alias_sqbr

I have finally achieved my goal, after many years: I ate a mooncake! It was a tiny goal but feels good to have achieved it.

I never ate them when I was younger on the assumption they would be as full of butter as most other Delicious Looking Asian Pastries, and by the time I discovered that they're traditional enough not to be made from dairy I wasn't in a position to easily get one (I could order large expensive boxes online, but I just wanted one). Even once I finally found a local Asian supermarket which delivers I kept forgetting to buy a mooncake during the limited time window.

This frustrated me, because (a) they sounded like something I'd enjoy and (b) it would feel nice to participate in such a big global celebration in my own small way.

AND THIS YEAR I DID IT. The moment people started talking about the mid-Autumn festival I got Cam to organise a joint order with me from the Asian supermarket.

Including a lotus paste mooncake with egg yolk! Which I just cut into pieces and ate some of! It was delicious :) I was dubious about having a whole egg yolk in the middle of a pastry but it worked pretty well, all salty and creamy.

They're supposed to be shared but Cam doesn't like lotus paste. So I shall share it with you all digitally. So an early happy Mid-Autumn Festival to all of you, including those of you for whom it is also actually mid-Spring. And happy Djilba to everyone else in the local Nyoongar country!

EDIT: For anyone else in Perth: Kai Supermarket, I know ubereats is evil but there's not a lot of local options.

Since WA Fresh has sadly stopped again.

I just did an order with The People's Produce and it was pretty good! No minimum order, cheap delivery, wide range of suburbs, good quality https://www.thepeoplesproduce.com.au/

Note that this is not the same as The People's Market, which has donated to an anti-abortion charity but does have a large range of stuff http://www.thepeoplesmarketperth.com.au

I also considered TAL fruit and veg, which has a $50 minimum order https://talfruitandveg.com.au/online-store/

and Morley Fruit and Veg https://www.morleywholesale.com.au/

I've been experimenting with making my own lazy electrolyte drinks since all the ones I could find had artificial sweeteners which tend to disagree with me.

Currently I'm basically just making dilute cordial(*) plus about 1/4 teaspoon of table salt per litre in a jug in a fridge, which has been SUPER refreshing.

Commercial electrolyte drinks have other salts like magnesium and potassium but all the easily available unsweetened powders I could find included a variety of other vitamins etc which I'd feel weird having in such inconsistent amounts and they also probably don't taste great in aggregate.

I'm wondering if something like Heart Salt would be better than regular salt, it has a little artificial sweetener to cut the bitterness of the potassium but presumably less than stuff like Hydralyte/Gatorade etc. The fact their website says nothing about it being a more varied electrolyte makes me wonder if the potassium isn't very bioavailable or something.

My favourite flavour combo so far is 1.5L of raspberry cordial plus an extra cup of water to reduce acidity and sugar, with two tulsi teabags left in it for a few hours to add more complexity of flavour. Which is still a fair amount of sugar and artificial colouring but unfortunately lightly flavoured water easily falls into an uncanny valley of undrinkability for me. Though maybe chilled lightly salted water would be ok? Wouldn't taste as nice though...

Experiments continue!

(*)I know people overseas use 'cordial' differently than we do here. I'm talking about an uncarbonated drink made by diluting a flavoured sugar syrup with water.

Has anyone had good experiences with devices to help cut vegetables into thick slices or sticks? I specify thick because my in-laws gave me this thing for making thin slices, and it works fine but it's still a lot of physical effort and I don't actually want thin slices most of the time. If I want something diced finely I just use my food processor. What I have trouble with is making slices/sticks/cubes.

The physical effort of cutting is something of a problem for me, but even a manual device that used the same amount of strength but required less concentration would be helpful. Variable widths would be the most useful but a set width over 1cm/half an inch would be something.

I looked it up online and there are things that do what I want but I have no idea how useful they are in practice.

I just bought the low-effort cookbook Cooking is Terrible after seeing it recced a bunch on tumblr, and I feel like it was worth $5USD for me, even having to scroll past anything reliant on cheese/beans etc. I haven't actually cooked anything from it yet, but I recognised a bunch of things I already make, and got a bunch of interesting ideas I intend to try. And I was inspired to create something new and tasty(*)

Where it differs from traditional cookbooks is that it's designed for people who don't have the energy for a lot of thinking or preparation. So the easiest stuff is at the front: a list of things you can eat with no prep at all. Then come suggestions for nice sandwich fillings, moving on to general advice for making soup plus some nice combos of ingredients etc.

I can see it being useful to scroll through when I'm hungry and have enough ingredients and energy to cook something but nothing seems both attainable and appealing. I might take the text as a base for a personalised version, removing all the things I will never eat and adding in extras.
( Read more... )

A great post by Skygiants about why Mob Psycho 100 is great.

Cute Scum Villain's Self Saving System and Heaven Official's Blessing animatics

Deleted scene from She-ra, a bittersweet Entrapta/Hordak moment

Also, fellow Australians: we recently discovered Cob's Pop'd Chips, they're pretty tasty for low-ish fat potato-chip/crisp type things.

WA Fresh is shutting down ;_;

Does anyone know of other good places delivering custom fruit and veg in Perth? Most places seem to just do boxes of whatever's in season, which is no good to me with all my intolerances.

What I found today:
Fruit n Vegies R Us Limited range

The Good Grocer A supermarket, which tends to mean lower quality.

Also Aussie Fruit and Veg look like they could be good for anyone south of the river (which I am not).

I could also just order from Coles/Woolworths but that tends to be very poor quality.

Crossposts: https://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/788194.html

It was time to make an updated version!

If something isn't listed, it's possible I didn't think of it, but it may also be in the fuzzy grey area of "it depends how much and in what context".
( WHAT I CAN'T EAT )

( WHAT I CAN EAT )

Crossposts: https://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/759397.html

I've been feeling weirdly good lately???

Still within expected operating parameters, but consistently on the better end of the scale, for like two weeks. I expect it'll dip back down eventually, but I haven't felt this good for this long in about six months, so whatever kicked me down a notch at the end of last year has hopefully worn off? Maybe??? I'm not used to having optimistic thoughts about my health, even mild ones like "maybe I'm no sicker than I was last year". *hopes I'm not jinxing myself*

Since this is such a cheery development, I decided to make this an unlocked post. Under the cut is some dry medical speculation of the sort I usually lock, but nothing generally distressing asides from talking about food and food intolerances.
( Read more... )

Crossposts: https://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/750939.html

I also try to avoid soy, coconut, and vegetable gums. Most are also gluten free, but that's not something I watch out for myself.

The first three are available internationally, for the rest you may need to be in Australia. Most are at Coles/Woolies.
( Read more... )

Crossposts: https://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/746375.html

Since my google-fu has failed me.
( Cut since I'm talking about food )

Does anyone know anything helpful? Anyone else experienced something similar?

Crossposts: https://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/745787.html

A meme from

rachelmanija, in which I asked for and received three things to talk about "that I may or may not know or care about."

I'm going to ramble off the top of my head or I'll overthink it. If you reply asking for your own three things, I will also answer off the top of my head, which will be a fun adventure in not-entirely-over-my-cold word association.

Anyway! Three things!
( Visual novels, fruit, cats )

Crossposts: https://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/740826.html

Not much, really, but it's been a while.

Writscrib died. I don't have great hopes for Pillowfort, either.

I bought a juicer! It's a bit of a hassle to clean considering the juice doesn't keep long, but watching it go WHIZZ is fun and Cam and I were both pretty happy with the results from a bag of Coles juicing apples. I have two apparently unrelated intestinal conditions(*) that mean I can't digest most raw fruit and vegetable fibre and have to go on a clear fluid diet once a year, so being able to drink fresh (and thus more nutritious) juice whenever I like is pretty appealing.

I signed up for

remixrevival's Madness, right now I'm focused on my main assignment but intend to poke about later for fun stuff to illustrate/riff on. Anyone can sign up and remix other people's works/offer to be remixed.

The latest manifestation of my continuing Hakuoki obsession is a monster Chizuru/Saito/Okita WIP currently up to 31K words, which is longer than anything else I've written except Wedding is Destiny. And that took me 8 years, while I've been writing this for a couple of weeks? Turns out I have a lot of feelings about chronic illness and polyamory and gender (and vampire samurai)

Speaking of which:

moonvoice finished their radiotherapy, and while it was pretty awful it's over and they're still around so that's great :) Also Cam and I decided we can't be bothered being so careful about mentioning that we're poly on social media disconnected from the more conservative people in our lives. So, I have been dating

moonvoice for about 8 months now and they are wonderful and amazing.

....hmm. While chucking a bunch of random things in the juicer was fun my stomach is a bit "Did I really have to digest 3 pears an apple and some celery sticks all at once??" YES STOMACH YOU DID STOP WHINING.

(*)Irritable bowel syndrome and polyposis, since I know I'm always curious when people make these sorts of vague comments.

Crossposts: https://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/686653.html

To try:

Places we actually go:

New Place Japanese
Kaze Bento
8fry Korean
Poppo Korean and Japanese
Pizzarella Very customisable pizzas!
Little China Girl
Wing Soon Chinese Restaurant
Golden Star BBQ Seafood Chinese Restaurant bad soup, middling sweet and sour pork
NewRoz kebabs
ribs and burgers
GYU - EN Japanese BBQ Cam finds them too plain

Middling Japanese

Sakaba Japanese
Shimizu
Kabuki Bento Good tataki, bad katsudon
Restaurant 1903
Mr Oro Custom sushi, deep fried chicken teriyaki
Tak'e Sushi Cam liked, had ok greasy plainish beef teriyaki

Tried, disliked:

DON'T USE MENULOG, THEY ARE TOO SLOW.
Southern Star Vietnamese* expensive, spicy, greasy. Tasted ok.
Osaka Sushi Cheap and mediocre. Not inedible though.
Yama Sushi: mediocre, unexpectedly spicy.
Happy Fortune Chinese Gives me reflux
Tonku Sushi Yokine Greasy
Itoshii Japanese: Greasy and expensive
Bariuma Greasy
Seoul Delish: spicy

Looks good/Used to like but they stopped delivering here:

Fuku Sushi
Aladdin's Pizza and Kebabs Too far :(
Yummy House Chinese Restaurant A bit pricey but very nice. Doesn't deliver to us any more ;_;
Taka's Japanese

OLD VERSION:

So after vaguely noticing the rise of Ubereats I decided to investigate the options for food delivery in Perth again, and lo! They have improved enough that there are now options I can eat available in my area!

The sites I have found and how they looked for my fairly central suburb:

Menulog Moderate range, what I ended up using.
Eatnow Similar to Menulog, but website was a little less helpful regarding opening times.
Ubereats Largest range. But part of Uber and thus evil.
Deliveroo Range has recently increased

I ended up picking Taiwanese Cafe which has a nice range of food I can eat as well as some stuff Cameron likes. And Taiwanese desserts!! I LOVE TAIWANESE DESSERTS and have had trouble finding anywhere easy to get them. The food was overall pretty good: the red bean and pearls dessert wasn't the best I've had but still satisfying, the popcorn chicken was super tasty, the teriyaki chicken bento perfectly nice, and the egg pancake a little greasy but ok. The only genuinely mediocre dish was the spring rolls.

The menulog ordering process was very painless, and the delivery guy had my number for when he got lost (our set of units has a very confusing numbering system) You're in trouble if you want ingredient lists etc, but that's true of most delivery.

Untried:

Tried, liked:

Shunking Chinese Restaurant* black pepper a bit spicy
Golden Star BBQ Seafood Chinese Restaurant* Can be a little spicy
New Place Japanese Kitchen*
Taiwanese Cafe
Parklane Chinese Adequate and cheap with large servings.
Wah Sun Chinese Restaurant* Closed Tues
Pizza on Beaufort nice burgers

Crossposts: https://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/662261.html

A while ago I wrote this post about predicting food fads, then didn't get around to posting it. In the meantime

yiduiqie posted links to two different new "Asian food is the new Western food" fads that bear no resemblance to my predictions whatsoever. I am thus posting this now before I look even sillier :)

So! I sometimes ponder what foods will become the new shiny food in Australia next.
( Read more... )

Crossposts: http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/661136.html

Am still feeling depressed, but getting by. My apologies to the multiple people who subscribed to me recently, you all seem very cool but unfortunately my brain's response to "do I want to see the kinds of posts this person makes on my reading list?" was "Who knows who cares EVERYTHING IS TERRIBLE" which was not very helpful.

I have recently made this zuchinni slice minus cheese and oil plus extra egg and some savoury flavours (garlic oil, msg, pepper, salt) a few times using the very convenient zucchini spaghetti from WA Fresh and it is great, though removing most of the fat makes it a trifle rubbery and in need of extra toasting. Going to try it minus bacon next because I don't like eating pork if I can help it.

Though as much as WA Fresh has a nice variety of produce, as I discovered last night they are lacking one very important staple: a "cancel order" button. I had to make a panicked email at 10pm after accidentally ordering twice, it all turned out ok but was rather more stress than I like.

Crossposts: http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/656261.html

Someone a while ago asked me what the use of powdered peanut butter was asides from making low fat peanut butter.

The two key features: 1) It's a dry powder. 2) it's water soluble, and dissolves quite easily.

1) is useful for adding dry coatings to stuff. I put peanut butter powder+flour+seasoning on some baked zuchinni the other day and it was very nice! Also if you have a slightly too damp or oily sandwich the powder can dry it out eg it makes for less mushy peanut butter and banana toasted sandwiches.

2) is useful for adding peanut butter flavour to things without that annoying dissolving-in-hot-liquid step. This is especially useful for cold things like cereal or salad dressing. I'll just sprinkle peanut butter powder and fish sauce on chopped cucumbers sometimes, and just had a very tasty bowl of mock honey nut cornflakes using butterscotch syrup. It's great mixed into chia seed pudding and other cold desserts, it has enough sugar and salt to create a nice flavour.

You can also use it as an odd sort of vegan milk powder, but I only did this on holiday because I had no other option. I think you could maybe use it as a seasoned high protein flour substitute in something like no-bake date and nut balls etc.

I'm not sure what I'll do when my current jar runs out since it's not sold in Australia. I'll have to see if there's somewhere I can import it from, or I'll be a little sad!

Crossposts: http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/645889.html

Bare Crush 100% fruit icy poles, had the mango today and it was quite nice.

Nutty Bruce almond milk, from Maylands IGA: The only almond milk I've found in Perth that doesn't contain vegetable gums. A little bitter but thick and great in cooking, I made the tastiest chicken curry with it as a replacement for coconut milk (which it is not as thick and tasty as, but it's still better than rice milk)

Dripping: Being 100% animal fat it is not exactly the kind of vegan health food one usually associates with "dairy free", but it doesn't set off my food issues and makes for a tasty butter/oil substitute on vegemite toast and roasted potatoes. Available from all supermarkets super cheap!

Microwave rice pudding (would also probably work with dairy), adapted from this stovetop recipe
Ingredients:

1 cup cold white cooked rice
enough "milk" to make it soupy, maybe a cup?
large pinch salt
1 egg
optional:
dash vanilla essence
1/2 cup tinned fruit or a mashed banana
pinch cinnamon
sweetener eg 1 tsp to 1/4 cup sugar

Method:

Mix everything but the egg in a wide-rimmed microwave safe ceramic bowl. Microwave for 4-5 minutes on high, checking to make sure it isn't boiling over especially if your bowl doesn't have a wide rim (it helps for some reason) THE MOMENT it's done crack in the egg and stir briskly so it forms a custard with some of the rice, then mix evenly into the rest. Leave to sit for a minute or two. Eat!

It's really important that the mixture be SUPER hot, if you get delayed after the microwave goes off microwave it again until it's bubbling. You still can't guarantee the egg is 100% cooked but microwaving it once it's mixed in ends badly and personally I am ok with slightly raw egg.

Crossposts: http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/592202.html

I just made this two ingredient vegan banana and peanut butter icecream and WHOA is it nice for something so healthy, especially since it's not even made in an icecream maker. It was kind of a pain using the blender, and I'm curious to know what the texture would be like if I did use the icecream maker (and maybe added some vanilla essence, mmm)

Finished "Industrial magic" by Kelley Armstrong and I really liked it. It's the sequel to a paranormal romance and is basically just the main character and her boyfriend from the last book solving a murder mystery, but since I actually like the boyfriend (unlike 99% of romance "heroes") not to mention the many engaging and mostly female side characters, it was pretty fun. My only complaint was that it could stand to be shorter, the plot isn't complex enough to sustain the length and I ran out of momentum a few times.

I've been doing a fun little 30 day art improvement meme, will post the first few results and my Ladystuck works when I feel up to wrangling html.

Crossposts: http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/490930.html

Glitch is closing :( :( :( It's so melancholy there now, though the developers have thrown out all the stops by lowering times/costs of things and releasing a bunch of content they'd been saving for later, there's a sort of doggedly festive end of the world vibe.

I haven't found an alternative but did get around to checking out StoryNexus, a game making and playing website from the creators of Echo Bazaar. I had a brief go making a game, which was fun, and also really enjoyed

yhlee's game WinterStrike, even if I did end up constructing a maze of frozen corpses and wondering where I went wrong.

Today I FINALLY got around to using the Jackson's voucher I got for my birthday last year. Since it was about to expire I was open to large purchases...and left with a SEVENTY DOLLAR box of pencils. They are very nice pencils though (Faber Castell Polychromos) The Subiaco store isn't SUPER accessible but I could get in and park and the staff were very helpful. They also recognised the Firefly "I can kill you with my brain" shirt I was wearing :D (Which got me a number of confused frowns from passer's by as I went past in my wheelchair, as well as a look of EXTREME CONCERN from a little girl I shared a lift with)

After that I explored a bit and checked out Farmer Jack's supermarket in an arcade just off Rokeby road. They have CHESTNUT PASTE (soooo nice with almond butter) and ALMOND MILK ICECREAM. I sat staring sadly at the latter since (a) It was full of chocolate and (b)I was way too far from home to buy anything frozen. I think I will have to return with Cam and the car and buy it anyway, even if it is $14 for four tiny icecreams. They have a much wider range of coconut milk based icecreams if any of you dairy free peeps are into that.

Two unexpected signs of my impending BNFdom: I just had someone ask to translate one of my fics for a russian language interfandom battle (GO ATLA), and I have also apparently been chosen as a "featured user" on delicious. Either they have a lot of featured users or they are really desperate, I hope anyone who gets sent my way likes fanfic...

But speaking of delicious they have suddenly started showing people's real names! (Or at least what they think are our real names) Check your account, people!

I went to the Swancon programming meeting last week, it was lots of fun, and I only volunteered for one panel! I'm doing Interactive Fiction, which StoryNexus is nicely relevant to. On that note I shall preserve this interesting discussion from tumblr and bid you all adieu.

Crossposts: http://alias-sqbr.livejournal.com/483856.html

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alias_sqbr

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Entries tagged with food

Dreams CAN come true

Perth Fruit and Veg Delivery

Making my own electrolyte drink

Vegetable slicers?

Cooking is Terrible: The Book

Links and stuff!

Perth fruit and veg delivery

What I can and can't eat

I AM STRONG LIKE IRON

Some dairy free "creamy" sweets I have been enjoying lately

Why does sugar help my chronic pain?

Three Things Meme

So what's up with me?

Food delivery in Perth

Predicting Food Fads

waves

Things Powdered Peanut Butter Is Good For

Recent successful adventures in dairy free food

There was something else but I forget...

Downs and ups (and dairy free treats)