Like, I like interacting with and being impacted by the game/larger storylines. But having that space in game to have a cordial relationship ooc (which ime tends to mean richer/more risky storytelling because of the ability to communicate and the respect) is just really lovely when it happens.
Honestly, I like finding a RP group of people who are nice to me oocly in game and who like my rp and stories and who have interesting characters that I like learning more about.
Its also nice to have staff proactively involve me, but that's like not a daily/weekly/monthly thing really, but at certain points in the larger story.
There are so many types of rp and storylines i enjoy. But I can have the best story ever but if a lot of people are ooc hostile and I have to see too much of people being mean or super rude to each other oocly then it ruins the experience for me.
@greenflashlight nope, I don't want HRT. Being on hormonal bc as a younger woman gave me massive migraines and some clotting issues, and I also have some breast cancer history in my family.
I just am ready to be done with the kind of periods and cycles one gets in perimenopause. Ready for liberation!!
Perimenopause fucking sucks, can I just be done with this already.
Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings
This served my large brood when I had 3 teens at home, so if you have a normal household halving it is probably a good idea!
For meat and broth:
4 T butter
8 bone in skin on chicken thighs
Kosher salt
Pepper to taste
1/2 cup all purpose flour
4 celery stalks, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup milk or half and half
2 T cornstarch
For dumplings:
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 T baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 cup milk or half and half
3 T melted butter
Use the saute button on the instant pot, add butter. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and dredge in the flour, shaking off excess. Once butter is sizzling, add half of chicken in one layer, brown on one side for 3-4 mins without moving, then flip and brown on the other side. Remove and repeat with the remaining chicken and set all aside.
Add the celery, carrots and onions to the pot. Saute until onion is translucent and carrots are tender, scraping the bottom of the pot frequently. Add chicken and broth. Season with salt and pepper.
Press Manual button, put on lid, and cook at high pressure for 11 mins.
While chicken is cooking, mix together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Add in milk/half and half and melted butter, stir just until incorporated (don't over mix or else you won't have fluffy dumplings). Set aside.
Once chicken is done, use a quick release. Remove chicken and set aside. Add the milk to the broth, mix, season with salt and pepper to taste if necessary. In a small bowl, combine 1/2 cup of hot broth with the cornstarch and whisk well to combine. Add back to the pot and stir.
Push the saute button. Once simmering, scoop heaping Tbsp of dumpling mix and drop them into the pot. Try to keep separated and mostly submerged, without disturbing them a lot. Reduce saute heat to low and cook for 12-15 minutes, loosely covered with the top (don't put it all the way on, keep it slightly off kilter so no pressure builds up) until dumplings have doubled in size.
While the dumplings are cooking, bone the chicken, remove and discard skin, shred the meat. Once dumplings are done, add the meat back to the pot and then dish everything up in bowls.
Not really a recipe, but the real reason why I like(d) to do baked potato and chili bar dinners for game night is because I would always cook like 4 extra baked potatoes for baked potato soup the next day.
Leftover baked potatoes
About 1 cup of broth for each potato
1 cup of milk if not adding the remnants of sour cream from baked potato bar
1 cup shredded cheese)
Leftover baked potato bar toppings (in our house this is is usually chopped fresh chives, green onions, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, bacon, crispy onions)
Peel the extra potatoes, chop them up, put into saucepan, add broth, season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for about 20 minutes. Slowly add and incorporate milk or sour cream, once well stirred use immersion blender or masher to achieve desired level of smooth/chunkiness. Slowly stir in cheese in batches until well incorporated. Serve with potato bar toppings on the side for people to add as desired.
If you like bacon (or guests/the fam ate all the previous night's chopped up bacon) then sometimes chop up a few strips and cook them up in the saucepan first, before adding the potatoes and going through the rest of the steps.
Instant Pot Tomato-Coconut Soup
Uhhh...out of respect for Gany's desires...ummmm
Big Juicy Coconuts Get Me Wet Soup
1 can (14oz) full-fat coconut milk
1 can (14oz) canned tomatoes
1 onion, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon minced ginger
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon brown sugar/raw sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Use saute setting, and saute onions and garlic with a little drizzle of coconut or olive oil until softened. Add everything else, put lid on and cook on high/soup setting for 5 minutes. Let it natural release for at least 10 minutes. Use immersion blender to blend to desired consistency. I personally think paneer tastes fantastic in this. If I put it in, I sautee the paneer first, then remove, then do the onions/garlic and follow the recipe until after the immersion blending and then I add in the paneer.
You can do it on the stovetop, just more or less follow the same steps, but cook until tomatoes burst and then continue following the recipe.
My mama heart is happy, the kiddo I've been most worried about is home from college for the weekend to meet up with friends, and pretty much they talked my ear off the whole way home when I picked them up and things are going a lot better. 
And also, as someone who has worked for years in ECE (albeit with a huge gap) plus done a lot of volunteering with elementary age outdoor education and the like, i know that this can be a knife to the heart for a parent but it doesn't mean you did anything wrong or your kid is a bad kid! (I'm sure you know that!) It is common enough that the school i currently work for has a policy on how to handle supporting kids and families when a critter is accidentally killed or hurt (the playground is largely field/wooded and near a slough/protected area so we have lots of tiny bunny nests/bird nests/tree frogs/snakes/ect even in the fenced/mowed areas and sometimes stuff happens before we can run over/see it.
You're doing a great job just being calm and supporting them!
Does he perhaps know that his actions caused the bird to die regardless of how it was told to him? I find even very young children often know. They feel bones break or other aspects when they squeeze/drop/stuff and believe that it was related to their actions.
It is something to monitor/watch out for. I have seen young children also get more freaked out when they suspect that one thing is true but then are directed elsewhere by trusted adults, but granted this is more for preschool+ not toddler, and there's a spectrum as far as when that bridge happens.
What a tough situation though. I hope you guys are all on the mend soon. 
Considering the human cost to both the person killed on set and the person who shoots and kills someone on set, I'd say that yeah, I think its time that perhaps we consumers could live with special effects.
People who kill other people especially accidentally with a firearm are often wrecked even if there's no charges. Or what happened even if it was technically someone else's mistake (someone wandering into an area they shouldn't have, ect). Or even if they're a child who killed or hurt another child.
@silverfox aww I hope you guys like it as much as we do!!
@greenflashlight there are a ton of different vegan butter products that have different things they're made out of, so you could see if a different product isn't as foamy.
I make batches of my own since I don't like the taste of most margarines and the products that are marketed towards vegans are well, usually stupidly expensive.
I've been doing a lot more roadtripping with youngest (8 year old) now that we have two colleges to run things too/help with homesickness this year.
He's really into Brains On!, which is a science/trivia podcast for kids. Wish I'd found it sooner. Its also pretty fun for the grown ups/young adults in the car too. I would put the beginning age at around 5 depending on the kid.
@too-old-for-this yeah i got a refund at least but it was a bad enough damn day thar I got teary eyed knowing that I wasn't going to have yummy pho broth and instead just the cooking broth heated up and doctored a bit.
I would have rather just used my pho broth recipe but no time. oh well at least I got some tendon, which i only get when we order out since I'm the only one in the fam that likes it.
After a very hard day at work, I ordered pho delivery. It came without the broth.
I think I've hit on where the line for pay makes me uncomfortable.
While a thing like a tip jar after the fact (as appreciation) doesn't trigger the squick for me personally, prepaying/contracting for services just isn't what I would want to get involved with as a ST. Maybe if I could summon inspiration on demand I would feel differently but I wouldn't want it hanging over my head esp if I didn't know the other person and how they react to delayed gratification when money changes hands. I've noticed this is a common worry (I assume with cause!) because I have paid for many commissions over the years and have had to explicitly tell the artist/crafting person many times to please not apologize for delays, I understand the process takes time and they've all been people who have day jobs too. Some have sounded very distressed and I get it because I think feeling like you owe someone something is anxiety producing for me! Id much rather have someone shower with me with gifts/chocolate/$$$ after I've done the thing they liked.
And then there's less risk of having to deal with someone you thought was okay but surprises you by turning into someone who feels like they own you and you must account for all of your time to them until they get what they're owed. We have enough of thise folks even on standard volunteer mushes.
Pumpkin sausage soup
2 c mashed pumpkin (or a can of pumpkin, NOT pie filling)
4 c chicken broth or stock
1/c c minced onion (increase if desired)
1 c finely chopped mushrooms (can be omitted)
½ c half and half or heavy cram
2-5 gloves garlic, minced
1 ½ t Italian seasoning
1 lb spicy breakfast sausage
Brown sausage, drain, then add onion, mushrooms, garlic, and herbs. When onion is translucent, stir in pumpkin. Stir in broth and mix well. Simer 20-30 mins. Stir in cream and simmer on low for another 10 minutes. Taste and add salt/pepper as needed. I serve with red pepper flakes on the side so people can add a kick of spice if they want, as well as extra cream to swirl on top. It is also good without the cream. Sometimes I add a can of diced tomatoes with juice to the mix as well.
One of my best mom friends gave me this recipe about 20 years ago, and it’s been a mainstay of our family since, as well as many many potlucks and soup bar game nights over the years!
@tinuviel I wouldn't mind paying a ST (I have tipped/patreon/whatever story creators before but not in a mush setting).
But for me anyway I would feel extremely uncomfortable accepting payment for STing using someone else's property and in mixed use setting (some are paying some aren't) without knowing pretty explicit boundaries. And having seen people get super weird and entitled once money enters the picture I am too leery.
@thhppbbbt for me it still would not be worth entering into a money exchange obligation. There are a lot of variables in that.
Legwork to learn more about their pcs so I could personalize it. Time speaking to people to find out their boundaries. Do I trust them enough to believe they won't get weird with money entering in. How do I bail if things get weird. Is there a mix of STs who run free stuff to and will that cause issues in game management. If I'm not the game owner, should they get a cut as provider of said space and how would that be set up. Ect.