#tomato and cucumber accompaniments

[cookconnectexplore]

Smoked Salmon Dip & Charcuterie Board

An Irresistible Combination for Unforgettable Entertaining Moments Are you ready to take your entertaining game to the next level? Picture this: your gathering of family and friends, laughter filling the air, and an irresistible spread of delectable appetizers that will leave everyone craving for more! Now, imagine the star of the show – a mouthwatering smoked salmon dip, perfectly complemented…

[becomingthatgirl111]

healthy lunch and dinner ideas

I thought I would share what I usually eat for lunch or dinner, it's easy and quick to make as well as healthy, you don't need many ingredients. If you like this post in the future I can do more about recipes.

1. TOAST

bread: bagel, seeded or protein bread ideas of ingredients to combine: avocado, light turkey, salmon, eggs (scrambled too) goat cheese, tomato, spinach, cucumber slices, chia seeds and a dash of olive oil.

2. BOWLS/SALADS

base: quinoa, rice or spinach ingredients to add: avocado, broccoli, tuna, chicken strips, tomato, cucumber slices, feta or goat cheese, tofu, chickpeas, boiled eggs, shrimps, olive oil and chia seeds (or the seeds that you like the most)

3. OMELETS

ingredients to add: turkey, spinach, mushrooms, goat cheese (or your choice)

spinach and feta omelet recipe

4. MORE IDEAS

sweet potato, pumpkin or oven-roasted eggplant to accompany any dish

pasta salad with tomato, rocket, spinach, cherry tomatoes, cheese, cheese and seeds of your choice

bowl of boiled vegetables (carrot, cauliflower, broccoli, peas, mushrooms)

chicken with boiled egg and rice garnish

(I clarify that the ingredients are ideas, not all are added, you can choose them.)

(all pictures are from pinterest to inspire the recipes but in the future I might share my own)

[otterlis]

♡ the proudest moment for me is telling others that you are my son ♡

♡ papamin!au my beloved

♡ genre: pure fluff

♡ lenght: ~0,6K

Kento didn't really plan to take a nap.

He was sitting in front of the TV, Yuuji curled up against his side as they watched Gravity Falls - well, Yuuji watched it. It was their afternoon tradition. They came back home, did the homework, watched some TV before they got hungry and then they cooked dinner together.

Today wasn’t much different, but after a tiring day at work Kento was absolutely exhausted. Too many pointless meetings and dumb arguments with his coworkers resulted in a throbbing headache and red, tired eyes. Relaxing against the soft pillows, Kento thought it wouldn’t hurt to close his eyes for a moment and rest. He wouldn’t fall asleep, right? Naps weren’t really his thing.

Then, as soon as the first episode of the show started, he just straight up passed out.

To him, it felt like a few seconds. A longer blink, if you will. That’s why he was so confused when he shifted and suddenly he couldn’t feel Yuuji’s tiny body pressed against his side. His eyes shot open and he sat straight up as the panic settled in.

‘Yuuji?’, he called out, looking around the room. It was already dark and he could barely make out anything. As he turned around on the couch, Kento noticed soft light pouring out through the kitchen door, accompanied by a few soft grunts of annoyance. He quickly made his way over, stopping in his tracks as soon as he saw the scene before him.

Yuuji was standing on top of the kitchen chair, Kento’s big apron hanging around his tiny body, the straps tangled around his legs. His face was concentrated, the tip of his tongue sticking out, as he tried hard to slice the cucumber that stubbornly rolled away from him with every attempt.

At least he’s using the child-friendly knife, Kento thought with relief. He quietly stepped inside of the kitchen, trying not to startle the boy.

‘What are you doing, Yuuji?’, he asked.

‘Oh, Nanamin!’, Yuuji exclaimed happily, almost falling off the chair as he tried to turn around with the apron tangled between his legs. Luckily, Kento had quick reflexes. This wasn’t the first time this happened, either. ‘I’m making us dinner!’

‘Hm?’, Kento hummed, looking away from the boy he held in his arms and back at the counter. Indeed, there were two plates prepared - there was a ham sandwich, a cheese stick and a few cherry tomatoes on both of them, but coincidentally the one on the right had also a few candies hidden behind the food.

‘I wanted some cucumber too, but it kept rolling away!’, Yuuji added, crossing his arms with frustration. Kento couldn’t help but smile, a warm, cozy feeling spreading across his chest.

‘You did great’, he praised the boy, setting him back up on the chair. He grabbed the rowdy cucumber and set it back on the cutting board, his other hand wrapping around Yuuji's wrist to guide his movements and cut up the vegetable. They boy cheered as they finally defeated the green stick of doom and placed a few slices on each of the plates.

‘Let’s go eat in the living room!’, Yuuji exclaimed, climbing down the chair and slipping out of the apron. He grabbed his plate and quickly run out of the kitchen, trying to cover up the sweets with his tiny hand. Kento chuckled as he picked up his own dinner, turning off the light and following the boy with a smile still etched on his face.

Sure. This one time Kento could pretend he didn’t see any candies on Yuuji’s plate.

It is not flesh and blood, but the heart which makes us fathers and sons — Johann Freidrich von Schiller

ellis jjk fanfic debut?????

inspired by a lovely prompt by @dahldahlbills ♡

[mariacallous]

Making a recent dinner, my wife Elisabeth put together Sohla El-Waylly's “hot and tingly” smashed cucumber salad, a wisp of a recipe that combines favorite ingredients like cukes, chili crisp, salt, sugar, and rice vinegar, along with something less commonly used in our household, MSG. Tucking in, it wasn't a surprise that the salad was good, but the monosodium glutamate gave it an extra savory deliciousness that made me wonder if Elisabeth intentionally set the salad bowl out of my reach.

In my decades living in North America and Europe, MSG was an unfortunately infrequently used ingredient, yet here it was making our tongues happy. Being drawn to it now was inspired by a trend I picked up on while reading some of the best new and recent cookbooks.

Easiest to pick out is the just-released Salt Sugar MSG, by Calvin Eng and Phoebe Melnick, that's a Cantonese-American extravaganza of deliciousness. Tu David Phu and Soleil Ho made regular use of MSG in 2024's The Memory of Taste, and Meathead Goldwyn makes a plea for its use with a special section way up on page five of his brand-new cookbook, The Meathead Method.

Plugging MSG into Eat Your Books, a subscription service that allows you to search recipes from within your own cookbook collection, I could see that among my cookbooks, El-Waylly makes great use of it in her 2023 James Beard Award book, Start Here. Helen Graves has a recipe for an MSG martini in her BBQ Days, BBQ Nights, along with a warning that—I'll paraphrase—you'll likely get hammered if you have more than one of them.

If I searched Eat Your Books for MSG but took out the results from these books, the list dried up to almost nothing. That's a shame considering what great work the ingredient does in the kitchen. El-Waylly uses it in that cucumber salad, a cauliflower and coconut soup, and a cool pistachio ranch fun dip made fun because she loves ranch. Meathead likes it on chicken, mac and cheese, and meat in general. Tu David Fu uses it with stir-fried clams, sticky rice dumplings, and tomato-braised salmon belly. Calvin Eng uses it on just about everything.

"I keep salt, sugar, MSG on my counter all the time," says Eng who's such a fan that he has a little MSG heart tattoo on the back of his left arm.

A self-professed "lover and user of MSG on a massive scale," he still has aha moments with it that help him appreciate its power. His favorite example is Cantonese chicken broth with scallions, garlic, ginger, and Shaoxing wine, finished with salt and MSG. Once for a private dinner, he featured a head-to-head tasting of the broth with salt next to broth with salt and MSG and was deeply impressed at the difference.

"It adds so much umami," he says, referring to the savory "fifth taste" that accompanies salt, sweet, sour, and bitter. "It adds a layer. It makes you want more." Indeed, I tried little head-to-heads with mugs of my own broth and enjoyed getting a hang of its effects and how to use it. Salt adds depth, but salt and MSG can make broth bigger, deeper, rounder, and more delicious.

Seasoning with MSG takes practice. Eng mentions that he didn't fully understand it until he worked in restaurant kitchens, but offers a simple suggestion on how to get used to using it.

"Have it on your counter next to your salt," he counsels. “Use both, but use less salt than you normally would, and taste as you go.”

More Than This

MSG is derived from glutamic acid (one of the amino acids) and is naturally occurring in delicious, umami-packed foods like anchovies, parmesan, tomatoes, and kelp.

When I asked chef turned food scientist, author, and fermentation expert David Zilber about how MSG makes things so delicious, he responded with his own question: "Shall I put this in Cheeto terms for you?"

My response was an emphatic yes.

"Glutamate is one of the most abundant amino acids in the living world. When you take it out of its natural context and add it to other foods in large quantities, it gets you to eat more," he explains. "They are like the signals in nature that the human body looks for when searching for the most digestible and nutritious foods. It hacks ancient and primal physiology to make bland foods more palatable and moreish."

Perhaps this makes my whole ritual of keeping a damp cloth next to my snack-touching hand on my annual (?) Cheeto binge make more sense.

Cravings are certainly affected by what we do and don’t like, Zilber explains, "but at the chemical level, smell and taste are the most ‘hands in the dirt’ senses our body has."

Courtesy of Clarkson Potter/Crown Publishing

For as helpful as it is for making food better, the ingredient has had a tough go of it in North America. MSG "is derived from glutamic acid, one of the 22 amino acids," says my 2007 copy of The Food Lover's Companion, which calls the ingredient a popular flavor enhancer in Japan and China.

It also says "some people have reactions to MSG that caused them to suffer from a variety of maladies, including dizziness, headache, flushing, and burning sensations," information that is, like my copy, dated. This stems from a 1968 letter from Robert Ho Man Kwok printed in the New England Journal of Medicine, citing symptoms like dizziness, headache, and nausea that were dubbed “Chinese restaurant syndrome” and prompted many Chinatown restaurants around the world to hang glowing neon ��NO MSG” signs on their front windows.

Problematically, it appears that either Kwok's story was more anecdotal than science-based or an orthopedic surgeon named Howard Steel penned the letter as part of a $10 bet with a colleague to see if he could get it published in a prestigious medical journal. Regardless, the Journal never made enough of an effort to correct things as they spiraled into a problem and a faux syndrome was born. (More on this in act one of this April 2025 episode of This American Life.)

Stuff like this makes for yarns that would be a lot more enjoyable if they didn't trail a 50-year xenophobic stink in their wake, and the "MSG is bad for you" stereotype persists. Too much of it can be harmful to you if you're ingesting ridiculous quantities. As El-Waylly writes, “If you have 1/2 cup of it on an empty stomach without food, you might feel ill, as you would from eating 1/2 cup of salt.” The dose makes the poison.

Eng's solution for promoting MSG, and one he encourages other chefs and food professionals to mimic, is right there on the cover of his book: Talk about it. Normalize it. Try it out.

Personally, I grabbed the aforementioned books and started cooking from them. Along with the hot and tingly cuke salad, El-Wally's dill pickle cucumber salad with pickle brine, onions, and toasted coriander seeds is another great place to start, and something that nearly set off a dinnertime squabble over who got the last bowl at a Ray-family meal. I tried Eng's popcorn recipe, which also features a dusting of toasted Szechuan peppercorns, fried garlic, MSG, and melted butter. I riffed on his sour cream and green onion dip, making mine with caramelized onions, then showering it with chives from my garden, quick-pickled onions, black pepper, and crumbled store-bought fried onions.

Not long afterward, I made a rather exquisite bagel with butter, cream cheese, smoked salmon, shallot, scallion, salt, pepper, and MSG. It's hard for something with ingredients this fantastic not to be delicious, but I started thinking that the MSG turned them all into the best versions of themselves.

There's a ways to go before MSG is anywhere near as mainstream as salt, but until then, I invite you to join me on the Normalization Team and, like Eng suggests, keep a container of it on the counter, right next to the salt.

[rachellaurengray]

Try this simple three-day vegan meal plan:

Day 1:

- Breakfast: Avocado toast on whole grain bread topped with sliced tomatoes and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast.

- Lunch: Quinoa salad with mixed greens, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, bell peppers, chickpeas, and a lemon-tahini dressing.

- Dinner: Lentil curry with coconut milk served over brown rice, accompanied by steamed broccoli on the side.

Day 2:

- Breakfast: Overnight oats made with rolled oats, almond milk, chia seeds, and topped with sliced bananas, berries, and a drizzle of maple syrup.

- Lunch: Hummus and veggie wraps with whole grain tortillas filled with hummus, shredded carrots, spinach, cucumber, and roasted red peppers.

- Dinner: Vegan chili made with black beans, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, onions, garlic, bell peppers, and spices, served with a side of cornbread.

Day 3:

- Breakfast: Smoothie bowl blended with frozen mixed berries, banana, spinach, almond milk, and topped with granola, sliced almonds, and a dollop of almond butter.

- Lunch: Buddha bowl with a base of cooked quinoa, topped with roasted sweet potatoes, grilled tofu, sautéed kale, and a drizzle of tahini sauce.

- Dinner: Spaghetti aglio e olio made with whole wheat pasta, sautéed garlic, cherry tomatoes, spinach, and crushed red pepper flakes, garnished with fresh parsley.

Feel free to adjust the portion sizes and ingredients according to your preferences and dietary needs. You can also reference my 50 vegan snacks list as needed! Enjoy your meals!

[lovelyelbowleech]

Hi Lovely! Soooo you might know who I am based on the nature of this ask (i started with anon asks and now i can't stop) but I've been working on ch 8 of War Crimes and a certain moment has gotten me stuck and also sparked a debate in the fanfic discord. It's this: "It was roast fish again with some accompanying rice and what looked like salted pickles, perhaps of some sort of tuber."

I assumed those were pickled cucumbers at first, as you do, but the tuber part got me confused, like maybe there was another vegetable in the mix along with the pickles. Now that I'm typing this out though I'm realising this may not be a pickled cucumber at all, and just a random vegetable Sokka doesn't know of... but I haven't ever seen pickled veggies outside of cucumbers be called just pickles, and google just shows me cucumbers. So I'm asking you, is it really something else? Does Sokka not know his veggies??? Cucumbers aren't tubers.

Sending you this in an ask to end the server debate that's been going on for 2 days. Please. The nature of the vegetable is crucial to the storyline.

So sorry I have taken so long to answer this - been on some meds to control immune issues that have made me a bit brain dead 😅 and my focus has not been wonderful. 

I think I was using pickles as a word for preserved - but you can certainly get pickled veg where I live - all sorts from tomatoes to turnips! I guess it could also be possible that SOkka doesn’t know Earth/Fire veg/food at this stage, or at least not well enough to correctly identify some things 😂 So I think you can go with whatever seems best to you!  

Sorry if that is not very helpful, my brain is slow 😬

[howdy-cowpoke]

TIMING: Current LOCATION: Farmer’s Market PARTIES: Monty (@howdy-cowpoke) & Emilio (@mortemoppetere) (+ Hector) SUMMARY: Emilio is at the farmer’s market picking up some groceries for Teddy when he unexpectedly runs into Monty. He’s curious about the man accompanying the cowboy, and tries to get a read on both of them — but doesn’t really like what he’s seeing. CONTENT WARNINGS: Emotional abuse/manipulation

—

Emilio wasn’t usually tasked with doing the shopping. It was something that predated his living situation in Wicked’s Rest, went all the way back to Mexico when Juliana sent him to the store while she was making dinner to pick up a zucchini and he’d come back with a cucumber instead, earning him an eye roll and a kitchen towel tossed at his face. He was probably worse at it now than he had been then, addled mind easily distracted by the creeping feeling of uncertainty down his spine and the question of whether or not the guy with the manbun running the booth full of artisanal dog treats was planning on killing him or not. 

No, the farmer’s market really wasn’t his scene. But Teddy had asked him to pick some shit up and had given him a pretty detailed list, and Emilio was more than willing to do whatever they asked him to do whenever they asked him to do it, so here he was. Weaving through the crowd of the farmer’s market, glancing behind him periodically, and reminding himself that dog treat guy probably didn’t even own a damn knife. 

“Tomatoes,” he murmured to himself, staring down at the list. “Yeah. All right. Know what those look like.” He steeled himself, limping over to a booth full of them. Some were green, some were red. Emilio had no idea if there was a difference. He picked up one of each, holding them in his hands and staring down at them. “Didn’t say how many,” he mumbled. “Might as well get a few of each. Yeah. All right. Tomatoes.” He turned to speak to the girl running the booth, faltering when he felt a familiar shiver run down his spine. He forced himself to ignore it, because it didn’t matter if someone nearby was undead. Emilio wasn’t going to stab a stranger at the farmer’s market. (Not unprovoked, at least.) 

He grit his teeth, unable to prevent himself from doing a cursory sweep of his surroundings in spite of the adamant internal insistence that it wouldn’t change anything. His eyes darted over a few faces before stopping on a familiar one. Some of the tension bled out of his shoulders. Monty was an annoying, self-righteous ass, but Emilio was pretty sure the guy wouldn’t kill him. He didn’t even think the zombie noticed him, the way he approached the stand. He seemed focused on the guy next to him, who was more unfamiliar to Emilio. The slayer couldn’t keep himself from making a comment as Monty moved into earshot, humming in acknowledgement. “Didn’t think they sold food for your diet here.”

—

Despite the farmer’s market not having things that either of them needed, there was one man living at the cabin who very much needed human food, and while Monty wasn’t much of a cook, he was determined to have something nice waiting for Kaden when he got home that day. Hector, the cowboy was surprised to find, had significantly advanced his culinary skills somewhere along the way, so he could at least take solace in the idea that what they cooked would not be bad, if only… heavily spiced. And it might have been something of a peace offering, if Monty was being honest with himself. While Hector and Kaden had not been at odds, necessarily, he knew that Kaden still felt very wary of the man. So had Monty, in the beginning. But it was hard to not fall into familiar, comforting patterns, and so he’d relinquished all concern and hesitation in favor of having someone around who shared in his struggles, diving headfirst into repairing the friendship that had so heavily defined the person he’d become. And Kaden… well, there was a chance that Kaden wasn’t exactly happy about that. So they’d do something nice for him! A gesture that would hopefully help to convince him that Hector had changed, that he meant well! Monty was sure it was a good idea. 

List in hand, Monty squinted at it a few times before passing it to Hector (who was a faster reader, too), and let himself be led from this stall to that, just enjoying the mild weather and his less mild company. The two were conversing in Spanish for the entirety of the trip — they both preferred it, and since Kaden wasn’t around, it didn’t feel exclusionary. 

Both men glanced up as they were addressed, Monty’s expression quickly darkening. But Hector, who hadn’t heard anything of the (un)healthy rivalry these two shared, smiled. “Shut up,” Monty groaned at Emilio, glancing at the tomatoes in his hands. “It is for Kaden.” He wasn’t sure why he felt the need to explain their presence there — it wasn’t like Emilio actually cared, he was only looking for a chance to start another argument. Hector, who had several very important questions lingering in his mind, was finding that many of them were answered purely by observing how the two were interacting. 

“Ahh, yes, we are preparing a feast for the young man!” he interjected brightly, looking from the stranger to Monty. “... well, Montaña, aren’t you going to introduce me to your… friend?” Monty scoffed, keeping his eyes down on the produce and picking at it absently, pretending that he was trying to pick the best specimen when really he was just praying that Emilio would buy his damn fruits and move on. Hector, sensing that no such thing was going to happen, laughed and turned to Emilio, holding out a hand for a moment before realizing the stranger was a bit preoccupied with tomatoes. “Hm. Well, it’s nice to meet you, I’m Hector,” he introduced himself, instead pointing at the tomatoes the man held. “Good eye, by the way. Those ones look tasty.” 

—

It was clear that Monty wasn’t happy to see him and, in a way, this helped to ease Emilio’s mind a little. The market was an unknown entity full of unknown entities. He couldn’t predict most of its occupants, couldn’t determine how the people running the stalls or the ones buying from them would think or act in any given situation. Monty, however, was a touch more familiar. The two of them were far from friends, but Emilio understood him, to a certain extent. Certainly not in the same way he knew other people, but well enough to carry some comprehension of what he did and how he would react. It was ironic, in a sense; he disliked Monty immensely, and Monty was the safest person at this market. Few people understood how Emilio’s mind worked, least of all Emilio himself.

The man with Monty was still an unknown, of course. Emilio could pick up on the barest of basics from the way he’d approached with the zombie — he spoke Spanish, he was someone Monty was clearly familiar with and comfortable around, he was in charge of the list so he clearly carried some of Monty’s trust. The way Monty responded to his light goading offered another hint — he’d specified that the shopping the two men were performing was for Kaden. No second person, just Kaden. That implied the man with Monty had the same disinterest in the groceries as Monty himself. Emilio’s eyes flickered between the two briefly, and he wondered if the hair on the back of his neck stood on end not for one undead presence, but for two. 

“Brave to cook for a Frenchman,” he commented, sliding into Spanish with little thought. He preferred the language, but rarely allowed himself to be the first one to switch to it in conversation. Somehow, it felt a little too much like exposing his throat in a fight, like admitting that English was still a complicated, clunky thing even now. “He’s probably not going to like it. I know you’ve heard him complain about food.” Emilio certainly had, and he wasn’t the one sharing meals with the guy. (Or watching him eat? He wasn’t sure how dinner dates worked when one party was undead.) 

His eyes slid back to Monty’s companion as he spoke, carefully studying him in a way that tried to make it seem like he wasn’t. The guy seemed friendlier than Monty, though Emilio supposed Monty himself might have been friendly to people who weren’t Emilio. He looked down at his hands, still full of tomatoes, when the stranger held one out for a shake. It was something of a relief when the guy pulled back; Emilio didn’t particularly like handshakes, anyway. Deciding Monty would probably be irritated if Emilio struck up conversation with his friend, the slayer nodded and vowed to do just that. “Emilio,” he replied. “I don’t know shit about tomatoes, man, I’ll be honest. Is there a difference between the green and the red? I’m not really in charge of the cooking.”

—

Rolling his eyes, Monty chose to try and ignore Emilio’s attempts to belittle their decision to do something nice for Kaden — just because he was incapable of feeling anything other than anger didn’t mean that everyone else was, too. Putting down the tomatoes in his hands, he was about to ask Hector if they could go look for some nice green beans instead when he heard the other man laughing at what Emilio had said. 

“Well, we’re going to try our best to impress him! And yes, they’re very different. The greens are great for pickling, baking, or frying! They’re less juicy than the reds, and way more acidic. What is it you’re making?” It was a bold assumption, but maybe Emilio was just new to this — everyone had to start somewhere! Monty watched as Hector started to chat him up with a slight look of disbelief, then an indignant snort. 

“Please, he is not the one cooking anything, that I can guarantee you,” he sniped. “It is for Teddy, his partner.” Hector raised a brow as an amused smile crept over his face. 

“Ahh, I see… Well, in that case, if you were sent off for tomatoes, there’s a very strong chance that Teddy only wanted the red ones. That’s the safe bet.” Okay, so this Emilio person was not a friend of Monty’s, and had in fact brought out a very catty side of the other zombie that Hector hadn’t ever seen before. “I would say… the ones you have there, plus those two,” he added, gesturing at a few more that sat near Emilio. “This really is a small town, eh? I feel like every time we leave the cabin, we are running into someone else that Montaña knows.” He wanted to ask how they’d met, but could already tell that Monty was primed to shut that conversation down as soon as it began. So instead, because he was genuinely enjoying himself at his friend’s expense… “What do you do, Emilio?” 

—

Monty’s friend was… well, friendly. Somehow, Emilio was caught off guard by it. It was entirely due to the fact that Hector was here with Monty, of course; Emilio tended to expect most people would try to kill him upon first meetings, and anything less than that was always something of a surprise. But the fact that this man was here with Monty made his eagerness to help seem all the stranger. Was it arrogant to have assumed Monty might have spoken of him? It would make sense for the zombie to offer Hector a word of warning, if Hector was what Emilio suspected he might be. Evidently, though, the cowboy hadn’t seen this as something that was necessary. Emilio wasn’t sure how to feel about that, wasn’t sure if it felt like an insult or came as a relief. When you’d been one thing all your life, it was jarring to realize that no one considered it to be true of you anymore.

He was about to tell Hector that he wasn’t the one doing the cooking when Monty beat him to it, sounding rather irritated in the process. Emilio let his eyes slide over to the zombie, brows shooting up in an expression that could really only be described as smug before he looked back to Hector. “They like to cook,” he added. “Always ‘experimenting’ in the kitchen. Half of it looks like it’ll eat you before you have a chance to eat it, but it’s usually good.” Not that Emilio ate most of it; his appetite had never quite returned to him after the massacre and, most days, Teddy had to trick him into eating anything at all. But he liked complimenting their cooking, and he liked how pissed off Monty looked at his conversation with Hector, so he kept it going anyway.

And… it turned out, Hector was helpful. This, too, came as a surprise. Emilio nodded thoughtfully, putting the green tomatoes back in the stand. He picked up the ones Hector indicated, nodding again. “That’s very helpful,” he commented. “I appreciate that. I’m not much of a shopper. Someone else is usually in charge of this kind of thing, but I guess I’ll do in a pinch.” Were it not for Monty’s presence, he might have turned away there and let the conversation end. Emilio wasn’t social, after all, and had no real desire to continue getting to know… anyone, really. But Monty was there, and he was irritated, and that was enough for Emilio to decide this conversation was worth his time after all. “I’m a private investigator. I have a small firm in town, take on as many cases as I can keep up with. How about you?”

—

That was a curious way to describe someone’s cooking, Hector thought. Monty, having been inside the house before, felt that it sounded appropriate — but he wasn’t invested in this conversation. In fact, he’d rather be anywhere else, talking to anyone else, but Hector was doing what he always did. The man had never lost that ability to command a room, or in this case, strike up conversation with the unlikeliest of strangers and immediately get on their good side. Of course Emilio’s willingness to continue talking probably had a lot to do with the way Monty was frowning at them from the other end of the stall’s display table, but pretending he was happy to see the slayer wasn’t going to make anything better. 

Hector chuckled, giving Emilio a shrug. “Ah, me? I’m kind of… in between jobs right now. Just got into town not that long ago, you know? Always on the lookout for opportunities. I guess that makes me a freelancer for… odd requests.” He always had to be his own boss, Monty knew that much. “But hey, if you still  have some things you need to pick up for Teddy, we’d be happy to help! Wouldn’t we, Montaña?” Monty looked absolutely gobsmacked. 

“Have I not suffered enough?” he answered lamely.

“Oh, come on now, it’s just some vegetables,” Hector argued with an amused grin. He nodded at Emilio and his handful of tomatoes. “Pay for those, then let’s figure out what you need next, ah? I’ll make sure whatever you grab isn’t going to put a spanner in the works.”

Monty could have continued to argue, but he knew better. Hector had his mind set on this for whatever reason, and honestly, he was too damn beaten down from everything that had happened lately to complain about it any more. He might’ve told Emilio (or both of them) to fuck off at one time, but he didn’t have the anger in him for it anymore. So he just rubbed the bridge of his nose and shook his head, hoping that Emilio had a short grocery list.

—

The ever-present unease that had lived in his head for years now meant that Emilio was dissecting every word from Hector’s mouth as soon as the syllables settled. He was new to town and between jobs, which meant his friendship with Monty likely predated his time in Wicked’s Rest. The two seemed too comfortable around each other to have only just met. How far back did it go, then? Hector’s accent was from Mexico, but Emilio had no idea how much time Monty had spent in their shared home country after being turned. Had he fled the moment Emilio’s ancestor refused to kill him, or had he stayed longer? Had he met Hector in Mexico, or had the pair run into one another out in the world, just as Emilio and Monty had? The questions swirled in the detective’s mind, eyes darting between the pair carefully as he tried to narrow things down further.

It was hard to say if it was the mystery or the promise of bothering Monty that made Hector’s offer to stick around feel tempting instead of annoying. Most days, Emilio had little desire for companionship from someone he’d only just met in a casual setting. There were too many people in this town already who’d fooled themselves into thinking he was someone worth hanging around, and he didn’t tend to jump at the opportunity to add to that list. But he wanted to know more about Hector, even if only for the sake of his own suspicious curiosity, and he wanted to annoy Monty, even if only to satisfy his petty streak, so he nodded. 

“Ah, I’d appreciate that,” he said, flashing Monty a shit-eating grin. “I’m a little out of my depth here. Never been much good at groceries.” Especially not when there were so many options available to him. It was a stupid thing to feel overwhelmed about; Emilio felt like he was drowning all the same. 

Turning back to the person manning the tomato booth, Emilio passed some cash over with a nod. At least that part was the same no matter where you were. With the tomatoes bagged for easy transport and his wallet tucked back into his back pocket, he turned back to the pair of undead men. Pulling out the list he’d been provided with, he held it up. “Got a few more ingredients I need to pick up,” he commented. “No idea what it’s all for.” He’d found it was better not to guess, with Teddy’s cooking.

Scooting away from the tomato booth and immediately finding it a little easier to breathe with a few less people surrounding him, Emilio headed towards the next target. He glanced back to see if Hector and Monty would follow, nodding to Hector again. “So, what brings you to town?” Was he here for Monty, or had running into him been a surprise? 

—

Arms folded across his chest, Monty followed after the pair, taking up the rear with his head down. It felt familiar, in a way. Back in their livelier days, Monty had often followed the other man around, trying to learn how it was that he managed to charm everyone he talked to, or even just as a support in case he needed anything. He’d often fade into the background while Hector talked jobs with other, more experienced gang members, absorbing as much as he could until their leader would eventually turn to him with a grin and clap a hand across the back of his neck, announcing that Monty would be joining the team for this one. So, as he walked and the other two talked, he felt somehow comforted more than he felt annoyed or awkward stepping back into those very well-worn shoes. 

“Well, if I am honest, I heard about the fire.” Hector glanced back at Monty, who failed to acknowledge the statement and instead just kept his gaze focused on his boots. “I had been looking for him for some time, but he did not make himself easy to find. Then one day, I saw his name in print and had to come see for myself. So I set up camp on his farm and waited.” He seemed proud of this, wearing a satisfied smile. “And he turned up, of course. He’s always been very good at coming when called — I do not even have to speak the commands anymore.” Monty lifted his head now, furrowing his brows at Hector, wondering what on earth he meant by that. Why would he say something like that to a perfect stranger? There wasn’t any time to protest, however, because Hector was barrelling through the brief pause with a sharp inhale and a very animated glance downward at Emilio’s list. “So! What is next, my friend? Ahh, yes… I think those are this way!” Lifting his head and pointing to their right, Hector motioned for the other two to follow. Monty hugged his arms to himself a little tighter, avoiding Emilio’s gaze as they carved their way through the thin crowd and over to the next booth.

—

There was something off about the way Hector spoke about Monty. Emilio sent a subtle glance back towards the cowboy, trying to gauge his reaction. If Monty made himself hard to find, had he been hiding from Hector? The pair seemed friendly now, but he figured Monty was more likely to put on an act in front of him than anyone else. And the rest of it… saying Monty came when called, as if he was a dog responding to his owner’s sharp whistle… It didn’t sit quite right in Emilio’s chest. He wouldn’t pretend he was Monty’s biggest fan, but the fact that he knew the guy put him above Hector on the list of people Emilio wasn’t entirely uncertain about. He didn’t trust Monty — he was pretty sure the guy would leave him to die in a heartbeat, even if he was too self righteous to kill him directly — but he was, at the very least, a known entity. Hector was something else; something dangerous, maybe.

Or maybe Emilio’s paranoia was getting the best of him. He’d thought the guy with the manbun and the homemade dog treats was dangerous, too, after all. 

He tried to push his uncertainty to the side, tried to remind himself that he didn’t really care one way or another. Monty was surely capable of taking care of himself, so it made no difference to Emilio what his ‘friend’s’ intentions might be. Presumably, Kaden was aware of the situation, too, and that was someone the slayer did trust. He figured, between the two of them, a skilled ranger and a guy who was probably pushing two hundred could take care of themselves. 

“I was sorry to hear about the farm,” he commented, glancing back to Monty again. The apologetic tone was a genuine one, though he wasn’t sure Monty would accept it as such. “I guess it’s good Monty’s got your support.” He kept his eyes on the cowboy as he said it, waiting for a reaction. Was Monty happy with the ‘support?’ He avoided Emilio’s gaze in a way that made it difficult to tell. The detective studied him for a heartbeat more before turning back to his shopping list, nodding his head. He followed Hector as he led the way to the next booth, still looking at Monty out of the corner of his eye. “My partner can be picky on ingredients. We’ll have to make sure we get the best ones.” And maximize the amount of time he could spend trying to figure Hector out. (Not that he gave a shit or anything; he was just curious. That was all.)

—

A brief, melancholic glance was spared in Emilio’s direction when he expressed his condolences — it was funny, really. He’d come to the farm the first time to kill someone who worked there. Had threatened to do it again if he found out that Monty was protecting anyone he wanted dead. How could he be sorry? How could a slayer be sorry that a community of undead had been almost completely wiped from existence?

Yet his tone wasn’t the snarky, sarcastic one he usually used around Monty. It didn’t seem to be digging for any kind of specific response, or trying to egg him on in a way that would end up with Monty upset and Emilio either amused or threatening to do something he wouldn’t like. It was just that — sympathy. Or pity, maybe. That felt more likely. 

His gaze darted back to the ground when Emilio said he must be glad for the support. Truth be told, he wasn’t sure yet. Some things about it seemed good. There was comfort in that familiarity, in having someone around who shared his complicated, bloody past. But Monty wasn’t sure that Hector had moved beyond that past, especially not with comments like the one he’d made about Monty being… the way that he was. It wasn’t untrue what he said, but it didn’t feel quite right. Still familiar, but something that Monty had grown unaccustomed to. Still, if he stayed too quiet, then Emilio might read into it too much. And Monty didn’t want to accidentally reveal anything about himself that he wasn’t prepared for someone like Emilio to know, so he just laughed a hollow laugh and nodded. “Yes! Very grateful for Hector’s…” Help wasn’t the word. “... presence. It had been a while. Always good to have your friends around.” 

Hector smiled at him in a way that almost felt approving, and that confused, annoying anxiety was swirling in his gut again in seconds. “Of course, of course, only the best,” Hector agreed, attention having returned to Emilio and his list. 

For the most part, Monty hung back while the other two men went around and completed both shopping lists. He was handed bags to carry, Hector of course far too busy helping Emilio pick out the best of the best to be bothered with lugging produce around. He didn’t really speak unless spoken to, and by the time both lists had been completed, he’d lapsed into a state of distracted staring off into space and only half-listening to their conversations. Hector chided him for it once, but Monty tried to brush it off by saying he was thinking of work that still needed to be done at the cabin. Which wasn’t untrue, there was a lot that could be done to the makeshift pen and stable that they’d erected on the property and he was often thinking of ways to improve it, but… well. He just didn’t care for this situation, nor the way Hector seemed intent on getting Emilio to like him. He was agreeable, warm, and helpful — all the things he’d been back in the 1800s, when a teenage, captive Monty had been untied from that tree and brought to meet him. It was how he drew people in. Always had been. Then he’d start asking things of them, but Monty wasn’t sure that was the case here. More likely, he was just looking for something to lord over Monty in moments of impatience or anger. 

—

Reading people was the kind of thing you needed to be decent at if you got into as many scrapes as Emilio did. Understanding a person’s body language allowed you to decipher whether they were going to start throwing punches or buy you a drink when you pushed their buttons, let you decide whether someone was a threat or a nuisance. (Monty had always been the latter.) Emilio had gotten good at it over the years, had started figuring it out as a kid who had to try a little too hard to please his mother and carried it with him until he was an adult at a farmer’s market standing between two undead men. 

He stared at Monty a moment, dissected his hesitation and his carefully chosen words. The pause before he described Hector’s assistance as little more than his presence, the intentional choice in terminology. Coupled with the way Hector had spoken about Monty, and Emilio wondered if the two were friends at all or if there was something else going on. They seemed familiar with each other, but familiarity didn’t always equate to fondness. He thought of Lucio, turning up again out of the blue and turning his life upside down. He thought of Rhett, who had been both a welcome and unwelcome presence from his past. Maybe this was something closer to that, some uncomfortable uncertainty shrouded with a past obligation. Monty described Hector as a friend, but was that just because there was no word that really fit? 

Emilio studied Monty a moment longer before turning back to Hector, not wanting to alert either man to his own uncertainty. Monty would only grow defensive, and Hector was an unknown entity whose reaction couldn’t be predicted without further exposure. (Emilio wasn’t sure he wanted further exposure.) 

The shopping continued, and Emilio continued trying to solve the puzzle presented to him throughout without cluing either man in on his suspicions. He was civil with Hector, even friendly; as long as the other man thought Emilio liked him, Emilio could continue gathering more information. And he’d be lying if he said he didn’t still want to irritate Monty, even if it was far less fun when the cowboy was as withdrawn as he’d become throughout the shopping trip. Emilio tended to poke at people in hopes of gaining the satisfaction of a reaction, and Monty wasn’t giving him that anymore. And the more Hector spoke, the less Emilio liked him. It was clear that he was trying to get Emilio to like him, and the paranoid corner of his mind that had grown larger and larger of late insisted that there was some unknown ulterior motive behind this. Whatever Hector wanted from him, Emilio wasn’t sure he wanted to provide it. Mostly, he just wanted to get his groceries. 

In the end, he was successful in that much, at least. Hector made short work of his list, and Emilio’s arms were full of bags full of shit he figured Teddy would be happy with. He nodded at the two undead men as they neared the entrance of the market. “Appreciate the help,” he said, glancing to Monty but keeping the majority of his attention focused on Hector. “Probably would have taken me all day to make it through that shit on my own. Maybe you can come by for dinner sometime.” He couldn’t be sure how much of his suspicion was valid and how much was his paranoia rearing its ugly head. Having the pair in his house, in a situation where he was in control, and with Teddy as an additional witness… that would help him figure this out. He was sure of it. 

—

Monty remained quiet, his gaze distantly focused on the ground beneath their feet until they came to a slow stop, preparing to go their separate ways. As he lifted his chin again, he realized Emilio was inviting them over for dinner. A sense of dread started to climb up his spine and he flicked his gaze over to Hector to see what he’d say. There wouldn’t be any arguing it, at least not while Emilio was standing right in front of them. The reason he was inviting them over escaped Monty entirely: he knew that his dislike was mutually shared, so it certainly wasn’t a sudden change of heart. Hector might be charming, but he wasn’t that charming. Not enough to inspire something like that, especially not from someone so paranoid and angry as Cortez. 

“Ah, so kind of you,” Hector answered for them both, that disarming smile never leaving his face. “We’d love to.” There was no attempt to ask for Monty’s confirmation this time — there wasn’t even so much as a glance in his direction, Hector’s focus solely on the man standing in front of him, zeroed in with a predatory focus. “I’ll have one of the boys get you my contact information.” The statement was marked with a playful wink, goodbyes were exchanged, and Monty didn’t speak a word until Emilio had disappeared from view. Hector was still staring at the spot they’d last seen him, and Monty could swear he saw the gears turning in the man’s head. 

“He’s a hunter,” Monty explained bluntly, voice low and soft. “A slayer.” Hector smirked.

“Of course he is. And you haven’t killed him?” Monty looked back down at his feet, swallowing hard. 

“It’s complicated.”

“Isn’t it always?”

“Hector, please… can we just go home?” The man narrowed his eyes in the direction Emilio had gone, the smile falling from his face. 

“Fine.” The question of whether or not it was Emilio’s intention to lure them somewhere where he could kill them went unspoken, which Monty was grateful for. He didn’t know how to answer, because he was pretty sure that Emilio wouldn’t try anything like that on him, at least, since… well, because of Kaden. And if he had to tell Hector that, then Hector was going to want to know what Kaden and Emilio had that bound them, and Monty just wasn’t prepared to lie about that. It was easier to say nothing at all. 

He only hoped that these dinner plans would never come to pass, because he truly didn’t know what Emilio intended to gain from them. And he didn’t want to find out. 

[blushcoloreddreams]

All around salad

serves two people

Salad ingredients

4 iceberg lettuce leaves

4 red lettuce leaves

½ bunch of arugula leaves

1 cup (tea) of leaves basil

1 cup (tea) of watercress leaves

Grated cheese to taste (like parmesan, pecorino or grana padano)

Sauce ingredients

1 cup fresh parsley leaves

¾ cup (tea) extra virgin olive oil

2 units of pickled cucumber(pickle type)

1 tablespoon of capers

Juice of ½ lemon

1 clove of garlic

¼ onion (medium)

Salt and ground black pepper

Making the salad

With your hands, tear the leaves lettuce and arugula previously clean and mix them with the rest of the leaves. Reserve.

Making the sauce

Blend all ingredients in a processor or blender, forming a homogeneous green sauce.

Season with salt and pepper to your taste

Assembling the salad

Water the leaves with the green sauce ( with the amount of sauce that you prefer).

Add the grated cheese, mix and is ready to serve.

The green sauce is the great asset of this salad and it can be served with any protein: from fish and seafood to raw ham, beef, pork and chicken; in addition to be an excellent accompaniment to quiches and savory pies You can also add elements you like: tomatoes, olives, hearts of palm, avocado, mango; there are infinite possibilities. This salad is the base for all salad combinations.

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #373

I don't know how or why, but this morning was full of coughing. Also I've been sneezing like crazy all day, and my nose is somehow both stuffed up all to hell and also running like it's training for a marathon at the exact same time. If not even air can get through, then how in the heck are viscous fluids getting through??? It isn't even fair!!

The rhinovirus makes a mockery of all the faults of the human respiratory system. Such as, for example, its tendency to attempt to eradicate viral invaders with the application of... mucus??? Like, seriously. Why. Why would my body fill up my respiratory tract with fluid? Last time I checked, that is how people drown.

Like. On what planet (besides apparently mine) does a body think to itself, “hmmm, yes, we appear to have acquired some mostly harmless virus... LET'S FLOOD THE WHOLE AREA WITH STICKY, VISCOUS GOOP and see if that helps at all; who needs oxygen these days anyways???”

Sigh... I was feeling better yesterday. What happened...?

...Oh well. I know it's not actually that big a deal. I guess the post-holiday stuff just leaves me feeling a little bitter and cranky, and being sick isn't helping matters. I'll be okay; I know that ultimately, I have a lot to be grateful for, even if I am frustrated at my body's current condition.

Besides, I made myself some tea today. And now that I have a better camera, I can take better pictures of the swirls! Here:

...Haven't been able to snag ones this well-defined in a while now! I'm pretty stoked about how these turned out!

I also got soup and a bunch of other stuff to go with it today, too:

This is some kind of brothy soup with bok choy, bamboo shoots, tofu knots, and pork belly:

I've only ever seen bamboo shoots cut into flat planks before; I didn't know they were also cut in ways that show off their cool natural patterns like this:

...Bamboo shoots are delicious. And so are tofu knots. They absorb the flavor of the broth really well, and when you chew on them, a little of the juicy broth comes out of them. They look like this:

...Absolutely scrumptious. Seriously, it's some amazing stuff. They're soft and kinda chewy, and they have an interesting texture. They go so well with so many things, too!

Here are some of the other yummies I got; these are pork soup dumplings, complete with the little container of dark vinegar. You're supposed to poke a small hole in the dumpling and pour a small amount of the vinegar inside so the sourness balances out the savory flavor of the broth inside. I prefer it with the vinegar, but it's good without the vinegar, too!

These are spicy wontons filled with chicken and pork. Different places make them in different ways; this place uses a spicy peanut sauce with sesame seeds sprinkled over it, and there's some shredded cucumber and scallions on there, too. My body is normally oversensitive to capsaicin, but I got them hoping that they'd open up my sinuses; spicy foods tend to do that to people. But these were mild even for me:

...And some marinated steamed chicken, too!

I didn't eat all this by myself, don't worry!! There's plenty leftover for tomorrow; it's gonna be good!

Also at some point, J asked me to accompany him in the car as he went out to try a thing called COB pizza. It was in a somewhat faraway town. I stayed in the car, feeling zombified and trying not to fall asleep. Not wishing to spread around my germs, I waited in the car when J got his pizza.

Anyway. COB stands for “Cheese on Bottom”. The idea appeals to J because he actually doesn't like cheese much. But he does like tomatoes. I think the ideal pizza for him would be mostly sauce and very little (if any) cheese. And this is what a COB pizza promises. Behold:

...The cheese is, indeed, beneath the sauce, adhered directly to the bread. And actually... this makes a lot more sense. Because normally, the sauce is on the bottom, which means the cheese melts on top of a liquid, which means when you take a bite of the pizza, the cheese can sometimes slide in weird directions and make a mess.

The cheese does not slide on a COB pizza. But the toppings do, a little. And initially, I thought that was going to be a problem. But as it turns out, it just means that you can just move that pepper to where you need it so that you don't have to try to bite into it awkwardly.

...I am a fan of this concept.

And... come to think of it... I still gotta make a literal tomato pie for J sometime soon...

Anyway, I spent the whole rest of the day arranging recorded music box notes in Audacity. For the song I planned out, I managed to arrange the introduction; here's a picture:

...We see a tweaked version of the introduction later in the song, so I just tweaked it right here. So the lines “Twinkly 1” and “Twinkly 2” are slightly different mixes of the lines just above it. The lines “BPM quarter” and “BPM 8” give me place to snap to - 4th notes and 8th notes, respectively.

I also arranged the pattern for the verse. It's a little shorter, but more repetitive:

...It sounds good so far.

Now it's time for some math. My Audacity is set to have 44100 audio samples per second; that means in each second of audio, there are 44100 little blue dots. You can see them if you zoom all the way in.

The song is approximately 229 beats per minute; that is 3.82 beats per second. That means that each beat is approximately 11,544.5 samples long. But we can only have integers. Perhaps a little arbitrarily, I just went with a number close to it; I selected 11,556. So the length of each of my quarter notes for this specific song is 11,556 samples. This number is divisible evenly by both 2 and 3, which is important because there are triplets within each quarter note for parts of the song.

I guess in some ways, arranging my prerecorded music box notes in Audacity is a little bit more involved. But in other ways... it gets around the hardware limitations imposed by using actual music box paper. When you use actual music box paper, you can't control the tempo at all, and also, you can't play the same two notes as 8th notes, which really limits what I can do in a wide variety of respects.

...Those three music box papers I left for you with those very important people were made with those hardware limitations in mind. It took a lot more effort on my part to make “Woman” by Mumford and Sons, “In the Earthen Womb” from Illusion of Gaia, and “Radio Ballet” by Eluvium actually work. Lots of playing around with octaves to try to avoid 8th notes with the same two notes. All of them required meticulous planning, and then meticulous marking and hole-punching, praying that I didn't make any mistakes.

...In case you don't remember or haven't received them, you'll find them here:

And I made one more, too. But this one wasn't for you; it was for another friend. I wonder if you recall this one:

...Even with going paperless with Audacity, there's still number of limitations. For example, though it is a 30-note music box, the F note only appears twice, which is... infuriating in a variety of respects. I'd have a whole lot more freedom if I had even one more F note. And I'd have a whole lot more freedom if the upper and lower octaves weren't abridged.

There are some people working on a thing called a 40-note Muro box. It works with midi files, apparently, which is amazing, since I can make midi files using LMMS (and, in fact, LMMS is primarily where I plan my music boxes, in any case!).

...I want it; I could do so much more with so fewer limitations. But it's not in production for real yet. And it's entirely possible that it might not be in production for real, ever. Still... can you imagine what I could do with this...? With 10 more notes of freedom to move...? Why, the possibilities would be practically endless...!!!

...Maybe someday!! Hopefully!

Well. I guess it's about that time. Hopefully tomorrow I'll make more progress on the current music box fixation; I guess we'll see. Hopefully tomorrow, too, I won't be as sick as compared to today (as opposed to today, in which I am more sick as compared to yesterday... fucken lame...).

Either way, there is guaranteed soup in my future. Soup is good for the body. There are hydrating fluids and juicy nutrients in it!!! If you're feeling badly, make sure you get some!!!

I'm gonna stop writing and go to bed now. I'm probably going to have sleep with my nose plugged up with rolled-up tissue paper, and this annoys me, but it's better than the alternative. Worse things have happened, so it's really not a big deal.

I love you. Please take good care of your body and mind so that you can make good choices while you're out and about. I'll be over here, cheering you on and wishing for your safety and happiness, like I always do. Please build a wholesome life you can thrive in; it's not out of reach.

I'll write again tomorrow.

Your friend, Lumine

[chihoshisai]

♡ Perona's Diary ♡ ch. 2

Goth Family (Perona, Zoro, Mihawk)

Ch1

cw : found family, fluff, comedy, chaos // this is a preview, the full chapter is on ao3 !

Gardening Rookies

Perona stared at her hands, grateful that she managed to save them from the touch of an unruly earth being a few hours earlier. She closed her journal, now done recording the events of the day before seeking the presence of Mihawk in order to give him the cookies she baked as compensation.

----

“This is quite good,” Zoro said, cheeks round with the mouthful of food he had just taken.

Perona grinned, proud of herself for making the swordsman enjoy the salad she made. As she roamed about the hallways earlier, floating and bored out of her mind whilst both pirates trained, her stroll made her pass by the kitchen. On the counter laid freshly harvested fruits and vegetables, who seemed to be waiting for nothing else but to be cut. Seeing an opportunity to cure her boredom, Perona couldn’t help herself. Like the wind, she immediately appeared before the ingredients and wasted no time in giving it a go.

“That big oaf is sure to be hungry after his practice,” she held a knife in one hand and a tomato in the other, grinning somewhat affectionately. “Guess I’ll be kind enough and make him something to eat with these.” Her hollow laugh echoed through the kitchen, accompanied by the rhythmic slicing sound of a blade.

And so, both now sat side by side in one of the many sitting rooms of the castle, with Perona’s negative ghost observing them with their undying smile.

“I wish I had sake with that,” Zoro poked at one of the sliced cucumbers.

“It's not even mid afternoon, stop thinking about drinking for once!” With a scowl, Perona pointed her fork at him, only to receive a bothersome grunt from Zoro as a response.

“Urgh, just enjoy the damn salad will you?” Worried about his drinking habits, she gave him an exasperated sigh.

“I already am!” Zoro jerked his head towards Perona, only to see her eyes fixed in front of her. Instinctively, he dropped his mood and followed the ghost girl’s gaze, and soon enough, he saw Mihawk standing in the door frame, silently observing them.

Whether it was a good silence or a bad silence, Perona couldn’t tell since Mihawk had always been almost impossible to read. Though if it was the former, he would simply walk away, leaving them both to mind their business. As she almost finished chewing her food, Perona bent down to take another bite, already missing the sweet yet bitter taste of her creation.

“These were supposed to be the ingredients for dinner,” Mihawk stated, his face and voice both devoid of any form of reprimand. He dropped the words almost purposefully, as both Perona and Zoro still chewed, eyes growing now that they realized what they had done. Why did he take so long to say so? And because Mihawk was always so emotionless, both couldn’t tell if they were in trouble or not. But one thing was sure — they were caught in the act.

[prapasara]

Som Tum: various types of delicious Thai papaya salad

Som Tum or Thai spicy papaya salad is a popular Thai dish originated from north eastern Thailand. The dish is famous for being rich in flavour i.e. a mix of sweet, spicy and sour. There are many types of Som Tum that you may find in Thailand, or at any Thai restaurant. Therefore, it is important to know your Som Tum before making any order! Also, you need to pay attention to some ingredients in Som Tum as it may contain ingredients like peanuts or shrimps which some people are allergic to). In this article, we will be covering different types of Som Tum and finish it off with whether the dish is vegetarian friendly.

Different types of Thai papaya salad

The main ingredient of som tum is the shredded green, raw papaya. Other common vegetables include tomatoes and green beans (sometimes carrots as well). The dish derives its taste from garlic, chili, tamarind, lime, fish sauce and a bit of sugar.

Som Tum Thai is the first variation of som tum that we will cover. It has unique ingredients including dried shrimp and peanut on top of your usual raw papaya, tomato and green beans. Som Tum Thai is common in central Thailand so you will be able to find it anywhere in Bangkok.

Som Tum Phu or crab Som Tum is a variation where either preserved sesarma crab or flower crab is added to Som Tum dish to enhance the flavor.

Som Tum Lao or Som Tum Pla Ra is characterized by a special ingredient called “Pla Ra” or fermented fish. This type of Som Tum with a small portion of fermented fish will have a stronger smell and flavor compared to other types of Som Tum. For those who enjoy the fermented fish enhancement, they will quote this is the best type of Som Tum. On the other hand, others who are not a fan will find the dish pungent. It is either you love or hate it.

Som Tum cucumber salad replaces shredded green papaya with refreshing sliced cucumber for its main ingredient. Some variation of the som tum cucumber salad also add Thai sausage, shrimp or grilled pork into the mix which make the dish interesting.

Som Tum with fruits uses fruits as the main ingredient instead of shredded raw papaya or cucumber. Common fruits you will find in this type of Som Tum include apple, guava, pomelo and corn (although corn is not exactly a fruit). Some recipes will also add dragon fruit, grape, kiwi, pineapple. Actually, you can add any fruit you like, but the rule of thumb is to avoid adding watery fruit like watermelon. The reason being is obvious, you do not want your Som Tum too watery.

How to enjoy a meal with Thai papaya salad

You can have Som Tum on its own, but usually Thai people enjoy Som Tum with a number of other dishes. The most common one is to have sticky rice or kanom jeen as carb companion for Som Tum. Other than that, you can add some protein source like grilled/fried chicken or pork neck (which go really well with Nam Jim Jaew dipping sauce). This is because the typical Som Tum does not have any meat inside. Som Tum is already quite rich with vegetables but usually there are other raw vegetables and herbs accompanying this dish. This can include cabbage, basil leaves, green beans and cucumbers.

Is Som Tum vegetarian friendly?

If you are a strict vegetarian then the answer might be no, as most Som Tum dishes contain fish sauce and Som Tum Thai contains dried shrimp. However, some shops offer vegetarian Som Tum, for example Som Tum Thai without dried shrimp. Otherwise Som Tum with cucumber or fruits are generally vegetarian friendly.

Find out more about the Thai papaya salad calories in our dedicated article!

[caribbeanvibesblog]

A little Latin influence in the kitchen, with an oven toasted tortilla bowl, filled with a cast-iron grilled chicken breast, accompanied by a Mexicana salad of layers of crisp lettuce, smoky, charred sweet corn, slices of a perfectly ripened avocado, a tangy, pico-de-gallo made with chopped tomatoes, cucumbers, red onions, chadon beni and freshly squeezed lime juice and finished off with a dollop of chived sour cream.

#thisiswhyimfluffy #morningcook

[greekingout2024]

Day 10- May 26, 2024

Today, we traveled to Simos beach on the island of Elafonisos, which was the picture-perfect Greece beach. Before heading for the beach, I helped myself to the typical hotel breakfast, which has stayed standard throughout our stays. It consisted of Greek yogurt, two hard-boiled eggs, fresh cherries from the local Saturday market, a croissant, orange juice, and multiple cups of coffee. Once we hit the beach, we came across a beachside cafe called Cervie. Here, I ordered the one thing I have a newfound love for: greek salad. This tomato, cucumber, pepper, olive, onion, and feta combination has been a staple order at every meal out and never disappoints. After a long day in the sun, the group decided to head to the local gelateria, which can be found on almost every corner. Another frequent order of mine has been lemon gelato, so today, I helped myself with a scoop of lemon and a scoop of blueberry cheesecake. After a lengthy ride back, a group of 8 (plus one sweet kitty) headed to Scorpio for dinner a couple blocks from our hotel. I ordered a new Greek delicacy, Gemista, which is roasted peppers and tomato stuffed with rice and maneria sauce with potatoes on the side. Of course, dinner was also accompanied by a Greek salad.

One thing that has been new for me to adjust to is learning how to manage my nut allergy in a different culture full of new foods. I recently just outgrew my tree nut allergy, leaving only peanuts on my allergen list. Although my allergy is not as severe as it used to be, I have learned that most things here that may contain just almonds or one type of nut are also accompanied by several other nuts not listed. This has made me miss some breakfast pastries or desserts, but overall, the food is manageable and easy to control.

Having a minor in nutrition and food systems, I can already see changes I want to bring back to the States without even having our cooking class. I want to implement more fresh tomatoes and cucumbers in my diet. I have also noticed a lot of fresh fruit isn’t as accessible as I thought it would be, which is one staple in my diet at home. I will also include lots of Greek yogurt and honey in my diet and prioritize breakfast time to start my day!

Abby Donohue

[rockislandadultreads]

Libby Spotlight: Gardening eBooks 

100 Plants to Feed the Birds by Laura Erickson

The growing group of bird enthusiasts who enjoy feeding and watching their feathered friends  will learn how they can expand their activity and help address the pressing issue of habitat loss with 100 Plants to Feed the Birds. In-depth profiles offer planting and care guidance for 100 native plant species that provide food and shelter for birds throughout the year, from winter all the way through breeding and migrating periods. Readers will learn about plants they can add to their gardens and cultivate, such as early-season pussy willow and late-season asters, as well as wild plants to refrain from weeding out, like jewelweed and goldenrod. Others, including 29 tree species, may already be present in the landscape and readers will learn how these plants support the birds who feed and nest in them. Introductory text explains how to create a healthy year-round landscape for birds. Plant photographs and range maps provide needed visual guidance to selecting the right plants for any location in North America.

101 Organic Gardening Hacks by Shawna Coronado

The word "hack" has a multitude of meanings these days, but if you ask garden author Shawna Coronado what a hack is, she might just wave her hand toward her own back yard. She could be pointing at the garden bench she created from leftover wood posts and a few cinder blocks, or the rows of wine bottles buried soldier-style along a winding pathway, or even the garden soil itself, which is blended by hand from an organic soil recipe she devised. A hack is really just a great idea that's come to life.

In 101 Organic Garden Hacks you'll find the top tips, tricks, and solutions Shawna has dreamed up in her career as one of America's most creative gardeners. Some are practical timesavers; others offer clever ways to "upcycle" everyday items in your garden. One characteristic every hack shares is that they are completely organic and unfailingly environmentally friendly. Divided into a dozen different categories for easy reference, each hack is accompanied by a clear photo that shows you exactly how to complete it. If you are looking for resourceful ways to improve your garden and promote green living values right at home, you'll love paging through this fascinating, eye-catching book.

The Edible Front Yard by Ivette Soler

People everywhere are turning patches of soil into bountiful vegetable gardens, and each spring a new crop of beginners pick up trowels and plant seeds for the first time. They're planting tomatoes in raised beds, runner beans in small plots, and strawberries in containers. But there is one place that has, until now, been woefully neglected—the front yard.

And there's good reason. The typical veggie garden, with its raised beds and plots, is not the most attractive type of garden, and favorite edible plants like tomatoes and cucumbers have a tendency to look a scraggily, even in their prime. But The Edible Front Yard isn't about the typical veggie garden, and author Ivette Soler is passionate about putting edibles up front and creating edible gardens with curb appeal.

Soler offers step-by-step instructions for converting all or part of a lawn into an edible paradise; specific guidelines for selecting and planting the most attractive edible plants; and design advice and plans for the best placement and for combining edibles with ornamentals in pleasing ways. Inspiring and accessible, The Edible Front Yard is a one-stop resource for a front-and-center edible garden that is both beautiful and bountiful year-round.

The New Plant Parent by Darryl Cheng

For indoor gardeners everywhere, Darryl Cheng offers a new way to grow healthy house plants. He teaches the art of understanding a plant’s needs and giving it a home with the right balance of light, water, and nutrients. With this book, indoor gardeners can be less a passive follower of rules for the care of each species and much more the confident, active grower, relying on observation and insight. And in the process, the plant owner becomes a plant lover, bonded to these beautiful living things by a simple love and appreciation of nature.

The New Plant Parent covers all of the basics of growing house plants, from finding the right light, to everyday care like watering and fertilizing, to containers, to recommended species. Cheng’s friendly tone, personal stories, and accessible photographs fill his book with the same generous spirit that has made @houseplantjournal, his Instagram account, a popular source of advice and inspiration for over half a million indoor gardeners.

[xrangel]

An Ever-Never Ladies' Junk Food Date

Agatha couldn’t believe her eyes. Or her noes. Or her mouth, for that matter. As she bit into the round sandwich, all she could do is let out a groan of appreciation. Despite her disapproval of the man-hating doctrine preached in the School for Girls, at least this came out of it.  

Beatrix had invited (more like dragged) all of the girls from last year into a new restaurant that had opened near the school. ‘You HAVE to try it’, she kept on gushing. Agatha had to give her credit for managing to drag the coven out from their hiding place in the bathroom, though. Hester and Anadil’s endless grumbling only subsided when heaps of slop-like food were piled on the table. Meanwhile, Dot was grumbling about a different matter – ‘I’ll ruin my hard-won figure’, she wailed. Beatrix only responded with a snort before ordering her the largest chocolate milkshake there is (Dot secretely turned it into beetroot while Beatrix wasn’t looking).

The food served was a type of sandwich (‘it’s called a burger’, the elf waiting on their table explained), with a round bun and a flat beef patty in the middle, accompanied by fried potatoes that were drizzled with what appeared to be tomato sauce. The Evers, once hell-bent on maintaining their slim figures, now had the largest appetites of all. Beatrix’ burger had two layers of beef, both topped with layers of melted cheese. Her best friend Reena’s had only one patty, mixed with various types of spices. When Agatha tried it, she desperately gulped for the candy floss milkshake accompanying Reena’s burger. Her reaction was met with a giggle from Kiko, who was munching daintily from a one-patty burger, complete with potatoes smothered in cheese.

Anadil’s rat peeked a furry head out of her pocket. It’s mistress affectionately fed it a strip of fried potato. Soon, a second head appeared, apparently jealous at the attention its fellow rat was getting. To Agatha’s right, Sophie plastered a forced smile on her face while staring in horror at the contents of her plate.

‘Is the food not to your taste?’, Reena frowned.

Sophie quickly shook her head. ‘I…’ She looked to Agatha for help, but Agatha was too busy enjoying her food to notice. ‘I ate earlier’, she fibbed. ‘The egg white omelettes at breakfast was simply MARVELOUS, weren’t they Aggie’, Agatha felt a desperate nudge under the table. ‘I just love a soft, creamy omelett’, Sophie kept on blabbering nervously. ‘The ones in Gavaldon could never taste this good. Don’t you agree, Aggie?’ Another nudge.

To humour her, Agatha let out a murmur of agreement. But Reena was undeterred. ‘Well Sophie’, she began, ‘we don’t have to starve ourselves so boys will like us, so eat all you want!’ ‘I’m not hungry!’, Sophie protested. ‘And you know I’m long LONG, over Tedros.’ ‘Damn right!’, Beatrix proclaimed. ‘No Tedros, no Tristan, no Chaddick. We’re ugly, we’re fat, and we’re free!’

Reena whooped and raised her glass of milkshake. The elf waiter shot her a scolding look. ‘Seriously Sophie’, said Agatha with a mouthful of burger. ‘You’re seriously missing out’. ‘Fine’, sighed Sophie. ‘One mouthful, that’s it.’ She daintily picked up her burger with the tips of her fingers and raised it to her mouth. The entire table waited with raised eyebrows. Sophie took a bite. She chewed. She swallowed. Then, a groan left her mouth. ‘I can’t believe this slop could taste so good.’ ‘ What did we tell you’, chuckled Beatrix. ‘They deliver to the school, you know’, she added with a wink.

Sophie straightened. ‘ This is only a one time occurrence. I'll consider this my cheat day and I'll go back to eating cucumbers tomorrow’. ‘Tell yourself that’, snorted Agatha. As the conversation drifted to their plans after school, to making fun of boys, Agatha slipped a piece of paper to the waiter while no one was looking. Delivery to School for Girls, Sophie of Woods Beyond, Room 506. September the eighth, 1pm.

[lxvrz-izlxnd]

Dave Grohl - A Little Bit of Resolve

Prompt(s) used - N/A

Preface - A lonesome night after a shitty day, your lover comes to offer you a hug.

A/N: Fluff, Mild Angst, etc.

Misc. Notes - I just really like 2005 Dave, I want whatever energy he's emulating.

Stirring dinner in the pan, smells of Rice-A-Roni filling the air. To accompany it, you've made a salad containing, of course, lettuce, tomatoes, mushrooms, bell pepper, carrot, cucumber, and chicken. A refreshing dinner salad to hopefully pull your head away from the cloud of 'blah'. Dave was finishing up recording, so you figured you'd make him some food and greet him with a hug and a kiss at the table.

You promptly set the table and washed any dishes that were dirtied to mitigate the amount of dishes after your meal. The table was a nice oak handmade table, courtesy of a distant relative of yours. A deep, wine red table cloth covered it with a rose centerpiece. The roses were fake, but still a pretty white. The white plates to contrast the overpowering deep red table cloth. Paper towel napkins to suffice, and you each had a glass of iced tea. A carefully crafted setting, while you looked for the satisfaction of perfection.

Just some short moments later, Dave walked in. You just finished plating his food, making sure it looked tidy and not like it was slapped together. He promptly smiled as you gave him the biggest embrace you could. Without realizing it, you were squishing him.

"Uh, honey... You're suffocating me." He stated, slowly becoming short of breath.

"Oh, no, I'm sorry! I didn't notice." Dave only snickered in response as you let him go.

He loved the little things like that, even if they seemed like they weren't that valuable. Observant and alert are the top two best ways to put it when Dave's with you. He'll make sure to pick up on little hints. One time, when you two were first dating, he took note of the jewelry you wore. The same necklace, every time. He found it to be sweet, and even got you one that could match with it.

"It's alright, are you doing okay? You don't do that very often."

"I'll be okay. I'm just in a rough spot, I think." His face went from curious to concerned.

"Do you want to talk about it? I'm all ears." He remarked, curiosity and compassion rising within his tone.

"I think we should eat first, cold Rice-A-Roni sucks." You chuckled in response.

He nodded and sat down, beginning to practically inhale his dinner. It's a recurring theme with him, he gets worried and then he'll morph into Kirby until he's at rest. It began to grow weirdly silent.

"So... How's Taylor?" You asked, to break the thick tension in the air.

"He's doing alright, his wife is having a baby shower soon, they named their son Oliver."

"Aww, I like that name. Any reason for it, or it just sounded nice?"

"I'm sure there's reason, I just hadn't thought to ask earlier." Dave hesitated before he spoke again.

"Honey, I know you said you think it's just a rough patch, but can we please talk about how you're feeling? You don't seem like your usual self when you're going through something." He said, preceding his last few bites of dinner.

"I don't know," You'd barely touched your food, unable to think properly. "I was doing okay at work this morning, it wasn't anything unusual aside from a small headache. Filing, faxing, emailing, typical things. I had walked out of the office for something though and..." You hesitated to continue.

"I just don't know, I guess. I'm really exhausted all the time, and it physically hurts sometimes." Looking into your eyes, seeing your desperation, the feeling was well too known to him. He brought you in for an embrace, and began to speak.

"Oh, my sweet darling, please don't worry. It's okay to feel this way, you know?" He caressed your hair gently, showing his love and adoration for you.

Your quiet sniffles turned into small sobs, as you cried into his chest, he continued to hold you and comfort you, knowing all too well what those days felt like. "It's just been tough, and I can't even say why because I don't know!" You cried out, desperate for comfort.

Dave was patient though, and it was one of his best traits. "It's okay honey, you're in the right to feel these things, even if you aren't sure why. I love you, and we'll get through this together, okay?"

"Okay... I love you too, darling."