed on his face.

"it's a surprise, but i'm gonna need you to put some clothes on," ian announced, even though his darkening eyes were saying quite the opposite.

mickey was rather hungry and curious about the shitstorm of a mess in the kitchen, so he decided not to push his luck with ian's lustful gaze and instead obediently turned around to pull on some sweatpants while mumbling something about "can't be too good of a surprise if i have to put on clothes." ian smirked from behind him.

mickey swaggered back to the kitchen wearing one of ian's old rotc t-shirts, hoping it would get enough of a rise out of ian for him to enthusiastically take it off late in the night. as if ian needed a reason.

"alright, alright, tough guy. what's the big surprise?"

ian slid his arm around mickey's waist and pulled them flush together as they stared at the array of ingredients sprawled out.

"Pizza," he stated as if it were a simple fact.

mickey's brow furrowed. there clearly wasn't any pizza on the counter. "where's the fuckin' pizza? or did you get too high," he teased, poking at ian's apron.

"ha. ha. very funny, babe. just high quality ingredients, remember?" ian winked and mickey smirked, musing at his dork. when mickey didn't counter him again ian cleared his throat and continued, "no, but for real. ya know how i've been growing vegetables in the garden here?"

mickey nodded. as if he could forget.

"well, for pizza night i was thinking that we could make our own with some of the vegetables and i was hoping," he dragged out the word and squeezed mickey's waist, "that you would make the dough, seeing that you're the star baker of the house."

mickey rolled his eyes. he didn't know where ian got the impression that he was the next best thing to a professional baker when he would usually just take the easy way out. especially when he was hungry and it came to pizza night. but he was secretly very excited to try the food that ian had spent so much time cultivating.

"yeah, man, let's get it." mickey leaned over the counter to turn the bluetooth speaker on and connect his phone, 'wait by the river' by lord huron playing. he grinned as he allowed ian to slide his hand down his arm and lace their fingers as they swayed together for a moment before pulling away and promptly getting to work on food prep.

ian hummed while he washed and chopped the vegetables, occasionally making comments about how he can't believe how colorful they are or how they had grown from nothing. mickey entertained his comments while he made the dough, "well not quite nothing. there was the seed and the sunlight and the shitty ass soil and you watered it a bunch and stuff. all that love ain't nothing." ian warmly smiled at how casually his husband talked about all forms of love now.

once everything was cleaned and diced and the dough was divided into two equal slabs, they got to shaping their crusts. mickey, being the little shit that he is, had extra flour on his hands and wiped some across ian's cheek. he took off behind the counter and into the living room before ian was able to even get out an agitated "what the fuck, mick!" ian was soon on his heels though and tackled him into the couch, wrestling and straddling him and pinning mickey's arms above his head with one hand and smearing flour from his own hand across mickey's cheek as he struggled.

"payback's a bitch," ian teased through his fits of laughter as mickey's face was twisted up in utter disgust, "oh c'mon, mick, can't take it?"

"you know exactly what i can take, asshole," mickey wiggled his eyebrow as he grumbled lowly. ian's face dropped in complete shock as he was taken off guard, and his grip loosened. mickey used that moment of weakness to flip ian off of him and straighten up his shirt as he stood, no mind to the floured handprints placed haphazardly all over himself, and definitely not entirely from his own hands.

"great, so pizza, then?" he smiled over his shoulder at a disheveled ian as he went to go shape the dough, innovatively using a can of beans as a rolling pin.

ian joined him behind the counter and smacked his ball of dough. "hmm"ed and paused. mickey turned to investigate the curious glint in ian's eye when he heard and felt a similar smack on his own ass.

"oh my fucking god, ian. we're never going to get anything done. i'm fucking starving," he groaned.

"as if you didn't start it!"

mickey paused for a moment. sure, fine, yeah. ian had a point with this one, "whatever." he poked ian in the side and then turned back to his pizza. after they were rolled out enough, ian picked up the spoon to put sauce on.

"nah, man! what the fuck are you doing?" mickey snapped, more with urgency than actual agitation, "we gotta cook them for a little bit first before putting all the shit on there, ya know?"

ian put his hands up in innocence and slowly backed away from both the pizzas and the oven, "my bad, chef, carry on."

mickey flipped him off before slipping the two crusts into the oven for a couple minutes. while they waited, ian picked up mickey's phone and pulled up a youtube compilation video of gordon ramsay 'critiquing' his chefs.

"hey mick, this is you in the kitchen."

they watched for a couple minutes as ian laughed his ass off.

"oh fuck off, you'd burn the place down without me," mickey retorted, carefully pulling the crusts out of the oven. ian just rolled his eyes and resumed playing the music from a spotify playlist that mickey totally did not have named 'date night🥀.'

they took turns spooning sauce with chunks of fresh tomato onto their half baked crusts and then sprinkled on some grated cheese and pepperoni, which they had picked up at the farmer's market on their last trip with a couple of the women in their complex they had accidentally befriended.

as much as mickey ate like a broke college kid when he was left to fend for himself most days, he really didn't mind vegetables (except for fucking onions -- those could rot in hell.) despite this, ian still looked on astonished as mickey piled on the veggies just as much as his pepperoni. that was really saying something.

mickey glanced up, "what, popeye? like you're the only one that gets to enjoy the shit from the garden? i gotta taste for myself all the hype that went into this!"

a look of pure adoration flashed across ian's face as he laid a smooch on mickey's forehead. mickey's felt fucking butterflies in his stomach. he thought that being married to the guy would make those feelings simmer down, but as if it was even possible, the flames burned even stronger.

as they waited for their pizzas to cook in the oven for the final time, they giggled like lovestruck teenagers as they wiped the flour off of each others' faces, making an even bigger mess than they started with, as mickey's hair was now dripping wet. they then cleaned off the countertops and packed the extra ingredients in some blue-lidded tupperware set that debbie had recommended.

ian got two beers out of the fridge, "special occasion," he reasoned. mickey scoffed. as if they needed a reason to get fucking smashed.

soon the pizzas were done, and only slightly burnt at the edges, "adds flavor," mickey reasoned. as if anything mickey actually put effort into cooking would be less than perfect.

ian sliced the warm pizzas as mickey grabbed a couple plates, pausing in his steps to not-so-subtly stare at his husband's biceps flex with the force of the pizza slicer.

they didn't even bother to put on a tv show in the background as they ate. mickey's phone was still playing some chill, lowkey romantic music, and they were just excited to dig in. at this point mickey was fucking starving. mickey quite literally moaned as he took his first bite. ian snapped his head to stare daggers at mickey, watching his throat intently.

"shiiiit. that good, huh?" ian murmured.

all mickey could manage to do was nod as he swallowed.

"might have to do this more often," ian suggested as he took a bite of his own slice. shit. this was good.

"good job growing this shit, man," mickey praised through a mouthful. he swallowed, then added on teasingly, but actually oh-so-serious, "might wanna try growing some mary jane next year if you keep it up with your green ass thumb."

"sure, mick." ian took a sip of his beer. ian would agree to anything mickey would ask of him right now, tipsy on both his beer and his fondness of his husband. as if he could read his mind, mickey reached his hand out to rest on ian's thigh, squeezing once before resting it there for the remainder of dinner.

they finished off the beers and pizzas in bliss, leaving the dishes near the sink to be tomorrow's problem. they didn't even make it out of the kitchen before ian started to tug on the hems of mickey's shirt.

[chaoticgabby]

My Cheap & Relatively Healthy Grocery List for College Students

Context: I had been used to eating fast food so much because it was cheap that when I went to the doctors' they said I had high glucose content. That wasnt good. So I started eating healthier. Anyway let's skip the BS and get straight into it:

Ramen: the OG cheap food. I personally don't own ramen bc I dont like it that much, but if you want to save money this is the meal, at least add an egg or some veggies to make it healthier.

Frozen Veggies: anywhere from 50 cents to a dollar or two a bag. Can easily be kept in your freezer (if you have one) for months

Mac n' cheese: my all-time favorite. Of course, it might not be healthy for everyone to eat pasta all the time, but I do it anyway. Add some real cheese and spices for taste or chicken and veggies in it / on the side.

Other Pasta boxes (Pasta Roni, Velveeta, Hamburger Helper, etc.): basically as cheap or almost as cheap as Kraft macaroni, but maybe you arent a fan of mac n cheese.

Soup (Soup!!): Cambell's Tomato soup is often $1 a can. I like to eat mine with grilled cheese. Thats a whole ass meal. But of course you can get other soups just as cheap. Basically, any canned foods.

Canned foods & veggies: this one goes without saying. Although, the better options are sometimes $2 to $3 the same can be said for frozen veggies, but just heat these up and cook them in fried rice or just add butter and eat them aside a nice entré

Chunk light tuna: speaking of canned foods, canned tuna is soooo cheap and is a great option (if you even like tuna). Dont actually get the "pack tuna" for $1 a pack unless you want to keep it in your bag bc canned tuna is around 60 cents a can. Mix it with Miracle Whip (or mayo) and spread it over break for a good sammich.

Grilled cheese (or cheese toastie if you arent American I think??): similar to previous options, youre getting your cheese and your butter and your bread. Not as healthy as other options but way better than fast food calories.

Quesadillas: similar to grilled cheese, except spICY. My brother only eats these and he has no meal plan. I do it now too. Honestly, adding up tortillas, cheese dip, shredded cheese, & chicken is kind of costly but worth it. Also cooking chicken is annoying bc I dont have time for that. But. Yknow. A great option.

Pillsbury Crescents: a little costly, about $2+ per tube, but still fookin delicious. Also imma be real: actually havent checked the nutrition label to see if these are actually healthy. But these are sO useful. Make them by themselves for breakfast (with jam, eggs, or alone) or use the dough for other recipes. I use these with Manwich sauce, cheese, and ground beef for snacks :)

Manwiches: manwich sauce cans are $1 and although they have some sugar, its not nearly as bad as fast food. Just cook up some ground beef to go with it & maybe add cheese, sliced bread, or hamburger buns

PB&J: Another OG. I could never get tired of these. You just gotta make sure you have soft bread and the pb&j and youre good to go. Although..like.. some people apparently like theirs toasted or with different jams (I like strawberry).

Eggs!!!! : Just keep these in your fridge. Just do it. You never know when youre going to run out of food. Boiled? Scrambled? Fried? Soft boiled? With ramen? Omelet? In fried rice? Egg sandwich??? Eat them with bread, eat them with toast, eat them as a breakfast sandwich, scramble them with cheese, the list goes on. If you dont eat them often, get a smaller carton, but always have eggs! Also, for baking.

Rice, or fried rice: If you like rice, have been cooking rice for a long time, and can actually make it without burning, make sure you have rice. If you like rice but have never actually made it yourself, it takes trial and error in a pot. Or just invest in a rice cooker. Additionally, fried rice is not that difficult to learn & it fits the bill for healthy bc you can add unlimited veggies and meats. Im not here to educated you but the more ingredients, the better, is how i see it.

Fresh Food:

Fruit: I literally have "an apple a day" for breakfast. It's just good for you. Keep them in your fridge to keep them fresh. Keep one in your bag in case you get hungry. Bananas? Awesome! Use them in smoothies or a milkshake or eat them with your cereal or even with peanut butter. Possibilities are endless with fruit. Just make sure they dont spoil. Apples are OG bc they dont spoil as easily.

Vegetables: Make sure to only periodically get them so that they dont go to waste. Make some broccoli with butter & eat it alongside pasta. Or asparagus. Anything you want. Just make sure to have some with your meals sometimes. Greens are good. Additionally, carrots can get addicting if yoh eat them with ranch. The plus side is they are filling. If you have a tendency to want to munch on something: carrots.

Deli Meat / Sandwich Options: I personally dont make deli sandwiches because ham (as well as roast beef or turkey) can be expensive and then wanting to add lettuce and tomato to a sandwich sounds amazing but I'm scared they will spoil. Dont let me stop you though! Sandwiches are amazing.

Meat: you dont want to be cooking meat all the time bc it can get expensive, but the basics I always get are ground beef and chicken. I prefer "boneless skinless chicken thigh fillets" but you would need to cut off the fat. You could always get rotisserie if you arent feeling to for cooking. Also, if you're feeling expensive one week, salmon is just sooo good. I ate it with asparagus and seasoned with lemon. Delicious.

Snack / Dessert Options:

(I personally don't keep snacks or dessert in my home very often bc you dont want to binge eat. But here is what I have)

Peanut butter: classic, filling, can be potentially bad if you eat a shite ton

Nuts: peanuts, almonds, cashews, and especially pecans

Cookies: make your own, a lot of simple cookie recipes exist and it's a lot easier than you think. Baking essentials like flour, sugar, milk, and eggs are not that expensive to keep around in an apartment kitchen. Difficulties may be vanilla extract (the avg student doesnt have this lying around) a baking sheet, a big bowl, and possible a whisk. Store bought cookie dough isnt too bad either.

Box-cakes / box-brownies: simple and easy. Takes a few eggs sometimes and some oil, milk or water. The same goes for pancake mix. Honestly, I had an out-of-country roommate and he had never heard of boxed cake mix or brownie mix. They always made from scratch where he lived.

Low-calorie ice cream: okay ice cream can be pretty expensive and filled w/ added sugars. I used to eat this strawberry icecream sweetened with stevia and it was SO delicious, but I couldnt find that at my grocery store. Other options are "low-calorie" ice cream or "no added sugars" ice cream. I have one of these and the thing abt it is that its just the right amount of sugar to taste like ice cream and the neat thing is that you dont feel like binging it bc it doesnt have addicting added sugars.

Milkshakes / smoothies: this is a tough one bc me and most other students dont own a blender or juicer. I personally get my smoothies from a local smoothie place that only uses fresh fruit and then I ask not to add the natural sugars bc it is sweet enough with the fruit. Natural smoothies are delicious & I find that you can kind of make then if u freeze your fruits and blend w a fork. "Handmade" milkshakes are actually super easy w this method.

Yogurt: just...mmm.

"Healthy" snack food section, often called the gluten-free aisle: im not too experienced with this and im sure they have added sugars too but what I do know is I tried these gluten free oreos once and they were delicious

Fruits: I mentioned earlier but apples are great snacks

Veggies: also like I said earlier, carrots are great snacks. Not exactly a veggie but possibly potatoes for a meal or snack.

Granola Bars: for when youre too lazy to keep up with fruit and if fruit will spoil, granola bars (they healthy kind, not the chewy sugary kind) are so good to have in your pantry or keep in your backpack for a snack (and to keep you from on campus temptations). Also I used Nature Valley ones instead of cereal. They actually dissolve and are delicious with milk, since some cereals are so sugary.

Since my last college tips post got some notes I figured I'd keep writing these advice posts. For reference, I am hoping to become an RA next year at my college, so I'm not just speaking out of my ass. I generally have experience at college thus far and want to help students.

[mynameisjaxx]

Daichi x Y/N

(Stuff happens, so read if you want to.)

I'm currently a first year at Karasuno and it's almost time for spring break. Since starting at the high school, I had special circumstances at the beginning of the year. Mostly because my parents had just died and I had no other living relatives or god parents to take care of me. Due to the fact that I was 15, I was given the choice to stay at a half way home or to go out on my own. Knowing full well, I would never get adopted for being a teenager, I decided to opt out and remain living on my own. For the most part, it was okay, I would crash at a few friends houses every so often to wash my uniform in a place that had actual laundry detergent. It wasn't long until the manager at the store I worked at started letting me have the left overs that didn't sell.

I guess, he got the hint that I was shedding pounds like no tomorrow. So one night, he flipped the sign to close and asked me to step into the back room.

"Hey, kid, how's it going?" He started.

"I'm okay." I shrugged.

"Don't lie to me, now." He  lit up a cigarette.

"Well, if you gotta know, I'm currently living with the snacks I you let me have and couch surfing." I narrowed my gaze.

"What happened with your folks?" I look up and through the wisps of smoke, he was looking into my eyes and waiting for an answer.

"They're dead."

Silence. It last a few minutes and then he took a pull.

"Sorry, kid."

"Yeah, it's not something I'm ready to talk about." I wipe the single tear that fell from my right eye.

Tch.

"Alright, I have an idea, but only if you feel absolutely 100% comfortable with the idea."

"Shoot."

"I have a spare room, if you want you can stay there, instead of couch surfing or staying out in the streets." He takes another pull.

"I don't know, I don't feel right about just staying there. Is there someway for me to repay you?" I look up to him determined.

"Well, you can take on some extra chores around the house and we can call it even." He shrug.

"Alright then Mr. Ukai, thank you so much!" I bow.

"Don't worry about it kid, I just don't want you to end up hurt somewhere. You've been really good working for me the whole summer, and I see you like a little sister." He puts a hand on my shoulder with a light squeeze.

"I promise that I will do my best to not be a burden." I declare.

After our chat, I spend my time minding the store until closing time. I double check the floor and restock what's low and keep the journal of the day's sales. I make sure to keep everything organized before putting together a list of the things we need to order for the next week. Keishin came out with the broom and the mop, he swept and I mopped the floor behind him. We were done rather fast and put away the cleaning supplies. Stepping through the back of the store we take out the trash to the dumpster and then walk a little to the house behind the store.

"Well, this is home." He says.

"It's very nice."

"Thanks." He closes the door behind us, we remove our shoes and I walk in barefoot, taking my socks off and feeling the cold floors.

"Hey put these on, they should fit." He hands me a pair of gray slippers that seem my size.

"Thanks." I slip them on and he shows me around the house.

"So, living room is here, to the left is my room, the right is yours. The kitchen is down the hall and the bathroom is also down the hall. The is a small backyard if you ever want to sit outside and take a break." He rubs the back of his neck.

"Wow." Amazed at how neat and warm the house felt.

"Yeah, I haven't the heart to change a few things because its the way my mom left it. I just do upkeep." he shrugs.

"Well, I will be sure not to move things too out of place on cleaning day." I make a mental note.

"I appreciate that. For tonight, I'll make dinner. What do you want to eat?" He peers into the fridge.

"How about I make dinner and you tell me what my chores are while I work?" I counter offer.

"Oh, Okay." He steps aside.

I pull out the left over rice he has in a tupper ware, the shaved steak left overs, 3 eggs and a mixed veggie tray. Julienning and then sauteing them for a little color, I add the shaved steak to mix in with the juices from the veggies, adding a pinch of onion powder and a few dashes of soy sauce, I stir until the white rice has an even browning.

"So, we would be alternating cleaning duty, you'll get bathroom and kitchen and I'll do living room and front of the house. Following week, we switch. Cooking is up to you. I'm limited in what I know how to make, but it seems like you can definitely throw down in the kitchen." He motions to me.

"Well, I had to learn while my parents were at work, I made myself dinners." I smile.

"That's very smart." He compliments.

Adding the rice into the meat and veggies and adding a splash of water to make the rice a little fluffy again, I cover it. Cracking the eggs into a bowl and scrambling them before hand.

"So, you learned all this from being home alone?" He grabs plates out of the cupboard.

"Yep, we would have left overs and I'd take them to make them into a meal for myself. I hope you like it." with a half smile as I add the eggs to the same skillet. While the eggs cook into the fried rice, I clean all the utensils I used to cook, leaving just the wooden spoon I was using to help mix everything. Almost like a 6th sense, I could feel that it was ready, so I turn off the heat and proceed to spoon out a few into each bowl.

"It smells delicious!" He takes a whiff before carefully putting the steaming hot food into his mouth and hums something that sounded like 'yum'.

"Glad you like it." I laugh a bit.

That was my first night, it was very nice. It really did feel like having an older brother, despite knowing that I was practically alone in every sense of the word. He really made me feel welcomed. We worked out a deal for when I would get to school.

So while I did some early morning shifts to help prep all the sandwiches and meat buns to be sold for the day, he would take care of the store and then I would do homework while I worked the counter and he would take his break and go over to the house and prep dinner for us later.

It's been about 2 months with the same routine and there was this man, Takeda. He comes in once a day to ask where Keishin was and if he could spare a moment, everytime, he was turned away until yesterday. Kei actually agreed to whatever that Takeda man asked him to do.

"I'll be at the school gym tomorrow, so I want you to go there straight after practice. I'm not letting you out of my sight, kid." He sighs as he goes towards the back room.

"Oh, okay, but who will mind the store?"

"I'll get my nephew to watch the store." He pulls out his phone and dials a number.

"Alright, well, I'm off to school, sandwiches are ready to be stocked, coffee is in the machine brewing for the day, and the meat buns are in the steam tray." I put on my shoes.

"Alright, hon, have a good day at school and don't forget to meet me at the gym." He shouts after me as I jog out to school.

The school day was boring and quite frankly, I was just hoping to see what was going to happen after school, but I still managed to take down good notes in class. I wonder why Takeda wanted Keishin. Guess, I'll find out later.

The day ends and I bolt out of class and head to the gym, right outside is Takeda and Keishin, talking a bit.

"Hi, y/n." Takeda bows.

"Hello, Takeda Sensei."

"Lets see what we are working with." Keishin grumbles and puts out his cigarette.

Inside were boys, shouting and running around. They were playing a 3 4 on 4 game of volleyball. There were 3 boys I recognized as my senpais since one of them gave me a tour around the school my first day and introduced me to the other 2. Sugawara was very nice and detailed with directions, Asahi was super shy and told me I was scary until we spoke a bit more and then there's Daichi. He was just, woah.

Suddenly I'm down on the ground, my chest hurt a little. I wasn't sure what just happened. I definitely got the wind knocked out of me, somehow.

"Woah n/n! Are you okay??" Keishin bends down to check on me.

"Y/N!" Daichi runs over and slides right beside me.

"We are so sorry." I hear the boys shout in unison.

I cough a bit trying to breathe. Daichi helps me sit up.

"Hey, Kiyoko, toss me my water bottle!" Daichi looks at the blue haired girl.

She nods and tosses the water bottle at him and he catches it with ease.

"Here drink some. It'll help" I nod and do as he says.

A sip and I try to breath but it sounds like a heavy wheeze. He takes my loose hairs and tucks them behind my ear.

"It's alright, take your time." He stands.

"Alright, Ennoshita, sub for me. I'm going to look after her during this set."  He takes my hands into his and helps me to the bench. He sits straddling the bench and pats the space in front of him.

"Sit with your back to me." He orders.

I do and his chest is warm. I hum.

"Alright, I'm going to rub your upper arms and I want you to take deep breaths with me." He whispers into my ear.

I could feel my face turn red and my chest tighten, but I nod.

After a few breaths, I feel much better. At some point I had closed my eyes and he had stopped moving his hands on my arms and just held me.

"Hey, earth to y/n. You okay now?" He whispers, bringing me back.

"Yes, thank you, senpai." I reply.

"Please, call me Daichi." He insists.

"Well, now that you are a bit better, please go to the bathroom and check if you're bruised, if you want take Kiyoko with you. She'll be able to help with ice or if you would prefer a salve." He motions to her and she comes over.

"Okay" meek and quiet, I leave with Kiyoko to the bathroom and she comes in with me.

Unbuttoning my school uniform, I see the yellow and blue starting to form.

"What would you like for me to do? Salve and bandage or just an ice pack?" She offers, cleaning her glasses on her volleyball jacket.

"Whichever would make the bruise slow down faster." I shrug.

"I'll get the salve and bandage, wait here." She hurries out.

She returns and quietly buzzes about, tending to the bruise.

"Thank you, senpai." I mumble.

"Of course, let me know if you have any discomfort." she guides me back to the gym and I sit quietly on the bench and watch the rest of the 'set'. In between sets, Daichi comes back over to me and asks me once more if I was okay and I nod, choosing to keep talking to a minimum since my chest was still in some pain.

"So, you have yourself a coach, Takeda." I over hear Keishin shaking hands with Takeda Sensei.

"Thank you. The practice game with Nekoma are in a few weeks. Here's the details and I will need you to come by the office tomorrow so we can formally fill out your paperwork as new head coach of Karasuno's boy's volleyball" He's super excited.

"Alright boys, line up." Daichi commands.

"Thank you for coming." They say in unison.

"Boys, let me introduce you to your new coach. Coach Ukai. he's the former Coach's grandson, he also happened to play for Karasuno when he studied here." Takeda lets Keishin take center stage.

"Alright, so the rematch against Nekoma won't be for another few weeks, and I have 'til then to whip you into shape to even be close to a tied game with them. I have faith in what I witnessed today that we will beat them. Maybe not in our first game but definitely in our second." Keishin riles them up.

"Come on, clean up and then you are free to go home." Daichi claps.

The boys grumble. Just like that time passed in a flash, somehow in that time I became the co manager of the team with Kiyoko and we've become really good friends. Though I know I won't see her around much after this year, with her being a third year and all

The practice game came and the boys played their hardest, in the end, they lost making it really close to a tied game. They were absolutely devastated but definitely not discouraged. After the game, Keishin treated them to dinner. As a way to show them that even in their losses they will learn and adapt, but for now eat and work on your strength. Some of them cried and others remained stoic.

It was weeks later that Takeda slipped by the door and announced that Nekoma had invited us to join in on their training camp. Takeda and Keishin shared a glance, one I knew all too well. 'The I'm not sure we can afford it' look. An idea popped into my head, so I decided to go up to Kei and whisper it.

"Doesn't sound bad, I bet if you got the guys to help then it would definitely go a lot faster. I mean you've got the skills." He nods.

"Takeda, I'm not sure if you know, but y/n is a wiz in the kitchen, can they borrow the cafeteria on Thursday night? Y/N wants to have a bake sale for the team. Of course if the boys help out then I know they'll be in good hands." He pleads.

"What a splendid idea, I'll run it by the principal tomorrow morning and have an answer by practice. Just give me a list of what you wanted to bake and what the cost to profit is, I'm sure it will work out just fine." He looks at a determined y/n who's already scribbling away in their notebook the recipes and how much the items would cost, specially through the store as a vendor they knew they could get a bit of a discount.

On a new sheet of paper, they write down the cost to profit and hand over the menu to Takeda, who looks in awe of the menu.

"Are you sure you can make all this?" He asks.

"With help, of course. I just need to know if I have permission before I go asking the team for help." I nod confidently.

"alright then, I will pass this along." He puts it into his folder of to-do.

The following day at lunch I got the approval of cafeteria use for the thursday night which was in 3 days. Yachi who was the other new co manager created posters to put up around the school and town. The school wrote a check for the cost and I gave it to Keishin when we ordered the ingredients. The entire team agreed to help, even salty Tsukishima. It was a nice night, we took off of practice and spent the evening working hard. The boys followed my every order, I was running a tight ship that night.

By nightfall, we were all packing up the small bundt cakes in the wax paper and twine. The muffins were placed into boxes to contain them for the night and the sweeter things we baked, we left for the afternoon. The entire day Kiyoko and I were manning the cash box, and thanking students for buying and donating the change.

At the end of the day we had made back what we spent on ingredients and more than tripled our profit. We gave back the initial investment that the school spent and we took the rest to the bank. Got the coins changed into larger bills. Gave the money to Takeda who in turn, put it towards the bus to take us to the training camp and food for those two weeks. Even after that we had a little left over, which we had decided we would save for any club emergencies.

"We did it!!!" We announced.

"We're raised enough money to go to the training camp!" Yachi jumps up high like Hinata.

"Yay!" He jumps even higher.

"Rest up, we leave next Friday after school and get there by evening. We are going to be there for 2 weeks." Keishin reminds them.

Time flies and it was just a a few hours by bus to get there. It was finally here, training camp weeks with Nekoma and Fukurodani. Being the last to arrive, the Nekoma team are the ones to greet us.

Everyone is polite enough, though the tension between the captains is so awkward. It makes me want to be a turtle and hide inside my shell. Being here was incredible. The days were spent between exercise and practice games. There were many losses for the boys, but with each game they learned more about their opponents, which in turn they adapted their strategies.

The night before the last day Daichi approached me with a concerned look.

"What's wrong sen-Daichi." I tilt my head.

"Well, tomorrow there's the barbecue and I think we have enough, but I'm not sure. If there's a shortage would you mind going to the store with Kiyoko and two of the boys to help you bring things back?" He places a hand on my shoulder.

"Of course, what kind of a manager would I be if I didn't take care of my team." I laugh it off.

"Thank you for taking such good care of us, if it weren't for your idea, we probably wouldn't have been able to participate." He squeezes.

"It's no big deal, besides, Yachi's posters were also a tremendous help with donations and you guys helped me back and pack all those tiny pastries. It's my pleasure, honestly." I raise my hands in front of me.

"Thank you." He smiles and walks away.

Practice felt like it flew by and the coaches had already started the grills to heat them up. The captains of each team was manning the grills and making sure that everything was cooked to perfection. Daichi gave me the look so I took Kiyoko's wrist and she understood. Looking around the only two boys that seemed the least busy were Tanaka and Nishinoya.

It was a short walk to the store, but while we were there, we had a slight hiccup. Some guys from Fukurodani's regular students were there. They had chosen to hit on Kiyoko and she looked uncomfortable. I tried to distract them from her, but failed. It didn't help that Noya and Tanaka got involved, until I stepped in between and diffused the situation a bit.

"Listen guys, I know she is really beautiful, but she can't go out with you, because she is with me." I step in.

"Yeah, sorry boys. Can't split up the happy couple." Tanaka makes his iconic intimidation face and Noya has a demonic look in his eyes.

"Now, if we can all go about our respective days, that would be amazing." I insist and drag the boys away with Kiyoko and the food cart in tow.

We paid and we left, thinking it would be the last of it. We got back in time with the meat and more soda. The boys celebrated our return and immediately took the items out of our hands and began prep work while the last of the meat had just been put on the grill, but the time it was cooked, the meat we had brought was being put on. The rest of the afternoon goes on with lots of laughter and a light atmosphere.

It was evening by the time the teams had began slowly breaking off to go shower and hit the sack. The captains and a few members stayed behind to help with clean up. Between us we finished up in an hour and placed the trash into the dumpster. The sun had already set and the navy blue sky, like a blanket being pulled over the day to rest.

I wasn't tired so I didn't go back yet, instead I decided to walk around a bit, take in the last views of the school before morning, since we'd be leaving around 7 am to get back by noon and send the team home to rest and study for the exams the rest of the week had instore for us. Thinking over the checklist of things that I could do to kill time, I thought it would be a great idea to go to the store for a last minute run, pick up some cereal bars, or jell-o cups, some kind of snack that didn't need much prep incase the team got peckish on the ride home. Mostly because we weren't going to make breakfast, just pack up, clean and leave.

Apparently the boys from earlier just didn't know when to stop. They just had to follow me at a distance, but I didn't even realize it. It wasn't until I had gotten closer to the gym that they started vandalizing school property. I saw them, with their trash and the faint smell of alcohol hit my nose. I took out my phone and dialed Keishin but he didn't pick up, so I called Daichi.

"Hey y/n, what's up?"

One of the guys had ran towards me and I dropped what I had in hand and my cell phone, luckily it didn't cut off the call.

"Hey, back off, you can't be here."

"Like hell, we can do what we damn well please," one of them slurred.

"Come on cutie, drop the bluenette and come have fun with us instead."

That was all he needed to hear to grab the team and race outside to where I was. Surrounded and trying to find a way out. Nothing seemed viable so I did what I thought and tried to duck under their arms and run, but they caught me by my jacket. I unzipped it and left it in their grasp. I ran until I bumped into something that was soft but sturdy.

"Where are they?" A stern voice.

"Back that way" I answered with my eyes closed still waiting to hit the floor.

"Noya, Tanaka, and Suga, go in first. Rest of you, stagger in." He orders.

"Hey, they didn't touch you right?" He lifted my chin up and I opened my eyes.

"No, but it was really scary." Tears pinching the back of my eyes, just thinking about what could have happened had I not worn the volleyball jacket.

"Shhh, it's okay now. You're safe." He tried to comfort me.

"I tried calling coach but he didn't answer."

"It's okay, we told Kiyoko to stay behind and look for all 3 coaches." He pet my hair.

We stayed like that for a moment until he pulled away first.

"I don't want you walking back alone so come with me and stay behind me. I'll make sure they don't lay a hand on you." He promises.

"Okay" I hesitate.

So of course it caused a commotion and a brawl broke out. Someone called the cops and Noya, Tanaka and I were taken in because of the fight. Daichi had driven to the station with Keishin and Coach Nekomata. While there, the boys were placed in the holding cell while Noya and Tanaka and I were sitting, cuffed on a bench.

"I'm taking the fall, you guys just say it was me that did all the fighting and that they tried to attack you so it's self defense. Okay? I started the fight. You guys can't get into trouble, they'll kick you out of school or something. I'll be fine. So don't fight me. I am your manager and I will hear no protest." I turn to either side of me and they nod in defeat.

After questioning about what had happened I made up a story. About how I was walking back to campus and they were just drunk and spewing nonsense. I tried to get them to leave until one of them grabbed my wrist and I pushed him off as defense, which escalated when his buddies joined in and I fought back, having called my coach to alert him of what's happening. Noya and Tanaka said similar things so the detective gave us all breathalyzer tests to fact check.

We we let go after a few hours.

"Kids!" Keishin is waiting in the lobby to pick us up.

"We're okay coach, a little shaken and roughed up, but we'll be fine." Noya answers.

"Let's go back to campus and you can retell what happened." He looks me up and down to make sure I was okay.

Once back, we went to an empty class on a different floor than the one where everyone was sleeping. I retold what actually happened and the lie we told the cops.

Tch.

"But, they didn't touch you, right?" Kei knelt in front of my seat.

"No, Kei, I'm fine. Scared, but fine." I assure him.

"God, kid, I don't want to think about what could have happened." He engulfs me in a hug.

"I know" muffled into his chest.

Headed to the floor where the rest of the team was, they couldn't sleep. Too anxious about what happened. They try not to crowd me and I bow.

"I'm sorry for worrying you." A few tears slide down my cheek without meaning to.

A chorus of 'don't' could be heard and I couldn't help but feel relief. They ended up giving me a group hug and then they let go after a little. I smile and wipe the tears.

One of the boys managed to grab the things I had dropped and brought them inside. The bag from the store was pretty intact, but my phone sadly was not. It was cracked and had a few scrapes on the exposed metal.

I take my phone and put it in the bag with the things I got. Leaving to the managers room, the tears flow freely. It was scary. I was alone until the guys came to my rescue. I was too scared to lash out. I couldn't move. God I was so stupid.

"Hey, hey, you're safe now, honey." I heard a soothing voice.

"I know, but I could've screamed, done something."

"No, no, none of that. You called us, you did do something and escaped them before we got to you." He cups my face.

I sob a little, but he leans close and looks into my eyes. Its like I was over come with warmth. Like a security blanket wrapped around me. Taking even breaths he thumbs away my tears and gives me a small smile. I flush and my cheeks start getting warm, feeling the blush spread, I look away but he follows my gaze. So I place my hand on his wrist.

Suddenly our lips are just whispers away from touching.

"Are you sure, because I don't want you to feel pressured." our noses grazing each other.

"Kiss me"

It was the sweetest kiss. So soft and gentle, he was treating me like a fragile, porcelain doll.

"I-"

"How about when you feel up to it, I take you out on a date. I'll make it special."

"I would like that." I blush having forgotten all those scary thoughts.

[c-hristy]

Obsession - Part 1 of 'Addicted' 《Charlastor AU》

    “You will manage?”

    “I will.”

    “Make sure you stick to your promises. I do not like being disappointed.”

   

    She hummed to herself as she plopped down on a barstool, adjusting her skirt that the slit wasn’t quite so revealing. Beatrice had her tights on, as per request, though she wasn’t a huge fan of them. The bartender glanced at her once and she smirked toward the demon, tipping her head.

    “I’ll get to ya in a moment, Bea.” He said to her, ducking under the counter, “Got a fuck ton of newbies for some reason.”

    “Gotcha,” Bea shrugged, tapping her nails on the bar counter, “Take your time. I’ve got all night.”

    Her eyes turned to the array of television screens that decorated the walls of the bar. Most of the volumes were set to low, subtitles covering the bottom. Sports games, news, drama shows. The bar showed it all; made for more customers if they catered to a wider variety. Bea turned the barstool slightly so that she could catch a better view at one of the screens across the room that was playing some drama that she had seen once before.

    A demon sat down on the stool beside her and she flicked her eyes over to see who it was. Surprise trickled down her spine as she met eyes with her new seatmate.

    His grin spread delightedly across his screen and Bea felt her heart flutter slightly at the sight, “Hello.”

    Beatrice blinked and looked behind her, turning back to the demon in front of her, “Who, me?”

    He laughed, a sound that was slightly filtered. She liked the sound; in a way, it reminded her of her father’s filter, “Yes, you. Can I buy you a drink?”

    “I guess.’ She shrugged nonchalantly, tilting her head and a small smile spreading across her cheeks, “Anything I want?”

    “Anything,” Vox nodded his head, motioning toward the bar, “I don’t really lack funds.”

    Her sweet smile turned impish as she swiveled the barstool, her voice bright, “Hey, you ready?”

    The bartender nodded, holding up a glass, “Your usual?”

    “Nah,” Bea’s eyes flickered over to Vox, “Get me a blue motherfucker.”

    The bartender grinned at her and she winked back, watching him mix the drink. Once the glass was placed in front of her, she took a long sip, relishing in the flavor.

    “What brings you here, buying me drinks?” She turned to Vox, setting the glass on the bartop.   

    “Couldn’t just leave a pretty girl sitting by herself.” His voice was playful, a grin on his screen, “Thought I would come say hello.”

    “Oh, don’t play dumb with me,” Her eyes brightened, a soft red glow coming from them as she took another sip of her drink, “You wouldn’t just come up to the Radio Demon’s daughter without a proposition. What do you want?”

    He laughed easily, leaning onto the counter slightly, “Do I really need a reason for some conversation?”

    Bea thought it over for a moment before shrugging, taking another drink, “I guess not.”

    They sat in silence for a moment, Bea not a hundred percent sure on how to carry on conversation. She didn’t have the widest variety of social experience; her friends were mainly just her siblings. She turned back to the television that was across the room, idly sipping her drink as she watched some commercial for a murdering professionals business. The tune was catchy; she found her fingers tapping along to the beat.

    Once she finished her drink, she set the glass on the bartop and sighed, feeling the warmth curl in her stomach. Vox chuckled at her pleased face and she turned to him, a small smile on hers.

    “Do you want another drink?” 

    “Yeah, okay.”

    Halfway through her next drink, Bea abruptly turned to Vox and grinned impishly at him, “What’s your favorite way to waste time? Because it sure seems like sitting here not talking is something you’re good at.”

    Vox’s eyes glitched in a way that made it seem like he was rolling them and Bea snickered, “There’s plenty going on around us. I’m not wasting time.”

    “Oh?” She peered around, eyebrows furrowing, “What do you mean?”

    “See in the corner,” He nodded toward a pair of demons that were huddled close to each other in a booth, “Those two are fucking right now.”

    Bea squinted and she laughed when she realized that one of the demons was indeed, on top of the other, “Damn!”

    “And over there,” He nodded toward a trio of demons that were near the door, “A drug deal gone bad. The drugs are laced. They’re going out to brawl.”

    “Why not just fight in here,” Bea murmured, tapping her nails against her glass, “That would be much more fun.”

    “The bartender warned them that if they fought again in here, they’d be banned.” Vox’s grin was infectious and she copied it, her ears flicking.

    “Oh, neat.” She tried her best to tune into all of the different conversations around her, though a lot of words seemed to blend together and she sighed in irritation, taking a long drink, “How do you manage to keep it all separate?”

    “Lots of practice.” He shrugged, “Years of being able to separate the voices.”

    “Yeah, ‘cause you’re really old.” Bea laughed, eyes bright, “Older than my dad. That’s just weird. You tryna cradle rob, huh?”

    His screen turned slightly pink and he turned away from her. Bea began to laugh harder, setting her drink down and wrapping her arm around her waist.

    “No-”

    “Yanno, Vox,” Bea slid off the stool, brushing her fingers down her skirt and adjusting the slit once more, “You’re not so bad. I’ve gotta get home, I promised my brother I’d help him with a stream.” She winked at him, making sure her purse was tightly adjusted around her shoulders before turning and then looking at him over her shoulder, “Give me a call, yeah?”

    Before he could reply, the Radio Demon’s daughter left the bar, dodging under a few demons that tried to swipe her bag from her shoulder. Her grin was still spread on her face and Vox couldn’t find it in him to call out for her.

    She hadn’t even given him her number.

    “Where is she?”

    “It’s taking longer than I expected.”

    “Get it done, Vox.”

    “I will. I always do.”

    Bea turned her cart down the aisle that had the boxes of pasta and the like, browsing through the selection. Even in Hell, there was a good business with growing crops and the like, so there were a lot of the same foods that Alastor told her were on Earth in Hell. She reached out for a bottle of alfredo sauce, turning the jar so that she could look over the ingredient list.

    She knew that it was better to make those types of things homemade anyway, and Charlie liked to cook - she just was looking for shortcuts so she could eat whenever she wanted. 

    “Beatrice!”

    She turned, still holding the jar. Immediately, her normal frown turned upward into a little smirk, eyes brightening, “Hi there, Vox.”

    The TV demon’s smile was stretched across his entire screen, his hands on his hips, “I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

    “Oh?” She raised an eyebrow, setting the jar into her cart and then turning back to the boxes of pasta to pick one out, “Why?”

    “You never actually gave me your phone number.”

    Her cheeks flushed a brilliant red and she dipped her head forward so that her hair would cover the stain on her cheeks, “Ah, shit.”

    “So I’ve been trying to find it. But it’s nowhere.” He shrugged, the grin turning slightly into a smirk.

    “Sorry ‘bout that.” She took a deep breath, reaching out and grabbing a box of fettuccine, dropping it into the cart and then gripping the handles, “It’s a little weird that you’ve been trying to find it.”

    He shrugged, following her as she started to make her way down the aisle, “You told me to call you.”

    “Yeah, well,” She peered up at him, her blush still staining her cheeks, “I didn’t really expect you to.”

    Vox seemed pleased with the blush on her cheeks and Bea felt her heart flutter slightly at the look on his screen. His tone was playful when he spoke, “Can I have it now?”

    “What?”

    “Your phone number. Can I have it?”

    Bea cleared her throat and nodded quickly, eyes widening, “Yeah! Give me your phone. I’ll plug it in.”

    Vox rifled through a pocket in his jacket, pulling the device from it. His claws gently raked over her skin when he handed her the phone and she yanked her hand back, startled at the contact. She opened up his contacts and opened up a new file, titling herself as ‘Bea’ with a little fire emoji. She typed in her phone number and then saved it, handing him back his phone.

    “There ya go, all saved up.” She grinned up at him before heading down toward the dairy aisle, lugging a few gallons of milk into the cart and then sighing, her nose wrinkling, “I don’t think my mom thought very deep into how I was going to get these home. I let the car go home and said I would walk.”

    “I could help you carry them home.” He offered, “How far do you live?”

    “Just a few blocks.” She murmured, setting one of the gallons back onto the shelf so she only had two, moving down to where the cheese was, “I can call the car to come back, but that would take a while. Raz and Daz are probably already comfy in the kitchen with mama. She’s making donuts today.”

    Vox nodded, watching her browse through the cheeses before she picked a few out, “It looks like you’re planning to make something?”

    “Yeah,” Bea turned to him and smiled, pointing to the pasta, “I’m gonna attempt to make some meat pasta. It’s my dad and I’s favorite; mama doesn’t really like making it since it means she has to shred meat and she doesn’t like to touch it.”

    Vox motioned toward the creamer that was on a shelf nearby, “If you add that to the cheese and stuff, it’ll make it creamier, rather than using milk.”

    Her eyes brightened with an excited glow and she took it off the shelf, setting it in the cart, “Maybe I’ll try to make some of my own sauce. I guess I don’t need the whole jar anymore.”

    “I can run it back for you.” He picked up from the cart and she nodded toward him.

    “I’m gonna go look at veggies.” She pointed down the aisle toward the produce section, “If you want to keep walking with me.”

    His grin split his screen as he walked back to the aisle with the pasta sauce. Setting it down, his phone buzzed in his pocket and Vox pulled it out, opening the text message.

    ‘You’ve been gone for a while.’

    He sighed, irritated as he typed back, ‘I’ll be back later. Something came up.’

    He set the phone back into his pocket and ignored it when it buzzed again, knowing exactly who it was and not wanting to bother with it. Vox headed back through the aisles, shifting out of the way of two demons who were arguing loudly after the last loaf of bread. 

    Bea stood in front of the mushrooms, weighing two different boxes in her hands. They were different; one was white mushrooms and the other was portahella. Vox watched her expressions change as she considered the two before she unceremoniously tossed both cartons into the cart and then pushed it forward to where the fresh herbs were. 

    His smile softened as he watched her pick a few out. He kept his distance and watched, head tilted just slightly. She took a strong inhale of one of the herbs and her nose scrunched up, Bea tossing the offending item back onto the shelf. Vox made sure to grab a can of chicken broth before walking back over to her.

    “Here,” He held the can up, “You simmer this with the cream and the cheese and it’ll make a sauce.”

    “Oh, thanks.” She grinned at him, picking up a bag of spinach and pursing her lips, “You think this would go good in it?”

    “With mushrooms and cheese? I don’t see why not.” Vox knew how to cook; not that he could eat what he made, per say, but he enjoyed the aspect of it.

    Bea hummed in approval and threw it in, looking over the cart, “I know we have meat at home and mama just asked for the milk, so I think I’m good.”

    Vox and her chatted more about how she should put the sauce together as she checked out. The demon ringing her up gazed at the two of them; the fact that the TV demon was chatting so amicably with the Radio Demon’s daughter was odd to him. 

    Bea picked up the bags while Vox grabbed the gallons of milk, the two of them walking out into the streets of Pentagram City. Many demons parted as they walked, whispers drifting into Bea’s ears. She couldn’t really find it in her to care - he was really entertaining to talk to.

    As they grew closer to the estate, some sort of unease settled in her stomach. Her teeth worried at her lip and she stopped them a few hundred yards from where the gate was.

    “I’ll take it from here,” She shifted the bags so that they were settled on her arm, reaching for the gallons of milk, “I don’t think my dad would be happy if you came onto the property.”

    Some whisper of the deal he made tugged at the back of his mind and he forcibly shoved it away, handing her the containers, “That’s quite alright.”

    Her smile widened, “Call me.”

    “Well, now that I’ve got your number, it’ll be a lot easier!”

    Bea laughed, turning, “Asshole. See ya around.”

   

    Over the course of the next few weeks, Bea was near constantly on her phone. Alastor wasn’t used to seeing his daughter so attached to the device; she normally didn’t use it as often as she was now. She also used to always keep it on vibration, but now, every few minutes, her ringtone would go off and it was slowly starting to grate at his nerves.

    “Beatrice, darling,” He looked up from the book he was reading in the living room. Bea sat on the couch beside him, her gaze locked on the phone screen, “If your phone is going to ring incessantly, please, turn it on lower.”

    “Oh, sorry, dad.” She murmured, fingers going to the volume keys and pressing it lower until it vibrated once. 

    “What has captured your attention?” He peered over her shoulder and she immediately closed the screen, shoving it into the pocket of her sweatshirt.

    “Nothing, don’t worry about it.”

    His grin tightened. She never was one to hide things from him; she always did such a poor job at keeping secrets and this seemed to be no difference, “You are a terrible liar, my fawn.”

    Bea rolled her eyes, pulling her legs up to her chest and looking over at him, “I would never lie. I’m way too pure for that.”

    Alastor chuckled, setting the book down on the table next to the sofa, “You must be misguided.”

    “Eh, I guess you’re right.” Her lips curled upward in a smile and her phone vibrated. Immediately, she pulled it from the pocket and opened it, typing so quickly that Alastor was unable to see who exactly she was messaging before the screen turned off once more, “Oh! That reminds me. Did you like that pasta dish I made the other day?”

    The buck’s grin became more genuine and he nodded, “I did! Where did you find the recipe?”

    “Oh, a friend gave it to me. I was thinking of making something like that again. Maybe a lasagna or something.” Her tone was bright as she looked up at her father.

    “I made your mother a lasagna for our first date,” Alastor began, the sound of his voice crackling with fondness, “A vegetable lasagna.”

    “Ew, what?” Bea’s nose wrinkled up and she shivered, “How do you have lasagna without meat?”

    Alastor laughed, “She did enjoy it! Perhaps the both of us could make one for us and Franklin and then one for your sister and mother.”

    “Oh-” Her phone went off again and she pulled it out, quickly typing another message, “Sure, I’m cool with that.”

    He watched as she continued to message, her fingers moving along the keys in a way that he was uncertain how. Her messages were short and sent in rapid succession - the name at the top of the screen read ‘TV’ and that was it. Worry ebbed in his stomach - what was she hiding to the point that she was unable to even tell him what was going on?

    “It’s been two weeks.”

    “I know.”

    “Well?”

    “. . . I don’t think I can do it anymore.”

    The room suddenly felt ten times colder.

    “What did you just say to me?”

[the-spoopy-ghost-of-raejin99]

Yall want an easy to make meal that's good but doesn't require a ton of effort? Get yourself one of these fuckers:

Doesn't have to be this brand or this particular spice level (I had stomach surgery relatively recently so I can only handle baby levels of spiciness for the next month or so, pity me), but this brand is what you'll find in most grocery stores in the asian/international section. Go to an actual asian market, especially one with a good amount of Japanese stuff, and you'll find a bunch of different varieties. You can also find it pre-prepared in packets, but this doesn't take all that much more effort, and is a better deal for the price.

This is Japanese style curry. Specifically, it's a bunch of solid blocks of roux pre-mixed with spices. It's literally everything you need to make a basic Japanese curry sauce, and you can throw whatever the hell you want into it and it'll taste good. The packaging suggests using beef, chicken, or pork, along with potatoes, carrots, and onions. I usually do that with chicken thighs, but tonight I did stew beef with onions and mushrooms, and my dad's done it with zucchini added in too, literally anything works. I bet ground beef would probably work too, if you're feeling especially lazy. Idk if it's vegan/vegetarian, but if you don't want meat you can probably just double the amount of veggies.

One box is about $4-$5 depending on where you get it, but each one is good for 2 lbs of meat and 2+ lbs of veggies based on the directions, and come packaged in a way that you can easily do half, so it goes a long way. If you got a bunch of ingredients that you gotta use up, try throwing it in, and it'll be an even better deal.

Anyway, here's how you use it, so yall can figure out if you're just not-lazy enough to make it.

Step 1, stir fry everything you wanna throw in, about 5 minutes. At the very least, make sure to sweat the veggies and brown the outside of the meat.

Step 2, add the amount of water listed on the packaging for the amount you're making. In this brand's case, it's 2 3/4th cups for 1 lb of meat, and 5 cups for 2.

Step 3, once the water boils, put that shit on low and cook until everything is done how you want it. It says 15 minutes, but it depends on what you added. My stew beef took about 30 minutes, but 15 is usually good for chicken. Ground beef would probably be done in no time.

Step 4, turn the heat OFF so you can add in the curry blocks without them burning. The pack usually comes with 2 larger blocks. 1 block for 1 lb of meat. The blocks can be broken into 4 so they melt easily.

Step 5, once it's all melted and mixed, heat that shit up again and cook for about 5 more minutes, or until the sauce is the consistency you want. Add some extra shit too. Like a squeeze or two of ketchup is actually really good, not even joking.

Step 6, serve that shit up on rice, katsu, noodles, toast, a shoe, whatever. It's even good just as it is if you're a lazy fuck like me. Then eat it.

Alright, later guys, love you.

[bisexualmindcabin]

A Small Guide to Reducing Your Footprint While Broke

Most efforts to reducing our waste and being more green are usually not that affordable. While they mostly will save you money in the long run, they are expensive items to first buy, and when you’re struggling to make rent you don’t feel like going for the most expensive item - no matter if it’ll end up saving you 20 dollars by next year. 

So here are a compilation of things that are cheap or free that will help the enviroment and your wallet! 

Web Stuff:

- Put Ecosia as your default search engine on your laptop, phone or tablet (and grab your friend’s phones when they aren’t looking and put it there too). They are a Chromium based search engine that plants trees with the revenue from your searches! They plant a tree after roughly 46 searches, all their energy comes from solar panels, and also they don’t sell your data to third parties.

- Go into GreaterGood.com and into their Click to Give campaings! It’s free to you, and you can click once a day. Just don’t give to their Autism Campaing - they’re sponsored by Autism Speaks, an ableist organization that wants to “cure” autism. 

- Not a green tip, but a money saving one: if you shop online, join Honey, its a crome extension that finds you coupons on every purchase you do. Then maybe you can, y’know, plant a tree with the money you saved or something.

- Follow @brokestminimalist on here, they are better at adulting than me, and they have some very good posts on how to save money and time in usually very green ways.

Out and About Stuff:

- You must’ve read this one before, but refuse panphlets and freebies. And also bags, straws, lids, and basically anything you don’t need, or anything you are able to go without and would end up throwing away rapidly. These things add up.

- Shop locally and in small businesses whenever possible It activates local economy and reduces de chances that your food had to travel long spaces or was sprayed with toxic chemicals that affect the earth around it. 

- Always carry around your own bags. You don’t need a fancy bag, just use our backpack, or an old bag from a gift you recieved, or some of the plastic bags from that one bag of bags you got under your sink. (And if you ever forget, save those new bags to reuse later at least).

- Try, to the best of your abilities, to use public transit, walk, or cycle the most you can. Also try to look up which of the public transit options you have (if you have more than one) is the greener one. And for the love of god, unless you have a good reason, don’t take a bus for just 6 blocks.

- If you have no choice but to use a car, then carpool, and make sure your car is as efficient as possible: remove extra weight where possible, make sure your tires are properly inflated and have the right air pressure, and slow down your travel speed by 10 km/h (6mph). All of this will both make you have a smaller enviromental impact and also save you gas money and maintenence costs.

- Carry your own water bottle and snacks/lunch to avoid buying things out of hunger while outside.

Food stuff:

- Honestly, go dumpster diving near closing times. It’s less gross than you think, will save you money, and will save perfectly good food from being sent to landfill and creating methane gas.

- Make your own apple cider vinegar out of apple scraps, like cores and skins. it’s as simple and putting the scraps on a jar, filling the jar with water and one or two tsp of sugar, covering the jar with some cloth and leaving the jar in a dark, warm place, stirring once or twice a day.

- Grow your own herbs and medicinal plants. Grow stuff like aloe in a pot (wich you can grow from a piece of a leaf), green onions, celery and leek (you can grow them in a windowsill by simply putting the ends on water!), and really anything else that you can grow easily that you use frecuently. Look at what your needs are, what you buy the most, and try to grow something that satisfies THAT.

- Make your own veggie stock with your scraps. Use skins, ends and leaves from carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions, pumpkins, celery, zuchinnis, tomatoes, and really any vegetable you use that has a soup named after it (I wouldn’t put lettuce there, for example). I have also started to put the water that comes on canned veggies, after all its just salt and veggie juice, which is all this stock is gonna be about. Set your chickpea water apart, tho. It’s called aquafaba and its an excellent egg replacement.

- Go vegan, if you can. It’s the most impactful individual action you can have for the enviroment, and it can be made unexpesively (its just easier or harder to do depending on where you live). If you can’t, then try to reduce your meat, eggs and dairy consumption. Remember you don’t have to do it perfectly to make a difference.

- Cook more at home. You know this one. Also, turn off your heating for 20 minutes before and just warm your house with the excess heat from cooking. If you did something in a pot with water, allow the water to cool before throwing it fro that sweet sweet heat.

Trash and Treasure:

- Look up your local recycling plant, and see what you can recycle on the curbside and what you can’t, and also what days are reserved por picking up recycling. Make sure the things you put there are clean and dry. (yep, you gotta wash your trash if you wanna recycle it). There’s even a chance you can make a profit off of recyclables, but if you figure out how to let me know.

- Compost at home. It’s fairly simple, and it can be done in apartments too. Research your different choices and how to properly take care of it for cheap, flea-less, rat-less, and odor-less compost.

- Im not gonna tell you to buy second hand clothes, because you probably already do, but buy second hand everything. You can get furniture, home appliances and cookware secondhand. Look around for garage sales and pawn shops.

- Mend the things you already own. Learn embroidery and some basic sewing skills for your clothes. Glue the sole of your shoes together when they start to fall apart. Teach yourself how to fix your things, youtube is right there.

- Use your public library! For gods sake! Many tumblr posts have tackled this issue better than I ever could. Use your public library. They might even have some tools or cookware you can borrow just like books instead of having to buy them yourself.

- Bulk shop. It can really be cheaper than buying in package, and you can just avoid that plastic and also avoid buying more than you need.

But the most important thing you can do is protest. None of these things, as good as they are, are enough to stop climate change. We need systematic change, and it has to come from our goverments. So donate, join activism groups, or protest.

[princehomestead]

well lads it’s about time i shared with you something that i actually made with my own two hands so here’s a little post about my oh-shit-i-forgot-to-buy-stuff-for-dinner chili

aka some cheap-ass easy-to-make chili aka my favorite chili recipe since college

so...

Easy Crockpot Chili

for your chili base you’re gonna want to use at least three of these five ingredients. i recommend all five so as to have enough body to really call it a chili but if you are a super duper picky eater, do what you gotta do. your base chili ingredients are:

- tomatoes, diced - corn (kernels, not cobbed) - black beans - at least one other kind of bean (i usually do a dark/light red kidney bean split) - spice(s)

at its easiest, cheapest, and least spoon-requiring iteration, you dump a can of all these ingredients (liquid and all) and a packet of chili seasoning into your crock pot and cook for a few hours while you do... whatever else you need to do. (back in my school days it was writing papers or office work. these days it’s housework or diy projects) as soon as it’s hot, it’s ready, but it will keep on the heat for hours without taking any serious texture degrading, and it reheats excellently! (hot usually happens after 2 hours for all-fresh, all canned, or a mixture of both ingredients. if you add anything frozen, add at least one more hour)

that’s it. super duper simple. 

however

if you want something more complicated, if you’ve got actual energy for once and feel like treating yourself, or if you want more variety in your diet, you can go buckwild adding stuff to this basic, well, base.

i can honestly eat this with no meat at all, but if the carnivore(s) in your life aren’t having it, you can add a lot of different meats. personally i rotate between chicken (thigh tends to dry out less than breast if you’re okay with dark meat), ground beef (brown it first - also i recommend adding garlic at this stage), and kielbasa or polska sausage. diced ham (like you can buy pre-diced at the store if you’re short on time) or stew beef/beef tips would probably also go over really well. cook the meat before adding it to the chili if it needs cooking, you’re probably not gonna have the crock pot on long enough to cook any meat, and the texture of meat is much better when cooked beforehand. stew beef can be cooked in the crock pot, but do that before adding in your chili ingredients.

i add in a lot of my spices of choice (cumin, chili powder, garlic, sometimes carne asada or adobo seasoning) when cooking the meat so that the spice breaks up a little in the fat and isn’t so grainy in the chili, but you can also just add it straight into the liquid. just make sure to stir it well!

if you’re like me and you like an absolutely mountain of vegetables in your everyday meals, you can add more veggies to this mixture as well. some of my reoccurring favorites are bell pepper, onion, green chilies, and jalapeno, but definitely try out other veggies if you’re all about that flavor profile. your only real limit here is how large your crock pot is; if you’ve got a giant stockpot and a little more time to babysit the stove, you’ve really got minimal limits on portions.

time to get cookin’, y’all

some extra tips:

- if you’re adding a lot of extras, either meat or fresher veggies, add extra tomatoes or some flavorful liquid (broth, stock, beer, you name it!) to keep it more of a soup consistency - serve with something! i usually go for sweet cornbread muffins (think jiffy muffin mix if you don’t wanna tackle that from scratch) but you could use texas toast, bread bowls, rice, potatoes, whatever starch that tickles your fancy -  the one sad thing i found is that mushrooms tend not to work out unless they’re sauteed and served over top of the chili at the very end. they end up with a really gross texture from the crock pot that just isn’t pleasant. - cheese is your friend! get you something good and melt-y (mild cheddar is imho the best for this but anything goes) and top your bowl off - if you really play up the tex-mex flavor profile, sour cream and/or guacamole on top is an excellent way to serve this. the flavors complement well and if you put any spicy heat in your chili, your tongue will thank you. - you can sub any and all of these ingredients with fresh! it is a very forgiving recipe. there is a definitely a difference even just subbing in one or two fresh ingredients over canned, but even at its most basic form this recipe is tasty!

[unwritrecipes]

Chicken Stir-Fry with Mixed Veggies and Peanuts

Maybe it doesn’t come in a cute box complete with a move-inspired prize, but this chicken stir-fry is my version of a happy meal. True, it’s a far cry from the one that’s been forever branded into our heads by that double arches fast food chain, but this one not only tastes good but is actually good for you too!

I ❤️ a good stir-fry and this one is loaded with so many of my favorite things. There are cubes of tender, white meat chicken, lots of crisp veggies, a light and slightly sweet soy sauce-based sauce, plus the crunch of roasted peanuts.

And while these are all relatively ordinary ingredients, magic happens when you stir-fry them all together here, transforming them into a memorable, winner-of-a dish! I’ve made this twice in the last 2 weeks and no one is complaining!

It’s also an incredibly versatile dish—here I used celery, carrots, scallions and snow pea pods but you could easily sub in or out any veggies you want or have on hand.

Stir-fries are great for busy weeknights but a word of caution— only if you’ve done most of the prep work ahead of time or somehow have the luxury of being home all afternoon to prepare dinner. Don’t attempt to start this from scratch unless you plan to eat late or have exceptionally patient kids!

What I like to do is chop up all the veggies and chicken early in the morning or even the day before and then store them separately in little dishes, covered in the fridge (or in little bags, especially if they’re the reusable ones—gotta think of the environment). Then, when it’s time to make dinner, it’s really not much more than whisking up the simple sauce and stir-frying everything together.

And making a pot of rice, which for me, is always the hidden perk about a stir-fry. I’m usually pretty careful about how many carbs I eat with meals since I’m always baking something or other but you just need to soak up all that lovely stir-fry sauce with a mound of rice! At least, that’s my excuse!

So get out that knife and start chopping ‘cause tonight it’s a homemade, feel-good, “happy meal”— the take-in stir-fry way!

Chicken Stir-Fry with Mixed Veggies and Peanuts

Makes 4 generous servings

Prep Time: 30 minutes (plus time to prep food)

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized cubes

1 tablespoon Asian chile sauce

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1/4 cup soy sauce, divided

1/4 cup vegetable oil, divided

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 scallions, thinly sliced

3 celery stalks, ends cut off, sliced down the middle lengthwise and chopped

3 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 large shallots, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 cup unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts

1/2 pound snow pea pods, ends trimmed

Water

Rice for serving (optional but not really)

The Recipe

1. Whisk the chile sauce, cornstarch, rice wine, and 2 tablespoons of the soy sauce together in a medium bowl and add the chicken. Toss well to coat and set aside. Make sure all of your other ingredients are prepped and ready to go, near the stove. Put on a pot of rice to cook.

2. Place a large heavy-weight skillet with high sides over a burner and heat on high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil and when it is very hot and ripply looking, add the garlic and scallions and cook for about 30 seconds, stirring constantly—you don’t want the garlic to burn. Add the celery, carrots, shallots, sugar and peanuts and cook, stirring often, for about 4-5 minutes, until the veggies are crisp-tender (if you don’t use carrots and use a softer veggie, this may go more quickly). Transfer the mixture to a plate and set aside.

3. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the skillet and let it get very hot. Add the chicken with the sauce to the pan, spreading it into a single layer. Let cook for a couple of minutes, before stirring—then cook for at least another 5 minutes, stirring often, until chicken is browned and almost totally cooked through. Add the snow peas and cook for a few minutes, stirring often, until they are bright green.

4. Add back in the veggie mixture, the remaining 2 tablespoons soy sauce and a few tablespoons of water. Use a wooden spoon to stir everything together and to scrape up any browned bits that have stuck to the bottom of the pan. If it seems a bit dry, add a couple more tablespoons of water and stir so that there is more sauce. Serve immediately as is or over a bed of rice.

Enjoy!

Note: Recipe adapted from Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen by Dana Cowin. I tinkered a lot with this one, subbing in and out ingredients and changing proportions. Make it your own.

[mishafletcher]

What kind of recipes can we expect in your book, "Cooking is Terrible"? Are there tips and tricks? Do they require a lot of equipment? Are they easy to modify? It sounds like a great concept for a cook book! :)

hi! the book is written to be as accessible as possible. everything is pretty flexible, i remind you repeatedly that you can use different ingredients so that the recipes work for you, and you need minimal equipment. at the very start of the book, i suggest that you have, at a minimum, dishes and silverware (paper and plastic are fine), a way to heat things, something to heat things in, a bowl, and a knife. you can do most of the recipes with just that.

if you want to get fancy, things that make cooking and eating easier (in my opinion) are a cutting board, measuring cups, large spoons, mugs, a spatula, a grater, a stick blender, and a food processor. not the fancy kinds, to be clear–the kinds that are cheap and easily rinsed clean, because i’m not taking apart a twenty-piece appliance every time i have to eat.

the recipes are pretty varied. the first part of the book is recipes that require no cooking at all–like, you usually don’t even need a microwave. there’s a page each of potential combinations for smoothies and sandwiches, a bunch of salads (most of which don’t rely on greens or pasta), dips that are substantial and (mostly) healthy enough to eat as meals, plus a couple other recipes that don’t fit in any of those categories, but don’t require cooking.

the second part is food that requires some cooking, but not a ton. there’s a section on pasta (focusing on toppings that you can make easily in the time it takes your pasta to cook), rice (which, honestly, i mostly buy in pre-made packets at the supermarket), oats, things on toast, and soups that take like ten minutes total. 

‘that sounds really carb heavy,’ you say, ‘and like a lot of work.’ which could be true, but there’s no reason you have to cook wheat noodles when there’s a wide world of bean noodles, vegetable noodles, rice noodles, precooked noodles, and basically hundreds of other kinds of noodles available. it’s mentioned in the book, but i’ll say it here, too: you should absolutely use the noodles (or the cauliflower rice, or the quinoa, or gluten-free bread) that works for you, personally. 

the third part of the book is cooking things that takes very little hands-on time, but some netflix watching while your food cooks in the other room. more importantly, the third part of the book also has lists of easy ways to use the meat, beans, or potatoes that you’ve just cooked a bunch of. 

the last two parts are short, and are about baking and desserts. it’s not super extensive, in part because baking often is pretty fussy about timing, and in part because i feel like motivating myself to make brownies is somehow much easier than motivating myself to cook supper, and i assume this is true for everyone. brownies are delicious. 

finally, a sample recipe, copied verbatim from the soup section. (worth noting: prior to this, there are discussions of stock and stock alternatives. the short version is that i love me a bouillon cube.)

Shitty Soup

This soup isn’t actually shitty—it’s actually nice,and I eat it a lot—but we started calling it shitty soup, and the name’s stuck.

For one person, bring just under two cups of stock toa boil.

Add about 2 Tbsp of pastina. When the pasta is nearlydone (which is only like, two minutes), crack in an egg and turn the pot to asimmer. After about two minutes of simmering, add some sort of veggie—shreddedcarrots, fresh or frozen spinach, frozen peas—and let it cook for anotherminute. Tada! You’ve made soup.

You can change this up, and don’t have to include allthree bits—pasta and a few veggies, or just an egg boiled in stock, is great,and totally a meal. I give all three components mainly so there’s a note abouttiming.

There are a million variations on this—add tomatopaste or sesame oil, add other veggies, cook the egg to different degrees ofdoneness, etc. You can add a little cheese at the end, or a handful of (rinsed)tinned beans, or shreds of previously cooked meat. But at its most basic, broth+ something else = soup, which is a meal that you can totally manage to makefor yourself in under ten minutes, and then you can smugly tell the internetthat you’re sure that what they’re having is nice and all, but you’re havinghomemade soup. And let’s be honest—most nights, this soup is not good enough tojustify that, but who cares.Sometimes you gotta take what you can get.

(obligatory buy links: amazon, gumroad, barnes and noble)

[roddaprime]

RODDA’S TIPS FOR STUFF: BONE SOUP DEPRESSION MEALS

if yall are okay with meat n stuff bone stoup is a gr8t depression meal

okay so basically its exactly what it sounds like, soup made with bones. Like beef bones but you can use any meat bones, pork, chicken turkeys really good too.

First, roasting the bones! Put them in a metal or over safe glass pan and roast them for an hour at around 400-350 degrees . It brings out amazing flavor in them, you can skip this? But like its totally worth it to roast them.

When your roasting them , a shit load of oil is going to come out of them. When you pull the bones out, you can throw this out but I personally pour it into a ceramic container and keep it in the freezer for frying. If your down with animal fat, its AMAZING, and unless yall are eating red meat exclusive diet, its totally okay to use this occasionally. Animal fat is actually super good for you, esp if your not eating much.

So its recommended to blanch the roasted bones but I don’t mind a murky looking soup, but if you do blanch them you basically gotta get some rolling boiling water, dump the bones in, and boil for 20 min , take them out , chuck the water out refill the pot and then start with the soup making. You want to continuously boil at a medium heat where theres some bubbles coming up but not like a crazy amount.

With bone soup, the longer you cook for the better it tastes. Ive cooked bones for about 24 hours? And god it tasted amazing. I don’t leave the stove on overnight, I turn it off before bed and then just turn it on in the morning. The broth wont go bad because re-heating it (and not touching it otherwise) will let it keep as your cooking it. Just watch the water level

You don’t want much in the soup while its boiling, you want just the bones to continuously cook, just some simple seasonings or throw in a bullion cube ( stock cube or broth cube) to season a bit.  Bullion cubes are a fantastic way to give something a nice boost of flavor, and for smaller stuff you don’t even need to use the whole cube, just break pieces of it. I personally roast onions and then put them in the soup as the bones are boiling, theyre going to disintegrate into liquid when your done but it adds to the soup. If you into onions I mean.

While that bad boys going, you want to prepare some other stuff. Dice up some carrots, onions and celery and then blanch those. When blanching veggies you just need to heat up a kettle full of water, set the vegs in a bowl and pour the water overtop and let them cook for a bit, pour the water out, splash some cold water on them to stop them from cooking further and you got blanched veggies. If you put them in bags and put them in the freezer you have veggies ready to go throw in rice or soup. This is gr8t also with vegs that are about to go bad. You can also do this with most veggies, even mushrooms! Don’t let those guys go to waste, produce is expensive man.

Back to the soup, when you’ve cooked it for as long as you felt like, let it cool on the stovetop. Cause were using bones, theres gonna be a lot of fat in the soup. I don’t bother skimming this stuff cause its yummy, but if theres too much going on ill skim a bit off using a soup spoon.

As a hoarder I keep every jar I come across, from jam to pasta , anything. So I keep the soup in these jars in the fridge, and when I want a super quick meal I just pour one of them into a mug and viola instant soup, and all you gotta do to is add some blanched veggies.

Yeah this is a lot of work but I mean if you want a really good meal with lots of nutrient’s and stuff like that you can pull quick from the fridge this is good. gotta capitalize on the good days so the bad days aren’t as bad you know? I’ve literally survived on this stuff alone.

okay the bones themselves, I get them from grocery stores that have butchers instore. If you can find a store that has this your set. If you don’t see anything in the store, you can ask them to cut up some bones for you. Most butchers will also give you excess meat fat for free if you ask, that stuff is gold.

So I get about 5 good sized bone chunks for about 4 dollars Canadian, which is pretty good. And the great thing about the bones is that you can reuse the bones as many times as you want. The taste will get less pronounced as you cook them over and over but I’ve been told you can literally use them until they disintegrate into nothing.

Apparently back in the pioneer days, you know the little house on the prairie eras I call it, they used to do this quite a bit. Back when America was a beautiful barely touched, with tons of trees and land, food was hard to come by, and it was use every bit or you know starve.

I say that but like, if I didn’t mention covered wagons that could be today hmm

Im slowly started to go off tangent but tl;dr

MAKE BONE SOUP, ITS VERY GOOD FOR YOU.

[italicwatches]

Laid-Back Camp - Episode 05

Good god something I ate has destroyed me. I am not having a good day right now.

But even on bad days, there must be anime. (plus, quite frankly, I can at least actually do this right now, unlike half the other shit I should be getting done) It’s Laid-Back Camp, episode 05! Here we GO!

-We begin at the most devilishly potent temptation, the hot springs. The OutCamp crew scrub themselves down, and even the shower is warm and delightful~

-Meanwhile Rin is puttering along, with another 40 kilometers between her and her destination. And with how brutally cold it is, she’s thinking of her own hot springs adventure…Come on, motivation, hold…

-Opening!

-Episode 05: Two Camps, Two Campers’ Views

-Back with the crew, who are loving this near-cliffside hot spring. It’s so hot, it’s so good, the view is amazing…Getting out of this place is gonna be harder than anything these girls have ever faced, because it’s just so comfy.

-Meanwhile Rin is riding through 2 degrees Celsius on a rickety, cheap, probably used motor-scooter. She is…Not comfy, is what I’m getting at. I do not know the pain of that kind of chill, but I definitely am sharing in discomfort so I sympathize with you, Rin.

-Back with the OutCamp crew, they’re realizing the danger of this place as they nearly end up buying a big heavy lunch that would leave them stuffed all day and unable to properly enjoy camp food. Aoi manages to catch…them…

-They still end up with deep-fried eggs. I’ve never heard of a deep fried egg and I’m not sure if it’d be good or not. This place is truly dangerous.

-Rin’s finally gotten to a big milestone and a gorgeous view over empty fields…A full 150 kilometers! She did it! It’s wonderful! But now she’s gotta find that damned hot spring before she freeze—

-Funny story.

-True story.

-The hot spring is, best case scenario, closed for the winter. Worst case, shut down for good. Whatever the case, it is absolutely entirely closed for today. …This SUCKS.

-Oh, and the amazing view that was supposed to be awaiting her? It’s shrouded by fog from the winter air. She’s starting to feel like she should’ve just done an easy overnighter at a place near her house…Of course, then she crests this ridge, and we get one of those moments that’s just god DAMN. Even Rin, who’s seen a hell of a lot of great views, is awed and re-motivated. She’ll detour to a hot spring when she goes home. But right now, she’s going to find somewhere she can safely cook a little grub.

-And she ends up finding a great little clearing…It’ll just be on the jet-boil, no full campfire, but our humble narrator shows the fantastic little pasta soup you can make on the road in just such a circumstance. It’s a simple, classic dish. Chop up some meat and veggies at home(Rin’s has onion, bacon, asparagus and Shimeji mushrooms), fry them up with a little oil in the dry pot(a great time to add in some garlic as well, such as in powder or squeeze forms), then throw in a little water and a humble stock cube. Get it boiling and toss in your pasta, which along with the stock cube will help soak up a lot of the water. Then when the pasta’s softened nicely, a little milk and cheese to bring in that creamy richness, some seasoning to round it out, and you’re good to go!

-And shit, it’s pretty damn good! Rin, who has lived her camp life relying on things you pour boiling water onto and then wait three minutes, is in heaven. She even sends a photo of it to Nadeshiko, bragging about her roadside cooking skills…

-Nadeshiko, who dozed off at the hot springs. And realizes it’s…Four in the bloody afternoon! OH GOD THEY GOTTA GO so yeah that happened.

-Soon they’re on the move…Through a narrow path in the woods…And the sun is getting low. This is starting to be a bit worrying. Luckily, they make it! And it’s a super basic campgrounds, little more than some cleared land in the woods. This ain’t exactly the kind of place where you get power hookups and a bathroom with actual plumbing. It’s porta-potties and the owner personally delivering some water so you don’t die on his campground.

-Tents up, rules learned, and a wondrous stockpile of firewood since this kind of campground requires so much wood removal it’s not even worth charging for the stuff. In fact, they’ve got enough that Chiaki decides to try making the…What’s she call it? A Swedish torch, or a lumberjack candle. It’s where you have a vertical log or tied bundle of firewood, with kindling stuffed into an opening in the center and so it burns from the center out, creating a smaller, more focused fire.

-And soon they’re able to just relax…Aaand then the wire they used gives because you’re really not supposed to do it like that, and the whole thing spills out. It’s a good thing nothing gets burned. And Chiaki tries to act like she wasn’t the cause of that near mishap.

-Meanwhile Rin’s got a copy of a book on UFOs, a cup of hot drink, and a great v—WHAT WAS THAT IN THE SKY

-Back with the OutCamp crew, it’s curry for dinner! A stewed, rich curry with a whole array of ingredients, and some pre-cooked rice to pour it over. And to mix it up, Nadeshiko stole the flavor packet out of some instant ramen to bring in that meaty flavor. Which turns into a conversation on how everyone’s own families have done their own take on curry. Every family has a different curry.

-And a montage, as the night goes on, of cooking up marshmallows and kebabs over the campfire…Until finally it’s time to go to sleep…Aaand they’ve run into the problem that they have two tents, three people, and each tent can really only hold two people comfortably. Someone’s gonna be sleeping with the gear as their friend. …Rock paper scissors? Rock paper sci—

-Nadeshiko is now friends with the backpacks. I’m sorry, Nadeshiko. She ends up getting out her phone to text Rin for a bit, who’s facing the frigid cold of her efforts up on the mountains…But damn if the views weren’t worth it. There are so many stars, Nadeshiko…

-And that gets Nadeshiko thinking, as she grabs her lantern and braves the forest trail! She’d have taken the others but they’re asleep, so it’s just her on her own until she gets to a road and a clearing, and…The night view of the city down below.

-A few that Rin is amazed by…And with the bitter chill, she bundles herself up to take the scooter back down to that mountain from her afternoon, and share her own shot. And it’s…It’s powerful, you guys. Even with it being one in the morning, even upon two icy winter campsites, even hundreds of kilometers apart, they feel connected by the majesty of the moment…

-Credits! With a few montage photos of the morning arriving to both campsites, the groups preparing to return to their ordinary lives…And Rin getting her damn hot spring stop on the way back.

-Aftercredits! Nadeshiko got all the photos printed! They can start posting them up on the wall! She’s…Started in the bottom corner so she can fill the whole wall. …I mean, that’s not a bad ambition, but Nadeshiko continues to be like a puppy.

God damn that was a good episode. It was simple, straightforward, but it did what it set out to do with aplomb. The simple contrasts between Rin’s more experienced efforts(though with her new experiments in cooking) and the crew’s more rookie endeavor, their more comfortable easygoing style versus her pushing herself hard…And, that, view.

This was good. This was really good. This is the kind of show that serves as an example of what slice-of-life and healing anime can be, when they really nail the character beats and the visual artistry. I can’t wait for episode six, you guys.

[ted-hyung]

Can you write jaepil where Wonpil with jae because jae keeps on being mean to him/refusing his affection on camera (and maybe also off camera but idk bout that)

dude anon-sshi real talk; jae is more lenient towards wonpil’s affection if compared to sungjin smh i want to punch some sense to sungjin. anw what i’m saying is, jae openly laughs and mocks wonpil’s affection yet

gifs credit 1, 2.

honestly aksfkjaskjdfa. so i gotta twist the prompt a bit, yeah? tell me if you’ve read this then likes then reblogs lmao.

title: have you no idea that you’re in deep?

rating: G / word count: 1.8k / to celebrate jae’s upcoming birthday this one’s set on their upcoming Vlive “mama’s recipe” thingy / enjoy and comment on AO3 lol.

“everyone, right now we’re picking our teammates,” brian says to the camera to fill in the silence, “by drawing lots. it will be two versus three. so far, we have wonpil and jae-hyung picking two ends painted in red, and sungjin-hyung and dowoon with blue ends. now it’s my turn.”

jaehyung watches as brian, with what little variety show sense he has, carelessly picks the last lot with a loud exclaim. his end is painted in blue. sometimes, life just works in ways that jaehyung isn’t a big fan of.

he pretends to scoff at sungjin, dowoon, and brian team, bragging to the camera about wonpil who does the most cooking in their dorm anyway, meaning that he’s got some experience that’s not just ramyun or ordering seasoned fried chicken, nope, and at least wonpil is smiling and nodding like he’s satisfied by jaehyung’s acknowledgement—like he hasn’t been talking to jaehyung for approximately a week ever since that happened.

not that jaehyung himself tries to talk to wonpil, either, but you get the drill.

“eyy, still, our team has the mystery benefit because dowoon won the game!” sungjin laughs, crossing his arms. his apron has brown the bear from line messenger app. “PD-nim, may we know what’s the mystery benefit now?” he asks the PD, and apparently the benefit is unlimited phone call to someone’s mother whenever they’re not sure how the recipe goes.

“can we make overseas call?” brian widens his eyes, probably half for the camera and half genuinely hoping that he can call his mother in toronto.the PD shakes his head, smiling apologetically, and the whole studio goes ‘aahhh~’ and brian’s pout is definitely only a show for the camera.

dowoon raises his hand. “so what are we going to cook tonight?”

it’s bibimbap. that’s so easy even jaehyung thinks that he’s got the knack of putting boiled vegetables and whatever style meat on top of white rice and finished with soft-boiled egg and pepper paste.

except that there are a lot of steps to follow.

the red versus blue team are cooking side to side, and they have to finish cooking in just one hour. wonpil asks him if he’s ever cooked rice without rice cooker and jaehyung, for the sake of the fans, goes blank for a solid one blink of an eye to the camera. wonpil’s smile is helpless, and he’s giggling as he takes over to cook the rice manually, and tells jaehyung to start washing the vegetables.

first, jaehyung washes the carrots, complaining that they haven’t been peeled, then the bean sprouts, the spinach, and the shiitake mushrooms while wonpil measures the water needed to cook the rice manually. when he’s done with the rice and the portable stove is working its magic, he begins to mix sauces to marinate the beef.

only to pause after he puts a tablespoon of honey to the small bowl. “jae-hyung do you want cooked or boiled beef? wait, do you want to use chicken, instead?”jaehyung makes sure that he’s washed the shiitake mushrooms thoroughly before answering, “you’re making the sauce to marinate the beef, right? just don’t overseason it? i trust your judgement.”

wonpil nods, smiling, and then he’s explaining to the camera what other ingredients that he puts to make the sauce, spouting some cheesy remarks about wanting my days to try his cooking and winking cutely before the camera focuses to jaehyung.

“no one is really in charge of cooking in our dorm, but wonpil does it the most,” jaehyung says, peeking over wonpil’s shoulders and feeling the younger man stiffening upon their close proximity. “usually he cooks kimchi fried rice. but if we’re talking about ramen, dowoon cooks it the best. what? me? nah, i’m hopeless. i can fry eggs, maybe some instant pasta with their instant sauce. wonpil-sshi? what else can i help you with?”

“oh, would you please boil the vegetables and the mushrooms together?”“‘together’, like, together in one pot?”

“yes.”

“everyone, that’s how hopeless i am,” jaehyung confesses to the camera, laughing loudly at himself. “okay, i need water, right?”

wonpil is giggling again, his cat’s whiskers are making an appearance.

“boil the water until it bubbles, then adds two teaspoons of salt.”

“salt?”

“yes, jae-hyung, the basic seasoning for bibimbap’s veggies.”

“alright, chef.”

wonpil scrunches his nose and instructs jaehyung to just boil the spinach and beansprouts for one minute, two minutes for the shiitake mushrooms, and three minutes for the carrots. jaehyung doesn’t want to take any risk so he fishes out his phone and activates the timer.

but he seems to forget something.

something that the cameraman points out to him, asking him aren’t you supposed to slice the vegetables first? and jaehyung gapes, shocked, rendered to nothing thanks to his stupidity.

“really, jae-hyung?” dowoon clicks his tongue as he’s spying on the red team, one hand holding a big wooden spoon, doing nothing. brian and sungjin are also laughing at him, like they didn’t make two phone calls to sungjin’s mother for the past fifteen minutes to ask her to guide them step by step, then more.

wonpil is cackling. he has two hands covering his mouth and jaehyung is more relieved than anything else, because hey, at least i can make him laugh again.

“alright, everyone, don’t panic,” jaehyung recovers from his genuine shock to don the natural swag for the camera. he nods seriously as he takes a knife, and refuses to admit that he’s completely clueless; how the heck do you slice vegetables?

“hmm,” jaehyung hums, not really having to exaggerate his clueless expression and body language as his right hand is poised with the knife. “it’s like this, right?” he takes a deep breath and takes one big, cleaned carrot. he cuts it in half. but if he keeps going, the carrot will be sliced in circles and jaehyung is pretty sure bibimbap doesn’t have circled carrots. okay, maybe he should cut each into another half?

“jae-hyung?” wonpil asks, wiping his hands on the female white bunny apron he’s wearing, also a character from line messenger app. jaehyung’s is a tiny yellow chick, brian’s a blonde man with shoulder-length hair, and dowoon’s a bald, naked person. the aprons are all cute, unlike the vegetables that jaehyung has to tend to.

“yeah?”

“you’re bleeding!”

*

wonpil doesn’t usually say this, not even when he’s on the low, but right now he really, really kinda hates himself. the tears just won’t stop for some reason, and he was so distracted by jaehyung’s blood that he didn’t realize his fingers were sticky and peppery. brian says his eyes are swelling a little on the edges, puffy and teary, and more than anything else, not even how his face would turn out on cameras and on my days’ phone screens, he’s more worried about jaehyung’s fingers. the older man didn’t cut them deep, just a graze, really, but he’s been making wonpil sad ever since that happened.

the v live show must go on, though. sungjin volunteers to help and handles the vegetables with ease. jaehyung is frying two eggs as a side dish, and wonpil is still under the care of manager-hyung; an ice block is placed on his left eye.“you okay?” manager-hyung asks, sitting next to wonpil on the folded chair next to the PD.

“yes, hyung. i’m so sorry.” wonpil says, sniffing.

“it’s okay. five more minutes?”

“yes, please.”

five minutes are enough for wonpil to watch jaehyung laughing and talking to the camera. five minutes are a long time to remember what happened last week; the soft and pillowy feeling of jaehyung’s lips on his, the sharp alcohol breath and the tender hands on his cheeks. if wonpil concentrates with all of his might, he can feel the same electricity just by imagining those calloused fingers on his skin just like last week when, under the influence of one bottle of soju, jaehyung decided that it was the right time to kiss wonpil without any preamble, leaving wonpil questioning everything.

everything that includes, why, and other why why why that follows.why did he kiss me?

why didn’t he say anything?

why is he ignoring me?

why am i avoiding him?

why don’t i ask him why?

and the tears flowed because today is jaehyung’s birthday. birthdays are supposed to be special, yet wonpil just has to ruin it by crying uncontrollably just because jaehyung grazes his fingers with a knife. he’s 25 years old, for god’s sake, he looked even more bewildered by wonpil’s sudden crying rather than his actual pain.

“wonpil-sshi? whenever you’re ready.” the PD is smiling at him, his hat says ‘good day’ and wonpil is determined to make it up for jaehyung today.

who doesn’t even bat an eyelash when he bounces back to his spot, the only reaction he has is to tell wonpil to try the boiled vegetables, and nothing else, not until he’s placing a comforting hand on wonpil’s lower back and speaking in a softer, less show off-y tone.

“i’m sorry, jae-hyung,” wonpil mumbles, though it might be still recorded on the camera anyway.

“for what?” jaehyung mumbles back, not leaving wonpil’s side, his hand warming wonpil from inside and out.

“i ruined your birthday,” wonpil huffs, “the blood was too much.”

“don’t be silly,” jaehyung says, smiling, leaning down to whisper, “i’m sorry tho. i’m a coward.”

“me too,” wonpil agrees, and their moment is broken by dowoon reminding them with faux-concern that they only have fifteen minutes left.

surprisingly, the last fifteen minutes run smoothly. the rice is cooked to perfection and the too salty vegetables can be fixed with just soaking them in lukewarm water to rinse off the salty taste. jaehyung loves the marinated beef, and his fried eggs are looking great when they’re put as a garnish on top of their hot stone bowls. in the end, because of limited duration, they don’t hold a final showdown based on the PD’s voting and they all get to finish their bibimbap after saying goodbyes to the camera.

the hearts stopped at 2,739,023 mark.

in the van on their way back home, sungjin is sleeping on the front seat, and brian and dowoon are not much more awake than him on the middle, while wonpil and jaehyung are sitting just inches apart at the very back, their phones in hands, typing confessions that can’t be verbally said out in the open. wonpil asks a lot of whys, and jaehyung explains it’s because i’ve always wanted to kiss you but, you know, we live in a crowded dorm and, i don’t know, you have this vibe that i just—i just don’t want to taint you or something, wonpillie, what i feel for you is so strong sometimes i’m afraid it will consume you. me. i mean—

and wonpil shuts him up with a quick peck to his pillowy lips as he talks nonsense about what he’s feeling without knowing just how much his is towards him—and jaehyung is chuckling, it’s rumbling low like he’s either super amused and confused and wonpil reaches out to pinch his waist, prompting him to squeal and causing dowoon to wake up, whining at them to just get back to sleep.

[lovemesomesurveys]

FOOD SURVEY

1. What’s the last thing you ate? Ramen.

2. What’s your favourite cheese? I love many different kinds of cheese. Cheese makes everything better.

3. What’s your favourite fish? I don’t have one.

4. What’s your favourite fruit? Banana.

5. When, if ever, did you start liking olives? I don’t know when exactly, but I’ve liked black olives for as long as I can remember. I’ve never liked green olives.

6. When, if ever, did you start liking beer? I never liked beer.

7. When, if ever, did you start liking shellfish? Never. 

8. What was the best thing your mum/dad/guardian used to make? Not used to, they still do cook delicious meals. A few of my faves are my mom’s lasagna, meatballs, and tacos and my dad’s spaghetti and scrambled eggs. Also, I’m not a big burger person and I don’t like steak or porkchops, but the rest of my family loves when my dad makes those things. 

9. What’s the native specialty of your hometown? Probably Mexican food.

10. What’s your comfort food? Ramen.

11. What’s your favourite type of chocolate? Milk and white chocolate. 

12. How do you like your steak? I don’t.

13. How do you like your burger? Not a big burger person, but if I eat one it’s gotta be well done. I don’t want any red in my meat. *gag*

14. How do you like your eggs? Scrambled, sunny-side up, hardboiled, deviled... I love eggs.

15. How do you like your potatoes? Like every way they come, ha. I also love potatoes. 

16. How do you take your coffee? With flavored cream or cream and sugar.

17. How do you take your tea? With a packet of sweetener. 

18. What’s your favourite mug? It’s blue on the outside and yellow on the inside with Peter Pan and the gang on it. 

19. What’s your biscuit or cookie of choice? Sugar cookies or shortbread.

20. What’s your ideal breakfast? Scrambled eggs with shredded cheese and spinach, country gravy, hash browns, and coffee.

21. What’s your ideal sandwich? Either bologna and sharp cheddar or colby jack cheese, mustard, and mayo or turkey, salami, either of those cheeses, spinach, mayo, and mustard. Also, a pickle on the side and some olive oil for dipping. I miss a good deli sandwich, though. That sounds really good.

22. What’s your ideal pizza: White sauce, feta and ricotta cheese, spinach, garlic, and crumbled meatballs with pesto on top and ranch for dipping.

23. What’s your ideal pie (sweet or savoury)? The only pie I like is cheesecake.

24. What’s your ideal salad? Lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, black olives, shredded cheese, shredded carrots, pieces of hardboiled egg, and ranch. I used to love peppercinis as well, but I can’t eat spicy stuff anymore. :(

25. What food do you always like to have in the fridge? I like to have some kind of sandwich fixins so that I can always make a lunch. <<< Same. And eggs. And shredded cheese cause I like to add it to my ramen.

26. What food do you always like to have in the freezer? Healthy Choice steamers pesto pasta meal things, pizza, and Smart Ones breakfast meals.

27. What food do you always like to have in the cupboard? Ramen. 

28. What spices can you not live without? Garlic, salt, black pepper, oregano, basil, chives, paprika (a must for deviled eggs). 

29. What sauces can you not live without? Ranch, olive oil, pesto, marinara, white sauce, mayo, sour cream, gravy, sausage gravy...  I don’t know for sure if a few of those fall under the sauce category, but whatever.

30. Where do you buy most of your food? Walmart and another local grocery store.

31. How often do you go food shopping? We do two big grocery shopping trips a month with a few quick trips in between if we need something.

33. What’s the most expensive piece of kitchen equipment you own? The fridge, probably.

34. What’s the last piece of equipment you bought for your kitchen? Hmm. I think it was the home beer dispenser my brother and I got my dad for Christmas. 

35. What piece of kitchen equipment could you not live without? Keurig, fridge, stove, and microwave.

36. How many times a week/month do you cook from raw ingredients? I never do. I’m not a cook at all, the only things I make are microwavable, cooked in the oven (frozen foods like pizzas), or made on the stovetop (ramen).

37. What’s the last thing you cooked from raw ingredients? Wait, unless you count making hardboiled eggs for deviled eggs. If so, then there’s that. However, that just consists of me putting the eggs in a hardboiled egg cooker thing. I don’t have do much, ha.

38. What meats have you eaten besides cow, pig and poultry? That’s the only kind I eat. 

39. What’s the last time you ate something that had fallen on the floor? I don’t do that ever. If it falls on the ground, it’s trash now to me.

40. What’s the last time you ate something you’d picked in the wild? I’ve never done that.

41. Arrange the following in order of preference: Italian, Mexican, Chinese, Indian, Thai, Sushi – Italian, Mexican, Chinese. I don’t eat Indian, Thai, or sushi.

42. Arrange the following in order of preference: Vodka, Whiskey, Brandy, Rum – I don’t drink.

43. Arrange the following in order of preference: Garlic, Basil, Caramel, Lime, Mint, Ginger, Aniseed – Garlic, basil, mint, caramel, ginger, lime. Not sure what aniseed is.

44. Arrange the following in order of preference: Pineapple, Orange, Apple, Strawberry, Cherry, Watermelon, Banana. – Banana, strawberry, watermelon, apple. I don’t like orange, pineapple, or cherry.

45. Bread and spread: Wheat, white, sourdough, bagels. Pesto, olive oil, peanut butter, mayo, garlic spread, cream cheese. 

46. What’s your fast food restaurant of choice, and what do you usually order? I don’t have one anymore. 

47. Pick a city. What are the best dining experiences you’ve had in that city? Bubba Gump restaurant is fun place with good food.

48. What’s your choice of tipple at the end of a long day? I don’t drink.

49. What’s the next thing you’ll eat? I’m not sure.

50. Are you hungry now? A little bit. 

51. Do you eat your breakfast everyday? I rarely do now. I was doing pretty good for awhile, but then I started sleeping in past 2PM and having late lunch. 

52. At what time do you have breakfast? If I do eat breakfast food nowadays, it’s for dinner.

53. At what time do you have lunch? Like 4 or 5PM.

54. What do you have for lunch? Usually either a sandwich or a Healthy Choice steamers microwave thingy.

55. At what time do you have dinner? Around 8PM.

56. What do you have for dinner? I have a small list of foods I eat cause I’m picky and have food/appetite issues, but I’ll have something like spaghetti and meatballs, burritos/tacos, breakfast for dinner, or takeout like Wingstop or pizza. Sometimes I’ll just have another sandwich.

57. Do you light candles during dinner? No.

58. How many chairs are there in your dining room and who sits in the main chair? We don’t have a dining table or even a dining room anymore. We had to turn that space into a bedroom.

59. Do you eat and drink using your right hand or the left one? Right.

61. Mention the veggies that you like most: Spinach, broccoli, green beans, and corn.

62. What fruit and vegetable do you like the least? I don’t eat a lot of fruits or veggies to be perfectly honest. As bad as it sounds, I haven’t had any fruit the past few years. Spinach is the only veggie I have somewhat often. And like I mentioned in this survey, there are fruits and veggies that I like, I just don’t eat them often.

63. You like your fruit salad to have more: I don’t like fruit salad.

64. You prefer your vegetable salad to contain more: Spinach.

65. What’s your favourite sandwich spread? Mayo, pesto, or an olive oil/vinegar mix.

66. What’s your favourite chocolate bar? Reese’s white chocolate. 

67. What’s your favourite dessert? Brownies, cupcakes, cheesecake, muffins, donuts. 

68. What’s your favourite drink? Coffee and Starbucks Doubleshot energy drinks (that’s coffee, too, but still it’s different).

69. What’s your favourite snack? Movie theater popcorn.

70. What’s your favourite bubble gum flavour? Minty flavors.

71. What’s your favourite ice cream flavour? Strawberry.

72. What’s your favourite potato chip flavour? Sour cream and onion and original Ruffles with ranch dip.

73. What’s your favourite soup? Pork ramen.

74. What’s your favourite pizza? Didn’t I describe that already?

75. What’s your favourite type of dish? Just give me boneless garlic parm and lemon pepper wings from Wingstop, please.

76. What food do you hate? Seafood.

77. What’s your favourite restaurant? Wingstop.

78. Do you eat homemade food, or food delivered from outside? Both.  

80. Who cooks at home? My parents and brother.

81. What kind of diet (e.g. low-fat, high-fiber, high-carbohydrate, balanced diet etc.) do you have? I’m supposed to incorporate a lot of protein.

82. How do you keep yourself fit? I don’t do anything.