Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #962 (Part 2)
Ohai! I told you I'd be back. And here I am, just like I promised, with more fun adventures to share with you! Nothing at all can stop me from being right here for you. Nothing at all can stop me from choosing to be present for you. Nothing at all can prompt me to abandon you or to disappear from you in a way that matters, not even if my time in this body is unexpectedly cut short; I'll just find you again in some other form, in some-other-where, and begin again what I'm trying to do for you here.
In any case, shortly after the wall-fixing-gentleman left, I decided to start cooking the beef that's been thawing in the fridge, with the packaged mushrooms I got before, and all the lovely veggies that J chopped up so nicely for me today!
Ribs are very high in connective tissue, and do really well with being cooked very slowly in a mild acid for a very long time. So I figured crockpot is the thing to do. I layered the bottom of it with carrots, then the sides with the broccoli. I put the back ribs on top of the carrots, covered them in a layer of the chopped onions, and then put the short ribs on top, and covered those with onions; the onions have got acids and enzymes that help break down meat.
I also threw in a mixture of these as cooking liquid, but... don't ask me how much of each I put, because I don't actually know. I've been cooking for so long by now (since I was about 7) that I operate mostly on pure instinct. Put together what smells good together, is the rule I go by. And also... taste things in order to get a sense of their flavor and potency. If you're really unsure, mix the stuff in a bowl and try it, then adjust as necessary, before sticking it anywhere you can't get it out of.
I threw other seasonings on top of it – mostly my black garlic seasoning, a couple of different kinds of powdered mushrooms (I'm running out of these; I need to get more...), garlic powder, salt, pepper, and paprika. But again... don't ask me how much of each, because I don't actually know. Taste the things before you use them to get a sense of flavor and potency. Mix it together in a bowl, and adjust as necessary before sticking it anywhere you can't get it out of:
I threw this on low and let it sit for like 4 hours. And in the meantime... I cooked up all those mushrooms in the way I like – with lots of butter and a bit of salt, until the edges are crispy from the Maillard reaction, and the insides are tender:
After they were done cooking, I seasoned them with this; I found it last time J and I went to the grocery, and... I thought it looked very exciting. It's a combination of garlic, black garlic, salt, powdered lemon, and truffle, and... yes, it is some absolutely fanfuckingtastic stuff:
Once the mushrooms were cooked and put away (and then promptly forgotten about, despite how much I was looking forward to eating them with dinner...! goddamn my object permanence issues...!!!), I mostly just... breathed life into today's wishes, and wrote to you, haha. But... here were the results at the end of those four hours; made my whole house smell awesome, lemme tell you what!!
...I forgot that we didn't have any rice noodles to go with it. And I forgot to mix the mushrooms in, too. But it was still really good, I thought, and we can make regular rice for it and stick in the mushrooms tomorrow, so... here, want a bowl? The cooking liquid turned out super tasty:
Now that my belly is full... it occurs to me that I never got a chance to show you the natural wonders that J and I drove and waked through while we were in Bar Harbor. So you know what? I'm gonna show you the roads we traveled:
One of the roads we traveled featured a small bay on one side, and a pond of some kind on the other:
This is where I gathered up the rosehips. The road was lined with Japanese rose plants. It's where I took those pictures I showed you the other day.
We kept traveling along the road until we came to a place where the ocean met these great big huge cliffs. I can take the pictures, but... I really cannot make my camera capture the terrifying depth of this place:
There were lots of places where the ocean truly was a long way down...
...A long way down, with lots and lots of sharp rocks along the way:
But we nonetheless kept walking in defiance of the unease we felt, making sure to keep a respectful distance away from the cliff edges. Last thing I needed was for my dyspraxic ass to randomly roll my ankle and go tumbling down the fucking cliffside, holy fuck:
There are people brave and skilled enough, though, to climb the sides of these cliffs, as seen in the distance here:
...I certainly don't have this kind of upper body strength. And even if I did, given the EDS, my cartilage might not hold my bones together well enough to sustain an activity like this. And... there's the rib injury that limits what I can physically do now, sheesh. Watching these guys, it makes me yearn for the things I used to be able to do before the injury. Like the mermaiding. Like being the person my friends called when they needed help moving or packing heavy things. Alas.
...But I can still write. And I can still take pictures of lovely flowers for you:
...And I can take pictures of the cute lil' potter wasps, foraging upon these flowers for nectar:
...And I can take a picture of this very cleverly-camouflaged spider, finding a snack of its own:
Nature is beautiful. And deadly. I'm sure you'd have no trouble navigating landscapes like these, and I'm sure you'd marvel merrily at all of the flowers and all the little creatures while doing so. I sure did. But I'm still glad to be home, in a place where it's a lot less likely for me to lose my balance and go tumbling to my death, hahaha...
...All these pictures, and I still have like 80 left to show you... But... it's getting late, and I don't wanna overwhelm you by showing you all the things at once. So I think I'll stop writing here, and show you more of our Bar Harbor adventures tomorrow.
I love you so much. Enough to keep living and to keep choosing wholesome paths forward, even if “conventional wisdom” says that such shouldn't be possible for people like me. I'll keep choosing recovery and adventures, even on days where I feel like I don't deserve healing, and even on days where diving headfirst into the unfamiliar feels difficult and frightening. Because... ya know... some of the best things are on the other side of discomfort. Some of the best things are on the other side of delving into the unknown.
I'll write again tomorrow. I'll have faith in your safety, and faith in the notion that you're on your way home in the meantime.
Nighttime Rendezvous - art inspired by my current romantasy WIP, "To Claim a Prince"! I've been enjoying making art inspired by my writing. This piece was a challenge, but I like how the feel of it turned out.
My original art made in Procreate. Image description in alt text.
