study-polyp

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The world is quiet here.

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what are your twenties if not an endless string of the ghosts of who you thought you would become

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4th week of June 2021 spread ✨

Late upload.

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The Old Window, Anna Ancher

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Taking a walk because it feels good going to bed on time because it feels good waking up earlier because it feels good eating enough fruit because it feels good doing a workout because it feels good cooking myself a nice meal because it feels good staying in contact with friends because it feels good… sometimes joy is work but it’s always worth it

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ah i’m back?

uhhhh heyyyyy hahaha

i know no one really follows this blog, and it’s more for me, but ! life update i guess? and just a mention of how i’ll be more active as compared to me disappearing for literal years

life hasn’t been so kind to me, and neither have i been really kind to myself. i’m still not in a good state right now, i’m at my absolute rock bottom (who knew i could go lower!) and it’s like everything is futile and i can’t get anywhere in my life. i’ve cycled through so much bad coping mechanisms like drinking and just various types of self-harm (hurting myself physically, food deprivation, etc) and just . so much shit is happening globally, locally, and personally it’s so difficult i can’t keep up AND pick myself up, it’s so hard i almost gave up many times.

but i’m going to maybe get back into tumblr just to keep myself preoccupied and who knows maybe it’ll be a good alternative for coping? funny thing is, thanks to the economic crisis all my other destructive coping mechanisms are too expensive for me to afford. but therapy and medication are as costly as well, so  i hope this helps. it’s what i started it for anyway (aside from keeping myself accountable from school, but i fucking hate school so we’ll make that 2nd priority).

to anyone who reads this, please know you’re not alone in such an experience. i’m here too. things suck so fucking much, and i know this may not even be helpful in a little bit. but i hope from one not-dying-as-an-achievement-person to another, you’re fucking amazing for having gone this far and i hope you and i are able to go farther than we are now ♡

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sometimes all it takes is one cool breeze and i'm like. wow.. i'm going to live the fullest life everything is so great and i am so grateful and alive

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Mother says sadness is meant to be felt, just as happiness is meant to be endured. She tells me to inhale everything around me- every feeling like food to the hungry, every experience like I've been starved for it all my life. Mother burns down the house with feelings that churn in my chest before sleep, shades of red anger and yellow peace, blues full of despair and greens of unimaginable joy.

Mother feeds me sunsets and paints rainbows on the back of my hand as we wait for the storms to reach home, humming with the beats of thunder rolling in heavens and hells around us. Mother tells me to fill myself with life, she tells me to spill wherever I can. Mother burns the house down and every fire is prettier than the one before.

-Ritika Jyala, from Mama Burnt the House Down

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something i've noticed. people seem to think the most nature-y nature is forests. so forests are always prioritized for conservation, and planting trees is synonymous with ecological activism. my state was largely prairies and wetlands before colonization. those ecosystems are important too. trees aren't the end-all be-all of environmentalism. plant native grasses. protect your wetlands.

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Cabbage shaped dumplings

I made these for Chinese New Year this year. They’re super fun (just don’t make with other more intricate shapes like me at the same time and take all day shaping and packing them). Dumplings look hard but are actually pretty easy and fun once you get used to it and is a fun group activity.

Skin (around 30 wrappers):

- 250g all purpose flour. Any is fine, but you should go for medium gluten (around 10g protein per 100g flour) for a nice and springy skin, but if you are new to dumpling wrapping and are nervous, you can go for a higher level of gluten as that would make the dough more resilient.

- 125g water. This depends on factors like how much protein there is (the more protein, the more water you might need), and the humidity of your place (I need to reduce usually as it’s super humid here). Over time you can tell but 2:1 ratio is a good place to start.

- Colouring: I used spirulina powder and turmeric to mix into green cos that was what I had. You can boil spinach for the water, but you would have to split the flour into one third for the green dough and knead separately from the white part as you need to factor in the green water as water weight. You can also use spinach powder or green food colouring.

Filling:

- Around 250g of the base meat/veggie is a good place to start but it depends on how much you stuff into a dumpling (I stuff mine really fat so I need more). You can use almost anything for filling. For meat minces, use fatty meat for juicier fillings, and mix beef with pork if you can at a 80% beef to 20% pork ratio for flavour and fat balance. If using chicken mince, you can add sesame oil into the mince to make up for the fat and juiciness. For vegetarians, you can try minced mushrooms, carrots and panko (and egg as a binder if you can eat those if not add some starch) and chives. You can also mix those veggies into the meats as well. Chives, shrimp and water chestnut are also great combinations. Season with salt, pepper, msg, shaoxing wine, spices, chilli, cooked onion/garlic, be creative.

1. Mix the flour with water gradually and mix with chopsticks/fork until there is no loose flour. Knead with your hand for a while and leave it to rest for 10-15 minutes, covering the bowl with a wet cloth or cling wrap. Come back and knead some more until it becomes a smooth ball. Do not panic and refrain from adding more flour if it seems too wet and sticky, as it will gradually become less so after some time kneading. Only add flour if it seems like it’s still too wet after some time. Cover and rest the dough again for 30-60 minutes until soft.

2. Flour the surface and roll the dough into a stick shape and cut one third of the dough and mix spirulina+turmeric powder/spinach powder/green colouring into it for the green dough. Roll out the green dough into a flat length and wrap it around the white dough, like in the dough indicated with the arrow in the image below (I made separate green and pink (using beetroot powder) doughs for different shaped dumplings.

3. Keeping the surface well floured, slice the dough into thin discs and using a rolling pin, roll them as thinly as possible. The beauty of this is that because they are cabbage shaped, they don’t have to be perfectly round, which makes them even more beginner friendly. Focus on making them as thin as you can, as the thinner the skin is the more delicious. Place a sphere of the filling in the center. Try to be generous, but with enough room for the dough to wrap around it. The skin can stretch when wrapping, but if unsure, make sure to have just enough skin to touch the top.

4. As they are cabbages, you don’t need perfect pleats. Just pinch the pleats together by folding and pinching the edge, then folding the nearest part on top and pinching, and repeat until the end. After that you can shape it some more to look more cabbagey. This may take some time unless you make it a group activity, but it’s repetitive so I was just watching stuff while folding.

5. They can then be frozen until ready for cooking. Place them on a tray/large container with baking paper underneath, making sure they are not touching each other, and freeze for a couple of hours before you can transfer them into a glad bag/container. Make sure they are frozen hard enough so they retain their shapes even if you keep them touching each other in a bag.

6. You can steam them or pan fry them, but for the colour I would recommend steaming them. You can use any steamer. I used a bamboo steaming basket, which you place into a wok/pot with boiling water ready. Fresh dumplings steam for around 8-10 minutes, and frozen around 15-20 minutes, depending on the size. For pan frying, heat oil to medium high, and drop dumplings in to sear for around 3-4 minutes. Then add about enough water to cover the dumplings halfway, and cover with a lid and steam until all the water has evaporated.

Recommend dips would be black vinegar with thinly sliced ginger, and/or chilli oil (with fried garlic in the chilli oil if possible).

I’ll do the other dumpling shapes another time. Those need some drawing to show how to fold them. BotW recipes will come in time, but I definitely need to draw those.

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October 05, 2020 | 04:50 PM

Albert Camus and some Mandarin for today.

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sunday october 3, 2020 | #studyblr community challenge

day 3 - why did you create your studyblr?

i reblogged a lot of studyspo pics to my main blog @achillesgf and i thought why not make a studyblr? plus i used to have one as a high school freshman (idk if anyone remembers alicornstudies or studycorgi uwu)

day 4 - how long have you had a studyblr?

i've had this one since february 2019! ^^

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04.10.20 | Morning vs Evening. I ran some footie drills by myself today and the soreness feels so good. I had so much fun and I’m looking forward to using it to motivate myself! Hopefully I can do some every night after I finish my work. 

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05.10.2020 // here’s another collection of miscellaneous photos i’ve accumulated over the past month or so! this week is my mid semester break (and by “mid” my uni means week 10 of 13 😤) so i’m planning to get a head start on my final assessments and hopefully read something other than tutorial assigned readings for once. i finished gorbachev’s book yesterday and it was the first non-school book i’ve read since august ;-;

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5.10.2020 // studyblr community challenge

my mondays are usually filled with japanese! i’ve felt super tired today though so i didn’t get much done but i attended both of my japanese classes and that’s an achievement!

day 5 - have you ever done a challenge before?

i have! the only challenge i have finished though (i think) was an october study challenge hosted by @stu-dna exactly a year ago from now! i tried doing another challenge over this summer too but i wasn’t really studying anything and also i was rarely home so it was difficult to keep up.

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26.09.2020

There is so much to do in so little time... On a happy note, finally, the weather is getting colder here and I can actually now wear my hoodies, thank you autum.

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1 October 2020 [4/100]

can't go to cafe to study so I made my favourite drink (iced mint mocha🌱) at home. who else loves not wearing bra all time in iso?