I believe I mentioned a while back that I rather like the idol prettyboy look of Korean pop band Super Junior. I mean, I really like the chubby nerdboy, ShinDong (check the tags), and most of the rest of the boys are pretty much interchangeable. I mean, I was going through galleries and after a while I couldn't tell them apart any more.

Here, once again is Super Junior.


Interchangeable, most of them, right?

But the lol_meme has educated me in the ways of Super Junior. I think only ShinDong and HeeChul are important, but here are the six that lol_meme informs me are important, really. (Take note of ShinDong and HeeChul's nicknames, please.)


HeeChul was the only other member of the band that I could really pick out of a lineup. This possibly has something to do with his distressingly goth pale skin and tendency to look like a girl. Lol_meme calls him "Chickdude", although Wikipedia tells me his nickname is actually "Cinderella". He is, lol_meme informs me, sassy.

( I like sassy )

I love oyakodon-- it's easy to make even when there's not much in the house and it's delicious. It's also my personal favorite Japanese dish.

This is a mildly Americanized version, mostly because this is the recipe I found when I made the stuff the first time (a victim of my bad habit of grabbing the first google link and running with it). Therefore, this is the recipe I have bookmarked, and it works well enough, so I don't complain.

I normally omit the snow peas because I don't generally have them in the house.

( Oyako donburi )

I should be finishing getting dressed and packing because I have to leave to catch a plane in half an hour, but this NEEDS going up here. Someone will probably hurt me for reccing this, since people clearly think it's good-- I found it through a link on crack_impala, which is normally where I get good fic.

But they like to recc AUs and sometimes I read them.

Title: Monogatari
Fandom: RPS (CW)
Pairing: Jensen Ackles/Jared Padalecki
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: AU, some might find racist undertones
Why are you reccing this? Like I mentioned above, this got recced as a good fic, but then I saw the note "samurai!AU". Now the idea of Jensen as a samurai appeals, I'll admit-- at least the idea of him waving around the sword in an inimitably goofy manner appeals. I like sharp objects, I like hot men. But I opened up the prologue and the bad history slapped me in the face.

The problem with writing historical AUs is that you need to know the history first-- and the fact that the author's note says, essentially "I've taken a few months of Japanese, but I know jack all about the history" says it all to me. I mean, when Japan tends to expand it usually expands out into China and Korea, seeing as how there is only a tiny strip of ocean separating them, as opposed to the Pacific. Logic, people. And she glosses over manifest destiny and the colonial settlers deciding to expand and kill everyone in their way. Yes, it's a story, she can do what she likes to history, but with a historical AU, you want it to make sense in a historical framework-- not to mention that Jared and Jensen are white. If the Japanese colonised Texas first, before the white people got a real handhold there, why would Jensen be from there at all?

Frankly the story smacks of exoticization to me-- the author wanted the boys in Japanese clothing, with extraneous "Japanese names", using fangirl Japanese (dear author, you cannot use "sama" as a title by itself. You can use "dono" that way, I think, but "sama" by itself means "manners" or "appearance".) There's something that makes me very uncomfortable, like she's trying to exploit the ethnic differences to make a conflict, that just ends up feeling, if not racist, then at least like it has some really weird race issues.

Sorry about not posting yesterday, kids. It totally slipped my mind. Next week we'll get back on track with Cassadra Wilson as the Tuesday girlspam.

I know I've been falling down on the job with my fic reccs. Partly this is because I haven't been reading much lately, and those I have are mostly parts of one series, or all of something by a particular author.

I just wanted to comment on my "badfic". I know some people take pleasure in reading Mary Sues, and in terribly written, badly punctuated stories. (Just look over at deleterius for an example. I don't mind those, but I have a hard time finding the nuggets of gold the way, say babb_chronicles do. It's just not my thing.

My badfic love tends towards these criteria:

* Well-written
I don't mind a few punctuation, grammar errors and the occasional author's note in the middle of the paragraph, but on the whole, it needs to be mostly technically correct. I'm pretty anal, and if the story is half typoes and netspeak, and I can't figure out what the author's trying to say, then I'll just give up on reading it. (I'm okay with comma splicing and parentheses abuse, mostly because I have a problem with those myself. Yes, I have a double standard.)

*AU
they're not always AU, but most of my favorites are. This probably has something to do with the most crackish badfic plots coming out of an Alternate Universe concept. AUs require a deft touch to work, because the idea is that it is a particular fictional character in a completely new setting. You can exaggerate character traits, but pushing it too far will result in badfic. Of course, not everyone will agree on what is in character by way of reaction, but if you're going to turn, say, a character who is butch as all get out in the canon into a slave-- chances are he's still not going to turn into a wuss.
My favorite badfics usually end up being the ones that just push it a little too far. Just the wrong concept, characters that are just skewed a little bit too far.

*Lack of Mary Sues
All you have to do is a quick check on the LJ interests to see how many people really like reading badfic with Mary Sues. They're everywhere and they're really easy to make fun of. Maybe it's just that they're too easy that I dislike them. But it also has something to do with the whiff of mental masturbation that's all over most Mary Sue fics. I'm sorry, I don't like to touch other people's splooge, thanks.

*Prolific
I like my badfic authors prolific. Most of them are, thank god. Even though I'll end having one or two favorites that I reread time and again because they are JUST THAT BAD that they always bring a smile to my face, I like opening up their website and seeing something new for me to sink my mental teeth in a tear apart. It doesn't even matter if they stopped producing fic years ago, as long as while they were writing they produced a large body of work for me to laugh at. Ten fics minimum, although I lower that standard if they have stories that are above, oh ten chapters. But still. I want more than one fic.

*Recommended
It makes me joyous in a guilty way to read something that everyone in fandom adores, stop and go "Wait. That's badfic." It's glorious. I'm not sure why it happens, but it does happen on a semi-regular basis-- especially in my current fandom. It's possible that I like those more because by dint of fandom's sorting methods, the Mary Sues and the completely ungrammatical stuff has already been weeded out. It's also possibly because fandom has shitty taste. Or I'm just picky. One of my favorite sporking journals, deu_sex_machina (who hasn't updated in a year, sadly), tended to focus on popular, and oft-recommended stories, to point out just how bad a lot of it is.
The major problem with this system is that some of the more current stuff that I want to put down as badfic is still circulating with accolades. It has FANS.

There you have it. I like stuff that's just the wrong side of good, which means that I'm often on the wrong side of public opinion. So if ever I get around to doing badfic reccs again, and you end up liking the story, that's why. I'm a bitch.

(Comments with reccomendations for fic good and bad, and/or possible picspam subjects are always welcome.)

Nearly forgot! Forgive me, oh interweb.

It's a little late, but here is Taye Diggs for your Monday boyspam enjoyment. (The text on the last picture is worth a read, by the way. It's pretty hilarious. And also has half-naked Taye.)

( For God's sake, keep away from the Moor! ... Wait. That's not right at all. )

I like making pizza dough from scratch. There's something about letting the yeast bubble and being able to come back in two hours to see my dough have risen to the top of the bowl. It's also amazing dorm food, because it takes about fifteen minutes to set up, and then you can go watch TV or do schoolwork and whe you come back in an hour or so all you have to do is toss toppings on and bake.

It also tastes a hell of a lot better than cafeteria pizza, trust me.

My recipe tends to change depending on what spices and flavorings are on hand-- as long as you keep the amount of salt down (it retrds the growth of the yeast) you can toss whatever you want in there. Parmasen cheese, oregano, basil, whatever. You just gotta keep a eye on how dry or wet the dough is and adjust your measurements accordingly.

Note: A lot of recipes call for honey or sugar-- these help spead the rise of the yeast, but I've never found them particularly necessary (read: I forget the sugar most of the time, ditz that I am...) Particular types of honey might affect the flavor of the pizza, so use about a tablespoon if you want to try it.

( Pizza Dough )

Meet America's Third to Next Top Model! She's got a book deal called that and everything.

Well, she's popular in CHINA, anyway. And she has a livejournal.

( Cut for big pictures and generally modely-ness. )

Trust when I say that it took forever to find enough pictures of this guy. I mean, I adore him, and his cheekbones, and his pretty, pretty mouth. But apparently no one else does, because the only pictures there are floating around are the promo shots for The Dresden Files, his current project. (Actually, according to his website, he's also guest starring in Kyle XY and Painkiller Jane, but he's a series lead in Dresden Files, and his character is as MADE of awesome as Conrad himself.)

Nothing NSFW this time, since Morgan always wears that brown suit, but the pictures are bloody ginourmous.

( Hey! TPTB! How about getting Morgan out of that suit sometime, huh? I'd pay good money... )

I finally got around to breaking my line of chocolate recipes last week. This week I'm providing a recipe that can have whatever the hell you want in it.

I found it on a British site, so I tend to play with the amounts-- usually equal amounts butter, sugar, flour and fruit, but depending on my mood and the mood of my kitchen, I might use a little more or a little less.

You can substitute the fruit with whatever you want-- chocolate chips work, or dried fruit. The spices also can stand to be amped up, if you prefer. It's a versitile recipe.

( Fairy Cakes )

Since, apparently, Chanel Iman was not pretty enough for dragon_momma, I went looking for the original model.

Supermodel, super awesome, and David Bowie's wife... the incomparable Iman.

( As usual, some of these photos may not be SFW. But they're all hot like FIYAH. )

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

As swords are in the great tragedies, ready at hand, so too does Jensen's strapping buck Dean Winchester find his hand straying to the handle of his gun when challenged.

( Gratuitous guns )

( And... a slightly different sort of shooting )

Because I love you so much, I'm posting two recipes today. Also, because they amuse me.

( Scrambled Eggs, the James Bond Way )


( Scrambled Eggs, the Nero Wolfe Way )

Chanel Iman is one of this season's hottest models-- she was in May's Vogue as one of their picks for the title "new supermodel".

One NSFW pic down near the bottom-- I feel so pervy, I think she only just turned 18 this past December. (Bad, Olive, BAD! No cookie.)

( She's so pretty! In a totally shallow, size zero sort of way. )

Okay, I admit it. I have a thing for the cast of House. Shush.

Have some Jesse Spencer now.

( Pretty blonde Aussie! )

One of these days I'll post a recipe that isn't chocolate. Today isn't that day.

I haven't yet tried to make this, mostly because it takes time and money I don't have to spare. And also, I'd need to find a substitute for ambergris, which goes for something like $10/oz



10 lb [4.5 kg] toasted cacao beens, cleaned and coarsely crushed
Fresh jasmine flowers
8 lb [3.6 kg] white sugar, well-dried
3 oz [85 g] "perfect" vanilla beans
4 to 6 oz [115-170 g] "perfect" cinnamon
2 scruples [1/12 oz, 2.5 g] ambergris

In a box, or similar utensil, alternate layers of jasmine with layers
of the crushed cacao, and let it sit for 24 hours. Then mix these up
and add more alternating layers of flowers and cacao, followed by the
same treatment. This must be done ten or twelve times, so as to
permeate the cacao with the odor of the jasmine. Next, take the
remaining ingredients and add them to the mixed cacao and jasmine, and
grind them together on a slightly warmed metate [marble slab]; if the metate be too
hot, the odor might be lost.

[The resulting dough can be divided into individual servings and should be melted in boiling water.]

Redi, Francesco "Opere". Milan: Clasici Italiani, 181. p 315
Quoted in Coe, Sophie D. and Coe, Michael D. "The True History of
Chocolate". London: Thames and Hudson, 1996

I just adore this woman way too much. Since I have five billion pictures of her, here's a few more.

Again, not particularly worksafe, although less so than the last time I posted her pictures.

( The woman is hot like burning, yo. )

Much thanks to wunkpower for suggesting Shindong.

Shindong's a singer in the Korean pop band, Super Junior. Most of the band are your standard Asian idol pretty boys, but Shindong's just so adorable, he stands out. He also, according to Wikipedia, organizes most of the group's choreography, and MCs M!Countdown with two of the other members of the band.

I like your standard Asian idol pretty boys, so you may see more of Super Junior later...

Let me give you a taste. This here is Super Junior.


One of these things is not like the others... Skinny pretty boy, skinny pretty boy, skinny pretty boy, skinny pretty boy, skinny pretty boy... Emo nerd! He's kind of adorable.

( This picspam post is not nearly as sexual as some of my others, but it's cut to save your flist, all the same. )

I'll admit to posting this recipe mostly because the name makes me think of Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles.

Gun porn and chocolate. What could be better?


2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter, more for pan and parchment paper
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, such as muscovado
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or 3/4 cup whole walnuts (optional)

( Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper. )

So it's been a while. I'm bad at keeping schedules. Hush.

This recipe can be found multiple places with varying levels of detail. This is the recipe I usually use (I prefer bittersweet chocolate chips, if I can manage-- the darker chocolate, the better it offsets the caramel's sweetness), although it's possible to add extra chocolate, or white chocolate, or nuts, depending on taste.

Chag Sameach!


4 to 6 unsalted matzahs
1 cup unsalted butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar. firmly packed
3/4 cup chocolate chips

( Preheat the oven )

Omahyra is one of the sexiest women on the planet-- note I do not say "prettiest woman", because she's not really pretty, per se. She's a little too butch for that, but that just makes her that much more sexy.

This set of photos is from the exhibition "Omahyra and Boyd" By Ellen von Unwerth. (I would do a lot to get that exhibition book...)



Omahyra in interview about the photo exhibition:

MDC: Mighty Omayhra. Break down how the book "Omhayra and Boyd" came to be. Page after page, you two are like ...reverse twins... constantly intertwined.

OM: (Applauds gleefully) I like that. Well Ellen told me she wanted to take some pictures because she had this assignment to shoot someone with lots of personality. So she calls George and asked If I would do the shoot. Of course I was like "Cool!" It was going to be something small not big and then we started shooting and she was really happy. From the very beginning it was fun. You've seen the book. It's crazy. Don't ask. It's all true. Ellen would be like. Go-go-go! We'd go backstage at the shows... To my house in Queens... To (stylist) Lysa Cooper's house... We had a great time. It was really her. It was really a vision that she had. I was there doing the best job I could and it turned out really beautifully. I really like that I have this whole book about me and my boyfriend and my sister and my friends like Renee (Dorski) and that moment in my life. It's like an album...

MDC: In black and white. By a world famous photographer...

OM: Yeah. It's just a beautiful, artistic professional look at a few days in my life. It's not like anything dirty. There are people who might ask why's there so many pictures where I'm topless or not wearing a lot but... that's just what happens when I'm with my boyfriend (lol)


( As you might be able to figure out, these aren't really SFW. )