The Thessaliad, Tumblr Edition

So full of food…

I did get the Thane and Joker scents done but my perfumery was interrupted by earlier-than-expected finishedness of roast nug pork. Sooooo full of food and so very, very worth it.

Right. Now, Velanna and Isla.

ACHIEVEMENT!

10 bottles of perfume in the end:

• Kiara Hawke, Sebastian Vael
• Fang Shepard, Therrin Amell
• Hira Shepard, Garrus Vakarian
• Quinne Cousland, Garrus Vakarian
• Athenril, Nathaniel Howe

Basically, I did one more bottle than I said I was going to because I blended the concentrated essential oils that make up the Garrus and Nathaniel blends in bulk, so those at least were easy. So instead of stopping at nine and stopping mid-commission, I added the extra bottle.

My flat smells of black pepper and coriander and it is making me hungry. I … sort of worked through lunch.

Hands up who thinks I have earned chow mein, prawn crackers and the best coffee on the planet!

There need to be laws…

…against anyone with downstairs neighbours running the vacuum cleaner at EIGHT IN THE FUCKING MORNING. Seriously, the people who live upstairs from me started with the Hoover at 8am and given our cheap tight-weave carpets in this building, it sounded like they were trying to scrape the dirt out of the carpeting. I tried to go back to sleep and had only just managed when the people who live downstairs from me decided to exchange bad techno for talk radio, still at horrific volumes.

Oh well. I am going to have some coffee, then I am going to pick up some supplies. Snackies, cola and some eggs, I think. Then I will come home and have myself a stupendous steak-and-egg brunch. Then I will play more ME3.

My weekend will be awesome. Even if I did have to wake up long before midday on a weekend just because my neighbours are jackholes.

Dinner is served.

Final decision: Spicy grilled pork chop; warm pasta salad with broccoli and mushrooms in garlic butter.

Beverage: Peach nectar.

Dessert: Gummy worms; coffee.

NOM.

HEEEEEEEEELP!

Guys.

Guys.

No, seriously, GUYS.

…What do I want for dinner?

My choices are pork chops, chicken fried rice, and two different varieties of pasta. I can’t deciiiiiiiide! HELP!

My aloo gobi lacks for gobi.

Come on, people at my nearest Indian takeaway. Cauliflower is not that expensive…

I post about an ex who didn’t appreciate food, and suddenly my dash is full of food porn.

…I think I feel vindicated.

Finally, food

I arsed myself to get up and make real food, finally. Lincolnshire sausages with caramelised onion gravy, mashed potatoes and spinach with garlic butter. It has not cured the headache, or even lessened it much, but there’s something about actually up and preparing yourself a really fine meal, however simple, that helps the mood. Sort of a combination of “You’re worth the effort”, “You deserve nice things” and “See the gloriousness of which you are capable, you awesome creature, you!”

I think my thing with food is down to an ex I had once. I mean, I’ve always been interested in food things in general - the first thing I did when I was old enough to use a stove was add spices to chicken noodle soup while it was on the stove to make it taste more interesting, and make my own salad dressing, and I took a cooking class for a year when I was eight. I have family recipes that I’ve tweaked and improved (ask me about the family recipe for what we call ‘party pork chops’ sometime) and I think it’s safe to say that I come by my foodieness honestly.

But there was a guy I used to live with who did not care about food. I mean, at all.

I thought I was doing something wrong for months. I tried every recipe I knew and came up with some new ones besides. I made made party pork chops. I made my lamb in garlic mushroom sauce. I made chilli and bolognaise - two of my best recipes. I made my ultra-special savoury bacon burgers. I made curry. I made jambalaya. I roasted bits of every animal they sell in supermarkets. And no matter what I did, no matter how well it turned out, all I got was “eh, it’s okay”.

I eventually found out what was wrong - he honestly did not care about food. “I don’t eat for taste,” he said. “I eat as fuel, to keep my body going. That’s it. Actually, I think eating is such a waste of time. I don’t really like anything I have to chew more than three times, or anything I have to use more than one utensil on. If I could get all my nutrients and calories in a little pill, I’d be more than happy.”

I could have cried. And the day I went visiting with friends and cooked for them (chilli, coffee cake with mocha icing) and they ate it with great enjoyment and complimented me and asked what I’d put in the chilli and were interested … well, I did a little, out of sheer relief and gratitude. We eventually broke up and my next partner was just as into food as I was. So that worked out.

In short, there are people in this world who take their food for granted so much that they do not care about taste, presentation or anything but ease of scoffing. If there’s a good cook anywhere in your vicinity, go hug them. If that good cook is you, go hug you. Good food is one of life’s little miracles.

Ways to Celebrate a Birthday

• Wake up to snow. Pretty snow! …Until it fucks up public transport beyond all recognition.
• Buy a box of Krispy Kremes to bring to work as a festive treat. Have almost no one eat them and basically have the whole office ignore you all day.
• Except the temp who bitches about how you should be doing my job fast instead of … y’know, properly. When she’s violating about three different data protection cautions, doing it the way she does.
• Head home; find that public transport is still FUBAR.
• FINALLY get home; realise that you have nothing in the fridge for food.
• Watch FemShep ME3 trailer. Squee and bitch in equal measure.
• Order Japanese food, watch NCIS
• When Japanese food arrives … SUSHI AND ME2.
• And then leftover Krispy Kremes.

Happy birthday to me…

If I do not decide on food soon I AM GOING TO STARVE TO DEATH.

C is for Cookie

thessalian:

1. Look up various chocolate chip cookie recipes
2. Find one to bastardise
3. Add 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1 teaspoon ginger and 1 teaspoon cinnamon to flour mix
4. When melting butter for sugar/butter/egg mix, add cloves to softening butter. Strain out cloves when butter is melted satisfactorily
5. Mix well
6. Smash 1/2 a bar of gourmet chilli chocolate and 1/2 bar of gourmet orange chocolate; add chunks to cookie dough, mix well
7. Taste cookie dough
8. Force self to actually make cookies and put them in oven rather than just eating all the dough
9. Realise there are not enough baking sheets for whole bowl of cookie dough.
10. OMNOMNOM raw dough while waiting for cookies to bake.

My Sten Approves +100 Chocolate Chip Cookies with Seheron Spice are apparently going to be something of a hit, if the cookies taste as good as the dough…

So, okay. The cookie recipe thing has exploded. I have been asked to reblog this because people are asking for it over on Reg’s blog and her Ask box is probably screaming for mercy. So … here you go!

(Oh, and for the record? The base recipe that I bastardised is Felix’s best ever chocolate chip cookies, but pick the one you like best, obviously.

EEEEEEEE HE LIKES THEM!

I have never got the hang of Tumblring Tweets, but I’ve been following David Gaider and hey, Reg? He likes the cookies. :)

Reblogs

How are people still finding that cookie recipe post of mine?!? I made that post AGES ago!

Oh gods, where is my Chinese food?

COME ON PEOPLE; I KNOW IT’S FRIDAY BUT I AM STARVING NOW!

Also, the upstairs neighbours need to turn down theri stereo because the bass is shaking my floors. Not just my ceiling or my walls, but the fucking floor.

…When I have my Chinese food again, I am going to crank my volume, switch on Mass Effect again and BLOW SOMETHING UP, just to annoy them.

Hrm.

Ever had that thing where you’re not sure if you’re hungry or not? And then can’t decide what you’re in the mood for? Maybe I should give up and have Chinese. I’m always in the mood for Chinese.

Also, see this face? :3

I am making it now. I have my reasons.