lexlee20

[lexlee20]

Bought a container of “ready to use” chai masala powder but almost never used it bc it always left an off-putting sludge at the bottom of my cup, even after a traditional stove prep w CTC tea granules (put tea, spices, and sugar in cold water; bring to full boil; lower heat and add equal volume of milk; bring back to simmer; scoop up milk skin and repeatedly pour back in until reincorporated; ladle through sieve into cup)— unlike freshly toasted whole spices, the powder was so fine that it went right through the sieve.

Finally found the perfect application for it, after The Spouse volunteered me to provide stuff for a work party but I was feeling too unwell for anything complicated.

CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES.

1.) make ganache as a 1:2 mixture of heavy cream to dark chocolate. Microwave the cream in an oversized glass measuring cup until it’s hot. Drop in the chocolate and stir it until it melts. Let it cool nearly back to room temperature if necessary.

2.) Find a shallow container that’ll give you a ganache depth similar to whatever you want your final truffle size to be. (1 cm? 1 inch? idk, they’re your truffles.) If you’re not sure, pour in an equivalent volume of water (and dry it off afterward). Line the container with waxed paper, pour in the lukewarm ganache, and stick it in the fridge with plastic wrap over the top of the container.

3.) Wait until the ganache is solid enough that a knife in its middle doesn’t come out goopy. Might be only a few hours, but overnight is a safe bet. Lift the waxed paper with the solid ganache onto a chopping board and cut into approximate cubes. They don’t have to be sharp or precise.

“But where the hell is the chai masala powder?!” I hear you cry. Shhh. Here comes the magic.

4.) Get a reasonably large container with a secure lid (idk, ~1 liter/quart?). Put in a few scoops of plain dark cocoa powder and throw in some chai masala. Go easy at first, you can add more if you want to but you can’t take it back out except via dilution. Mix it thoroughly, drop in a naked ganache chunk, close the lid, and swirl it around until completely covered and probably somewhat rounded. Wait for the powder to settle before you open the lid to extract the test truffle. Taste it and decide whether to add more chai masala. (Or whatever else. This would obviously work with any finely powdered spices. Cinnamon? Cardamom? White pepper? Cayenne? You do you.)

5.) if you’re happy with the flavor, go into full production mode. You can put lots of truffles into the shaker at the same time as long as they have enough room to shake around and enough cocoa powder to cover them. Small orphaned chunks of truffle will fall off into the cocoa powder. This is fine.

6.) A slotted spoon is handy for scooping out the cocoa’ed truffles into a holding container. They’ll still carry some extra cocoa powder with them. Store the truffles in the fridge when you’re done.

7.) Except you’re not done yet. You now have a shaker with leftover spiced cocoa powder and bitty truffle gravel. The gravel should be sieved out and made into hot cocoa, maybe with milk that was microwaved with any leftover ganache in the measuring cup. The sieved powder can be kept at room temperature and stirred into coffee.

8.) fin!

[lexlee20]

This Conclave post showed up on my dash in the middle of a Temeraire reread binge and for a moment I was so confused

Au where Lawrence died years ago and he's a ghost and doesn't realize it because he's so absorbed with his work and everyone else is just like yeah that's the resident Vatican ghost. Don't tell him he's dead we did that a couple of years ago and a window exploded

[lexlee20]

My kids are postulating an anti-Hogwarts in which the house mascots are Hyena, Mongoose, Turkey, and Dachshund

(look up the etymology of “dachshund” if necessary)

[lexlee20]

i was just thinking about this again, reframing the initial setup to dog and cat in animal shelter

and this time my brain cell tried to merge it with _Lilo and Stitch_

WHY

The two main characters strike me as very dog/cat coded

The lyrics are tearing my heart out

And yet my brain cell is trying to merge this with _Murderbot_

[lexlee20]

KNH uses the kanji 片喰 for かたばみ and 鬼灯 for ほおずき, but Jisho.org says that they both have several other ways of writing them — including 酸漿草 (かたばみ) and 酸漿 (ほおずき). This seems very interesting to me, since these flowers are associated with Maomao and Shisui, who are alike in many ways. The other names listed for 片喰 also end in 草, but those start with kanji that don’t match any other dictionary entry.

Do you know where the names of these plants come from?

Wow! I didn't know the other Kanji; 酢漿草 for かたばみ and 酸漿 for ほおずき. It's the first time for me to see the Kanji "漿"...

Woodsorrel, かたばみ is usually written as "片喰" in Kanji. "片" means "one side", like 片方（かたほう/Kata-ho): one side, one party. "喰" means "eat", the same as "食".

食べる（たべる/Taberu) 、(old word) 食む（はむ/Hamu): (Humans) eat some (normal) foods

喰う（くう/Kuu)、(old word) 喰む（はむ/Hamu): (Animals or something non-human) eat something

The leaves of woodsorrels close at night, making it look as if it is half-eaten. Apparently, that was the reason why it was named 片喰.

Another name "酢漿草" is Chinese name, and "酢" means "vinegar". When I searched online, I found out that the plant got its name because it tastes sour when eaten. So, it is assumed that the Chinese name was introduced later, and they adapted the pronunciation for the Kanji "酢漿草" to the Japanese name. (No wonder that I didn't know the Kanji...)

Next, lantern plants, ほおずき is usually written as "鬼灯". "鬼" is "demon", giant monsters that often appear in Japanese folk tales. They did not actually exist, but were feared by people. Demon Slayer, Kimetsu no Yaiba, is "鬼滅の刃" in Japanese. In addition, 鬼 has another meaning, which is the soul of a dead person. The other Kanji, "灯" is a "lantern", or "light".

The plant bears fruit in summer, and there is a period called "お盆(おぼん/Obon)" when the souls of family members or ancestors who have passed away return home in summer in Japan. That is a Buddhist custom. So, some people put some lantern plants at their clans' graves so that the deceased family can light the way home without getting lost, or decorate the plants at the entrance of their home or Buddhist altar so that they can easily find where to come back.

In Ep.18 "Lantern Plant", Jinshi found a lantern plant at the grave of Taihou. I'm not sure but I guess Suirei put it. As the fruit of lantern plants takes on that color and shape from late summer to mid autumn, it was probably brought in from colder northern regions - Shihoku-shu. I have no idea whether it was put there for the same reason as the Obon in Japan, but... just imagine. If it was put there to light the way home for Taihou, whose body was never able to return home even after her death, what a wonderful and heartbreaking gift it is.

[lexlee20]

Also That Guy is clearly neither Valjean nor Javert. He’s Thenardier except all his kids are Azelma (Mlle. “Not Appearing In This Musical” (except for a brief mention in the original French concept album))

[lexlee20]

The two main characters strike me as very dog/cat coded

The lyrics are tearing my heart out

And yet my brain cell is trying to merge this with _Murderbot_

[lexlee20]

My brain cell just tried to convince me that “hamstring” is derived from a root verb “to hamster”

[lexlee20]

PLAY MORE ROUTES

AVOID ALL SPOILERS

the hatoful fandom demands it of you

More 'clearing' of the Steam Library. Just finished Hatoful Boyfriend for the first time.

When this game was first announced/talked about, I giggled about it cause the premise, to me, was silly and adorable and finally getting to play it... how sweet and heartfelt with the right blend of silly.

I haven't done every route, just a single run and managed to romance Ryouta but I had such a good time, game just flew by.

VizNovs are always such a delightful surprise... well, most of them anyway.

[lexlee20]

There is a Very Loud Music Festival at least 2 miles away on the other side of the river and it’s louder with the windows closed than open bc it’s vibrating through the ground and walls

[lexlee20]

What was Maladict’s “coffee engine” exactly? If it could be “smashed flat” without any mentions of broken glass, it probably didn’t have glass components. French press? Moka pot? Siphon brewer?

ETA pix of siphon brewer and moka fountain

ETAA: I hadn’t realized how delightfully steampunky that type of siphon brewer is in operation: https://youtu.be/_iw9LOL0Vlc?si=KGiccd2Ln2m5qnEz

[lexlee20]

Why am I instantly imagining Beaker as Patroclus

I’m just saying if they did make Muppets The Iliad, they couldn’t actually depict Achilles mowing Hector down and spearing him through the throat so instead how this would look is Animal dragging a very much alive Pepe the Prawn around in circles and laughing maniacally while an uncomfortable Kermit looks at the camera and does that face where the hand inside him clenches a little.

[lexlee20]

There’s a Kindle omnibus of “The Secret Books of Paradys” for $5– it’s a Baudelairesque fever dream of novellas and short stories linked by a shared setting: quasi-Paris, mostly quasi 19-century, though sometimes ranging back to the equivalent of Roman settlement.

TBH I’d recommend starting with Lee’s short story anthologies to get a wider sense of her range

So I've been a bit curious about Tanith Lee, apparently one of Neil Gaiman's major inspirations, now that she's been getting more press in the wake of Gaiman's cancellation.

To those of you who've read Tanith Lee, where would you recommend I start?

(Tagging @fierceawakening here)

[lexlee20]

My short film is finally, finally done.

[lexlee20]

Linksplat for future reference (several rabbitholes sideways from 4th “Science of Discworld” audiobook)

[lexlee20]

Now do watermelons.

No seriously, watermelons are related to cucumbers— not closely enough to cross-pollinate, but close enough that the white part of watermelon rind tastes like cucumbers and it! Can! Be! Food!

I still have three different forms of watermelon rind squirreled away from last summer: sweet pickles (Alton Brown’s recipe), candied in syrup (from a recipe for Greek “spoon sweets” I found online somewhere), and just plain frozen (sliced into green-bean-sized matchsticks first.

They are tougher than your average cucumber and need some cooking to tenderize. But that also means if otherwise unprocessed, the rind can still be crunchy even after being frozen and (briefly) cooked. I mix a handful in with sliced meat to marinate for stir-fry and the rind absorbs the flavors like mad.

If you cook them longer (like soup), the frozen rind does soften but holds its shape and doesn’t fall apart. If you put a *lot* of the rind into an otherwise mild soup, it’ll taste a lot like Chinese wintermelon soup which makes me nostalgic bc my parents used to grow wintermelons in the back yard. I also dice the pickles to mix with ground meat for empanada filling.

In theory it might be possible to shred them fresh into salad/slaw, but I always cook mine before eating bc they’ve already had the melon part eaten out of them first. The green outer skin is very tough so I usually peel that off, unless I want the pickles to be extra-crunchy.

Behold: candied w some pomegranate syrup for extra flavor/color, sweet pickle chunks, and frozen matchsticks.

Hi Bitches! I have a fun food story I think you'll like.

So I recently discovered there's a produce rescue in my state that purchases unsold wholesale produce at the border to prevent it from being tossed in the landfill. They then sell it off at hella cheap prices. You don't get to pick what's in your box, but, uh. It's 70 pounds of produce for $15, you get what you get and if you're like me you will figure out what to do with it rather than let it go to waste.

Anyway, my last box included an absolutely insane number of Persian cucumbers. So I decided I'd try something I've wanted to try for years, because if I wrecked one or two in the process it wasn't as big a disaster as if I'd tried it with expensive store bought ones, and...

I can make my own glatt kosher dill pickles now, and holy crap, Vlasic can eat its heart out. Mine are crunchier, more flavorful, better-cut and kept perfectly good food from being thrown away, doing them with my produce box meant they were about 1/8 the price, and also pickling is very easy but people think you're amazing and fancy if you pickle your own stuff.

Also if anyone is in Arizona and wants in on this action, it's called Borderlands P.O.W.W.O.W. (Produce On Wheels WithOut Waste) and you can find them here. Here's what my last box looked like:

I should note that's what's left after I split the box half and half with a friend.

HOLY MOTHERFUCKING SHITBALLS THIS IS AMAZING!!! Thank you so much for sharing this extremely frugal win AND telling the rest of us how to get in on it. With grocery prices the way they are, this is sure to keep a lot of people from going hungry or missing out on necessary nutrition. I encourage everyone outside of Arizona to look for similar programs in your state! (Though I suspect it's mostly only applicable to border states.)

Also, drop that super crunchy pickle recipe, baby.

Here's more advice:

How to Shop for Groceries like a Boss 

You Should Learn To Cook. Here's Why. 

Did we just help you out? Say thanks by joining our Patreon!

[lexlee20]

“Gris” is a beautiful game but I am terrible at platforming, and nearly-invisible platforms do not play well with (at most) 1.5 functional eyeballs that now both have cataracts

Sorry game, but despite all the good things I’ve heard about you and have experienced in brief snippets of Not Failing, my overall impression is slumping into “I am falling off the pretty scenery all the time and barely progressing, which is becoming too tedious to be fun”