2023.06.03 17:16 Le_Fancy_Me London lunches or dinner options under £10?
2023.06.03 11:27 nderstandablyscared so i made this cream cheese spread (garlic, shallot, cilantro, jalapeno and hot sauce) and it turned out really fucking good. just thought i'd share.
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2023.06.03 11:13 nderstandablyscared chicken and chorizo sub w/ melted chihuahua and pepper jack cheese, onion, tomato and cream cheese spread (jalapeno, garlic, shallots, hot sauce, cilantro)
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2023.06.03 10:59 nderstandablyscared [homemade] chicken and chorizo sub w/ melted chihuahua and pepper jack cheese, onion, tomato and cream cheese spread (jalapeno, garlic, shallots, hot sauce)
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2023.06.03 06:02 mattchewy43 Deconstruct Nachos
![]() | I've got my tortilla chips, ground beef, sour cream, guacamole, onion tomatoe and my secret Ingredient: Hot jalapeno and habanero cheese. submitted by mattchewy43 to castiron [link] [comments] |
2023.06.03 01:01 BigYellowPraxis Smoked short ribs with smoked leek and blue cheese dip, then cherry pie (served with home made almond ice cream)
![]() | Ribs were in for around 6 hrs at 100c. If I were to try again, I'd go hotter, as the texture was a little tough - hadn't fully broken down the collagen as far as I could tell. Flavour was great though! submitted by BigYellowPraxis to UKBBQ [link] [comments] |
2023.06.02 23:12 EatinSLOCal SloDoCo - Foothill Location - Review
![]() | Background: submitted by EatinSLOCal to EatinSLOCal [link] [comments] Growing up in the Pacific Northwest, my teen years were spent around these fancy modern doughnut shops (we spelled it with the traditional “doughnut,” not “donut,” to distinguish it from a Krispy Kreme or a Dunkin’, so hip) like Voodoo Doughtnut with their fun designs and innovative flavors. It took a decade, but it finally spread beyond our hipster borders and things like a bacon maple bar finally spread across the country. I was elated in October of 2010 to learn that there was a new doughtnut spot selling bacon maple bars in town. So in honor of #NationalDonutDay, we dropped by SloDoCo’s original Foothill location to celebrate. Dozen Box Setting: 📍Foothill Plaza, 793F Foothill Blvd, San Luis Obispo, CA 93405 SloDoCo is located in Foothill Plaza with additional locations in Sunshine Donuts’ former location at the corner of Higuera and South street as well as one in Atascadero. The Foothill location has become a popular place to study with a good amount of tables and space to sit at. The doughtnuts are on display as you walk in with a secondary case to the side with the vegan and gluten free options. They are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (at both SLO Locations, 5AM-9PM in Atascadero). Assorted Dozen Doughnuts Menu/Selection: SloDoCo makes over 100 types of doughtnuts a day! That’s amazing! I’ll do my best to write out the menu, but I may miss some. The buttermilk bars and old fashioneds come in plain, glazed, chocolate, and maple. Cake doughtnut options include plain, cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, crumb, snickerdoodle, and then the following four flavors chocolate, maple, strawberry, and vanilla either by itself, with sprinkles, chocolate chips, peanuts, or coconut shreds. Devil’s Food Cake doughtnuts come topped in chocolate, chocolate with sprinkles, chocolate with peanuts, chocolate with shredded coconut, mint frosting, and mint chocolate chip. Raised doughnuts come in chocolate, glazed, maple, sugar, crumb, coconut, lavender, chocolate sprinkle, strawberry sprinkle, vanilla sprinkle, and circus animal cookies. Filled doughtnuts are filled with either Vienna cream, lemon jelly, chocolate dobash, raspberry jelly, crème brulee, and espresso. Bars are the classics – chocolate, maple, and maple bacon. Twists come in glazed, chocolate, cinnamon, and sugar. Pillows options are chocolate chocolate chip, maple chocolate chip, Nutella, peanut butter & jelly, strawberry cream cheese, boysenberry cream cheese, pumpkin pie, cream cheese, chai cream cheese, peanut butter, and milk & cookies. There are two types of bear claws, regular glazed and crumb, a blueberry cake, cereal topped raised with Fruity Pebbles, Captain Crunch, and other options, their Galaxy marshmallow, “Do Cros” and an apple fritter. They do croissants as well – plain, ham & cheese, jalapeno ham & cheese, chocolate, and strawberry cream cheese. Finally for out Gluten Free friends there is chocolate, lavender, vanilla, and maple, and for the Vegans there is vanilla, cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar, maple, and chocolate. On top of all those, they have monthly specials, for June there is a Gluten Free or Vegan Strawberry Donut Sando, an Apricot Mousse Filled Glazed Raised, Pride Rings, Matcha Old Fashioned, Hedgehog Donut Holes, Spring Flower Raised, Slice O’ Melon Raised, and 3 Monsters, Inc. inspired doughtnuts, a Monster Mike cake, Silly Sully raised, and Boo’s Door bar. There’s also a Drink Menu with the usual hot drinks coffee, tea, cocoa, cider, espresso, lattes, etc, as well as cold drinks from the cases. Orange Pride Ring Raised Doughnut What I Had: I grabbed an assorted dozen of my choosing – Fruity Pebbles Raised, Glazed Blueberry Cake, Strawberry Sprinkles Cake, Monster Mike Vanilla Frosting Cake, Bacon Maple Bar, Orange Pride Ring Vanilla Frosting Raised topped with whipped cream and sprinkles, Glazed Buttermilk Bar, Chocolate Old Fashioned, Galaxy Marshmallow Frosting Raised, Cinnabomb, Slice O’ Melon Watermelon Frosting Raised, and a Nutella Filled Pillow. I got a mix of my favorites and the June specials. Focusing on the June Specials I got, let’s start with the Pride Ring, which was a raised ring doughtnut with vanilla frosting that came in all the colors of the classic Pride Flag, and topped with whipped cream and sprinkles, which was really fun! I noticed the Galaxy Doughnut, which is a raised with marshmallow frosting in a swirled rainbow, also has the sprinkles on it. The Slice O’ Melon is a triangle shaped raised doughnut dipped in watermelon frosting decorated like a slice of watermelon, which was weird. Watermelon is a weird frosting flavor, it tasted correct, but it was a strange combo with the rest of the sugar. The Monster Mike was fun, I like cake doughnuts, and the vanilla frosting was a pretty good Mike. Marshmallow Galaxy Doughnut As for some of my favorites, the Bacon Maple Bar is a classic, if you haven’t had one, you need to. My only note about the SloDoCo one is that it they super crumble the bacon, which is great for not having to bite through a bacon strip like on Voodoo’s but the crumble doesn’t totally stick to the maple frosting and falls off everywhere. Blueberry cake glazed is another one of my favorites, having first had it through Top Pot Doughnuts in Seattle, SloDoCo does an amazing job with theirs, I get one every time. Their Cereal Raised are always fun, I often switch between the Fruity Pebbles and the Captain Crunch, the contrast of textures is key. The Cinnabomb started out as a special and I think is a staple at this point, it’s like having a cinnamon roll stuffed in a raised glazed. Finally, the glazed buttermilk bar and old fashioned are always on point, can’t go wrong with them. SloDoCo might make some crazy fun doughnuts, but they also make the classics well. Would I Have It Again: Yes, of course. Doughtnuts are always fresh. They’re always open. I occasionally will drop in here late at night since they’re one of the only places left open. SloDoCo is a staple in this town, and their monthly specials keep things fresh and innovative. So with all of this in mind, SloDoCo – Foothill Location gets an Eatin’ SLOCal rating of – Take-Out Now! |
2023.06.02 20:04 Olivesplace Bill clinton
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2023.06.02 19:32 Orchid-Keeper Bitter Pops in West Lakeview/Roscoe Village - $4.99
![]() | 1 sprinkles donut, 1 glazed donut, 1 everything bagel type roll with a surprise cream cheese filling, which I did not realize until the next day after it sat overnight on my counter, and 1 biscuit, seemingly jalapeno cheddar, but I'm not sure. The two donuts were end-of-life, but the savories were still solid. Really nice staff. submitted by Orchid-Keeper to toogoodtogo [link] [comments] https://preview.redd.it/9768xmyd4n3b1.jpg?width=2225&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cebbfee41bd940999fff51df76ca4961104e843e |
2023.06.02 10:15 Poldaran Congratulations. You've played yourself.
There are those who think that lifeOur cast includes Me, Booking Agent(BA), Coworkers(CW1/2) and the star of our little tale, Karen, Mistress of the Self Frag(K).
Has nothing left to chance
With a host of holy horrors
To direct our aimless dance
A planet of playthingsIt is daytime. Late afternoon. The birds are singing. The machinery of a road crew working just down the street is singing the song of its people. The giant ball of fire is up in the sky doing...things.
We dance on the strings
Of powers we cannot perceive
“The stars aren’t aligned –
Or the gods are malign”
Blame is better to give than receive
There are those who think thatA couple hours later. The giant ball of fire is dipping down along the horizon. I'm at home, wondering to myself why the hell I'm playing the second lowest DPS spec in the game. And why some people keep dying to avoidable mechanics. Oh well, I'm not leading this circus. I just get to be one of the clowns.
They were dealt a losing hand
The cards were stacked against them
They weren’t born in Lotus-Land.
2023.06.02 05:10 evan_49 [Homemade] chili, one of my favs! Carrots, celery, jalapeños, onion, tomato sauce, diced tomato’s, beef broth, garlic, red kidney beans, pinto beans, lean beef, and lots of spices (especially chili powder and pepper). I top off with mozzarella cheese, tobasco, sour cream, and frito scoops to dip!
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2023.06.02 01:25 SLO_Citizen Food Review - "Fire!" Burger at Todo Bueno in the SLO Public Market - 2023.06.01
![]() | Where: submitted by SLO_Citizen to SLO [link] [comments] Todo Bueno - SLO Public Market - Upstairs in the main market building https://slopublicmarket.com/merchants/todo-bueno What: $11.80 - “FIRE!” burger - Jalapeno cream slaw, cheese, salsa, fried jalapenos and spicy mayo $3.50 - Fries A quick late lunch with my boss-a-rama, we went to this newly opened spot on the second floor of the main building at the Market. At 2 PM, a couple people were in the place and a party of undecided peeps in front of us at the counter, we checked out the menu for a good five minutes and everything looked great but I finally picked the “FIRE!” Burger and fries because I missed out on the Priedite burgers last night at the There Does Not Exist popup. There’s a cool second floor patio looking down on the whole complex and that is the best thing about the place. Took about 10 minutes for the food to come up and the burger was about the size of what you would have gotten in a Happy Meal 25 years ago. https://preview.redd.it/gmeg9bybqh3b1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f70b1679dfe36aa4c25ce9d2231b5fbe184bff7 The burger was so boring, the patties were lame frozen patties of poor quality, the “fire” was not fire. The fries were fine. Crispy, seasoned well and the best thing on the plate. Not sure why a “Cal/Mex” would open in the same complex with a good burger joint (Brook’s) and a decent taco joint (Cali Tacos - yes, I have had them, but I need to go back and try some other things to write up something with significance). Anyway, if airline or hospital burgers are your thing then this place is for you. Would not go again. Side note: I had a taster of of the lemon mascarpone ice cream from the shop on the bottom floor, Perfect Scoop, and it was stunningly awesome. |
2023.06.01 23:49 AnotherCrazyChick Appreciation post: Tex Mex and Tex Food
2023.06.01 00:03 fernwehdreamz What is the typical menu like for a German dinner party?
2023.05.31 19:24 Olivesplace deviled eggs
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2023.05.31 19:23 Olivesplace CHEESE STUFFED SLOW COOKER JALAPEÑO MEATBALLS
2023.05.31 19:22 M_Tootles "Cargos, Slatterns & Butchery" with Helya & Grisel (Spoilers Extended)
"We're out of Oldtown," the captain called down, "bearing apples and oranges, wines from the Arbor, feathers from the Summer Isles. I have pepper, woven leathers, a bolt of Myrish lace, mirrors for milady, a pair of Oldtown woodharps sweet as any you ever heard." The gangplank descended with a creak and a thud. "And I've brought your heir back to you."Most of what we read there seems to be reworked in and around Littlefinger's homecoming in ASOS Sansa VI, when the Merling King brings the Dreadfort its heir, Littlefinger, as well as the seeming heir to Winterfell, Sansa. This begins with the Arbor wine and fruit we see off-loaded from the Merling King:
Oswell made two more trips out to the Merling King to offload provisions. Among the loads he brought ashore were several casks of wine. Petyr poured Sansa a cup, as promised. …Besides the straight repetition of Arbor wine, oranges, apples, and heirs, the repeated Oldtown motif is baldly reworked by Sansa's description of the wine, which is patently Oldtown-summer-esque, per the only substantive pre-AFFC description of Oldtown, which associates it with hot, fruity summer nights:
… The wine was very fine; an Arbor vintage, she thought. It tasted of oak and fruit and hot summer nights, the flavors blossoming in her mouth like flowers opening to the sun. She only prayed that she could keep it down. Lord Petyr was being so kind, she did not want to spoil it all by retching on him.
… "Grisel," he called to the old woman, "bring some food up. … Oswell's brought some oranges and pomegranates from the King." …
Grisel reappeared…, balancing a large platter. … There were apples and pears and pomegranates, some sad-looking grapes, a huge blood orange.
"King Maekar's summer was hotter than this one, and near as long. … [T]he heat was fierce while it lasted. Oldtown… came alive only by night. … I remember the smells of those nights, my lord—perfume and sweat, melons ripe to bursting, peaches and pomegranates, nightshade and moonbloom." (AGOT Eddard V)The Myraham's "mirrors for milady" prefigure Sansa being figuratively groomed by Petyr and literally grooming herself in Petyr's Eyrie after he takes over:
When Gretchel fetched her Lysa's silvered looking glass, the color seemed just perfect with Alayne's mass of dark brown hair. (AFFC Alayne I)The Myraham's "woodharps sweet as any you ever heard" presage Sansa being attacked by Marillion, whose "voice was strong and sweet", (AFFC Sansa I) after he sings a song (about blowjobs?) called "Milady's Supper" (supper a la the Myraham-ish fruit Sansa eats for supper when she lands) during Petyr's wedding bedding:
Lady Lysa's singer launched into a bawdy version of "Milady's Supper"….The Myraham's "woven leathers" and "Myrish lace" are reworked into the "laces unlaced" i.e. unwoven during said wedding:
By the time they had gotten him into the tower and out of his clothes, the other women were flushed, with laces unlaced, kirtles crooked, and skirts in disarray.That it's a "bolt of Myrish lace" is interesting: After Sansa boards the Merling King, she sees a singular "bolt" from a crossbow strike Dontos, and then two more:
Lothor Brune dipped his torch. Three men stepped to the gunwale, raised crossbows, fired. One bolt took Dontos in the chest as he looked up…. The others ripped into throat and belly. (ASOS Sansa V)Three crossbow bolts? What does that remind us if not… a Myrish crossbow:
"The king is playing with his new crossbow," Tyrion said. Ridding himself of Joffrey had required only an ungainly Myrish crossbow that threw three quarrels at a time…. (ACOK Tyrion VI)What about the Myraham's "pepper"? I suspect this gets box-checked first by Sansa trying not to "retch" as she is off-loaded along with the wine with which Littlefinger tries to settle her tummy, as just two chapters later peppers are tightly linked to "retching" of the sort Sansa feels like doing:
[Tyrion] found himself on his knees retching… that double helping of fried eggs cooked up with onions and fiery Dornish peppers. (ASOS Tyrion X)GRRM seems to play off the "pepper" motif in other ways, as well. Consider that the gathering to meet the Myraham and the shouted questions that prompt her captain to announce her cargo—
A handful of Lordsport merchants had gathered to meet the ship. They shouted questions as the Myraham was tying up.—get reworked by Petyr's household all gathering "to meet" the Merling King and by their peppering one another with questions:
Servants emerged from the tower to meet them; a thin old woman and a fat middle-aged one, two ancient white-haired men, and a girl of two or three with a sty on one eye. When they recognized Lord Petyr they knelt on the rocks. "My household," he said. "I don't know the child. Another of Kella's bastards, I suppose. She pops one out every few years."She's a "popper", then, in case we didn't catch that retching → peppers. (This also reworks Theon "popping one off" with the captain's daughter, who is in many ways reworked by Kella, as will be discussed below.)
… [Petyr]… gave the old woman a kiss on the cheek and grinned at the younger one. "Who fathered this one, Kella?"A gathering, and questions, questions, questions, as when Theon docks.
The fat woman laughed. "I can't rightly say, m'lord. I'm not one for telling them no."
"And all the local lads are grateful, I am quite sure."
"It is good to have you home, my lord," said one old man. … "How long will you be in residence?"
"As short a time as possible, Bryen, have no fear. Is the place habitable just now, would you say?"
"If we knew you was coming we would have laid down fresh rushes, m'lord," said the crone. "There's a dung fire burning."
"Nothing says home like the smell of burning dung." Petyr turned to Sansa. "Grisel was my wet nurse, but she keeps my castle now. Umfred's my steward, and Bryen—didn't I name you captain of the guard the last time I was here?"
"You did, my lord.…"
… Petyr gestured toward the fat woman. "Kella minds my vast herds. How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"
The two old men waded out up to their thighs to lift Sansa from the boat so she would not get her skirts wet.This reworks the "shorehands… off-loading… casks of wine" from a Tyroshi trader docked with the Myraham—
[Theon] spied a Tyroshi trading galley off-loading…—which itself prefigures the above-quoted off-loading of the Merling King (when "Oswell made two more trips out to the Merling King to offload provisions" including "several casks of wine", from which Petyr immediately "poured Sansa a cup, as promised").
Shorehands rolled casks of wine off the Tyroshi trader, fisherfolk cried the day's catch, children ran and played. A priest in the seawater robes of the Drowned God was leading a pair of horses along the pebbled shore, while above him a slattern leaned out a window in the inn, calling out to some passing Ibbenese sailors.
"I don't know the child. Another of Kella's bastards, I suppose. She pops one out every few years."We only see one; presumably the others are off somewhere, running and playing, perhaps.
"From here the King turns east for Braavos. Without us."Consider most of all that Kella's something of a slattern herself: She's "not one for telling them no".
"I can't rightly say, m'lord. I'm not one for telling them no."Indeed, something Lysa says pretty clearly codes Kella as a verbatim "slattern", underlining the recursion:
"And all the local lads are grateful, I am quite sure."
"How would you like to spend your life on that bleak shore, surrounded by slatterns and sheep pellets?" (ASOS Sansa VII)So I think the vignette with the slattern and the children in Lordsport pretty plainly prefigures Kella. But I think she's prefigured by two more pieces of Theon's homecoming.
a girl of two or three with a sty on one eye—that she's (b) "fat"—
"Who fathered this one, Kella?"—and that she's (c) coded as a bit stupid:
The fat woman laughed.
"Kella minds my vast herds. How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"All like Theon's "captain's daughter".
She had to think a moment. "Three and twenty, m'lord. There was nine and twenty, but Bryen's dogs killed one and we butchered some others and salted down the meat."
The girl was a shade plump for his taste…She is likely pregnant with Theon's bastard, a la Kella the bastard-popper.
"You can put it in me again, if it please you…"…and accedes to his request for a blowjob, so she's "not one for telling them no."
She looked rather stupid when she smiled, but he had never required a woman to be clever.And finally, she offers to work in Theon's castle—
The stupid girl did not seem to be listening.
She… learned quickly for such a stupid girl….
She looked at him stupidly, so he left her there.
I'd work in your castle, milord.—just as Kella works for Petyr.
[Pyke was] wet by the same salt waves, festooned with the same spreading patches of dark green lichen, speckled by the droppings of the same seabirds.Get it? A spreading 'patch'? In combination with "lichen" a la "licking" and Pyke being "wet"? And not just wet, but "wet by… salt waves", when as we know from the captain's daughter, semen tastes "salty", "like the sea". It's like Pyke is being described as a turned-on "slattern" with her legs spread.
"And what of Maester Qalen, where is he?"Qalen would be pronounced Kalen. Qalen → Kalen → Kale → Kela → Kella. Anyway…
"Grisel was my wet nurse, but she keeps my castle now.Grisel is similarly prefigured by two people from Theon's homecoming, including first the captain's daughter who wants to work in Theon's castle as Grisel works in Petyr's "castle".
"Ah, cold salt mutton. I must be home. When I break my fast on gulls' eggs and seaweed soup, I'll be certain of it."Then there is the captain daughter's resume:
"If you like, m'lord," said the old woman Grisel.
Lord Petyr made a face.
"I'd work in your castle, milord. I can clean fish and bake bread and churn butter. Father says my peppercrab stew is the best he's ever tasted. You could find me a place in your kitchens and I could make you peppercrab stew."This surely prefigures what we're told about Grisel making a sea-based soup of her own (i.e. the just mentioned "seaweed soup"), baking bread, and churning butter for Petyr:
Grisel reappeared before he could say more, balancing a large platter. She set it down between them. … The old woman had brought a round of bread as well, and a crock of butter.Where Grisel used to be Petyr's wet nurse, Theon suckles the captain daughter's nipple as if she's a wet nurse:
Grisel climbed up to the bedchamber to serve the lord and lady a tray of morning bread, with butter, honey, fruit, and cream.
Theon's finger circled one heavy teat, spiraling in toward the fat brown nipple. … He took her nipple in his mouth….And finally, where Theon kisses the captain's daughter on the ear—
"You can put it in me again, if it please you," she whispered in his ear as he sucked.
[Theon] drew the captain's daughter close and kissed her on her ear.—Littlefinger kisses Grisel on the cheek:
Oswell and Lothor splashed their way ashore, as did Littlefinger himself. He gave the old woman a kiss on the cheek and grinned at the younger one.
A bentback old crone in a shapeless grey dress approached him warily. "M'lord, I am sent to show you to chambers."Get it? "Helya and Grisel", a la "Hansel and Gretel".
"And who are you?"
"Helya, who keeps this castle for your lord father."
"If we knew you was coming we would have laid down fresh rushes, m'lord," said the crone. "There's a dung fire burning."That's a recursive reversal of Helya's (lack of) preparation for Theon's visit: Where Grisel has a fire going even though she didn't know Petyr was coming, and where she proactively apologizes for not changing the rushes, telling him "we would have laid down fresh rushes… if we knew you were coming", Helya neither lit a fire nor changed the heavily foregrounded "old and brittle" rushes in the rooms Theon is given—
"Nothing says home like the smell of burning dung."
"I'll have a basin of hot water and a fire in this hearth," he told the crone. "See that they light braziers in the other rooms to drive out some of the chill. And gods be good, get someone in here at once to change these rushes."—despite having ample forewarning of his coming:
It was not as though they had no word of his arrival. Robb had sent ravens from Riverrun, and… Jason Mallister had sent his own birds to Pyke….The joke is underlined by the introduction of "Gretchel" — Gretel with a borrowed H from Helya/Hansel — who fetches washbasins of water (which, see below), "la[ys] a fire in the hearth" and "tend[s] to the fire", brings food and discusses food storage in Petyr's Eyrie in AFFC Sansa I & Alayne I. (In other words, she 'keeps his castle.')
"Show me to my chambers, woman," he commanded. Bowing stiffly, [Helya] led him across the headland to the bridge. …—it's Petyr who leads the way into his tower, casually inviting Grisel (and everyone else) to follow him:
Whenever he'd imagined his homecoming, he had always pictured himself returning to the snug bedchamber in the Sea Tower, where he'd slept as a child. Instead the old woman led him to the Bloody Keep.
"If you like, m'lord," said the old woman Grisel.Petyr jokes about his hall being "dreary", and perhaps it is, but while it's "small" and "even smaller" within, his tower is also home to his servants, and hence very well lived-in.
Lord Petyr made a face. "Come, let's see if my hall is as dreary as I recall." He led them up the strand…
Within, the tower seemed even smaller. An open stone stair wound round the inside wall, from undercroft to roof. Each floor was but a single room. The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs. Above that was a modest hall, and higher still the bedchamber.(Note that the "mastiff", which we see as Petyr leads Grisel in, recalls Helya bowing "stiffly" before leading Theon to his rooms.)
The halls here were larger and better furnished, if no less cold nor damp. Theon was given a suite of chilly rooms with ceilings so high that they were lost in gloom. [Omitted but see below.]A ton of the motifs here (including the omitted stuff, which I'll return to) get recycled and reworked in Petyr's tower.
[Omitted but see below.] It was not fear of ghosts that made him glance about with distaste. The wall hangings were green with mildew, the mattress musty-smelling and sagging, the rushes old and brittle. Years had come and gone since these chambers had last been opened. The damp went bone deep. "I'll have a basin of hot water and a fire in this hearth," he told the crone. See that they light braziers in the other rooms to drive out some of the chill. And gods be good, get someone in here at once to change these rushes."
"Might I have a hot bath as well?" asked Sansa.Note that Kella fulfills the request, not Grisel. This 'fits', as it's not Helya who brings Theon's water, but "two thralls".
"I'll have Kella draw some water, m'lady."
She desperately needed a bath and a change of clothes.…whereas Theon changes his clothes immediately after the quoted passages.
"It is good to have you home, my lord," said one old man. He looked to be at least eighty, but he wore a studded brigantine and a longsword at his side. …Is the brindled dog a "mastiff" 'only' a wink at Theon going mast-stiff for Asha? (See Part 4.) Maybe. But it's worth mentioning that when Theon is first being stirred by Pyke's banner and it's being battered about like the shield we see in the Drearfort three sentences after the mastiff, it's also (a) flying from a very stiff "mast" and (b) juxtaposed with a very large 'dog' of sorts:
"Bryen—didn't I name you captain of the guard the last time I was here?"
"You did, my lord. You said you'd be getting some more men too, but you never did. Me and the dogs stand all the watches."
Sansa found Bryen's old blind dog in her little alcove beneath the steps…
The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs.
The banner streamed from an iron mast, shivering and twisting as the wind gusted like a bird struggling to take flight. And here at least the direwolf of Stark did not fly above, casting its shadow down upon the Greyjoy kraken.
Lady Lysa was two years younger than Mother, but this woman looked ten years older. Thick auburn tresses fell down past her waist, but beneath the costly velvet gown and jeweled bodice her body sagged and bulged.—and smells stale. (Note that Lysa is on a mattress here.)
Her aunt was drenched in sweet scent, though under that was a sour milky smell. Her cheek tasted of paint and powder.Lysa's "cheek tast[ing] of paint and powder" riffs on the line about Theon's "distaste" and "fear of ghosts":
It was not fear of ghosts that made him glance about with distaste.The distaste wordplay is obvious: Lysa tastes bad. As for the "fear of ghosts", Lysa (whom Sansa fears) being covered in "powder" reminds us of Sansa being afraid of a "spirit" covered in powdery flour:
When the spirit stepped out of the open tomb, pale white and moaning for blood, Sansa ran shrieking for the stairs…. Arya stood her ground and gave the spirit a punch. It was only Jon, covered with flour. (AGOT Arya IV)This line—
The halls here were larger and better furnished, if no less cold nor damp.—is reworked by Lysa as well, who is big and well-dressed ("better furnished", so to speak)—
[B]eneath the costly velvet gown and jeweled bodice her body sagged and bulged. Her face was pink and painted, her breasts heavy, her limbs thick. She was taller than Littlefinger, and heavier; nor did she show any grace in the clumsy way she climbed down off her horse.—but cold to Sansa and horny/wet/"damp" for Petyr.
It had been years since Sansa last saw her mother's sister…"I wonder whether Lysa crying and speaking to Sansa of being "bound by blood" to her—
Tears welled suddenly in Lady Lysa's eyes. "We are women alone now, you and I. Are you afraid, child? Be brave. I would never turn away Cat's daughter. We are bound by blood."—might not be in part a play on the fact that "the damp went bone deep" in the Bloody Keep. By saying that, Sansa's damp (i.e. crying) aunt "went bone deep", so to speak. (If you're "bound by blood" to someone, you have a "bone deep" bond with them. Also, bone → bound wordplay?)
See that they light braziers in the other rooms to drive out some of the chill.—inform (via wordplay: braziers → bracing) Petyr's line when the Merling King pulls up to the Drearfort?
Lord Petyr came up beside her, cheerful as ever. "Good morrow. The salt air is bracing, don't you think? It always sharpens my appetite."And/or is that "sharpening" motif a recursion of Theon sharpening his dirk immediately after said braziers are lit?
After some time, they brought the hot water he had asked for. … While two thralls lit his braziers, Theon stripped off his travel-stained clothing and dressed to meet his father. … He hung a dirk at one hip and a longsword at the other…. Drawing the dirk, he … pulled a whetstone from his belt pouch, and gave it a few licks. He prided himself on keeping his weapons sharp.
Lady Lysa was still abed [like a good mattress!], but Lord Petyr was up and dressed. "Your aunt wishes to speak with you," he told Sansa, as he pulled on a boot. "I've told her who you are."The notion of a "ceiling" so high it is lost in gloom is perhaps also reworked by the story Lysa tells Sansa about Petyr's "rise" to power: She says she "always knew how high [Petyr would] rise", and it's my belief that said rise has likely seen him 'lost', spiritually, in 'darkness'. (Note that ceilings are a frequently invoked metaphor when talking about climbing the corporate ladder.)
Gods be good. "I . . . I thank you, my lord."
Petyr yanked on the other boot. "I've had about as much home as I can stomach. We'll leave for the Eyrie this afternoon."
Seven towers, Ned had told her, like white daggers thrust into the belly of the sky, so high you can stand on the parapets and look down on the clouds. (AGOT Catelyn VI)
"Half his teeth were gone, and his breath smelled like bad cheese. I cannot abide a man with foul breath. Petyr's breath is always fresh . . . he was the first man I ever kissed, you know. My father said he was too lowborn, but I knew how high he'd rise. Jon gave him the customs for Gulltown to please me, but when he increased the incomes tenfold my lord husband saw how clever he was and gave him other appointments, even brought him to King's Landing to be master of coin. That was hard, to see him every day and still be wed to that old cold man.(Recall that the motif of bad/fresh breath there reworks the "winey stench of the old man's [Sylas Sourmouth's] breath", which Theon thinks about roughly ¼ page prior to being shown his suite in the Bloody Keep.)
"Jon did his duty in the bedchamber, but he could no more give me pleasure than he could give me children. His seed was old and weak. All my babies died but Robert, three girls and two boys. All my sweet little babies dead, and that old man just went on and on with his stinking breath. So you see, I have suffered too." Lady Lysa sniffed. "You do know that your poor mother is dead?"Those references to (a) a bunch of dead "babies", including two brothers, one of which was "murdered" when Lysa's father, Hoster Tully, who ruled the Riverlands, betrayed Lysa's trust; and to (b) foul smelling breath, a la Sylas, and finally to (c) the Red Wedding — a bloody betrayal of Sansa's brother, who was King of the Riverlands — particularly (per Sansa saying "Tyrion told me") as it's described by Tyrion—
"Tyrion told me," said Sansa. "He said the Freys murdered her at The Twins, with Robb."
Sansa did not need to hear how her brother's body had been hacked and mutilated, he decided; nor how her mother's corpse had been dumped naked into the Green Fork in a savage mockery of House Tully's funeral customs. (ASOS Tyrion VII)—are one of the ways ASOS Sansa VI rejiggers the part of Theon's description of his Bloody Keep suite I "[omitted]" earlier, which entails betrayals, murdered brothers, a River King, slaughter, and bodies "hacked to bits".
[Theon] might have been more impressed if he had not known that these were the very chambers that had given the Bloody Keep its name. A thousand years before, the sons of the River King had been slaughtered here, hacked to bits in their beds so that pieces of their bodies might be sent back to their father on the mainland.Lysa's speech with its reference to her abortion and to the Red Wedding (and to stink-breath like Sylas's) isn't the only (or even the main) way Petyr's homecoming chapter refracts those images from Theon's homecoming, though.
But Greyjoys were not murdered in Pyke except once in a great while by their brothers, and his brothers were both dead.
"How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"Note the kitchen, recalling that the Bloody Keep is paired with the Kitchen Keep as Theon first gazes on Pyke:
… "Three and twenty, m'lord. There was nine and twenty, but Bryen's dogs killed one and we butchered some others and salted down the meat."
"Ah, cold salt mutton. I must be home.…" … "Come, let's see if my hall is as dreary as I recall." … A handful of sheep were wandering about the base of the flint tower…. …
Within, the tower seemed even smaller. An open stone stair wound round the inside wall, from undercroft to roof. Each floor was but a single room. The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs.
Farther out were the Kitchen Keep and the Bloody Keep, each on its own island.Note, too, that the sheep are coded as Petyr's "sons", in a way (a la the "slaughtered… sons of the River King" Theon remembers in his Bloody Tower rooms), and not just because he owns them. He says that Kella has lots of bastards and that she minds his sheep, right? And what else does he say of Kella, in jest? That she 'is' the "mother" of his "daughter," "Alayne Stone":
"Alayne . . . Stone, would it be?" When he nodded, she said, "But who is my mother?"The joke foregrounds the notion of Petyr as the father of Kella's children. And while she supposedly has a bunch of bastards, we don't see them. We just see the one girl with the livestock-evoking eye with a sty. It's almost like the sheep she looks after are her children. And thus like Petyr is their father.
"Kella?"
"Please no," she said, mortified.
"I was teasing.
[T]he sons of the River King had been slaughtered here, hacked to bits in their beds so that pieces of their bodies might be sent back to their father on the mainland.(They were slaughtered and hacked to bits only so as to properly preserve them against spoilage during their upcoming journey "back to their father on the mainland", you see!)
The priest's manner was chilly, most unlike the man Theon remembered.—and Balon—
Theon pulled off his gloves. "… Why is my father not here to greet me?"—and they're thus part of a broad yin/yang 'rhyme' with Petyr's initial homecoming, which is warm and welcoming and full of familiar faces, whereas Theon knows no one, such that he thinks:
"He awaits you in the Sea Tower, m'lord. When you are rested from your trip."
And I thought Ned Stark cold.
It is as if I were a stranger here….The reversal is wryly underlined when Petyr is greeted at the shore by his "captain of the guards", Bryen:
"It is good to have you home, my lord," said one old man.Thus Petyr ironically gets the "honor guard" welcome Theon hoped he'd get on his arrival 'home':
[Theon] saw… no honor guard waiting to escort him from Lordsport to Pyke, only smallfolk going about their small business.Notice that where no one stops what they're doing for Theon, everyone stops when Petyr arrives. And of course, everyone in his household recognizes him, whereas no one recognizes Theon. Which is telling, because in a deep sense, that's all Theon really wants, deep down: a little recognition.
2023.05.31 19:20 M_Tootles "Cargos, Slatterns & Butchery" with Helya & Grisel. (Spoilers TWOW)
"We're out of Oldtown," the captain called down, "bearing apples and oranges, wines from the Arbor, feathers from the Summer Isles. I have pepper, woven leathers, a bolt of Myrish lace, mirrors for milady, a pair of Oldtown woodharps sweet as any you ever heard." The gangplank descended with a creak and a thud. "And I've brought your heir back to you."Most of what we read there seems to be reworked in and around Littlefinger's homecoming in ASOS Sansa VI, when the Merling King brings the Dreadfort its heir, Littlefinger, as well as the seeming heir to Winterfell, Sansa. This begins with the Arbor wine and fruit we see off-loaded from the Merling King:
Oswell made two more trips out to the Merling King to offload provisions. Among the loads he brought ashore were several casks of wine. Petyr poured Sansa a cup, as promised. …Besides the straight repetition of Arbor wine, oranges, apples, and heirs, the repeated Oldtown motif is baldly reworked by Sansa's description of the wine, which is patently Oldtown-summer-esque, per the only substantive pre-AFFC description of Oldtown, which associates it with hot, fruity summer nights:
… The wine was very fine; an Arbor vintage, she thought. It tasted of oak and fruit and hot summer nights, the flavors blossoming in her mouth like flowers opening to the sun. She only prayed that she could keep it down. Lord Petyr was being so kind, she did not want to spoil it all by retching on him.
… "Grisel," he called to the old woman, "bring some food up. … Oswell's brought some oranges and pomegranates from the King." …
Grisel reappeared…, balancing a large platter. … There were apples and pears and pomegranates, some sad-looking grapes, a huge blood orange.
"King Maekar's summer was hotter than this one, and near as long. … [T]he heat was fierce while it lasted. Oldtown… came alive only by night. … I remember the smells of those nights, my lord—perfume and sweat, melons ripe to bursting, peaches and pomegranates, nightshade and moonbloom." (AGOT Eddard V)The Myraham's "mirrors for milady" prefigure Sansa being figuratively groomed by Petyr and literally grooming herself in Petyr's Eyrie after he takes over:
When Gretchel fetched her Lysa's silvered looking glass, the color seemed just perfect with Alayne's mass of dark brown hair. (AFFC Alayne I)The Myraham's "woodharps sweet as any you ever heard" presage Sansa being attacked by Marillion, whose "voice was strong and sweet", (AFFC Sansa I) after he sings a song (about blowjobs?) called "Milady's Supper" (supper a la the Myraham-ish fruit Sansa eats for supper when she lands) during Petyr's wedding bedding:
Lady Lysa's singer launched into a bawdy version of "Milady's Supper"….The Myraham's "woven leathers" and "Myrish lace" are reworked into the "laces unlaced" i.e. unwoven during said wedding:
By the time they had gotten him into the tower and out of his clothes, the other women were flushed, with laces unlaced, kirtles crooked, and skirts in disarray.That it's a "bolt of Myrish lace" is interesting: After Sansa boards the Merling King, she sees a singular "bolt" from a crossbow strike Dontos, and then two more:
Lothor Brune dipped his torch. Three men stepped to the gunwale, raised crossbows, fired. One bolt took Dontos in the chest as he looked up…. The others ripped into throat and belly. (ASOS Sansa V)Three crossbow bolts? What does that remind us if not… a Myrish crossbow:
"The king is playing with his new crossbow," Tyrion said. Ridding himself of Joffrey had required only an ungainly Myrish crossbow that threw three quarrels at a time…. (ACOK Tyrion VI)What about the Myraham's "pepper"? I suspect this gets box-checked first by Sansa trying not to "retch" as she is off-loaded along with the wine with which Littlefinger tries to settle her tummy, as just two chapters later peppers are tightly linked to "retching" of the sort Sansa feels like doing:
[Tyrion] found himself on his knees retching… that double helping of fried eggs cooked up with onions and fiery Dornish peppers. (ASOS Tyrion X)GRRM seems to play off the "pepper" motif in other ways, as well. Consider that the gathering to meet the Myraham and the shouted questions that prompt her captain to announce her cargo—
A handful of Lordsport merchants had gathered to meet the ship. They shouted questions as the Myraham was tying up.—get reworked by Petyr's household all gathering "to meet" the Merling King and by their peppering one another with questions:
Servants emerged from the tower to meet them; a thin old woman and a fat middle-aged one, two ancient white-haired men, and a girl of two or three with a sty on one eye. When they recognized Lord Petyr they knelt on the rocks. "My household," he said. "I don't know the child. Another of Kella's bastards, I suppose. She pops one out every few years."She's a "popper", then, in case we didn't catch that retching → peppers. (This also reworks Theon "popping one off" with the captain's daughter, who is in many ways reworked by Kella, as will be discussed below.)
… [Petyr]… gave the old woman a kiss on the cheek and grinned at the younger one. "Who fathered this one, Kella?"A gathering, and questions, questions, questions, as when Theon docks.
The fat woman laughed. "I can't rightly say, m'lord. I'm not one for telling them no."
"And all the local lads are grateful, I am quite sure."
"It is good to have you home, my lord," said one old man. … "How long will you be in residence?"
"As short a time as possible, Bryen, have no fear. Is the place habitable just now, would you say?"
"If we knew you was coming we would have laid down fresh rushes, m'lord," said the crone. "There's a dung fire burning."
"Nothing says home like the smell of burning dung." Petyr turned to Sansa. "Grisel was my wet nurse, but she keeps my castle now. Umfred's my steward, and Bryen—didn't I name you captain of the guard the last time I was here?"
"You did, my lord.…"
… Petyr gestured toward the fat woman. "Kella minds my vast herds. How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"
The two old men waded out up to their thighs to lift Sansa from the boat so she would not get her skirts wet.This reworks the "shorehands… off-loading… casks of wine" from a Tyroshi trader docked with the Myraham—
[Theon] spied a Tyroshi trading galley off-loading…—which itself prefigures the above-quoted off-loading of the Merling King (when "Oswell made two more trips out to the Merling King to offload provisions" including "several casks of wine", from which Petyr immediately "poured Sansa a cup, as promised").
Shorehands rolled casks of wine off the Tyroshi trader, fisherfolk cried the day's catch, children ran and played. A priest in the seawater robes of the Drowned God was leading a pair of horses along the pebbled shore, while above him a slattern leaned out a window in the inn, calling out to some passing Ibbenese sailors.
"I don't know the child. Another of Kella's bastards, I suppose. She pops one out every few years."We only see one; presumably the others are off somewhere, running and playing, perhaps.
"From here the King turns east for Braavos. Without us."Consider most of all that Kella's something of a slattern herself: She's "not one for telling them no".
"I can't rightly say, m'lord. I'm not one for telling them no."Indeed, something Lysa says pretty clearly codes Kella as a verbatim "slattern", underlining the recursion:
"And all the local lads are grateful, I am quite sure."
"How would you like to spend your life on that bleak shore, surrounded by slatterns and sheep pellets?" (ASOS Sansa VII)So I think the vignette with the slattern and the children in Lordsport pretty plainly prefigures Kella. But I think she's prefigured by two more pieces of Theon's homecoming.
a girl of two or three with a sty on one eye—that she's (b) "fat"—
"Who fathered this one, Kella?"—and that she's (c) coded as a bit stupid:
The fat woman laughed.
"Kella minds my vast herds. How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"All like Theon's "captain's daughter".
She had to think a moment. "Three and twenty, m'lord. There was nine and twenty, but Bryen's dogs killed one and we butchered some others and salted down the meat."
The girl was a shade plump for his taste…She is likely pregnant with Theon's bastard, a la Kella the bastard-popper.
"You can put it in me again, if it please you…"…and accedes to his request for a blowjob, so she's "not one for telling them no."
She looked rather stupid when she smiled, but he had never required a woman to be clever.And finally, she offers to work in Theon's castle—
The stupid girl did not seem to be listening.
She… learned quickly for such a stupid girl….
She looked at him stupidly, so he left her there.
I'd work in your castle, milord.—just as Kella works for Petyr.
[Pyke was] wet by the same salt waves, festooned with the same spreading patches of dark green lichen, speckled by the droppings of the same seabirds.Get it? A spreading 'patch'? In combination with "lichen" a la "licking" and Pyke being "wet"? And not just wet, but "wet by… salt waves", when as we know from the captain's daughter, semen tastes "salty", "like the sea". It's like Pyke is being described as a turned-on "slattern" with her legs spread.
"And what of Maester Qalen, where is he?"Qalen would be pronounced Kalen. Qalen → Kalen → Kale → Kela → Kella. Anyway…
"Grisel was my wet nurse, but she keeps my castle now.Grisel is similarly prefigured by two people from Theon's homecoming, including first the captain's daughter who wants to work in Theon's castle as Grisel works in Petyr's "castle".
"Ah, cold salt mutton. I must be home. When I break my fast on gulls' eggs and seaweed soup, I'll be certain of it."Then there is the captain daughter's resume:
"If you like, m'lord," said the old woman Grisel.
Lord Petyr made a face.
"I'd work in your castle, milord. I can clean fish and bake bread and churn butter. Father says my peppercrab stew is the best he's ever tasted. You could find me a place in your kitchens and I could make you peppercrab stew."This surely prefigures what we're told about Grisel making a sea-based soup of her own (i.e. the just mentioned "seaweed soup"), baking bread, and churning butter for Petyr:
Grisel reappeared before he could say more, balancing a large platter. She set it down between them. … The old woman had brought a round of bread as well, and a crock of butter.Where Grisel used to be Petyr's wet nurse, Theon suckles the captain daughter's nipple as if she's a wet nurse:
Grisel climbed up to the bedchamber to serve the lord and lady a tray of morning bread, with butter, honey, fruit, and cream.
Theon's finger circled one heavy teat, spiraling in toward the fat brown nipple. … He took her nipple in his mouth….And finally, where Theon kisses the captain's daughter on the ear—
"You can put it in me again, if it please you," she whispered in his ear as he sucked.
[Theon] drew the captain's daughter close and kissed her on her ear.—Littlefinger kisses Grisel on the cheek:
Oswell and Lothor splashed their way ashore, as did Littlefinger himself. He gave the old woman a kiss on the cheek and grinned at the younger one.
A bentback old crone in a shapeless grey dress approached him warily. "M'lord, I am sent to show you to chambers."Get it? "Helya and Grisel", a la "Hansel and Gretel".
"And who are you?"
"Helya, who keeps this castle for your lord father."
"If we knew you was coming we would have laid down fresh rushes, m'lord," said the crone. "There's a dung fire burning."That's a recursive reversal of Helya's (lack of) preparation for Theon's visit: Where Grisel has a fire going even though she didn't know Petyr was coming, and where she proactively apologizes for not changing the rushes, telling him "we would have laid down fresh rushes… if we knew you were coming", Helya neither lit a fire nor changed the heavily foregrounded "old and brittle" rushes in the rooms Theon is given—
"Nothing says home like the smell of burning dung."
"I'll have a basin of hot water and a fire in this hearth," he told the crone. "See that they light braziers in the other rooms to drive out some of the chill. And gods be good, get someone in here at once to change these rushes."—despite having ample forewarning of his coming:
It was not as though they had no word of his arrival. Robb had sent ravens from Riverrun, and… Jason Mallister had sent his own birds to Pyke….The joke is underlined by the introduction of "Gretchel" — Gretel with a borrowed H from Helya/Hansel — who fetches washbasins of water (which, see below), "la[ys] a fire in the hearth" and "tend[s] to the fire", brings food and discusses food storage in Petyr's Eyrie in AFFC Sansa I & Alayne I. (In other words, she 'keeps his castle.')
"Show me to my chambers, woman," he commanded. Bowing stiffly, [Helya] led him across the headland to the bridge. …—it's Petyr who leads the way into his tower, casually inviting Grisel (and everyone else) to follow him:
Whenever he'd imagined his homecoming, he had always pictured himself returning to the snug bedchamber in the Sea Tower, where he'd slept as a child. Instead the old woman led him to the Bloody Keep.
"If you like, m'lord," said the old woman Grisel.Petyr jokes about his hall being "dreary", and perhaps it is, but while it's "small" and "even smaller" within, his tower is also home to his servants, and hence very well lived-in.
Lord Petyr made a face. "Come, let's see if my hall is as dreary as I recall." He led them up the strand…
Within, the tower seemed even smaller. An open stone stair wound round the inside wall, from undercroft to roof. Each floor was but a single room. The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs. Above that was a modest hall, and higher still the bedchamber.(Note that the "mastiff", which we see as Petyr leads Grisel in, recalls Helya bowing "stiffly" before leading Theon to his rooms.)
The halls here were larger and better furnished, if no less cold nor damp. Theon was given a suite of chilly rooms with ceilings so high that they were lost in gloom. [Omitted but see below.]A ton of the motifs here (including the omitted stuff, which I'll return to) get recycled and reworked in Petyr's tower.
[Omitted but see below.] It was not fear of ghosts that made him glance about with distaste. The wall hangings were green with mildew, the mattress musty-smelling and sagging, the rushes old and brittle. Years had come and gone since these chambers had last been opened. The damp went bone deep. "I'll have a basin of hot water and a fire in this hearth," he told the crone. See that they light braziers in the other rooms to drive out some of the chill. And gods be good, get someone in here at once to change these rushes."
"Might I have a hot bath as well?" asked Sansa.Note that Kella fulfills the request, not Grisel. This 'fits', as it's not Helya who brings Theon's water, but "two thralls".
"I'll have Kella draw some water, m'lady."
She desperately needed a bath and a change of clothes.…whereas Theon changes his clothes immediately after the quoted passages.
"It is good to have you home, my lord," said one old man. He looked to be at least eighty, but he wore a studded brigantine and a longsword at his side. …Is the brindled dog a "mastiff" 'only' a wink at Theon going mast-stiff for Asha? (See Part 4.) Maybe. But it's worth mentioning that when Theon is first being stirred by Pyke's banner and it's being battered about like the shield we see in the Drearfort three sentences after the mastiff, it's also (a) flying from a very stiff "mast" and (b) juxtaposed with a very large 'dog' of sorts:
"Bryen—didn't I name you captain of the guard the last time I was here?"
"You did, my lord. You said you'd be getting some more men too, but you never did. Me and the dogs stand all the watches."
Sansa found Bryen's old blind dog in her little alcove beneath the steps…
The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs.
The banner streamed from an iron mast, shivering and twisting as the wind gusted like a bird struggling to take flight. And here at least the direwolf of Stark did not fly above, casting its shadow down upon the Greyjoy kraken.
Lady Lysa was two years younger than Mother, but this woman looked ten years older. Thick auburn tresses fell down past her waist, but beneath the costly velvet gown and jeweled bodice her body sagged and bulged.—and smells stale. (Note that Lysa is on a mattress here.)
Her aunt was drenched in sweet scent, though under that was a sour milky smell. Her cheek tasted of paint and powder.Lysa's "cheek tast[ing] of paint and powder" riffs on the line about Theon's "distaste" and "fear of ghosts":
It was not fear of ghosts that made him glance about with distaste.The distaste wordplay is obvious: Lysa tastes bad. As for the "fear of ghosts", Lysa (whom Sansa fears) being covered in "powder" reminds us of Sansa being afraid of a "spirit" covered in powdery flour:
When the spirit stepped out of the open tomb, pale white and moaning for blood, Sansa ran shrieking for the stairs…. Arya stood her ground and gave the spirit a punch. It was only Jon, covered with flour. (AGOT Arya IV)This line—
The halls here were larger and better furnished, if no less cold nor damp.—is reworked by Lysa as well, who is big and well-dressed ("better furnished", so to speak)—
[B]eneath the costly velvet gown and jeweled bodice her body sagged and bulged. Her face was pink and painted, her breasts heavy, her limbs thick. She was taller than Littlefinger, and heavier; nor did she show any grace in the clumsy way she climbed down off her horse.—but cold to Sansa and horny/wet/"damp" for Petyr.
It had been years since Sansa last saw her mother's sister…"I wonder whether Lysa crying and speaking to Sansa of being "bound by blood" to her—
Tears welled suddenly in Lady Lysa's eyes. "We are women alone now, you and I. Are you afraid, child? Be brave. I would never turn away Cat's daughter. We are bound by blood."—might not be in part a play on the fact that "the damp went bone deep" in the Bloody Keep. By saying that, Sansa's damp (i.e. crying) aunt "went bone deep", so to speak. (If you're "bound by blood" to someone, you have a "bone deep" bond with them. Also, bone → bound wordplay?)
See that they light braziers in the other rooms to drive out some of the chill.—inform (via wordplay: braziers → bracing) Petyr's line when the Merling King pulls up to the Drearfort?
Lord Petyr came up beside her, cheerful as ever. "Good morrow. The salt air is bracing, don't you think? It always sharpens my appetite."And/or is that "sharpening" motif a recursion of Theon sharpening his dirk immediately after said braziers are lit?
After some time, they brought the hot water he had asked for. … While two thralls lit his braziers, Theon stripped off his travel-stained clothing and dressed to meet his father. … He hung a dirk at one hip and a longsword at the other…. Drawing the dirk, he … pulled a whetstone from his belt pouch, and gave it a few licks. He prided himself on keeping his weapons sharp.
Lady Lysa was still abed [like a good mattress!], but Lord Petyr was up and dressed. "Your aunt wishes to speak with you," he told Sansa, as he pulled on a boot. "I've told her who you are."The notion of a "ceiling" so high it is lost in gloom is perhaps also reworked by the story Lysa tells Sansa about Petyr's "rise" to power: She says she "always knew how high [Petyr would] rise", and it's my belief that said rise has likely seen him 'lost', spiritually, in 'darkness'. (Note that ceilings are a frequently invoked metaphor when talking about climbing the corporate ladder.)
Gods be good. "I . . . I thank you, my lord."
Petyr yanked on the other boot. "I've had about as much home as I can stomach. We'll leave for the Eyrie this afternoon."
Seven towers, Ned had told her, like white daggers thrust into the belly of the sky, so high you can stand on the parapets and look down on the clouds. (AGOT Catelyn VI)
"Half his teeth were gone, and his breath smelled like bad cheese. I cannot abide a man with foul breath. Petyr's breath is always fresh . . . he was the first man I ever kissed, you know. My father said he was too lowborn, but I knew how high he'd rise. Jon gave him the customs for Gulltown to please me, but when he increased the incomes tenfold my lord husband saw how clever he was and gave him other appointments, even brought him to King's Landing to be master of coin. That was hard, to see him every day and still be wed to that old cold man.(Recall that the motif of bad/fresh breath there reworks the "winey stench of the old man's [Sylas Sourmouth's] breath", which Theon thinks about roughly ¼ page prior to being shown his suite in the Bloody Keep.)
"Jon did his duty in the bedchamber, but he could no more give me pleasure than he could give me children. His seed was old and weak. All my babies died but Robert, three girls and two boys. All my sweet little babies dead, and that old man just went on and on with his stinking breath. So you see, I have suffered too." Lady Lysa sniffed. "You do know that your poor mother is dead?"Those references to (a) a bunch of dead "babies", including two brothers, one of which was "murdered" when Lysa's father, Hoster Tully, who ruled the Riverlands, betrayed Lysa's trust; and to (b) foul smelling breath, a la Sylas, and finally to (c) the Red Wedding — a bloody betrayal of Sansa's brother, who was King of the Riverlands — particularly (per Sansa saying "Tyrion told me") as it's described by Tyrion—
"Tyrion told me," said Sansa. "He said the Freys murdered her at The Twins, with Robb."
Sansa did not need to hear how her brother's body had been hacked and mutilated, he decided; nor how her mother's corpse had been dumped naked into the Green Fork in a savage mockery of House Tully's funeral customs. (ASOS Tyrion VII)—are one of the ways ASOS Sansa VI rejiggers the part of Theon's description of his Bloody Keep suite I "[omitted]" earlier, which entails betrayals, murdered brothers, a River King, slaughter, and bodies "hacked to bits".
[Theon] might have been more impressed if he had not known that these were the very chambers that had given the Bloody Keep its name. A thousand years before, the sons of the River King had been slaughtered here, hacked to bits in their beds so that pieces of their bodies might be sent back to their father on the mainland.Lysa's speech with its reference to her abortion and to the Red Wedding (and to stink-breath like Sylas's) isn't the only (or even the main) way Petyr's homecoming chapter refracts those images from Theon's homecoming, though.
But Greyjoys were not murdered in Pyke except once in a great while by their brothers, and his brothers were both dead.
"How many sheep do I have at present, Kella?"Note the kitchen, recalling that the Bloody Keep is paired with the Kitchen Keep as Theon first gazes on Pyke:
… "Three and twenty, m'lord. There was nine and twenty, but Bryen's dogs killed one and we butchered some others and salted down the meat."
"Ah, cold salt mutton. I must be home.…" … "Come, let's see if my hall is as dreary as I recall." … A handful of sheep were wandering about the base of the flint tower…. …
Within, the tower seemed even smaller. An open stone stair wound round the inside wall, from undercroft to roof. Each floor was but a single room. The servants lived and slept in the kitchen at ground level, sharing the space with a huge brindled mastiff and a half-dozen sheep-dogs.
Farther out were the Kitchen Keep and the Bloody Keep, each on its own island.Note, too, that the sheep are coded as Petyr's "sons", in a way (a la the "slaughtered… sons of the River King" Theon remembers in his Bloody Tower rooms), and not just because he owns them. He says that Kella has lots of bastards and that she minds his sheep, right? And what else does he say of Kella, in jest? That she 'is' the "mother" of his "daughter," "Alayne Stone":
"Alayne . . . Stone, would it be?" When he nodded, she said, "But who is my mother?"The joke foregrounds the notion of Petyr as the father of Kella's children. And while she supposedly has a bunch of bastards, we don't see them. We just see the one girl with the livestock-evoking eye with a sty. It's almost like the sheep she looks after are her children. And thus like Petyr is their father.
"Kella?"
"Please no," she said, mortified.
"I was teasing.
[T]he sons of the River King had been slaughtered here, hacked to bits in their beds so that pieces of their bodies might be sent back to their father on the mainland.(They were slaughtered and hacked to bits only so as to properly preserve them against spoilage during their upcoming journey "back to their father on the mainland", you see!)
The priest's manner was chilly, most unlike the man Theon remembered.—and Balon—
Theon pulled off his gloves. "… Why is my father not here to greet me?"—and they're thus part of a broad yin/yang 'rhyme' with Petyr's initial homecoming, which is warm and welcoming and full of familiar faces, whereas Theon knows no one, such that he thinks:
"He awaits you in the Sea Tower, m'lord. When you are rested from your trip."
And I thought Ned Stark cold.
It is as if I were a stranger here….The reversal is wryly underlined when Petyr is greeted at the shore by his "captain of the guards", Bryen:
"It is good to have you home, my lord," said one old man.Thus Petyr ironically gets the "honor guard" welcome Theon hoped he'd get on his arrival 'home':
[Theon] saw… no honor guard waiting to escort him from Lordsport to Pyke, only smallfolk going about their small business.Notice that where no one stops what they're doing for Theon, everyone stops when Petyr arrives. And of course, everyone in his household recognizes him, whereas no one recognizes Theon. Which is telling, because in a deep sense, that's all Theon really wants, deep down: a little recognition.
2023.05.31 17:04 autobuzzfeedbot I'm a 25-year-old single woman who always shops at Trader Joe's for groceries. Here are 15 products I could never live without.
2023.05.31 08:40 crystaltay13 Sour Cream Spinach Dip: can it be frozen? Didn't realize the annoying "best consumed within 3 days" label until after opening it. Absolutely no chance I can eat even half in 3 days. Doesn't expire until July. Will it hold up in the freezer or no?
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2023.05.31 03:49 Appropriate-Sea-5250 What should we do to celebrate 100 foods?
2023.05.31 00:20 wenbalanced One Pot recipes with dried beans and lentils