Stocking: nostalgicatsea

[stevetony_elf]

Please leave stocking stuffers for nostalgicatsea here as a comment. Comments will be screened until reveals date!

Username: nostalgicatsea

AO3 Username: nostalgicatsea

Comics Steve/Tony: 616, MA:A, Noir, Ultimates

Other Fandoms/Ships/Characters:
MCU:
- Ships: mainly Steve/Tony, but also Bucky/Nat, Sam/Bucky, Sam/Rhodey, Wenwu/Ying Li, Dottie/Peggy
- Gen: Rhodey & Tony, Nebula & Tony, Natasha & Tony, Steve & Natasha, Steve & Thor, Tony & Thor, Steve & Tony & Thor, Steve & Peggy, Shang-Chi & anyone in his family, Tony & Wenwu, Natasha & Yelena, Carol & Nick Fury

AvAC:
- Ship: Steve/Tony
- Gen: Tony & Jan

EMH:
- Ship: Steve/Tony

Likes:
I’ll throw a whole list out there because I’m very open to a lot of things!

- AUs (gangster, magic, sports non-powered, high school or college, supernatural, horror, sci-fi, etc. You name it! I love AUs)
- canon divergence
- character studies
- parallels/similarities between characters
- angstttttttttttt (if it's a longer fic, preferably a happy ending, but I like bittersweet and sad endings too)
- soulmates
- found family
- outsiders finding companionship with each other
- family issues/difficult family relationships
- war-forged bonds
- disillusionment in a belief system
- one-sided or mutual admiration
- grudging respect turning into something more
- slow burn
- mutual or one-sided pining
- multiverse
- telepathy
- self-sacrifice
- amnesia
- time travel
- reincarnation
- fake relationship
- relationship of convenience
- hurt/comfort
- de-aging
- dream world
- presumed dead
- temporary or permanent death
- post-breakup
- getting back together
- miscommunication or bad communication
- substance abuse and recovery
- grief/mourning
- parental/child relationships
- Tony’s family issues
- dark Steve
- pre-serum Steve
- the weight of the Captain America mantle and Steve's relationship to it
- road trips
- love/hate relationships
- enemies/friends-to-lovers
- identity porn
- betrayal and forgiveness
- protectiveness/possessiveness
- legacy
- explorations of emotional/physical trauma/substance abuse
- witty humor
- truth serum
- repression

Dislikes: Partner abuse, infidelity, or sexual assault between characters in the same ship; PWP; Hydra Steve; OOC (crack is fine as long as the characters retain their personalities); pregnancy; incest; adult/minor romantic relationships; Avengers fics with Darcy in them.

Non-fandom related requests/anything else?:
- Anything cute, interesting, or funny with dogs! Or any animal really.
- Fic recs of any of the ships, characters, or fandoms mentioned above (also open to Harry Potter and Naruto because I feel like those are very hard to find and I never really read Harry Potter fics, strangely. I’m in the mood for good worldbuilding or relationship studies, something with good emotional beats, or something very plotty)
- Fanart, fanvids, graphics, fanmixes, edits, gifsets of my ships, favorite characters, Chris Evans, or RDJ
- Your favorite recipes or easy, healthy recipes for someone new to cooking or baking
- Kitchen/cooking tips and must-have kitchen items
- The most useful household tools you have that you wish more people knew about/would recommend to everyone
- Links to favorite non-fandom or fandom shops on Etsy, Society6, etc.
- Things that comforted or distracted you in a good way this year
- Computer and Nintendo Switch game recs for casual gamers
- Book recs (all-time favorites or your favorites of the year)
- Poetry recs
- Cool/unusual/"hidden gem" places (landscapes, favorite spots in your hometown or place you've traveled to, restaurants, shops, architecture)
- Self-learning language tips and resources
- Resources to learn more about film, writing, photography, interior design, art

Comments

[quietshade]

Happy Holidays!!!

Please have my best attempt at a casual game rec list!

First, I'll assume you're asking for things outside of Mario Odyssey, Mario Maker 2, Mario Party and Animal Crossing since those are extremely popular (Do go check them out if you haven't played any of those). Second, I'll try to cover a variety of genres here. Third, there's a couple of games that I haven't personally played but I know they're very fun and perfect for casuals.

Stardew Valley/Story of seasons: Let's start with one of my fave genres FARM SIM!!! This genre is perfect for relaxing. You plant crops, talk to town folks, and tend to cute animals. There's a chance that you already played Stardew Valley --if not go play it. You won't regret it-- so if you liked it and want something similar, try the Story of Seasons series. Story of seasons is the series that inspired Stardew Valley to begin with. I particularly recommend the Doraemon Story of season spin off on the switch. I KNOW that's a weird combination but it works, I swear it does. The watercolor graphics make it such a beautiful game, and you get to play with a lot of cute wild animals.

IF you end up liking this genre A LOT and want to venture into something a bit more meaty and complex. I totally recommend the Rune Factory series.

Ace Attorney Series: Do you like legal dramas and funny characters? Then this series is for you! This is a visual novel/sim game where you play as a Defense Attorney involved in a series of unfortunate events. It's fun and wholesome. I can't recommend this series enough. You can get the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney trilogy on the Switch, on steam, and even on iOS/Android. If you end up liking this don't forget to check "The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles" which is a prequel/side story. There's 3 more games in the main series and a couple of crossovers and spin offs, but the OG trilogy and the Great Ace Attorney duology are the best.

Overcooked series: this is a sim game where you manage a kitchen. I haven't played this one personally (mostly due to lack of time/opportunities), but it's a fun game to play either alone or with friends.

Untitled goose game: you play as a goose and you annoy the heck out of everyone around you. That's all you need to know. Who doesn't like playing as mischievous cute animals? Not but really this is a fun game perfect for casual gaming.

Fall guys: this is a fun platformer battle royale that reminds me of a meme version of Ninja Warriors. I haven't played this one either since platformers are not something I play very often, but I would absolutely pick this for an afternoon with my friends.

Dragon Quest Builders 2: this is basically a combination of Minecraft and Minecraft dungeons so if you're looking for something like that but different go for this. The advantage of this over Minecraft is that it is more geared towards creativity. I spent so much time just letting the Architect in me go wild.

Sid Maier's Civilization VI: Strategy games aren't exactly casual friendly, but in case you like strategy/resource management games, and you want something that isn't too complicated this is your game. I recommend this on PC over Switch due to performance. It's my go to game whenever I just want to relax and kill some time.

I hope you find something you like here!

[nostalgicatsea]

Thank you for this rec list! This is WONDERFUL! I'm familiar with some of these games, but I actually haven't played most of them (almost all of them, to be more exact). Haha since you mentioned that you haven't played Overcooked, it can be extremely stressful! It took me a while to get used to, but I'm still not great at it. The stress can be funny, though, especially if you're observing other friends playing it and everything is in chaos.

I have a feeling Stardew Valley can get addicting, so I haven't tried it yet haha. And I wanted to play Ace Attorney ever since I got a console, but I constantly forget to get it! So many of my friends love it and it looks so fun. :D

Thanks again for these recs. I can't wait to try some out!

[quietshade]

Ah, I can see how overcooked could be stressful. xD

Stardew Valley is absolutely addicting. It's one of those games you can spend hours and hours playing without realizing. But I love that genre so much I don't mind it. lol

Get Ace Attorney! Even my friends that aren't into sim/visual novels love that series to pieces. It's just that good.

[nostalgicatsea]

If you like visual novels, one of magic's favorite things ever is Umineko. :D I bought it and am going to try to get through it slowly because it's my first VN ever, but she loves it a lot and I trust her judgment!

Recipes

[keirkieran]

I don't have a fic for you, but you brought up cooking so I had to dump a pile of recommendations on you.

Beginner recipes I'd suggest are:

BA Basics Roast Chicken
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/no-fail-roast-chicken-with-lemon-and-garlic
This whole Basics series is very good.

Marcella Hazans basic pasta sauce
https://www.thekitchn.com/marcella-hazans-amazing-4ingre-144538
I like this site and this extremely simple sauce is fantastic.

Babbish's Classic American Pot Roast
https://basicswithbabish.co/basicsepisodes/potroast
This one is for if you want to step it up a little. It's not hard but takes some more steps. And it comes out soooo good.

A kitchen tool I suggest: A meat thermometer and if you want to bake, get a scale. A cheapo thermometer is fine. It takes out all the guess work when you're cooking meat. And a scale is 100% necessary for baking, because sifting and leveling and guessing with flour is a mess.

A cooking tip: Don't be afraid to add some acid to your food. Wine, orange juice, vinegar, etc. So often recipes will just not have that if you're in the States, Canada, Brittan, or similar. If a dish feels cloying, it likely needs acid. And if a dish feels flat, it probably needs salt and by salt, you can also add salty things. Like soy sauce, which also brings some umami to the party.

Book recs: My all time favorite is Going Postal by Terry Pratchett.

Re: Recipes

[nostalgicatsea]

Thank you for the recipes! I'm extremely excited to look at these. Cooking with whole chicken or turkey scares me because they're so BIG, so I love seeing the gifs accompanying the roast chicken recipe! And that pasta sauce! I have to try it. Like most people, I get store-bought sauce, but this looks so easy to do that there's no excuse not to try making it from scratch. That pot roast sounds so good right now. It's been so long since I've had pot roast that I can't remember the last time I had it. From a quick glance, it looks manageable.

I got a meat thermometer and scale last year, but I haven't used either of them yet. :') I am prepared to be blown away by how much they make my life easier when cooking and baking haha.

I knew that salt could perk up a dish, but I didn't know that about acid and cloying dishes. Now that you mention it, it makes so much sense. I'm sure that I must have sprinkled lemon juice to cut the grease or whatever it is that's bothering me about a dish without thinking about, but I never thought about other acids especially wine and orange juice. What a great tip!

And thank you for the book rec too. Every year, I tell myself I need to read some Terry Pratchett and every year, other than the time I read Good Omens quite some time ago, I haven't—and I don't know if that counts as reading Terry. Maybe it counts as half a book. Half a point. :P

[pywren]

Heya! My favourite book besides everything Tolkien has got to be The Martian by Andy Weir. The movie is pretty funny, but it can't hold a candle to the book (or audiobook!) If you like science and adventure, give it a go! You won't be disappointed.

Also since you asked: this is my favourite recipe for healthy, vegan, banana bread (sorry if you have to convert the measurements ^^°)

100g soft margarine
4 very ripe bananas (they can be completely brown!)
100g of brown sugar (depends on taste really, you can use more or less)
1 Egg or 1 portion of egg substitute
1 splash of vanilla extract
2 tbls of baking powder
tiny bit of salt
1 tbls of cinnamon (also depends on taste, you can also add a bit of ginger powder if you like)
220g flour
100g of walnuts ( just make a hole in the bag and then stomp on it until they're nicely crumbled
250g of frozen raspberries (smash them a bit, too)

Just throw all the dry stuff together, then all the wet stuff, smush the bananas with a fork and then knead everything into a smooth dough (it will be cold because of the raspberries). Put it in a cake pan that you've rubbed out with a bit of margarine and in the pre-heated oven for about 60 min at 180°C upper and lower heat.

It will be nice, fluffy, perfectly moist and not too unhealthy. And you can't do anything wrong, I promise. It's the perfect recipe to make at short notice that everyone will love. You can also add cacao nibs, chocolate chips, other fruit, basically everything you want. <3

[nostalgicatsea]

The Martian is hilarious! I read and watched it, so thank you. :) I loved the premise and the thread of humor throughout the entire thing in what would otherwise be a grueling, panic-inducing situation to be in.

I love banana bread and can't wait to try this. :D I've never had it with raspberries before nor ginger powder. I've only had it as plain banana bread or with walnuts so this is something to look forward to!

[pywren]

Please let me know how you liked it, if you make it sometime!

I am an absolute stress baker!
Thanks to my PhD I got really freaking good at it too. If I end up failing at science I'll open a dinosaur-themed bakery XD. It has the additional benefit that my colleagues love me. When I had a shitty day I go home, bake tons of muffins or cookies or a whole ass cake and bring it in the next day. (They will never fire me, they can't live without baked goods! Muhahahah! Masterplan!)

So yeah, if you ever need a nice recipe I'm your gal! ;3

[veryvincible]

Hi, sea! Happy stocking reveals day! We haven't talked much, but you're such a treat when our paths cross and you're a joy of a presence to have around servers. You really seem to put your heart and soul into this fandom and I admire that so, so much ^^

I wrote a little fic for you! I hope you enjoy it.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/36412213

As for "hidden gems," I don't know if this counts, but there's a photographer from Manila in the Philippines that edits his photos to look all cyberpunky, and they're some of my favorite things EVER.
Have a look, if you're interested! His two tumblr blogs are separated into 'nighttime' photos and 'daytime' photos, and the results are so, so cool.
https://luciusfelimus-nox.tumblr.com/
https://luciusfelimus-lux.tumblr.com/

[nostalgicatsea]

Cass, I went from :)! to in the blink of an eye reading this. This is so sweet. Thank you so much! I love this fandom and everyone in it and that includes you as well, of course.

Thank you for writing a fic. Those tags are drawing me in and that summary. I feel on edge, but because of excitement because I can't wait to read this. It's going to be so gooddddd. I'm rolling around on the ground.

I gasped when I opened the links you gave. The nighttime photos are SO COOL omg. Every photo is a visual cornucopia of little things to look at, and wow, I had an idea of what the photos would look like because you said "cyberpunky," but I didn't expect them to look like that at all. I'm going to spend a lot of time looking at them. And I love his daytime photos too. City sunsets just hit different...and I love cityscapes. I want to go to the Philippines one day, but I'm not that familiar with how Manila looks like so the daytime photos are so cool to see (although I know they're edited to have a certain feel too).<3

[jetblackfeeling]

ao3

[nostalgicatsea]

When I scrolled through my stocking rapidly a few days ago to get a peek of what was in my stocking (I wanted to prevent myself from looking at everything until I finished leaving comments for everyone's stockings, but I wanted a little preview as a dopamine hit haha), this was the thing that jumped out immediately. I got so excited because omg young Steve and Tony (my mind jumped to AvAc, but I just realized that actually, Steve's outfit is different haha)!!!! Thank you! :D I'm going to leave a more detailed comment on AO3 because you deserve all the kudos and comments.<3

[sineala]

Hey sea! <3

I can't cook so I can't really help out with recipes, but my kitchen item tip is not to be afraid of buying unitaskers. I always used to see a lot of advice about how you shouldn't buy a kitchen tool that only does one thing because that would be wasteful, and I am here to say that those people are Wrong and you should buy a tool that only does one thing. A cherry pitter! A bagel slicer! One of those wire things that slices cheese! A bread machine! If it's something that you regularly eat, it is so convenient to have a tool that is designed for it. Also, if you don't own The Joy of Cooking, I feel like that's a must-buy just because it has So Much in it.

I've been playing a lot of the game Dicey Dungeons which is a RPG (for both Switch and computer) where everything is dice-based; you roll dice and use them to power up your attacks and so on. It's very easy to pick up the basics of it but it has a lot of additional challenges if you want to make it harder; it also exists in a bunch of languages if you have languages you'd like to practice. My favorite thing about it is that a complete game doesn't take more than about 20 or 30 minutes so it's easy to fit in a run.

The most unusual place I can think of is a tourist attraction in California that I used to go to as a kid, the Mystery Spot, which is basically a building built at a very steep angle so that when you are there you see a lot of things that appear to defy physics because your brain just kind of fills in what you would expect to see at different angles. There are a lot of photos of it on their website and the whole place really leans into the kitschy OOOH IT DEFIES GRAVITY thing and has the usual kind of tacky gift shop; a whole lot of people in the area have a Mystery Spot bumper sticker. (And if you ever visit and want to see more unusual places in the same area, you definitely should visit the Winchester Mystery House, but a lot more people have heard of that one.)

[nostalgicatsea]

Hi, sine!<3 Hey, some unitaskers are extremely handy and other tools don't compare even if you can technically use them! You know what? I think I had a bagel slicer once upon a time. I wonder if I have it around somewhere because I don't think I've seen it since I was a kid. Hm. Now I'm trying to think of the most useful unitasker I have.

The Joy of Cooking is one of the best resources there is. I have no idea if the recipes in it are actually that great because I only tried a few, most of which were baked goods or small things, but the information it has on how to prep, cook, and store stuff? Invaluable. I should try more stuff from the book.

Dicey Dungeons sounds fun and potentially addicting! :D And those California tourist attractions sound so cool. Yes, I know, touristy places are touristy, but who cares because touristy places can be FUN. I didn't know the Winchester Mystery House by name or by the video they have on their site, but once I got to the photos of the exterior of the house, I realized I somehow saw photos of it before, just without any context whatsoever and no photos of the interior. I want to go to both places and will have to put them on my itinerary if I ever find myself in CA and in the area.

[starvels]

hi nostalgic! i hope the holidays and new year have treated you well!

you mentioned you would like some good worldbuilding/plotty naruto fic recs so here are some for you, with varying pairings! may they scratch the itch:
- brilliant colors by kurgaya: Medic!Kakashi AU. A kind-of-not-really role reversal AU. Canon, what's that?
- Wildfire by daniamyte: After a wildfire, you have two options. Mourn the loss of the forest, or use the fresh soil to rebuild and heal. A story where Kakashi learns to lean on others just a little earlier, and gives Tsunade a reason to return home, Naruto and Sasuke a family, Sakura an identity, Gai peace of mind, and himself a little bit of hope for the future of the village.
- circumstance by moonvalentine: A few years after the war, they're still trying to regain their footing.
- we are not alive, we are home by dinosaur: The truth is something Sakura wraps around her own throat and uses to choke the fury in her heart to silence. The truth is, Sakura looks at Sasuke’s scarred and burned neck that Naruto’s worn, gentle hands cannot help cupping, and knows she’s not alone.The truth is, the fury in her heart dances threats and bares its teeth and - One day, someone will try and take them from her and Sakura is ready. She dares them. (a self rec 😜)

as a recommendation for easy, delicious recipes for new chefs, these have fast become staples in my life:
- healthy yummy green muffins
- green onion pancakes
- lentil & barley salad w kale and apples

and finally, a switch game rec: if you enjoy your games plotty and emotionally hard hitting as well - then i would recommend spiritfarer to you! it's an exquisitely crafted narrative based story where you ferry souls across to the afterlife. it's a beautiful game with great UI and storytelling you really fall into.

enjoy! <3

[nostalgicatsea]

I hope the holidays and new year have treated you well too! :) I LOVE IT when people share staple recipes they go to time and time again so thank you for sharing them. Other than knowing that that means the food is most likely is very delicious, I like learning about what other people enjoy whether or not I make it myself. I will, however, try all three of these things. The green muffins are so mysterious to me because I haven't had that combination of ingredients in one thing before so I can't imagine what it tastes like! I'm so curious. I loveeeee scallions and I love scallion pancakes, but I've never made crispy, flaky ones before. That salad sounds so fresh and I need to expand my salad horizons.

I bought Spiritfarer a little over a year ago, but I haven't gotten around to playing it yet. Plotty and emotionally hard hitting sounds right up my alley and I've been in the mood to game, so this might be the next game I play.

Last but not least, I'M SO EXCITED THAT YOU HAVE NARUTO RECS because this is the first time I got Naruto recs in my stocking and it's hard to find plotty fics imo. It's such a rich universe and there's so much to chew on, but it's hard to find stories that dig into all that because like a lot of fandoms, the focus is on ships (not a bad thing necessarily and that's what I read mostly back when I read Naruto fics) and there isn't an easy way to search for these type of stories. I already have Team Seven feelings reading your descriptions. I love them all. *cups them lovingly in my hands*

I can't wait to go through everything. Thank you so much!

[welcoming_disaster]

hi sea!! happy valentines day!! i hope u have a fantastic year :)

here are some book recs: i really enjoy anything by george saunders -- lincoln in the bardo is really really good, imo, and i also really liked escape from spiderhead. ted chiang always rocks my world. i also really like cuckoo song, which is kind of out of my normal comfort zone (it's on the YA side of things) but is a really cool and creepy historical fantasy. i think u'd enjoy it. :)


i don't know what languages you're learning, so this is a shot in the dark, but if you ever want to practice russian with anyone, i'm a native speaker and i'm around!! :)


i really like this shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/potionumber9?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=601724379 on etsy. the constellation necklaces have make really good gifts. <3

[nostalgicatsea]

George Saunders has been on my "authors whose works I need to read" list for years and years and years. I need to be firm with myself this year and read something by him. No excuses! The same goes for Ted Chiang. Even less of an excuse because I got one of his books and it's been sitting prettily on my shelf for...months? A year now? I need to stop buying and borrowing books so I can focus on the books I have. Cool, creepy, historical fantasy ooohhhhhhh. It's hard for me to find a YA novel that I like nowadays, but that means that I'm always open to getting personal recs from people instead of relying on hype or looking at lists of books that are popular or doing well. I haven't heard of this one so I'm looking forward to reading it.

I've wanted to learn Russian since I was a kid, so if I do pick it up, I may reach out to you to tentatively write stilted, short phrases. :'D The only thing I know, writing-wise, for Russian is the little ))))s people include in texts. Not exactly the Russian language, but still. And I learned it from a fic written by a friend who either studied abroad in Russia or studied Russian. Wow, it's been so long that I no longer remember. I should ask her again.

The Etsy shop's constellation jewelry is so pretty! I'm going to save it to check out when I have to get a gift for someone...or maybe myself. :)

I hope you have a fantastic year too, Lena!

recs for you <3

[lets_call_me_lily]

Heeeey, I suspect you're going to be too well read, but I hope that at least one of these is new to you and that you can enjoy it! They're not in any particular order, but I have tried to highlight women authors for the most part, I figure you'd appreciate that :)

sci-fi (quite a lot of AIs)
- Escape pod : the science fiction anthology / edited by Mur Lafferty & S.B. Divya (short fiction anthology)
- Vorkosigan Saga / Lois McMaster Bujold (more on the romantic space opera fiction genre, if that's a thing. She has some fantasy novels as well!)
- Wayfarers series & To be taught if fortunate (novella) / Becky Chambers
- Binti / Nnedi Okorafor (Afrofuturism)
- The Lightless Trilogy / C.A. Higgins
- The Left Hand of Darkness, The Earthsea Quartet (fantasy) or really anything at all by Ursula Le Guin, she does poetry too though I haven't read that!
- The Murderbot Diaries / Martha Wells (a series of novella, written in 1st person with a gender neutral character, I very rarely read 1ppov but these are just superb)
- Altered Carbon / Richard K. Morgan (the netflix series is based on this, cyberpunk, pretty violent - the series is too, but second season has Anthony Mackie and it's great)
- The Martian / Andy Weir (there's a good movie adaptation of this as well, if you haven't seen it. Seb Stan is there for a bit.)
- Catfishing on CatNet / Naomi Kritzer (it's getting/got a sequel - it's more YA urban fiction maybe, but with an AI?)
- Ancillary Justice trilogy / Ann Leckie (come cool gender and personhood stuff happening)

not sci-fi
- Mega Whalen Turner - The Queen's Thief series - fantasy
- Erin Morgenstern - The Night Circus - fantasy
- V.E. Schwab - The Shades of Magic series - fantasy
- Aimee Bender - The particular sadness of lemon cake - urban fantasy, completely different in tone from the rest of these but something about it stuck with me after reading it a good number of years ago, I still remember the premise even if not the actual plot XD
- James Herriot - he's a country vet that writes about his experiences, British humour
- Gerald Durrell - he's a conservationist who did a lot of animal caputring for zoos, he writes about his experiences, again British humour, you do have to go into it knowing there's some dated language.

ETA: I rambled about food a bit here in willdothefandango's comment in the end, which you might be interested in?

Have a great year 💜

Re: recs for you <3

[nostalgicatsea]

Shhhh, lore, no, there are so many books I haven't read. Even books that you think I read, I probably haven't. My list of books to read is ever growing and there are so many that have languished there for years because I keep ignoring them for whatever new and shiny thing has caught my attention at the moment.

It will delight you to know that I have read a grand total of ONE book on this big list you gave me: The Martian. As you may have assumed, part of the reason I watched The Martian movie adaptation, other than the good ratings it received and the fun trailer, was...Seb. Lol.

Oh, wait! And The Wizard of Earthsea. I read that, a book that formerly belonged to the "this book has been on the list for too many years to count...since childhood, to be embarrassingly exact" category.

So many of these books have been on my list to check out for years so I need to push myself to read them and there are some that I don't know! :o Thank you for both and for the link to the food as well. I saw shakshuka there and I love shakshuka, and everything else sounds delicious.

I hope you have a great year too, lore!<3

Re: recs for you <3

[lets_call_me_lily]

Haha, having them on your thread list totally counts! You'll get there eventually (and it means it wasn't sth new - glad that a few were!)... I've got some books that have been on the TBR list for years as well, ahaha, so I feel you!

Lol, yeah, people watching The Martian solely for Sebastian Stan wouldn't been pretty disappointed, I guess. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Thank you 💜 I'm around if you want to DM proud cooking photos or gush/complain about a book that you read

[festiveferret]

Happy stockings!!
For Switch, I highly recommend Pikmin 3 deluxe. Adorable, simple, challenging enough to be interesting but not too hard. I've probably beaten it 80 times at this point, haha. Def my fav game of all time!
Two soup recipes I love and use a lot:
https://www.hellofresh.ca/recipes/savoury-turkey-soup-5a3bd12fc2880064aa339b52

Roasted Vegetable Blended Soup:
1 baking tray’s worth of mixed vegetables and squash (tomatoes, onions, garlic, broccoli, squash, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes – anything!)
Olive oil
Butter
Stock – chicken or vegetable
Optional – milk, cream, or sour cream

Preheat the oven to 425. Peel and cut all the vegetables into large chunks. Squash doesn’t need to be peeled. Toss everything with olive oil, salt, and pepper. If you have a spice or herb mix you like, you can add it here. Faster cooking veg can be bigger chunks, slower cooking can be smaller chunks.

Roast the whole tray until the thickest vegetable is easily pierced with a fork. Varies, depending on the vegetables, but 20-45 minutes. Melt a tablespoon or two of butter in a large pot with a bit of olive oil. Add the roasted vegetables (peel the squash now if you didn’t before). Add enough stock to cover and bring to a boil.

Either use a hand blender or put in batches into a stand-up blender and blend until very smooth. Bring back to a boil. You can add a little cream or milk or sour cream while blending if you like. Blend it a little more than you think you need to and it'll get very smooth. Done!

[nostalgicatsea]

I LOVE PIKMIN 3 DELUXE! That was the first Switch game that I bought and finished, and I spent so much time binge playing it which I haven't done since I was a kid. I love the characters all so much. They're so cute. I want to play it again! And make more people play it! I want another Pikmin game to come out.

Omg SOUPPPPPPPPPPPPPP. SOUP. I love soup, but who doesn't?! These sound so good. My mouth is watering. These sound so doable, and I have most of the ingredients. I'm going to try to make them soon. Thank you, ferret! :D

[festiveferret]

Ahhh I'm such a HUGE Pikmin fan. I've loved them since the first one came out. My whole being wants Pikmin 4 right down to my soul. If they never make it, I'll never be okay.

[nostalgicatsea]

I remember seeing a picture or something of the first Pikmin game and wanted it, but I never got it. All these years later, it's nice to find out that I like it as much as I thought I would! :) I need a Pikmin 4!

[magicasen]

Hi sea! I feel like you already know how much I appreciate you but I do love having the chance to say that I love talking to you! It's SO MUCH FUN being on the same wavelength with someone else about MCU Steve/Tony - isn't it the joy of fandom to love something more the more you an share it with others? Thank you for being an awesome friend and for making me love Endgame Steve/Tony more!

About game recs, may I interest you in this visual novel called Umineko no Naku Kor-hahah, just kidding :P For real though, some casual game recs I have for casual gamers:

Tycoon games! where you build your own (insert business, city, etc. here) and try to make it as successful/thrive as much as possible! Rollercoaster Tycoon is a classic, and Planet Zoo is also a lot of fun! If you like The Sims, you'd probably like tycoon games!

I saw that Quietshade recommended Overcooked which is a fantastic and addicting game. It's also a great party game if you have multiple controllers!!

I feel like we read all the same fics but I'll try to rec some sports AUs cause I know you love them!

Pythagorean Expectation by trickdaggers - baseball! I REALLY was drawn into the world of this fic!

I've got you under my skin by sirona - Olympic swimmers AU! I loved the relationship development in this one

Happy Valentine's Day sea, and of course, I'll see you around on Twitter/Discord!

[nostalgicatsea]

MAGICCCC, thank you for the sweet words ;___;. I so appreciate having you as a friend and "isn't the joy of fandom to love something more the more you an share it with others?" YES. I love that about fandom.

Aksdjfldjflsa funny you mention Umineko. I recommended it to Quietshade because they mentioned visual novels and said you were into it. I'm going to get through it! I need to put myself on a schedule or I know I'm going to procrastinate. A little bit of Umineko per week!

Omg tycoon games were so fun and I haven't played them since I was a kid. I should get one, but Sims and tycoon games are so addicting haha. That's one of the reasons why I stayed away from buying another Sims game in addition to the one I played when I was younger.

Overcooked is so stressful but fun. :') I am terrible at it which obviously meant co-op and party playing devolved into chaos (but at least in party settings, other people also might suck so you can hide how much you suck since the suckiness gets somewhat equally distributed), but I somehow managed to get the hang of it a little bit better and it got exponentially more fun.

Thank you for the fic recs! I was thinking of sirona's fic when I tweeted about sports AUs, but I don't remember it at all so I wanted to reread it! And flewjfwaeifhwofw THANK YOU FOR THAT BASEBALL REC. I saw the summary back when it was first posted and then...forgot to check it out. I'm vibrating with excitement! The summary looks so good! Your recommendation is convincing! Also, sports rivalry is the best. And 90s baseball scene? Okay! Alright! I'm strapped in and ready to go.

Happy belated Valentine's Day and thanks again, magic. :)<333333