KIROKAZE
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NASA
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art blog(derogatory)
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Color Me Curious
EXPECTATIONS
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
shark vs the universe
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occasionally subtle
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Cookie Run:Kingdom Official!
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oozey mess
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@ooojudithooo
Not all venom fans are monster fuckers 😞 some of us are just aroace disasters who like the idea of a platonic soulmate who likes to murder annoying people for you, is that so bad?
Guys I’m part of the club 🥺
monsterqueerplatonic
Aces are welcomed and are valued members in the monsterfucker community.
call that a monsterfriender
i hate how much ai has taken the joy out of seeing something cool. you used to see something cool, like a really intricate drawing or a video of someone doing an insane skill or two animals doing something cute, and because there were no mental gymnastics involved in discerning whether or not it was 'real' you could sit there and have the joy of like, "wow! how did they do that! how cool is it that they made that! what a wonderful moment to have captured!" and now every time i see something remarkable i hate that i have to sit there and be like okay let me go frame by frame to make sure everything lines up. let me double check the page this comes from. let me scroll through the comments to make sure no one called out something i missed. like i want the joy of being able to trust someone else's creation back, please
wattpad really gave ao3 a huge free promo with their new policy update that makes things even worse for their users. so to all the people who are now moving to ao3 due to this…
welcome! here are what you need to know about ao3 and how it’s the complete opposite of wattpad
trigger warning for the mention of contents that are allowed on ao3 that can be triggering to some.
ao3 is a non-profit organization. it’s run by fans (people like you and me), for fans.
fans donate to the site on their own free will to keep the site up and running smoothly.
ao3 is not a social media. it is an archive.
ao3 doesn’t have ads. it doesn’t have algorithms. it doesn’t have “going viral.”
everything is endlessly free on ao3. there is no “ao3 premium.” you will never see a single ad on ao3, and you can download as many fics as you want to read offline for free.
ao3 doesn’t have an app. and ao3 doesn’t need an app. any “ao3 apps” you see are third-party apps and are not affiliated with ao3, so be careful giving these shady apps your login infos or other personal information.
ao3 was built with the main purpose to 1.) be completely against censorship and 2.) host fics that are banned on other platforms like wattpad.
the reason ao3 doesn’t have an app is because for it to have its own app, appstore and google play store will have to approve it first. and due to the contents ao3 allow, chances are that it won’t get approved. which is actually a good thing. it doesn’t need an app. it works more than fine without an app.
on ao3, every single thing is allowed as long as it is fanfic or fan work (original works, fan art and video edits count as fan works, but if you want to post a video edits on ao3, you will have to post it elsewhere and then link it back to ao3 — ao3 cannot host video edits on its platform due to copyright issues)
by every single thing that is fanfic, I mean every single thing:
the filthiest smut without plot that is written purely for sexual pleasure is allowed. it has its own canonical tag called “plot what plot, porn without plot.”
fics that focus on non-consensual sexual intercourse are allowed, doesn’t matter if the fics glorify or romanticize the act, doesn’t matter if they’re written as kinks. they have their own canonical tag called “rape/non-con.”
fics about characters who are minors are allowed, even if they’re portrayed in a sexual manner, even if they’re non-consensual sexual intercourse. even if the minor characters are romantically and/or sexually involved with characters who are adults. even if they fics are written in ways that glorify and/or romanticize the thing. they have their own canonical tag called “underage sex.”
fics about incest are allowed. doesn’t matter if they glorify or romanticize the relationship. they have their own canonically tag called “incest.” fun fact: the first ever fic that was posted on ao3 was a fic about an incest ship from supernatural.
fics about self-harm and suicide are allowed. doesn’t matter if they glorify or romanticize the act. they have their own canonical tags called “self-harm” and “suicide” also “suicidal ideation”, “suicide attempt”, “implied/referenced suicide”, etc.
fics about violence and gore are allowed, even if they were written for the sake of shock value. they have their own canonical tag called “violence”, “blood and gore”, “blood and injuries”, etc.
rpf is also allowed. doesn’t matter if the content of the fics are dark and taboo. they’re treated the same way as any other fics.
every single dark and taboo fic you can think of is allowed. and it has its own canonical tag. because it is the main reason why ao3 was created in the first place.
“but what do I do if I don’t wanna see fics about xyz?” you can filter out any specific tag, character and/or pairing you want.
“what do I do if I wanna find fics about xyz?” you can search for any specific tag, character and/or pairing you want.
a lot of ao3 users rely on tags to search for specific tags, pairings, characters they want. they also rely on tags to filter out and exclude specific tags, pairings, and characters that they don’t want to see.
ao3’s tagging system is by far the most efficient one I’ve ever seen.
on ao3, our main principles are “don’t like don’t read” — which means YOU have a responsibility to curate your own internet experience. yes, ao3 allows all kind of messed up fics, but they also allow you the ability to NOT see anything you don’t want to see, by filtering out specific fics, pairings and/or characters.
no. you cannot harass authors who write about things that disgust you. you can and will be reported for harassment, and ao3 takes harassment very seriously. they will not take your side. because fucked up fics are allowed on ao3—fucked up fics are the main reason ao3 was created—whereas harassment is a direct violation of their terms of service.
ao3 is a house of the freaks and the perverts (affectionate). you ARE in the house of the freaks and the perverts. so don’t think about harassing or being rude to the freaks and the perverts who built this anti-censorship house and are kind enough to let you in.
ao3 is proship, profic, and anti-censorship.
any writer can write whatever they want, however they want. the only etiquette is that you tag your stuff properly and accurately
mistagging for visibility is heavily frowned upon here, and it won’t get your works more views. people will either block or report you if you deliberately mistag things with the purpose of getting your fic more views. as I’ve said before, ao3 is an archive. it’s not a social media. it doesn’t have algorithms or going viral.
if you come across a fic that has the tag “creator chose not to use archive warnings” it means the fic may or may not contain topics that can be triggering, but the author won’t tell you what these topics are, or if there are any at all. so proceed at your own risk.
that said, because ao3 is a non-profit site that hosts millions of works about others’ copyrighted characters, you CANNOT mention any donation, commission—or anything that involves money—anywhere on ao3. that is against their terms of service.
and because ao3 is a place for fanworks, the “work section” of your post has to actually be fanwork (fanfic, original work, fan art, link to a video edit count as fanwork). anything that isn’t fanwork is not allowed.
you cannot post something on ao3 that is not fanwork. so no political statement, no call-out post, no “I’m looking for fics about xyz”.
ao3 is anti censorship as long as what you post is actually fanwork and as long as you don’t violate their terms of service that I’ve mentioned above.
ao3 has their own team of lawyers to protect them, their users, and every fanwork that is posted on their platform.
last but not least, don’t write directly onto ao3. write and store your works elsewhere before copy and paste them onto ao3 once they’re ready to post!! because ao3 does NOT autosave drafts for you, you risk losing everything you’ve typed if there’s a glitch, if the site crashes or if your device unexpectedly shuts down for whatever reason.
that’s all for now. have fun and happy writing/reading!
"listen to your body"
my body: go get a cinnamon roll the size of a tire
had to share this
In every way this is set up to be a joke like any other short video, it even uses the trope of main character in a wig to represent their mom, but it isn't funny at all. It's just sweet and nice
we are the daughters of the landmines your grandpa didn't step on
Partial solar eclipse UK Aug. 12 2026
Compiled images I took on my phone into a gif
NO OTHER PLANET IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM GETS TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSES!! THE SIZE AND DISTANCE OF OUR MOON FROM EARTH AND THE SUN MAKE THE PERFECT CIRCUMSTANCES TO GET TOTALITY!!! THE EARTH AND MOON ARE SOOOO COOL AND OF COURSE OUR SUN!! I LOVE LIVING ON EARTH I LOVE YOU EARTH I LOVE YOUUUUU MOON I LOVE YOU SUN
Tbh germ theory DOES sound crazy. Like if you told a regency-era nobleman that tiny creatures lived on the surface of everything and THAT’S what causes consumption, they’d be like “ah, I see you are a lunatic. Would you reside in my hermitage? Rantings and ravings do so amuse my guests”
But if you told a Medieval person this they would probably go "Ah, so when the miasma settles on surfaces it gains evil life. I understand."
Yeah, actually, it would probably be pretty easy to explain germ theory to a Medieval person as tiny evil spirits that live on everything, but they can be purified by soap and water, or by alcohol, because that is why God has granted us those things. And because they can float in the air, if you cough or sneeze after they have infested you, that can cause them to infest others. And when you are sick, the angels God has deputized to defend the bodies of His beloved children are at war with the evil spirits, and, sadly, sometimes they lose, but the best way to help your angels win their battle is to rest, drink plenty (this would probably be small beer in this time period, not water, because the water was also infested), stay clean, and for the sake of God do not allow anyone to let your blood, for the angels need that blood in their war against the evil spirits. Bloodletting is good for some types of illnesses but not the kinds caused by the tiny evil spirits.
boiling as a sterilization measure is also easy to explain. water returns to the air when heated and it rises as steam back up to the floodgates of heaven; we know God created the world in seven days, He's not up there making more water every time it rains. it circulates. the returning of water to heaven also purifies the water of unclean and malign influences. you know wormy water from a muddy puddle will kill your kid. you know you wouldn't wade into a bog and have a slurp. water that remains in the low places of earth absorbs all that is unclean from our waste and it may also sponge up new diseases from hell, we're not totally sure about that one, but it seems likely. God set up the heavenly water cycle so that the earth's waters wouldn't totally fill up with gunk.
what does this have to do with boiling your surgical tools? well look, the boiling water releases bubbles of steam which carries the malign influences up to heaven. you boil a knife, you send all the miasmic particles off with the steam to heaven. if you rinse the knife off in a bucket the water isn't hot enough, the particles go into the water and then right back on to the knife. you gotta boil it to get the particles all the way away. how can a tool or rag or a bed have miasmic particles on it when you can't smell them? humans have a lousy sense of smell. look at your dog on the hunt. are there no rabbits in the woods just because you can't smell them? we know that miasma is carried on the air, and is what makes stench so dangerous, and we know that humans can't smell worth a damn compared to dogs cats horses etc. a dog can smell if a rat died in a corner of the room last week. you can't. do you think licking the spot where the rat died is going to go well for you? luckily, what humans lack in snout we make up for in brains. we have extra brains where our sniffers should have been. God set that up for a reason.
and why does a rinse with wine spirits work? man, look how fast alcohol evaporates. my guess is that because wine contains a lot more vice than water, it evaporates a whole lot faster, in sort of an equal and opposite way that a rock falls faster than a feather. if you want the miasmic particles to get off there FAST, you dunk it in something that's going back to heaven at a gallop.
what's up with honey? it just preserves things against corruption. doesn't clean them off. honey doesn't evaporate at all. probably because bees don't sin. it's not good for ridding a tool of particles-- it's sticky-- but fine for preserving anything you don't want to go to heaven OR hell. this is why you wash the wound with wine spirits or purified water FIRST, to sluice the miasma out, then slap the honey on AFTER. and boil the damn bandage, too. you wouldn't put a rotten door in a sound doorframe and expect it to keep out bandits, would you? cmon.
Medieval people also already knew that putting things out in the sun helped to keep them clean (UV radiation killing bacteria). So everyone knows that after you use a butter churn, you rinse it out, give it a scrub, and set it out in the sun to dry, or else it will go sour and everything you make with it will go bad fast. Likewise with when you want to get sheets and clothes really clean and fresh, you boil them with lye soap and then lay them out in the sun to dry.
Medieval paesant: yes, yes, makes total sense
JFK Jr: I take my grandkids to swim in a sewer and dig roadkill
This kind of process is called "headology" in Discworld and is the foundation for an entire branch of witchcraft in the series.
nasa is using a 3D world graphic for the solar eclipse thingy today where germany is still devided in east and west adjfglkafdhgadfg. buddies, it's been almost 40 years.
So I showed this to a physicist and they were like "Oh! Yes! It's a figure from Fred Espenak's very old paper where he did a bunch of eclipse graphics! I've been looking at these my entire internet life, basically, for every solar eclipse! They called him Mr. Eclipse. He just passed away recently 🥺"
Anyway apparently Mr. Eclipse made 5000 years' worth of solar eclipse graphics, which you can find the simpler versions of here
So now instead of laughing at NASA for their outdated graphics I'm emotional about Mr. Eclipse and his hard work
When I was in the hospital, they gave me a big bracelet that said ALLERGY, but like. I'm allergic to bees. Were they going to prescribe me bees in there.
So there's a medication called hyaluronidase. It's used to make other medications absorb better, because it makes the cell wall more permeable.
One common usage is to make local anesthetic more effective during surgery, for instance. It's used in a number of injected medications.
Bee stings contain an enzyme very similar to this medication, so sometimes, people with bee allergies have an allergic reaction to hyaluronidase.
This is called cross-reactivity, where your body mistakes something for the thing it's actually allergic to, and has an allergic reaction anyway. For instance, sometimes people with latex allergies also are allergic to bananas and other fruits. They don't actually contain latex, but there are some similar proteins.
Apparently, hyraluronidase used in humans is derived from one of four sources: sheep testicles, cow testicles, cow testicles again, and GMO hamster ovaries.
tl;dr: They won't inject you with bees, but they might inject you with purified cow testicle juice, and your body might say 'eh, cow balls are BASICALLY bees' and try to kill you anyway.
The world is full of such beauty and wonder. Thank you for that sentence.
10 More Yummy Thai Foods You (Probably) Don’t Know About
Today, Gentle Reader, we tackle more of the Thai food that no one (of my acquaintance) really talks about. This is a follow up to my (unexpectedly) popular previous post. Please be aware that many of these dishes contain allergens.
In which your intrepid authorbeast explores MORE nibbles in Bangkok, Chang Mai, and Krabi
Before we start, a weird version of a disclaimer:
I’m an adventurous eater. I will try anything 3x, on the theory that if I didn’t enjoy it, it wasn’t prepared properly the first 2 times.
I’m able to tolerate (and enjoy) spicy food. Yes, Thai spicy. But I don’t have anything to prove, this isn’t a competition. (I also have no sensitivity to texture.)
I’m always looking to eat foods that are unknown to me first, particularly wild/game meats, fruits, vegetables, and chips. I will go back for favorites, but my first priority is to try something new.
Thai food is eaten with a spoon in your dominant hand and a fork in the other (to help load up the spoon). This is a sauce heavy cuisine and this method maximizes sauce in mouth. It is bloody brilliant. NOM.
I eat a lot of Thai food. It’s my favorite cuisine and that says a lot from a foodie like me. This was my second time traveling to Thailand with my dear friend Piper (who is Thai). This visit the hunt was on for things and flavors I’ve never even heard of before. Thus Chang Mai had to be on the docket. This region not only has it’s own unique Thai flavors, but has been influenced by the local Shan population into some remarkable foodways.
And now, let’s tuck in.
10 More Amazing Dishes You Should Try When You Visit Thailand
That you probably won’t find on other people’s lists.
Quick checklist of my favorites this trip
Sakoo Sai Moo – tapioca dumplings
Jok – specifically the pork meatball version
Khao Yum – rainbow rice
Pla Meuk Phad Kai Kem – squid in salted egg sauce
Gaeng Som Cha-Om Goong – tamarind soup with omelette and shrimp
Nam Ngiao – it’s complicated
Tea Rice – rice made with tea leaves cooked with it (Burmese)
Tamarind Leaf Salad – the sour joy (Shan)
Pea Tofu Salad – an unusual tofu eaten in an unusual way (Shan)
Goat-filled griddle cake – yes GOAT
Recommended sweets
Kahnom krok – gooey coconut mini pancakes
Tup tim krob – jellied water chestnuts (made with rice or tapioca flour) in coconut milk
Pumpkin custard
Khanom mo kaeng – coconut custard
Kluai tap – flattened grilled baby banana
Traditional hawthorn tanghulu
Thai white pomelo (if in season)
Meyong chit aka Marian plums (season = February)
Honey crisp kumquat
New versions of the Portuguese custard tart
1 Sakoo Sai Moo
These are steamed tapioca dumplings. Meatball-sized street food made of a translucent chewy tapioca wrapper with a savory-sweet filling of minced pork or chicken with sweet pickled radish and roasted peanuts. They are served with fresh lettuce, fresh herbs, chilis, and sometimes fried garlic.
Thoughts?
As one of Piper’s all time favorite street foods these had to top my list. (Also the name is really fun to say, I may have to give it to a pet character in a book some day.) If you like sweet+savory combos like me, these are a must try. And you can find them. Most markets and street fairs will have these on offer. They don’t look like much but they taste amazing. The exterior is chewy but the interior is crunchy, meaty, and nutty. Delightful little creatures.
2 Jok
Jok and congee are the same idea. (Archaeologist hat on: there are very few agrarian cultures throughout time and space that do not have a savory porridge of some kind.) But if you are accustomed to congee, you will find jok a bit different.
Jok is almost always made with broth (congee is traditionally water-based) and it is thicker and silkier than most congee I’ve had. (Piper’s secret trick is to use not just left-over rice, but cooked rice that has been frozen first, it breaks down easier.)
Thoughts?
I love jok. I love it so much it was the last meal I asked to eat before I left Thailand. (It’s gentle on the tummy thus a great “before you fly” food.) I also make at home for myself all the time now. It’s so easy and comforting.
It’s also very very inexpensive. As a street food in Thailand it hangs out in the “late night bars just closed hangover breakfast” camp. My favorite to order in Thailand is the simple pork broth with pork meatballs. My favorite at home version is chicken-broth jok with century egg, pork floss, and scallions on top. But honestly, dress it however you want.
While I was in Bangkok this last time, MickyD had a jok on their menu (with chicken nuggets and scallions). Of course I ordered it. It was actually pretty darn good. (I also tried the KFC’s larb seasoned fried chicken, very nice.) I enjoy trying out fast food chain’s “local” offerings.
3 Khao Yum – rainbow rice salad
This was one of the things I ordered and ate at the hospital a lot. Piper’s mom introduced it to me. It is a southern Thai dish. The rice in the middle is usually colored blue/purple with butterfly pea flowers. Around it are some cooked and raw offerings that can include any/all of the following: cucumber, chopped long beans, green papaya, scrambled egg, chilis, stewed pork belly (moo hong), crispy shrimp, etc…
Thoughts?
This is now a stalwart order for me when in Thailand. With lots of vegetables, a wide variety of flavors and textures, this light but filling dish is my favorite way to eat. It basically contains little bits of things I adore, in many forms, and mixed to personal preference. What is not to love?
This is a pretty darn unique experience and like crispy rice salad (nam khao tod) well worth trying if you ever encounter it in the wild.
4 Pla Meuk Phad Kai Kem
Squid in salted egg sauce is a really rare dish. Difficult to find even in Thailand. I had it at a higher end restaurant that catered to locals (not tourists).
Because of its similarity to some Malaysian and Singaporean dishes, I think this one may be from the south. Unlike those island versions, this dish is not made with crispy fried squid, but stir fried squid in a thick yellow creamy salty sauce. It’s also not spicy, or at least the one I had wasn’t. I think it’s most similar to this recipe. Sometimes that salted egg is duck egg.
Thoughts?
The sauce is creamy like hollandaise but also not at all like it, the squid is tender and not fishy or rubbery, the onion adds just the right crunch. There is something magically unique about this dish. Honestly, if you are even a little intrigued and you spot it on a menu, do give it a try. Simply put: I have never eaten anything else like it. And that is saying a lot.
Piper Mommy and I called these “leaves from the side of the road” those are acacia leaves and pods at the top. Before you ask, not much flavor to them, just interesting texture.
5 Gaeng Som Cha-Om Goong
This is the one I bet you really have never heard of and is the most interesting and unique IMHO. Probably my favorite new discovery as a Thai dish. It falls into the “sour soup” family that I love so very very much!
Anyway, this a lovely sour sweet spicy umami tamarind based soup broth with poached shrimp and sliced omelette – yes, inside the soup!
The omelette is made with acacia leaves* but also sometimes Thai morning glory. This gives the omelette an open spongy texture so it absorb the broth in a very satisfying manner.
I’m now obsessed with the idea of putting omelette in soup.
Thoughts?
How do I describe the experience of this soup? It’s an incredible broth with heft too it, almost like thin gravy, and a stunning deep orange color. This remarkably complex flavor that hits every part of the mouth, delicately poached large prawns with a snap to them, and then the wedges of spongy omelette absorbing all that heavenly broth. It’s so simple, yet so complex in flavor and texture, a real delight for the mouth. Just typing about it makes me want to eat it again.
* I ate some raw acacia in Thailand and then the archaeologist in me got obsessed. The tree I grew up with is big with adorable puffy yellow flowers that make you sneeze. I knew Acacia was used in tanning but did not know there were edible varietals. Turns out the smaller bush-like thorny climbing shrub Acacia pennata (aka climbing wattle) is oft consumed in Southeast Asia – the tips of the leaves and pods can be eaten fresh or cooked.
AND NOW, LET US TRAVEL NORTH!
6 Nam Ngiao
This was one of those I specifically wanted to track down. We found at at the foot of the famous Golden Temple in Chang Mai.
Nam Ngiao is a northern noodle dish made with a tomato-based long-simmered broth and traditionally served with congealed blood.
Thoughts?
This was yummy, and worth trying because it’s so unusual, but it didn’t wow me. I’m glad I had it, and would suggest trying it, but I personally won’t go out of my way to find it again in the future.
That said, this was the best blood I have ever had, very silky and flavorful. (And yes, I have had many versions of blood many times.) Normally, I’m fine with blood, it’s just not my favorite and I would slide it over to Piper because she loved it so much. This time, I ate it all.
So I would say, if you want to try blood, this is one of the best dishes to try it in.
7 Tea Rice (Burmese)
Technically this is a Burmese dish. I have had fermented tea leaves in Burmese food before, but I never had “tea rice” until Chang Mai. (As distinct from ochazuke, which is Japanese dish made by pouring green tea over plain rice).
Basically the tea leaf is picked, left whole, tenderized through fermentation or pickling and then either cooked with, or mixed into, white rice.
That rice is then served warm, covered with a peanut and minced meat savory topping, a fried egg, and aromatics to taste.
Thoughts?
I enjoyed this a whole lot and have since experimented with popping tea into my rice. (I use dried oolong since it’s the one I have with the largest leaves.) It’s not wildly successful but gimme time. (I can successfully make good lime rice now. Ask me nicely and I’ll tell you the secret. I also learned to make yaksik, big fan.)
It’s a delightful range of flavors and textures and the egg only adds to the joy. Would definitely order again, if I ever encounter it.
I’m familiar with Burmese food but my travel companions were not, so I dragged them out to get some favorites like tea leaf salad first, then encountered new to me dishes along the way. When we returned to Bangkok we ended up ordering even more. It was so much fun!
(Just FYI the primary ethnic group and dominant culture of Myanmar are usually referred to as Burmese and speak a Sino-Tibetan language related to Chinese. The Shan are the largest ethnic minority in Myanmar, concentrated in the Shan State speaking a Kra-Dai language closer to Thai or Lao. There is a large Shan population in Northern Thailand, particularly Chang Mai.)
8 Tamarind Leaf Salad (Shan)
This felt like a true herbaceous size salad, like something always meant to be eaten with other dishes. The way I feel about tabbouleh is the way I feel about this dish. Another one where we are eating tree leaves (also in the legume family), only the tender tips are picked to make this salad and they are left fresh along with other herbs, spices, delicate greens, and chili.
Thoughts?
All the sour in this salad comes from those little leaves. If one were to make a dish out of sour grass flowers, it might taste a little like this. (Yes, I am a picker and eater of sour grass.) So if you like sour things, you will enjoy this salad. If you don’t, you won’t.
I can imagine this paired with almost any savory dish, from BBQ to stew (like a dry salsa). To me this could easily be considered one of life’s great condiments. I am so glad I got to taste it. (Took us 3 tries, it is highly seasonal and hard to find, apparently.)
9 Pea Tofu Salad (Shan)
If you have heard of pea tofu you probably know of the porridge version, tofu nway. (The Yunnan Chinese call their version xidoufen.) While it’s often made from chickpea flour, the version at Chang Mai street markets is usually made with yellow split peas. It’s also oft served over noodles and topped with chili oil, fresh herbs, crushed peanuts, and fried shallots or garlic,
I like both the warm porridge and the cold salad version. But I prefer the salad, and it feels particularly special to me.
It tastes like what it’s called, a tofu made from dried split peas rather than fermented soy beans. The one I had was topped with a tangy dressing that was likely tamarind, soy sauce, sugar, chili oil. Maybe some lime too. It was then sprinkled with fried garlic, fried shallots, roasted peanuts, chilis, and fresh herbs (cilantro and spring onion).
Thoughts?
I am a huge fan of tofu in most of its forms, but this was quite special… spectacular actually. It might be my most favorite version of all tofu. So silky smooth, like soft tofu in slip but firmer in texture. Contrasted to the sour dressing, the nutty crunch, those bright herbs, and the spices? A high protein delight, especially on a hot day.
I liked this tofu so much I looked up how to make it. I think I may try. (And I hate making stuff from scratch. I like to cook, but I’m not one of those “makes her own bread” type humans. Mad props to you, but if I can buy a passing good version already, I’d rather do that.) Still, this seems easy to do if you can find the correct pea powder. Wish me luck?
10 Goat filled griddle cake
This was my favorite savory bite of the entire trip.
Must be eaten hot off the grill.
Okay, so, after researching I’m pretty convinced that this was a take on yángròu xiàn bǐng (羊肉馅饼) which is a Northern Chinese fried stuffed flatbread. Traditionally made with lamb or beef and flavored with cumin, ginger, soy sauce, and Sichuan aromatics.
This one was goat and the spices were utterly different, mostly garlic, onion, spring onion, garlic chives, maybe a touch of oyster sauce. Very simple.
Thoughts?
I love goat and this basically showcased it in a very simple but truly spectacular form. I’m used to goat curries and other dishes that somewhat mask the “goaty” flavor with long cook times and layers of spices. This was the opposite: a simply prepared fatty mince with herbs and spices that highlighted goat’s gaminess, stuffed into a chewy crispy flatbread. It was greasy, juicy, and utterly delicious.
I loved it so much.
I still think about it sometimes.
Shout out to Sai Krok Isan
Northeastern Thai fermented pork sausage, sai krok Isan, which I’d had before, became a staple snack food this trip. I really fell deeply in love with it. With a distinct sour tang and strong notes of garlic and lemongrass, I like the version that has cooked glass noodles mixed into the meat. These cubby little sausages have a chewy, bouncy texture, and are so juicy. It’s a street food, usually served on a stick with raw cabbage, fresh (or pickled) ginger, and chilies. I adore it.
We also pilgrimaged to Khao Soi Mae Manee (a famous khao soi spot in Chang Mai) and ate a classic execution with chicken drumsticks. The curry leaned red with nice chunky pickled mustard greens and fresh shallots. But what struck me most was the homemade hermit (lersi) drink which is a lotus and jasmine infusion, lightly sweet and very refreshing (in the barley-water family of starchy beverages, e.g. Korean corn silk tea). I’d never had anything quite like it before. Would recommend.
I am indebted to this travel YouTuber for many of the tips on things to track down and eat in Chang Mai. That corn salad is still on my list.
The Sweets Report – Khanom!!
Having tucked into Thai sweets in a big way last trip to Thailand, I was mostly looking for old favorites and entirely new to me opportunities.
Here’s a short list (favorites at the top).
Kahnom krok – ubiquitous little half moon pancakes with gooey coconut filling and various toppings (I prefer them plain). I think I come by my love of these through DNA, since the popster was Danish, aebleskiver is in my bones. This is Thai aebleskiver, or maybe aebleskiver is apple kahnom krok? (Yeah yeah they never met, but I like to pretend they might have. Kahnom krok would be lovely with a little chopped apple in the middle. And aebleskiver would be great made out of coconut milk.)
Tup tim krob – jellied water chestnuts (made with rice or tapioca flour) in coconut milk. I had a few variations of this: one with boiled rice/tapioca balls and taro. Another with syrup and look tarn (sugar palm fruit). Falls into the category of sweets I like to call “Asian dessert soups.” I LOVE THEM. Now that we live in an age where bubble tea is ubiquitous, it’s time for dessert soup to become a sensation in the west. Gimme dessert soup over ice cream any day.
Sangkaya Faktong aka pumpkin custard – I tried this last time I visited but I learned to truly love it this trip. It is a jelly silky egg custard made with coconut milk that is cooked and served inside a small kabocha pumpkin.
Khanom Mo Kaeng – a stiff egg custard made with coconut milk, often sprinkled with fried shallots on the top (yes but they work, trust me) it’s either served in little trays or made stiff enough to slice into squares
Kluai Tap – flattened grilled baby banana. My perennial favorite and one of the first things I ate off the plane. If you have access to platano dominicos in your area, you can do this at your next bbq!
Other sweets I tried:
The pastéis de nata craze hit Thailand hard, I am guessing by way of Taiwan. (Who took that little custard cup of joy and bliss and ran with it.) I am not mad about it. All of which is to say, there were some really delightful and unique flavors to be had. And I had them.
Dubai Chocolate Portuguese Custard Tart (the definition of fusion food!) – I liked this so much I tracked down the vendor everytime we were at the airport. I’m not lying when I say, this is one of the best chocolate deserts I have ever eaten. All the best textures rolled into one place. (And I prefer my chocolate cut with fruit as a rule.) It was a layer of chocolate ganache, then a layer of the pistachio Dubai filling, and then creamy custard all in a flakey cup (I think they used phyllo).
Thailand flavors in a Portuguese Custard Tart – pandan coconut custard with fresh young coconut chunks on top, I loved this too and it was much easier to find
Candied fruit on a stick
I’ve been looking for the traditional hawthorn variety of tanghulu for over a decade (since I saw it in the 2016 Chinese drama Addicted.) But it’s hard to find fresh.
This trip, however, I happened to be in Chinatown for New Year and tanghulu happened to be there skulking behind more popular fruits on sticks, like grapes and strawberries.
The one I got came wrapped in edible rice paper. These hawthorns were smaller than I’ve seen in Cdramas, but tasted the way people say it should. A sharp concentrated apple flavor, slightly mushy and dense. I found it absolutely delicious.
(I do like the modern strawberry version too, but there is something to be said for the original. Yes, I have had hawthorn in other forms, including the candy version of this treat. But the texture of the tanghulu can’t be beat.)
Fruit!
I love love love fruit. It started me on my adventurous foodie journey. Since Piper was ill, we tried to eat very healthy and thus ended up consuming a lot of fresh fruit. Also I was there long enough (at 3 months) to hit a few different fruit seasons too.
Thai white pomelo – make no mistake pomelos in Asia hit different. They are way less like some grapefruit hybrid and way more their own creature entirely. Super sweet with a hint of grape and pineapple, impossibly juicy and almost crisp in texture. They come in multiple different types, and colors, but the white one? THE WHITE ONE. I, who love citrus with the unholy passion of she who adores sour stuff, would call this particular variant my favorite citrus of all time. You can find them cut and cleaned at night markets and supermarkets when in season (beginning of the year) and they are fantastic.
Meyong chit aka Marian plums – came into season just before I left (February) and they are the BEST. Imagine a large-egg-shaped tree fruit with the consistency of juicy sweet flesh meets sour skin of a plum but the flavor of the world’s best mango. That is meyong chit. (Oddly enough neither a mango nor a plum.) It is my precious baby delicious favoritest creature evah! No mango fibers to stick in your teeth. Portable and pocket sized. Available in a Seven near you. (So long as you are in Thailand at exactly the right time of year.) EAT ONE. Skin on. It needs the sour note. Gah. I miss them already.
Seedless honey crisp kumquat 因其通常无核 – this is a large seedless Kumquat and NOT the meiwa kumquat. It took me a lot of time to figure out what it was because descriptions only seem to exist in Chinese. I believe what I ate was an engineered fruit. But yeah, I got to eat one! Cool no? It was delicious. Like many kumquats it is eaten with the sweet rind. This was much sweeter than your ordinary kumquat, but still also sour, with lots of tropical notes.
I have now tried everything on this Thai fruit hit list except gac and santol. (I hope to try santol my next trip since it should be in season next visit).
Favorite Snacks & Junkfood
These were the two snacks/meals from Seven that I ate the most. The first one for breakfast (usually with meat on a stick) and the second for lunch (usually with a salad or some fruit).
The one on the left is khao tom mat, a semi sweet coconut-infused sticky rice with black beans, wrapped around a ripe banana, bundled into banana leaves and steamed. It reheats beautifully in a microwave and is a near perfect breakfast. They usually use kluai nam wa (aka platano dominico aka dwarf plantains) inside, which are short chubby little bananas with a semi-firm starchy-sweet texture and more tang than a Cavendish (although not as much as my favorite, the apple banana). I have successfully managed to replicate these because I live in California where platano dominico are relatively common and about the same price as Cavendish. Yay!
The one on the right is what it looks like, onigiri. I like the spicy salmon one. So yummy.
Other Seven favorites this trip included pandan chiffon cake and Dubai chocolate brownie.
I’m over here just living my weird chip life
Top left, spicy squid potato chips = yummy with a good amount of heat
Top right, Lobster bisque seaweed snacks = tasted exactly like the label, weird & delightful. I bought extras to bring home.
Bottom middle, Thai puffs = teeny tiny hand pies stuffed with one of Thailand‘s ubiquitous shrimp pastes, good when fresh, but went stale fast.
Still on the Thai food hit list:
Jian Bing – Chinese crepe adapted to Thai taste
Tam Khao Pod Kai Kem – salted duck egg corn salad
Khao Jee – scorched rice Thai style, sticky rice coated with egg then grilled on a stick (possibly mythical at this point)
Santol (kra-thon) – yellow and looks like mangosteen when cut, but not actually in the same family. Sometimes called cotton candy fruit, I imagine the texture is a little like that of an ice cream bean (which fascinated me).
Because Piper couldn’t get out much, and delivery is very inexpensive in Bangkok, we ordered in a lot using the Grab App. Here are some of the more hilarious English translations of menu items from that app.
Meanwhile, I have finally written a book partly set in Thailand! Okay it starts in Myanmar and then moves down into Thailand. (The characters move around at lot.)
Yours (my epitaph will read: she only wanted to taste it),
Miss Gail
A note on spelling: The Thai language is so different from English that direct translation is challenging, so the spelling of these foods in English is non-standardized. I used the most common one I could find so if you want to google recipes, you can. But please know nothing has to be spelled the way I spell it.
All the time travelers are hiding out on February 29th, 1900: The day that didn't exist.
See, 1896 was a leap year. 1904 was a leap year. But 1900 wasn't, because the rule for leap years isn't "every 4 years" but "every 4 years, except every 100 years, except except every 400 years".
So 1900 wasn't a leap year. A lot of people at the time didn't know that, and they wrote down the date as 02/29/1900... the US government still has the weather records to prove it. We have recorded temperatures and rainfall on a day that didn't happen.
But if you need to find a time traveler, that's when they're hiding.
You see? You see this? Time isn't Real and I'm getting really sick of having to pretend that it is
For a city to be walkable. It must also be sittable.
#every time I read this phrase the same thing happens#I read it as shittable and go wait that can't be right#oh right they were talking about public benches that makes more sense#but public bathrooms available without fees should also be a thing tho#cities should definitely be shittable#it happens EVERY SINGLE TIME
it must also be shittable
every time i start to feel cringe for being too deep in the hyperfixation i remember the intense depression i have waded through and have to remind myself that enjoyment is fleeting (so grab it with both hands), and life is for loving (so hold that love close), and if anyone thinks i’m cringe they must not be having a very good time (and i hope they can find a good time soon).
[tags via : @heavenly-havoc]
but above all, one must not concern oneself with the opinions of people who censor the word fuck
Weighing foster kittens..they understood the assignment..🐈🐾😍
the kitties long for the weighing tub
