HLF: favorite appetizers for potluck? Or just favorite thing to bring when there's a gathering that everyone is contributing to beyond chips and dip?
Absolutely depends on the gathering!
If I'm going to a nicer event where the appetizers are a showpiece, I like to do something that seems like it takes a lot of work but is actually insanely fucking simple. Some of these work for a more casual thing too, but these are fast and fancy. I consider these so "unspecial" that I don't have any pictures, sorry:
Salmon cups:
one box phyllo pastry cups
smoked salmon (this can even be like, a leftover)
cream cheese or creme fraiche
fresh dill
salt/pepper
pop the phyllo cups in the oven. Whip together the cc/cf with flaked smoked salmon, fresh dill, salt and pepper. Can be done by hand or with a beater. Pull the cups. Use a pastry bag to get fancy or just scoop spoonfuls of the mixture. to get fancier: Clip a small fresh dill frond to garnish each cup. Fancier: use a tiny bit of roe or caviar to garnish.
Cheese twists:
one box puff pastry, thawed
grated cheese. I really like parm but it's a little bit whatever. nothing too melty. So cheddar, parm, some aged gouda, etc. No mozzarella.
egg
spices that match your cheese: so like, powdered roasted garlic for parm. paprika for cheddar.
sea salt
roll out one half of the box, stretching it into a rectangle. press the spices and grated cheese into the dough. Put the other half of the box over the the top. roll together. Take a pizza cutter. Cut it into long thin strips. twist the strips. hit em with an egg wash. Spinkle sea salt. Refrigerate them for like 30-90 minutes. I usually go get ready while I'm doing this, or make something else. Put in the oven at 350 for like...15-20 minutes. People love these things.
Those are both easy and can VERY much pass as a 'nicer' option. I have loads of appetizer I like to make but these are the "I do not have any fucking time for this" options.
Feeling this for Steddie, but obviously dealer's choice =)
Thank you for the prompt! It took two tries and I think this came out nicer for it
tw: bugs
The Birds and the Beetles
The leaves on the ground were making it impossible to walk quietly, but that was alright. Eddie was keeping his running commentary as low as he could manage as they walked through the forest, however, that was still louder than their footsteps.
"I don't know how they could have missed it. The signs were right in front of them." Rolling his eyes, Eddie nearly tripped over a particularly large tree root. When Steve dropped his binoculars to catch him, Eddie's alarmed look melted into a smile before he took advantage of their position to peck a swift kiss to the corner of Steve's lips. "My hero!"
Steve knew his expression was more fond than chiding as he helped Eddie back to his feet before giving him a little shove to keep him moving.
"So you've said." And Eddie has. He's got a lot of nicknames for Steve and 'hero' made it into the rotation after they pulled him from the Upside Down oh so long ago. "Maybe you should be paying more attention or you'll miss some signs of your own."
Because, yes, the walk was a bit for their health - getting out and walking around was good for them no matter what Eddie sometimes complained when Steve pulled him from his indoor hobbies. He always came though, because it was also a great way for them both to indulge in their outdoor hobbies which Eddie was incredibly enthusiastic about. He loved to look for bugs and creepy crawlies as they wound their way through the forest, but Steve preferred -
There was a bird call, just audible over Eddie's exaggerated hurt at being called out like that, and Steve instantly had the binoculars up again from where they were hanging around his neck. Not quite putting Dustin's gift to his face while he didn't know the direction it came from, Steve scanned the trees for movement.
Nothing.
Well, that bird call sounded familiar - what little he could hear clearly when Eddie stopped mid-sentence to let him listen - so he'll get his chance to look at it another time if not today. Today would be nice though. He remembered to bring the old camera Jonathan gifted him (with a particularly amused look) last winter and Steve would love to add to his small collection.
"No?" Eddie asked, watching Steve instead of the treetops, obviously trusting Steve's skewed vision to pick the birds out. When he got a negative head shake, Eddie just gave a commiserating nod and motioned them onwards. "Let's see if we're just too far away."
Reaching out with his free hand, Steve snagged one of Eddie's and set the pace. It was an easy one, more of a stroll than anything as Eddie picked up his story again as they both scanned the path for interesting creatures.
Birdwatching wasn't something Steve ever thought he'd like. Honestly, if anyone had told him that it was a hobby before he unknowingly fell into it he likely would have said it was for old people. Fortunately for him, he did kind of come to it naturally. Between the way their encounters with the Upside Down made him hyper aware of movement and the way his eyesight slipped from perfect to far sighted, spotting birds was surprisingly easy and fun.
The fun part was possibly the most surprising, but Steve loved seeing the little guys. Whether they were flitting by his bedroom window, sitting on a wire at a stop light, or hopping along the forest floor, the birds were always free and happy to do as they liked. And finding an uncommon one was always exciting! Trying to think of how or why a bird would come to their part of the state instead of their usual haunts was tricky and both Dustin and Eddie loved to debate it with him.
Of course, sometimes those debates included wildly incorrect guesses like bird revolts or bird spy tactics (specifically, birds spying on other birds and not shady government organizations using birds to spy), but those were usually joined by a wink in Steve's direction as Dustin started tearing Eddie's ideas apart on principle.
"So I told them we'd need to continue another- Steve!" Hissing his name Eddie froze, only the fingers trapped between Steve's moving in an excited set of taps telling him nothing was wrong. Not looking away from whatever he spotted, Eddie pulled Steve's hand closer to tap the back of it with his other hand as he did a few giddy steps in place, the ones that shift him from foot to foot rapidly in a motion that makes him look all of seven. "Look! Look look!"
It took effort to pull his eyes away from Eddie's elated grin, but Steve eventually managed to look in the same direction only to see more trees, leaves, and bushes. After a moment, he leaned in close to whisper a question.
"What exactly am I looking at?"
"A Potato Beetle or maybe a false one." Eddie brought his free hand up to his mouth to squint, presumably at the bug but Steve still couldn't see it and didn't know what that one looked like. His silence was telling, it must have been, because Eddie let his eyes slide over to meet Steve's before flashing him another smile. "Come here and get that camera of yours ready."
Setting his binoculars back down, Steve reached across to pull his camera from his opposite pocket so that Eddie could continue pulling him slowly forward until they're couched a few feet from a branch laying beside the trail.
"See, right there?" He pointed to a spot on the top of the branch and something moved. Narrowing his eyes, Steve listened to Eddie describe it. "It's kinda small, but it's brown and white, with stripes. It almost looks like a lady bug, do you see it on the top of that twig?"
And Steve did. It was small, less than half an inch so he was impressed Eddie noticed it (though, maybe he needed to stop being impressed, Eddie was finding little guys like this constantly). As they watched it, the bug's antennae wiggled a little and Eddie made a cooing noise.
Acting fast before Eddie tried to pet another bug only to get upset when it few away, Steve raised his camera to take a picture of it. The thing had more functions than a disposable one, but thankfully not as many as Jonathan used so getting the zoom right only took a few seconds.
Steve snapped one, then paused.
There was that birdsong again. Closer this time. Shaking off his distraction, Steve focused on getting another few safety shots in case the first was blurry. The bird likely wasn't going anywhere.
He took a second picture and then jumped as Eddie cursed, partially because of the noise, but mostly because of the nearly green bird that swooped down in front of them. It barely glanced at them as it snagged the little beetle right off the branch it was now scuttling along before flitting off again.
They both sat there for a second in stunned silence before Steve snorted with laughter, Eddie's squawk of affront following shortly after.
"What?!" Standing, Eddie stomped over to the branch as if he might be able to find the little bug they definitely just saw get eaten. "No! That's not fair!"
Steve looked down at the camera in his hands to try and keep from laughing too hard and realized he snapped another photo. Damn, he hoped it wasn't blurry. He wasn't sure what part of that farce he just caught, but that was going to be a story, he just knew it. It would be great to have proof when Dustin inevitably tries to deny this happened.
"Steve!" Back in front of him, Eddie stared down with his hands on his hips and Steve caught his tongue between smiling teeth as he looked up at that dramatic pout. "Steve, call your bird back and make him put down my beetle!"
"Her." The correction fell out automatically, before Steve shook his head. The coloring of cerulean warblers wasn't the part of his statement to focus on. Unable to wipe the fond smile from his face anyway, Steve continued, "Idiot. I watch birds, I don't control them."
Clicking his tongue, Eddie's shoulders slumped as he obviously fought to keep up the disappointed expression instead of smiling back.
"Lame. What's the point if you can't make them do your bidding?" The grin fully overtook his expression as he moved on before Steve could point out that Eddie was doing something similar even though he didn't have control over bugs. "Besides, I may be an idiot, but I'm your idiot."
Warmth spread through Steve as he exchanged an adoring look with Eddie that would have their friends groaning and throwing things at them.
"Yeah," he agreed, accepting the offered hand up to lean into Eddie's space. "And I'm yours."
The bird called again, but Steve was enjoying their kiss too much to pay it much mind.
There would be other times to photograph birds.
Eddie did love indulging Steve's hobbies after all.
Also put this on AO3 if people like reading it there better
Fuck, Canon, Kill: flavors of Miracle romance! Chibiusa and Pegasus, Seiya and Usagi in Stars, Rei and Jadeite.
Hello hello! We are playing a rousing game of Fuck, Canon, Kill! today to entertain @docholligay as she is laid up after surgery. Your prompts solicited and welcome!
YOU ARE ALL SO HATEFUL
Fuck: Seiya and Usagi, with the same reasoning as here in an earlier FCK, but short version is, with tweaks to basically all of the Starlights’ arc in Stars.
Canon: UGH GOD Chibs and Pegasus, I’M SORRY CHIBS YOU DESERVE BETTER THAN THIS YOU DESERVE SO MUCH BETTER
Kill: Rei and Jadeite THIS MADE ME NOPE SO HARD I TOOK YEARS OFF MY LIFE
vassekocho asked:
I just wanted to let you know that I absolutely enjoyed your camerawork while Jet has fought her way through Holligay's wicked set-ups, and thank you so, so much for making Yuri Hell's Kitchen and other GIFTENING things possible this year =)
rhiorhino asked:
Hello! I've been really enjoying you and Jet interacting for Yuri Hell's Kitchen, I have legit been laughing out loud so much and just y'all are adorable and amazing. I saw Jet's post and idk I'd like to put in my 'thank you' for being there for Jet and supporting her throughout the whole Giftening. Thank you for being super cool and awesome!
Thanks to everyone for the kind words I received here in my Tumblr inbox as well as in comments on other posts! I’m not going to lie, doing the Giftening, and particularly Yuri Hell’s kitchen was at times quite tiring. Filming and commentating on cooking for hours on end will do that to you. But it was also an amazing thing to be a part of and very fun. I’m already looking forward to doing it again at some point in the future. (The same goes for the Giftening…) Just not for a little while yet.
Angst prompts: Mercy kill, Roy (optional: Hawkeye is also there)
Good old fashioned Holligay style unrestrained summer fun. I have no idea how this could possibly prompt this problem BUT I AM ONLY TO EPISODE 19 OF THE ORIGINAL ANIME PLEASE NO ONE SPOIL ME. 1200 words.
“I've been considering my last words carefully.”
Hawkeye was leaned up against the mesh grate between their cells. It was considerate, she thought, of them to allow her in the adjoining one. The night before she had to die, she would just as soon listen to him ramble on, the way he always did. The sound was familiar, if not the content.
“I have to assume they’re going to record it for some kind of posterity. I mean, we almost succeeded. That’ll be in a history book somewhere, and what will they say about the traitor Roy Mustang?”
Roy was nervous. Which was, she supposed, the natural way to feel. Marked to die by firing squad the next morning. In a drafty cell in rough grey clothing, sitting on the cold stone floor so they could hear each other.
“I’m not going to say something like, ‘Oh, I’m sorry.” I’m not sorry. Or, wait, I am sorry. Sorry we didn’t succeed. Sorry that,” he raised his voice, “Maes Hughes sold us out!”
That had been Roy’s idea. They were caught, they were trapped, and Roy had convinced Hughes to be the one who informed on them. Beat Garnett to it. Get the rewards. Most importantly, remove yourself from suspicion. Roy had tried to figure out a way to save Hawkeye. She told him not to bother. She shot one of the soldiers who came for them.
Hughes had been allowed to say goodbye to them, had cried, had managed to mutter out that of course he had defended Amestris over his beloved friends, but they were no less beloved. Roy had made a big show of forgiving him.
Hawkeye would die as she lived: Alongside him.
“Maybe I’ll pardon them. Maybe I’ll curse them. Maybe I’ll warn the Fuhrer that I’m just a symptom. Tell the alchemists, if we banded together, no one could stop us.” He chuckled. “And then there’d be another mess. I would be better if none of us had ever been born. If the last alchemist were burnt on a pyre of every alchemy book ever written. Did you see the soldiers they have to shoot us tomorrow? Or they’re calling them soldiers.”
He didn’t continue. He was waiting for her to remind him she was there.
“I did.”
Enough for him to pick back up. “I really wish any of these kids were old enough to shave. I wish I thought they had already killed someone. Maybe if they’d brought in some crack shots. That would have me feeling a lot calmer. Sitting here thinking about--”
“Tell me a story, Colonel. One of your books.” He said nothing, simply breathed on the other side of the mesh. “Please. As much as you can remember.”
“Okay. Okay.” She heard him lean back against the wall. “There was an orphan, named Philip Pirrip, but of course he couldn’t say that, being as he was orphaned so young--actually it's a stupid name anyway, but-- he just called himself Pip. Pip used to imagine what his parents were like from the letters on their gravestone--no one ever told him much about them…”
Hawkeye wasn’t sure when she fell asleep, but she was awakened by the sound of the door opening. They had already shuffled Roy into the cool of the hallway, and he shivered a little as she stepped through the doorway. Hands tied behind his back, they tied hers the same. They were so young. She had held out some sort of hope that the crew assigned to their unmaking would be more experienced. It seemed to her an unkind thing for both recruit and prisoner, to have a firing squad so fresh.
They stood, ready to be taken to the wall, the first light of day breaking over the top of the prison. She and Roy stood side by side, waiting, while whatever nonsense paperwork, that could very likely be done after they had bled into the dirt, was completed. It was to give them time to be afraid. They would have to do more than put her in a holding pattern. She was used to silence. She was used to watching. These boys were not used to being observed, studied. She was making them more nervous than the reverse.
Finally, they tired of her long stare, and shoved them together out the door. The courtyard was cold and grey even in the light of dawn, and Hawkeye’s toes began to prickle with the chill of it. Her back was to his, as the soldiers talked among themselves, reminding themselves they could do this, teasing each other about it.
Roy shook his head, sighing.
“I don’t mind dying. I’ve been begging for it off and on for years. Fine. But these assholes are going to make a mess of it. Just leave me in a room alone with a gun, I’ll handle it.” His breath quickened. “I don’t want to watch them shoot you. They won’t let us go together. They’ll make me watch. Hawkeye…"
Her fingers gripped his hand, and she leaned back into his ear.
“You’re going to be alright. It’s okay. I won’t let them hurt you.”
Roy turned his head, and looked at her. He believed her, if only for a moment. She saw it in his eyes. He believed she could keep him safe. It was a good last thought. She would hold onto it. He believed in her.
“If you have a plan, I would love to hear it.” He scoffed, letting his cynicism roll in.
“Trust me.”
The leader, if he could be called such, of the fusillade, nodded. A young man with two strands of chin hair came toward them, barreling out his chest as he prepared to take Hawkeye to the wall. She heard her name, and a list of her offenses. It was annoying to know that Roy had been right about so much. They were going to make him watch. Not enough to simply kill him. Cruel.
But Roy was right about another thing, as well. These were idiot children. She twisted her wrists, the inadequate knot falling away, and rushed toward the man coming for her. Because they were idiot children, he had left his holster unsnapped. Bad habit, borne of fear and lack of discipline. Free of the badly tied rope, she slipped the pistol out of the holster and flipped it around in her hand. Less than a second. Perfect grace. She was born for this moment. If she’d had the time, she would have allowed herself to be proud.
She grabbed Roy around his shoulders and pulled him tightly to her. Just behind the ear. She placed the gun, and fired it. He didn’t even have time to yelp. His carefully planned last words ended up being a grunt. No time to be afraid, or feel pain. She’d kept her promise.
He was gone in an instant, but she could not bring herself to drop him. She set his body down gently. Ridiculous sentimentality, really, but she would give herself the gift of a little ridiculous sentimentality, here at the end. Those same idiot children all with their guns pointed, trembling, but none would shoot. She wiped Roy’s brains from the side of her face. He had been right about that too. They would have made a mess of it. Unprofessional.
She put the gun behind her ear, and performed the execution neatly.
It sounds like you're having a rough time, so wanted to send you something positive: I took your suggested potluck recipes (cheese straws and salmon cups) to book club last month, and they were a huge hit! I did modify the salmon cups a bit by adding dijon mustard and dill, and used a little hot honey on the cheese straws, and they were delish. Thank you so much for the suggestion and recipes!
No, thank you for telling me! I think the salmon cups, and so many things really, are only improved by the addition of mustard and dill, so...I mean I might even do that now that you mention it, I think that is how I usually do salmon things. Who knows man.
Also! I WISH I could put hot honey on anything, but my family is a bunch of fucking tender violets and if I wave a cayenne pepper in the general direction they'll cry. Which kills me because I LOVE spicy food. I love it so much. I love SPICY SPICY food. And yet here I am, trapped.
Thank you for telling me it went over well, I love hearing about this kind of thing.
@vassekocho replied to your post “Straw to the Fire”:
JFC I cannot fully express how this made me feel, but it is amazing, start to finish, and this line in particular just... took me out: "This was what united the battlefield with the ramen shop, in truth, was her capacity to weep. Some people are born to their gifts. " Holy fuck, the impact. I am not nearly familiar enough with Shakespeare to fully appreciate it, but my god,
Thank you so much!! I actually was really shocked so many people liked this, you know what's weird is how easy it is to get your own head. *I* know how long this took to write and how many plays I had to practically re-read to do it, so I was like, "This is difficult and clunky and sucks and I can't write Michiru anymore" but...no one else sees how the work is done. I'm just being insane. So thank you so much! My hope was actually that it was a fun read even if you weren't picking out the lines!
Thank you! It reminded me of how much fun Michiru's voice can be, and why I enjoy writing her so much in the first place. I don't have very many characters in the dollhouse on which I can dump my annoying ass education, vocabulary, and capacity for snobbery. It's her! I have Roy, too, and, you know I am thankful every day for him dropping SUn Tzu in a fucking duel so I could run with it. But as I was telling jetty when I was writing this, Roy doesn't have the same insane voice, and Jetty added perfectly 'he doesn't have the money" and yes exactly! Anyway, she can be so fun and it was a blast to revisit and inspires me to write her more.
thank you both!! It was a real challenge to write so it feels great that it landed.
Thank you! I think Michiru is so fun because she is nearly always with a sense of poetry to her speech even if she doesn't mean to, and YES THIS IS ALL ABOUT HER
Thank you so much! In fairness with Michiru it's kind of easy to be like, 'Shakespeare or Michiru" ahahah. And I'm glafd the pace worked! I knew what she was doing and how this had to end but by the time I got there I was like, 'Uh...and then ....???"
