Lanabananarama, Regional Director of Deck Chair Rearrangement

(And the bao were great! So pillowy!)

A reasonable suggestion, but after comparing to other braised short rib recipes (including one that was successful for us), I think we just had the oven temp too low.

Stoneware plate with three bun-style bao filled with oven-braised Korean barbecue beef, a vegetable stirfry, and gochugaru cucumber salad. Wine pairing: Argentinian Bonarda.

A wide stainless steel braiser, tricked out with a steamer rack bearing nine homemade bao buns. Someone is holding the domed lid that was just lifted off the pot.

After dinner last night, we shoved the remaining half of the short ribs back in the oven. After another TWO+ HOURS (we'd already cooked them for four) they finally got tender. So today we shredded the meat and made bao to put it in.

So I'm thinking, if I buy a smallish wine fridge, then I can use the door shelves of the downstairs regular fridge (which are currently chilling wines) for some of the growing collection of Asian cooking ingredients.

A crash course in "How to Get Your Partner to Armchair Diagnose You With a Personality Disorder"

"Microwave and doctor" is an entirely respectable meal format. In the last week I have twice eaten deli ham and cheese rolled up in a tortilla and zapped. See also: leftover Thai stIrfry in a tortilla.

Tag yourself

Not sure if I’m more nerd/brat or demon/goddess

A couple of disclaimers: 1) I would never cook this meal if I had to cook alone. I would eat cereal until I died of a vitamin deficiency. 2) This is the second time we’ve made the short ribs, and we still don’t have the timing and temp correct yet. They were tasty but chewy.

Stoneware plate with large chunks of red meat in a brown sauce garnished with thin strips of scallion greens, potatoes and bell peppers sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds, and thinly sliced cucumbers in a reddish dressing. Wine pairing: Nero d’Oro Riserva Sicilian red blend.

Short ribs oven-braised in Korean barbecue sauce, soy-braised potatoes, and spicy cucumber salad. I did not have the spoons for this today, but I’d already put it off one day, and the meat was expensive.

I accidentally got a bit of gochujang in the peanut butter I'm putting on my apple slices and I'm not mad about it

I know a guy who once moderated a session of academic presentations by bringing in a large stick (walking stick size) with a large artificial skull on the top. If a talk started to run long, he'd start thunking the floor with the stick, as if the neighbors in an apartment below were being noisy.

Apparently it is not actually obvious to everyone around me that at all waking moments, I am either intensely absorbed in some challenging and dopamine-providing activity, or processing a giant tangle of feelings? Huh.

Ever had a friend invite you to do something fun, and after you say yes (and often at the last minute) they announce "Oh, I invited Someone You Don't Really Know to join us, hope you don't mind"? It's kind of like that, although mercifully not at the last minute.

Answer: Yes, apparently I can.

Can I pin a quote tweet at the top of my profile?

You are little-kid me's hero for that.

Oh hell, an event I was excited about has made a change so that now it triggers my fear of not fitting in.

I would post a photo if my knitting project in progress, but Apple's precious Deep Fusion (which can't be disabled) fucks up every photo attempt. The oversharpening is particularly bad for garter stitch.

Thanks. This whole 'human condition' thing is getting to me. Can't tell the mountains from the molehills.

Today's state of mind: a truly all-encompassing ennui. Do not want to do anything, plan anything, solve anything, or fix anything. Cannot tolerate any sensory input that is not fully under my control. Reading Mutuals feed only.

Why does it have to be so hard to find the line between being a dick and being a doormat?

It's quite the time in history to be reading LeGuin's The Dispossessed.

Shrimp noodle stir fry and a condiment bowl of bright red chili vinegar. Wine pairing: Corbieres Grenache, Syrah, and Carignan blend.

Shrimp pad see ew. The noodles clumped, and we weren't able to get a proper char, but it was still delicious. Fresh rice noodles are so tender! I made the prik nam som from Fresno peppers that had been in the produce drawer a while.

I haven't tried the 'shouting prophecy' part yet.

An oiled stack of rectangular rice noodles on an aluminum quarter sheet pan with a silpat liner

A pound and a half of uncut rice noodles! A couple of the early ones had small finger holes, but then I got the feel for the peel. If I were going to do this often, I would want nonstick eighth sheet pans.

We're going to try making fresh wide rice noodles today. Possibly what we will actually make is a giant starchy mess, but I have a lot of rice flour and tapioca starch, so I am optimistic that we will eventually produce edible noodles.

Happy belated birthday!

The smallest bag of teff flour was four pounds, so I guess I'll be making a lot of injera too.

I now have all the ingredients to attempt making dosa batter!

I am pleased to report that when I set my items down at the cash register at the new Thai grocery, the proprietor looked at my basket and said something along the lines of "oh okay, you know what you're doing"