#I’d like a HINT of banana I’d like the essence of banana even but no that’s not allowed you have to be committed to banana | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

Visit Blog

Explore Tumblr blogs with no restrictions, modern design and the best experience.

Fun Fact

Hackers stole 65M passwords from Tumblr in 2013.

#I’d like a HINT of banana I’d like the essence of banana even but no that’s not allowed you have to be committed to banana

whatelsecanwedonow · 4 years

Link

I’m picking out parts of this conversation I found especially interesting. Italics are mine:

You know, I’ve been trying to think of some precise, encapsulating question to ask you about what we’ve been witnessing over the last few weeks, and everything I was coming up with felt forced or phony. Maybe it’s better, because you’ve been eloquent during times of crisis in the past, just to ask what you’ve been thinking about and seeing in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing? I’d like to say I’m surprised by what happened to him, but I’m not. This is a cycle, and I feel that in some ways, the issue is that we’re addressing the wrong problem. We continue to make this about the police — the how of it. How can they police? Is it about sensitivity and de-escalation training and community policing? All that can make for a less-egregious relationship between the police and people of color. But the how isn’t as important as the why, which we never address. The police are a reflection of a society. They’re not a rogue alien organization that came down to torment the black community. They’re enforcing segregation. Segregation is legally over, but it never ended. The police are, in some respects, a border patrol, and they patrol the border between the two Americas. We have that so that the rest of us don’t have to deal with it. Then that situation erupts, and we express our shock and indignation. But if we don’t address the anguish of a people, the pain of being a people who built this country through forced labor — people say, ‘‘I’m tired of everything being about race.’’ Well, imagine how [expletive] exhausting it is to live that.

Does the scale and intensity of the protests suggest some positive strides toward accountability? Maybe. Look, every advancement toward equality has come with the spilling of blood. Then, when that’s over, a defensiveness from the group that had been doing the oppressing. There’s always this begrudging sense that black people are being granted something, when it’s white people’s lack of being able to live up to the defining words of the birth of the country that is the problem. There’s a lack of recognition of the difference in our system. Chris Rock used to do a great bit: ‘‘No white person wants to change places with a black person. They don’t even want to exchange places with me, and I’m rich.’’ It’s true. There’s not a white person out there who would want to be treated like even a successful black person in this country. And if we don’t address the why of that treatment, the how is just window dressing. You know, we’re in a bizarre time of quarantine. White people lasted six weeks and then stormed a state building with rifles, shouting: ‘‘Give me liberty! This is causing economic distress! I’m not going to wear a mask, because that’s tyranny!’’ That’s six weeks versus 400 years of quarantining a race of people. The policing is an issue, but it’s the least of it. We use the police as surrogates to quarantine these racial and economic inequalities so that we don’t have to deal with them.

...we’ve got a [expletive]-up permanent campaign system with too much money in it. Don’t people know that already? The politicians don’t even know how [expletive] up their system is. Nancy Pelosi was on ‘‘The Daily Show,’’ and we were talking about how money has a corrupting influence in politics. I said, ‘‘You raised $30 million. How does that money corrupt you?’’ She said it doesn’t. So money corrupts, but not you? That’s someone within the system. And when I went down to Washington for the 9/11 victim-compensation bill, I learned something that shocked me. We had a program that was working. Bureaucratically, it wasn’t broken. What is broken about Washington isn’t the bureaucracy. It’s legislators’ ability to address the issues inherent in any society — and the reason they can’t address them is that when you have a duopoly, there is no incentive to work together to create something better. Plus, you have one party whose premise is that government is bad and whose goal is to prove that, which makes them, in essence, a double agent. All these things coalesce to make problem-solving the antithesis of what we’ve created. We’re incentivized for more extreme candidates, for more extreme partisanship, for more conflict and permanent campaigning, for corporate interests to have more influence on the process, not less. The tax code isn’t complicated because poor people have demanded that it be that way.

What do you think of the news media’s handle on this political moment more generally? I don’t think it has ever had a good handle on a political moment. It’s not designed for that. It’s designed for engagement. It’s like YouTube and Facebook: an information-laundering perpetual-radicalization machine. It’s like porn. I don’t mean that to be flip. When you were pubescent, the mere hint of a bra strap could send you into ecstasy. I’m 57 now. If it’s not two nuns and a mule, I can’t even watch it. Do you understand my point? The algorithm is not designed for thoughtful engagement and clarity. It’s designed to make you look at it longer.

Have there been any positive changes, though? Let me give you an example of what might be one: When you were doing ‘‘The Daily Show,’’ part of what made you unique was your last-sane-man-in-Crazytown quality. You would actually say that someone in power was telling a lie when the nightly newscasters wouldn’t. Now they will say that. Is that a step in the right direction? The media’s job is to deconstruct the manipulation, not to just call it a lie. It’s about informing on how something works so that you understand the lie’s purpose. What are the structural issues underneath the lie? The media shouldn’t take the political system personally, or allow its own narcissism to rise to the narcissism of the politicians, or become offended that the politicians are lying — their job is to manipulate.

How much might his administration’s response to Covid-19 hurt him in November? That’s the question the media asks. What they should be focused on is, here’s what happens when you hollow out the pandemic-response team. You have to go after the case of competence and anticorruption. The media wants to prosecute the case of offensiveness. That doesn’t matter. But there were decisions about P.P.E. and the states that were made without any federal response, and that does matter. It’s really about, what is government? Are we the Articles of Confederation? Are we the Constitution? Are we the United States? What are we? If we’re just 50 states, and if New York can push Delaware out of the way and get masks, and now Delaware has got to pay 10 times what it was going to pay — are we being led or not? It’s the wildest thing. I’ve never seen anybody who can say in the same breath, as the president does, ‘‘I am in charge, only I can fix this, and I take no responsibility.’’ You cannot process that. So what you have to process is the actual process: How do masks help? Do they help? You have to really explain it to people, but we allow the mask-wearing to be reduced to its symbolic meaning. Things like masks can’t just become another avatar of political representation. That’s where we go wrong.

This might be a little Civics 101, but I hope you’ll indulge me: A lot of your work has fundamentally been about interrogating certain truths or ideas about America and the American experiment. Things like: What does this country mean? What are its ideals and values? What’s its character? Over the last few years those questions have only become harder to contemplate in any coherent way, let alone answer. Do those questions still hold for you? Every society lies to itself to some extent. Every person does. And sometimes you have to face the truth. The truth of the American experiment is that government is messy. It’s hard to manage. We are melding cultures and religions in a way that most countries don’t. But we have an exceptionalism that we have taken for granted, and we get lost in the symbolism of who we are rather than the reality. The reality of who we are is still remarkable. You can’t take the anecdotal and pretend it’s universal. You can’t take a picture of the Lake of the Ozarks and people on top of each other drinking and say, ‘‘That’s how America responded to the pandemic.’’ Because it’s not. The boots-on-the-ground response has been phenomenally resilient and responsible and courageous. The sense that this could all turn into ‘‘Mad Max’’ tomorrow always hangs over everything — but it hasn’t. There are issues, but again, we point a spotlight on the anecdotal and pretend that it’s universal. What that does is feed the narrative for people who want to use it for their own purposes. That’s what drives me bananas. We’re basically having giant public fights about symbolism, while the reality of our situation goes unexamined.

Are you hopeful about what lies ahead? Always. Because the view we get of the country is not accurate. We get the artifice of it, the conflict of it. I’m not naïve. I don’t think that true divisions and animosities and bigotry and prejudices don’t exist. We see that every day. But fundamentally, we are a resilient and strong and resourceful nation that has oftentimes overcome our worst tendencies — ‘‘overcome’’ is probably too strong a word. But our biggest problem as humans is ignorance, not malevolence. Ignorance is an entirely curable disease.

How? Information and work. You need to talk to people. Ignorance is often cured by experience, by spending time with what you don’t understand. But I honestly don’t know. Well, you know what? I do know: In the same way that Trump’s recklessness is born out of experience, so is my optimism, because good people outweigh [expletive] people. By a long shot.

#the good people have to be in control tho to speak to the last two sentences #the weight of the good must be felt #but 'you can't take the anecdotal and pretend it's universal' is!!!#'we're basically having giant public fights about symbolism'#yes #b/c it's listless insanity there's no one at any wheel #being able to succinctly discuss topics like this is a hell of a thing #i don't rly care to tag this and have randos interact #'an information-laundering perpetual-radicalization machine' is also twitter dot com #and like... all of social media #anyway #long post

7 notes · View notes

decimadragonoid · 4 years

Text

Some Musts for Artists!

As I'm typing this, it is currently midnight on April 12th during the coronavirus pandemic. We're all artists here, so let's go over a few things that we can do as like-minded people. I've been on Deviantart for nearly 6 years now. I recently started a Tumblr and a Ko-Fi to make this a fun side job. Expanding my art network and social media outlets was the name of the game throughout the years, but I thought I'd create a small journal entry or a manual somewhere midway through the process for current and newcoming artists. So, here are some tips and musts for artists that all of you can use! 1.) Practice as often as you can. - This step is pretty self-explanatory. After all, practice makes perfect. You might even unlock hidden potentials that you never thought you had before. Even if you don't feel comfortable using certain tools (e.g., the perspective ruler, mannequins, outlines), making use of them will become much easier if you ease your way into using them. For example, I've always had trouble making backgrounds while using the perspective ruler synchronously, but over time, I eased my way into using it for making settings. Now I use the perspective rulers when I'm trying to capture the essence of a room or an area outdoors. It may be hard to create characters, props, and backgrounds at first, but once you find methods you're best comfortable with, stick with your guns and flesh out your masterpieces with your own unique styles! - I also use thicker sketch lines to make characters and poses just right to accommodate my nearsightedness. I call this technique 'The XL Method.' 2.) Study and Observe from Others. - If you have a favorite show, artist, or animator you like to watch, observe how they flesh out their characters, backgrounds, settings, and stories. Using any of the listed in the last sentence as reference material is a good way to analyze the big picture and make it your own. Of course, you must remember that you're not doing this to mimic your favorite artist, but rather referring to them as a template of sorts. Don't try to stay as someone else's shadow. Your art style is created through your body and soul, not by emulating your idol. 3.) Take care of yourself. - This is probably the most important thing you must NEVER neglect as an artist and overall person. If you can't draw yet due to other responsibilities outside of being an artist, don't try to force yourself afterwards. I've personally seen artists get hounded with questions and comments like 'When's your next page coming out?', 'Finish this project up already!', and even 'I only came here for Undertale. It's the only thing that gives me life. If you stop making Undertale comics and cancel your series, I'm not gonna watch you anymore.' Every artist I follow has been pressured more than once, especially in the Undertale fandom, when they actually put a project on hold, had a desire to draw something else for a while and try new things to take a break, or had other responsibilities outside the digital realm that followers neglect to understand or just don't care about because they're so anxious to see what happens next in a story they like. With followers, some are patient and respect that the artist has other responsibilities and hobbies they'd like to attend to, and others feel like they're entitled to the next page, when really, they're not. This isn't prominent in just the Undertale fandom, but also in many others - so many in fact, that it's a hassle just to list them all. - It's important to balance your lifestyle with things you like to do. If you like to draw, by all means, do it. If you like to read, by all means, do it. If you like to hang out with friends, by all means, do it. If you like to play video games, by all means, do it. If you have to take care of yourself and put your health over everything else first, do it. Do NOT compromise! When it comes to your health and lifestyle, unless it's beneficial to you, nobody else's input matters. Your followers won't get mad at you for it, and the followers undergoing the stages of entitlement will have to shut the hell up and take a hint. You're your own person, not someone else's servant. 4.) Eat! Eat! EAAAAAAAAAAAATTT!!! - Whether it's your favorite food or something jam-packed with nutritious value, eat all the food you want to eat! No artist can operate on an empty stomach. Keep your metabolism going and grab a snack, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You want an example? Eat popcorn or sushi. Popcorn is high in fiber and helps keep your blood sugar in check as long as you don't drench it in too much butter. I also recommended sushi in this tab too. The reason is because sushi and other types of fish are high in DHA content, which stimulates brain activity and keeps your creative juices flowing. - There are other snacks that can help you stay motivated and full. Yogurt prevents diseases and enhances digestive and weight control. Bananas are high in potassium and help maintain a healthy heart. Chips and hummus go together too! Not only is hummus a good dip filled with fiber and protein, it's also filled with antioxidants! - I can go on and on about what kind of foods you can eat as an artist, but there are too many to list! I just love food THIS much! You'll be sitting here reading this tab all day if I did, so I'll leave the examples in the previous paragraphs for you. Whether it's a snack food, breakfast, lunch, or dinner, feed your body and mind, and you'll definitely make it as an artist! 5.) If you're a comic artist making an original story or building up from someone else's idea with a fanmade comic of your own, achieve total secrecy and wow your viewers later! - Yeah, I know it's great you've finished a comic page to show to your followers, and it has them craving for more. But sometimes, someone else's desire for more pages might be a little too much. Whether you're a regular artist or a comic/fancomic artist, not only is it important to balance your lifestyle, manage your time, and decide when you want to draw an art piece or the next page to your story, but it's also important to limit the amount of desire and demand you take in. - If you don't mind giving your fans spoilers, then that's okay too. But sometimes, achieving complete radio silence and being exclusive helps you get the most work done. - For example, a clothes designer named Geoffrey B. Small utilized a marketing strategy in which he made his clothing line limited and exclusive to shoppers. He doesn't want you to find his clothing. Even more so, he's not interested in being available to everybody. This makes his clothing unique and valuable to the eye of the beholder. If his clothes were found by literally everyone, it would disappoint him and jeopardize the overall exclusivity and value of his products. If your someone who doesn't want anyone to know that you're working on an art piece or a batch of comic pages that's gonna gobsmack your fans, pull a Geoffrey B. Small-esque move and don't leak any info whatsoever. - But IF you must inform your fans your project is still up and running, leave a subtle hint or a W.I.P thumbnail behind. That'll suffice. Keep your fans guessing, even if it means making them succumb to their anxiety or neediness for updates. - Limit any questions or comments you want to take in until you feel ready to reveal your big guns. You decide when you'll work on your art on your OWN terms. 6.) Allow yourself to imagine and enjoy your creative mind going wild before fleshing it out on your tablet or on paper. - Creativity is what makes literally anything in the world come to life! That's how we have the technology, video games, buildings, and other necessities in our generation today. For us artists, our most creative tool is the brain. The brain is the center of all human activity and thought. It's what allows us to imagine what happens next in our stories before we physically flesh them out on our drawing tablets or on paper. I always use my brain to generate a thought in my head that's so powerful, when I close my eyes or flesh it out every second, I can see a glimpse of it playing in my head like a roll of film filled to the brim with moving images for a movie. - It's also beneficial to write out a script, and even pretend you're a character in the story you want to create. - Flesh out your thoughts, play the track over and over again, add more thoughts, put a few funny moments into the mix, and BAM!! You've got an idea! Of course, you must also understand that unless the thought is something long-term you want to remember, you might forget some parts of your idea at first. Some ideas might be some you'll totally dislike later, and that's okay. There's always room for re-imagination and improvement. - Also take to heart that you shouldn't let your creative thoughts take over your real-life responsibilities. Those come first! - Overall, it's important to imagine and have fun going wild before physically bringing your thoughts into being. Let the creativity flow naturally. 7.) Understand you're not perfect, and neither are others. - In the wise words of Mayuri Kurotsuchi from BLEACH, 'Nothing perfect exists.' - 'If something is truly perfect, that's it. The bottom line becomes, there is no room for imagination, no space for intelligence, or ability, or improvement.' - 'Perfection is a dead end, a condition of hopelessness. Always strive to become better than everyone who came before you, but not perfect.' - You need to understand no artist or average working person in the world is perfect. Nobody is better or worse than anyone else. If you start to develop an egotistical sense of perfectionism, stop. You're not Picasso or Van Gogh. You're not better than anyone else. Neither am I. Everyone has their own ways of creating things or getting through the harsh reality of the real world. - The only thing we are is a small part of a bigger picture. We're all here to fill the gaps that plague the digital realm and society as it is today. 8.) Enjoy every minute. - The last thing an artist, viewer, average kid, and/or working adult needs to know is that if you enjoy doing something, it's worth enjoying all the way no matter what anybody else says. Have a good time. Don't let anyone take your modes of enjoyment away from you. Because at the end of the day, everything that lives is designed to end. We don't know when the time will come where we won't or can't enjoy what we love to do today anymore. So take your life and hobbies, make them the most enjoyable and memorable moments of your life, and never let them go! As an artist and overall human being, I care about my own well-being. Hell, I even care about the well-being of strangers and passersby on Deviantart, Tumblr, Ko-Fi, and real life. As such, I feel it's important to share my words of wisdom so you can read, listen, and make them your own. So remember to not only enjoy art or any other hobby or career you wish to pursue, but to never stop growing. The growth and development of the normal human being is a neverending journey, and it's one worth living well. Thank you for reading, and take care of yourselves. Stay determined, where and whoever you are... See you soon... Your friendly stranger and creative thinker, DecimaDragonoid

#words of wisdom #i care about all of you #food for thought #words to live by #artists on tumblr #people on tumblr #journal

6 notes · View notes

calvarineharrod · 6 years

Text

The adventures of Calvarine and Hayley’s “GIRLS TRIPPPPP!!!!!"

Johannesburg: affectionately known as the “City of Gold”, a place where risk-takers and money-makers come to witness their dreams grow into fruition. I love this city: the rush, the adrenaline, the swiftness and feisty attitudes of people. There’s just so much hustle in the air, or maybe in the water? Regardless, living in this place requires thick skin, a thicker bank account, a full tank of petrol - cos’ traffic…

My extremely close friend, Hayley, momentarily come up with an idea to visit Johannesburg for a quick weekend Girls Trip. After watching Girls Trip together, it kinda accelerated the thought of us having a super chilled weekend plus we have never travelled together, anywhere!!

History: Hayley and I have been friends since grade 8. 12 years down; we are still the closest of friends and surprisingly still have the same goofy conversations that we did at 13. This friend of mine is a High flyer, sports science Honours graduate, has traveled overseas, has her own medical practice, rocks a 6 pack of abs and still maintains relationships with friends, family and her boyfriend. She’s one of those girls who can do anything. I look like a complete blob next to her #Lol.

Hayley, being the Type-A smarty pants, arranged our travel itinerary for the weekend including Flights and Accommodation. I was so excited and grateful for her effort in the entire process. We set flight on 3rd November 2017, a parching hot summers day, from Durban to Johannesburg. Throughout the entire buildup, I would constantly quote phrases for Girls Trip especially the lines from Tiffany Haddish (my new favorite actress) especially because I found it hilarious.

We arrived at OR Tambo Airport around 9h30. Hayley’s cousin, who also happened to graciously be our chauffeur for the weekend, was punctually awaiting our arrival at the pick up zone. Our intentions from the outset was to have fun and create spontaneous memories. Nothing pedantically over planned, no deadlines, just fun. I personally have never done something so daring. Being 25 and having experienced so little in life, I grabbed upon the opportunity to just live, even if it just meant for one weekend.

We drove straight to the Mall of Africa, a place I’ve been wanting to see. After scoffing down a brunchy meal, we proceeded to look around. I was totally in my element looking at all the designer stores with fashion I’ll probably never afford. Besides, I’m not a girl who is obsessed with a label. I also happened to have my first “Starbucks Experience”, a chocochinni frappachino covered in whipped cream. However, I was unimpressed with the waiter who asked me to SPELL MY NAME?! Do they realize they work for Starbucks. Have they noticed that people come there for the fun of guessing if their names get spelt properly?! Side note: urgent HR intervention and staff training is needed at this branch.

We also visited my 2nd favourite shop, TYPO, which is a cute, artsy vibey shop. Time flew and soon, messages from family members started to trickle in asking about our whereabouts. We headed straight to The Barron which looked like a relaxed, white-collared, Friday afternoon location where people sat with their loosened ties and drank Castle Lager. It was cool. Sundowners after a hectic week sounds tempting. We decided to drive to our accommodation only to realize it is peak traffic at 13:00. I’m assuming a lot of people leave work at this time. Traffic was ridiculous. We were entangled with taxis, school transport and working class people, all rushing to the excitement of the weekend.

We arrived at our accommodation (47 on Preston) precisely at 14:00 and checked into our neatly prepared, air conditioned, wifi-zoned room with a stunning pool and views to match. The area was called Highlands North and the houses were impressive. Security was priority for us hence, the 24hr access controlled body guard, secure features and boom gates gave us peace of mind.

Our sweet ‘chaperone’ (Hayley’s Cousin) ensured we had snacks and liquor at our disposal. Skyy Vodka, Savannah and Amstel were on the menu. After chilling and catching up, we had to plan the night. I am unfamiliar with the night life of Johannesburg. We started getting ready and in the midst of it all, another cousin decided to visit us and show us around after all It’s an Indian thing to stick together. This particular cousin was weird. He was soft spoken, very proud, a straight A student, forensic scientist and quite an opinionated person. I am certainly not accustomed to this type of behavior. We didn’t get off to a great start. I’m all for successful people but not the proud ones. I’d like to think that I’m a cool, chilled and open-minded person. I’m always telling people “Don’t Judge” and this was an appropriate time to take my own advice!!

He brought through a bottle of caramel vodka and sipped. Funny thing is, this guy continued to drop hints the entire night of how intelligent, successful and opulent he is. The car he drives, the area he stays, the alumni he belongs to and his career, which is prospering at an exponential rate. Luckily Hayley informed me about this dude. Nothing serious, she just told me don’t worry, he is different from the average guy.

This dude was slightly tipsy at the arrival of our uber cab. I was controlling the Aux cord playing my “fresher than” music. They were not impressed. Seems like these freaking people don’t like Nas and Vic Mensa! Are you even my friends? Ha ha. We arrive at monte casino, a nightlife spot in Johannesburg, suggested by this cousin. I was actually warming up to him and started to laugh at his jokes. Please don’t any ideas. He has a spouse and over-saturated metrosexual tendencies. Definitely not my type.

The night got funnier. We ate and thereafter entered a place called “3sixty liquid lounge” which has a brilliant live band and serves cocktails, cute baby pink and blue candy floss shooters, bubblegum flavored liqueurs served in test tubes and other unconventional drinks. I loved it. Vibe was cool, we were probably the youngest group of people there, nevertheless, I am a huge fan of Earth Wind Fire and Bruno Mars. We took a quick walk around the casino to my disappointing bewilderment, people were gambling and it was almost 1 am. I hate gambling so I wasn’t pleased to witness people losing their entire salaries on a table. The ride home was hilarious. We got to bond with the weirdo. It was banter the entire night. I wasn’t holding back, neither was he. Safely reached home, thankfully to uber (that driver was relived to drop us). Liquor usually fuels deep thinking so the conversation of religion came up. Uh-oh!

We sat for over 2 hours conversing about religion and there is no decent, happy way to end this conversation without someone getting offended. Throughout the discussion, I was quite level minded and reminded that my Faith is for me, it works for me and I don’t have to justify it. I was also reminded that the essence of a religion is to have faith in God, that’s the basis of Christianity. So when someone wants hardcore facts, times, places and dates - especially when they have a debilitating hatred for Christianity, I will not be intimidated and cross questioned by someone who is out to make a point rather than seeking to understand. Here we are in a very familiar scenario: Christians vs Hindus. The answers were flying back and forth. Eventually we all agreed to disagree and by this time, the dried sweat started to irritate my skin. They gang was getting ready for bed and the proud cousin who earlier asked why we are staying in this place eventually ended up sleeping in one of the beds.

Funny story: earlier that day, we found banana flavored condoms in the room and wanted to prank Hayley’s 'cool’ cousin. We even dispensed some droplets of handwash in order to make it seem like it was used. Yuck! We slipped it under the covers and pretended like nothing happened.

Fast forward to later that evening, well it was early hours of the morning, proud cousin decided to sleep in the bed which had the condom. I was only just informed that he is a germaphobe. He felt the slippery substance and sprang out of bed like a cat in water! It was hilarious. Shortly after that, everyone passed out from pure exhaustion.

Saturday morning started off great. We were treated to an in-house breakfast prepared by the Muslim hostess and then proceeded to the Rosebank Mall. En route, I was speechless at the upper echelon of Johannesburg. The buildings, the infrastructure, the complex designs and luxurious apartments. For a split second you even ask yourself, is this South Africa? Are we even in a recession? Rosebank mall was super cool. From Hamleys to Krispy Kremes, we waltzed our way to almost all the stores and I was majorly impressed.

Our next stop was Melose Arch. I was levitating. I had never been to this place and always heard about it on TV/Radio. We approached the entrance of Melrose arch with Lambourguinis, Porshe, Ferrari, limousines and various other exotic cars parked inside. Funny thing, it wasn’t even a car expo. These were normal patrons who happened to be in this place. Once again, I’m thinking “is this really Johannesburg?! This feels like a foreign place.”. Melrose Arch has various luxury shops, amazing restaurants and beautiful cobble stoned pave ways decorated with Vespas to create an Italian feel.

Jamie’s Italian, founded by the talented chef Jamie Oliver, is an awesome 4/5 star restaurant. I’m a sucker for comfort food so I ordered a gigantic burger layered with different cheeses, sautéd onions, crisp lettuce and holonaise sauce with Parmesan drizzled fries and a refreshing signature Jamie Mojito. We strolled for a bit and went back to 47 on Preston to catch a breather and of course, prepare for our last night in Joburg.

We utilized the convenient services of Uber that weekend and through that, got to see the growth and splendor of our country’s golden city. There are construction sites everywhere possible. Infrastructure and renovations are booming. At the same time, we saw beggars at robots, extremely poor laborers, mostly from other African countries working for minimal wages. It was such a skewed representation. On one hand, we have bugattis and rolls royces lining the street and on the other, we have people digging in bins and hanging out of trains because of their poverty. Mind you, this was one road away of each other. I couldn’t fathom it. It was confusing. Once agin, you’re challenged to think, what are we doing wrong? Are the rich getting richer and poor getting poorer. How do we stabilize this situation. For some of us, growing up in disadvantaged communities affects in many ways. When you do well in life, you almost carry a sense of guilt for doing well and feeling sorry for people who have not achieved anything. Must you apologize for your success? Must you feel unworthy of getting a golden ticket just because your peers lacked drive to hustle?

Saturday night was about to go down. We were scheduled to meet some of their cousins on 4th Avenue in Parkhurst, cited as Joburgs version of Florida Road. We did a small pub crawl before settling into a local sports bar. We befriended 2 sisters sitting besides us. They were so sweet and shared their hookah with us. The drinks kept rolling, including my signature drink; 1 Smirnoff storm and 1 tot of Aftershock. It’s light, pink and tasty. Jäger bombs are always compulsory. Me and my greedy self got way ahead of the party and started twisping, experimenting with everyone’s flavors. Marshmallow, honey and red bull flavors mixed with alcohol and a hookah ended off in me wanting to puke. I felt bad for tainting the evening. We hopped into an uber cab and came home. With toothbrush in hand, I was determined to get sober asap, which I did! Straight to bed after a hot bath, we were ready to conquer the morning in high spirits seeing that it was also our last day of “Girls Trip”.

Sunday morning started off with a lovely breakfast. We packed up and proceeded to Rosebank mall which was my request. I needed to get my hands on some Krispy Kremes to bring back home. To kill time, we also attended this rooftop art and crafts market in the parking lot. I was so impressed with the variety and organization of this fete. It was beautiful and eccentric. Foods from every culture was sold, ethnic clothing and creative decor, eclectic jewelry and fashion - it was….. Different.

After obtaining my two dozen of Krispy Kremes, we headed out of Rosebank and straight to the Airport. We checked it with full luggage and a huge, embarrassingly box of 24 Krispy Kremes doughnuts. We thanked Hayley’s amazingly courteous and sweet cousin who gave us such a memorable time and boarded the flight.

In all, this was the best trip I’ve ever taken. No drama, no bickering, no anxiety, just pure fun. I’m was so appreciative of those 3 days and how my eyes got opened to a new way of life. It is vitally important to experience something different from your normal standard of living. Johannesburg is such a beast but contrives such beauty within its streets.

I had to share this memorable experience on my blog and even if it didn’t seem thrilling to you as you read, it meant the world to me. Here’s to more exciting experiences, spontaneous trips, everlasting friendships and ticking off the bucket list!!

#blog #blogger #Johannesburg #Africa #southafrica #friends #friendship #bucket list #girls trip #happiness #memories

3 notes · View notes

mdela-blog · 7 years

Text

Hello friends and family!

This is the first update along my living-the-dharma adventure. It' been a wild ride into what I'm deeming the "31 flavours of dharma" - I'm really happy to offer you a window into my current life. It's hard to believe its been just a little over one month. I've visited/lived in five dharma centres, bathed in the rich forests of northern California with Ms. Alexa Nash, and witnessed the growing yearnings for community while visiting a kindred soul in Chico, California. It's been both painfully and deliciously rich and I am here to share with you all of the flavours I've picked up along the way. As well as my hummus recipe and some pictures! It's a long message, but I've poured my heart into it so I hope you will sit back, grab yourself a glass and enjoy the ride.

I would like to lay down some of my intentions with these updates:

My plan is to update you all once a month (give or take). I plan on sharing experiences, learnings, and updates of my current whereabouts. One aim I have is to educate you of the meditation communities I have visited in order to equip you with some knowledge if you so decide to seek out the wisdom path. Moreover, I am experimenting with how to share these experiences and am curious how these will unfold and develop. I also want to make it clear also that I hope these updates will provoke you, my dear friend, for feedback and more importantly how the journey is treating you.

An exchange. Also, if you want me to remove you from this list just ask!

On my mind is the 10-day Vipassana retreat in Kelseyville, California I left yesterday. Currently, I am staked out at a coffee shop, Lulu Carpenter, in the surf city of Santa Cruz for two days before my adventure (next stop: Vadjrapani Institute, a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center in a redwood grove north of Santa Cruz) I had the opportunity of serving nearly 100 meditators at a Goenka Tradition Vipassana retreat. I was thrown in with ten wonderful vagabonds and over 10 days created Metta imbued breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the hungry retreatants. We worked our booty-chittas off. I found little free time, little solitude amongst the craziness. I found this intimate environment very intimidating and hard to adapt to. Yet, over time I found an inner strength that I could find in our scheduled one hour three times a day sits.

The kitchen crew. "Mettaaa!"

We cooked tofu steaks, chilli, curry, baked banana bread and "metta balls", botched a Thai coconut curry, ate sweet potatoes till we exploded and was fortunate to be called the mad scientist of hummus. They all insisted on the recipe, hehe. I'll include it in the attachment below. It was stressful. It was hard. The intimacy brought out a lot of my fears, my self-judgments, my criticisms. It was a mirror wrought with my own demons. I even met my own mirror: The manager of the kitchen. This was the hardest test yet. Yet, within all of the collective insanity, I developed deep bond I developed for my dharma brothers and sisters and worked through my fears.

Dhamma Manda

Now, I'd like to open up about a recurring experience I hinted upon above: The experience of fear.

Fear is a deeply rooted emotion that can provide us useful information about a dangerous situation or person. Although this emotion protected our ancestors from natural threats, it has become a widespread hinderance for many individuals in western society. The emotion hijacks body and mind in both subtle overt ways causing unnecessary suffering such as worry, doubt and uncertainty. You might know this experience as anxiety or an anxiety attack. What I am describing has been my constant companion for a number of years and slowly I have learned about how to transmute the emotion into a powerful motivator and decision maker to show us where we can grow.

I left Columbia early September in a whirlwind of emotion. I had just finished a 20-day meditation retreat and had just made a radical life decision. I wrote a few weeks later in my travel journal about this experience:

Connecting with Chico (California) has allowed me to connect with my fears, connect with my hopes, connect with my frustrations, connect with friends, connect with community. I see a stronger, more detached, emotionally resilient Louie. I should tell you though: Detachment does not mean numbing or passive, in fact, it is quite the opposite. Detachment is letting yourself fully feel, fully be in the moment and allow yourself to surrender to whatever comes up. Even if it means to stare at loneliness or fear in the face and from the bottom of the heart and say " I don't know." To weep deeply to a friend and admit how every breath is breathing in fear, every direction feels a primordial fear. To let oneself fully be there, and say, "hey, fear, I love you, but I don't need you right now." What I needed at that time was to find the courage and strength to move from the place which has spoken to me in the deepest of silences. California is the manifestation of that inner strength, inner resilience.

I am here today to tell you, that no matter what fear says, it does not define you. That fear is valid but it is not truth. It is a voice that speaks the language of a previous conditioning that no longer serves you. To say thank you to your fears, but, as my father puts, do not let the drive the fear, the fear does not drive you. I see it as a passenger of a bus that I am in control of. I may not be in control of when fear arises, but I can shift my relationship with it. "Sure fear, you can take the front row, but take note! I am driving the bus."

This is one of the most important lessons I have learned from meditation.

Thoughts, emotions, these are just passing experiences we can either run away from (aversion) or want to hold (cling) to. If we can learn not to react but to just be aware of these experiences, slowly we can bring the fear from the driver's seat to the passenger seat. This passenger is a part of you, a part of me, but they serve a self that does not have your best interests in mind.

This is the essence of mindfulness: relating to our experiences from a place of awareness instead of a place of reaction and judgement.

As I developed the practice of coming from a place of awareness I learned how to quiet the mind and let silence speak. I learned to trust and listen to this place of stillness and see fear, excitement, boredom as just the passing show. This, to me, is the place of god, the place of the mystic, the space of no space, hehe. (had to get a little mystical, ya know).

Mahasi Sayadaw Vipassana 20-day meditation retreat, Springfield Illinois. The retreat that catalyzed my trip to California.

You may ask "okay Louie, I hear you and that all sounds good and fun, but how can I put this into practice." Well, as I spoke before: mindfulness meditation is key. Heres another one that stands out to me:

Dhutanga: The practices which are hard to do

I had the great opportunity of visiting Abhayagiri Thai Forest Monastery in Ukai, California in which I stumbled on the words of Ajahn Chah, a highly influential teacher of the Thai Forest tradition. He spoke of the practice of Dhutanga as "the practices which are hard to do." Ajahn describes the practice in his dhamma talk In the Dead of Night which he describes his practices of meditating in cemeteries near dead-bodies to see the truth within this fear of death.

''If it's time for it to die then let it die. If my mind is going to be so stubborn and stupid then let it die''... that's how I thought to myself. Actually in my heart I didn't really want to go but I forced myself to. When it comes to things like this, if you wait till everything's just right you'll end up never going. When would you ever train yourself? So I just went."

Ajahn Chah

Was it the

right

time to go to California? Who knows. Was I looking forward to serving 10 hours a day in a kitchen with a bunch of strangers? Hell no. I was freaking out, man. Yet, I knew that this fear was a signpost, a signpost telling me to lean in and listen to what I fear the most. I am so grateful for these inner tools of meditation and yoga. Practices that can cultivate an inner fountain of stability and strength no matter how intense the storm. Even beyond formal meditation, we can lean closer and reside in what scares us. This is the juice, the nectar, the good stuff. Slowly those fears turn into our signposts that can help point us towards what we really want in life. This is the transmutation.

This to me is why I left for California. Because although fear clouds the heart, the mind, it is not me.

That inner calling, no matter how quiet or how much its pushed down, is your calling, screaming for freedom, screaming for peace, screaming for you to find you. Even if that means facing the darkest, scariest parts of you. It is there waiting.Pick up the phone and find your California, love.

So, my dear friend, I challenge you to develop your Dhutangha.. Listen closely and remember the words of the wise little Thai man: "Wherever you are afraid you should go."

Aaannndd I digress. Whew!

If you have made it this far:

YOU ARE A WONDERFUL HUMAN BEING!

If any of this resonated with you please let me know. If you have any feedback, whether it be my writing style or content, or if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask =) And because this is an exchange,

let me know how you are doing!

I miss all of you and hold all of you close in my heart.

1 note · View note

inthe-afterglows · 7 years

Text

Say You Won’t Let Go

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12346712/1/Say-You-Won-t-Let-Go

She closed the oven with a flourish and turned to peak out of the doorway that led to the main shop. She smiled seeing her little boy taking customer orders — he worked the til better than her sixteen year old employee and he was only five. At any rate, the customers simply adored him and often preferred to have simple orders taken by the little boy. He handed over a box of cupcakes to a woman Lily knew back from school (though the two were never close) “Bye bye, Miss Mary!”, and then he picked up his pencil and started colouring again.

“Harry! Mummy’s just going upstairs to grab some things. Shout out if you need me!”

Not wasting any time, she quickly went up the stairs, two at a time, and unlocked her storeroom. She didn’t like leaving Harry at the front on his own, but she’d only be a couple minutes. She cursed Sara for being late. Again. She quickly pulled a milk crate out and started piling in ingredients; three bags of flour, two tins of chocolate cocoa, a bottle of vanilla essence and two bags of brown sugar. She heaved it up and made her way back downstairs, making sure to lock the storeroom again. Her ears pricked up at the sound of a loud, mean sounding voice as she was halfway down the stairs.

“I want to speak to an adult!” the man demanded.

“Mummy will be back in a minute,” she heard Harry say but his voice sounded small.

“Go get her! Now!”

“I’m not supposed to leave the front,” he mumbled and Lily hit the bottom stair. She dumped the crate on the bench and started making her way out but the timer went off. Cursing she started for the oven.

“Didn’t you hear me, boy?” the man barked. “Now!” he demanded. Fury built up in Lily. How dare he talk to her son like that? And she banged the tray of muffins onto the counter before storming out.

“How dare you speak to my son like that?” she spat as another customer said, “Woah, leave him alone! Can’t you see he’s just a kid? I’m sure the owner will be out in a moment.”

“Mama!” Harry jumped up and clung to her leg and she ruffled his messy black hair.

“What kind of establishment do you think you’re running? Leaving a child to man the store whilst you’re off god knows where!”

Lily glared at the man. “I was in the stockroom grabbing supplies. Was there a problem?” Lily said coolly. If he expected her to be polite after the way he’d spoken to her son, he had another thing coming.

“I want a blueberry muffin,” he said throwing a five pound bill onto the counter.

“Mama, we don’t have any blueberry left. Mrs Tabby came in this morning and bought them all. I told him that but he wouldn’t listen.”

“You’re quite right, Harry,” Lily said despite the fact that she had just pulled out a tray of blueberry muffins a minute ago, “We are out of blueberry muffins.”

Harry poked his tongue out at the man and Lily saw the other customers smirk.

“This is ridiculous. How can a bakery be out of blueberry muffins?” he huffed.

“I am only one person and as you see, I offer a variety of cakes and breads, not just muffins. I suggest apple crumble or the raspberry.”

Lily grudgingly served the customer a raspberry muffin to go and picked Harry up once the man had left. “You okay, love?” Harry nodded and Lily turned her attention back to her customers. She was now met with the man who had defended Harry and she smiled sheepishly. “Thank you, for stepping in.”

“Not at all,” he smiled. Getting over her embarrassment (for she had nothing to be embarrassed about), she looked at him properly. He had a hurricane of hair on his head and round glasses with a black rim sat in front of happy hazel eyes.

“What can I get for you today?”

“Er, well actually I wanted a blueberry muffin but seeing as you don’t-”

“We do,” Lily assured him. “Fresh out of the oven.”

The man smirked. “I wouldn’t have given them to him either.”

“Yes, well, he was quite rude.” To my son!

“He was,” the man agreed. “I’ll take four blueberry muffins then, if you’ve got them.”

“We do,” Lily assured him again, she started pressing numbers on the till, “Four?”

“Mmmhmm. I own the coffee shop next door,” a hint of pride in his voice. “I managed to straggle my three mates into helping me out this morning. Thought I’d give them a treat.”

“You don’t sell cakes?” Lily asked raising an eyebrow. “That’s 18 quid, please.”

“Er, well that’s the other reason why I stopped by today.” Lily looked at him questioningly. “Wanted to see if your cakes were any good and if we could strike up a business arrangement.”

That definitely got Lily’s attention. She put Harry down. She’d never had another business interested in selling her cakes. “Oh?”

“Yeah just an assortment of things, every morning. Muffins, cookies and the like. You know, coffee shop stuff,” he shrugged.

“Well in that case, Harry, why don’t you prepare Mr …”

“Potter but you can call me James.”

“Harry, why don’t you prepare James a box of all your favourites and I’ll get the muffins,” she smiled. He handed her the eighteen pounds for the muffins and she deposited it into the till before going back into the kitchen to bring out the tray of fresh muffins.

“How much for the extra stuff?” he asked.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lily waved off, “Consider it a welcome to the street gift. I was meant to send one over yesterday but I was unexpectedly short staffed at the last moment and couldn’t grab a spare moment to come over.”

“Are you sure? Those look delicious,” he said. She looked over where Harry was using tongs to carefully grab different cakes and breads.

“I’m sure,” Lily smiled. “So what made you move to Nottinghill?”

“How do you know I’m not from here?”

“Your accent. Definitely a Londoner.”

“Got me,” he grinned and then he shrugged. “My mate, Sirius was moving up to open a bar so I decided to move with him and then one day I drove past this street, saw the empty vacancy and I just knew I had to open a coffee shop.”

Lily smiled, “Just like that?”

“Just like that,” James agreed. “What about you? You’ve got a pretty nice set up here.”

“It was slow in the beginning but I got there eventually. Harry’s older now, so it’s easier. When he was a baby I only opened four days a week but now it’s seven and I can afford two casual employees.” Lily shrugged. “It’s a nice spot.” It struck Lily that she hadn’t introduced herself yet. “I’m Lily Evans, by the way and my son, Harry.”

Harry tugged on his mum’s apron, holding up the box. “All done!” he grinned.

“Good job,” Lily gave him a high-five. She grabbed the two boxes and placed them into a bag and turned back to James, who looked at Harry adoringly. “It was nice to meet you, James.”

“You too, Lily,” he smiled and Lily smiled back. “I, er, better get going before they start demanding over time.”

Lily chuckled. “See you later.”

“Bye,” he said and he walked out.

“I liked him, mama.”

“He was very nice, wasn’t he?” Lily mused, not to mention good looking. Harry agreed. “Okay, so what’s next on the list?” Lily piped and Harry grabbed the clipboard under the counter and slowly started reading off the orders that needed to be made for this afternoon.

Lily was pleasantly surprised when Sara walked in — two and a half hours late. “Traffic, was there?” Lily called out as Sara put on her apron. She didn’t get a reply but Harry did come and help her in the kitchen now since Sara was at the front. Lily was even more pleasantly surprised when James made a return at around lunch time.

“May I speak to Lily, please?” she heard him ask Sara.

“Evans!” she shouted and Lily rolled her eyes.

“Don’t touch anything you’re not supposed to,” Lily warned Harry, wiping her hands on her apron as she stepped out. “James,” she greeted.

“Prongs, I’m telling you play it cool,” a black haired man whispered next to him and Lily quirked an eyebrow.

“Shut it, Pads,” James muttered. “Lily. About that business offer,” he said, “We loved your cakes.”

Lily smiled, “Glad to hear it. Do you want to come to my office?”

“That’d be great. Sirius, will you go back next door? Peter can’t make coffee to save his life and Moony is only slightly better.”

“What if she rips you off?” Sirius said suspiciously and James glared at him.

“I’m a big boy, Padfoot.”

“Then why are you paying twenty cents extra per coffee bag?”

“Because they’re a better brand,” James said calmly, like he’d explained it a thousand times.

“That doesn’t explain why the coffees aren’t twenty cents more expensive.”

“Sirius, I say this in a loving way but please for the love of god, get the fuck out.”

Sirius huffed and threw up his hands and stormed out muttering to himself and James sighed, turning back to Lily. “Sorry about him. He’s got a flare for the dramatics.”

“It’s okay,” Lily smiled, “Come on around.”

Lily waited for James to come behind the counter and then led him through the kitchen. She told Harry to stay up front with Sara as they passed through and went up the stairs. She unlocked her office and flicked the lights on. It wasn’t much, just a desk with a computer and two chairs, a couch against the wall.

“Er, please, sit.” James sat on the chair as she sat in hers on the other side of the desk. “So what would you be wanting every day?”

“Hmm?”

“For the order,” Lily clarified.

“Oh, yes. That. Er, well like I said before, an assortment of things. Banana bread, muffins, cookies — you know those pastry cone things with the chocolate mousse inside-”

“Cannoli.”

“Yes, those! They were absolutely delightful! And the chocolate bread thing.”

“Hot cross bun,” Lily supplied, amused.

“Yes! Amazing just everything,” James admitted.

Lily smiled, “Well, thank you. Look how about I start off with a few things, we’ll experiment and see what works well at the cafe and then we’ll strike up a deal, say in two weeks where we’ll have a better idea about numbers and variety?”

James grinned, “That’d be fantastic.”

So every morning Lily found herself sending Harry over with a large box of assorted breads and cakes with a receipt and Harry would come back with the money in an envelope and a coffee and a hot chocolate. Despite the promise to strike up a more formal deal after two weeks, neither seemed bothered by the way things were going and so it continued in the same way. James and Lily hadn’t seen each other in almost a month — both of them too busy to pop over — and so it was with apprehension that Lily entered the coffee shop one Tuesday morning.

The coffee shop was nice. It had a rustic vibe with hardwood floors that hadn’t been polished and steel beams that ran overhead. At the back there was a stairwell that led to a loft where some tables and a lounge sat. The kitchens could be seen right down the back through a large open window, underneath the loft and to the left was the bar where she saw James making coffee orders. She glanced around. About five tables were occupied but most of them already had coffee cups out. That made her feel better for what she was about to ask.

She stepped up to the counter. “Hello, James.”

He spun around and grinned, “Hullo, Lily. Come in for a another coffee?”

“Er, no — I need a favour actually. Sara quit and something happened with my couriers truck so I won’t be getting a delivery today and I’m short on a few things but I can’t close up shop and I called Mary but she can’t get in til later and could you mind the shop while I step out for twenty minutes just to grab some things from the grocers? Harry’s there and he can show you how to work the til, really you’re mostly babysitting Harry,” she rambled, “And even Sara can do that. I mean I completely understand if you can’t step away but it’s just Mrs Miller will be coming in at noon to pick up a birthday cake for her grandson but I don’t have eggs or milk and I ran out of baking powder and-“

“I’ll do it,” James smiled though Lily was sure he’d only agreed to get her to shut up but on the contrary, James thought her rambling was adorable.

She sighed in relief, “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” he turned to the other man behind the bar. Lily recognised him as Sirius. “Sirius, I’m popping next door for a half hour.”

“I want overtime,” he demanded though Lily could tell he was joking.

“Sure and I demand triple time when you leave me to clean up your bar whilst you go shag some bird in the bathroom.”

“Not in front of the lady, Prongs,” Sirius said charmingly.

Lily put her hands up, “I’m no stranger to a shag in a pub bathroom. I have a son to prove it.”

“I like her,” Sirius decided. “Sirius Black.”

“Lily Evans,” she replied before turning to James. “Five year old manning a bakery,” she pointed out.

“Right. I’ll be back.”

They walked back over to the bakery where Harry was counting the change for a man and Lily walked right on through to the back, beckoning James to follow. He did. She walked through taking off her apron, revealing to James her thin frame.

“So like I said, Harry will walk you through how to use the till but if you get really stuck on something, my phone number is on the business cards by the register — again Harry’ll show you. Uh, and in ten minutes the spanikopita will be ready to take out of the oven,” Lily pointed to the first oven. “The timer will go off. Just take them out and leave the tray on the stove and turn the oven off. Umm,” she said trying to think, “Ah! Mrs Skeeter comes in every Tuesday morning to pick up a box of cookies. She always tries to worm the price down — don’t. And the her box is just over there,” Lily said pointing to a counter under the window where a few boxes sat, “It’ll have her name on it.” Lily grabbed her bag and keys. “You’re brilliant for doing this, you know.”

James shrugged, “Just being neighbourly.”

The next day, Lily took twenty percent off the goods she sent over with a note saying, “Just being neighbourly.” Then James popped in at lunch with two plates of food — a burger and chips for Lily and a cheese burger and chips for Harry. When Lily closed at five, she popped over with Harry in tow and returned the plates. She ended up sitting on one of the stools at the bar talking with James and Sirius whilst Harry coloured.

“So what’ll you be having then?” Sirius asked Harry.

Harry looked up to consider and then turned to his mum. “Mama, can I have a thickshake. Please, please, please!”

Lily frowned and turned to Sirius, “Go easy on the ice cream and a small one, please.”

Sirius saluted, “Wanna help me make it?” Harry’s face lit up.

“Go on,” Lily encouraged and Harry scrambled off his stool and dashed off into the bar.

“Harry’s a pretty cool kid,” James mused as he placed a handle into the coffee machine.

“He turned out okay,” Lily smiled. “Considering.”

“What? That you’re young?”

Lily smiled again. “Everyone thought I was crazy. My sister actually stopped talking to me. She couldn’t bear it. A baby out of wedlock — oh the horror. Marlene — she’s been my best friend since kindy she stuck by me though. We actually live together now and she helps out as much as she can but mostly I’m doing this on my own.”

“What about the dad?”

“Have you seen one around?” Lily asked, perhaps a little bitterly.

“Wanker.”

Lily snorted, “It was one stupid night. Just a typical one night stand. I fell pregnant. I called him when I found out. I said that I’m keeping the baby and that he was more than welcome to be in the baby’s life but he doesn’t want a bar of it. So it’s just me and Harry … and Marlene.”

Lily watched as Harry helped Sirius scoop up the ice cream and put it in a plastic take away cup.

“How come I’ve never run into this friend of yours?”

“She works full time at a publishing firm. But what about you? Mr I opened a cafe on a mere whim. A successful one at that,” Lily praised, gesturing to all the full tables.

James shrugged. “My folks died two years ago leaving me a shit tonne of money and it’s just been sitting in the bank. I’d been waiting to find something to spend it on. I helped fund Pad’s bar and then I saw this and ta-da. What about your parents?”

“Died long before Harry came along,” Lily said sadly. “They’d hate to see what me and my sister have become. She lives in Surrey with her obese husband now.”

“They’d be proud though, of what you’ve accomplished. Best baker in Nottinghill, I’d say.”

“Liar,” Lily accused though she grinned. “So Sirius owns a bar?”

“Yeah, it’s two blocks down. Once we lock up, we’ll head there. Remus and Peter manage the bar during the day and then Sirius and I take over at night.”

Lily was surprised. “So you go from work to work?”

James shrugged, “It’s not work if you like it and what else have I got to do? Besides it’s good money.”

Lily smiled. “Mama!” Harry called, “Look I made it all on my own!”

“That’s wonderful, love,” Lily grinned as Harry slurped at it. “Well, I daresay Harry and I have distracted the two of you long enough. Come on, Harry. Time to go home. Aunt Marly will be worried about us.”

“Auntie Marly!” Harry shouted excitedly and turned to Sirius, “Auntie Marly’s the best,” and then he loudly whispered, “She sneaks me chocolate before bed but shh, mama’s not supposed to know.”

Sirius grinned and Lily frowned. “I’ll be having to have a talk with Marlene.” James laughed. “Thanks for lunch and the thickshake. I’ll send Harry over with cakes in the morning as usual.”

“Not a problem,” James grinned.

And so that was the new routine every day. Harry would drop off the cakes and come back with drinks, James would drop off two plates of food for lunch. Lily and Harry would return the plates after five where they’d sit at the bar for a half hour chatting. Sometimes Sirius was there, sometimes he wasn’t but James always was.

Lily and Harry stumbled into the small house they shared with Marlene just after six one night, having stayed longer than expected at James’ cafe and whilst Lily and Marlene made dinner together, Lily could tell something was bothering her. She waited until Harry was in bed until she asked.

“Marls, what’s wrong? Something’s up.”

“Riddle’s bumped up the rent.”

Lily groaned. “How much?”

“More than we can afford. I mean I can start working weekends to cover my half but you already work seven days a week.”

A conversation Lily had with James popped into mind.

So you go from work to work?

It’s not work if you like it and what else have I got to do? Besides it’s good money.

Would Sirius even need anyone working at his bar though? Lily stood up and went to her bedroom.

“Lily?” Marlene called as Lily slipped on a white shirt and pulled on her blue jeans that were ripped at the knees.

“I’ve an idea. I’m stepping out for a bit!” She tugged on her black boots — the one with the heel.

“Where?”

“I’ll be back in an hour — two at the most!” She grabbed her bag and keys. “If Harry wakes, call me.” And Lily was out the door.

She parked in front of the bar and stepped out of her car. It looked pretty packed but she steeled herself and pushed her way through the crowd until she reached the bar.

“What can I get for you?” Sirius asked in a bored voice, not realising it was Lily.

“A job, maybe?” Lily asked hopefully.

“What — Hey! Lily! I didn’t recognise you in a white shirt.” Lily snorted. “And you already have a job.”

“I need money, Sirius. The bakery is doing well but I can’t raise my salary without cutting something else out. I can’t afford to cut something else out.”

“So you want to work, here?”

“Yes.”

Sirius shrugged. “Okay, when do you want to start?”

“Wait, seriously? Just like that?”

“Sure. I was looking for someone anyways. Though I will have to draw the line at you bringing your kid to work. Not very appropriate for a bar.”

“Obviously. Marlene’ll be able to watch him. So what days would you want me?”

“Mondays to Wednesdays are typically slow. Maybe Thursday and Friday nights? Though at the beginning you’ll start out on Mondays or Tuesdays just to learn the ropes.”

Lily grinned. “This is perfect, Sirius. Thank you.”

“Not a problem,” he said in a way that was typical of James. “Want anything?”

“Ahh, I shouldn’t. James here though?”

“Yeah, go on out back,” Sirius gestured to a corridor off the side. “Second door on the right.”

Lily nodded and bade farewell to Sirius as she made her way to the back. She knocked on the door and stepped in.

“All right, so the last two weeks we’ve run out of tequila by Thursday night so I’m thinking we should — and you’re not Sirius. Lily! What are you doing here?”

“Evidently, I just got employed.”

“Here?”

“Mmmhmm.”

“Why?”

“Landlord upped the rent. Need more money. If I work two or three nights a week, it should cover it.”

“Ah well, that’s good — not that your landlord upped the rent that Sirius finally got another employee. He’s been looking for two weeks.”

Lily sat down. “And no one applied?”

“Oh we’ve interviewed about a dozen people but none of them were quite right.” James shrugged.

“But I was?” Lily teased and James flushed.

“Yeah, well you’re pretty fantastic.”

It was Lily’s turn to blush. “I should go. Marlene’s on Harry duty.”

“He’s still awake? It’s almost ten.”

“Well, he’s asleep but-”

“He won’t notice you gone then. Have a drink with me?”

He grinned charmingly at her and Lily felt her resolve disappear. “One drink.”

Three drinks later, Lily and James were in a heated darts battle. Lily waved her hands in the air as she won yet another round. “Ha!”

“You know, Prongs, this is just pathetic,” Sirius commented coming by to drop off another round of drinks. “She’s beat you four times!”

“Because I’m the best!”

“Are not,” James denied.

“And yet you’re the one still paying for drinks,” Lily pointed out.

“Shut up, you. Another round,” he demanded.

“Don’t worry, Evans if he wins it’s on the house,” Sirius winked and Lily laughed appreciatively.

“Thanks Black.”

Lily watched as James threw the darts at the board and winced as one hit the wall.

“And you are terrible!” Lily laughed going up to him, “You’re throwing it all wrong.” She used her hands to re-position his arm and she blushed when she realised how close they were. “There,” she said softly.

“Thanks, love.” He pulled his arm back and pushed the dart forward it soared through the air and whilst it didn’t hit the target, it hit the board at least.

“There we go,” Lily smiled stepping back and grabbing her drink. “You just need to practice a little and then maybe you’ll give me a bit of a challenge.”

James frowned, “That was hurtful.” Lily shrugged.

“Whatcha gonna do about it?” She sipped at her drink.

James sighed. “I will practice every night until I beat you.”

“Sure sure,” Lily patronised. “Just like you promised one drink.”

James held up a finger, “Now, technically, you said you were only staying for one drink. I made no such promises.”

They both fell onto the small lounge that was there and James put his arm around her. “That’s true but you’re a bad influence, Potter.”

“Hey, I just wanted to win at darts.”

Lily snorted, “We’ll be here all night.” She hummed, “You know, I haven’t had a night out since Harry.”

“That is honestly tragic, Evans. That’s it, clear a night. I will take you out and it will be the best night of your life!”

Lily looked at him with big green eyes, “Do you mean it?”

James nodded. “Of course, love, just tell me when and I’m yours.” Lily rested her head on his shoulder.

“I’m glad you opened a coffee shop on a mere whim,” she said.

“I’m glad I opened a coffee shop next to the pretty red head’s bakery.”

James ended up carrying Lily into her house at one in the morning where he met an exasperated Marlene McKinnon.

“James Potter,” he introduced.

“Marlene McKinnon. Lily,” she grumbled.

“Mmm?”

“What happened?”

“I got a job,” Lily mumbled.

“What every time you take a shot someone gives you five dollars?” Marlene snorted.

“Er, at a bar. My mate’s bar actually,” James supplied. “She said the landlord upped your rent and that she needed a job.”

“Oh.” Marlene paused. “Why’s she drunk then?”

James placed Lily on the couch and pulled the throw blanket over her. “Er, probably my fault. I didn’t know she was such a lightweight.”

Marlene snorted, “She likes to pretend she isn’t.”

“I realised too late. We were matching drink for drink and then after the fourth drink she passed out.”

“She usually holds out til eight,” Marlene frowned.

“Double shots.”

“Ahh.”

“Yeah. I would’ve brought her back sooner but I was still technically working and we just closed up half an hour ago.”

Marlene nodded as she pulled off Lily’s boots, setting them next to the couch.

“I parked her car out front and here are her keys.” James handed them over. “Nice to meet you.”

“Wait if you drove her car back, how’re you getting home?”

“My mate followed with my car.”

“All right then. Thanks for bringing her even if you did get her drunk.”

“Accidentally,” he quipped, glancing at Lily who had curled up under the throw. James smiled, “She’s a right whizz at darts though. Well, goodbye McKinnon.”

“Bye Potter.”

James walked back to the bar where Sirius was refilling the fridges.

“She get in okay?”

“Yeah. I’m going up.”

Sirius nodded and James went up. He stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed, still thinking of a certain red head and wondering if she’d actually take him up on the night out. He hoped she did. She was insanely sexy and kind and just everything he could ever want in a woman.

Lily started at the pub the next Tuesday night. She wore ripped jeans, a black shirt and boots and by the time her shift ended she was all but dead on her feet. She refused to complain (out loud) because the extra job was saving her from being kicked out of her house. They had just finished cleaning up when James sat next to her at the bar.

“So what’d you think?”

Lily smiled, because despite her aching feet and drowsy eyes, “I had a good time.”

His eyes crinkled. “So tomorrow night you’ll be working with Remus and Peter. Sirius and I’ll probably stop by. We can never seem to help ourselves.”

Lily understood perfectly. If she weren’t working seven days a week at the bakery, she knew she wouldn’t be able to stay away on her days off. “Well, either way … I’ll see you tomorrow.”

James stood up, “Come on,” he said holding out his hand. “I’ll walk you to your car.” She grabbed his hand and they shouted out a farewell to Sirius who was doing something in the office and headed out.

“You know,” Lily started, “I think it’s unfair that you know where I live and I don’t know where you live.”

“Oh, well I live with the boys above the pub.”

Lily couldn’t help herself. She giggled. “Seriously?”

“Yes,” James frowned. “We bought the entire building and downstairs we kept as a pub and the upper two levels are an apartment.”

He really wasn’t joking when he said his parents left him a shit tonne of money, Lily realised, if he bought an entire building. She’d bet he even owned the coffee shop. Not renting like she was. One day, she thought longingly. “Sounds lovely,” Lily smiled as they reached her car, she unlocked it and James opened the door for her. “So you said you ran out of cakes by midday, did you want me to put extra pieces in tomorrow’s?”

It was a mundane topic. Boring even. But talking to James was nice and easy even if it was about work and Lily didn’t want to sit in her car and think about how tired she was or how she’d have to get up at four.

“Uh, yeah might be a good idea,” James agreed.

“Soon the box will be too big for Harry,” Lily mused.

“I hope. It means I’ll keep getting busier.”

Lily grinned, “Greedy! You’re cafe is already doing so well. Packed pretty much every night.”

“Yeah, I was thinking of extending my hours til ten or eleven so people can come for dinner. The customers always seem upset that I rush them out at six.”

“You’d have to hire.”

“I know. I’m just running numbers with Remus at the moment — he’s an accountant when he’s not bartending. But if things keep going the way they’re going, I’ll be able to cope with the extra cost not to mention the extra revenue from being open extra. I don’t know,” James shrugged. “I might just trial it for Friday and Saturday nights and if that goes well I’ll consider doing it all week.”

“That’s smart,” Lily agreed. “I better get going.”

“Harry waiting up for you?”

“He’ll be in trouble if he is. It’s,” Lily checked her watch, “five hours past his bed time.”

“Marlene then?”

“Nah, she has work tomorrow. I’ll see you tomorrow, Potter.” She waved at him before getting into her car feeling self-conscious as he stood on the footpath with his hands in his pockets as she started her car. It was an old thing and she’d only bought it for a few thousand but it worked. James watched as she drove off.

The next few weeks followed the same routine. Lily would work at the pub on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights, until usually midnight, but sometimes it was one which was enough that she could pay the rent and put a little bit aside for saving so apart from the exhaustion, she saw it as a major plus. Sometimes, she picked up an extra shift if they needed her or if she felt she was a bit tight on money for the week. She met Remus and Peter and decided they were all right. No James and Sirius but decent guys. Remus was the intellectual sort and Peter was the bumbling sort and his skill at making a fire shot amazed Lily.

It was a Saturday night when they finished up at 1:30.

“All right, I’m off,” she called, slipping her bag onto her shoulder and fishing for her keys.

“You should stay for pizza,” Remus suggested.

“Yes, you know what they say,” Sirius chimed, “Don’t starve and drive.”

“Oh, I should go, I’ve to be up soon.” Two and a half hours.

“Come on,” James begged, “Pizza will be here in a minute and you can have a slice and go. Our way for apologising for the extra late night.”

Lily bit her lip. “All right.” She settled herself on a bar stool and rested her cheek on the table and Sirius did the same, facing her so their faces were mere inches apart.

“All right, Evans?” he asked.

“Just tired.”

“You know you can leave at whatever time you want after eleven. I know you’ve got Harry and the bakery. You don’t have to stay to close every night.”

Lily shrugged. Going home a little earlier would be nice but it was a nicety she couldn’t yet afford. “I don’t mind. If I were at home I’d just be watching cartoons with Harry or cooking dinner or taking him to the park.”

“If you were at home,” Sirius corrected, “You’d be having some time to yourself.”

The pizza came and Lily ate a slice and then drove home, she thinks she fell asleep at the wheel at one stage but she brushed it off and it was out of her mind the moment her head hit her pillow — she hadn’t even bothered to change.

She cursed the alarm when it blared at four a.m. She flung a hand out to shut it off and rolled out of bed. She stumbled to the bathroom where she jumped into the cold shower to wake herself up and to get the smell of alcohol off her. As she brushed her teeth, she woke Harry up who started getting ready too. By four thirty, they were in the car on the way to the bakery. When Lily parked, she carried Harry in and took him up to her office where she laid him down on the small, old couch and let him sleep as she fussed about in the kitchen. She started with the breads as usual and then whilst she left the dough to rise on some, started some muffins. Harry wondered down at seven thirty and Lily let him pick something out to eat and he munched happily as he spooned cupcake batter into the tray. At eight, help arrived in the form of Lily’s other (more reliable) employee, Mary. Mary opened the register and the doors and then she started on the pastries. At a quarter past eight, Lily sent Harry over to Potter’s Box with a box of cakes and breads and Harry came back with warm, caffeinated beverages much to Lily’s delight. At nine, they opened.

Mary took care of the customers whilst Lily stayed in the kitchen, baking away. James stopped by with food at noon and Lily ate as she mixed a batter for a baby shower cake. At two, Mary left and it was just Harry and Lily but Lily was happy. She’d finished all the baking for the day and she finally took a moment to sit.

“Mama, come look at my drawing!” Harry shouted and Lily stood up and swayed. She squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them again, white light blinding her.

“Harry,” she said weakly.

“Mama,” Harry said but it was more like a question.

Harry watched as his mum’s eyes rolled back into her head and she collapsed landing on her back.

“MAMA!” Harry shouted running over to her. “Mama!” he patted her face. “Mama, wake up!”

But Lily was gone to the world. Unaware that her son was desperately calling to her.

“Mama! Mama!” he tried again, “Mama! Stay here, I go get help!”

Harry ran out of the shop and shyly entered Potter’s Box, searching for James and Sirius. James smiled at him from over the counter.

“Hiya, little man! Does your mama want a coffee?”

“Mama, won’t wake up,” Harry said in a small voice and James’ smile faded.

“What?”

“She fell.”

James jumped over the counter and grabbed Harry before running over to Bread and Cakes. It took a moment for James to find her but she lay on the floor in the kitchen, white as a sheet and on her back. James knelt next to her and he almost laughed in relief at seeing her chest rising and falling.

“Harry, get the phone.”

Harry scrambled up onto his chair and grabbed the phone before jumping off and handing it to James. James took the phone immediately.

“Hello, 9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” the woman asked.

“My name is James Potter and my friend, Lily Evans has, uh, passed out. By the looks of it she fainted.”

“You weren’t there at the time?”

“No, her son, he’s five, alerted me straight after.”

“How did he describe it?”

“He said that his mum wouldn’t wake up and she fell. I came over and she’s on the floor, and she’s pretty pale — I mean, she’s a pretty pale person in general but she’s not that pale.”

There was a pause. “An ambulance is on it’s way. If you could just stay with Ms Evans. Should I send over social services to care for the son?”

“What? No, I can look after him.”

“Very well. The ambulance is two minutes away, Mr Potter.”

“Thank you.”

Two hours later and they sat in an emergency room around Lily’s bed. Marlene was playing some sort of hand games with Harry and Sirius was scrolling through Facebook on his phone whilst James just stared at Lily. Wake up. After five hours, Lily was moved to a private room, so they sat there instead.

Harry crept up to James shyly. “Is mama gonna wake up soon?”

James grabbed Harry and sat him on his lap, “I hope so, buddy. The doctor’s think it’ll happen soon.”

“How soon?” Harry wanted to know.

“I don’t know, bud.”

“I want mama.”

“I know, bud but you’re mama isn’t feeling too well but I think if she rests enough, she’ll feel better.”

“Can we go get mama flowers? She likes flowers.”

James nodded and stood up. Feeling slightly awkward he went up to Marlene. “Ah, Harry and I are just going down to the gift shop downstairs.”

Marlene didn’t seem to mind, “Stay close to James, Harry. Don’t wander off.”

“Yes, Auntie Marly.”

At the gift shop they picked a bunch of sunflowers, they seemed to be the happiest of all the yellow flowers there. James also bought Harry an ice cream from the vending machine before they made their way back up to Lily’s room.

“Mama likes you a lot,” Harry said, “I can tell. She always smiles when she talks to you.”

“Do you think so, buddy?”

Harry nodded. “Can you teach me how to make a coffee? Mama likes those.”

“Of course. You know you can come over any time.”

Harry grinned and then frowned, “But then who’ll stay with mama?”

“Maybe you can come by when your mama isn’t alone. Maybe when Auntie Marly or Sara or Mary is there?” James suggested.

Harry thought about it. “Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

They reached Lily’s room again and set the flowers on the bed side table. Lily was still sleeping but her cheeks seemed to have a little more colour in them. James pulled out a deck of cards he had also bought at the gift shop and played Go Fish with Harry — Sirius and Marlene joined once they realised they were bored enough.

Her eyes flickered open as there was a cry of outrage.

“How do you keep winning?” Marlene gawked.

“Skills, love, skills,” Sirius replied smugly. “If only this were a gambling game.”

“Keep dreaming,” James snorted.

“What’s a gamb-er-ling game?” Harry asked.

“Er, nothing. Sirius is just being silly,” Marlene said.

“What’s going on?” Lily croaked, her throat painfully dry.

“You passed out from exhaustion, dear,” Marlene told her as easily as she would’ve announced dinner on the table. Marlene handed Lily a cup of water as James helped her sit upright.

“I’m cutting you off, Lils,” Sirius announced. “You never told me you get up at four every bleeding morning.”

“But I need money,” Lily protested.

“You are no longer working past ten unless we really need you,” Sirius said firmly. “And as for money, I’ll up your hourly rate.”

“And I think you need to start taking a day off at the bakery,” Marlene chimed. “I talked to Mary and she’d be more than happy to do Saturdays and she’s also more than happy to do eleven to close on Wednesdays.”

“But money,” Lily frowned.

“You’re on a salary,” Marlene pointed out, “Your wage wouldn’t change and I know from when we were running numbers when you employed the useless one that you can afford to give Mary the extra hours.”

“I’ll,” Lily frowned. “I’ll think about it.”

“Mama?” Harry called with a small voice.

“Harry,” Lily smiled, “Come onto the bed so I can see you.”

Harry followed her instructions eagerly and climbed into the bed with his mum. “You scared me, mama.”

“I know, sweetie. I’m sorry but you were very brave and mama already feels better.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

“Harry was a champion,” James piped. “Came and got me as soon as you collapsed.”

“My hero,” Lily kissed Harry’s cheek but her eyes flickered to James.

“Can we go home, mama?” Harry asked and Lily looked at Marlene. Could she go home?”

“I don’t know,” Marlene said honestly, “I’ll go get a doctor or nurse or something.”

Marlene left and Lily looked back to James. “How long was I out for?”

He checked his watch, “Nine hours roughly. You passed out at around two.”

“Woah,” Lily breathed, “And it is way past your bed time mister,” she scolded Harry lightly. He grinned and leaned his head on her stomach.

“I sleep with mama.”

Marlene came back with Doctor Vance who said Lily would have to stay the night for observation since she had a concussion from the fall.

“I’ll come in the morning,” Marlene promised as she grabbed a sleeping Harry from Lily.

“And Mary’s got the bakery?”

“Yes, Lily.”

Lily nodded and Marlene kissed her forehead. “I’ll bring you a bag of stuff tomorrow. Fresh clothes, your laptop.”

“Thanks, Marls. Bye,” she waved.

“Get some sleep,” Marlene ordered.

“Yes, ma’m.”

After that Sirius stepped out and it was just Lily and James.

“Er, thanks for being there … for Harry … and for me.”

James sat down on the bed grabbing her hand. “How come you didn’t tell us you wake up at four every bloody morning? We never would’ve made you work that late had we known.”

“I needed the money, James and, and it was nice having a little extra just to save. Who cared if I was a little tired?”

“I do,” James said, “Damn it, Lily, seeing you like that almost frightened me to death — you looked dead.” Lily winced. “Just promise you won’t keep overworking yourself and that you will consider having at least one day off per week?”

“I already promised Marlene didn’t I?”

“You did. I just wanted to make sure.” He squeezed her hand and she smiled weakly. His hand was warm and she liked how it felt in hers. “I should get going. Give you some space to rest up.”

She wouldn’t have opposed had he wanted to stay but they were just friends and it would be wildly inappropriate to ask no matter how badly she wanted to. His hand left hers as he stood up, “Sirius will be waiting for me,” he said before he leaned down pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. “I’ll come by tomorrow if you’re still here.”

“And if I’m not?”

“I’ll come by yours.”

Lily grinned and then something occurred to her. “Harry! Marlene won’t be able to watch him tomorrow!”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Oh, no! I didn’t mean you don’t have to! Not that I don’t want you to but you don’t have to feel obligated — I was just thinking out loud.”

“It’s okay, Lily. I’m here to help. I can pick up Harry at seven and he can spend the day at the cafe with me — he said he wanted to learn how to make a coffee,” James grinned and Lily chuckled.

“That son of mine,” she muttered. “James, we never went on that night out.”

James grinned, “I thought you’d forgotten.”

“That you asked me out? Never.”

His grin widened if possible and Lily wanted to get out of bed and kiss him right then but she couldn’t promise she wouldn’t collapse if she stood. “Next Saturday. I’ll pick you up at eight.”

“Sir, visiting hours are over,” a nurse said crossly as she walked by the room.

“Get out of here, Potter. You’re distracting me.”

“From what?” he snorted.

“Sleeping.”

“Good night, love.”

“Good night, James.”

He strode out and Lily did an awkward, horizontal happy dance that consisted of her kicking her legs around and messing up her sheets. She grabbed her phone.

James will pick Harry up at seven tomorrow. He’s offered to watch him for the day. Oh and I have a date next Saturday.

Lily set her phone down and grinned replaying her conversation with James.

Her phone dinged.

About time, Evans.

And so the next Saturday, Lily dressed up nice in a pretty black dress and she did her make-up and she put on a pair of heels and James picked her up at eight and kissed her on the cheek. He opened the door for her and told her she looked beautiful.

“Not so bad yourself, Potter,” she said and he did look nicer than she cared to admit. His hair as messy as always but instead of the casual jeans and black top he seemed to live in, he wore nicer jeans with a white shirt and a leather jacket she was sure he stole from Sirius but it suited him.

He took her to a fancy restaurant where they made fun of the names of the dishes on the menu. She told him that she doesn’t eat mangos and he almost dropped his fork and after dinner he took her to a supermarket because, “How can you not like mangos, Evans!” She ate one because he wanted her too but spat it out when he wasn’t looking and then he took her to a rooftop bar that had a nice view of the city and she ordered a vodka raspberry and when she shivered he gave her his jacket. They started out sitting on opposite sides of the booth but after an hour James was on her side, an arm around her shoulders as she leaned on him.

He told her about the time he fell off a motorbike because he wasn’t ready and Sirius sped off and how he’d had to spend five hours in the emergency room to get stitched up because he had a gash on his head. Lily laughed as she felt the scar on the back of his head claiming she was going to lose her fingers in his hair. When the bar got too loud, they left and walked on the streets hand in hand and James picked a frangipani from a tree and tucked it onto her ear and told her she was prettier than all the stars combined. They kissed for the first time and it was everything a first kiss was supposed to be. Soft and sweet and he felt her up as her fingers twisted in his hair.

She pulled away. “You don’t mind that I work to much and that I have no money and that I have a kid?”

He kissed her again. “Love, I wouldn’t care if you killed Sirius at this point.” Lily giggled and pulled him closer and they stayed like that, kissing on the street for what seemed like forever and then he took her home and he walked her to the door and kissed her again.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Evans.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Potter.”

And that was the end of everything because from that day on, the two became inseparable and Harry loved the new people in his life. James took Harry to a football game (Chelsea versus Manchester United) and bought him a jersey, scarf and beanie in Manchester United colours and Harry refused to wear anything else for a month. James and Lily made sure to go out at least once a week every week and sometimes they’d take Harry along and sometimes Marlene and the boys would tag along as well. In September, Harry started kindy and after she dropped him off she sat on the stool whilst James made coffees and teared up a little because her baby was growing up too fast. James came around and hugged her from behind, kissing her cheek and whispering sweet things in her ear until she was smiling.

Marlene always made sure that Lily took one day off a week and on Wednesday’s Lily finished early, letting Mary take over. Despite her fear that the shop would crash and burn without her, she enjoyed her time off because it meant she could spend more time with Harry doing things kids were meant to be doing. On Halloween, James and Lily took Harry trick or treating and they all dressed up as superheroes. James was Captain America, Harry was Iron Man and Lily was Black Widow. One old lady said they were a nice family and Lily grinned and thanked her. By Christmas, James regularly slept over at Lily’s place and he’d cover his head with his pillow when Lily’s alarm went off at four in the morning. Except on Christmas, they were woken up by an excitable little boy who jumped on the bed.

“Mama, it’s Christmas! We gotta open the presents!”

They both rolled out of bed and James messaged Sirius to bring the present over. When the doorbell rung, they urged Harry to answer it, following him excitedly. He��d been begging for a puppy for two months and Lily caved and her and James went to a breeder and picked out a corgi. Harry opened the door and the corgi was sitting on the door step. He took to the puppy immediately and called him, Pumpkin.

In August, Marlene announced that she’d gotten a job promotion but that it was in London so Lily gave up the house (the landlord was an arse anyways) and her and James bought a house three streets away from the coffee shop and bakery and it had a backyard with a pool. Harry loved it. They quickly made friends with the neighbours. To their left was a married couple just a few years older than them, the Weasley’s and to their right were the Grangers. Both couples had kids. The Weasley’s had seven children (six boys and a girl) and the Granger’s had a girl Harry’s age and Lily was ecstatic because Harry had people to play with and soon enough Harry, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley were inseparable.

One day, Harry started calling James ‘dad’ and though James was shocked for a moment he gushed about it to Sirius for days. “He called me dad. I’m his dad,” James would say in amazement and Sirius would grin. The boys dropped over frequently, Remus always brought Harry a new book and Peter would show Harry card tricks. They’d all play football in the backyard, usually playing three against two unless they convinced Lily to join. Pumpkin would try to join in and they would all laugh when he learned to head butt the ball. James told Lily that Harry would be a great football player and so they signed him up for football.

Lily ran numbers one day at the bakery and realised she now had enough money to hire two more employees so she did. Dory Meadowes was a force to be reckoned with in the kitchen and Benjy Fenwick cooked up a storm. Lily now took both Saturdays and Sundays off and finished at noon instead of twelve every day. She still worked at the bar on Thursdays and Fridays and Sirius paid her more than he should considering she only worked two six hour shifts a week. Sirius hired more people and they all became fast friends. There was Alice Longbottom who had a son Harry’s age with her husband, Frank and then there was Amelia Bones who was from Scotland and Mundungus Fletcher. James extended trading hours at Potter’s Box though he alternated shifts — either working days or nights. He hired more people too.

One day the doorbell rang and Lily froze when she answered it so James went by to see who it was.

“I want to see my son,” the man said but James couldn’t find any similarities between Harry and the man at the door and he was glad Harry was at school.

“He’s not your son,” Lily said fiercely. “You’ve no right to come back after six years. How dare you?” she slammed the door on his face and it took James two hours to calm her down. It took three hours for Sirius to calm James down because, “Harry’s my son! He calls me dad!”

“I know mate,” Sirius would say.

“I’m his dad.”

The next day James and Lily went to an attorney to make sure that he had no parental rights to Harry. A court date was set for late September and Lily won custody. They never saw him again. In November, James proposed with his mother’s ring and Lily smiled so much her face ached. Sirius minded Harry for a weekend whilst they went to a Bed and Breakfast for a weekend. Marlene came back for Christmas. They had a massive Christmas Eve party in the backyard and Lily asked her to be maid of honour. They started planning the wedding for June.

It was a small affair seeing as neither had any family left. Lily mailed an invite to her sister but she never got a reply. James thought good riddance. Petunia didn’t deserve a sister like Lily. Harry gave Lily away in a small church and Lily wore a lace dress and a veil. James wore suspenders and a bow tie and Lily joked that he’d make a good Doctor. They promised to love each other until the end of time and they kissed after they slid rings onto each other’s fingers. They went back home afterwards where they held a party where all their friends attended. The boys, Marlene, the Weasley’s, the Granger’s, Mary, Dory and Benjy. The Longbottoms came and so did Amelia. Sirius, Remus and Peter all promised to take exceptional care of Harry whilst James and Lily spent three weeks in Greece for their honeymoon.

When they got back, James legally adopted Harry and he cheered louder than any of the other parents when Harry scored a goal in football. James would grin and say, “I told you so,” to Lily.

One day, James got home and Lily had dinner on the table and she seemed nervous and then she just blurted out that she was pregnant. James grinned and spun her around. They told Harry the next morning before school and Lily was a little embarrassed when his school teacher congratulated her — Harry had drawn a picture of his new family.

They invited everyone over for a barbecue to announce the news and everyone was ecstatic. Lily sent another letter to Petunia and after a month of no replies, Lily was surprised when Petunia showed up at the bakery one day, Dudley in tow.

“Can I talk to you, please?” Petunia asked and Lily nodded.

“Mary I’m going next door for a bit. Just ring if it gets busy.”

Lily lead the way to Potter’s Box and it was packed, a bunch of orders lined up over the coffee machine.

“Hey, love. It’s busy, I’ll pop by later yeah?” James said not even looking up. Lily fake coughed and James looked up. “Oh.”

“Petunia, this is my husband, James Potter. James, my sister Petunia and her son Dudley.” Lily glared at James as though daring him to comment on the name.

“Lovely to meet you both,” James said.

“Oi, Potter! We’re out of ice cream! Hiya, Lily,” Sirius waved and she waved back before he was off serving food to people.

“Fuck,” James muttered, “Just take a seat upstairs, I’ll join you when I can. Petunia, can I get you anything?”

“A latte, please.”

“I’ll have my usual,” Lily said quietly. “What about you, Dudley?” The boy shied away from his Aunt behind his mother’s leg. “Perhaps a milkshake or a hot chocolate?” Lily asked Petunia.

“A chocolate milkshake.”

James nodded and Lily lead her sister and nephew up the spiral stairs to the empty loft where they could get some privacy.

“Vernon and I … we’re splitting up.”

“What? Why?”

“I need a place to stay for a bit.”

Lily bit her lip. Her sister shunned her for years and now she wanted her help. “We haven’t spoken in seven years.”

James came up to serve their drinks and when he went to leave, Lily caught his hand and looked at him with wide eyes. James nodded and took a seat.

“I was wrong to push you away, Lily. I loved him and I was just trying to fit in his world and I got caught up with it. I have missed you so much.”

“It didn’t seem like it.”

“Please, Lily … help me.”

“What does she need?”

“A place to stay,” Lily said curtly. “I just don’t understand, Petunia. You shut me out for seven years and now you want to live with me?”

“Any money I’d saved up from before I was married is being used to pay for the attorney. I don’t have money.”

James placed a key onto the table. “What’s that?” Petunia asked.

“A key to an apartment in London. You’re free to use it — no rent.” James wrote down the address on his notepad before ripping it off and handing it to her. “The place has four bedrooms and it’s furnished. It may be a little dusty, I haven’t been there in a few years. All I ask is that you pay the bills.”

Petunia nodded once, grabbing the key and the piece of paper. “That is more than I deserve.”

“It is,” James agreed. “But you’re family.”

Later that night, James was holding Lily in bed. “You didn’t have to do that,” Lily murmured.

“I know but she’s your sister.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

“Three,” Lily corrected.

“Hmm?” James asked puzzled.

“It’s twins so technically, you love us three.” She rolled over so their faces were a mere inch apart.

“We’re having twins?” James grinned and he whooped as Lily laughed and he kissed her all over her face before finally landing on her lips.

In May, Lily gave birth to two baby girls and Harry brought them a stuffed animal each. Everyone visited Lily in the hospital — even Petunia who had taken to calling Lily every Tuesday night. In the morning on the second day at the hospital, they were trying to come up with names.

“What about Polly?” Peter asked.

“Polly Potter,” Lily wrinkled her nose. “No offence, Pete but that’s dreadful.”

“Olivia?” Marlene suggested but James shook his head this time.

“I expect better of you, McKinnon.”

“It’s a nice name!”

“Daisy!” Harry shouted. “Daisy, Daisy, Daisy!”

Lily and James looked at each other. “Daisy Potter,” Lily tested out loud. “I like it.”

James went over to the two basinets. “But which one do we call Daisy?” he asked distressed.

And so an argument over which twin looked more like a Daisy ensued and eventually it was settled that the one with a tuft of red hair on her head would be called Daisy.

“So one down, one more to go,” Sirius announced.

“You should name her after a star.”

“Don’t go forcing your family’s weird naming traditions on my kid, Black.”

“You know, Sirius is considered a unisex name.”

“Shut up, Padfoot,” James and Remus said at the same time.

“What about Evie?” Lily suggested, looking at her new little girl who was going to have her daddy’s hair.

“Evie Potter. Daisy and Evie. Evie and Daisy,” James tested out loud and then he grinned. “Where’s the nurse with the the birth certificate?”

“I’m wounded,” Sirius put a hand to his heart.

“Harry, dear, hit Uncle Sirius for mama.” Harry complied.

“Low, Evans.”

“That’s Potter to you,” James corrected.

“Yeah Black come on. They’ve been married almost two years!” Marlene teased.

“Wait,” Peter said, “What about middle names?”

The entire room groaned before they jumped back into suggesting names. Two hours later after six google searches and using Harry to break ties they settled upon:

Daisy Grace Potter

And

Evie Hope Potter.

On the third day, they took the twins home and Harry and James surprised Lily with a gigantic teddy bear that sat in the girls nursery and as Harry sat with James and Daisy and Lily rocked Evie in her arms, Lily wondered how she’d ever gotten so lucky to have a family like this because never in her wildest dreams did she imagine she could ever be this happy.

#jily #james potter #lily evans #lily potter #harry potter #hp

8 notes · View notes

timeinthemarket · 5 years

Text

[This article about keto pasta may contain affiliate links for which I receive a commission at no cost to you. I only recommend products I use and trust. Please read my disclosure for more detail.]

I’m a keto guy. I like the diet and the main reason is that it makes me feel good. It’s not just about weigh loss for me although the diet does work for that. On top of that, I actually think the diet is pretty easy to follow. However, part of that is because I was never a big sweets guy so cutting our carbs wasn’t a huge deal for me.

Still, despite how I feel about it, I’m the first to say that the diet isn’t for everyone. It does limit you to a certain subset of food and cutting our carbs isn’t that easy for everyone. And yet, it’s become one of the most popular diets in recent times simply because how effective it is in certain areas. You want to lose weight and keep it off? Keto is there for you? You want help with certain medical issues? Keto can help.

The beauty of this popularity is that it’s now much easier to find pre-made foods that are catered for the keto diet. The low carb explosion is a god send to those of us following the keto diet. After all, sometimes, you just want an easy snack or an easy meal. The one beauty of a diet full of carbs is that many foods are easy to prepare. Think about stuff like cereal, chips, candy, frozen pizza, etc. Those are all easy to make and enjoy quickly. Similar keto options often require a lot more work. In essence, it somewhat sucks if you’re a lazy guy like myself. However, like I said, times are changing.

The consumer is suddenly a lot more interested in low carb alternatives. Since companies like to make money, they’re starting to provide them. It’s a slow change but it’s definitely happening. Now things like keto pizza and keto pasta exist. However, as with all things, substitutes are often very hit or miss. And that’s why I’m writing this series of posts. I want to share my feelings on the various keto products I try. On top of that, I want to get suggestions from others on things that they like(and maybe review those things too).

This won’t be a very regular series. It’ll pop up as often as I have some new items to try. However, the reality is that these new items that excite me so don’t appear all that often. I don’t want to force this into a weekly series if I don’t have enough material.

One thing you should know about me is that I REALLY enjoy grocery shopping. I’m the type of guy to get excited when I see a new item at Trader Joe’s. You’ll find me standing in the aisle reading the ingredients and seeing if it’s keto friendly. It’s a bit of a hobby, much to the chagrin of my wife, who just wants to get the stuff and get going. Now I’m taking that hobby online where I will talk about my grocery shopping! As an ingredient reader myself, I’ll try to post pictures of every item that includes ingredients and nutritional data so you can join in on the fun too!

That’s the idea behind Sunday Keto Pantry! Hopefully those of you who enjoy grocery shopping and reading about keto will enjoy it. If you do or have any suggestions for items to try, send me a note via my contact page.

Now that the intro is behind us, let’s talk about keto pasta!

Keto Pasta – Explore Cuisine Edamame Spaghetti

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Pasta is one of the things that is sorely missing in keto. It’s an absolute no no on the diet given the high carb count. That’s why I was excited when I saw this box of edamame pasta at Costco.

It’s a soy based product and a 2oz serving is 7 net carbs, a tiny bit of fat and 24g of protein. The bit of potassium is nice to as it’s a key nutrient to prevent the keto flu. I was never a HUGE pasta eater but my wife is so I figured it be nice to have a meal I could make for both of us.

One thing that worried me is that the sample size is so small. It’s important to keep that in mind when making this pasta as those carbs can quickly add up. In making this pasta, I tried to stick close to the serving size to illustrate how much food you actually get for the carbs.

The package comes with two smaller bags, each containing about 18oz of pasta.

I took 5oz out of the package for our meal for two, a bit above the serving size but 4 oz felt too small. That means 17.5g net carbs split into two meals or 8.75g per person. For comparison, a 2 oz serving of regular pasta was 42g net carbs so a similar meal would be 52.5g net carbs per person; a pretty nice drop if you’re using this keto pasta instead.

The preparation is very easy. You toss the pasta into some boiling water, boil for 3 to 5 minutes, then drain. Since pasta tends to take on water, we ended up with quite a bit of pasta to share between the two of us. As you can see below, this keto pasta looks pretty much like the real thing. It’s a bit greener but the noodles are well separated and look and act like regular pasta.

I made two dishes out of this. For my wife, I tossed the pasta in some tomato sauce and added some Parmesan. Since I don’t really eat pasta and didn’t have any low carb tomato sauce, I just made mine with some olive oil and various cheeses to keep the carb count low.

So how does it taste?

According to my wife, the pasta aficionado, it tastes weird. I’m not sure she was a big fan as she left about half her portion uneaten. When I asked her if she’d like to have it again, she said probably not! Guess it’s not good enough to convert my carb loving wife.

There are two things that I think go into this weirdness. First, there’s a definite difference between the mouth feel of this pasta and the regular stuff. It’s a bit thicker and the texture feels a bit more gritty, more akin to buckwheat pasta. However, it’s not awful and still retains a pretty decent similarity to regular pasta at a fraction of the carbs. On the flavor side, there’s definitely an earthy tone to the pasta that doesn’t get fully covered up by the sauce and lingers a bit after eating. If you’re someone who enjoys earthy flavors then you’ll like it but more picky eaters may find it unappealing.

Personally, I found it…just OK. I didn’t mind the flavor but the texture was a bit disappointing. The good thing about it is that it is pretty filling for the small portion size I had. If you add some fat into the mix, it can easily become a full meal. However, it’s important to watch the portion size here as this can be a big portion of your daily carbs if you’re trying to stay under 20 per day. You’ve also got a ton of protein here too.

If you’re a pasta fanatic then this does a pretty good job of filling the void. It’s definitely spaghetti but the texture and earthy flavor are a bit of a contrast against what you normally get from pasta. If you can get past that or even enjoy it then this could become a staple in your diet as long as you watch the portion sizes.

It’s probably not for me. I’ll finish the box eventually(it’s good until Dec 2020) but likely won’t pick it up again. Still, for those of us on keto who miss pasta daily, this is the best alternative I’ve tried so far. You can find this online if you can’t find it in local stores. The company also makes other varieties of other keto friendly pasta if spaghetti isn’t what you’re looking for!

Broccoli Chips – Trader Joe’s Broccoli Florets

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

One of the things I miss most about eating carbs are chips. It’s nice to just sit down with a bag of something crunchy while watching TV. Unfortunately, most chips include a ton of carbs. Sure, there’s pork rinds, but sometimes you want something different than roasted pig skin.

While strolling through Trader Joe’s the other day, I found a bag of broccoli chips. I know what you’re probably thinking; gross, who wants broccoli chips? Apparently, the customers of Trader Joe’s do. Personally, while Broccoli isn’t my favorite vegetable, I was willing to give it a try.

The product is 5 net carbs and a ton of fat. It’s basically just broccoli cooked in some rice bran oil with a pinch of salt. According to the bag, it’s an irresistible snack that makes you want to keep munching?

I don’t know if I truly agree with that BUT I did eat the entire bag in one sitting. In the end, this is about what you’d expect. It’s a fried/dried broccoli product with a bit of salt. The bag is pretty small and is mostly air so you end up with a small amount of actual florets to snack on; one of the main reasons I finished it in one sitting.

If you’ve ever had baked kale, you sort of know what to expect from this. It has a similar flavor and texture.

The problem is that the florets are small and very messy. There’s a ton of loose broccoli powder in the back which gets everywhere.

On top of that, they lack a ton of flavor. I was expecting a stronger broccoli flavor but only got a hint. The mouth feel is weird too as these tended to suck out all the moisture from my mouth leading me to seek out some water. It wasn’t even that they were salty because if anything, there was a lack of salt which would have added some flavor. It was just that they were dry and sought out my inner moisture like that doctor who villain, “moisturize me!”

Overall, if you’re a huge broccoli fan(I’m sure you exist), I’d suggest giving these a try. However, I wouldn’t suggest going out of your way to try them. I likely won’t be getting these again.

Cheese Crisps – Cello Whisps Parmesan Cheese Crisps

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We’re staying on the chip train with these cheese crisps. These are small cheese crackers(see size below with banana for scale) that have a variety of uses.

You can snack on them and they make for a great replacement for regular chips. These are 1 net carb for 23 crisps which is more than enough for a snack.

I’ve been eating these things for a few months and honestly, I really love them. They’re a versatile snack that can be eaten on its own or added to things like salads to add some additional crunch.

The flavor is excellent and the only complaint I have is that the crisps can have some rough edges that can scratch my old gums. I have weak innards! Well, the other complaint I have is that they’re wicked expensive. I suggest buying these in bulk if you can find them at a place like Costco because the small packs are very expensive.

Also if you’re not lazy(gasp), you can make these yourself as they’re just baked cheese. That’ll probably save you a good deal of money but ain’t nobody got time for that.

However, these are great anytime you want a quick filling snack and don’t want to bake. I buy a few bags every time I go to Costco and think it’s money well spent. These are the best chip replacements I’ve found as I’m not a huge fan of pork rinds. One of my favorite ways to use these is to toss a few into a warm dish. For example, anytime I make some palak paneer, I add these for a nice crunch to that dish. They melt just a little bit in the warm paneer and are just fantastic.

If you like Cheese and crunchy things, you’ll like these.

And with crunchy cheese, I’ll wrap up this inaugural post of the keto pantry. Since this is new, I’m open to suggestions. Let me know if you want to see more pictures or if you have any items to suggest. I’m always available to chat via my contact page and love talking keto! I’ll be back when the aisles of Trader Joe’s greet me with some new keto stuff to try!

Sunday Keto Pantry : Keto Pasta, Broccoli Chips and Cheese Crisps I'm a keto guy. I like the diet and the main reason is that it makes me feel good…

0 notes

burgerteamgo · 7 years

Text

Lardo – Inauguration Day Stress Eating

We each got the Double Burger ($10) and shared a heaping plate of Dirty Fries ($8).

K: Mmm, the fries smell so good and garlicky.

T: The plain fries come with Parmesan and fried sage, but I’m glad we got the Dirty Fries with pork and peppers added on.

K: So, this burger has a double patty. Our first double patty review. Plus bacon. This is exactly what I needed today.

T: May these burgers ease our pain. Amen.

K: The Inauguration was playing on all the TV’s in my office all day, but no one really mentioned it. It was like working with a shadow of doom hovering over your shoulder and if you talked about it you’d die.

T: Wait, you have multiple TV screens in your office?

K: They’re usually set to silent news and sports.

T: If I’d had TVs in my office and someone mentioned the inauguration happening I might have just screamed till I bled out of my eye sockets.

K: I wanted to forget it was happening, but everywhere I looked it was right in front of me.

T: I figured the election was the worst I could feel, but the Inauguration was the final nail in the coffin. The nail also pierced my soul.

K: I kept hearing reporters say ‘President Trump’ instead of ‘President Elect’ and it was a stab in the gut every time. Like the last little shred of a security blanket ripped away.

T: Yeah...

[First bites]

K: It’s a big burger. Hard to get a full bite.

T: That’s been a problem for you. Need to work on your bite span.

K: The white cheddar is really amazing. Nice and sharp.

T: There’s pink in my burger even though they didn’t ask me how to cook it. Cause that’s how burgers should be.

K: The menu says that the burgers are cooked medium, but this is medium rare, which is perfect. How do you feel about the two burger patties?

T: I like it. You get a lot of burger flavor. Each bite is like 50% burger meat. I was a little unsure on the bun. It felt hard when I bit into it, but it’s just the crust that’s firm. It’s soft and gives when you bite into it.

K: Aside from being hard to fit into my mouth, I enjoy the double patty. Makes for a good meat to bread ratio.

T: There’s a lot of great flavors in this, but the beef comes through front and center.

K: The essence of a burger.

T: It’s a burger burger.

K: I like the pickle spear. I’ve just realized that with all sandwiches, not just burgers, I really like the pickle on the side. It punctuates each bite.

T: You’d even want the pickle at Grain & Gristle on the side? That was pretty intrinsic to the burger.

K: … Maybe I’d want the pickle on the burger plus a pickle spear on the side.

T: So, you’ve just concluded that you really, really love pickles?

K: Correct.

T: I’ve been gripping this burger so tightly I’ve flattened the bun into a thin tortilla.

K: Because of the stress of the world or because you just didn’t want to put the burger down?

T: Both.

K: I saw that Portland is doing Cocktail Week soon. I don’t think I’d participate with the same enthusiasm as Burger Week though.

T: If you did it might indicate a drinking problem.

K: Truth. And I don’t have a drinking problem, just a burger problem.

T: This bacon is surprisingly light. Usually when you get a bacon burger it’s like BACON, but this is just a hint of bacon.

K: According to the menu it’s “porkstrami,” so it’s really thin cut. It adds a subtle smoky flavor.

T: This is like the ultimate ‘I need comfort food’ meal, but kinda fancy comfort food.

K: You know you’re getting comfort food here. It’s called ‘Lardo’. You just come here to shove fatty food in your face.

T: That’s all I want right now. Fill up the widening hole of despair inside of me.

K: Burgers: Filling up the widening hole of despair in America.

T: Put it on a t-shirt.

K: These fries are AMAZING. The banana peppers are clearing my sinuses.

T: Now that I’ve had a big heavy gut bomb, these fries seem over the top.

K: Oh wow. That’s just a cube of fried pork fat in the fries.

T: Yep.

K: It’s like an inch wide.

T: It’s so beautiful.

K: It’s almost too beautiful to eat.

T: But we’re definitely going to eat it.

[TJ cuts off a slice of the cube, pairs it with a fry]

T: It’s pure flavor. Karen, you have to have a piece of this.

K: I think the fries are outshining the burger.

T: The Dirty Fries are basically a meal on their own.

K: I’m glad I only had a salad for lunch.

T: Did you plan that because we were having a burger tonight?

K: No, just trying to have a daily lunch salad to counteract all this beef.

T: Compromises must be made in life. Except for our fundamental rights.

K: How was the inauguration protest?

T: Good. Lots of people. Lots of riot police. There was a drum line, I spent most of the march near them.

K: I’ve already gone through two napkins. We should start rating burgers by napkin count.

T: This rates three napkins for me. My burger was dripping with Lardo sauce. [Burps] Ohhhhhh… I felt that. All the way up my esophagus. There’s no more space down there.

K: You say, as you keep eating.

T: I can’t stop!

K: I’m going to forgo some of my burger to make more room for fries.

T: Well now I have to finish your burger. That’s the rule. The rule I stupidly came up with.

[TJ takes a bite of Karen’s Burger]

T: Wait. Weren’t you sick this week?

K: Oh… well I’m probably not contagious anymore.

T: That was dumb.

K: I forgot.

T: Oh, fuck! I forgot to feed the office fish. Well, I’ll feed it tomorrow.

K: You’re going in on Saturday?

T: I gotta make up the snow days. I only have one vacation day left. I want to hold onto it.

K: Hold onto it tightly. Some things are too important to let go.

T: … Are you OK?

K: Are any of us really OK right now?

T: Touché.

Sides

K: I am giving these fries a 9.

T: I would gladly give these a 9. That is the highest score I think we’ve ever given fries.

K: The regular fries would be fine, but these are incredible. I love fries you have to eat with a fork.

T: I’m definitely going to be uncomfortably full after this. When we got to the bar I just want a bubbly water.

Ambiance

K: The atmosphere is nice and casual, but this music was a little too aggressive.

T: Maybe it’s their Friday night music.

K: A trade off since it’s usually too crowded at lunch.

T: It’s nice to come where when you have your choice of seats.

Taste

K: My burger was… a 7.5. Which seems low. It was good but I don’t know that it stands out.

T: All the parts are there, they’re good, but it’s not hitting it out of the park.

K: I wouldn’t say, “Oh you have to get the burger at Lardo.”

T: But you can also say, “You can get pretty much anything at Lardo and it will be good. It’s a solid burger.”

K: Yeah, good place for a group of sandwich lovers.

T: And fry lovers.

K: Indeed.

Lardo 1205 SW Washington St. Portland, OR 97205

#portland #burgers

0 notes

Last Seen Blogs

weepingvoidpenguin

Fandom Melting Pot

sksmdmdmms-blog

küçüğüm

dragonheart-world-blog

Heart Dragon Historias

b-kutayy

Hayal Tüccarı

plyana

Untitled