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Emachinescat

@emachinescat

She/her. Forever obsessed with Merlin, MacGyver, Doctor Who, Magnum PI, Tales of Arcadia, ATLA, New Girl, and Psych. I write fan-fiction and take requests. I also do weekly fic recs and reblog lots of fandom things. Search #emcatwrites for my fics.
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dear-ao3

best brownies in the known universe (at least, according to my grandma)

some year and a half ago when i was getting ready to move out i combed through all the family recipes that lay lost to time and one of the ones that i found was my grandmas brownie recipe. idk where she got it from (nor can i ask cause she has dementia) and its a printed out email she sent to my mom in june 2000. but by george these the best brownies i have ever tasted. would she be pleased that i am sharing this recipe with my vast following? absolutely.

YOU WILL NEED:

5 tablespoons butter (unsalted) 1 ounce unsweetened baking chocolate (or as much as your heart desires) 2/3 cup unsweetened good cocoa powder 1 cup sugar (white) (superfine preferred, normal works fine) 1 cup sifted white flour (can use gluten free) 1/2 teaspoon baking powder as much cinnamon as your heart desires (your heart needs to desire at least some cinnamon. its essential to the recipe) 3 egg whites 1 egg splash of vanilla extract (again, non negotiable step!)

preheat your oven to 325 degrees. grease a square baking pan (9x9 preferably).

in a small saucepan over medium heat melt the butter and baking chocolate. while that is melting, sift together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon into a small bowl. once the butter and chocolate is done melting add the cocoa powder and cook it together for 1 minute. add in the sugar and stir. it will get very thick. this is correct.

set that aside to cool. while thats cooling take a large bowl and put in your egg whites, egg and vanilla. beat it up with preferably a whisk but you can use a fork if youre fresh out of whisks. once the chocolate is cool enough to not scramble your eggs dump it in the eggs and mix it together. add the flour in gradually and keep mixing until its smooth and happy.

spread into your greased baking pan. put it in the oven for EXACLTLY 18 MINUTES. very crucial step. they will come out slightly under done. that is what we want. as they cool they will continue to cook in the pan. we dont want them to get hard and sad. they are not good when they are hard and sad. do not overbake them. you will be sad.

slice them up and as the official last step on the original recipe says: EAT ENJOY AND MAKE MORE! (theyre very good with mint chocolate chip ice cream)

ARE THESE FUDGY CHEWY OR CAKEY PLEASE THIS IS IMPORTANT

FUDGY !!!

RECIPE IN GRAMS cause it was bugging me, op i hope you dont mind (i did the math but any correction is welcome yall)

70g unsalted butter (there's salted?? the things i learn on here)

28g+ baking chocolate (google tells me this is a chocolate bar that has little to no sugar in it and no its not the same as dark chocolate)

65g unsweetened cocoa powder

200g extrafine white sugar (or granulated sugar if you must. This is *not* powdered sugar btw. powdered sugar has a different cup-to-grams ratio. Id never heard of extrafine sugar before but i went on a google rabbit hole and yeah it exists here too lol)

120g white flour

2,8g baking powder (lets make this 3g yall we're all gonna eyeball it anyway cmon)

Cinnamon (to taste, at least a little bit is needed for real tho)

3 egg whites

1 egg

A splash of vanilla extract

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Preheat oven to 160-165Β°C (325Β°F is technically 162,7 but ehhh you do you)

Grease a square baking pan (23x23cm or as close as you can get i guess)

Follow OP's instructions

Bake for 18 minutes on the dot

NOW IN GRAMS!!!

for real tho everyone saying they want to make these as graduation treats/study snacks is warming my heart my grandma is a big fan of academia and worked at a bookstore for several years she would love to know her brownies are making their way around as study motivation

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fellshish

Posting the final chapter of a fic is always a mixture of sadness that it’s over but also pride that you made it. You wrote a thing nobody else in the world has written ever

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A Year in (Book) Review: My 2024 Reading Journey πŸ“š

Historical fiction / 317 pages / published 2023 / Finished Jan. 16

One Sentence Review: This book is the whole package - interesting, exciting, educational, and highly entertaining - as we experience the Titanic's doomed voyage through the eyes and curiosity of Nielsen's sassy (as always) protagonist.

Quotes of Note

"... there are times in life when we each must live for something greater than ourselves."

*

"But of course, the Titanic itself was arrogant, a challenge to the heavens and everything below it, and to nature itself."

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"I believe now that the Titanic has 2,224 stories to be told. It also has one single story, to be told 2,224 times. That is the story of courage, of compassion, and of heroism. That is the story of life."

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"If I can see the help that is needed and know how to give that help, then I have found the piece of the world that was meant for me to repair."

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"I wanted to carry a lighter burden. Instead, I was given stronger arms."
My rating: 5/5

More thoughts after the break (spoilers)!

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guildenstern

unfortunately no eclipse photography can ever outdo the waffle house one from 2017

i don't even know who took this pic. the only person who claims to know the photographer was this person who uploaded it to reddit without naming them. it just adds to the mystery of it

I know this photo!

This is a picture Nick Martino took outside a waffle house in Tennessee in 2017. It's still up on his Instagram page.

Finally a good fucking source

PRETTY

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fellshish

The devastating difference between how much time it takes to write something vs how fast people read it lol

you're falling in the trap!! it will be read by many people, many times, and it will live on in their memories. and maybe no single other human will match you in time spent dedicated to your story, but as a collective we will outlast you. acts of creation only grow when they are shared

This. Writing is not like dinner. It can be consumed many times

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A Year in (Book) Review: My 2024 Reading Journey πŸ“š

Fantasy / Chronicles of Narnia #7 / 129 pages / published 1956 / Finished Jan. 16 (reread)

One Sentence Review: The fact that C.S. Lewis was able to write a terrifying but beautiful allegory of the book of Revelation that is not too difficult to understand is impressive enough, let alone that he wrote it for children - a thoroughly impressive feat!

Quotes of Note

"But courage, child: we are all between the paws of the true Aslan."

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"I have come home at last! This is my real country! I belong here. This is the land I have been looking for all my life, though I never knew it till now."

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"'The dream is ended: this is the morning.' And as he spoke he no longer looked to them as a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were as great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning."

*

"There is a kind of happiness and wonder that makes you serious. It is too good to waste on jokes."
My rating: 4/5

Additional thoughts after the break (spoilers)!

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A Year in (Book) Review: My 2024 Reading Journey πŸ“š

Fantasy / Chronicles of Narnia #6 / 176 pages / published 1953 / Finished Jan. 15 (reread)

One Sentence Review: From the peak of giant mountains to deep within the earth, The Silver Chair takes readers on a journey through all levels of Narnia and reminds us with poignant allegory of our responsibility in the fight against evil.

Quotes of Note

"'You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you,' said the Lion."

*

"Crying is all right in its way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do."

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"Courage, friends ... whether we live or die, Aslan will be our good Lord."

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"'Yes,' said the Lion in a very quiet voice, almost (Jill thought) as if he were laughing. 'He has died. Most people have, you know. Even I have. There are very few who haven't.'"
My rating: 4/5

Additional thoughts after the break (spoilers):

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A Year in (Book) Review: My 2024 Reading Journey πŸ“š

Fantasy / Twisted Tales #8 / 363 pages / published 2019 / Finished Jan. 14

One Sentence Review: A surprising contender for one of my favorite books in the series, Straight on Till Morning takes the focus off of Pan - and the patriarchy - and puts it on Wendy and Tinkerbell, and it reminds us that Neverland will always have monsters as long as the real world stays broken.

Quotes of Note

"She didn't need to see her scars to know that they were real."

*

"There was no room for weakness or second thoughts in a hero, and if nothing else, Wendy had to be the hero of her own soul."

*

"She felt a little stirring of self-recrimination: Why hadn't she even thought things like this before? Why hadn’t she even noticed the invisible prison she was in? 'Because,' she told herself gently, 'I've never been able to fly before.'"

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"Are things broken here? Save this world. Then go back to your own broken world and fix it. Perhaps we shall be mended as well."

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"'Do as thou wilt,' Slightly quoted back at her. 'We wiln't.'"
My rating: 5/5

Additional thoughts after the break (spoilers)!

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A Year in (Book) Review: My 2024 Reading Journey πŸ“š

Fantasy / Chronicles of the Avatar #4 / 336 pages / published 2023 / Finished Jan. 11

One Sentence Review: Even better than its predecessor, Legacy enriches the world and history of the Avatar world even further, ties up all loose ends, mends the rifts that were so distressing to me in the first book, expands the political complexities of the world, and gives all characters a satisfying ending.

Quotes of Note

"Everyone wanted to write history, but there was only so much ink to go around."

*

"Maybe the world, blithely dancing along the precipice, needed to know what it was like to fall."

*

"You are so deep in my pocket, you're covered in lint."

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"The true mind could weather illusions without being lost. The true heart could touch poison without being harmed."

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"The work would wait for you, no matter the ragged tear in your spirit. Work would be a lover in your bed as you wept, ever present and steady, cradling you when you woke up soaked in your sweat, unsure of how long you'd lost consciousness. You still have me. You always have me."
My rating: 5/5

More thoughts after the break (spoilers)!

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A Year in (Book) Review: My 2024 Reading Journey πŸ“š

Fantasy / Twisted Tales #7 / 285 pages / published 2019 / Finished Jan. 9

One Sentence Review: If I wanted to watch Frozen, I'd turn on Disney Plus - and no, I won't let it go!

Quotes of Note

"After a storm comes the sun."

*

"If only she embraced the beauty in her life and the magic she'd been gifted - gifted, not cursed with! - then she could move mountains. Or at least thaw out the countryside."

*

"The mountain was a kingdom of isolation, and it looked like she was the queen ... The cold never bothered her, anyway."

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"A memory of love had led her to create a walking, talking snowman."

*

"'It's true,' Olaf chimed in. 'Elsa wasn't happy about her hair. They wanted her to wear it up, and she said, 'Olaf, should I wear it down?' And I said, 'I don't have any hair.' He pointed to the twigs on his head."
My rating: 2/5

More thoughts after the break (spoilers)!

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