wpgbree

[wpgbree]

Thank you to everyone who got me to 250 likes!

<3

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There's nothing more beautiful in this world than his eyes...

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god hes so hot i love his pixels

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Inheritance, 100% cotton quilt. 75"x62".

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I'm trying out a few different things here..

First of all, I'm looking for a good, affordable tomato sauce/passata brands. It may be different for pizza and pasta!

Then, I'm looking for a good pillow. I bought a few like a couple from Walmart, two blue whale pillows and two like, pure polyester floof ones and then I got two from way back when... Not sure the brand but I should try to find it. And then one I got from Giant Tiger that was actually surprisingly made of like 75% cotton or something like that, and... That's my best quality pillow I believe now. Sooo, l need to try them all and give my verdict on the comfort and health effects.

I want to try all the chicken pot pies in the world too.

Oh, and I've been obsessed with dumplings but I already wrote about that last week hehe

I'm also using a new phone; this is the Google Pixel 9 and it's alright so far but for some strange reason, it doesn't come with a default music app (so dumb of them) and thus, I need to choose my own.

The contenders are: Pixel, iBroadcast, Musicolet, Soundcloud, Foobar2000, PowerAmp, BlackPlayer, GoneMAD, VLC & Tunecho.

I wish they didn't get rid of Google Play music app but, let's see here...

Pixel: Ads, but the functionality is all there for free. Honestly not bad looking, and all the features of a proper music app are there and even more. But I don't like the ads, sorry. Also it's just a little too busy for my needs, like, I don't need a file manager.

iBroadcast: Try it for yourself honestly. Help me figure out why they gave up on such a cool app. It's so nice but they just don't have good organization/execution/design! Essential features like, shuffle or just playing in alphabetical order from your entire library is broken.. or maybe I just can't figure it out, but that's still a red flag. Also, I don't need to see album artwork ALL the time. Especially not in the plain old full track library alphaberical view mode.

Musicolet: Although like everybody on Reddit kept raving about this app, I don't get it. It's too busy and honestly I don't have the patience to even look deeper into this app. Sorry!

Soundcloud is cool. I'll keep it just for saving DOPE free music, but it has changed through the years and reflects some increased capitalism. They want you to pay for offline music. I don't know how recent this is, but, when I was travelling back from Churchill I didn't have a good phone. It was this cheap old little Android but I could still download apps and I got Spotify and was able to offline play a lot of music somehow without wifi or data... The songs had automatically saved when I was on wifi... Amazingly. it was the only thing that kept me going the whole train ride back. But, let's keep moving... Things are different now!

PowerAmp: Too complicated. Too much to read. Trying too hard to be a Spotify ripoff, and the Android app looks like it belongs on an iPhone. Moving on.

BlackPlayer: Actually looks pretty cool if I was experimenting with mixing and mastering but I don't know why I would be doing it in an app. Too complicated STILL, and like. Why does it need to remind me I'm using the free version?

GoneMAD: LOL, bro somebody's cousin made this like ages ago for run and they're still pushing this Android 11 music player app for money on Reddit 😂 Gotta love the hussle.

Tunecho: Frankly, it's not bad. I actually had more fun with it than every other app I listed before. It's so simple and it has almost everything you could need.. Altho the ads are a bit obnoxious, if you want free music it's a lot like YouTube. I still don't like the album art showing in library, and no way to edit the options.

Foobar2000: Actually not bad, at all. Just. Ugh, again, too much going on. And I like the Android aesthetic, but it needs to be updated and cleaned up a bit. Also using its namesake "Foobar2000" from the FTP for wireless music transfer directly from computer to phone is pretty cool, and helps users find this app more easily if they already use it on their computer.

Final verdict: I should really be learning how to use YouTube Music, SoundCloud, and VLC Music Player.

FTP client is cool too, will look into that, and also fixing my poor strange computer who's battery randomly almost completely gave out after upgrading to Windows 11. Woohoo.

Let's go future technology!! Yay!

[wpgbree]

I would like to discuss culinary topics. You can call this little activity truth or trash.

I’m going to start by discussing one of my favourite foods: dumplings.

Not the American/European type of dumplings… and there are many different kinds of those… But, Asian dumplings! The bouncy, juicy, tender and sometimes crispy pleated pockets of savoury goodness. Seriously, nothing quite hits the spot when you’re hungry for a quick meal.

You can cook these up in 5-10 minutes, depending on how crispy you like them… But something I have noticed is, they’re usually marked precooked/fully cooked on the bag from the store so there’s no risk in undercooking and getting sick. That makes sense to me because, I can’t imagine pork being fully cooked in the same amount of time thin wrappers get cooked. We’re talking about food borne illness people… this is no joking matter. If you’ve ever had Shu Mai, or actually I believe there are dumplings that have no wrapper at all… It’s almost like, panna cotta, or like a flan cake or some kind of jello. The gelatine (I think) solidifies the meat into this sort of solid mass. When you bite into it, it’s juicy and bouncy, there’s like… This very spring-back mouth feel and the meat really does hold its form and somehow it’s bursting with flavour. The juices are all trapped inside, somehow. It really amazes & intrigues me.

Is the secret kept hidden?

Any decent dumpling maker will tell you, the secret is: msg, baking soda, and stirring in one direction, with chopsticks, until your arm feels like it’s about to fall off. You are looking for a paste like consistency. But the apparent magic of transforming ground pork into paste by stirring is more like wishful thinking. I have made countless batches of dumplings at this point in my life.

They’re lying to us.

Yeaaah whatever, so what. Recipes online will tell you “this” or “that” is the REAL secret. I think they’re lying to us. Of course they’re lying, and lots of people are lying. Do you really think that people with thousand year old, traditional, heirloom, family recipes are gonna just give up their secret that easily? Hell to the no. They don’t want every Jane or John Doe opening a restaurant, stealing your recipe. They don’t want you to know how to do it all yourself, so you still prefer theirs. They want you to try to make it, and sort-of enjoy it. They’ll give you 3/4 of the deal but they’re leaving out that last 1/4 for their own benefit. Theirs will always be better than yours.

And, you need to buy theirs.

If you’ve ever bought premade Asian food, and looked at the ingredients, you’d notice a lot of MSG. Popular YouTubers, like Uncle Roger (who has a restaurant now), say MSG is the real secret. Nothing tastes quite as good without it… and to be honest, I have a slight fear of it. The reason is because growing up, my little brother would always get sick every time we had takeout Asian food, or anything premade. He would literally start puking profusely, until all the food came out of his system. We never knew what exactly caused this but, my mom speculated it may be MSG because people online said they had the same reaction to foods with MSG. It really only happened when he ate those restaurant/store bought Asian foods. My mom would make stir fry without the MSG and he was fine, in fact, he loved it even more.

This reminds me of a similar topic: egg/spring/summer rolls,wontons&dimsum.

Something I have never tried is, fresh Dim Sum. I have made homemade wontons and egg rolls. I also made Vietnamese summer rolls before… they’re kind of amazing. But Dim Sum is the most similar to dumplings. Dumplings are called different things from different countries. They’re filled with all sorts of things, from meat, to mushrooms to veg, to fish.. But Dim Sum is Chinese, and they’re always made the same. That’s part of my fascination with it, because I like to form baseline opinions. When they’re always supposed to be made the same, I can judge them better based on taste. Some will be made better than others, always. I just want to know what makes good flavour, no matter what kind of dumpling it is. I want to standardize my test and judge every dumpling the same way.

Either I like it or I don’t, and I can tell you why.

I got dumplings from Giant Tiger… 31 dumplings for $8. That’s a pretty damn good price, eh? Of course I looked at the ingredients before I bought them. They said “pork dumplings” on the bag, and one of the spices used was Rosemary. I thought, “are these even going to be Asian?” and second guessed the purchase but that price is too good to not stuff your face just for fun. The rest of the ingredients looked good so, I brought em home and made half right away because I couldn’t stand the suspense. They fried up so nice, no broken wrappers and the smell was good. I plated them and put my special sauce in a little dish. I took my chopsticks and picked one up, dipped it and took a bite. The wrappers were tough, not crispy… I couldn’t break thru!! So I was gnawing and biting over and over to get it off… Okay not a big deal, this has happened before to me. The wrappers get tough from being frozen, so you have to steam them but I don’t have a steamer and I like mine a little crispy on the outside. Downside is doing that too slowly will overcook the wrapper without actually frying it, and that can make it rubbery. So the best way I say is coat your pan with oil enough to see it splashing, and turn your pan medium high, like a 6 and put them straight in frozen (so the ice will melt and steam them inside out) shake the pan around so they don’t stick, and immediately turn the element down to 4 put a lid to cover and let them slowly steam out. This way you can steam and fry them all at the same time. This is where the aspect of them being “precooked” comes into focus. Realistically tho, if I have raw meat inside thin dough, then, how hot do my dumplings have to get and how long should I cook them? Ever had steamed ground meat before? Sounds pretty freakin gross to me. There’s something about searing that locks in moisture and flavour. But when we have steamed meat dumplings, that are not precooked (talking about my homemade dumplings) something happens inside that turns the ground meat grainy and it falls apart into these little pieces, and a gamey flavour of pork is present. Maybe this is because regular old ground pork from the store contains a lot of fat, which apparently is the main source of the muskiness. I just want my dumplings to taste and look like the ones from the store that I’ll pay $8 for 10 of them. Ugh.

Long story short: I got the dumplings on sale and I ate them. They were pretty good. They tasted exactly like Spring Rolls. I’m not even joking I swear, they must have been produced in the exact same factory. These dumplings do not taste like pork in the slightest. They taste like spring rolls, like, they’re completely vegetarian. All I see is cabbage and onion… I tried to make homemade dumplings following a recipe called “the only dumpling recipe you’ll ever need” and I was still, disappointed. Even after following all the instructions word by word, exactly to a T.

What am I missing here?

[wpgbree]

Thursday, Jan 30

My dad took me shopping today. I also got some help handing in my paperwork so I can keep living, or rather, surviving…

The amount of money I get is more than homeless people have, but it’s less than normal people have. I am so glad to be alive, and thankful for ANY amount of money I receive… but I don’t quite feel like a normal person yet… And I almost resent the fact that I don’t make my own money. I keep myself busy, and stay optimistic. Things like this don’t bother me too much… yet.

I appreciate everything everyone is doing for me and I’m thankful that my parents keep themselves busy, too. They encourage me more than anyone and I look up to them so much.

I love my family.

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#me

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There’s that jam from Costco; apparently it’s made by holocaust survivors. I guess I should support the cause.. as easy as it may be to make my own jam, the cost just isn’t worth it if I’m not gonna be making a whole LOT of it myself. Ya know?

Bulk purchasing is going to save my life. Costco is the illusion of bulk purchasing. They’re gonna charge you almost the same freaking price you pay at Walmart. Why would I even bother thinking about it? I can get $2 bacon from my local grocer or I can pay $8 for a pack of bacon, that you’re trying to sell me for $30 in a pack of 4… as if that’s a deal? I don’t care how organic your bacon is, my local farmers are saving me money and they most likely are putting exactly the same shit into theirs.

I’m going to start making a AFFORABLE LIVING GUIDEBOOK. I will be posting my daily routines, and going to save as much as possible from now on. I’m scared to see what else I will discover on this journey because one of the things you sacrifice while trying to save money obviously is health. The cheaper things will not be healthier for you unfortunately but you don’t always have to make that trade-off.

Stop eating out!!

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REDESIGN, RENOVATION

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As much as I still spend at Costco…

I’d probably not get as much enjoyment elsewhere, as I do every time I go there. Truth be told tho… that literally was the most- less than mid Alfredo sauce I’ve ever tasted. The demo made me not want it! At least I’m saving money that way!! :))

But why do they give you a drink with every hotdog? Do I have to get a drink or can I JUST order a hotdog please?? :((

[wpgbree]

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hey do you have a tumblr

no sorry

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bounce right back