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short story

Cat-shaped "minciunele"

Publié le par Charly C.

Hello, world! 

Today I'll share with you my results trying to make a common Romanian dessert, called "minciunele." This word means little lies and they're a type of donuts. 

As you can see from the pictures, this recipe was supposed to appear quite some time ago. In fact, i had already posted this recipe on my first blog, before i rebranded for the first time. 

When I first started blogging, I thought i'd have a cooking blog and another blog for other stuff. As we all know, things changed, and now i have this "general" blog and my site/blog dedicated to reviews, called Being Obscure, hosted by WordPress. 

The recipe goes something like this, and you can see the original recipe and results here. This is the blog dedicated to recipes for Romanian foods. The post shows you how these are supposed to look like, and you can clearly see my cats don't look as nice as the original. 

If you want to know why i chose to shape my donuts as cats, I'll add the story AFTER the recipe. I recently realized people don't appreciate too much talking BEFORE the recipe. So, without further ado, here we go!

Ingredients:
  • 500 g flour (1lb?)
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 yolks
  • 2 tablespoons of sour cream
  • 1 teaspoon of baking powder
Additional ingredients:
  • some powdered sugar for coating
  • some sunflower oil for frying; whatever other type of oil you use for frying food should also work. 
Method:
  • Beat the egg whites until they're fluffy.
  • Mix the egg yolks with the sour cream and gently fold this mix into the egg whites. 
  • Sieve the flour and the baking powder on top of the mix.
  • Gently fold these also into the mixture above, until you have a smooth dough. 

The original recipe doesn't say to let the dough rest and raise a bit, so I didn't do that. However, I think it should be done, and i think it should be at least 30 minutes. 

Roll the dough onto a sheet on the work table (about 5 mm or 2/8in thick) and cut your shapes. Of course, you can cut whatever shapes you want - i also did that. 

To cut shapes you can use cookie cutters, a glass, or directly a knife. The difference is that with the knife things will be easier and much faster, while with the cookie cutters/glass you'll need to reroll the dough. You don't want to waste all that yumminess. ;)

Fry your shapes in hot oil, over medium heat, and on both sides. If you have too many donuts and you run low on oil, add some more oil, and make sure it gets hot before you fry more donuts. 

When they're brown on both sides, remove them and place them on a plate or a bowl covered with some paper towel or (unscented, dry) paper handkerhiefs. The paper will absorb the excess oil. 

In the picture above, you can see I'm frying donuts in other shapes than cats. 

Once you're done frying all the dough, sprinkle some confectioner's sugar on top. These are always better with some of that on top. 

I never tried, but these could also be good with some chocolate or cream on top. 

Bon Appétit! Enjoy!

Why cat-shaped?

I believe that at some point in 2017, the butter we usually buy came with a little cutter. There were 3 shapes: cat, car, and i forgot what else. They were meant to help mothers make cute sandwiches for their kids, to entice them to eat and enjoy the food more. 

I got the butter that had the cat-shaped cutter. I never really used it since, but one day, when i made these donuts, Anna jokingly challenged me to make them look like cats, thinking it would be impossible for me to do so. 

The expression on her face when i pulled out the cat-shaped cookie cutter? PRICELESS! 

So, this is how you make another type of easy doughnuts. i hope you liked the story about the cookie-cutter shaped like a cat as well. 

As a reference, i have 2 more cutters for cookies: one shaped like spectacles and another shaped like lips. These are from H&M Home. I got them on sale, i think right before the SHTF last year. 

The yellow disk is a cookie or cake decorator i found in the lid of a jar of Nutella. I forgot the year. maybe 2019. 

See you next time! 

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

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The school and its headmaster

Publié le par Charly C.

Probably the only person at school who was more rich than Kay, was its headmaster, also known as Sapphire. 

Sapphire wasn't a person who you'd see on a daily basis. He was also a teacher, but his classes were only for the most gifted, as he liked to refer to his students. 

Everyone knew just how strict the school's rules were. This didn't stop people from breaking them. What not everyone knew was that Sapphire knew exactly who broke which rule. Of course, the students thought they were getting away with it.

While everyone thought their headmaster looks quite mean and is very strict, the fact that he didn't always punish the broken rules proves he's quite lenient. It was his school and his own way of doing thins, after all. 

The most often broken rules involved fortune telling using coffee grounds, pendulums and anything else that didn't have a deck form. The students were gossiping this was because Sapphire couldn't do this, however the rumor was never confirmed or infirmed.

Summoning demons, spirits or using the Ouija board were also forbidden, mostly because of how dangerous these practices are, but were also quite often performed. 

One of the main reasons for which the students were breaking the school's rules was their curiosity regarding what would happen. They were curious to see if summoning would work, as well as seeing the new punishments the headmaster had up his sleeve. They were rarely disappointed. 

They were really unfortunate if it wasn't the Headmaster coming to punish them as the other teachers were more strict than him, and we already know he wasn't always seen. 

Almost everyone knew that Sapphire had 2 large cats - one was fully white and the other fully black, going by the names of and .

His cats were the size of panthers and they looked scary enough for those who didn't expect them to be there. They lived in his office, protecting it. Of course, not just anyone could enter his office at will, but things could and did happen. To have access into his office, people would either need to be called there, or make an appointment with his secretary. 

All visitors would receive a password from her and then follow a secret passage way that was barely lit. Most intruders were those lucky enough to manage to hypnotize the secretary. 

Upon entering, you'd see a large room decorated in the Victorian style. A huge fireplace was always burning, even on the hottest summer days. This was needed because the room was otherwise freezing cold. The only source of light for the office were some candles scattered all over. 

Had there been more light in this space, you'd see dark shades of red, a big white fluffy rug on the floor, in front of the gigantic wooden desk that impressed most visitors. Sapphire likes to sit on a black leather chair that in normal light would clash in style with everything else. 

Nobody knew if the room had any windows, though at least one wall had some really heavy curtains hanging. Sapphire couldn't stand the bright daylight, so this is why he needed all this darkness. The dark hallway leading to his office was meant to adjust the visitors' eyes. 

It was common knowledge that the headmaster had his sleeping quarters above his office. Nobody ever entered that place - or so people thought. To reach this intimate area, Sapphire would climb a hidden and spiraled staircase.

What nobody knew was that Kay finally attending his school made the headmaster very happy. Not just anyone could deal with Kay's abilities. Sapphire was sure he could - or at least give his best at trying.

Footnotes:

The names of the cats are reversed: the white cat is 陰 [Yin] and the black cat is 陽 [Yang]. 

 [yin1] = ① [philosophy] negative/passive/female principle in nature ② Surname Bound morpheme ① the moon ② shaded orientation ③ covert; concealed; hidden ④ ⑦ negative ⑧ north side of a hill ⑨ south bank of a river ⑩ reverse side of a stele ⑪in intaglio Stative verb ① overcast ② sinister; treacherous

 [yang2]  ① [Chinese philosophy] positive/active/male principle in nature ②the sun ④ in relief ⑤ open; overt ⑥ belonging to this world ⑦ [linguistics] masculine ⑧ south side of a hill ⑨ north bank of a river

Head over to Wikipedia for a better introduction to YIn/Yang.

The candles in the office would never burn out. 

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

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Kay's memories

Publié le par Charly Cross

On the same bus ride, Kay was also thinking of how he met Anna, the girl next to him. His memories took him further back in time, though. He was maybe 11 or 12 when his caretaker finally took him to this school. He was supposed to start attending it at a much younger age, but he knew that some issues related to money made his caretaker push this back. It wasn’t the lack of money - they had plenty - they just didn’t want to spend as much as it was requested, greedy bastards.

Kay was happy to finally attend this school as it offered him much wanted freedom, though it wasn’t real freedom. He also saw this school also as a time off from his household and everything it meant and came with living there.

The day he was introduced to his future classmates, the only available seat was next to a very pretty girl with blond hair and big brown eyes. 

not my picture, see the end for credits/ more info.

not my picture, see the end for credits/ more info.

Kay knew a lot about the school and why he had to attend classes there. It was because no other school would be able to teach him how to use or control his abilities. And he had to control them as his frustrations with his household started to be unbearable, especially for those surrounding him. 

Not all of them had such abilities and he could easily even kill any or all of them, especially those with no skills. The live of the un-skilled wasn't easy either as they always were scared for their life. They also couldn't teach anyone how to control or use their skills. 

Kay's enrollment was delayed. Mostly because they had no idea of just how powerful he was. Just now and then they would get a glimpse of his abilities and how strong he was - but they thought he was just lucky. It mostly happened when they were pushing things too far. 

It was before he turned 10 that Kay found out his powers scare the staff. He would test himself when he was alone, in secret. Indeed tis was a form of training, but with no guidance he couldn't know much or even if he was on the right track.

He noticed that sometimes he could get things he wanted if he kept at it. But of course it wasn't enough. Learning about the school happened by accident -or so he thought- and it took a lot of effort to find out more about it. Hearing that he could improve his skills by attending sorta helped him realize why he wasn't attending: the family would lose their power over him.

This was more than enough to make him do whatever he could to convince his family that he must be enrolled. However, upon enrollment, the school was also told that he's a trouble maker and that this is why he wasn't brought here sooner. The school was supposed to supervise him at all times.

The headmaster of the school ensured Kay's guardians they'll keep a close eye on him, just as instructed. However this was partially a lie due to the many rules the school had and not enough staff to enforce them. 

It didn't take Kay too long to see that many rules were constantly broken with no repercussions. The most important of them however, were followed to the T. Breaking those could mean getting expelled, even for the most talented or the most rich. 

Kay arrived at the school, his future home for a while, on a Friday evening. This gave him plenty of time to learn more about the school until Monday morning when he had his first class. 

© Charly Cross 2013 - present. All rights reserved.

If you want to learn more Chinese characters, go to archchinese.com. They own the copyrights for the image.

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Purple chokers

Publié le par Charly Cross

It was a long cold winter night. It started to snow for a couple of hours already - the first snow of the season, but it wasn't enough to cover the ground.

In the bus stop, a couple was sitting on the bench waiting for their bus. They were waiting already for 30 minutes but thankfully they weren't cold as they were dressed well. The girl was wearing a dark colored puffy jacket that reached her knees. The hood was pulled over her hair and she was resting her head on the guy's shoulder. His jacket was light in color and he was playing a game on his console. The hands that were closest were swirled together - a sign of their affection.
 
They were the only ones waiting for the bus that seemed to never come. They weren't in a hurry to reach their destination as they were comfortable there sitting like that. However things would change as soon as their ride arrived, but it was OK because they'd still be together.
 
After what seemed to be an eternity, an old bus arrived and stopped. The middle doors opened, the couple got on.  In reality, just ten to fifteen minutes more passed and that bus wasn't even supposed to be there.
 
The couple went to the back of the moving box and sat on 2 chairs in the same pose as on the bench. Their ride was fast, faster than the human eye could see, but our couple didn't seem bothered - perhaps they didn't notice? Or maybe it wasn't that fast to begin with.
 
They were wearing identical purple leather chokers around their necks, but you couldn't see them due to their clothes. The girl felt chocked by hers, even after all the time she wore it and had it enlarged. The guy was also feeling choked, however they were bearing with the sensation for they were together. They knew that those who made them wear these accessories, knew better ... however the girl still didn't want any of it.
 
She started thinking of how she met her Partner several years back. It was at school. A school she didn't remember anything about, let alone how come she was attending it. One day she woke up in his bed with no recollection of anything from the previous night or anything else from the past. Since that morning till present day she tried really hard to recollect anything, but the few figments of broken images her brain showed her made no sense at all.
 
Those images were of her making clothes with a bunch of people she couldn't recognize, and she had the feeling that they were way behind with the project - or was it a custom order for the next day? The images showed her worried faces and everyone hurrying up to make patterns and to sew - but what was that all about?
 
Her Partner was a rather popular guy at school, even among the teachers for he was very skilled. This meant he could break or bend though rules here and there with no (bad) consequences. He could even save other students from severe punishments if he could benefit from it later on. But was she really attending that school? wasn't she too old for it? The reality of her life starting that morning showed her something else.
 
That morning she woke up because he was softly kissing her. She later learned that whenever he wanted her to wake up in the morning or after any nap, he would gently kiss her, or nibble on her fingers or ears. She quickly noticed that despite the kisses being very sensual, nothing more than that had happened - they were still dressed on.
 
She was feeling bloated, so she needed to find a restroom quite fast. She then heard herself saying "I'm sorry, I'm not in the mood when I get my period..." These words made him stop the kisses, and he moved away - he knew better than to continue with anything whenever any girl was experiencing those few days every month. He answered something, but her current state of mind prevented her from hearing or understanding his words. Yet, she replied: "I'll take care of it, just wait here - I'll return as fast as I can."
 
She went out of the tiny apartment only to see she was on some grounds that looked like a campus. It was very early in the morning and there was no person around to see her, as far as she could tell. "Good," she thought to herself. Her legs took her to what it looked like a public bathroom complete with showers, bath tubs, and toilets.
 
She checked herself in the mirror -  a blond young looking girl with fair skin was looking back at her. She had big brown eyes and her hair was past her shoulders, no bangs, and needed to be brushed. She wasn't very tall but she wasn't short either, and she was thin. Her full lips looked chapped - she was dehydrated.
 
The bathroom had all sorts of instructions and rules plastered over its walls, and they were indicating the places with clean towels, new toothbrushes, as well as any other supply you could need. Instructions on what to do with the used items were also posted. She happily followed all of them to clean and arrange herself.

Having finished in the bathroom, she wanted to go back to the only location she currently knew in this place. However, she managed to get lost and to end up in the kitchen. This is when she did remember she was supposed to return to the apartment with a glass of water. She had no idea how would she accomplish this since everything seemed to belong to other people who she currently didn't know.

Luckily for her, some other girls showed up there, and they seemed both surprised and happy to see her there. She asked about the water and told them about her memory loss, and one of them was happy to show her around and to help her get some water. However she still had to figure out how to go back.

Except, HE appeared out of nowhere with a puzzled face, telling her “There you are! I was beginning to worry! Let’s go!” One of the girls in the group hearing this, became really annoyed, and also started to talk to her “Don’t even think about Kay - he’s mine as I saw him first!” Our girl was very shocked hearing this, and thought to herself <You can go ahead and have him, what do I care?!> however, before she could say these words out loud, she felt a pain in her chest, so she didn’t say anything anymore.

A group of guys also came, and they started to tease (or did they really mean it?) the guy called Kay “HAHA! You KNOW you’re not supposed to sleep together - they’ll kick you out for sure this time, if they find out! HAHA!”

“Kick us out? But he’s rich and he paid to have all the privileges!” our girl heard herself saying. Kay didn’t see this one coming, so he couldn’t stop her, even though she was quite right. He only decided to tell the new guys in a dry voice “Mind your own business!” and then to our girl “Anna, let’s go to class, I have your stuff.”

“So my name is Anna ... It’s a pretty name ...” she said to herself in a very low voice.

The next thing Anna knew was that she was in a classroom, trying to take notes. There were many students attending this first class, and the teacher was a middle aged lady. The teacher was pointing out the most important parts of today’s lesson. The classes ran one after the other, and each one seemed more and more weird for our amnesiac Anna.

After the last class of the day, everyone was preparing to leave. In the exit hall, there was a pretty long  table covered with a perfectly white cloth.  There were many students waiting, but very few were leaving. Some of them would place on the table what looked like a choker or some sort of jewelry. Another student, usually of the opposite gender, would pick it up and put it on and then they would leave with the person placing the item on the table. The one laying the item down was also wearing an identical piece.

Anna couldn’t see Kay anywhere, and she felt as if she had to wait for him. Or was it because he was the one bringing her here, she hoped he would take her back as well? She didn’t have to wait for too long to find out: Kay did come, and did place a choker on the table as well. He was now waiting for her to pick it up. She reluctantly did, and she tried putting it on, despite not having a clear idea of what it meant.

She couldn’t really operate the clasp on it. “Can you help me?” she turned to Kay, only to see him showing her that he only wrapped it around his fist. She copied him, and they were able to leave as well. On their way back, she started to look at the item on her fist: it was purple with some silver decors on it and she expected his to be the same. She heard him say “You know we can wear these things on our wrists too, right?”

Her reply was a short one “Oh...”

Anna was now thinking about her memory loss, about her current life, and what she should do from now on. In the end she decided that at least for now, this life was rather enjoyable, and she felt as if nothing could hurt her. In any case, it was far better than trying to make clothes at the very last minute.

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A gunshot in the night [short story]

Publié le par Charly Cross

The incident happened shortly after 1AM, on a Monday. The noise was very loud, sharp and it scared the small and usually quiet community we're in.

The night was quiet as most residents were either seniors or needed their rest for another long week in the office, starting the morning. A very loud BANG! was heard in the night, similar to the sound of a gun getting shot in the movies. After that, everything went quiet again.

Here, nobody owned a gun, nor did people know if the others owned one. This also meant they had no idea where the sound came from. If you managed to get close enough to anyone in the community, you'd also learned they would even speak about such details because it wasn't in their nature to do so, especially since guns were taboo.

Mrs. and Mr. 月山 were also asleep at the time of the loud BANG! but the noise woke them up: it sounded so close to their house.

"What was that?!" they wondered looking confused one at the other. They knew that the occupants of the house nearest theirs, were not in town. Or at least they were supposed to have left some 2 days earlier. They were over the moon because apparently they had won a 5-night getaway, from a TV contest. They were heard saying the trip was to an area well known for their hot-springs, at a really nice but not overly expensive ryokan. According to their calculations, they had yet to return.

A young couple from abroad lived across the street, so technically still close enough to the 月山* house. They seemed like nice people, spoke little and broken Japanese. Some residents were scared of them simply because of the language barrier and other misunderstandings that came with it. Others feared the foreigners because of their cute tattoos, however they never gave the impression of being violent people or the kind to carry guns.

However that night Someone pulled the trigger of a gun and it was still Somebody who called the police.

At around 2AM the police lights and sirens started to fill this quiet neighborhood. An ambulance also arrived, though two more were on their way to the crime scene. When something like this happened, TV station crews usually appeared as well, but maybe this time they will stay away. Or will they?

The doorbell of the house where the 月山 lived rang sharply in that quiet darkness. Voices soon followed: "We're sorry to disturb you, we're the police..." Of course the couple expected them to come to their house. Mr. 月山 went to open the door, just like any other good citizen would.

"But was that really the sound of a gun being shot?" he wondered.


©Charly Cross. dec 2017**. All rights reserved.

footnotes:

*月 [Japanese: tsuki; Chinese: yue4] =moon, month 

山 [Japanese: yama; Chinese: shan1] =mountain 

**written in December 2017, published in March 2018 

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