hypokeimena

[hypokeimena]

i want to start going to shacharis but the only places that have a daily minyan are either orthodox and wouldn't want me or they're intended for commuters and run services at 6:30 AM, which i simply don't have in me with my bad sleep the way it currently is. 8(

[hypokeimena]

i don't know like it's weird to come back to your hometown or home communities and be trans, yknow? it's maybe the one place you can't ever live stealth. where people know your parents and remember hearing about you and all that.

i need to eat some sassafras but we don't have any in our yard and the friend who had tons and tons of it in her backyard when i was a kid, her family moved away 10 years ago.

[hypokeimena]

i need to eat some sassafras but we don't have any in our yard and the friend who had tons and tons of it in her backyard when i was a kid, her family moved away 10 years ago.

[hypokeimena]

A continuation on my post about unloved foods, specifically this is my in-depth defense of root beer.

Root Beer isn't inherently gross, it's just one of those weird local flavors that's off-putting to people who didn't grow up with it. We all like different things and also we all tend to like flavors that are similar to what we grew up with. That's okay! But honestly root beer is pretty unique and, in my opinion, delicious.

One of the main complaints against root beer is that it tastes like medicine. Funnily enough, it was originally marketed as medicinal! This is true for most OG sodas actually. Pretty much as soon as carbonated water was invented, people were drinking it to soothe various ailments. A lot of the original soft drinks were actually invented by pharmacists. I just think that root beer is especially cool because the main flavor came from the root bark of sassafras, a common North American shrub. Because it's so widespread and aromatic, all parts of the sassafras plant have been used in food and medicine by many different Native American tribes throughout history and was subsequently picked up and used by European colonists. In the 1960s, some studies indicated that that safrole oil, which is produced by the plant, can cause liver damage. Whether or not this would actually remain true after it had been boiled and added to root beer is unclear, but it was really easy to replicate the flavor, so the sassafras in commercial root beer these days is artificial. Another fun fact about safrole is that it's a precursor in the synthesis of MDMA. None of this information has stopped my childhood habit of eating sassfras leaves right off the shrub whenever I walk past it on a hike. I'm like 85% sure it's safe and also mmmm yummy leafs go crunch.

Another root beer complaint is that it tastes like toothpaste. I think this is probably because another key flavor in most root beer recipes is wintergreen. I'm assuming that the people who think this are the same people who think mint chocolate chip ice cream tastes like toothpaste. I can understand and even respect that some people don't like mint and associate it only with brushing their teeth, but like. Mint is a pretty common flavor. I mean I think it's safe to say that humans have been eating mint flavored stuff for longer than toothpaste has existed... anyway!

Other common flavors in root beer (real or artificial) are caramel, vanilla, black cherry bark, sarsaparilla root, ginger, and many more! There's not one official recipe, and root beer enthusiasts often have strong opinions about different brands. Some root beer is sharper, with more strong aromatic flavors, and others are mild and creamier.

Another thing I think is cool about root beer is that it's foamier than most sodas. This was originally because sassafras is a natural surfactant (and why sassafras is also a common thickening agent in Louisiana Creole cooking.) These days, other plant starches or similar ingredients are added to keep the distinctive foam. Root beer foam > all other soft drink foams. That's why root beer floats kick more ass than like, coke floats.

If you've never had root beer before, imagine if a sweetened herbal tea was turned into a soda, because that's basically what it is. If your first response to that is a cringe, fair enough. That's why lots of people don't like it. If your first response to that is "interesting... I might actually like it, though" then I encourage you to track down a can of root beer today, hard as that might be outside the US and Canada. Next time you see an "ew, root beer tastes like medicine/tooth paste" take, know that there's a reason for that, but also the same could be said for literally any herbal or minty food/drink.

My final take on root beer is that it would be the soda of choice for gnomes. Thank you and good night.

[hypokeimena]

[hypokeimena]

couple weeks ago my parents were gone for a weekend including trash day and i got up really early to put the trash and recycling out and take out the last stuff from the kitchen out to the driveway and went back to bed. and then my parents got home the next day and i was getting everything set up and couldn't find the waste paper recycling bin. so i was like well i'm sure it'll turn back up in the garage somewhere. and then it didn't.

anyway it turns out i accidentally recycled the recycling bin. my dad was thrilled - "this is going to be such a funny story" - but he clearly needed some time to percolate on the funniest times to deploy this anecdote back at me. bc he just got me!!!

[hypokeimena]

(bespectacled goth guy. long hair.): ''uhmm I'm here to apply for the job of Severed Rabbit Head on a Silk Pillow. I hope I'm your guy...''

(me, the employer and power-holder in this scenario): ''No.''

[hypokeimena]

can i hear some more about the dogshit hp fic and fascism? is this under the auspices of le guin's 'ethically meanspirited' thing or looking elsewhere

i think there's some sort of tag for it but basically it's about the way fanon specifically creates reactionary thought in the ways it attempts to solve canon. i'm really not at all interested in hp as a canon anymore but the fandom has always really fascinated me in the way it like. considers itself more progressive than the canon while also actively promoting slavery and genocide to an extent that's often like worse than what's in canon.

anyway i'm working on it with my longtime friend and collaborator julia from college and we're trying now to get it done before some academic books about hp + its politics come out mid next year so we don't have to read them. so watch this space i guess.

[hypokeimena]

You need at least a little bit of an inflated ego to try to be a professional creative. This does not mean that you love yourself. It means that you think people ought to pay attention to what you’re doing.

[hypokeimena]

my dad has had limited success with the blender trying to blend his vegetables so now i'm imagining a food that's like. mashed roasted spiced carrots and parsnips. cooled to set. then chopped like polenta and fried

and i want this. i want. i want it so badly it's actually genuinely hurting my feelings that i don't have it

my parents sstart thanksgiving this far in advance so we're drunk cooking

[hypokeimena]

There is a way of washing your body where you stand use just a damp wash cloth to clean yourself, and you don’t stand under water or in a bath. Do you call this a:

- top and tail

- pta/ pits tits ass

- dry bath

- other (put in tags pls)

- never heard of this

[hypokeimena]

what’s the worst stardew festival and why is it the flower dance

[hypokeimena]

my parents sstart thanksgiving this far in advance so we're drunk cooking

[hypokeimena]

juice disappears faster than any other liquid it is a frightening world we live in

[hypokeimena]

Rhyton crafted in Athens, Greece, 480-470 BC

from The Louvre

[hypokeimena]

thank you god for making canada's thanksgiving a different day so i can be like sorry i have to go do schoolwork :\ all thanksgiving week

[hypokeimena]

Post of strength for all people heading into battle this Thursday as the singular person holding the fabric of the family together.