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Fairygirl34 on AO3 and Fanfiction

@fairygirl34-side-account

A blog that I upload from other blogs. Side blog fairygirl34-art-writing where I post my art and writings.
A few years ago, when I was living in the housing co-op and looking for a quick cookie recipe, I came across a blog post for something called “Norwegian Christmas butter squares.” I’d never found anything like it before: it created rich, buttery and chewy cookies, like a vastly superior version of the holiday sugar cookies I’d eaten growing up. About a year ago I went looking for the recipe again, and failed to find it. The blog had been taken down, and it sent me into momentary panic. 
Luckily, I remembered enough to find it on the Wayback Machine, and quickly copied it into a file that I’ve saved ever since. I probably make these cookies about once a month, and they last about five days around my voracious husband - they’re fantastic with a cup of bitter coffee or tea. I’m skeptical that there is something distinctively Norwegian about these cookies, but they do seem like the perfect thing to eat on a cold day. 
Norwegian Christmas Butter Squares
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 egg 1 cup sugar 2 cups flour 1 tsp vanilla ½ tsp salt Turbinado/ Raw Sugar for dusting
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Chill a 9x13″ baking pan in the freezer. Do not grease the pan.
Using a mixer, blend the butter, egg, sugar, and salt together until it is creamy.  Add the flour and vanilla and mix using your hands until the mixture holds together in large clumps. If it seems overly soft, add a little extra flour. 
Using your hands, press the dough out onto the chilled and ungreased baking sheet until it is even and ¼ inch thick.  Dust the top of the cookies evenly with raw sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees until the edges turn a golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven. Let cool for about five minutes before cutting the cooked dough into squares. Remove the squares from the warm pan using a spatula.

So I tried this recipe.

And it is GREAT.

It basically makes the platonic ideal of commercial sugar cookies, only in bar form. When I give them to people (which I do a lot, because this is one of those simple recipes where the results seem very impressive), I just tell them they’re sugar cookie bars.

Life hack: add white chocolate chips and sea salt

I made these today for the equinox with sea salt caramel chips and they are simply amazing. Let’s see how long they last with six people in the house!

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Noting for later (as we need more butter for this, and probably won’t do a grocery shopping till the weekend).

The OP version of this has become my go-to cookie for basically all things and I have a whole cohort of friends and colleagues who would murder each other to get them. Haven’t tried any add ons yet, since the base recipe is SO GOOD.

Reblogging again because I finally made these and HOLY SHIT.

This is by far the best tumblr recipe I have come across! Thank you OP for sharing this because I don’t know how I’ve lived without these for so long?? They’re literally SO simple and easy to make, and you can put almost anything in them you want!

I see people have put chocolate chips and butterscotch in them, but I’m going to add some lemon zest next time and maybe even some blueberries! Chocolate, fruit, other sweets, even some herbs would pair really well with these. DANNNG.

Writer's Guide: Writing about Alcoholic Drinks and Cocktails

Or how to write believable bar and nightclub scenes. I often find myself helping friends with their WIPs and often it as a bartender, I find myself having to correct them on bar and mixology terminology. So here's my quick guide to keeping your lingo on the straight and narrow.

Terminology

  • DASH/SPLASH: a drop of a mixer such as juice or flavouring.
  • MIXER: non alcholic beveraged served with the measure of alcohol in the same glass.
  • NEAT: Plain, without any addition of ice or a mixture. Just the alcohol.
  • ON THE ROCKS: Served over Ice.
  • STRAIGHT UP: The cocktail is chilled with ice and strained into a glass with no ice
  • DIRTY – if somebody asks for a dirty martini, you add olive juice, the more juice the dirtier it is
  • DRY- A dry martini includes a drop of vermouth and an extra dry martini contains a drop of scotch swirled in the glass and drained before adding the gin
  • BACK – a ‘back’ is a drink that accompanies an alcholic beverage such as water or Coke, but isn't mixed.
  • GARNISH – something added to a drink such as a lime or lemon or orange.
  • TWIST - a twist is literally a twist of fruit skin in the drink.
  • BITTERS – a herbal alcoholic blend added to cocktails.
  • RIMMED - the glass is coated in salt or sugar to enhance the taste.
  • VIRGIN- non alcoholic
  • MOCKTAIL- a virgin cocktail
  • DOUBLE - Two measures of the same alcohol in the same glass. A bartender can only legally serve a double in the same glass. They cannot serve you a triple.

Equipment

  • COCKTAIL SHAKER - it is a metal cup that fits into a glass, used to shake the components of your drink together with ice to chill it.
  • STRAINER- used to seperate ice in the shaker from the liquid within as you pour it into the glass.
  • MEASURES- these are little metal cylinders meant to measure out the pours of the alcohol. You pour the alcohol from the bottle into the measure and then put it into the glass. It's imperative that the right measure goes into the glass or the drink will taste of shit.
  • BAR SPOON – a long spoon meant to mix the drink.
  • OPTIC- it is a mechanism that attaches a bottle to an automatic pourer. The bartender usually fits the glass under the spout and pushes up to release the amount which cuts off at the single measure.
  • SHOT GLASS- a shot glass is a small glass to contain one measure
  • PINT GLASS- a glass used for serving pints of lager or ale
  • HALF PINT GLASS - a tulip shaped glass half the measure of a pint glass
  • SPEEDWELL/TAPS/DRAFT: are the taps used to pour beer from kegs stored under the bar floor.
  • SLIM JIM/HIGH BALL GLASS- It is a tall straight holding 8 to 12 ounces and used for cocktails served on the rocks such as a Gin and Tonic.
  • ROCKS GLASS - or an old fashioned glass, it is short and round. These glasses are used for drinks such as Old Fashioneds or Sazerac
  • COUPE GLASS- Are broad round stemmed glasses used for cocktails that are chill and served without ice such as a Manhattan, Boulevardier or a Gimlet
  • MARTINI GLASS - a martini glass is that classic stemmed "v" shaped glass, used to serve drinks without mixers such as Martini and Cosmopolitans
  • MARGARITA GLASS - is a large, round bowl like glass with a broad and a tall stem used for Margaritas and Daiquiris
  • HURRICANE GLASS- a tall tulip-like shaped glass with a flared rim and short stem. It holds 20 ounces which means it is the perfect glass to serve iced cocktails in such as Pina Colada, Singapore Sling, Hurricane

Alcoholic Drinks

  • Vodka- Vodka is made from potatoes or fermented cereal grains. It has a strong taste and scent. It is usually consumed neat with a mixer such as Coke or Orange juice or cranberry juice or in cocktails like Martini, Bloody Mary and Cosmopolitan.
  • Whisky/Whiskey- Whiskey is a distilled alcoholic beverage, made from fermented grain mash such as barley, corn, rye, and wheat. It gets its flavour form being fermented in casks for long period of time. When serving a whiskey, one asks whether they want ice or a mixer. Everyone has their own preference. I prefer mine like myself, strong and Irish. Scotch is Scottish Brewed whisky.
  • Rum- Rum is made by fermenting and distilling sugarcane molasses/juice. It is aged in oak barrels. It has a sweet taste.
  • Beer: is made out of cereal grains and served chilled in bottles or pulled from taps/speedwells.
  • Ale: Ale in the middle ages referred to beer brewed without hops (a kind of flowering plant that gives beer its bitter taste). It is sweeter and would typically have a fruity aftertaste.
  • Stout- is a darker beer sometimes brewed from roasted malt, coming in a sweet version and dry version, the most famous stout being Guinness.
  • Poitín- (pronounced as pot-cheen) is made from cereals, grain, whey, sugar beet, molasses and potatoes. It is a Dangerous Drink (honestly i still don't know how I ended up in that field with a traffic cone and a Shetland pony) and technically illegal. Country folk in Ireland used to brew it in secrets in stills hidden on their land.
  • Vermouth: Is made from infused with roots, barks, flowers, seeds, herbs, spices, brandy but vermouth is classed aromatized wine. It comes sweet or dry
  • Gin- is made from juniper, coriander, citrus peel, cinnamon, almond or liquorice and grain alcohol. Gin has a strong scent and taste and is usually served in a martini or a tonic water.
  • Schnapps- refers to any strong, clear alcoholic beverage. It is considered one of the best types of spirits because of its pure and delicate aroma. Lesson: never drink peach schnapps.

Cocktails and Drinks

  • Irish Coffee: an Irish coffee is adding whiskey to coffee and sugar and topping it with cream. As a bartender, I would honestly rather cut my arm off than make one of these.
  • Baby Guinness: Is a shot made by pouting Tia Maria or Kaluah into a shot glass and spreading Baileys on the top so it looks like a small pint of Guinness.
  • Silver Bullet: a shot of mixed tequila and sambuca.
  • Long Island Iced Tea:  The Long Island contains vodka, gin, tequila, light rum, lemon juice, triple sec and cola. It has a real kick.
  • Mai Tai: is made with light and dark rum, lime juice, orange curacao, orgeat syrup and rock candy syrup and served with a mint garnish.
  • Manhattan: The Manhattan is made with rye whiskey, sweet vermouth and bitters.
  • Margarita: The margarita is made with tequila, cointreau and lime juice.
  • Mojito: a mojito is made with muddled mint, white rum, lime juice, simple syrup and soda.
  • Martini: a martini is made of gin, dry vermouth and garnished with a lemon twist or olives.
  • Mimosa: a mimosa is a made with sparkling wine and orange juice.
  • Mint Julep: Made with Kentucky bourbon, simple syrup, mint leaves and crushed ice
  • Pina Colada: is made with white rum, dark rum, pineapple juice and coconut cream
  • Screwdriver: Vodka and Orange juice
  • Tequila Sunrise: tequila, orange juice and grenadine
  • Tom Collins: made with spiked lemonade, sparkling water, lemon juice, simple syrup and gin
  • Whiskey Sour: is made with powdered sugar, seltzer, lemon juice and whiskey.
  • White Russian: made with vodka, coffee liqueur and cream.
  • Black Russian: made with two parts coffee liqueur and five parts vodka.
  • Gin and Tonic: gin served with tonic water
  • Bloody Mary: made with vodka and tomato juice mixed with lemon juice, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, horseradish, fresh herbs, brown sugar and cracked black pepper.
  • Brandy Alexander: served straight up and made with brandy, cognac, creme de cacao and cream
  • Cosmopolitan: Made with citrus vodka, Cointreau, cranberry juice and fresh lime juice
  • Daiquiri: made with rum, lime juice and sugar.
  • Gimlet: gin and lime juice

My Top 10 Bartending Rules and Responsibilities

  1. Overpouring is never an option. You can seriously hurt somebody by overpouring, not to mention spoil the drink and ruin your sales. You only serve people what they ask and never more.
  2. When somebody has had enough, you stop serving them. After a while, you know when to cut somebody off.
  3. Never leave bottles on the counter or in reach of customers. Your expensive spirits should never be in reach of anybody but you.
  4. If you tell somebody your selling them premium and top shelf alcohol, you cannot substitute with cheaper licqor. It's illegal.
  5. As a bartender, your eyes always have to be scanning a crowd. You can't leave people hanging.
  6. The golden rule - if you see somebody messing with someone's drink, you chuck it if you can or warn the person. And you get that son of a bitch out of your pub.
  7. 50% of the job is cleaning. You have to clean your tools constantly. You cannot reuse measures and spouts, you have to wash everything. Beer traps are clean out every night, rubber mats are washed and anything you have used has to be clean.
  8. You have to hand dry your glasses. You never polish a pint glass as it fucks up the pint. You polish your cocktail glasses, shot glasses and straight glasses.
  9. If someone seems down or on their own, you try make conversation. Often you'll hear some disturbing stuff but always try lend an ear or make everyone feel included.
  10. If you break a glass in the ice bucket, you got to get rid of the ice.

Because this is apparently stick up for wolves day.

Wolf reintroduction in Yellowstone has changed the ecosystem *significantly*.

One remarkable thing that was not predicted that demonstrates how interlinked these things are:

Wolf eat elk.

Elk eat fewer willows.

Willows become healthier.

Number of beavers increase.

Number of songbirds increase.

Overall health of streams increases.

Number of fish increases.

Water table stabilizes.

This is called a “trophic cascade” and we normally see them as bad things. But a positive trophic cascade is an amazing thing, and apparently nobody predicted this one.

What they didn’t predict was that wolf predation would keep elk on the move so they wouldn’t overgraze a specific area.

When the elk overgrazed the willows, they removed the best source of food for beavers during the winter.

Once that stopped happening, the beaver population rebounded and it turns out beavers are pretty good for the entire ecosystem.

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For anyone who really loves wolves or indeed any other wild predator, I do want to emphasise that it is almost always cattle ranchers behind these culls. We destroy any wild population that presents any sort of risk to cattle because we want to eat them. If you believe in conservation and are in a position to be able to do so, you absolutely should be boycotting animal agriculture industries.

also if cattle and sheep were being eaten by wolves, which they aren’t, the government reimburses ranchers for the full cost of the animal. these “culls” are just ecocide.

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it did not work, but i can help

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the only super long Tumblr post I love