Virtual Trick-or-Treating

[rsadelle]

Happy Halloween! Welcome to the tenth annual edition of virtual trick-or-treating. Can you believe it's been ten years?



Knock or ring the bell by leaving me a comment, and I'll reply with a treat of some sort. It might be a fic snippet, a picture, a song, or something else I come up with in the moment. My intention is to post all treats before I go to bed on Halloween. Lurkers and anonymous trick-or-treaters are welcome! (But if you're posting anonymously or with a DW account that is completely friends-locked and you want a treat specific to your interests, let me know something about why you know me.)

(Not my actual door. Photo by Flickr user Mandee Johnson, used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license.)

Comments

[lakeeffectgirl]

hello I am early!

[dine]

I am also early!

I like that very vivid red door - it's different from the one you'd used in prior years (which I thought was so attractive)

[rsadelle]

For you, a snippet:

Eleanor's quiet on the drive home, staring out the window and thinking. When they get into the house, she puts on the kettle while Louis feeds the dogs.

While the tea's steeping, she says, "I think we should talk about Anthony."

Louis pulls a packet of biscuits out of the cupboard. "What about him?"

"The way you are with him," she says slowly, picking her words carefully. "The way he is with you. It's really-" She pushes her hair back. "It's pretty, like, kinky."

Louis puts the biscuits down and crosses his arms across his middle. "Come on, El. You know better than anyone that I'm straight."

"I know that." Eleanor puts her hands on his arms. "I know. I'm not talking about sex."

"Then what are you talking about? And what do you know about it anyway? I thought you said that 50 Shades book was shit."

"It is shit," Eleanor says. "But when we were apart, we both did new things, right? You had Freddie and I experimented with, like, kinky things. A little bit."

Louis takes a step back. "You never told me that."

"Because it turned out it wasn't really my scene," Eleanor says, "and I didn't think it would be yours either."

"It isn't."

Eleanor takes a deep breath. "The way you are with Anthony, it reminds me of how some of the people I met were when they were, like, dominating people."

"I'm his mentor." Louis takes another step back. "That's all."

"I know you are," Eleanor says. She's not explaining it right. "I don't know how to explain it. It just feels more like the way people were than just that. And," she goes on before he can say anything, "that can really mess people up if you don't do it right."

"I would never hurt him."

"I know you would never mean to." Eleanor takes a step toward him. "But you could without trying to. I know you, and I know it would tear you up inside if you did that."

"You think that could happen?" Louis worries at the arm of his hoodie. "You think I could hurt him?"

"Not on purpose." Eleanor takes another step toward him. "He hasn't even been sober for a year. He probably doesn't know his own limits. You're going to have to pay attention to figure them out." She steps all the way up to him and puts her hands on his arms. "You're good at taking care of people, I know how good you are at that. I think this could help you take care of him."

Louis looks at her hands on his arms. "I don't want to sleep with him. He doesn't want to sleep with me." He looks up. "Right?"

"I think he would," Eleanor says carefully. "I think he would do just about anything for you." She slides her hands down his arms. He lets her take his hands in hers and unfold his arms. "Please, just let me find some stuff for you to read about it, okay?"

Louis leans his forehead against hers. "You really think I need that?"

She rubs her thumb across the back of his hand. "I think it'll help you keep him safe." She smiles softly. "I like Anthony, but I love you, and I don't want anything to hurt you."

Louis steps away from her to pour their tea. "I'll read one thing, okay?"

Eleanor presses against his back and wraps her arms around him. "Okay. Thank you."

[rsadelle]

Happy Halloween! I've actually used a different door photo every year, but they've been similar styles up until now. I decided that the tenth anniversary was a good time for something completely different.

I realized that I don't actually know your musical taste! So here are five songs I've been enjoying recently-ish, and maybe you'll enjoy one or more of them:

This is a gorgeous voice and piano version of a song from The Greatest Showman that I've become enamored of since I saw her perform it on the UK version of The X Factor (which I'm watching for fannish reasons) the week before last.

The fannish reasons I'm watching that show are related to One Direction, so here's a song of theirs I'm currently listening to over and over again because it's fun and catchy.

Brandy is really more of an it was cool again last year song, but I'm including it so I can mention that if I'd gotten assigned to it for Yuletide last year, I would have written a story where Brandy is some sort of land witch or earth elemental tied to the port.

I love this song because it's musically and lyrically warm and fluffy like good kidfic.

And because I would never want to let you down, this is a perfect Halloween-appropriate song.

[j_crew_guy]

Trick or treat! Happy Halloween!

(Feels appropriate to do this on the porch while handing out candy.)

[rsadelle]

Happy Halloween! How fun to trick-or-treat while also greeting trick-or-treaters.

For you, a slightly modified and annotated version of the Babycakes recipe for vegan, gluten free lace cookies which Erin McKenna (the Babycakes cookbooks author) calls "the Stevie Nicks of cookies - all spun around, precious, and ethereal!"

The key thing about this recipe is to make only a fraction of it because the full recipe makes A LOT of cookies. The last two times I've made these, I only made a 1/4 of a recipe, which made 18-20 cookies.

1 3/4 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup arrowroot
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp salt
1 cup melted refined coconut oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, arrowroot, baking soda, xanthan gum, and salt. Add the coconut oil, applesauce, and vanilla and stir (the original recipe says with a rubber spatula - I just use a regular kitchen spoon) until fully incorporated.

Drop the dough by the teaspoon (I use an actual teaspoon measuring spoon) onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Bake for 15 minutes, or until the edges are browned and the center is cooked through. Let stand on the baking sheets for 15 minutes before serving. You can also bake them slightly longer if you like a crispier cookie.

I haven't experimented with these a lot, but the batch I made for a party this week reminded me that I want to try using a little less oil next time - the original recipe calls for the Bob's Red Mill All-Purpose flour, which I think absorbs oil differently. You can leave out the xanthan gum if you use the 1-to-1 flour because it has xanthan gum in it, although I forgot that this time and put in the xanthan gum, and I think they came out better. I also always bake things about ten degrees higher than the recipe calls for, but I haven't figured out if there's something about my oven (I did get an oven thermometer, which says the temp in the oven is the same as what the settings say it is) or if I just like my baked goods a little more done than recipes call for.

[lakeeffectgirl]

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAah

yes

[rsadelle]

♥ ♥ ♥

[dine]

I didn't know they were all different doors - I was firmly convinced that I'd seen one several years running (it was a very attractive door) - but the vivid contrast on this is pretty stunning.

my musical tastes are generally pretty catholic - I like almost everything, though generally avoid more modern country, free-form jazz and modern 'Christian' music (I'm a huge fan of classical religious works and many traditional hymns), so getting a chance to explore other people's faves is great!

I'm only vaguely aware of The Greatest Showman's storyline, and hadn't heard any music from it - This Is Me was an enjoyable show tune and Settle has a very good voice

omg, Brandy took me back! I recall that from when it was first popular, playingon the radio when I was teenager, and could still sing along with every word.

I wasn't at all familiar with Wonderful Unknown; I like her voice, andyour description nailed the feeling of the song really well

because of fandom, I'm obviously familiar with One Direction as a group, but don't listen to much beyond NPR on the radio, so can't say I've heard a ton of their songs (except a handful used in songvids) - this one is catchy. oh great, I've found something else I want to check out, once it's defunct and gone *g*

thanks for the hint on the last one - at least I was prepared to be rickrolled!

[rsadelle]

They've all been red! And mostly against a neutral/beige-ish background.

I haven't seen The Greatest Showman either, but I enjoyed this song so much that I checked it out from the library to watch this weekend.

:) I couldn't resist the rickroll!