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cooking-thru-shortstack · 2 years

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Summer Berry Pudding - 4 Stars

Vegetarian

When I read this recipe, I was skeptic.

When I tried this recipe, I was skeptic.

Even eating it, having the sour-sweet berry filling burst on my tongue, I'm still skeptic. Susan ponders why this recipe isn't popular in the states like it is in the UK, and without starting another round of British Food Discourse, the wet slices of bread is weird. This isn't for everyone.

However, it is still very tasty. I think if I make it again I would opt for small slices of lightly sweetened pound cake or angel food to in place of the bread. There are just things bread isn't meant to do. Even as I taste the goodness of this dessert my mind can't get fully on board with it.

Ingredients:

4 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced lengthwise (about 1 pound whole)

One 6 oz container blueberries (1 heaping cup)

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup sugar

One 6 oz container raspberries (about 1 cup)

10 to 12 slices good white bread (sliced 1/2 inch thick)

Whipped cream, ice cream of sorbet, for serving

Line each cup of a standard 6 cup muffin tin with plastic wrap.

Place the strawberries, blueberries, lemon juice and sugar in a medium saucepan and cook over medium high heat for 5 to 7 minutes or until all the sugar has dissolved and the mixture just begins to bubble. (It should look like fruit soup.) Transfer to a bowl and add the raspberries, tossing gently until combined. Let cool completely.

Use a biscuit cutter, glass or knife to cut 6 slices of bread into round that are the same diameter as the bottom of the muffin cup (about 2 1/4 inches). You may be able to get two round out of one piece of bread. Place one round in the bottom of each muffin cup. Cut the remaining 6 slices of bread into slightly larger rounds that are the same diameter as the top of the muffin cups (about 3 inches). Reserve the bread scraps for another use.

Using a spoon, fill each muffin cup nearly to the top with the berry mixture. They should look juicy but not overflowing. (You may have some berries left over; save those for serving the pudding.)

Dip one side of the bread and place it dipped side up, on top of the muffin cup, pressing down lightly. [Note: it is only just now that I type this that I realize I missed this step, hence why the bottom of my puddings still look like bread and not purple with juice. Oops.] Repeat with the remaining bread rounds. Fold the overhanging plastic wrap over each pudding and wrap the entire muffin tin in plastic. Lightly press down on the puddings. Refrigerate overnight.

When ready to serve, remove and unwrap each pudding and place on a plate; add whipped cream, ice cream or sorbet, plus any remaining berries spooned over the top, and serve while still cold.

#strawberries #blueberries #raspberries #bread #dessert #recipe #vegetarian #short stack editions #susan spungen

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ladydaemon · 3 years

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SICK DAYS

kaz brekker x female! reader

A/N: Yes, I realize how cliché and very non-Kaz this is. I tried my best guys, but I am in the mood for fluff and only fluff so yeah.

Summary: After a night in the rain, Y/N has a cold and it's up to Kaz to take care of her, a difficult task indeed.

Warnings: swearing, really horrible writing, not proofread writing, just me spitting out Words™ at three in the morning

Dangerous assassins do not need sick days.

It was an extremely hypocritical thought, and Y/N knew it. She thought the thought anyway, because at this point, there seemed to be no aspect in her life that was not fueled entirely by spite.

"Please, for the love of the Saints, go to sleep, Y/N," Inej begged, forcing the woman back onto the bed. "You are sick. You need rest."

"I do not need rest, I need caffeine and waffles," the wheezing woman replied stubbornly, trying to get past Inej, who was blocking the doorway of her room. The Slat, usually thundering with noise and chatter, was silent as the grave - it was one of the rare days in Ketterdam where it was sunny, and everyone was either out enjoying the weather or enjoying pickpocketing someone who was enjoying the weather. "I am a grown-ass woman who also happens to be very good at using the bang-bang machines we call guns so please move aside, I need fresh air."

It was arguably entirely Y/N's fault that she was stuck inside in the first place - first, she had stayed out in the rain too long, despite Kaz's numerous protests. Second, she had, in a grave act of stupidity, gone down for breakfast the next morning. Normally, this would not have been a problem. However, on this particular day, her eyes were red and swollen and itchy and her lungs hurt and it was generally very obvious that she had a cold.

These were the deciding factors which led to her ultimate demise:

House arrest.

Though the fact that she was notorious for her spontaneous, impulsive, reckless, throw-caution-to-the-wind nature (along with the fact that Kaz, from multiple bad experiences he would rather not repeat, knew that she had nearly no self-preservation skills) probably had something to with it.

Also she apparently needed a chaperone. Which was probably a good idea, but Y/N wasn't about to admit that anytime soon.

"You are seventeen and you have a window, darling," the smooth voice of one Kaz Brekker, the devil himself, interrupted Y/N's feeble excuse of an escape.

"But Kaz," Y/N whined, pouting. Inej gave the man an exasperated look as if to say, See what I've been dealing with?

"Darling, you'll only have to stay here longer if you don't try and get better."

"Still."

Kaz, lips twitching in a very non-Kaz way, turned to Inej. "You can go. I suppose I'll play nursemaid."

The Wraith chucked darkly, already stepping out Y/N's window. "Good luck with that."

As soon as she had climbed out the room and was well out of earshot, Kaz turned on his heel and walked out. Y/N, thoroughly confused, took a second to contemplate whether this act was meant that she was officially free, or that she was supposed to follow him. Her question was answered a moment later when he called out, not sparing her a backwards glance, "Are you coming?"

She sighed dejectedly, following him up the stairs to hid room. With a flamboyant and smug bow, he opened the door for her. "Ladies first."

She rolled her eyes at him but entered the room nonetheless. Kaz closed the door behind him and strode heavily to his desk, taking the time to shuffle and order some papers. Y/N stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, unsure as to what in the hell she was supposed to do. Kaz flicked his eyes up to her and jerked his head towards the black-sheeted bed that occupied almost a fourth of the room.

She stared at it for a moment. "You want me to sleep. On your bed. While you watch." It came out more an incredulous statement than a question.

"Sorry to break it to you, but I can't devote all my time to taking care of you, and I also can't leave you alone unsupervised while ill. This is our compromise," Kaz explained somewhat impatiently.

"I am not going to get in that crusty-ass bed, that, in case you have forgotten, belongs to my boss, AKA you. For all I know you sleep nude."

One of Kaz's eyebrows twitched. "The sheets were changed this morning. And for the record, I don't."

"Still not going to do it. That takes the creepy-o-meter to like, a thousand."

"You're a criminal who spies on brothels. This is nothing."

"Still not doing it. This feels fundamentally wrong."

"I'll buy you a nice dagger if you just shut up and get in the damn bed." Saints, he was already exasperated, and he had barely been here five minutes. A new respect for Inej found its way into his being.

Y/N went quiet for a minute, considering. "One of the serrated ones with the fancy gilded handles?"

"Whatever dagger your heart desires."

"Two daggers and a gun."

"One dagger and a gun."

"Deal," Y/N decided, plopping down on the bed. It still felt wrong, but she did need a new dagger - Wylan had blown hers up in a previous job.

She carefully peeled the pristine sheets and blankets away from the mattress, half expecting a dozen poisonous things to pop out. The only thing it released was the strangely comforting smell of wood oil and ink (and a bit of gunpowder, but this was Kaz Brekker we're talking about).

Y/N slipped beneath the covers, her head resting comfortably on the cloud-like pillows.

I bet this bitch sleeps like a baby every night.

"I can still beat your ass, Brekker," she mumbled. Yeah, she was sick, but she also had a reputation to uphold.

"On a regular day, I have no doubt about it. Currently, you are prohibited from doing anything that isn't sleeping, peeing, or contemplating life. Doctor's orders."

"Well, I'm going to go pee then. More freedom." She attempted to stand up from the surprisingly soft bed but the in the second it took for her to try and stand, Kaz, moving surprisingly quickly for a man with a cane, pinned her to the bed by her shoulders with an exasperated sigh.

"Just stay still. Please," he breathed.

"Get me a sweet bun and maybe," she breathed back, but didn't move. Despite her almost child-like demeanor, she was one of the original Dregs, here as a child even before Kaz. He had been the only one her age when he had joined, so naturally, she had befriended him (well, as much as you can befriend Kaz Brekker). She knew about his phobia of touch, and how much it meant that he was touching her, even with his gloves on.

Kaz released her with a sigh and stalked over to his desk where he rummaged around for a bit until he produced a small tin that looked abut as old as he was. He tossed it at her and she grabbed it, opening it to see some biscuits that looked as hard as rocks. "That's all I have, and all you're going get. Don't break a tooth."

Y/N sighed, staring at the biscuits mournfully before taking one out of the tin and gnawing on it. It would have been easier to bite on the barrel of one of Jesper's guns. "You're mean."

"You're acting like a petulant child."

Y/N made a disgruntled noise from the back of her throat, sinking back into the silk pillows and wrapping the blankets tighter around her. She had made no visible mark on the cookie, and had only succeeded in covering it with slobber. She put it back in the tin and noticed Kaz wrinkle his nose at her.

She doubted the biscuits would ever see the light of day again.

She watched Kaz do his paperwork, a surprisingly interesting thing to do. He had taken off his hat and jacket, and rolled up his sleeves. He even took his gloves off, preferring to use a pen without the ridiculous slipperiness of the leather. The papers shuffled in a soothing rhythm, and soon, Y/N began to feel less cooped up and a bit more relaxed.

Ever since she had been taken away from her family and thrown onto the tiny slaving ship, Y/N had always had a touch of claustrophobia (well, it was a bit more than a touch, but she wasn't willing to admit that just yet). The tiny room with a mattress on the flooor was really just a decoration at this point - she slept on the roof most nights and every waking hour was in Ketterdam, simply walking if there were no pockets to be picked.

Drowsily, she watched as Kaz scratched something out on paper, his face creasing ever so slightly. The pen made a nice sound, she found, and paired with the strangely calming scent of his room and the rustling of papers, it made her feel almost like it was rainy day, the kind where you curled up by the fire and read a book or cuddled with someone.

"I doubt staring at my face will help you fall asleep, love," Kaz noted without looking up from his work.

"Your face is the most interesting thing here."

For the barest fraction of a second, Kaz looked like he had short-circuited. The moment was gone as soon as it came, however, and he simply raised an eyebrow at her. "You're very immature sometimes."

"Thanks!" Y/N said cheerfully. "It was the trauma."

"Trauma hardens people, it doesn't make them softer," Kaz dismissed.

"I agree wholeheartedly. However, there's a difference between an excellent mask and incompetence," she replied. "Now come over here and show what's bothering you, I can see it on your face."

Kaz looked up at her, noting the fact that she probably wouldn't shut up unless he did as she asked. He rolled his eyes, hobbling over to the bed. As he sat, she could feel his weight pushing the mattress down.

Before he could say a word, she snatched the paper in his hands and began scanning it. "What's wrong with it?"

"The numbers don't add up."

She stared at the document for another second, then back up at Kaz. "Who are you and what have you done with Kaz Brekker?"

He blinked at her.

"You forgot to carry the one. The numbers don't add up because you... well, added them wrong," she explained softly. She looked up at him, concern crossing her features. "Do you need a nap?"

Kaz huffed out a breath. "I'm fine. You're just distracting me, that's all."

"We're going to ignore the fact that you think I'm distracting and instead focus on the fact that you have not slept in several days."

Kaz's nostrils flared slightly in indignation. Before he could speak, however, Y/N cut him off. "Kaz, I have known you since I was eleven. I'm also not fucking blind. Yes, I know you are essentially running a mafia at age seventeen. Yes, I know you are under pressure. Yes, I know there is at any given moment a bounty on your head. Yes, I know I am sick and it is technically your job to take care of me. But can we please just make a deal or a truce or something in which you get some fucking rest?"

Kaz was quiet for a moment before the corner of his mouth twitched. "Always the mother hen for everyone except yourself."

She was startled into a laugh. "What can I saw, I was a born hypocrite."

Kaz did end up getting a couple hours of sleep, even if it was at Y/N's insistence.

However, he almost regretted it when Jesper barged in and, with a gleeful cackle, found them both sleeping in the same bed with one of his legs pressed up against hers - Kaz's version of flat-out cuddling.

Almost.

#kaz brekker #kaz brekker x reader #six of crows #grishaverse #kaz brekker imagine

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the-fall-of-armie-hammer · 2 years

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New Guardian article about AH: "What happens when your star is cancelled but you can’t cancel the film?"

Does Armie Hammer ever yearn for the time when the worst thing people said was that nobody liked him? “Ten Long Years of Trying to Make Armie Hammer Happen” was the cruel but incisive headline of a 5,000-word BuzzFeed article from 2017 which concluded that only a wealthy white man could not merely have withstood so much failure but have been rewarded for it. The US actor tweeted about the piece, calling it “bitter AF” before making a celeb’s exit from the social media platform: he deleted his account then quietly reactivated it.

Those must seem now like halcyon days. Hammer’s fall began a year ago when messages surfaced online, purportedly sent from him to various extramarital partners, suggesting an erotic interest in cannibalism. Sexual assault allegations were made by multiple women, while an accusation of rape prompted a Los Angeles police investigation. Hollywood tends to act fast when handling a scandal in the age of social media and #MeToo: Hammer was dropped immediately by his agents, William Morris Endeavor. He exited projects including the Jennifer Lopez romcom Shotgun Wedding, Amma Asante’s cold war thriller Billion Dollar Spy and The Offer, a 10-part series about the making of The Godfather. His scenes in Taika Waititi’s soccer comedy Next Goal Wins were reshot with Will Arnett taking his place.

It was too late, however, for Disney to excise him from its plush new version of the Agatha Christie whodunnit Death on the Nile. Shot before the pandemic, the film has remained moored, if not quite dead in the water. Its prospects were not enhanced by controversy surrounding another cast member, the Black Panther star Letitia Wright, who recently retweeted an anti-vaccine video that was described as “hot garbage” by her fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe alumnus Don Cheadle.

(,,,)

The question of how far such controversy reaches is moot: bad publicity of any sort is too great a risk. Even so, there may be good news for Disney from a business perspective with Death on the Nile. The picture was greenlit while Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express (which featured Depp among its cast) was on its way to a worldwide gross of $352m (£258m). As in the case of that 2017 whodunit, it is surely the combination of Branagh, Christie, a starry ensemble and a glossy, old-fashioned style of cinema – rather than any one performer – that will motivate the valuable older demographic to see the movie. One of the benefits of star-studded casts is that there is bound to be something for everyone. It’s like any half-decent biscuit tin: who cares if one or two are broken?

No one would pretend that the allegations against Armie Hammer aren’t serious. But in terms of audience recognition, prestige and prizes, he is no Kevin Spacey. Beyond journalism and social media, it may be the case that older audiences don’t even know who he is, let alone what he is alleged to have done. Of course, wariness about returning to cinemas tends to be higher among that same demographic, which means that the release of Death on the Nile will not be plain sailing. If the movie does run aground, it might be one thing that can’t be blamed solely on this Hammer horror.

TLDR: Disney didn't have much choice so the show must go on but the success of this film isn't gonna be based on the presence of Armie Hammer.

#armie hammer #the guardian

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help-im-a-gay-fish · 3 years

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Agave Syrup: ship kid. Secondary collab verse.

Annnnnd here's the new baby! She's my Cciller ship kid. She exists the the secondary ship kid universe which is a collab verse with @thebluescreen. She's from the Multiverse Rem is a part of, but not from the multiverse Coffee creamer is from. (They are two separate multiverses with different ships and storys.)

Both Agave and 4Loko are the same person, I'll explain below.

"yall really for a no caff, full foam, double chocolate latte, with an extra hit of caramel syrup!? It's my own special blend..... Added just for you~"

Name: Agave Syrup

Gender: Female

Sexuality: Strate

Parents: (Bio) Ccino (Da) and Killer (Baba). Non bio Nightmare (Father).

Other family: Rem (older half brother) Vanta (older half brother) Somba Lullaby (older half brother). Dream (uncle) Cross (Uncle) Radiant Hope (Cousin) Empathy (Cousin). And many cats.

Nicknames: Kitten (by killer) and Gave

Agave is the youngest of the Fluffynightkiller ship kids from the second verse. She grew up primary raised By Ccino and her oldest brother Rem. Killer and Nightmare were there, but weren't massively involved parents.

Agave is pretty close to her brother Rem, despite the 13 year age gap and will normally have a fortnightly movie night where they will watch crappy horror movies (like Jack Frost or The Sand) and laugh about how stupid they are. They also both love to watch old horror movies and play a game of "what incredibly stupid choice will character A make that will result in there death? Hmmm". It's there favourite thing to do together.

Agave isn't a huge fan of generally good horror films though and especially can't stand the saw films. So she doesn't watch them unless it's with Rem.

Agave and her other brother Somba aren't as close (he's 5 years older) but she still cares alot for him and isn't above defending him if needed.

Agave has two main sides to herself, this being how she is normally and her persona/alterego 4Loko. But more on that below.

Normally she is a very bright and chipper girl who's abit of a goof. She sees the fun or silly side in alot of things in life and is rarely not in a good mood. She's also quite a passive person (or at least pretends to be) and is quite kind. Her personality is abit to much like Dream's for Nightmare's liking so the two aren't really close.

She's that person who is very fun to be around but just slightly unnerving. Like there is something going on underneath her smile. Something just slightly off.

Being born with her soul on the outside of her body wasn't suprising because of her relation to Killer, however it caused Ccino to be conserned during her up bringing. He were quite scared about how easily she could be hurt of killed so always kept a close eye on her. Killer didn't care as much and gave her more free rain. For example, letting her play with this pocket knife as a 1 year old.

Agave works primarily at her Da's coffee shop and takes great pride in it. She grew up there and its been a part of her life ever since she can remember. She enjoys making her own flavouring syrups and blends to put into drinks to make them taste better. Other then that she's studying a business degree (at age 18 +) at a local university in order to get better with the business.

About 4Loko and her soul.

"Me? And serial killer? No no I'm a barista, those aren't even similar....."

Now this is where things start up, because she's got to inherit some things from Killer, right?

Agaves soul glitches, much like Killer's does, from being heart shaped to being target shaped. It does this many times a day. When this happens it normally doesn't last longer then a few seconds till it goes back to normal. To an outsider it may even be unnoticeable and for the most part it doesn't effect Agave.

However sometimes she will trap her soul into a jar or some type of container. Doing this will stop it from glitching and stick it in whatever form its in (she can't do this all the time as it strains the soul and brings pain). So sometimes she will stick it in target mode. When she sticks it in target mode, her eyes drip.

Unbeknownst to any of her parents when her soul is like this, it changes her. She feels basically nothing, no fear, no sadness, no guilt or empathy. She realised at a young age that this was her super power.

In this mode she could do anything and not suffer any emotional consequences.

It started with stealing cookies from the biscuit tin at age 9 and evolved into hurting bully's at school. Then into giving food poisoning to rude customers by mixing up syrups to slip into drinks to make people ill.

For the most part she stays out of this mode, only dipping in when she felt she needed to test how far she could push it.

When she was 15 she started to consider pushing it to the limit.

She was watching the news and found out about some kind of abuser or murder being arrested and she thought. Why do we let people who do such horrible things live? Wouldn't it be better if they were dead? Then she realised, with her super power, could she kill someone?

When she was 16 she had her first kill. They were robber shed caught beating someone in an alleyway. (I don't know to much about this yet so I'll need to think more about it) but afterwards, she realised that she'd been right in the fact that she didn't feel guilty. She could use this to make the world a better place!

She didn't kill again for about a year. (just incase, I wanna point out that I'm not saying that what Agave does is justified. She's just an ship kid, a act of fiction and not ment to be taken seriously)

So anyway, by age 17 Agave makes her second kill and continues on that path. These are alot more thought out and planned. Her method of choice is through creating poisonous syrup and killing people that way, though she isn't above a good old knife death. Her Baba taught her well. She also carries around chemicals to clean blood and things like that.

She doesn't like her victims to dweal in pain and gets the deaths over quickly and painlessly. She gets no pleasure from causing pain to others, and when she doesn't have a target soul it makes her upset to hurt people.

Agave ended up calling her killer mode 4Loko. That's the name for her alterego the serial killer. She separates 4Loko from herself and doesn't want it to impact her Day to day life. So she will use make up to cover the birth mark on her face. When she's in her 20s she ends up working as an hireable assassin for killing criminals. But more on that later.

Non of her parents know about her double life. But that doesn't mean no one does.

Rem has always kept a close eye on his little sister. Over the years he noticed her odd behaviour and her collection of 'syrups' that she keeps in her room hidden.

During her 17th year he confronts her about what she does (which was a huge mess) the two fought as she attempted to stab him through the soul with her knife. She couldn't let him live if he knew right? She would have been able to but she just couldn't bring herself to hurt him. Since she wasn't in target mode she just couldn't do it especially as he spoke to her and talked her down. (tbh it's actually a kind of sweet scene between them).

After he's calmed her Rem offers to help her kill people, and he's very happy to. (Rem has alot of darkness under his kind surface which I'm sure @thebluescreen would be more then happy to explain in better detail).

So the two grow closer through that.

And yeah, that's the basic run down of my Cciller baby.! Hope you like her! My barista turned murderer/hitman I figured this would be a good mix of both her parents.

You have no idea! How long I spent working on her colour scheme..... It took about a month till I finally had this one and I'm pretty happy with it. I hope I explained everything about her double life well, I wasn't sure how clear it is. If you have any questions, please ask.

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raleighliving · 3 years

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Raleigh Hangouts: Cameron Village/Village District

So last time I wrote something like this I talked about the upscale, pricey North Hills community and the pros/cons associated with it. I chose North Hills because, while it's not really representative of the Raleigh experience, it seemed like a region that would appeal to out of towners and people looking for a more urban experience.

The culture designed to cater towards executives on business trips and socialites, while appreciable, it isn't wholly representative of the Raleigh experience however. It's a shiny gemstone set against lower-middle class neighborhoods and a highway exit; a glass diamond set on a gold band.

So I wanted to talk about somewhere a bit more representative of Raleigh as an experience. A place with a variety of options for dining, shopping, and relaxing which doesn't put on any airs collectively; but allows individual stores to be as extra and overpriced as capitalist consumerism will allow them to be.

Of course, the obvious answer would be Downtown Raleigh. You don't get much more Raleigh than the heart of the city itself, and it's full of fun and interesting things to look at....but I hate driving around down there and COVID precautions around there have been hit-or-miss depending on where you go.

So today we're looking Downtown adjacent at the Village District (formerly Cameron Village)!

Just outside of Downtown Raleigh and adjacent to NC State University, Village District is a small shopping district that caters to the local population and the nearby college students.

A collection of small stores, restaurants, boutiques, and facilities which is representative of Raleigh in that there's something for everyone to enjoy if you look hard enough or turn the right corner.

Got a hot date? Take em' to one of the many upscale eateries, walk around the block and take in the sights, and finish with some frozen custard at Goodberry's. Need a haircut? A good book to read? How about some Yoga, or an affordable dry cleaners? Village District has it all.

Affordable housing and apartments sit opposite luxury apartments that tower over the district and charge $1200 for a studio apartment. Affordable fast food options are as easy to find here as fine dining that charges $25 a plate; and clean, decorated streets make exploring the area easy and enjoyable.

If you need to reach Downtown Raleigh or NC State University, it's only a few minutes walking to reach either; or you can rent a motorized scooter/bike for a bit if you're not inclined towards physical exercise (like myself).

It doesn't hold everything you could ever want, but it's got enough to satisfy most wants and desires comfortably within a small radius.

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If you're visiting Raleigh, I'd recommend visiting Tin Roof Teas especially; a small, locally owned tea store that's host to a huge selection of loose leaf teas and tea accessories.

If you or someone that you love enjoys a good cup of tea, but the selection where you're at is whatever's available at the grocery store, then Tin Roof has a grand selection of domestic and foreign tea leaves that can satisfy even the pickiest tea fanatic.

Walking in, you'll be greeted by the mingling scents of dried flowers and it's an experience I'd recommend even if you're not there to explicitly buy anything. Overwhelmed by choice paralysis? They'll brew you a cup of any available tea for a small fee so you can get an idea of what you're looking at.

If you're a Raleigh native, you can also swing by Village District for a selection of boutiques that cater to interior designers and art fans of all sorts. Scrap metal sculptures, paintings, home décor, etc. are all findable.

If you want an eye grabbing piece, you can even check out a gallery like the LaMantia Gallery for high quality pieces from a variety of artists.

I've never shopped with them myself, so I couldn't even comprehend whatever prices they have, but the artwork on display whenever I pass by is always something memorable and eyegrabbing; like this piece of a crowd forming the bust of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

If you need a bite to eat, as previously mentioned, there's no shortage of options there either. Burger joints, fast food, and sandwich shops/delis are seated alongside fine dining and bistros so whatever niche you require, they can cover.

In terms of personal favorites, I'm partial to the Village Draft House. A nice bar with excellent burgers and great fried appetizers that make me wish eating high fat/carb/salt/whatever foods didn't come with inevitable consequences beyond injuring my wallet.

If you want something a little nicer, then a popular choice is The Flying Biscuit; a largely breakfast/brunch joint with some later in the day fare that uses high quality, healthy ingredients to appease patrons appetites.

But the great thing is, both these places are puppy friendly! Allowing you to bring your dog and even providing water dishes so long as your puppy is able to behave with other good boys/girls around them.

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Of course, you should also check out the Wake County public library hosted in Village District as well! Even if you've been to other Wake County libraries, this wonderfully maintained 2 story library has a decent variety of books, resources, and rooms for the general public to make use of.

Have small children? They'll love the expansive selection of children's books; and enjoy the numerous events catered towards younger readers. Like the rest of Cameron Village, there's a little something for everyone.

If you do stop by the library though, like many of the other places, be forewarned that they're taking necessary COVID precautions in these troubling times and you will be browsing on an "express schedule" where guests are expected to only remain in the building for a limited amount of time (so you have a reduced risk of spreading/contracting the virus).

Normally, if you're a bibliophile like so many who visit these places are, you'd enjoy nothing more than hours of browsing and considering before finally checking out; but for the safety of everyone involved I'm sure they'd appreciate it if you tried to limit your visits to at most thirty minutes.

All told, Village District isn't perfect by any means; but I feel it's more representative of Raleigh as a hangout spot than North Hills by a good measure. Its more diverse clientele, the blended college and downtown communities, the accessibility and variety are all factors that lend to a more authentic, urban south experience.

It might not be as community focused as Seattle's Pike Place or as glamourous a destination as New York City, but its got its own subtle charm that colors any experience I've had there in a more positive light; which is more than I can say of other similar upscale shopping squares.

If you want to visit, try and do so on a weekend when the weather's nice. That's when everyone's out and about, and you get to really see people come together (when of course, we're out of a pandemic).

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livethinking · 4 years

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Stay human: a chronicle of the Coronavirus psychosis

Human unveils his true essence in critical moments, makes way for that underdeveloped instinctual which characterises him, thus suppressing the common sense, social mechanisms which control him and make him a cultural being (or, at least, civil). The individual shows himself as good or evil, altruist or selfish, indifferent when an emergency breaks the routine, that regulates the visceral feelings, faces the destroying passions and allows to live with other people, complying rules. But when an emergency makes an attempt to life, prepare to meet the most spasmodic amour-propre, and an emergency of this kind is that provoked by Covid-19.

Wuhan is ghostly and even time seems unmovable, there’s no daytime nor time, just a gloomy fog flutters around tall buildings. All people hidden in their warm houses, keeping masks and latex gloves, wait for this painful moment would end. In this way the Chinese city appears in newscasts, the picture of the source where everything was born. Where the psychosis was born, the omens of the end of all things. Here, where the Coronavirus developed a genetic mutation and was transmitted to humans, infecting thousand of people and killing some dozens and now, without explanation, arrived in the Bel Paese, whose most of its population was already bitten by the tarantula of fear and poisoned with that toxin called racism.

Many are the Chinese visiting Italy or living there, who opened bazaars, huge stores where one can bury everything needed, from detergents, to electronics, till dress, or amazing restaurants designed with astonishing furnitures imitating the ones from a distant epoch but they still have something exotic for us Western obtuse. They learn Italian, friendship and relationship with people whose native language is Italian. A natural integration in the social tissue which, in a short time, was erased because of the fear to be infected by this new virus: a wasteland their stores, there have been insults, speech rotten in a deep discriminating thought, a violence perpetrated with words and gestures. People forgot in these moment one is fragile, scared and being considered as plaguespreader can hurt and now Italians might understand how this can be painful. When one’s on the their side, one can now apprehend some things are able to offend.

The first symptom of the psychosis, mass hysteria is this sick will to find, at any cost, the enemy, the people source of the problem which attempted the normal flow of life. Now, it’s not only the Chinese people to be isolated, but Italian people is as well. Could this moment teaches us the sense of humanity, to recall the otherness and to understand that we’re all human, scared and alone, victims and executioner.

Plagues have alway been a particular moment because they show cruelly us an absolute truth: precariousness of life and fragility of human condition. A moment of crisis showing up suddenly, that shakes, makes us vulnerable because we learn nature isn't controllable, thus what remains is appeal our consciousness, our being human and social; so that keeping calm, don't panic. In past, plagues were described as a symptom of the decaying of morality and rational logic, based on a spasmodic hunt for the plaguespreader and on manipulation and strengthen of superstitions (1); in this way Alessandro Manzoni describes the Black Plague that shook up Italy in seventeenth century in his “I Promessi Sposi” and many of these characteristics, the violence perpetrated among people, the mad people trying to save themselves gripped by a blind and criminal selfishness, the hunt for the plaguespreader, still show up in an era where rationality almost became sacred. So that we can see empty supermarkets, carts full of pasta, biscuit packages, tin cans, long lines to the entrance and to the cash registers and fear provoked by not accurate informations spread by newscast and web site, by dumbness told by fake news and by obtuseness born from preserving own functional illiteracy.

Supermarkets emptied despite no clues of a food crisis and be ignored the most needy (such as old men,the ill, the poor), left alone because it’s more important to worry about ourselves before. Measures taken to defend the weakest (and yet the old, the ill, who suffers from previous disease or from immunodeficiency, the youngest) and to obtain new infections, such as quarantine, masks, latex gloves, are considered as the clue of something more serious, which feeds up the imagination, irrational panic, so that raids in supermarkets, people run from quarantine to avoid a possible infection, moving along the whole Country spreading the virus in spite of staying and collaborating to contain a problem resolvable with little attentions, with more public spirit.

Despite the disease is different, although the conception got less transcendental from what’s described in Manzoni’s “I Promessi Sposi”, dread, fear, irrationality and selfishness which isn't involved with biophilia still persist and history is a teacher for us again.

The introduction of "Decameron", telling about plague in fourteenth century, delineates a desolate scenario where life has become a virtue, a fortune and no more the first condition for existence. To this situation, Giovanni Boccaccio juxtaposed the bucolic atmosphere of the villa outside Florence, wherein the young protagonists and Novella teller has taken refuge; he juxtaposed with the quietness, the silence, the panic and violence. With culture, the ignorance; with fantasy the psychosis. Literature becomes a instrument to survive and culture a tool with which we can find human sense and keep us rational, no more beasts. It’s a masterpiece from Umanesimo that suggests us the antidote for this mad psychosis, for these insane behaviours of hate, that is temperate rationality, the culture itself helping us to distinguish false information to the true ones, to follow rules which tutelates us, although they're limiting.

Stay human one more time. For ourselves, surely, but especially for the other.

Note: 1.From fanpage.it

Viviana Rizzo @ilbiancodellefarfalle @livethinking

Italian article on vivipensando.wordpress.com

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