woodnote

There's currently a Douggles (that's what we call them at my house) on a branch screaming his high-pitched incessant barking scream - this will probably go on for several more minutes. They're lucky they're so cute because they can be god-damned annoying. But then they meet me at the feeder and take a peanut from my hand and all is forgiven.

Republicans who want to smoke weed and abolish the age of consent.

If you're open to paying for something, America's Test Kitchen is a great resource for all the basics. Their website also gives you access to Cook's Country (which is like regional American food) and Cook's Illustrated (which does deep dives into how they come up with and test recipes to get the final result, which in turn gives lots of technique tips). They have an absolute wealth of technique tips, recipes, videos, cookbooks, etc etc. They will advertise to you a ton so I recommend unsubscribing from their marketing emails, but the depth and breadth of their cooking resources are massive.

You can also find their content on YouTube with kitchen equipment tips and technique lessons. If you're a library user, you may also be able to check out digital copies of Cooks Illustrated/Cook's Country through Libby. The library, digital or otherwise, is also a great resource for cookbooks and such. One last book you might look for is Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, which is massive and does go over a ton of basics.

My brother lives in Texas and his property taxes are astronomical. I think that's better than higher sales taxes since it'll tend to favor those who are wealthy enough to own land and be higher for those with more property/properties, but it still shocked me. I live in Washington, though, we get the shit taxed out of us and in pretty regressive ways too, like high sales and gas taxes that disproportionately impact the poor.

I'll be 36 next month. I let myself slept in this morning until I woke up. I have a crick in my neck and the left side of my lumbar spine is a dull mass of burning discomfort. I'd rather sleep 6.5 hours every night than wake up feeling like this every day.

This is great! Saved for future use. I'm especially excited to be able to recreate my own Cajun seasoning next time I look for some in the pantry and inevitably haven't bought any. Very cool project, reminds me of something America's Test Kitchen would publish.

If you're willing to pay a little more than Amazon's Chinese mass-produced prices, you might take a look on Etsy. There's tons of small-scale ceramicists and glass blowers on there with beautiful craftsmanship and I trust the reviews on those shops a fair bit more than Amazon. You could probably even get something custom-made to your preferences. I usually go there now for nice gifts for family and friends, including glassware from multiple shops, and have never been disappointed with my purchases.

Exactly. I consider it basically payola these days. Every big-name review is gushing, falling over itself to expound on the innumerable virtues of every AAA release, and then once normal folks have played for a few weeks, the real story comes out. My partner played the demo and was shocked to be playing the same game as the one that was reviewed. Unless I'm so excited to play a game that I don't care if it's mediocre, I wait to buy until actual the real user reviews trickle out post-release.

Heavy whipping cream in coffee is such an indulgent game-changer. I thought, how could it be that different from half-and-half? But it truly is something special.