Thorn Wilde

This is super easy! All you need is fresh garlic, butter and a little bit of parsley (fresh is better, but dried is just fine). Ingredients: 50 g butter 1 clove of garlic 1 tsp chopped or dried parsley 1. Soften the butter. If you use a spreadable butter that's part cooking oil you can skip this step, but don't use milk free butter replacements if you can help it; they tend not to melt as nicely on the bread. 2. Press the garlic in a garlic press and add it to the butter. 3. Add the parsley. 4. Stir vigorously so it's nice and soft and creamy. Multiply amounts as needed. Serve on warm bread. Freshly baked or toasted both work fine. Or you can make garlic bread by taking a french baguette (I used a half sized whole grain one), slicing it diagonally but not all the way through—you want it to still hold together—and spreading garlic butter in the crevices. Heat in the oven at 200*C for about five minutes, until the bread is warm and the butter melted.

Serves 3-4 people Preparation time: approximately 30 minutes Ingredients: 250 g salmon, diced 2 carrots, sliced 1-2 sticks of celery, sliced 1 leek, sliced 150 g muscles or other seafood of choice (optional) 1 litre fish stock 300 ml cream 2 tbs sour cream (fat content depends on country, I find; you'll want at least 18% fat) butter or cooking oil fresh dill black pepper 1. Chop up all your ingredients and heat some butter or oil to medium heat in a cooking pot. 2. Gently fry the salmon for a couple of minutes, until it's pink on all sides. Add more fat if it's getting stuck to the bottom. If you're using additional raw seafood, add this now as well. 3. Add the vegetables, and let fizz for a couple of minutes, just so they get a bit of a cooked surface. This stops them getting mushy. 4. Add the stock and bring to boil. 5. Add cream and sour cream and bring to boil again. Then turn down the heat and let the soup simmer until the carrots are getting soft. 6. Add muscles towards the end. Usually, if they come out of a tin, these are already cooked and only need heating. 7. Add pepper and fresh dill to taste. For me, this means ALL THE DILL!!! Serve with some tasty bread on the side! If you're feeling brave and aren't planning to kiss anyone, try my Very Garlicky Garlic Butter. You can experiment by adding different vegetables and more types of fish and seafood, for instance halibut, shrimp or scallops. You'll want to use slightly fatty fish, though. Low-fat fish like cod doesn't tend to go well with the creaminess of the soup. If you want a pink soup, you can add a couple of tablespoons of tomato puree along with the cream and the sour cream, which is also very tasty.

Here's a video of the speech mentioned in MJ's post above. I found it in my Facebook feed today, figured I'd share. I don't care one bit about the NFL, but this is a very good speech. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olc5C4SXAYM

Yes, but who knows what sort of monster Austin might grow into? Better the devil you know than the devil you don't, I say...

I for one am a fan of facial hair. May have something to do with all these positive male role models I had growing up being bearded. My dad, my granddad, my stepdad, uncles, friends of my parents that I liked... I think I instinctively trust a man with a neat beard. Can't grow one myself, though, sadly... Oh yeah, and the advert was super sweet and adorable and gave me warm, fuzzy feelings!

It might as well have been. They found it in the sewers under Kingston. It was on the Big Fat Quiz of the Year.

Well, I don't know about you, Zombie, but tend to sign every petition I come across and have been to more than a few demonstrations in my time. Russia is on everyone's mind right now, though, due to the Olympics, and it seems a shame not to take advantage of that. Also, I know people in Russia. I have Russian friends, and I want them to be able to live in an enlightened country where people don't have to hide who they are. As such, Russia becomes important to me. There's also the issue that if Russia continues down this path, it's a slippery slope to criminalising homosexuality entirely, and where Russia goes many formerly Soviet states and other Eastern European countries may well follow. I want this shit out of my backyard so I can focus on what goes on down the street.

Very much agree with regards to the 'all the guys are gay!' trope, Cia. Though sometimes it can be hard if you want to create some romantic conflict, not to at least make the inner circle a little extra gay... I stopped myself before it went too far in Nemesis. Aside from my main guys, there's one guy who's bi and one who's gay and they're in a relationship with each other.

I think this can be a cultural thing... In certain cultures, perhaps particularly in Europe, using negative words about people close to you is sometimes used as a term of endearment. I often call some of my closest friends 'bitch', for instance. Hell, my friend Leo and I express affection for one another by hitting each other and giving each other the finger... It's not about putting people down. It's more a matter of being so close to someone that no amount of insult can tear you apart. Maybe I'm romanticising, but I think the term fag hag can easily be used in the same way. I kind of deal with both these issues in Nemesis 2, actually. Dave's new friend Mandira tells him off for referring to certain types of girls as bitches. Dave is not above calling Mandira his fag hag very occasionally, and she takes it as a compliment, but he is furious when he finds that other people have been referring to her as that. In the end, Mandira is not above calling the girls who have been bullying her over her friendship with Dave bitches either. But then, when you're 16-17 years old, there are limits to your idealism and forgiveness. And sometimes, as writers, we must sacrifice some of our own ideals for the sake of realism.

No, but I do have several Doctor Who t-shirts, including one that says, 'The Angels Have the Phone Box'.

It isn't; I watch it on the iPlayer through mysterious means...

Personally, I'm boycotting the olympics this year. Sadly, the gay rights aspect isn't even the worst of it. There's corruption at the very heart of the whole thing, more than a third of the money spent is unaccounted for, and guest workers from Kazakstan had their passports stolen by their employers and were deported without getting paid. Basically, the whole thing stinks. But given the nature of this website, the LGBT issue is the most relevant, so I thought I'd share this little thing I found. To Russia With Love is a sort of petition. The site's subtitle reads, 'Say no to abuse of basic human rights. Let's paint Russia in rainbow colours and tell Putin the world supports equality.' If you click 'read more', you'll find the following text: At time of writing, there are 263583 supporters who have painted 21.9% of the map. You don't have to give them your e-mail address or even your name. You simply fill in your age, gender (with options 'trans' and 'other' available) and country, and then you've filled in a tiny square on the map. It's pretty neat. I don't know whether it actually does and good, but with any luck it raises awareness, and in any case it shows solidarity with Russian members of our community. And it only takes thirty seconds, so if you've already read this whole post, you might as well. To Russia With Love

I resent the implication that The Musketeers is trash TV! That's top class historical drama, right there, even if there is an over abundance of hot guys and leather...

Thank you so much for the nominations!! Much love! And good luck, everyone! Every nomination is well deserved.

Christopher Isherwood. He wrote, among other things, A Single Man, which was made into a film with Colin Firth a couple of years back. He was also mates with W.H. Auden, famous gay poet.

YOU DO THIS TOO??? OMG, I thought I was the only one and was just really weird!! EDIT: My parents have a bidet. My mum uses it to wash her hair. Also, I second Gene Splicer's comment about baby wipes. They're the best thing ever!

Welcome, Aaron!!

Thank you. That really means a lot. <3

Sure you can. If I don't watch it, they get lower ratings. They get less ad revenue. Since Sochi is already the most expensive Olympics ever, that matters.

They exist... They're just usually not Americans. Minus the singing, Emma Watson of Harry Potter fame comes to mind. Daniel Radcliffe, too. Maisie Williams who plays Arya on Game of Thrones is looking to turn out okay. Christian Bale was a child actor, too. He's turned out all right. And Jodie Foster. These are all actors and not pop stars, though. To be totally fair, though, Miley Cyrus is doing pretty well for herself. Say what you will about her, shall we say, artistic choices, but at least she's not crashing cars or going to rehab. All things considered she's doing all right with the whole child-adult star transition.

What a beauty! I used to want a tarantula... I guess in a way I still do, but Magpie would dump me and kick me out if I brought one home.

That's so last decade... The Swedish made these little guys in 2004: http://www.kissochbajs.com

Saw this on the news last night. Very sad. He was a truly great actor.

The story is very much about both of them. Nick hasn't had an easy life. With his dad walking out and his mum going crazy, and no friends to speak of, Zoë is the only person he's ever been able to rely on. As such, trust doesn't always come easy to him. Thanks for reviewing!

Welcome to the forums! Hope you'll stick around and join in on some discussions as well.