#were out of produce out of potatoes out of frozen food out of beans like

[isa-ah]

man

[phykios]

Back Door Lover [read on ao3]

Cosmo says anal is the pumpkin spice latte of sex. Annabeth doesn't much like pumpkin spice. But she likes Percy. And she wants to try it all with him. [explicit]

Annabeth is standing in line at the grocery store when she sees it. 

It’s probably also why she’d never thought about it before. 

Annabeth Chase is not someone who grocery shops. As someone who actually grew up learning how to cook on a bare-bones budget, rather than relying on magical, physics-defying kitchens to provide all of your sustenance and then some, groceries are solidly Percy’s area of expertise. If there’s anyone who can stretch a coupon or save a cut of meat just on the cusp of going bad, it’s her Percy. Sure, sometimes she feels a little embarrassed at her lack of real-world, non-magical, homemaking skills, but Percy picks up literally all of the slack there, so it’s not an issue. 

Until now. 

Stuck in a language lab, Percy had tasked her with picking up some things they were running low on, staples like beans and potatoes and cheese. Her boyfriend had been thoughtful enough to give her a list, detailed down to the price point, and sent her off on her way. She had scoffed at his fussing–it’s just groceries, jeez Percy–but entering the strange, alien grocery store, with its vast labyrinth of produce and snacks and frozen foods, with so many different kinds of things her head starts to spin… Well, she’s just grateful he had included which brands to get. 

Her small cart modestly full, she stops in the ice cream aisle. What’s the kind she likes again? The one with the blue carton? Fuck, she can never remember. It’s just not something she really thinks about. Whenever she’s sad, Percy hands her some ice cream in a bowl with a kiss on the cheek, and that’s the extent of her relationship with it. 

She picks out a blue carton at random, rubbing her thumb against the ice crystals which form against the side. Ooh, olive oil and fig flavor. That sounds good. 

Whatever, finals are coming up, there’s some extra money in the budget this month, and she’s going to need this. She tosses it in, rolling the cart onwards towards check-out, a skip in her step. 

Annabeth is proud, weirdly enough. She’s done a good job. She stuck to the shopping list, vegetables and all. It’s a small victory, but a worthwhile one. 

So she’s already in a good mood when she sees it. 

She doesn’t recognize the lady on the cover of the magazine, dressed in a black negligee, pouting for the camera–her name is splashed across the page, but the letters are all jumbled up, and she doesn’t care enough to take the time to try and decipher it. That’s not what captures Annabeth’s attention, anyway; the headline is. For whatever reason, she has no trouble reading this one. 

“5 Real Reasons Guys Want to Try Anal Sex.” With the utterly charming (read: dumb) tagline, “Your butt is the pumpkin spice latte of sex stuff.”

Annabeth snorts. Real appetizing.

And yet, she takes the magazine out of its stand. Flips through the glossy pages until she finds the relevant article. 

The checkout line moves forward by one person. And Annabeth keeps reading. Look, she’s just taking advantage of the fact that her dyslexia isn’t fucking things up for the moment, okay? 

“There’s a male obsession with the butt hole,” writes the author. “Here’s why guys are so into it.” 

Annabeth frowns. 

Percy’s never expressed any interest in her butt before. Is that bad? Is her butt not nice enough? Does he actually secretly really want to try anal sex, but he’s just never brought it up to her before? 

She and Percy do plenty of sex stuff. There’s variety, spice, a little pizzazz in a relationship that was certainly not on the rocks, nor had fizzled out, but had just needed a little pinch of something. Something appealing to the two warriors and war-heroes. 

And besides, it’s not like sparring hasn’t always been a form of foreplay for them.

So, as she is no longer laboring under a crisis of being too vanilla to live, she puts it out of her mind, and slides the magazine back in its place. Also, the author had been so slut-shamey. And he (she? Whatever) had not sold her on the concept of anal in any kind of enticing manner.  

Watching the digital readout of the cash register as the numbers climb, she resists the urge to tap her foot. If Percy did his numbers right…

$49.45. Eleven dollars under budget. Her boyfriend might actually be a genius. 

Of course, it’s only when she hops off the bus twenty minutes later that she realizes she forgot the avocados.

Crap. 

***

Percy doesn’t take it too hard. 

“Oh! Fuck! Ah!”

Fortunately, Annabeth can’t say the same. 

He laughs, low and breathy, his teeth grazing at the edge of her ear. 

Annabeth, in her infinite wisdom, has been running a series of covert experiments on her boyfriend. Nothing bad or mad scientist-y, mind you, and certainly nothing that would hurt or upset him. Just some academic curiosity. Simple as. 

Her boyfriend eats fish. Now, to be fair, a lot of people do. But given that Percy can literally converse with all aquatic and marine life, she would have figured that he would have sworn off fish entirely. If Percy can claim a cyclops as a brother, befriend a giant, and be raised as Praetor after only thirty-six total hours among the infamously paranoid Romans, then making friends with sea creatures was probably second nature to him. In fact, she knows it is. And yet he still eats fish.

Did he ever think about it? If he did, did he like… care? Does he ever think about the fact that he is eating his father’s subjects?

It’s not like he prefers fish to burgers or anything. She’s almost afraid to bring it up. What if she accidentally causes an emotional breakdown because he never put two and two together?

Percy nips at her jugular, soothing the bright starburst of feeling with his tongue. Gathering up her legs in his arms, he pushes her up further against the bed, her pillow the only barrier between her head and headboard, and picks up his pace. Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, yes. “There we go,” he murmurs, kissing her hungrily. 

Right. Anyway. The point is, Annabeth is conducting an experiment: do different types of fish affect Percy’s mood? (And by mood, she of course means sexual mood.)

Swordfish made him aggressive. Shrimp just made him more hungry. Octopus made him handsy. 

She liked the octopus days. 

But, alas, octopus was expensive, so today was a swordfish day. Percy had cooked them some fabulous fish tacos (sans avocado, of course) and then, after doing the dishes, had proceeded to throw her against the door, pinning her body against the wood, bracketing her with hands and thighs. 

Which, of course, led to this. 

He growls, hands drifting down her thighs, and he grabs her ass, squeezing–hard. 

Oh yeah. 

Then, the magazine from earlier flickers in her mind’s eye, and she frowns. 

Percy, with his finely-tuned Annabeth-senses, pauses, pulling back. “You good?” 

How in the fuck–“Yeah,” she replies, her voice a half-gasp. “Yeah, it’s fine.” 

“You sure?” 

She takes in the pretty picture above her–his nude form, lean muscles flexing, sweat plastering his dark hair to his forehead, his lips bruised from kisses–and she squeezes around him, her pussy throbbing as his eyes flutter close and he groans. “Pretty sure.” 

His mouth is on hers in an instant, he plants his knees for better leverage–and he digs furrows into her with his fingers, his hands clenched firmly on her ass. Her butt. Her posterior. And so on. 

It’s hard to frown while coming your brains out. Yet, when Percy rolls over, gently brushing her hair from her face, he is frowning, too. “What’s on your mind?” He says, his chest still heaving just a little bit, coming down from such great heights. 

Sluggish, she takes a moment. Fish, avocados, magazines. Her butt. “Nothing.” 

The slant of his mouth means he’s unconvinced, but he kisses her cheek in the way that means, I’ll drop it for now, but don’t think you’ve wiggled your way out of this one. “Mind if I take first shower?” 

Annabeth waves a hand. Given that her legs are currently jello, she couldn’t have objected even if she wanted to. 

The soft rain of the shower is hypnotic, lulling her into that lovely, hazy place she goes to sometimes after a particularly intense round of sex. It’s not sleep, exactly–too many residual shocks running up and down her body for it to be sleep, but just this sort of… mental calmness. Which is rare for her. Usually, thanks to her stupid battle instincts, she can’t get her mind to stop racing, so whenever she can get her thoughts to slow down, to consider them one at a time, or even not at all, she relishes it. 

Eventually, she will have to get up and shower. Sweaty sheets are no fun to sleep in. But for now, she just lets herself float. 

From out of the mental mist, a hand gently jostles her ankle. “No sleeping,” says the voice she loves so well. 

“Not asleep,” she mumbles. 

“Uh huh.” 

Forcing her eyes open, she turns her head to the side. Percy, bone dry and smelling of sea salt and lavender, kisses her nose, before reaching over her, and swiping her bra from its place on the nightstand where it landed after being haphazardly tossed aside an hour or so ago. “Hi,” she says. 

“Hi yourself. You need help?” 

She shakes her head, pushing herself up on her elbows. “Just need another minute.” 

She spends that minute observing her boyfriend’s naked form as he picks up the rest of their clothes, dumping them in the closet hamper, before grabbing himself a clean pair of boxers and shimmying them on. 

They’re blue and have fish on them. And she’s about 75% sure they were a White Elephant gift at the Saturnalia party that Frank used all his battle tactics to make sure Percy took them home. 

Percy thinks they're great. But Annabeth kind of wishes he’d skipped them. 

It slips out before she realizes what she’s said. “Your butt is really nice.” 

Percy stills, then turns his head, smirking at her over his shoulder. “What was that?”

Annabeth groans.

He sticks his butt back at her, giving it a shake–like a dog after jumping in the water. “Like what you see?” 

“No.” 

“Don’t deny it–you know you want a piece of this.” And he smacks his own ass. “Oh!” He moans, high and breathy–a perfect imitation of her. “Yes!” 

Annabeth flings a pillow at him, laughing. “You’re such a fucking loser.” 

If only she had known just how much butts would be on her mind in the coming days. 

She cannot stop thinking about it. That stupid fucking magazine. Percy’s butt. Her own butt. She spends whole minutes in the bathroom, staring at herself in the mirror from every angle. 

Her butt is not the work of art that Percy’s is. It does not look like it was cast in bronze then replicated in marble to be displayed in fine houses and coveted by philosophers who decided that it was the pinnacle of youthful male beauty. It’s smaller, and flatter, and it doesn’t stick out from her body very much, or at all, really. Is that good? Honestly, she has no clue. It’s not like Annabeth has had the time, or the will, to go and do research on butts. She has no idea what constitutes a good, desirable butt, over a bad one. 

She loves Percy’s butt, but she wouldn’t necessarily claim it as her favorite of his body parts. He also has great shoulders, great abs, really nice calves, his beautiful chin, his… 

Anyway. 

Of her body parts, she knows he likes her legs. A lot. Like, a lot a lot, if the occasional dark finger mark on her thigh has anything to say about it. And he likes her hair. He likes to play with it, likes to pull her curls, he even likes braiding her hair when she’s hours deep in a design and can’t spare a few minutes to do it herself. 

But does he like her butt? 

Or her boobs, for that matter. She knows they’re small. At camp, that was a benefit–armor fits so much better when you have a smaller chest, as the Aphrodite girls, as well as Clarisse, could attest. But what about the real world? 

Her girlfriends at Berkeley assure her that it’s not a problem. Percy’s never said anything to even imply otherwise. 

And yet. 

It sticks in her head, consumes a good part of her waking moments. (Which could be better spent on schoolwork, or date nights, or that one weird quest she had to do for Pomona, of all gods. Who the hell is Pomona?)

It comes to a head one night, during a mutual homework-and-despair-over-the-kitchen-table session. Percy is struggling his way through a book, and Annabeth is struggling her way through building some kind of fucking cube based entirely on drawings. Gods, she wishes she had her old laptop. It could have blasted through this homework set no problem. Sure, that’s probably technically cheating, but what’s a little academic dishonesty here and there? 

Across the table, Percy groans. “Why did I let your dad talk me into majoring in classics?” 

“You love it, don’t lie,” she says, furiously erasing an errant line. 

“This isn’t even classics!” he whines. “I have to read Heinrich Schliemann’s diary.” 

She lifts her head, squinting at him. “Who?” 

“He’s an archaeologist who blew up half of the Trojan ruins.” 

Wrinkling her nose, she snorts. “Shit archaeologist.”

“No kidding.” Percy stands, stretching a little bit. His shirt rides up, flashing a strip of tummy at her. “I’m gonna get some more water. Need anything? Hello? Earth to Annabeth?” 

“Hm?” She blinks. 

Percy is waving his hand in front of her face. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Annabeth.”

“Yeah?”

“What is going on with you?”

“Nothing,” she half scoffs. “Why? I’m fine.”

His mouth twists. “You’ve been kind of spacey all night.” 

“As opposed to other nights?” It kind of comes with the ADHD territory. He, of all people, should get it. 

“Well, yeah.” He wanders off, pulling out a couple of glasses from the cabinet. “Usually when you space out, you’re still thinking–you tap your pencil against your paper, or doodle structural joints. But tonight, I’ve barely heard a peep from you.” 

…Who even notices that about people? “Why do you know that about me?” 

She can feel his smirk, even from across the kitchen. “Because I love you.”

Part of her wants to preen. Another part of her wants to shrivel up and die a little. The first part wins out–barely. 

“So,” Percy says, setting a glass of water in front of her. He leans on his hand, the other one on his hip. “Want to tell me what’s wrong?”

She takes it, and drinks, gratefully. There’s no need to rush; she knows he will wait for her. Percy gazes down at her, his eyes crinkled in a delightful blend of concern and fondness. Mostly fondness. Gods, she loves him so much. It would be embarrassing if she didn’t know that it was equally returned. There’s something beautiful about that, in this moment, the two of them in this little bubble of home, just existing together. Inquiries that don’t need answers. Oddness that requires no real justification. Only reassurance that things are mostly okay. Space to breathe. To lay things bare, no matter how strange. Percy will understand.  

Raising her eyes to him, she smiles, and asks the question bubbling up from deep inside her subconscious: “Have you ever wanted to try anal sex?” 

“Wh–” He gapes, and his hand slips, nearly cracking his head on the table. “Uh, wh–what? Huh?” he stammers, picking himself back up. 

“Anal sex.” She picks up her pencil, twirling it for lack of anything else to do with her hands. “What do you think about it?” 

Blinking at her, he works his jaw before squeezing out, “...Like, in concept?” 

“Yeah.”

“As in, something for us to try?” 

“Yeah.” The pencil dances across her fingers. “Are you interested?” 

“...I guess?” Percy squeaks, then he clears his throat. “Yeah. I mean. Sure.” 

“That wasn’t very convincing.” 

“Well, I’m not very convinced yet.” 

“Oh.” She frowns, going for another sip to hide it. 

“Hey–come on, not like that.” Percy pulls his chair around the corner of the table, taking her hand as he sits down. “It’s not a ‘no.’ Just… Can I ask where this is coming from?” 

Shrugging, she chooses to look at their joined hands, suddenly fascinated with the way that her skin shifts as he rubs his thumb across hers. “I dunno,” she mumbles. “Just thought it sounded interesting.” 

“Interesting?” 

“Yeah.” Flicking her eyes up, they land on that little furrow between his brows that she loves so deeply. “Fun, even.” 

“For you or for me?” 

What a weird question. “For us, seaweed brain.” 

He would get to have butt sex, which apparently guys are totally into, and she would get some reassurance that her butt was good enough to have sex with. Win win. 

Percy looks at her, his beautiful green eyes searching back and forth. It’s stupid, but sometimes they really are like whirlpools, and she really can get lost in them. Not that she would ever say that out loud. That would be too embarrassing, even for her. 

Then, releasing a breath through his nose, he squeezes her hand again, and knocks his foot against hers. “Okay.” 

She perks up. “Okay?” 

“Okay. But, uh–” Guiltily, he casts a glance back to his laptop. “I kinda have to finish this reading tonight, so…” 

“Oh!” She laughs. “Gods, no, not tonight. I’m going to be up all night with this stupid problem set.” 

He chuckles in return, but a little shakily, like he does whenever he barely misses a swipe of her knife during sparring practice. “Rain check, then?” 

“Definitely.” She leans over and kisses his cheek, immensely gratified by the light flush that comes over his face. 

Oh, this was going to be so much fun!

Butt sex day ends up being pushed back a few times. First, it was the fact that her problem set ended up plaguing her through the end of the weekend. Then, Sofia had invited her to a girls’ night out in the city, and she was far too hungover to even consider having sex. And then Percy caught a cold. 

She doesn’t forget about it, though. Every so often it will pop up, distracting her from a sketch or prompting a sudden round of phone research on the toilet, and every time she always remembers that, oh yeah, this is a thing she wants to do. But between homework, social engagements, illness, and Percy suddenly being voluntold to lead a Legion training exercise out in the middle of nowhere for a week and a half–without her, she might add, which was fantastically rude, and was apparently due to something about the Second Cohort’s sour grapes about last time, which was dumb, because it wasn’t her fault that the Centurion cried after she kicked his ass up and down the field–thoughts of anal sex keep falling to the wayside. 

Like today, as she comes back from class, holding the mail. Nestled within their mailbox, amongst the letters, had been a small, thin, white package–not an Amazon box, which usually shows up within hours of placing an order, courtesy of one Hylla, but something else. She doesn’t remember ordering anything, so it’s probably for her other half. “Percy!” She calls as she enters the apartment, kicking the door closed with her foot. “Package for you!”

Percy, nearly wedged into their couch, his legs kicked up and holding a PS4 controller with his eyes trained on their little TV, frowns. The console had been a donation from one of her step-brothers, who had decided that he preferred building computers himself rather than buying them outright. “What package?” 

“Uh…” Annabeth squints at the label, the tiny letters blurring into squiggly lines. Honestly, she hadn’t even looked. “A… Adam…” 

“Oh!” Her boyfriend practically somersaults over the couch, controller still in hand, and swipes it from her. “That package!” 

“What is it?” 

Percy blinks at her. Behind him, the little guy on the screen gets a faceful of laser gun, and dies, with a sad whine. “It’s–uh–gym stuff.”

“Gym stuff?” 

He nods. “Yeah. Frank and I are–we were thinking about starting a weight lifting program in the next couple of weeks. So I got some gloves.” Gently jostling the box, he flashes a strained grin. “For the weights.” 

You know, weights are probably not a bad idea for her, either. Jogging with her ankle gets a little bit harder every day, and the idea of building some more visible muscle is pretty appealing. Maybe they could do weights together! “Cool,” she says, already turning her attention back to the rest of the mail. She’s learning to recognize junk by the feel of the glossy plastic, but paper envelopes still frustrate her. “Let me know how it goes.” 

Date night gets pushed back a few times, too. You’d think that two people who live together would manage to carve out some time to spend it together, but nope. At least during midterms, anyway. 

But finally, after two grueling weeks, midterms are done, New Rome obligations are fulfilled, and Percy and Annabeth have the whole weekend to themselves. They celebrate with a wonderful home cooked meal of pastichio, a light salad with vegetables that Annabeth chopped herself, and earlier she had caught a glimpse of something round and chocolatey, covered in plastic wrap and chilling in the fridge, so she’s just about vibrating as Percy finishes up the dishes. “So,” she starts, tapping her heel against the floor, “when do I get to see what you’ve been slaving away over all day?” 

She knows he heard her. Still, he takes his time before responding, carefully wiping each dish before slotting it neatly in the drying rack. It’s maddening. It’s infuriating. It’s kind of making her hot. 

Eventually, he finishes, wiping his hands on a dish towel. “Needs to set for another hour, maybe.” 

“Aw, come on.” 

Her disappointment is assuaged somewhat as he strides over to her, takes her head in his hand, and leans down for a kiss, his tongue swiping over her lips. “Can’t rush perfection.” 

Well, how is she supposed to argue with that? “Fine,” she pouts, not really that bothered. 

“Besides,” he says, his voice dropping in that way that makes her want to curl up into a ball at his feet. “I have a couple ideas for how to pass the time.” 

“Oh?” 

“Mmhmm.” He brushes a curl from her face, his eyes lidded and dark. “If you’re interested.”

Sitting up straighter, she reaches up to entwine his fingers with hers. “I could be.” 

There’s a brief pause, something almost imperceptible flickering across his face, before he relaxes. Not a bad something almost imperceptible, but just… unidentifiable. If she didn’t know Percy as well as she does, she might never have noticed it. 

“Do you remember,” he starts, his voice low and warm, “that thing you wanted to try?” 

Does he mean… “Yeah?” 

“I was thinking…” His hand drifts towards the back of her head, fingers sliding into her hair like he knows she loves. “Maybe we could try it out tonight?”

“Yeah,” she sighs, more of a moan than she had meant it to be, and he smirks at the sound. Dammit. She’s so gone for this boy it’s stupid. “Yeah. I’d like that.”

It’s happening! It’s finally happening!

He smiles crookedly, stirring up her heart. “Mind if I take a quick shower? I’m just a little sweaty from all that cooking.” 

Pity. She likes his sweat smell. Call her gross, she doesn’t care. “Sure.”

“Great.” He kisses her forehead. “Back in a bit.” 

And with one final soft caress (that she does not lean into. Come on. She has some standards) he goes off to the bathroom. Tipping her head back onto the chair, she closes her eyes, not even attempting to staunch the smile that stretches across her face.

It’s not that she’s been absolutely dying to try anal sex. Well, she has, but it’s more–the butterflies in her stomach, they’re not about anything specific. They’re simply for the sweet, heady thrill of new experiences with the love of her life. And she adores this feeling. Whether it’s walking hand-in-hand in Paris, fighting a catoblepas in Disneyland during “It’s A Small World,” or merely moving into an apartment across the country with him, it sets her blood singing, every single time. Life as a demigod is one adventure after another, but now they get to be fun adventures, instead of deadly ones. They get to be the adventures of living, and of living well. 

And yeah, also she’s really excited about the adventures of sex. Her boyfriend is hot as Helios and she loves having sex with him. She wants it all, every experience, not because she feels like she’s missing out on anything, but because she gets to do it all with Percy. With her seaweed brain. 

Gods, she loves him so much! 

Unable to contain herself, and because Percy’s short showers can range anywhere from two minutes to half an hour if he really feels like, she practically springs up from her chair, nearly skipping to the bedroom. 

Maybe she should shower, too. Or at least, uh… do some last minute cleaning down there. Though, she hasn’t had Taco Bell for a while, so that’s something. But, like, a few extra wipes probably wouldn’t hurt. 

The shower is in full swing as she enters the bedroom, though it seems quieter than it usually is. “Percy?” she calls, stripping off her shirt, tossing it towards the laundry hamper. “You in there?” 

Nothing. 

She frowns. Stepping up to the bathroom door, she knocks. “Percy?” 

A beat, then finally, muffled over the roar of water–“Yeah?” he replies. If she didn’t know any better, she’d say his voice was strained. 

“You mind if I use the toilet really fast?” 

“...Sure!” 

In short order, she completes her business (doing a few extra strokes for good measure) then retreats back to the bedroom, her shorts joining their compatriots on the floor, and realizes–the reason it sounded so quiet was because Percy hadn’t been singing along. He’s a full on shower singer, regularly treating Annabeth to the greatest hits of the seventies and eighties. She’s caught him full on belting plenty of times, crooning into the shampoo bottle microphone with zero shame. 

But instead of power ballads, tonight there was nothing. Not even a hum. She thinks maybe she heard a tiny whimper, though that might have just been the loose toilet seat squeaking as she sat down. 

Whatever. Not important. What is important is getting herself ready. Down to her underwear, she hops onto the bed, scooching herself back against the center of the headboard, and straightens her back. Her legs fall open in front of her in what she hopes is an inviting V, and she folds her arms behind her head, the movement pushing her chest out, making it look like she has something going on up there. Tossing her hair from her face, she smiles, and settles into the pose, waiting for Percy to come out and see her. 

Thirty seconds pass. She twitches her toes. A minute or so later, her arms are starting to tire. 

Damn, maybe she should start joining Percy and Frank at the gym. 

When her butt starts to go numb–can’t have that, that’s the main attraction–she decides a new pose is in order. She chooses to flop on her stomach instead, facing the bathroom door, and resting her head on her arms. That way, her butt will be front and center. 

Another minute passes. Maybe more. Still no Percy. 

Huffing, she turns over onto her back. 

What’s the hold up? He hadn’t smelled that bad at dinner. 

Finally, she hears the water shut off. Finally! 

She manages to roll back onto her front just as Percy comes out of the bathroom. He’s let himself stay a little bit wet, which she likes very much, little drops of water dragging down the length of his body and onto the lip of the towel around his waist, blazing trails for her fingers to follow in just a moment. He smirks down at her, mouth slanted, eyes dark. “Hey.” 

“Hi.” 

“You look comfortable.” 

“You look clean.” 

“As a whistle.” He unwraps the towel, slowly enough to be deliberate, and carefully hangs it on the bathroom door. 

Before she can make some stupid joke about whistles and how well she can blow them, Percy hops up onto the bed with her, sweeping her up into a kiss. It’s neither blistering nor hungry, but sweet, even as his hands automatically slide down her back to her bra. That’s okay, though. She wants to really be in the moment for this–at least for right now. She’d rather not be melted into a puddle of sexy goo until a little bit later. 

His fingers chase the straps down her shoulders, leaving goosebumps in their wake, and it takes her a second to remember that she has to actually let go of Percy if she wants it gone. She grumbles, and he laughs back, slipping it off her in one smooth motion. He’s honestly better at taking off her bra than she is. He’s certainly got his ten thousand hours in at it. 

When he brushes a thumb over her nipple, she decides she does not care even a little bit. 

She does think about complaining when he doesn’t stay there and give her tits some more attention, like they deserve, but she chokes it back as he slides his fingers beneath the hem of her plain, gray, cotton underwear. Shit, should she have put on some sexier panties or something? It is a special occasion after all. Percy, though, doesn’t seem to mind, if the glint in his eyes is any indication as he slowly peels them off her hips. He swallows, loudly enough that she can hear it, then ducks down to kiss her belly, smiling at her little gasp, her little jump. “Can I?” he asks, voice thick, ghosting his thumb over the pubis. “Before we… uh, continue?”

“Only if I get to join in,” she replies, dragging her hand down the length of his side. He shudders as she passes over ridge and valley, tracing the map of his body, her fingertips skimming over the dark thatch of hair over his cock. 

“Yeah,” he croaks. “Okay.” 

And she smirks as she wraps her fingers around him, watching the long line of him shake, the dip of his head as he sucks in a breath, before he responds in kind. A true master of his craft, he wastes no time in parting her labia, stroking just above her clit. He knows that she likes a warm up–going straight for the pleasure button does nothing for her. She needs a prologue before the rising action, a set up before the climax. As it were. 

For several minutes, they don’t–can’t–speak, the only sounds in the room their heavy breathing, in harmony with the slick slide of skin on skin. Somehow they’ve managed to remain relatively upright, Annabeth balancing herself on one arm, though Percy looks as though he might collapse on top of her at any moment, especially when she catches her nail on the underside of his cock. And wouldn’t that be nice. He hisses, biting back a curse, but Annabeth can’t dwell on her victory for too long. Parry and riposte, he moves his hand, slipping his fingers inside of her, and she drops her head, unable to hold back a moan. He leans in closer, mouth beneath her jaw, less of a kiss and more just his lips under her ear, open-mouthed and panting as she squeezes him. 

“Fuck…” He groans against her neck, the sound vibrating through her body. “Can–can you–?” 

She reaches forward to cup his balls, and he nearly does collapse, a guttural noise punching out of his chest. He almost lunges towards her, planting his mouth on hers, and she welcomes it, lips on lips and sloppy tongue against sloppy tongue as he crooks his fingers inside of her pussy. The feeling builds like a wave, rising from deep within, picking up speed as it starts to race to shore–

Wait, wait–“Wait, Per–” He kisses her again, deep and ravenous, and had she not been sitting down, her legs might actually have given out at it. Woof. Weakly, she pushes against his pelvis, turning her head so Percy couldn’t swallow her words. “Hold on.” 

Percy pulls back, concern breaking through the fog of lust. “What is it?” 

“Just–give me a second,” she pants. 

Can’t end the party too soon. Not that Annabeth wouldn’t be up for round two if need be, but she doesn’t want to come right now. Not yet. 

Not before the fun really begins. 

“Slower?” he guesses, and she can just barely nod. 

“Please.” 

True to his word, he pumps the brakes. His fingers are still inside her, but instead of thrusting, he goes for more of an internal massage, his fingertips gently, but firmly pressing up against her walls, making little soothing circles. It’s a different build, less like a tsunami, and more like the inner chamber of a volcano, a slow, churning boil that sends warmth through her whole body, tips to toes. She trembles, her arm nearly buckling. 

Before she falls, though, he sweeps his arm around her, pulling her close to him, chest to chest. The movement jostles his fingers, and his hard cock bumps against her thigh, her hand trapped between them both, but from their communal hisses of pleasure, it is certainly not a problem. It’s her turn to kiss his neck, now, her teeth scraping over the taut line of his jugular, and he actually whines, a high pitched squeak matched by her own as she starts to ride his fingers. 

“Okay,” she gasps. “Okay.” 

They pull back as one, gazing into each other’s eyes. Wide and wine-dark, his gaze burns through her, feverish, grasping, hungry, before he cools somewhat, returning to himself. “You ready?” he asks, voice rough.

Annabeth nods.

“Say it.” 

“Yes.” She kisses his stupid perfect slanted mouth for good measure. “Yes, I’m ready.” 

For all of it. For everything. As long as they’re together. 

And then Percy flops onto the bed, right onto his back. He looks up at her, his gaze waiting and expectant.

…Okay. Is this how they’re doing it? 

She follows suit, stretching out next to the right of him. 

For a few seconds, they lie next to each other, shoulder to shoulder. She holds his eyes, tracking the changes as they grow ever so slightly confused. Looking to her for the cue. 

Is she supposed to do something? 

“Um.” His ears pinken, little dusts of rose. “Are you gonna…?” 

“Oh!” Duh! Probably hard to get at her ass from this position. 

She rolls over, lying on her front, head kind of awkwardly smushed into the mattress as she turns it to look back at him. Hopefully they’ll adjust the positioning before the actual act. 

But he does not, as she would have preferred, leap upon her to ravish her. 

Instead, he sits up, frowning at her in confusion. “What are you doing?” 

She braces herself up on her elbows. “Getting into position?” 

If anything, that makes him more confused. “Huh?” 

“What do you mean, ‘Huh’?” 

“Where’s your…” She sees it on his face as some sort of realization begins to dawn. “Wait. Annabeth.”

“What?” 

“Who do you think is fucking who?” 

…What? “Percy. You’re fucking me.” 

“Am I?” 

“Aren’t you?” 

“So… you don’t want to peg me?” 

Her head is spinning. “What?”

“Annabeth,” he says, doing his best to hold back his laughter, but she can see it bubbling up under the surface, “when you said–when you said you wanted to try anal, I thought you meant on me.” 

Her own laugh bursts out of her without any warning. “Oh my gods!” 

The laughter ripples through them, feeding on each other until they are both doubled over on the bed, nearly folded in two. Percy clutches his stomach, collapsing back onto the bed, and Annabeth can feel tears in her eyes. 

“No,” she gets out, laughter making her voice shake, “no, I meant on me.” 

“Yeah,” Percy giggles, “I got that. Eventually.” 

“You thought I wanted to peg you!” 

“Can you blame me?” He rolls over, bumping into her and kissing her shoulder. “You were suddenly all like, ‘Oh, Percy, your butt is sooooooo sexy–’” 

She laughs again, even as she gives him a gentle knee in the side. “Shut up.” 

“Tell me how much you love my ass.” 

“No.” 

“Tell me!” 

“No!” 

She tries to roll away, but Percy pulls her on top of him anyway, wrapping his arms around her. Delightfully, she can feel that he hasn’t lost any of his hardness. “Tell meeeeeee!” 

“In your dreams, seaweed brain!” 

His arms squeeze around her, tighter. “Tell me, or I won’t let you up.” 

She shivers. “That is not the persuasive technique you think it is, babe.” She snuggles down into the crook of his neck and shoulder, making sure to wiggle her whole body so he can feel every single inch of it. 

But he only squeezes her one more time before releasing her. She feels the loss acutely, even though she is still laying on top of him. “So, now what?” 

“What does that mean?” Annabeth asks, not moving from her Percy pillow. 

“Do you want to leave this alone for a bit?”

She pulls back, frowning. “What does that mean?” 

Soothingly, he strokes a hand down her side. “I mean, take another rain check, maybe.” 

“No,” she shakes her head. With their luck, their next date night wouldn’t be until after finals. And then they’d probably get interrupted by some useless bullshit quest, anyway. “I’m still game if you are.” 

Gods, she hopes he still is. He certainly feels like it. But what if he actually wanted her to peg him? Did she accidentally ruin the mood? 

The hand that was stroking her side moves lower, gliding over her hip. 

“How about,” he says, pitching his voice down a touch, and on top of him like this, she can really feel it vibrating through his broad, firm chest, “you tell me exactly what you want. So there’s no more…” Grinning up at her, he scrapes his nails across her skin, and she shudders. “Misunderstandings.” 

She would reply, except suddenly she can’t really think beyond the feeling of his fingers on her, creeping up along the swell of her ass. “Uh…”

The corner of his mouth quirks up. “Uh?” 

“Um.” 

“Um?” he gently mocks. And then, he presses down. Annabeth clenches, automatic. “Not quite sure what to do with ‘uh’ or ‘um.’” He does it again, turning up the pressure. “Looking for specifics here.” 

“I–” 

But before she can get out her sentence, Percy has moved from a simple press to a full-on grab; he takes one cheek in his hand, and squeezes, hard, so sudden that she actually squeaks.

“Percy–”

“Mmhmm?” 

“I–”

He squeezes her ass again, smirking. “What was that?” 

Fucking prick! “I want you to do anal sex on me!” 

His lips twitch like he’s about to start laughing again. “You want me to do what?” 

Face flushing, she buries her head back in his shoulder. “Are you really going to make me say it?”

“Yeah, I think I am.” 

Ugh, why is she in love with him again? “I want you,” she mumbles into his skin, “to fuck me in the ass.” 

“Sorry, didn’t catch that?” 

If he drags this out one more minute, she might actually explode. “Please,” she says, lifting her head to him. “Please fuck my ass, Percy. I want it.” 

His playful facade falters, before falling away entirely–eyes widening, pupils dilating, pink mouth hanging open, he gulps, audibly. 

Was the please too much? 

“Okay,” he wheezes. “Yeah.” 

Instead of turning her over and proceeding with the ravishing, though, he catapults upwards, almost throwing her off him. 

“Drawer,” he rasps. 

“What?” 

“Condoms. Lube.” He flails his arm somewhere to the left. “Let me–get them.” 

“Oh,” she pouts. She was under the impression that they had kind of graduated out of condoms. It’s not like they were going to be bumping uglies with anyone else. And, embarrassingly enough, she happens to really like the feel of him bare inside of her–probably more than he does. Whatever. She’s not weird. 

Percy pecks the smile off her mouth, before sliding out from under her. “Safety first.” 

“Fine,” she sighs, a touch dramatic. “Just make it quick.” 

“Trust me,” he says, clambering over to their bedside drawer, “I don’t want to draw it out any longer than you do.” 

She turns on her side, all the better to shamelessly ogle him as he struggles to balance on the bed with one hand shoved inside the drawer. He really does have a great ass. “I’m holding you to that.” 

“Aha!” Triumphantly, he holds his prizes aloft, and turns back, grinning. “And to think you doubted me.” 

Annabeth could never. Not in a million, billion years. Not if Olympus crumbled or the World Tree went up in smoke. 

Not that she’d ever admit it. Well–that’s not entirely true. She would admit it, and happily. She’s pretty sure Percy already knows, anyway. It’s just probably something she should save for later. Like their wedding, maybe, instead of the first time they try anal sex. “So,” she says instead. “How are we doing this?” 

The “how” ends up being her on her front, with a pillow propped up under her hips. She has another pillow for her head, which is currently resting on her crossed arms. It’s a smidge uncomfortable, but it’s worth it for being able to look at Percy as he lies next to her, stretched out on his side. It’s doubly worth it when she doesn’t really have to move for him to be able to lean in and kiss her. 

Percy slides his hand down the length of her spine, and against her mouth, he whispers, “Are you ready?” 

She breathes in, holding for a moment, then releases, sinking further into the pillows as the tension leeches out of her body. “Yeah.” 

“Okay.” His hand disappears, and she would mourn the loss of it, were it not for the warmth of his body, so close to hers, or the little puff of air over her shoulder. She hears a faint click, then a squelch, then he leans into her again, whispering into her ear, “This might be cold.”

The lube is cold, but she valiantly holds in her squeak. 

And as his fingers drift south, she has a sudden, terrifying moment of clarity. 

Oh gods, he’s going to put his fingers in her ass! 

Will they fit? Will it hurt? Is she clean enough down there?!

“Relax,” he murmurs, low and soft and safe. “I’ve got you.” 

At some point she will have to do a genealogical check on Percy to make sure he doesn’t secretly have an Aphrodite in him, because she softens instantly. His words are like a blanket, covering her in warmth, calming every insecurity she has. His voice is a shield, protecting her all her vulnerabilities, warding off all her fears. 

He dips a finger between her cheeks. It’s cold. But it’s warm, too. Like the great campfire on a winter evening. 

Then he…

He presses it down, gently, just on the rim of–of her asshole. 

It’s… odd. Not bad, just… odd. 

Percy, not sensing any reticence from her, presses down again, with two fingers this time. Like he does with her clit, he massages a gentle circle on the skin. And just like he does with her clit, his fingers leave sparks in their wake, little trails of fire that sink beneath the skin and travel straight to the core of her, throbbing at the warmth of it. 

“Doing okay?” he asks, ever the gentleman.

She nods, turning her face into the pillow, not quite willing to trust her voice yet. 

“Okay,” he says. “I’m going to put it in now, alright?” 

She can only nod again. 

She can’t help it–she tenses up as she feels the tip of his finger at her back entrance. Wet and cold, if she felt it on her leg, she might have thought that Percy was pranking her with some seaweed. She’s about to tell Percy that she takes it back, that this was a dumb idea, that she really didn’t know why she was obsessing over such a silly thing–

His finger breaches the hole, and she gasps. 

“Annabeth?” He probes (heh), the gentleness of his voice not quite strong enough to cover his worry. “Are you okay? Does it hurt? Talk to me–”

“More,” she moans. 

Dutifully, he pushes in further. 

Annabeth has had plenty of experience with penetration. She figured, vaginal or anal, how different could they really be? 

Never has she been so happy to be so wrong. 

Her first semi-coherent thought is: oh, he feels so big and it’s only a finger. Even just the tip of it feels enormous, stretching her to the very edge of her limits. The second is: yeah, there’s a little bit of pain. But not in a bad way, oh no–it’s the bright starburst of sensation like when she itches a mosquito bite, or worries at a scar that hasn’t quite healed, the brief, sharp pain making the relief just that much sweeter. Every touch sends sparks skittering up and down her spine, electricity pulsing even down her legs, and every breath she takes only strengthens the feelings, a feedback loop of unbearable intensity. 

It only gets worse (better?) as Percy announces that he’s going to add a second finger. By the third, it takes her a moment or so to realize that the high, strained, keening sound is coming from her. 

Then he shifts beside her, and the angle of his fingers change, and–”Oh, fuck!” 

Percy kisses the base of her neck, nose in her hair, panting in her ear. “Is that good?” He growls. Gently, maybe even subconsciously, she can feel his dick as it thrusts against her, leaving sticky trails on her hip. “Do you like that?” 

“I–oh–” She pushes her hips back into his hand, the silk pillowcase beneath her sliding perfectly against her clit. If her eyes weren’t squeezed shut, they’d be popping out of her skull. “Fuck… me…” 

His smirk burns against her skin. “I am fucking you,” he says, punctuated with a particularly delightful thrust of fingers that feels, somehow, mirrored in her pussy. She clenches around the phantom feelings of fingers in her cunt, and delightfully, around the very real fingers in her ass.

She needs him. She needs all of him. Right the fuck now. 

Shimmying an arm out from under her, she sloppily grabs the back of Percy’s neck, pulling him closer. He’s sweating, face and neck flushed, his eyes nearly black from lust, and there’s a little bit of drool at the corner of his mouth. 

“Percy. Please.” She’s far, far too gone to be embarrassed at being reduced to begging. “I need you.” 

“I’m here.” His kiss is searing, his tongue fire against hers. “I’m here.” 

But she shakes her head. “No, I need–I need you, inside of me.” 

She can see that stupid fucking smirk curling up his face, and she surges up, grabbing him in another blazing kiss before the sight of it can make her come all over his fingers. He returns it, just as he always does, with equal passion, equal frenzy, equal rapture. Equal love. 

“You,” she breathes, her forehead against his, “are going to fuck my ass. Properly. Or I swear to all the gods–” 

As he chuckles, his chest pressed against hers, the vibrations traveling directly to her cunt, she wonders if maybe she should have let him smirk instead. 

He kisses her, once, twice, three times. “Your wish is my command,” he murmurs. 

But again, he doesn’t throw her down and ravish her. He spins her around, with one hand pulling her so her back is flush with his chest, and with the other (plus a little help from his leg) kicking her posture pillows out of the way. Peppering her shoulder with kisses, he lays them down so they’re spooning, and Annabeth’s initial disappointment swiftly dissipates, dissolving at the feel of him so, so close. Her head rests against his arm, his lips are fastened to the side of her neck, their legs are intertwined, and every deep, heaving breath only serves to press him further against her, skin searing with contact. 

It’s heady. It’s intoxicating. It’s the perfect angle for her to rub her ass against his cock, and to feel his shaking frame as he groans, wet breath beneath her ear. “Fuck,” he mumbles. “Condom?” 

“Huh?” 

His right arm stretches over her, but can’t quite reach the little foil packet he had retrieved earlier. “Can you–fuck,” he hisses, grasping her hip to keep her from moving again. “Can you grab it?” 

It speaks to their experience with tangled limbs that she’s able to snatch up the condom, tear open the wrapper, and pass its contents back to Percy in just a few seconds, despite not having used one in a while. They should try and see if they can do it even faster. You know, for science. 

He retreats from her for just a moment, hand bumping against her as he fumbles the condom on. Can he feel her heartbeat picking up speed, her breath hitching in delight and anticipation? 

“Okay,” he slurs against her shoulder. “Okay, I’m–just give me…” 

And there, finally, blessedly, there is the press of his cock, lighting her on fire from within. 

He moves into her, hot and heavy and so much bigger than she’s used to, pushing the air out of her mouth in a ragged, broken moan. He’s so deep, and he’s only burrowing in deeper, helped along by her tight, tight hole. Face red, she clumsily throws her arm back, grasping for something to hold–and, catching his hair, grabs on for dear life. 

She doesn’t think she’s ever felt this close to him. Not even during their first time. She is engulfing him, consuming him, and being consumed in return. She is held, surrounded, encompassed, overflowing. 

No wonder Alexander loved this. No wonder Achilles died for this. 

She had never felt so beloved. 

And then, he pulls back, and she gets to experience the beautifully luxurious feeling of being slowly pulled apart from the inside out. 

Back and forth, every thrust stokes the fire, the hot, bubbling pit of pleasure quickly rising in her: stomach, breasts, neck, cheeks, temples. Behind her, she can feel his wet breath against the knob of her spine, can hear the sweet little groans she’s not even sure he knows he’s making. He might not be able to hear them over her own, though. 

“Percy,” she whines, and she would do it herself, but if she lets go of him now, she might float away into nothingness, “can you–would you–” 

“Anything.” He nips her ear, tongue laving over the pinpoint prick of that wonderful hurt. “Anything.” 

“Touch me–Percy, I need–”

That he doesn’t make her say it out loud is only proof that he’s as far gone as she is. Releasing its death grip on her hip, he moves his hand between her legs, making a beeline for her clit, and she screams. There is no other word for it. He plays her like a symphony, works her like his sword, presses and rubs and squeezes her clit, pushing her higher and higher and higher. The cliff is in sight. Moments away. 

With some difficulty, she turns her head, looking at Percy through lidded eyes and fluttering lashes. Perfectly attuned to her every move, his eyes flick to hers, burning a hole through her beneath furrowed brows. “Kiss me,” she slurs. 

He stretches his neck to her, capturing her lips with his, gasping and hungry. His mouth is sweeter than any ambrosia. More honeyed than any nectar. 

She falls–but as always, they fall together. 

With a final squeeze, she breaks apart, her orgasm ripping through her, with all the violence and intensity of a great wave, crashing on shore. It covers her, subsumes her, steals her breath away. Or maybe that’s Percy, crushing her to his chest, so close she can feel the force of his pounding heartbeat, strong and thudding, imprinting itself on her very bones. Her very soul. Their two bodies, knitted together in this one perfect, divine moment. 

If she never opens her eyes again, maybe she can make this moment last forever. 

Unfortunately, though, it doesn’t. It could have been hours, days, even an eternity later, but in Annabeth’s opinion, Percy pulls away from her far too soon–and she makes her objection known, whining as he removes himself from her person. He kisses her shoulder in apology. “Sorry.” His voice is as demolished as a ruin, rough and rocky, heavy with emotion. “Back in a second.” 

In the absence of his embrace, eyes still shut, she stretches herself out, savoring the sore muscles that throb and ache, faint afterimages of pleasure. She can already tell she’ll feel this deeply in the morning. She certainly hopes so, anyway. 

“Scooch up,” says Percy, somewhere to her right. “I need to grab the blanket.” 

She would, if she felt like moving were possible at the moment. 

“I mean, I guess you can stay if you want to sit in a puddle of lube…”

Wordlessly, she rolls over, and he presses his chuckle to her back. 

A thought occurs to her. The lube, the condoms, the position, the clean-up–Percy had been surprisingly prepared for this. Not to mention the actual act itself. Did he do research? Bracing herself on her elbows, she squints up at Percy, haloed by the overhead light. “Where on Earth did you learn how to do that?” 

“Research,” he says matter-of-factly, but his attitude is betrayed by the light flush on his cheeks. “And, um, practice.” 

Her momentary fantasy of Percy-the-researcher is shattered as her eyes snap open. Practice?! “On who?” 

His flush deepens. “...Myself.”

“Your–oh.” In her mind’s eye, the clarity of Percy-the-researcher is suddenly replaced with a hazy, foggy image of Percy-the-strategist, acting out his plan on himself before he tries it on her, his fingers in his own… 

Did he blush then like he is now, sweet and pink and lightly self-conscious? Did he like it as much as she did? Given his general hesitation and worry, maybe not. Which was fine. More for her. And she wanted so much more. 

But the idea of his fingers, breaching his body like they did her’s with so much skill…

Her own face burning, she drops her head back down into the (lube-free) sheets. “Can you get me some water, please?” 

“Sure,” he says, voice just a tiny bit hoarse. “Anything else?” 

“And the lights.” She can feel a small headache coming on, and she would like to enjoy the afterglow as much as possible. The bright, sunny ceiling light, for all the good it does in making sure she actually gets out of bed in the morning, will not help her right now. 

She can almost feel the weight lifted as he flicks off the light, and she breathes a sigh of relief. “Don’t forget to wash up,” he says, planting another kiss on her hair. 

In response, she grumbles, muffled by the sheets. 

“Uh uh, wise girl, no whining. You want another yeast infection?” 

Dang it. Why does he have to be right so often? 

With a heroic effort that should have been sung about in the ancient tragedies, Annabeth manages to clamber out of bed, unsteadily making her way to the bathroom, muscles screaming in protest. She will admit to being wholly unprepared for the feeling of having her guts rearranged. It’s a lot, sure, but it’s no worse than a good fight with Frank or Clarisse. She can sit down just fine, relieve herself like normal. The cool porcelain is a balm to her flushed, sweaty skin. And she doesn’t spot any red in the post-gentle-wipe toilet paper inspection, which is always good. Between the choice of wiping up tacky lube from her thighs, or wiping up come, though, she thinks she prefers the come. Semi-dried lube is not exactly a nice texture.

She manages to waddle back, throwing on a spare, oversized, purple t-shirt from orientation with “LEGIONNAIRES DO IT WITH LIGHTNING” emblazoned on its front, and clambering onto the bed, laid out with their spare, but clean, duvet, just as Percy returns bearing the requested water, as well as… “Is that cake?” 

“Olive oil chocolate cake,” he says, handing her the glass. She drinks, gratefully. “With some salted vanilla ice cream.” 

…Oh! The dessert!

He grins. “You forgot, didn’t you?” 

“No,” comes her immediate retort. 

Percy must be tired, too, because he doesn’t really push back, only gives her a bowl before plopping down next to her. “Sure.”

“I didn’t!”

“Uh huh,” he mumbles around a mouthful of chocolate cake. 

Not to be left out, Annabeth takes a bite of her own. 

Predictably, it’s delicious. It’s divine. She’s a bit of a confessed snob about olive oil, one of her few true cooking-related talents, and she’s pleased to see that it’s rubbed off on Percy–the olive oil is smooth, fruity, and just a little bit bitter, perfectly complemented by the dark chocolate of the cake. Her fork picks up a little bit of the salted vanilla ice cream, too, and it comes together to form a symphony of color and flavor in her mouth, mutedly sweet and softly rich. She moans, eyes rolling into the back of her head. 

“Good?” 

She doesn’t even respond, just swallows it down and shoves another forkful in her mouth. 

Percy chuckles, licking his fork. “Should I be pleased or worried that your ‘enjoying food’ noises are the same as your sex noises?” 

“Pleased. Very pleased.” 

“Oh good. ‘Cause this was supposed to salvage date night if the anal hadn’t been good.” 

Laughing gently, she tips her head back against the headboard. A sound strategy if she ever heard one. She gently rocks from side to side, tensing and releasing her core, savoring the sweetness on her tongue and the dull ache below her stomach. “Well, you definitely don’t have to worry about that.” 

She can feel his heavy gaze on her as he inches closer, brushing her arm against his. “So, that was okay? You… had fun?” 

Nodding her head, she tenses again. “Oh yeah.” 

“Does it hurt at all?” 

Nod. 

“Sorry.” 

Annabeth not-so-casually throws a leg over his own, hooking their ankles together, and lays her head on his shoulder, cuddling deeper into his side. “So not a problem.” 

“So… this is a thing for you.” 

She shrugs as best she can. “Yeah. I guess.” 

It’s not something they ever really talked about at length. They’ve been friends long enough, dating long enough, and having sex long enough for Percy to realize that she doesn’t mind a little pain mixed in with pleasure. But she also knows that Percy’s fear of hurting his loved ones is integral to who he is as a hero. As a human. It’s just one of the many reasons why she loves him. If this is going to become a problem for them… well, they’ll figure it out. They always do. 

But Percy rushes to soothe her, kissing her head. “I’m not–I don’t want you to think that I think it’s weird. Or that I… that I–don’t like it myself.” She can feel him flushing, can feel the jump in his pulse. “I just always want to know you’re having fun. Or enjoying yourself. If you like this–if you like pain…” Beneath her shoulder, he breathes in deep, settling his racing heart, and she relaxes into him further. “I mean, you’re a warrior. You’re the greatest warrior. And I get the appeal of adrenaline, of testing your limits and your body, I do, I just… if this is a thing you want, I want to make sure I’m always giving you the thing you want.” He noses her hair, and she takes his free hand with her own, entwining their fingers together. “I couldn’t bear to hurt you in a way you didn’t like, that I didn’t bring you more pleasure than pain.”

Her own heart lurches in her chest. There are so many things she could say, so many affirmations and reassurances and declarations of the goodness of his heart, but her throat closes up just thinking about it. Momentarily speechless, she kisses their joined hands instead.

“If I–if I ever… you’ll tell me, right?” 

It’s a testament to the tenderness of the moment that she doesn’t even mind when her voice trembles as she responds, “Gods, Percy, of course.” 

His breath is shaky beneath her as he sighs–but she can feel his shoulders relax, his taut body settling as the tension begins to run out of him. He was actually a little bit afraid, she realizes. Scared to voice such an old, dark fear.

It’s almost funny. Annabeth’s usually the one who has issues with vulnerability. It’s hard, but she likes to think she’s getting better at it. And when the reward is this, this intimacy, this wonderful quiet closeness, it’s worth it. It’s so, so worth it. 

The moment feels big, somehow. She feels closer to him than ever before. 

“So,” she says, her voice still a tiny bit thick, “does this mean we get to do this again?” 

His laugh is startled out of him, short and sharp, but it does the trick–his heart settles fully, and he relaxes even further. “Sure,” he says, taking their empty bowls and stacking them on the bedside table. “I’m game if you are.” 

“Definitely.” Hands free, she turns into him, throwing an arm over his torso.

“Though maybe next time we should try it on me,” he muses. “I mean, if it’s as fun as you make it seem, I kinda wanna check it out.” 

She frowns. “I suppose.” 

“What, are you claiming bottom privileges?” 

“All the best heroes were bottoms,” she says, primly. “Achilles, Alexander… I’m in good company.” 

“Well, I’m a great hero, too,” Percy says, shutting off the lamp, plunging them into warm, companionable darkness. “Maybe I should get to try it.” 

“No.” She snuggles into him further, squeezing his chest. “Mine.” 

“Ah, of course.” He pulls the blanket over them. “I forgot I was in the presence of the mighty Annabeth the Great.” 

“Of course.” 

“Fierce lioness of Athens.” 

“That’s me.” 

“Greatest hero in all of Greece. Or at least in the Bay Area.”

She kisses his chest. “You better believe it.” 

“Never doubted it for a second.”

[kimberly40]

Before refrigerators and freezers: Most early settlers used a smokehouse, hanging hams and other large pieces of meat in a small building to cure through several weeks of exposure to a low fire with a lot of smoke. The process began around November. The meat would keep all winter and most of the summer. Some people still use this method on a limited basis, but most buy pork in the grocery store already cured. Another way to keep pork was to “salt it down.” Most families had a shelf in the smokehouse, a bench or table in another building, or a box that could be used for storing meat. They placed the meat on a layer of salt and covered it with more salt, sometimes mixed with pepper and brown sugar. Salt draws moisture out of meat and thus stops the process of rotting.

The type of food, of course, helped determine the best preservation method. Corn and pork were the most common staple foods, since farms could produce them in large quantities. Corn could be stored in several forms, kept in cribs while still on the cob, shelled, or ground into cornmeal. Some stored meat buried in shelled corn, because the corn was a good insulator. Over the years, people also have used salt and water mixtures to preserve many foods, such as fish or vegetables, by pickling.

Vegetables often were preserved by stringing them up to hang by the fireplace or in another warm, dry area to remove moisture. To prepare the vegetables for eating, people would soak them in water for a while. Beans prepared in this way were called “leather britches” because of their toughness after drying. Fruits, pumpkin, squash, and other foods could be kept in this way for months at a time.

Most homes years ago had a root cellar, where families kept food in a cool, dry environment. They stored apples and other foods in piles of sawdust or in containers filled with sawdust or similar loose material. Since the late 1800s, people have canned food and stored it in such places as the cellar.

One method rarely used today for preserving root crops such as potatoes and turnips was called “holing in.” People would dig a pit that was lined with sawdust or straw, place the foodstuff in the pit, and cover it with more sawdust or straw. Finally, they would place boards, tin, or a similar material on top. A similar method still is used in the Mountains of North Carolina. This method involves digging a furrow beside cabbage rows in a garden, pulling up the cabbage, placing each head upside down in the furrow, and covering it over with loose dirt. The cabbage turns white during the passing months but retains its flavor. Cabbage can be preserved in this way until time to plant again.

Before refrigerators, the springhouse was a fixture around most homes, providing a place to keep milk, butter, and other perishables from spoiling. Running springwater kept temperatures cool enough to preserve foods even on hot summer days. The “house” was a wooden structure with a roof built directly over the spring. It protected the food from animals and severe weather. In earlier days, people simply kept foods down in the water itself. Items like butter also might be kept down a well.

By the mid-1800s, a method of refrigeration had taken shape that seems rather crude when compared with today. People would dig icehouses into dirt banks in areas deprived of sunlight, line them with sawdust, and fill them with blocks of ice cut from frozen rivers and creeks. With proper care, the ice would last until summer.

[ofmermaidstories]

Merms!!! I am so exited about reader’s love of fresh produce you’ve got planned for sho’s fic!! I work on a nonprofit farm and conservation center and am sooo passionate about sustainable growing and regional veggies and herbs and plants so I’m very very exited that’s a lil nugget you’re putting in!! Not that it’ll be like the star of the show but those little glimpses and specificities are always so fun and full of life!

Anyways hehe visit your local farm stand(s) everyone if it’s available to you! A lot of places (around me, and my farm at least!) have programs and partners to help with food security so you can get free or discounted produce! And everyone there will prob be willing to chat about plants and growing or info on local food security initiatives, we give some of the harvest to the community and one of our neighbor’s focus is solely on food security!! Anyways RAHHH APOLOGIES I care abt this a lot and got up on a soap box 😭

Don’t apologise! Passion is good, and this is such an important thing to be passionate about. 🥺 Omg working on a farm though—I grew up on one so I can only imagine how hard you must work!!! I still live in a rural area now—although not as rural as East-Jesus-Nowhere when I was a kid—so I’m pretty lucky to have access to a lot of local produce!!! Especially with inflation hitting and raising prices. 😭 I shouldn’t complain though; my bestie was back home last week, visiting, and she was floored that sweet potatoes were like, $2.99 a kilo at the fruit shop—whereas apparently she was paying about $10 back in New Zealand? Dire 😭

You must do a lot of good work with your conservation and your non-profit. 🥺 All this talk of gardening tho makes me think of Carly Burd, that British woman who was harvesting from a little allotment and using the veggies she was growing to make up boxes to hand out to people who needed them—until some bastard salted the land!!! 😡 I hope they’re eventually outted—imagine having scum like that walk around among you! And you have to be scum, to have a problem with someone helping others feed themselves. idk, in Australia at least we waste so much produce just because it’s not pretty enough for the shelves or is a bit smaller than what the supermarkets want or it has to be thrown out EOD, and it’s so devastating because we’re such a big country—we can afford to feed our own, and we don’t. 🥺 I hate it!!!! I’ll stop myself there before I really get going, lmfao, but I just wanted to say your work sounds meaningful. 🥺 At the end of the day, getting yourself fed is the main thing, whether it’s from a packet of frozen Dollartree beans or a fresh bag of ‘em off the farm, but—it’s good that there’s farmers and programs and people out there trying to do what they can. 🥺💕

(Just for you, Anon, I’ll make sure our Reader for Shouto’s fic gets her veggies as local as she can 💕)

[waywardstation]

Speaking as someone who also does not like the image of people eating Pokemon, is vegetarian, and also have written the clans eating meals, my best guess for the Pearl Clan is that they just stored as much food as physically possible for Winter, which is when things would be the hardest.

Researching the diet around that time and region, along with applying pokemon knowledge gave me this: An average diet would most likely consists of root vegetables (potatoes, turnips, beets, etc), pickled vegetables, fruit preserves and jams, seaweed, rice (LOTS of rice), tofu, beans, nuts and berries, and more rice. Anything else they can supplement with trade. This is all subject to what they managed to produce during the summer and fall and store for winter.

I'd imagine it might be harder or easier for the Wardens; Lian might have an easier time in the forest, where as Gaeric...honestly I have no clue. (I will note that having such visible muscles is usually a sign of dehydration)

Food and Culture is a subject that fascinates me greatly, and Food History and Anthropology is something I studied! (it's not my major tho, lol)

I appreciate all of the thought you put into this Monsoon! Very in-depth!

With the root vegetables, I think it is very interesting to note that the sand radishes, in the game, were said to come originally from the Cobalt Coastlands (hence the name “sand radishes”, not “snow radishes”). I like to think that perhaps they were introduced into the Icelands to help add to this diet for the Pearl clan. (Maybe by Paulina, who is stationed out in the coastlands?)

Lian seems like he’d have an easy time gathering things in the forest. Paulina too, and even Calaba in the mirelands. Heck, even Ingo as well. It seems the only person who would struggle with having anything to gather is Gaeric, like you said. If he’s dehydrated…at least there’s a ton of frozen water around haha

And that’s super interesting! It’s cool to know you studied that stuff, it seems like it’s come in handy! Thanks for sharing!!

[xtruss]

Blueberries, Strawberries Again on The ‘Dirty Dozen’ List

— By Sandee LaMotte | Wednesday March 20, 2024

CNN — Approximately 95% of Nonorganic Strawberries, Leafy Greens such as Spinach and Kale, Collard and Mustard Greens, Grapes, Peaches and Pears tested by the United States government Contained Detectable Levels of Pesticides, according to the 2024 Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce.

Nectarines, Apples, Bell Peppers and Hot Peppers, Cherries, Blueberries and Green Beans rounded out the list of the 12 Most Contaminated samples of produce. It’s dubbed the “Dirty Dozen” by the Environmental Working Group, or EWG, an Environmental and Health Advocacy Organization that has produced the annual report since 2004.

Pesticides have been linked in studies to preterm births, congenital malformations such as neural tube defects, spontaneous abortions and an increase in genetic damage in humans. Exposure to pesticides has also been associated with lower sperm concentrations, heart disease, cancer and other disorders.

Farmworkers who use or are exposed to pesticides are at highest risk, according to studies. A 2022 meta-analysis found workers exposed to pesticides were nearly five times as likely to have DNA damage while a February study found children exposed at an early age showed poorer neurodevelopment from infancy to adolescence.

It’s not all bad news. Avocados, Sweet Corn, Pineapples, Onions and Papayas led the “Clean Fifteen” list of conventionally grown produce with the least amount of trace pesticides — nearly 65% of the fruits and veggies in that grouping had no detectable pesticide residues, according to the report released Wednesday.

Rounding out the “Clean Fifteen” were Frozen Sweet Peas, Asparagus, Honeydew Melons, Kiwis, Cabbage, Watermelons, Mushrooms, Mangoes, Sweet Potatoes and Carrots.

Crops which grow close to the ground, such as Strawberries, Spinach and Other Leafy Greens are Particularly Subject to Pests. Ekaterina Goncharova/Moment RF/Getty Images

Washed, Peeled and Scrubbed

Each year, a rotating list of domestic and imported produce is tested by US Department of Agriculture and US Food and Drug Administration. Staffers at the USDA Pesticide Data Program wash, peel and scrub fruits and vegetables as consumers would, while workers at the FDA only brush dirt off the produce. Then the fruits and vegetables are tested for more than 250 different pesticides and the results are posted online.

For 2024, EWG researchers examined testing data on 47,510 samples of 46 nonorganic fruits and vegetables, with the majority of testing from the USDA. An analysis of that data found traces of 254 pesticides in all fruits and vegetables analyzed, with 209 of those chemicals on produce in the “Dirty Dozen” list.

“We find that what ends up on one list versus the other reflects how those fruits and vegetables are grown,” said Alexis Temkin, EWG’s senior toxicologist. “Avocados, for example, aren’t pesticide intensive, while strawberries grow very close to the ground and have a lot of pests.”

Report Is Unfair To Farmers, Critics Say

About 70% of nonorganic produce tested by the USDA and FDA have pesticide levels within the legal limits allowed by the US Environmental Protection Agency, according to the EWG report. That fact makes the report misleading, said Carl Winter, emeritus professor of cooperative extension at the University of California, Davis.

“The dose makes the poison, not its presence or its absence, and that dose determines the potential for harm. In many cases you’d have to be exposed to a million times more than what we’re exposed to before you’d even see any effects,” said Winter, speaking on behalf of the Alliance on Food and Farming, which represents organic and conventional farmers.

However, “legal levels do not mean safe levels,” Temkin said in response. She pointed to times when regulators allowed potentially dangerous chemicals, such as the pesticide DCPA, to remain on the market long after scientific research had raised concerns. The herbicide was linked to thyroid concerns for years before the EPA told the public the chemical posed “significant risks to human health” in 2023.

Another example: chlorpyrifos, a pesticide linked to brain damage in children and fetuses. The American Academy of Pediatrics joined EWG in 2017 protesting the EPA’s continued approval of the chemical.

“No Washing Method Is 100% Effective For Removing All Pesticide Residues!”

In addition, pesticides banned by the government continue to show up on crops sold in the US, according to the EWG report.

“Green beans for example, continue to show traces of acephate, a toxic pesticide the EPA banned for use on green beans more than 10 years ago,” Temkin said. “A lot of pesticides found on the ‘Dirty Dozen’ have also been banned in the European Union because of their harmful effects on human health.”

Another concern from critics is that the “Dirty Dozen” list is insulting to multigenerational farmers who struggle to grow food for the nation and feed those same products to their own children, said Steve Clement, CEO of Pacific Northwest Tree Fruit

“When this report comes out it’s like getting stabbed a little bit because we’re working so hard to put out a nice healthy product, and the implication of the ‘Dirty Dozen’ list is that it is unhealthy,” Clement said. “It’s like doing something kind for somebody and then having them turn around and call you some sort of monster.”

The report may scare people away from eating the fruits and vegetables they need, said Neil Nagata, whose family has grown organic and conventional strawberries in Oceanside, California, for decades.

“Every time the report comes out, or there’s a scare on imported strawberries, we see our sales drop off,” Nagata said. “It’s not as if we’re doing something that is wrong or incorrect, we’re actually producing very healthy, safe food. In fact, we actually live in the strawberry field and my father is 100 and my mom is 97, and they still eat strawberries.”

Some farmers feel the term "Dirty Dozen" is insulting, according to the Alliance on Food and Farming. Kcline/iStockphoto/Getty Images

It is important that people eat lots of fruits and vegetables, even conventionally grown, said EWG’s Temkin.

“We always emphasize that,” she said. “We want to enable consumers who wish to avoid as many pesticides as possible by opting for organic versions of the ‘Dirty Dozen,’ where pesticide levels will be lower, and then, if they wish, choose less expensive conventionally grown produce from the ‘Clean Fifteen.’”

Organic produce is not more nutritious, but studies have found that levels of pesticides in the urine of adults and children can drop up to 95% after a switch to an organic diet.

Fungicide Levels Were High

For the first time, EWG analysts looked at reported levels of fungicides, one form of pesticide used to kill fungal diseases such as powdery mildew.

“Four out of five of the most frequently found pesticides on the ‘Dirty Dozen’ list were fungicides, and they were also found in particularly high concentrations,” Temkin said.

Two fungicides — fludioxonil and pyrimethanil — had the highest concentration on the “Dirty Dozen” list of any other pesticide, according to the report. Fludioxonil was found on 90% of peaches and nearly 30% of all “Dirty Dozen” samples, according to the report. Pyrimethanil was found on 65% of pear, 30% of apple, 27% of grape, 26% of strawberry and 24% of nectarine samples.

“Fungicides are often applied after harvest to keep produce mold-free on its way to market. That’s likely why the concentrations were so high on some samples – higher than other pesticides applied earlier in the growing season,” Temkin said. “The application of the fungicide is also closer to the time the produce is put on store shelves and consumers are eating them.”

Fludioxonil creates a waxy coating on the fruit or vegetable that studies find is difficult to wash away. While the EPA finds fludioxonil safe at regulated levels, some studies have raised concerns that it might disrupt hormone and neurological systems. Exposing breast cancer cells to fludioxonil in a petri dish found the fungicide increased cell production by 1.5%.

Pyrimethanil was classified as a “possible human carcinogen” by the EPA in 2004, but the agency determined in 2015 the chemical was “not likely to be carcinogenic to humans” at low doses. Studies have shown it to be toxic to tree frogs and aquatic life, and it may disrupt thyroid levels in pregnant women living in agricultural areas. In lab tests, pyrimethanil and fludioxonil were show to impact androgen activity — hormones that contribute to growth and reproduction in both men and women.

Ways To Reduce Pesticides In Your Food

Cleaning fruits and vegetables before eating does reduce pesticide levels, but “No Washing Method is 100% Effective For Removing All Pesticide Residues,” according to the National Pesticide Information Center.

Starting with clean hands, wash and rub produce under running water instead of soaking to remove the most pesticide, the center recommends on its website.

Don’t use soap, detergent or a commercial soak or scrub, however, as they have not been proven to be any more effective, according to the FDA. Dry the produce with a clean cloth or paper towel to further reduce bacteria that may be present.

[adamgant]

Healthy Trader Joes Shopping List

Healthy Trader Joe’s Shopping List https://ift.tt/bnBCMaO Sharing some of my favorite healthy products from Trader Joe’s! Hi friends! How are ya? I hope you’re having an amazing day! I have some calls this morning, and then am getting a massage… can’t.wait. For today’s post, I wanted to share some of my favorite healthy finds from Trader Joe’s! During the time-that-shall-not-be-named, the Pilot did all of our grocery shopping because he was “out in the world” and the girls and I were at home. We also got a lot of grocery delivery from Whole Foods and Thrive Market. It kind of stuck around for years after that, until I realized that I actually love grocery shopping and had missed it. So now, we alternate, since we both like going to the store in person — you find so many more fun things that way! Trader Joe’s has some amazing things, and here are some of my favorite healthier finds. While I believe that ALL foods should fit into your lifestyle, this is a list of things that have less ingredients and offer more on the nutritional front (with a few of the soul-hugging must-haves in here, too). Here’s the list! Healthy Trader Joe’s Shopping List PRODUCE/COLD: – Organic fruit: we go for berries, bananas, grapes, apples, and anything seasonal and exciting, like cherries, melon, stone fruits, or rambutan – Organic veggies: sweet potatoes, zucchini, celery, carrots, bell peppers, squash – Edamame – Root vegetable hash – Cold-pressed green juice – Mirepoix (makes soups and casseroles SO easy) – Onions, garlic, and ginger – Medjool dates – Organic guacamole – Salsa! We love their pico and their Salsa Especial BEANS, SPICES, PANTRY STAPLES: – ALL organic beans: each week, I get white beans, kidney beans, black beans, and garbanzo beans – Organic chicken broth – Organic jasmine rice – Organic pasta from Italy – ALL the spices! We love their oregano, basil, thyme, rosemary, garlic powder, and Everything But the Bagel seasoning – Canned tuna, sardines, anchovies – Almond butter – Organic peanut butter – Organic raspberry or strawberry preserves – Chocolate chips – Maple syrup – Oatmeal – Canned tomatoes – Olives – Artichokes BARS + SNACKS: – Date and Chocolate bars – Trail mix – Chomps jerky – Organic dried fruit and fruit leather DAIRY + EGGS: – Kerrygold unsalted butter – Almond milk – Full fat organic Greek yogurt – Organic cheese sticks – Raw or aged cheeses; their parm is amazing – Organic pasture-raised eggs (I prefer the Vital Farms eggs from Whole Foods but these work in a pinch) FROZEN + SWEET TREATS: – Hold the cone! Vegan mini ice creams. These are SO good and the perfect size for a sweet bite – Gone Bananas or Gone Berry Crazy ; fruit simply covered in chocolate and frozen! – Organic frozen berries mix; perfect for smoothies – Cauliflower rice; love this for soups, smoothies, and scrambles – Almond flour chocolate chip cookies mix BREAD + TORTILLAS: – Corn tortillas – Sourdough bread for sandwiches – A sweet treat! They often have gluten-free dessert options with fairly simple ingredients MEAT: – We typically get all of our meat from Butcher Box and Whole Foods, but I do like Trader Joe’s organic chicken thighs and organic deli meat I think that’s it! I just wrote that list off the top of my head with things we always buy! Do you have any Trader Joe’s faves? Where do you get most of your groceries? Here’s a list of my Favorite Trader Joe’s products. Have a great day and I’ll see ya soon! xoxo Gina For more healthy meal ideas and recipes, download my free meal plan and recipe pack for busy friends! They’re all quick and healthy meals you can make in a snap. The post Healthy Trader Joe’s Shopping List appeared first on The Fitnessista. via The Fitnessista https://ift.tt/lSzK674 March 05, 2024 at 12:55PM

[planeplay76]

Facts About 7even Bar & Grille Uncovered

Deliver the bar to your house with these marvelous club foods ! In this fast-paced room, the pub is a necessity for everyone. They supply a selection of foods items and you can have delicious pub foods items like white potato potato chips, rice cakes or chocolate sauce for your dish! Found Here is gluten free of cost therefore please be knowledgeable of this regulation as it might differ depending on your state and if you are out of state I can guarantee you that everyone on every table is well prepared to consume all our great tasting food items! You’ll discover the finest of the ideal bar food recipes straight here. My new beloved food items recipe. No, I'm not sure if it is or is not a terrific one, but I've been doing a bunch of these lately, thus acquire to my new beloved food items dishes. I'll provide you that you may nab some warm sauce, if you yearn for anything else. Whether you just like going to the bar for the cocktails or the setting, or because you assume it’s a great hangout area with close friends, one point’s for certain: a go to isn’t comprehensive without getting bar food. Below are some instances: It goes with mixed greens, pastries, a chicken taco, salad club and two burritos all within strolling proximity of one another—but most of them are simple, friendly. Go into your email under and we'll send the recipe right to your inbox! When I get into food preparation along with a solitary frying pan, I'm possibly extra familiar with producing one on a higher or single-use stovetop than in my workplace, where I'll have additional opportunity. Some people may think it's strange that I may only work along with single-use tools, but that's not the scenario. Listed below's the guideline. Decide on warm, savory, and flavorful elements. But don’t experience like you need to acquire out of the house only to possess a bite of your favorite pub food! Now you can easily acquire an awesome surprise. Obtain In Touch through signing up for my newsletter! And if you such as what you read through, comply with my Twitter feed to get advised of brand-new evaluations about my work. This article may contain links to Amazon or other companions; your investments through these hyperlinks may gain Serious Eats. Whether you’re in the mood for finger foods like fries and mozzarella sticks or something much heavier like a burger or a sandwich, this roundup has you dealt with. 1 Inglourious Basterds This is a prominent frozen pastrami, but with a couple of of her various other specialized things, you can easily produce your very own. Let’s acquire the gathering began. It is a means I will definitely always battle for my cause! I had produced a pledge to myself; to carry on the battle, to leave no rock unturned on this path! I will certainly not permit one male and one woman perform all the work you view. You inquire me and I will say to you thus! I will certainly perform whatever you yearn for with my energy, I will certainly carry out whatever I may to make the kind of community that my little ones prefer to live in! Fast and Easy Nachos Firm tortilla potato chips are covered along with ground meat, refried beans, jalapenos, and oozy cheese. The tortillas then season for around 15 mins just before offering. Then reduced in to cut for dipping eventually. For one of my beloved snack food, I adore this home made Tortilla Crisp. Enjoy! This simple and delicious tortilla potato chip recipe may be one of your beloved ways to consume a treat dish. These are traditional nachos, and they’ll never ever fail to thrill. Below are some instances: It goes with everything. A handful of years back, I checked out my guy and I see these, all the opportunity. We're in my workplace, checking out a program, in order. Some nachos were created for this special occasion, but the one I carried out was for a unique event. This was another one. In the last motion picture, we're hanging around for the upcoming one. The fantastic thing about this recipe is despite the a lot of garnishes, it still comes with each other pretty quickly. I will certainly probably utilize a different topping or some vegetable oil. Provide it warm in a plastic bag and placed it on top of grilled chick or grilled cheeseburger. What do you presume? Why not discuss it with your friends? Did you merely have a excellent week where you made an effort different flavors and never possessed any kind of food I didn't just like? After that this blog is for you. The only factor you’ll require to cook is ground beef. Now you are out of beef and you ought to be using new ground meat. This implies it is more secure than attempting to eat raw meat or other ground meat. You can purchase sliced beef, ground pork (pig, pork, or whatever) and after that buy beef that you are sure you will definitely such as well-done. You can easily get some fresh pork coming from a butcher along along with cooked chick such as pickled and panned fry meat products. The rest of the elements are pre-made. This has actually to wait for someone else to figure out all the brand new parts. I performed this to stay away from hanging around for everyone else to post something that looks really negative for the many component. But it did look like my unit had currently relocated on therefore I assumed I'd give something some thought about merely what we would need to have. We built the major center and the remainder of the major elements into the panel as normal. Crockpot Buffalo Chicken Wings What helps make these Buffalo poultry wings very seriously savory is they’re cooked in the Crockpot. For an even flavor much better than the rest of the chicken the dressing is made with a little bit of little of chili dressing that is served in dish which helps make the meals exceptionally savory. What I like about this is its really good high quality meat that will certainly stay tender despite the heat energy and crunch when consuming out, so it doesn't become bathetic for you as long as you catch with it.

[bqstqnbruin]

7 from fluff w tk - pucksnsticksnhockeyboys (i am more than willing to send more asks to help you put off work)

I really just got like four in two seconds so like omg if you really want to do it @pucksnsticksnhockeyboys​

7. “You’re an idiot.” “But you love me.” 

Send me a number and a hockey player from this prompt list

Carrots, potatoes, lettuce, celery, yellow onion, lemon, apples, bananas. 

You run through the list in your head. Grocery shopping is never a quick task when you bring Travis along, but he insisted on coming with you this time. Normally, this is something you do by yourself; a quick in and out trip through the store. 

Travis had wandered off as you were picking out all the produce you needed. Making dinner for a hockey player was never easy, especially one who didn’t know how to cook to save his life. The best you could do is walk through the store, find your boyfriend, keep him occupied the rest of the time here, and get out of there so you could get home and make food.

Turkey burgers, chicken thighs, ground beef.

As you pick out the meat, you hear a familiar laugh. "Travis, where have you been?” you ask him as he approaches the shopping cart with a bunch of junk food. “I’m not buying that,” you tell him as he puts everything in. 

“Ah, c’mon, you haven’t made cookies in such a long time and I miss your baking. A cookie or two wouldn’t hurt me, ya know.” He pleads, giving you the puppy dog eyes. He’s right though, you do make some pretty fire cookies, and between work and making all of his food, you haven’t really baked much.

“I’ll consider making you the almond butter cookies tonight if you put this stuff away get chocolate chips and a jar of almond butter.” You laugh at his antics as he turns and runs away like a giddy schoolgirl. For a grown adult, he doesn’t act like it all the time. 

Pasta, soup, black beans, chips, salsa, pasta sauce, coffee. 

Finding the right coffee for Travis that isn’t insanely expensive is such a pain. He has such a particular taste in coffee; he only drinks certain kinds, and it seems like he will only drink the kind you never end up buying the first time. If you could find him, you would make him pick out the coffee he wants. 

Frozen vegetables, yogurt, milk, shredded cheese, eggs.

“Travis, what the hell is that?” you ask, watching him put something in the cart. 

“Edible cookie dough!” he practically screams, you having to put his hand over this mouth as everyone around you turned to look, probably expecting a five year old child.

“You’re an idiot,” you laugh, knowing if you kept your hand there a second longer he would lick it or something.

“But you love me,” he winks, giving you a quick kiss before he runs off again. 

‘I am never taking him here again,’ you think to yourself, putting the cookie dough back where he found it. You could make a better one at home yourself, and you were already making him the almond butter cookies he wanted. You make your way to check out, praying he would find you in time so you didn’t have to pay for this yourself given how much extra he put in the cart. 

You were about to slip your card into the chip reader when you hear him, “Wait, one more thing!” You see him squeezing through the line of people behind you, waving a bouquet of flowers from the florist in the corner of the store.

“What are these?”

“What, do you think I would have gotten all this stuff and not gotten my girl her favorite flowers? Can you ring these up, too?” he says, handing them to the cashier, pulling out his card. The cashier does as he asks, handing the flowers back to Travis as you pack up the food. “M’lady,” he gets down on one knee to hand them to you.

You can’t help but laugh, pulling him up as you put the last bag back in the cart. “Get up,” you say, taking the flowers and giving him a kiss, walking out of the store as his hand finds the small of your back to guide you to the car. 

[severelynerdysheep]

gaytheiestbandkid

My last response below, because while I respect that you blocked me (though I have no clue why) the fact that you did you after making your own response that I then cant respond to via reblog is a tad iffy. And I at least feel that I should be able to post my own response anywhoo even if I cant do so directly. If not only cause I spent a heck of a time writing this “^^

“ done yet? if you have the idea that there’s a “carnist bias” in my post then you’ve got me all wrong. i wholeheartedly support taking down the animal agriculture industry.”

Well it certainly looks like you don't support the abolishment of the animal ag industry since you pay for it when its possible and practicable to avoid doing so. You literally called the social justice movement dedicated to taking down this industry along with every other form of animal exploitation a “cult” and you make a post filled with lies and misrepresentation about animal agriculture and plant based diets. As well as promoting as supporting the needless consumption of animal flesh/secretions as a “personal choice tho”. If that isn't bias then water isn't wet.

“ by means that actually work rather than putting a band-aid on a gushing arterial wound, by means that people can get on board with rather than moral absolutism.”

Any solution which doesn't include the avoidance of all forms of animal exploitation as far as possible an practicable as the very least that people with moral agency have a moral obligation to do. Any solution which spreads lies an misinformation about the form of injustice attempting to be abolished, any solution which places sole blame on capitalism, which absolutely doesn't work with animal exploitation since is would exists in any system. Is not a solution in any sense of the word.

By your logic its fine to support/inflict violence against women because having the basic requirement that people shouldn't inflict  violence/exploitation absent others as individuals is just a “band aid” for a gushing would in any social justice movement. Instead of holding said people who claim to oppose said injustice while inflicting it accountable as adult in control of their own actions. And yes being opposed to people needlessly exploiting, abusing/torturing and murdering other sentient beings of another species for their own personal pleasure is intrinsically an issue of rights and wrongs. Just like its an issue of rights and wrongs when victims are humans because all victims are sentient. If saying needless violence, exploitation and murder is wrong is moral absolutism. Then I would hope that the vast majority of people would happily sign up to stand on that hill.  

“ and your response to the “buying local” point is clearly emotion-based and disingenuous. the point was clearly about environmental impact, yet you made it about the poow suffewing animaws”

Fist of all, you simply said “the only way to truly have a low-impact diet “ So you could have been talking about either the ethical or environmental impact. Secondly, you seemed to have missed the whole of the part before I talked about the ethics (which is the most important issue, and its simply disgusting that you would joke around about that. Yes they are suffering and people like yourself are responsible) And I will link to the section where I explained why your “buy local” for the environment argument is wrong.

So locality means very little when it comes the the environmental impact of a food, with transport costs being just one small fraction of the overall footprint of a food item as It has been demonstrated that an average of 83% of a food product’s carbon footprint is caused during production. And transportation accounts for only 11% of the product’s greenhouse gas emissions. This means that choosing a plant-based option will always have a far lower impact than even the flesh of locally raised, exploited, abused/tortured and murdered animals, even when it is imported from abroad. Simply put, the idea that “buying local” in in any way comparable to (let alone better than) doing your best to avoid supporting the injustice that is animal agriculture as a consumer when it comes to either envionemtat impact is simply not based on facts.

“i don’t remember saying people should go out of their way to buy meat locally? only that they should buy locally in general if they claim to be making near-zero impact”

I mean in a post dedicated to spreading falsehoods about animal agriculture, I think its pretty safe to assume that you were trying to claim that a diet than including animal flesh/secretions that is entirely locally brought has a lower impact on the environment than a plant based diet which isn't fully local. Which isn't true. I’m happy to be corrected though, if you weren't saying that, and you recognise that even a fully local diet that includes animal flesh/secretions has a much bigger impact than a non local plant based diet.

“ by holding those in power rather than the everyday civilian accountable for massive-scale ecological destruction (telling me the 71% statistic is about fossil fuels in no way undermines the broader point of bringing it up.”

Your specific claim was “100 companies are responsible for over 70% of human-linked carbon emissions; as an everyday civilian, your carbon footprint is very nearly zero compared to that of big corporations, which are the real problem to begin with” This is a complete misunderstanding of the study and absolutely undermines the broader argument that you were trying to make. Since it in no way supports that argument. The study shows that 100 companies produced 71% of the fossil fuels which are then used by other industries and by consumers via their individual actions. 100 companies aren’t causing 71% of emissions, they’re producing 71% of fossil fuels. Those are completely different things. Completely different. Heck, the animal flesh industry (the industry exploded in this study) is responsible for as many GHG emissions as 70 of these companies combined. An industry which is exists entirely due to supply and demand. Individuals carbon footprints are included to make up both those 71% of fossil fuels as well as the GHG emissions from the animal flesh industry, let alone other animal ag/animal exploitation industries.

“ your pound-for-pound examination of food costs is yet another poorly-thought-out point without any nuance. 1) the low pound-for-pound costs of plant based foods are typically attributed to bulk prices and 2) you can’t ignore calorie density. someone unemployed or living paycheck to paycheck can feed themselves for longer on a $5 bag of chicken nuggets than on a bulk purchase of plant-based foods, many of which will go bad within the same time frame anyways.“

Again, this isn't true. I wasn't talking about pound just as in weight, I was talking about pound as in money. So say an average daily intake of 2500 calories is generally the cheapest when it comes to pounds (as in £) worldwide compared to the same amount of calories on a diet that included animal flesh and secretions. Which is one reason why the poorest population subsist on primarily plant based diets. This is because the cheapest items are the staple items such as the rice, pasta, potatoes, beans and lentils, tinned veg/fruit, oats, etc. All of which are staple items which are included in the diet of those who consume animal flesh anyway. For example, people can feed themselves for longer on pasta and tomato sauce, or rice and beans, than a bag of breaded chicken flesh. And the bag of breaded chicken flesh will go of sooner than the former foods. with the former being full meals as opposed to breaded chicken flesh which you would eat with something else.

Sure, bulk buying is a great way to shop if you can, but even if you aren't talking about bulk buying, a plant based diet is still the cheapest worldwide. As I explained in my original response. Not surprising then that double the percent of vegans are in the lowest come bracket compared to middle and higher incomes.

And your original claim was that many people cannot go plant based (or vegan) because vegan products are more expensive than their non vegan counterparts. Never mind that fact that you don't have to eat plant based meats, cheeses, ice cream etc.. of a plant based diet.

But lets use these plant based alternatives to compare to their non vegan counterparts for a sec:

~  At Asda you can buy 8 plant based burgers from their own brand frozen range much cheaper than Asda’s own brand frozen animal flesh burgers. 1.75p for 8 plant based burgers vs 2.00p for only 4 animal flesh burgers. And this is the same for pretty much every UK Food store brand.

~ Let’s look at cheese and look at its costs at Tesco, another popular supermarket. A 200g block of own brand Tesco cheese is exactly the same price as 200g of vegan cheese being sold.

Of course if you include these plant based products it will be more expensive than sticking to the staples, your diet will probably be closer to that of someone who doesn't eat a plant based diet. But if you stick to the staples then yes, its absolutely cheaper. And I did link to lot of sources of more information which it looks like you didn't check out unfortunately.  

!i’m hesitant to bring up this point because it really does get misused by non-vegans a lot, but the industries for plant-based foods aren’t the pinnacle of morality. many plant food industries– including those that vegans partake in far more than non-vegans, subject workers in developing areas to literal slave labor in downright horrible conditions.”

Can you tell me which specific industries vegans take part in more than non vegans which are ethically worse than the non vegan equivalent? Keeping in mind both that no vegan claims to be 100% cruelty free as a consumer, and that the diet of a non vegan includes far more plant crops (and therefore more crop labour/worker exploitation) than a vegans does. Nobody is saying that being vegan is the most you can do, its literally the least you can and should do. Its the baseline, the starting line, the very basic requirements for anyone who claims to have consideration for others. And really, I don't see what this has to do with any of the falsehoods made in the OP? It’s is a pretty big deflection it seems from any of the claims made in the OP.

“ there is no ethical consumption under capitalism. getting hung up on the specifics of what kinds of consumption are/aren’t ethical implies that absolutely everything we eat or use or otherwise consume is a product of exploitation, misses the point, and designates the public as the public enemy rather than the ones running the system.”

Are you trying to use the statement “there's no ethical consumption under capitalism” to justify the individual actions of consumers place all of the blame on capitalism? Because that is completely bananas.

There is no ethical consumption under capitalism.

This fab article by WorkingClass Vegan

A great post on this very site by @mickibuddy here

Quick edit: @mohs-hardness-scale I saw you reblogged my response with a  response of you own, though I can only see the first part of your reply that says “its not my job to provide you with sources. Google exists” since your friend blocked me and deleted almost all notes on their post. I wonder why. But please feel free to repeat your response via reblog of this post So I can have the common curtesy of being able to respond. Or if you don't want a public dialogue my ask box is always open. 

[formeryelpers]

Wine + Eggs, 3129 ½ Glendale Blvd., Los Angeles (Atwater Village), CA 90039

Thirsty? Like wine? In the COVID-world, small specialty grocery stores have been popping up around Los Angeles. They’re like the corner stores of old but with higher standards. Wine + Eggs recently opened in Atwater Village. About half of the stock is devoted to wine, spirits, and beverages (including natural and organic wines). We don’t drink wine or spirits, so I’ll focus on the grocery and home items.

I don’t think they make any prepared foods but they carry bread from Bub & Grandma’s (delivered fresh daily) and frozen pizza from a place in North Hollywood. The selection of prepared foods is limited. Honestly, the selection of everything is limited with the possible exception of natural and organic wines and fancy salt, but they have interesting snacks, organic produce (citrus, herbs, onions, apples, potatoes, squash), sauces, spices, coffee, tea, pasta, rice, heirloom beans, cookies, chocolate, spices, olive oil, vinegar, kombu, etc.

The home goods consist of cutting boards, ceramics, wood spoons, rolling pins, reusable grocery bags, and cookbooks.

My picks:

Sanzo Calamansi sparkling water ($2.49/can): No sugar, fruit essence, no calories but still has nice citrusy flavor lime lemon lime. Seems expensive for one can of sparkling water but their price is cheaper than Amazon’s. Most places charge $3/can for Sanzo.

chYum salted egg fish chips, no MSG ($9.75): Not a bad price, it’s $9.50 if you buy from chYum but you have to pay for shipping and handling. The salted egg flavor wasn’t strong enough because of the strong fish skin flavor.

Yesfolk Jasmine kombucha ($3.99): A new kombucha to try! These go for $5/can

Organic dried oregano branch from Sicily ($7.49)

Heirloom desert sunset garlic, organic ($2/head): First time trying heirloom garlic, saw this online for $4.25 a bulb and they were sold out.

The shop is cute and organized. You can pick up some complimentary drink coasters and matches. Prices might seem high but the markup doesn’t seem to be high. You can actually save money vs. the retail price of some items. They’re currently limiting the number of shoppers in the store to 3 (COVID). Hand sanitizer is provided.

4 out of 5 stars.

By Lolia S.

[pikkaria-blog]

Does Food Photos Makes You Crave?

Privileged insights of nourishment photography that make desires

Behind most expert nourishment photographs is a beautician who deceives the watcher. These duplicities go from a pinch of lipstick to blush a strawberry, to "milkshakes" produced using pureed potatoes. It isn't so much that nourishment beauticians are liars and cheats. They're just in the matter of spontaneous creation.

By and large, to finish a photograph shoot, beauticians are relied upon to unravel any given emergency on the spot. No tzatziki on set? Manage with the mayonnaise or whipped cream in the ice chest. A customer needs that turkey skin to look "somewhat more red"? Better have nourishment shading close by.

"When shooting, you can't stop and state: 'Hello, ugh, I overlooked this,'" clarifies Denise Stillman, an Orange County-based nourishment beautician who's been in the business for a long time. "You simply need to ensure you [bring enough materials on set to] consider every contingency and afterward [ask yourself], 'What else can turn out badly?'"

Be that as it may, not all things are faked. The item the sponsor is attempting to sell is constantly highlighted, clarifies Stillman. When, for instance, she shoots an advertisement for Breyers, she shoots the genuine frozen yogurt. However, on the off chance that she's styling Gay Lea Foods' whipped cream, the frozen yogurt it rests on can be made of anything – insofar as it looks flavorful.

In the case of shooting a TV plug or print commercial, a nourishment beautician's objective is regularly to underline a fixing's common magnificence.

"I'm similar to hair and cosmetics for nourishment," says Charlotte Omnès, a beautician situated in New York. "At the point when you see models stroll down the runway, they don't resemble that. In any case, after they come out of cosmetics, no doubt about it.'"

On the off chance that you need your Instagram nourishment photographs to look like Bon Appétit covers, we've gathered some genius tips that will help. Six nourishment beauticians served us their insider facts on the best way to make regular dishes look prepared for their nearby ups.

pureed potatoes give the presence of mass

For a delectable looking enchilada, include crushed potato. Photo: Photo by Rick Gayle. Nourishment styling by Kim Krejca.

Mexican nourishment can't generally photogenic. Nobody knows this better than Kim Krejca, a Phoenix-based beautician who works with a ton of south-western food. "Enchiladas with sauce seeping into the beans [are] not outwardly charming," she says. "You need to change that yet at the same time be consistent with the nourishment."

Notice

To give the enchiladas the presence of massiveness (as observed above), she stuffed them with moment pureed potatoes, a beautician's go-to filling since they are anything but difficult to make and shape. At that point Krejca added meat and veggies to the closures where the tortillas open up. To complete the dish, she utilized a warmth weapon to make the cheddar dissolve impeccably on top.

Tacos

Tacos: attempt restorative wipes, paste, and WD-40. Photo: Photo by Rick Gayle. Nourishment styling by Kim Krejca.

In actuality, tacos are a flavorful wreckage. To make them satisfactory on camera, Krejca stuck two tortillas together and set corrective wipes behind the meat to keep the shells open. For dim and succulent looking hamburger, she painted the pieces with a dark colored sauce called Kitchen Bouquet, made of water and nourishment shading. Krejca then showered the loading up with WD-40, her distinct advantage to make Mexican nourishment sparkle. Stillman utilizes red peppers instead of diced tomatoes for an increasingly lively shading and pours corn syrup on beans so they look wet and new.

Oat

Do you incline toward your oat dry or with hair cream? Photo: Photo by Chris Elinchev at Small Pond Productions. Nourishment styling by Tamara Kaufman.

Promotion

This may demolish your craving, yet the milk utilized in grain photographs is generally phony. Since the genuine stuff rapidly makes cornflakes look spongy, nourishment beauticians have thought of options. Right now, based Tamara Kaufman utilized Wildroot, a white hair cream for men with a sunscreen salve like consistency that numerous beauticians pine for. Krejca favors the old fashioned technique for white paste, which photos simply like the genuine article. At the point when geniuses do utilize genuine milk, it's just an extremely limited quantity. As indicated by Michelle Rabin, a Toronto-based nourishment beautician, you can put the most excellent bits of grain in a bowl loaded up with vegetable shortening and spread it with a dainty layer of milk. "The shortening opposes the fluid and it would seem that the entire bowl is loaded up with hills of grain," she says. "The pieces will remain entirely fresh for quite a while."

Espresso: watered down soy sauce and gelatin give a smooth look

For a smooth-looking espresso, attempt water and gelatin. Photo: Photo by Beth Galton. Modifying by Daniel Hurlburt. Nourishment styling by Charlotte Omnès.

Dark espresso is difficult to work with in light of its sleek sheen. In a latte or cappuccino, the froth will rapidly vanish. Right now, utilized a blend of Kitchen Bouquet, water and gelatin to give the espresso a smooth look. When absolutely necessary, Rabin has utilized watered-down soy sauce and once needed to ad lib with cream and sauce browner on the arrangement of a well known Canadian brand. "I see that board I chipped away at and I'm similar to: 'That is clever, in light of the fact that that is not an espresso,'" she says. Kaufman utilizes the genuine article whenever the situation allows, yet includes drops of foamy water around the border with an eyedropper to reproduce new blend. The foam, beauticians state, is regularly produced using channeled cleanser froth.

Turkey: it might be crude and ridiculous inside, yet the skin looks great

Half-cooked turkey is frequently highlighted in promotions. Photo: Photo by Marshall Troy. Prop styling by Grace Knott. Nourishment styling by Charlotte Omnès.

Each home culinary expert knows it's difficult to make a winged creature fresh outwardly and damp within. Fortunately, nourishment beauticians just need to concentrate on feel, which implies they never completely cook one. "It is significant not to overcook them so the skin remains looking damp, stout and succulent," says Omnès. "These are viewable prompts that make your mouth water when you take a gander at it." New-York based beautician Brian Preston-Campbell says he frequently cooks five or six turkeys for a couple of hours each to get that "impeccable saint winged animal". "It's as yet crude and sort of ridiculous inside," he says. "It's sort of terrible yet it's about the finished result in the photograph."

Right now, nailed down the turkey's skin so it wouldn't tear in the stove. She lined the container and stuffed the flying creature with a water-splashed paper towel so it would steam rather than turn fresh. To accomplish that dark colored, shimmering look, she brushed the turkey with a blend of water, Kitchen Bouquet and dish cleanser.

Frozen yogurt or whipped cream: shortening, corn syrup and icing

Icing in addition to icing sugar makes an amazing looking frozen yogurt. Photo: Photo by Beth Galton. Correcting by Ashlee Gray. Nourishment styling by Charlotte Omnès

On the off chance that frozen yogurt were a human model, she would be a diva. The pastry is difficult to form, and in case you're not styling in a refrigerated space, dissolves rapidly. To stay away from the cerebral pain, specialists regularly go to different fixings. To make the "dessert" on the left, Omnès blended icing in with icing sugar (the cone on the privilege is the genuine article), yet the most well-known phony frozen yogurt formula is a mix of vegetable shortening, powdered sugar and corn syrup.

For other smooth sweets, beauticians have numerous hacks. For a dab of whipped cream, Omnès utilized a non-dairy half and half that "doesn't wither or sob". Kaufman lean towards Barbasol shaving cream yet takes note of: "The lady who erroneously attempted a chomp was not satisfied." For milkshakes, Stillman utilizes acrid cream since it's thick and simple to whirl.

Beverages: that chilly glass? It's splash on antiperspirant

cola glass

FacebookTwitterPinterest If your beverage does not have the correct sheen, simply shower some antiperspirant on it. Photo: Alamy

Notice

Beauticians don't squander genuine liquor except if the advertisement is for liquor. To make mixed drinks, Omnès blends nourishment shading in water, a stunt Kaufman additionally uses to make "chardonnay" from weakened Kitchen Bouquet. In truth, the fluid itself is the sideshow. "The most significant part about mixed drinks are the obvious signals," says Omnès – prompts, for example, ice, bubble, air pockets and foam. "They [make the drink] look invigorating."

For solidified beverages like margaritas and daiquiris, the masters depend on ice powder, bits of gelatin that resemble squashed ice when blended in with fluid. They additionally utilize counterfeit plastic or acrylic ice shapes, which don't liquefy under the hot camera lights and vaseline on the edge of margaritas. To make ice, Stillman covers a lager mug with splash on antiperspirant and utilizations a blend of Scotchguard and glycerin to make sodas look frigid cold with dabs of buildup. "What an issue it would be something else," says Stillman. "Along these lines, you can pick the degree of wetness on the glass."

Hot pasta: incense gives the presence of steam

That minute when steam ascends from pasta like fog over a mountain is difficult to catch normally on camera. Kaufman conceals a tin foil bundle of steam chips inside the pasta bowl and adds water to make fume. To get a similar impact, she has likewise lit incense and later evacuated the stick with Photoshop, while different stunts include a garments steamer or tobacco smoke. By a long shot the most fascinating technique is to microwave water-splashed tampons (cotton balls fill in also) and cover them behind a dish. "I have them in my unit in the event of some unforeseen issue," says Kaufman. Despite the system, she says steam ought to consistently be shot against a dim foundation.

[hecallsmehischild]

On Losing Weight

Recently I was asked a question that prompted me to pull together all the information I could remember about how my husband, Sergey, and I have been eating over the last few years. We both struggle very much with food and have been trying to do better by our bodies for a long time, but are wary of all the diets and fads. This post has details about what we’ve tried to date and what has worked for us. Most of it is written by me. At the end, Sergey wrote a few paragraphs also. Very long post under the cut.

Disclaimers and a few generalities

One thing about eating and weight loss is that accountability really helps. However, I’ve found personally that even if everyone in your family means well, accountability partners should not be within the family. The main reason I've found is that there's too much baggage with any family member (with the potential exception of your marriage partner) for accountability to ever go well and function as it should. Resentment, triggers, irritation, even accidental shaming crops up because of old baggage and derails everything. You need accountability with someone who you don’t carry a lot of baggage with, because there’s often a huge emotional component to eating.

It takes a LONG time to lose large amounts of weight. You can lose five to ten pounds relatively quickly, but often your body will stabilize on the new number and then you may find it very hard to get lower for months, so continuing to try new things is helpful.

You will yo-yo between 3 and 5 pounds all the time. That is standard. So think in five pound increments in any direction, because your bodyweight is constantly in flux over a few pounds. For this reason, weighing once a week is a lot more accurate than weighing every day and will cause a lot less despair and frustration.

We are not vegetarians at all. We cannot offer any thoughts on a vegetarian diet.

Whatever you do, food-wise, has to be part of your ordinary life. Short term diets set you up to fail. Changing your lifestyle is what will produce long-lasting changes.

Also, some of the things my husband and I try, in some ways, appears to walk the line of eating disorder. I’m watching it very closely with that in mind, and I still don’t think it falls into the trap. Sergey and I do not have enough activity to burn off all the food with take in, so we’re trying things to decrease our food intake AND increase our activity, so that we reach a reasonable balance. But people who have (or are tempted by) eating disorders need to take care, and I would recommend not reading this post or else proceeding with utmost caution.

Obviously not all of the things we do are feasible for everyone, but maybe even hearing some of our ideas might spark a different way of thinking about food and being active for you.

One Meal a Day

Three meals a day makes a lot of sense if you’re doing hard labor all the time. It doesn’t make as much sense if you have a desk job or take care of a house as your main occupation. So the first thing we did a few years back is cut down to one meal a day. It could be anything at all, but it had to be just one meal. That alone dropped us both about 10 pounds down. We’d have one meal around lunch, and later in the evening we would share a large bowl of some sort of fruit (like tangerines or cherries). The aim was to eat things that were both good and filling. Variation keeps you from getting bored and abandoning the lifestyle.

Meals were often grilled salmon or home-warmed burgers (lean, when we could) or a soup from Trader Joe’s. Some of our meals now:

Two burgers with lean beef patties, pickles, and some mayo on bakery fresh onion rolls

Lox (with is VERY low cal, if expensive) on onion rolls with tomato and onion, a little oil and pepper and salt

Sharing a whole roast chicken from the store, plus a roll each

Large can of tuna mixed with a little mayo on two onion rolls

Shredded chicken and mashed potatoes from the store’s fresh packaged food section

Pot roast and mashed potatoes from the store’s fresh packaged food section

Meatballs. Just meatballs.

A spicy beans/rice/sausage/mushroom dish we brainstormed that we make in a pressure cooker

Home-made chicken mushroom fettuccine alfredo. Not super healthy, but hot and homemade. (this is a “maintenance” meal, see what I mean by that later)

A bag of chicken fried rice from Trader Joe’s

Soup from the grocery store (not the canned kind, but the fresher ones sold by the store)

Two larger sized tamales

One frozen pizza (inspect the full calorie count, you’re shooting for something between 600 and 1000 calories total, which does exist but it takes some looking and experimenting with types) whose flavor can always be spiced up with extra mushrooms or garlic powder. Not the Tostino’s or Party pizzas. I promise there are healthier, tastier, and more varied pizzas to be had in this calorie range.

Chicken breast or chicken thigh meat is sold frozen. Cook that and make that into sandwiches for very lean, filling meals. Use of various spices encouraged.

A tray of baked “catfish nuggets” which are chunks of catfish cooked in the oven

A tray of baked white meat chicken nuggets

Cocktail shrimp (thawed from frozen) with cocktail sauce

I have just broken into the frontier of omelettes, also low-cal and filling in conjunction with onion rolls.

Sergey would often go to a salad bar and load up on the salad, then also load up on the chicken noodle soup which is very filling and very low cal.

Sergey eats his meal closer to noon or one. I try to eat my meal around 3 or 4 if I can hold out, because then I’m not groaning about how hungry I am in the evening or being kept up by hunger pangs. For me, that’s the mid-point of the day and the one that helps me deal with hunger best.

Snacks and Sweets

Snacks are always tricky, and large bags of anything salty are automatic failures in this house; we are incapable of portioning them. So we stopped getting them unless we acknowledged the truth to ourselves, which is that one bag is one serving size no matter what the back says (i.e. we embraced that we’re being bad and got it anyway).

For a while Sergey and I had an occasional bowl of non-buttered popcorn with powdered salt. This worked for a bit because it was pretty filling, but Sergey found himself making multiple bowls so we had to stop because that defeated the purpose.

Some stores sell very small snacks individually portioned, like a tiny foil pack of variously flavored olives, or banana bites coated in cacao, etc. Those are great. Rice cakes can be good, though I get tired of them after a while. I like the cinnamon apple and chocolate ones best. Speaking of cinnamon apple, individual oatmeal cups are good too. I aim for around 140 cal for a snack.

Sometimes I will snack on a lean burger patty or chicken thigh-meat piece, each of which is about 70 cal.

By himself, Sergey often would (and still does) fill a large bowl full of small quartered tomatoes mixed with pepper, oil, and onion. He can put away two of these tomato salads a day as “snacks.” He says they’re very filling, good for you, and low-cal. He’s leaning more on bowls of baby carrots and sugar snap peas these days. Sometimes he will make a large bowl of Golden Apple slices to chow down on.

I keep NO ice cream in the house. I may get a larger quantity for a birthday celebratory binge, or use individual containers as a reward system, but I never “stock up” on ice cream. Birthday? Maybe 4 of the personal containers of various flavors, and that’s it for my birthday treat. Reward system? Once I get to a certain weight, I allow myself to have one small personal container of ice cream (or my other favorite, a jar of honey pecans) a week. The incentive to get to a certain weight balances out the slow-down on the weight loss the treat causes, because this can’t be all about deprivation or I couldn’t sustain it. Being able to sustain a way of eating into a lifestyle is a huge deal.

I keep dried cranberries in the cabinet. Sometimes if I’m hungry and need to hold out, I’ll grab one handful of those to eat. I keep larger quantities of oatmeal too, but I’m not sure if that’s working against me or not, because I dump high quantities of honey in to bring it up to my sweet tooth standards so it might end up being a bad thing for me. I haven’t sat down to figure that out yet.

I make a mean chunky cinnamon applesauce that is a delicious and pretty healthy snack, too, when I have the energy to make it.

I would like to make sweets all the ding dong day, but it works against us, so I have to reserve my sweets making for when there’s a large group to share them with. Otherwise we would eat all of that ourselves.

Tools that help

Making your own food at home becomes a lot more enjoyable and feasible for low-energy people like us when there are tools that cut back on the effort it takes. To that end

A good 6 qt pressure cooker does everything a crockpot does, but it has more options and is faster.

A good food processor can do almost anything, from applesauce to milling oats to slicing veggies to finely dicing the onions you don’t want to deal with, to making ice cream out of frozen bananas and cocoa powder. We have an older one and it still does wonders, even though some of the latches don’t work right.

A good indoor grill machine.

Electric mixer/beater. The effort of making cookies goes down by a third to a half the personal energy cost when you use this, plus the process goes faster and the texture is so much better.

A dishwasher. A good dishwasher means you aren’t spending a ton of energy cleaning up all the dishes you soiled just making food. Did you know there are portable dishwashers that hook up to your sink if you don’t have one in the home? I just learned this...

This one heavily depends on how much you’d use it, but it can be very inexpensive to get an electric citrus juicer. I can go through about 40 lemons for a party-sized quantity of lemonade and it wracks out my wrist to do that manually, so I got a good one for about $20.

This website is one Sergey uses to see what products are legitimately good, because Amazon is starting to have major issues with fake reviews PLUS Chinese knock-offs getting passed off as the good product. This site user-tests a ton of different brands of the same product and tells you which one they found to be best and why, then gives a few runners up in other categories like price or different type. I used this to find a good set of salt/pepper grinders, a good knife sharpener, and an individual serving coffee maker. I also found my electric mixer and citrus juicer on here.

Also, pickling things is fun and very cheap and easy.

A few radical things

This is our lifestyle, not a diet. We go crazy with our eating when we’re on a trip, but normal, everyday eating is the one-meal-a-day plan for us. Going to a friend’s place for a meal is a balancing act that we often fail (because it’s often all-you-can-eat), but we’re already brainstorming ways to compensate.

Here’s for something radical sounding, to be handled with care. While Sergey aims for around 1300 calories a day, approximately, I aim for under or close to 800. I’ve found that if I eat the same things as him, I maintain my current weight but do not lose any. It’s when I, the smaller and less active person, undershoot him, that I start gaining ground. When I reach the weight I’m aiming for, I will allow myself more leeway to get to his calorie intake level, because that’s “maintenance” level for me.

Here’s the current thing we are testing, so the results are not in yet. We’re doing this because neither of us has been able to budge our weight for a while. It’s a combination of factors so track with me. We like a place called Star Cinema Grill which is a movie theater that serves you a meal and/or drinks while you watch the movie. But even for one meal this is a very high calorie day if we go there. We swore off going for a long time, until their marketing department sent out a wave of “Two free tickets!” in the mail. Sergey figured that he would go, and then he would not eat for 48 hours to make up for it. I was a little concerned by the idea, but after thinking it over for a while (with the concern about eating disorders in mind) it didn’t actually seem that unreasonable. So I joined him in this. So now we’ve worked out that we can go to Star Cinema Grill on occasion as long as it’s followed by a 48 hour fast.

We had previously tried 48 hour fasts (which consist of, for example, eating lunch around noon on Sunday and stopping food until lunch on Tuesday, so that you sleep through much of the 48 hour period) but we first did the fast on ONLY water. By the second day we were both so lethargic and unfocused that we could hardly function. This time we allowed ourselves to have several rounds of tea or mocha throughout the day. That time, we experienced very negligible energy drops and made it through the period of no-eating with a lot less suffering.

NOW. I was reading Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner, the expanded and revised edition, and at the end they included several articles they had written as bonus material. Please read this article to understand where I’m going next.

Excited, I rushed over to Sergey to make him read this bit. This is already sort of what we had been doing. Though this guy had distilled it down to sugar water, tea with a cube of sugar isn’t much different. My mocha had about three times the sugar, but was still on the very low end of calories for a day. So this idea (that sugar-water helps trick your body past hunger) was being confirmed for us by someone else. So we’ve decided to test out doing this 48-hour fast once a week, which may also allow for re-inclusion of things we tend to forgo more often (like weekly ice cream? Or a fresh batch of cookies?). Stay tuned...

Going out

We built a list of places and categories of how good or bad they are for us to go to. We divided them into Healthy and Healthy Cheat. Bad ones don’t make it on the list so we’re not tempted when we’re thinking of where to go out.

Healthy Restaurants are places where, if you’re reasonable with your choices, you can eat pretty much any one meal on their menu. (Lemon Shark is our Poke place in the area. Poke is unreasonably good and healthy and filling for you, and most will have vegetarian or cooked options on the menu if you don’t like raw fish. Jinya is a ramen place, though you have to be a little more selective about because some dishes are two meals’ worth, and Sweet Tomatoes is a salad bar also known as Souplantation in some regions)

Healthy Cheat Restaurants are places where we know we’ll probably eat more than we should, but the food is still relatively healthy. Tokyo Grill and Dimassi’s are both buffet places with relatively healthy options near us. Fukuda Sushi is our sushi go-to for now (though we’re looking to replace it as the fish quality went down).

Avoid most all-you-can-eat places like the plague, unless it’s a salad bar. Even then, if you gravitate toward the breads and creamy soups like I do, just say no.

Places we love that are also pretty bad for us on any kind of regular basis: Rudy’s BBQ, Star Cinema Grill, Wine Tasting Room (large meat and cheese platters), anywhere Italian.

Being Active

We took up Krav Maga, which had us doing off and on rigorous exercise for an hour twice a week. That went on for about a year. After I broke my toe, we switched to a home exercise regimen.

Instead of home exercise equipment, we opted for DDR pads, and have been doing hour-long DDR sessions most mornings. After an hour long workout (25 songs on easy-to-medium levels) we each do 20 crunches and then Sergey does extra burpees or push-ups. As the crunches get easier for me, I will be adding five at a time. I’m up to 30 now. Crunches were initially added to help me maintain the muscles that hold up a weak place in my spine, however now it’s also a good end-workout routine. I cannot get through all this without frequent water breaks because I drip sweat, and Sergey turns into a waterfall.

Sergey has added about 3-5 extra mini-workouts (a set of pushups or burpees) sprinkled throughout the day.

Some days we go to a park in the morning and walk for 30-50 minutes instead of DDR. It’s less strenuous, but a nice change of pace and scenery.

Some days we go kayaking in a nearby waterway, which REALLY works the arm muscles that day, but it’s a fantastic workout. We keep saying we need to go more often, but often forget.

Failing

It’s going to happen. It’s going to feel miserable. Sometimes I have found myself up at three AM, unable to sleep, making myself another whole frozen pizza or eating all the spaghetti leftovers. Sometimes I can talk myself into something slightly better, like a bowl of oatmeal, but not often. Sometimes I’ll just mix white and brown sugar, butter, and raw oatmeal and eat this lump-of-barely-cookie-dough as is. Sometimes I come home from the grocery store with an entire round loaf of bakery bread and eat it, much to Sergey’s fascination and surprise. One time I scooped one out and filled it with clam chowder and ate my own homemade bread bowl. It was great. It was also way over my limit.

Sometimes “failing” is known and expected, like around the holidays or birthdays. It’s okay to celebrate. Food is a very social and emotional experience as well as a sustenance deal. Keep picking yourself back up and trying again.

Sergey, who is SUPER good at distilling core concepts, adds his own TLDR:

On Losing Weight

Dusty and I have both struggled with overeating. For me, there have been sad times when plowing through a huge meal may have been the happiest 20 minutes of my day, and it’s no surprise that I would resist any attempts to eliminate that. However, I’ve found that losing weight and getting healthier leads to better moods and reduces the frequency and severity of impulses to binge.

Whatever you do must be incorporated into your lifestyle—if you are “going on a diet,” then you are setting yourself up to fail. If certain behaviors become part of your ordinary day, and you maintain that for months at a time, it’s much more likely that you’ll be able to keep going.

The most important change I’ve made is limiting myself to 1 meal a day. After a short adjustment period, I feel only a little bit hungrier than I did with 2 meals a day while consuming half the calories. That meal should be a reasonably-sized meal (typically 800-1200 calories for men, 600-900 for women), not an extra-large one. If I get hungry again, I only allow myself some very low-calorie snacks like carrots, sugar snap peas, or tomatoes.

The second thing I did was institute a daily exercise program. Dusty and I start each morning with an hour of DDR when we can, and I stop what I’m doing every 3-5 hours to do a set of 20 burpees. As I gain strength, I plan to increase this number. We also go for walks or go kayaking when the weather and our moods allow. What’s most important is that you do something to get your heart racing and get sweaty, and that you do it every day.

The last thing I did was institute occasional 48-hour fasts. For example, I would have lunch on Monday and not eat again until lunch on Wednesday. If I have tea with light sugar during a fast, I only feel moderately hungrier than I would otherwise. It’s much more tolerable than I thought it would be. There is considerable research suggesting that intermittent fasting is good for you, and it can be a reasonable way to offset the binge you couldn’t resist having. It’s definitely a healthier approach than purging, which hurts both your body and your soul.

[kimberly40]

Most early settlers used a smokehouse, hanging hams and other large pieces of meat in a small building to cure through several weeks of exposure to a low fire with a lot of smoke. The process began around November. The meat would keep all winter and most of the summer. Some people still use this method on a limited basis, but most buy pork in the grocery store already cured.

Another way to keep pork was to “salt it down.” Most families had a shelf in the smokehouse, a bench or table in another building, or a box that could be used for storing meat. They placed the meat on a layer of salt and covered it with more salt, sometimes mixed with pepper and brown sugar. Salt draws moisture out of meat and thus stops the process of rotting.

The type of food, of course, helped determine the best preservation method. Corn and pork were the most common staple foods, since farms could produce them in large quantities. Corn could be stored in several forms, kept in cribs while still on the cob, shelled, or ground into cornmeal. Some stored meat buried in shelled corn, because the corn was a good insulator. Over the years, people also have used salt and water mixtures to preserve many foods, such as fish or vegetables, by pickling.

Vegetables often were preserved by stringing them up to hang by the fireplace or in another warm, dry area to remove moisture. To prepare the vegetables for eating, people would soak them in water for a while. Beans prepared in this way were called “leather britches” because of their toughness after drying. Fruits, pumpkin, squash, and other foods could be kept in this way for months at a time.

Most homes years ago had a root cellar, where families kept food in a cool, dry environment. They stored apples and other foods in piles of sawdust or in containers filled with sawdust or similar loose material. Since the late 1800s, people have canned food and stored it in such places as the cellar.

One method rarely used today for preserving root crops such as potatoes and turnips was called “holing in.” People would dig a pit that was lined with sawdust or straw, place the foodstuff in the pit, and cover it with more sawdust or straw. Finally, they would place boards, tin, or a similar material on top.

A similar method still is used in the Mountains of North Carolina. This method involves digging a furrow beside cabbage rows in a garden, pulling up the cabbage, placing each head upside down in the furrow, and covering it over with loose dirt. The cabbage turns white during the passing months but retains its flavor. Cabbage can be preserved in this way until time to plant again.

Before refrigerators, the springhouse was a fixture around most homes, providing a place to keep milk, butter, and other perishables from spoiling. Running springwater kept temperatures cool enough to preserve foods even on hot summer days. The “house” was a wooden structure with a roof built directly over the spring. It protected the food from animals and severe weather. In earlier days, people simply kept foods down in the water itself. Items like butter also might be kept down a well.

By the mid-1800s, a method of refrigeration had taken shape that seems rather crude when compared with today. People would dig icehouses into dirt banks in areas deprived of sunlight, line them with sawdust, and fill them with blocks of ice cut from frozen rivers and creeks. With proper care, the ice would last until summer.

[todorosy]

omg has anyone asked for grocery shinsou or aizawa yet because just imagine those tired boys

Oh my gosh bless this request. I love my tired bois so much THANK YOU for requesting

Shinsou Hitoshi

Hitoshi is the type of person to absolutely hate grocery shopping, BUT also hates eating processed, fast food/take out. He’s so annoyingly picky about the type of foods he puts in his body. Though, this is understandable because he’s working his hardest to be the best hero.

“Let’s go grocery shopping.” You cross your arms as you stare at the empty pantry.

“No” He simply says as he continues to casually lift weights while watching the T.V.

“Let’s order take out.”

“NO.”

You two were the type of people to go about your errands with earbuds in. Even though you had each other to keep company, running errands with each other were much more relaxing with an earbud in. This also added in a dash of fun to your grocery trips to make things more fun. You two had very different taste in music.

“Y/N, you’re embarrassing. This is why I never want to go grocery shopping with you.” He says as he quickens his pace away from your dancing.

“WE GOT THE BEANS GREENS TOMATOES POTATOES LAMBS RAMS HOGS DOGS.” You sang loudly as you strolled through the produce and meat section.

Once you’ve had your fun with embarrassing him, you were quick to glue yourself to his side, just how he likes it. He likes it when you’re holding onto his bicep as he leans up against the cart while pushing it.

You two are extremely healthy with your diets. Heroes had to take care of the public along with their bodies as well. (doesn’t mean you enjoy being that healthy, though.)

“Can we please just have a cheat day? Just one. We’ve been eating so healthily for so long. We deserve a break!” You sigh as you stroll past the cookies and candy aisle.

“Why would I want any of that artificial stuff when I already got the sweetest thing in the world?” He presses a kiss to your temple.

Sadly for you, that power-move made you forget all about the aisle full of junk food and turned you into a blushy mess.

After you had gathered all of your necessary groceries, you two would stroll through the pet section for fun, looking at all of the toys, pets clothing, collars, and such.

You both cooed and “awwed” at the various items that were on display. Oh how you both wished you had a little kitty to call your own.

“Hitoshi…” You say nervously, causing him to stop in his tracks and glance as you, taking out his one earbud.

“What?”

“I want a baby.” You propose.

He fucking flips out. How could you want a baby? Right when your hero careers were just starting? He couldn’t even fathom the idea of raising a kid and going through all of the trouble at that moment in his life.

“A fur baby!” You pointed to the image of a kitty on the toy packaging before he could scream at you.

And of course the answer is yes.

Aizawa Shouta

Just like Toshinori, he could not give two fucks about having a good diet. He just needs something that’s convenient and quick to whip up due to his tight schedule.

You would usually go grocery shopping yourself, but this time, he was the one that offered tag along with you since his schedule was cleared for that day.

He has absolutely no interest in grocery shopping, but his time with his S/O was always limited to his line of work. He’ll take any moment he can with you.

Coffee was the first thing he requested. This boy lives off of coffee which you had tried to get him off of, but you decided that it was best for him to keep this one thing to keep him alert and safe for patrol during the late nights.

“Y/N, you’re telling me you do this every single weekend?” He says as he follows you up and down each aisle. “Seems a little repetitive.” He shrugs.

“You remember when we first started dating you complained about how repetitive your frozen meals and instant Ramen were? Yeah you’re welcome.”

Another perk of having him around was that he was able to reach the top shelves. You didn’t have to ask for an employee or look for step stool anymore!

He would eventually wander off, leaving you alone with the cart to look for him up and down the aisles.

“Shouta!” You try to call out, but not loud enough to call attention to yourself. Where could that man child have wandered off to?

“Y/N, your child is at register 4.” You hear over the loudspeaker. You promptly rolled your eyes before making your way over to the cash registers. You see your boyfriend with a slightly annoyed expression on his face.

“Thank you.” I say to the employee before grabbing Shouta’s hand and pulling him back into the aisles to finish finding the needed items.

“How could you have gotten lost in here?” You scold him.

“It’s a big store! And every aisle looks exactly the same.” He grumbles.

Oh my gosh bringing in the bags would be a d r e a m. His quirk would be so useful. You two didn’t even have to lay a finger on the bags.

Although, once the neighborhood cat runs by, you better be ready to catch all of the fragile bags holding glass containers and eggs because best believe that he’s going to lose his focus and chase after that cat.

However, of course you have butterfingers and let the bag slip right through your fingers. You see the yellow yolk seep through the paper bag, staining your driveway.

Well, back to the grocery store.

[aion-rsa]

What’s It Like to Be on Netflix’s The Circle?

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This article contains spoilers for The Circle season 3 episodes 1-4.

Long the bread and butter of network television, reality competition TV shows have become increasingly popular on streaming platforms. And why wouldn’t they? Reality television is usually cheaper to produce than scripted TV series and audiences tend to like unscripted content just as much anyway. Plus, if the past few years have taught us nothing else, it’s that there’s some truth in the notion that reality is often stranger than fiction.

Netflix, in particular, has found itself in the reality competition TV game more and more. Nailed It!, Blown Away, and Too Hot to Handle are all great examples of Netflix’s increased investment in reality competition programming, but our choice for the streamer’s best might just be The Circle.

Like any good reality series, The Circle is part competition and part social experiment. The show invites eight contestants to join a virtual popularity contest in which they craft online profiles then interact with one another only through “The Circle” social media platform. And to immediately answer the obvious question: yes, you can catfish.

Players in The Circle work to gain one another’s trust and then vote on their favorite contestants within the game. Players are occasionally “blocked” or removed from the game while fresh blood is often brought in, with the last competitor standing winning $100,000. All throughout contestants are subjected to the whims of The Circle’s twists and rule changes. 

The Circle originated in the U.K. and is now a franchise with Netflix being home to the American, French, and Brazilian versions. The American series has a distinctly multi-time zone flair with filming taking place in British apartments (the show is produced by London-based All3Media and European electricity outlets are visible on the walls) but with all establishing shots filmed in Chicago. 

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Due to the geographical mismashing, The Circle has a sense of appearing outside of time itself. Quarantining all of its players within the same building but not allowing them to interact in person is another interesting twist. It all adds up to make The Circle one of the most logistically strange reality shows in a long time. 

Suffice it to say, we have some questions about how the whole thing works. Thankfully, in advance of the show’s third season premiere, Den of Geek was able to chat with three of The Circle’s newest contestants: Ruksana Syed-Carroll, Daniel Cusimano, and Michelle Rider. The trio discussed their strategies going in, what day-to-day life inside a reality competition is like, and most importantly: what’s on the menu in The Circle. 

Here are some of our biggest Circle questions, answered.

How many Circle alerts are there a day?

One key aspect of being in The Circle is that you’re operating on The Circle’s time. Contestants are free to do whatever they like during the day, but when the glowing blue circle on television screens in their rooms reports a “Circle Alert” it’s time to drop everything and pay attention. 

Circle Alerts can run the gamut from voting updates, to new games, to big twists, but how often exactly do they arrive? 

“It’s one, two, or three a day,” reports Ruksana. “You’re really not prepared. You don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s sort of like excitement and being paranoid at the same time.”

Based on the contestants’ reactions through three seasons, simultaneous excitement and paranoia seems to be right on.

What can you bring into The Circle?

Every time a new contestant enters the Circle, they are essentially just checking into a hotel room. As depicted in the show, players arrive with a suitcase filled with clothes and some personal items. So what do contestants usually bring?

“I brought a lot of books and my makeup which is my security blanket for any travel,” Ruksana says.

Since contestants are supposed to focus on the game itself, they are given only so many other entertainment options to pass the time.

 “It was like a lot of puzzles and word searches,” Ruksana adds. “I’m a very arts and crafts type. So arts and crafts stuff, making things, painting.”

Other Circle members choose to hone their craft. 

“I’m a stand-up comedian so I wrote a lot of comedy while I was there,” Michelle says.

What do you eat in The Circle?

Even though The Circle is a dispassionate algorithm, surely it knows that people need to eat, right? Thankfully, The Circle did get the memo on that one as contestants have a whole array of options on the menu. 

While Daniel says he relied on frozen food, his fellow contestants put more energy into cooking.  

“I’m a foodie,” Ruksana says. “I’m also very particular about food and seasoning because I’m Indian. ‘Takeaways’ is what they call takeout (in the U.K.) but I didn’t really like the food so I did a lot of cooking. It was easy for me because, where we were in the U.K., there was a big Indian population. So, that was very comforting for me because I knew that I couldn’t fail with that. Cooking does make the time go faster.”

Michelle also prefers to cook.

“Honey, I’m Southern. So you know I was cooking,” she says. “I would cook fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans, when you had time. Because a lot of times you might be cooking and they may go, ‘Okay, stop,’ and you have to stop what you’re doing.”

It seems as though cooking is among the easiest ways to pass time between Circle alerts. 

What happens when you leave The Circle? 

The Circle eliminates contestants frequently. The competition, however, is a relatively short one and ends with every contestant returning for one big finale. With that in mind, wouldn’t it make sense to just allow the eliminated contestants to hang out in their London hotel room for a couple more weeks?

According to Michelle, the second contestant eliminated this season, that’s not the case at all. 

“When you go, you are gone,” she says. “You leave and that’s it. Then once everything’s done, then they call on you to come back for the finale and everything.”

What’s it like when The Circle throws you a curveball?

Though the rhythms of each season of The Circle are generally the same, each batch of episodes thus far has featured at least one new wrinkle. In the case of season 3, the first contestants eliminated (a pair of sisters posting under one of the sister’s identities) are given the rare opportunity to rejoin the competition. 

Instead of getting a whole new profile though, they are tasked with “cloning” an existing profile. The sisters settle on Michelle, creating a “Blue Michelle (the imposter)” and the “Orange Michelle (the real one)”. The rest of the circle is tasked with choosing which Michelle is the real one and vote nearly unanimously on the wrong profile. 

What’s it feel like to be at the center of one of The Circle’s many twists and be eliminated as a result? Not great as it turns out!

“It makes you angry because you feel like, ‘Well, I didn’t even have a chance,’” Michelle says. “I haven’t seen the show yet, but if you saw emotion, it was raw emotion because I was angry, I cried. I was so mad because I just felt like I didn’t have a chance.”

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Even the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry when confronted with a social media themed reality competition. 

The first four episodes of The Circle are available to stream on Netflix now. Episodes 5-8 will be released on Sept. 15, episodes 9-12 on Sept. 22, and the finale on Sept. 29.

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