#(it also means i will be having 2 pasta based meals a day and idk if i vibe w tht tbh like i lov pasta but)

[justcallmeafag]

switching up my lunch the day after tomorrow. scary

[1010ll]

do you have any new recipes that you've learned recently? i remember you wrote something a while ago about carbonara and i tried it out for myself it was really fun!!

i love this 😭 im gonna write way too much idec! something that has changed since that post: my kitchen is worse. i have a horrible combi oven which has resulted in me accidentally eating raw chicken, because it had been in there for more than 2 hours at supposedly 230 °C and i was really hungry and thought it HAD to be done by then. also i have less time and less money lol. it has made me a bit sad, and less motivated to cook nice things but i also love food! which means these tips/recipes are gonna reflect that and might seem a bit dull but probably also relatable for a lot of people.   i’ve definitely made spaghetti carbonara a bit too much because it’s simple and require few ingredients! will still vouch for that one tip about substituting the bacon with roasted veggies and other types of meat.

last week i made risotto for the very first time, i think? which means i might be assuming a bit too much, but i think it’s a great dish that you can almost make with whatever you have in your fridge. i made it with roasted beetroot(needs A LOT of time to soften, lesson learned), carrots and parsley root or parsnip(idk the difference), dried rosemary and thyme, garlic and onion. i had some leftover sushi rice, which is great for risotto apparently(love versatile ingredients), roasted them in some oil and then added white wine and chicken stock and actually added a leftover parmesan rind i had in the fridge to give the ‘stock’ some flavour, a bit of nutmeg and then in the end some shredded gouda lol… it was surprisingly delicious and i didn’t even really care to cook the rice perfectly. it also tasted delicious 3 days later, which was a nice surprise. i bet there are tons of risotto recipes online, but as long as you have rice, some kind of flavoured water, i guess you could kind of add whatever you want of veggies and top with whatever herb you have around.

another type of porridge i consume a lot these days is hot oat porridge, which i’ve eaten since i was little and it was the first ‘dish’ i learnt to make myself and it’s cheap. some people really dislike the consistency and look but i don’t. it’s also very easy to customise. i put in whatever nuts and seeds(which are often cheaper than nuts) i have around: flaxseed, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, chopped almonds and sometimes a dollop of peanut butter. i let them simmer along with the oats. i like adding those elements because it gives it some texture and it keeps me more full throughout the day. it’s very important to me because i hate spending money i don’t have on fast-food when i’m not home and i hate being hungry. dried raisins, cranberries for a bit of sweetness and if i’m treating myself i’ll add some fresh apples cut into small pieces or some homemade berry compote(i use frozen) or brown sugar. if i had more money i’d use maple syrup but i don’t at the moment. i also add a bit of cinnamon and cardamom, dried ginger etc, whatever you feel like. some people also add milk afterwards but i’d rather spend my milk on my coffee.

a small tip: making chili flake / garlic oil. it’s really delicious, you could put it straight on pasta with some parmesan and pepper and it would be a filling meal. either chop the garlic really fine, grate it, microplane it, smash it to pieces. heat some olive oil until it’s quite hot, then remove from heat and add the chili flakes and garlic. if the oil isn’t hot enough you can just put the pan or pot back on the heat but be careful you don’t burn the chili flakes or garlic, as it will make it bitter. the longer it will toast, the less pronounced the raw garlic flavour will be, so when it smells toasted enough for your taste, take it off. i store it in a tiny glass jar and add it in stews, sauces, toasts, pizza, sandwiches etc. the flavour is very strong imo and everything it touches will smell like it. something to drink: i like strong foods and i like sour foods, which is why i like lemon/ginger based drinks. to make it even more winter friendly and easy to make, i like to grate unpeeled ginger(i hate slices of ginger, they do nothing for me and seems like a waste of ginger), lemon zest, lemon juice and mix it or blend it with some water/apple juice and honey and strain it afterwards. if you have a really nice blender you can just add all of it together with some ice. i’m basically making a large amount of ginger shot mixture. then when i feel like it, i can take some of the mixture and either drink it as it is, add more apple juice if i need a refreshing beverage or add hot water and more honey for when im cold. you could also add turmeric, chili, use less sweetener and other sorts of healthy stuff but i honestly do it for the taste so i don’t care about that that much.

something sweet: i posted earlier about cakes and someone mentioned swedish kladdkaka, which is a super delicious, cheap, brownie-like chocolate cake that is easily customized and hard to fuck up which is why i’ve made it since i was very young and is a go-to and i didn’t even know it was a swedish thing. if you like airy, light cakes this is not for your. this is sticky, sweet and almost like confection. you can add nuts, swirls of peanutbutter, tahini, actual pieces of chocolate, replace the white sugar with brown sugar, the butter with oil(you can be fancy and use a bit of olive oil) or use a mixture, brown the butter, you name it. the recipe i use is this: melt 100 g butter and let cool. mix 2 eggs + 3 dl sugar in a bowl until fluffy in one bowl. mix 1.5 dl flour, 4 tbs cocoa, 1 pinch of salt in another. mix the dry with the wet mixture and add the cooled, melted butter. this is the point where you’d add chopped nuts, chocolate etc. pour the batter into a cake tin lined with parchment (i use one that is 16 cm in diameters i think). bake the cake for around 30 mins at 150°C - 175°C degrees. check on the cake using a cake tester or a a knife. if the knife is clean after … stabbing it, it’s done! the cake will change it’s texture after cooling. this is a cheap cake, and if you like cake dough you might want to give it less time in the oven for a more fudgey texture. make it your own! there are no rules. last time i made this, i left it in for too long in my opinion but it was still delicious. also i literally have a shit oven with a round oven rack that goes in circles no matter what due to the microwave function, and the only ‘mixing’ equipment i have is a whisk and a spatula. no need for kitchen aids or  even electrical hand mixers.

something else i’ve been eating a lot for lunch is simple open faced sandwiches, and something that can really elevate those is: making your own mayonnaise(and toasting the bread). it can be challenging, but it’s really worth it imo and i can’t remember the last time i bought it in a store. i have a small plastic bowl, whisk and 1 egg yolk. something i can really recommend is buying pour snouts for bottles. i transfer my oils from their plastic bottles to smaller, old soda bottles because im cheesy like that and it’s really handy especially when making mayo. constantly whisking the egg yolk by hand and then adding the NEUTRAL oil ever so slowly. don’t be fancy and use cold pressed stuff or extra virgin olive oil because it will taste weird. i only ever fail when i try to use immersion blenders for some weird reason but i find it rewarding to do by hand anyways and i think it might be easier to make smaller portions that way. mayo needs acid and you can get it by adding regular vinegar, apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, lime juice, pickle juice, citric acid dissolved in water etc. it’s really easy to customise! when im making banh mi, i add some sesame oil, soy sauce for saltiness and use lime as the acidic element. for more regular use i add a bit of mustard(also helps with the emulsion), for fries, i like adding some fresh garlic. something as simple as mayo, tomatoes, flaky salt and pepper topped with chives is really nice. i also really like using slices of boiled potatoes or boiled eggs(idk if that’s only a thing where i’m from), mayo and the chili garlic oil. it’s also great for making tuna salad. yesterday i made a really simple sandwich with a very simple tuna salad(tuna, mayo, yoghurt, lemon and pepper), arugula, basil, the garlic/chili oil, cream cheese, pickled jalapeños and onions, green peber, cucumber and tomatoes. you could leave out everything but the tuna salad and it would still be a great little meal.

another nice condiment that beats the supermarket stuff by far is homemade ‘pesto’. when i buy parsley from my local grocery store, it’s a gigantic amount that i in no way can consume in a week. first of all when buying fresh herbs i really recommend washing them, wrapping them in a damp towel and keeping them in a closed container. it will prolong their lifetime from lasting a day to a week(change the towel if it seems too wet). i once had some cilantro in my fridge for several weeks and still be fresh. anyways, when i buy that much parsley, i like to remove the tougher parts of the stem(which i use in stews/sauces! chop it up and sautee it along with garlic and onion), add literally just olive oil, water, pepper, garlic, and a bit of acid and then blend away! it keeps for a long time in the fridge and is also delicious beneath tomatoes/potatoes/cheese on open-faced sandwiches. if you want to be fancy you can of course add some type of hard cheese, nuts, seeds, dried tomatoes, whatever.

i know this is the longest text post ever, but as a last reminder, i really recommend watching pasta grannies on youtube. really simple recipes with focus on few, good ingredients that just takes some time and love.

[radiqueer]

I'm sorry if this is an intrusive question, but in your knowledge, how does ednos manifest? Both for you and people you might know. I know for a fact that my relationship with food is not fucking normal, but I don't exactly know what to make of it and...wth...

ednos stands for “eating disorder not otherwise specified” which means it reps ALL eating disorders not covered under other diagnostic criteria. most, something like 70% of eating disorders fall in this category.

MY ednos looks something like this: i have an avoidant and distressed response to food and being told to eat. i tend to delay eating for as long as possible. i’m underweight and too thin for my age+weight, but i don’t have body image issues other than a generalized gender dysphoria that can’t be solved by transition. often, i delay eating for as long as possible. often this results in headaches and chronic exhaustion, shaking hands, nausea, loss of ability to focus (compounded by adhd). for example, right now I’ve eaten food equal to one slice of toast and one cup of tea since i woke up at 9am - it’s 2:20pm as i write this. 

it’s hard for me to push myself to eat because i have adhd; executive dysfunction makes completing the steps of acquiring food difficult. i have autism and texture issues due to that which make eating a lot of food difficult. the food that i can stand, i often still need to be pushed into eating. i hate when people tell me i need to eat or gain weight and sometimes refuse to do the latter out of misery and spite. depression adds a layer of weight on top of all of this. 

fundamentally, my eating disorder is about my desire to avoid eating because i feel like it’s unnecessary, distressing, and repetitive. there’s no solution for this that i can envision.

a friend was kind enough to share their experience with me also:

my eating has definitely been disordered at times and I’ve only just now, in my thirties, gotten a handle on it

so, I grew up in a house where my mother (whom I love) was always insecure about her weight and always dieting. so the language she always used - and still uses - about food is very morality-based. some foods are ‘bad’, others are ‘good’. if you have a bad food, you’re being wicked, and even if she says it with a sort of humorous thrill, as a kid you still internalise the guilt

it was also a house where, for various reasons, we never really had any chips or chocolate or candy or snacks like that around, only basic ice cream sometimes and never soda

so the combination of this meant that, when I did encounter junk food, I’d go buckwild and compulsively stuff my face, because if it was my only opportunity to eat it, then I had to eat AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

the added result was that, if I ended up with a surplus of junk food, like from easter or christmas, I had to eat it all IMMEDIATELY, because if I ate it all at once (in my mind) then I was only being bad once, and that was therefore better than eating a little each day and being bad each day

plus, I couldn’t control myself

which was one thing when I lived at home and didn’t control the shopping, but as an adult I’d never learned self-control or how to stop eating junk when

I was full, because I’d developed a compulsion around itthe fact that I can now have a tub of ice cream in the house and not eat three bowls the day I buy it, or have chocolate and not eat it all at once, or anything like that, is a development that’s really only been true for like… a year? if that?

like, I was making progress towards this state of affairs for a while, but the fact that there are uneaten lindt balls in my cupboard right now would’ve been impossible a year and a bit ago

plus the whole 'food is my only comfort while pregnant’ thing probably set me back a bit

but I’ve really worked at being mentally calm around it and reminding myself the food will still be there tomorrow and that’s okay, that looking forward to it for tomorrow is nicer than stuffing myself now when I’m already full

so that’s another way it can manifest. and here’s yet another:

I grew up in a household that is, uh, increasingly fucked up about food - - it's worse now than when I lived there - - but I dealt with most of it (along with the rest of the emotionally shitty aspects of living there) by just... mentally withdrawing from anything that wasn't safe. We ate meals together when I was little, so maybe food tied into that, idk.

I'm also autistic and not super in touch with my body at the best of times. So... it was pretty easy to just... forget to eat.

I found some risk criteria for developing an eating disorder sometime in high school, and accurately recognized myself in the parts that were focusing on "perfectionist" and "very focused on self control," so I made a very deliberate effort to Not Diet pretty early on. I was the only non athletic family member (still am--everyone else will run marathons or 5ks together on family gatherings) in part because I couldn't breathe when I ran, and I'm also the fattest person in my immediate family.

I tend to stop eating and think of food as actively unsafe and hostile when I get stressed out, and my willingness to eat tends to be one of the first things to deteriorate when my mental health does. I tend to eat high sugar things when that happens, trying to get calories into me, and that sometimes crashes my blood sugar and makes everything worse.

As an adult, I've also been broke for most of my adult life and very conscious of my finances. If I haven't planned ahead and brought food with me, I often find it hard to convince myself that it's worth it to spend the money on a snack or meal for myself - - which means I skip a lot of meals and then wind up wondering why I'm in a brain fog.

I avoid diet talk very rigidly, in part because I am really worried about what might happen if I picked it up. It's really tempting sometimes to just not eat anything at all, maybe have a Real Problem someone might care about, get that positive validation about my body even though said body doesn't work so great in terms of breathing no matter what.

if any of these experiences, or aspects of these experiences resonate, consider that you may have an eating disorder.

here is one description of what a healthy relationship to food looks like. because we live in a diet culture, it’s often really hard to tell what’s normalized dysfunction, what’s a diagnosable eating disorder, and what is healthy and normal - and sometimes, healthy and normal aren’t the same thing. people with healthy relationships to food will

eat when they want to

eat as much as they feel like eating

eat what they feel like eating

not hold their habits and needs against themselves

give their body as much energy as required to sustain AND thrive

have compassion with themselves for shifting needs - more food on one day is as valid as less food on another.

do not weight- or body-shame themselves or others

respect their bodies capacities, limits, and needs

(one thing you hear when looking for recovery tips for eating disorders is to “respect and honour your hunger” and “to make peace with food” but if your ED is anything like mine, you can see how difficult this is. my problem isn’t a lack of peace with food, it’s that eating is inherently distressing for me and everything else just keeps making it harder and worse.

but you know what would help my ED? eating foods one-course meals (which I do already) and eating things which don’t require assembly or complexity. foods like pasta, pizza, sandwiches, curd-rice, are all easier for me to eat than anything else. i try to snack on chocolate and chips and fruit, because they’re easily accessed and provide energy. my goals for myself are small: eat, as much as you are able to, do not unduly distress yourself.)

don’t punish yourself for having to figure out your access needs around food from scratch. don’t hurt yourself for what you need to eat and what you find easy.you can have an ednos at any weight. remember that more weight is better than less weight - more IS healthier. take care of yourself

recovering from an ednos looks different for everyone because ednos ARE different for everyone. it’s up to you to figure out your balance, but of course there is help and resources available. check out blogs like @heavyweightheart. try to cultivate a body positive and disability positive environment around yourself, because that helps no matter what you have going on. best of luck! 

[aveganmermaid]

Would you mind talking a bit about how you grocery shop? I feel like since being vegan it’s become a lot harder, and that I’m going to multiple stores / spending more time + money, etc. I just want to be vegan and eat well without it being super difficult or complicated ya know? I figure you’re probably a pro at it by now

Oh of course! I’ll try my best! I very rarely go to different stores UNLESS I know that certain items are significantly cheaper at another store (like nutritional yeast, chia seeds, or hemp hearts - something that is already pretty expensive but I know I can save 2 - 3 dollars each if i buy them at another store).

So basically some things you should know about the way that i eat and the routine i have that really helps cut down different trips:

i do my grocery shopping once every two weeks on pay day. i try to avoid going back to the store to buy more things during the week unless i genuinely need it.

i keep a lot of my fresh fruit and veggies in the fridge to keep them longer. things like avocados i let go JUST ripe and then pop them in the fridge and they will last me the whole 2 weeks. i make my dinners based on what veggies i need to use up right away and what i can let sit in the fridge for 2 weeks

i buy lots of frozen veggies for those end of the 2 weeks meal when i’ve run out of fresh veggies but still want something healthy.

apples last forever in the fridge so i always have a heckton of those around to munch on.

i am OK with eating the same meal for breakfast and lunch every day for a while if i really like it. tbh my old breakfast that i now eat as a lunch, i’ve been eating it for about 4 months at least and i still enjoy it.

i don’t eat a lot of specialty vegan items, like very rarely. if they are on sale then i’ll buy a pack and save those for the weekends so that i can eat that instead of ordering takeout (saving moniesss)

most of the things i eat are basic things like pasta, rice dishes, tofu dishes, soup, toast/sandwiches, etc. like i said, i’m a very habitual eater and often cycle through meals that i really like so it makes grocery shopping really easy for me.

i don’t know how to cook one single meal so i am almost always eating leftovers for parts of the week.

Ok so basically this is how i grocery shop:

I have a general idea of what i want to eat for my breakfasts over the next two weeks and a general idea of the things i want to eat for dinner. since i’ve been eating the same lunch forever, i just ensure to have those restock items on my grocery list

write down all the things i need to make those things. i also have a lot of staple items that i buy, those being: apples, tofu, potatoes, pasta/rice (if i’ve run out), beans, frozen kale, cashew milk, coffee creamer, tea, avocados, hummus, rice cakes/wasa crackers... etc.

i shop at one grocery store that is close to my house. this had been a debate with me for a while because there’s another grocery store that’s about 10ish minutes farther driving and cheaper HOWEVER - they often dont have the items that i buy regularly, it’s a very, very large store and can get overwhelming to shop in, grocery shopping takes me WAY longer and i end up having to go to the closer grocery store to pick up some pretty staple items that i need, and i don’t actually save that much money because the sales that they have mean you have to buy 2+ items to get the deal and a lot of the time i only need 1. also my time and energy are usually drained after going there... so i’m ok with pay a bit more for the convenience of the one by my house and ensuring that i get everything in one shop.

i will go to that cheaper grocery store to buy only the things that i KNOW for a fact that i can get significantly cheaper there. i stop there maybe once a month instead of once every two weeks - this is worth it for me.

once every few months i will go to specialty grocery stores to pick up special vegan items for things like parties or events i’m going to where i need to bring some food with me.

So yeah, I can’t think of any other important points but basically, pick ONE grocery store that is your main grocery story - the one where you can get pretty much all the items that you want in a week and make that your standard store. if you require supplemental stores, use them sparingly for things that are worth going there for. Write a detailed list of all the items that you need to buy that week. Stock up on things that don’t go bad so that you don’t have to buy them EVERY week (like i have a huge stock of pasta in my house, i haven’t had to buy pasta for like 2 months, same with rice, i always spend a little more to get the much larger size to save me from buying every week). And idk! Hopefully that was helpful??? For reference, I spend abouuuutttt 130 - 150 dollars on groceries for 2 weeks worth (this is including household items like toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc). So about 65 - 75/week on groceries, so i find these tactics really help me with keeping costs low (or affordable for me and my budget!)

Let me know if you have anymore questions. Hopefully you found this helpful?

[rockingthegraveyard]

Alright Folks 

I’m fucking doing it!

Already off to a GREAT start! Oozaru’s Piccolo’s monster slave?? Yeah, sure, okay. 

You know ... I knew he was white but it didn’t really sink in that Goku was white in this movie until it show his vacant ass stare. 

That’s literally the first shot of him ... the only thing I missed with close up of sweat beads and a leaf blowing by in slow momskdjgdfjsdhf.

Why

he ain’t got no tail. If he’s suppose to be Oozaru, Piccolo’s monster slave, how is he gonna transform hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

It’s only 2 minutes in ..... this was a mistake. 

Alright, cringe little fight opening and the complete and utter mischaracterization of Goku aside, I low-key approve of Grandpa Gohan so far. Silly old man? I can dig it. 

director of this movie be like: this is my sonic oc, do not steal

Goku would never treat his grandfather with such disrespect.

This is the worst hight school au I’ve ever seen. 

I FUCKING CHOKED ON MY PASTA AT ‘GEEKO’ I’M SUING!

HIS FUCKING FOREHEAD!

Based on her sudden appearance her backwards glance at Goku, I’m betting Chichi and already another wild mis-characterization. She’s probably your typical high school movie love interest. 

Piccolo is alright. I don’t remember him having a hot assassin lady assistant or w/e but that’s just what I expect from this movie. 

I should mention ... I’m only 10 minutes in. JFC.

Oh god why is Goku staring so intently, it’s so fucking creepy. 

HE’S FULL LEANING STARING RIGHT AT HER, HOW FUCKING CREEPY IS THAT SHIT?!?!

THEIR INTERACTIONS ARE SO FUCKING AWKWARD I WANT TO D I E!

GOKU FUCKING ABANDONS HIS GRANDPA! AFTER ALL THE TROUBLE HE WENT THROUGH TO MAKE HIM A BIG MEAL AND A WHOLE CAKE! GOHAN DOESN’T DESERVE THIS!

Every interaction this guy has, is so fucking awkward. I don’t know if it’s just the writing or if just the actor but it’s so hard to watch. 

Oh my god, 

Piccolo is a sith lord!!! Use the force Grandpa Gohan!!!

You know, compared to other movies in hollywood, this is decently diverse but that’s kind of ruined by Goku being white. 

I mean ... they could have just dyed her whole head blue or got her a wig.

the single extension  is ... weird. 

unnnnnnn Roshi is so weird, not that i expected anything less but fuck maaan 

i’m not even half way through this movie, it’s defeating me DEFEATING ME  IDK IF I CAN MAKE IT

why is yamcha a surfer dude

why do i as stupid questions that i think have an answer 

Alright, Roshi in this film isn’t SO bad. He certainly isn’t as gross which is a plus in my book. 

by the power of being a thirst bitch, he has mastered magic cgi air 

don’t trust anyone not even yourself

IIIIII’MMMMM

BLUE DAH BAH DEE DAH BAH DAI

I guess the Kamehameha is a defibrillator now????

This movie is so bad!!

This is his face when he learns HE’S Oozaru ... somehow???

UGH

UGH 

HE’S SO GROSS LOOKIN!

Hes also very small. 

UGH HE’S SO GROSS!!!!

There is no redeeming qualities about this movie. It’s so bad, so very bad. 

I’m almost there guys!

bad and very tiny dragon

goku got the gurl, tho he didn’t do anything to deserve it aside from being super creepy

Not only does it end with these two fighting, but Goku changed into proper attire while Chichi did not???

WHAT EVER I’M FINALLY FREEEE AAAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA

I’ve become more powerful as person from being able to endure this whole movie. 

oh wait, post climax credit torture 

kasfajsghfdj someone is nursing him back to life, but of course

i’m so very tired, i won 

i won but at what cost???

i need to watch the abridged series again or something 

[siodium]

went to the tulip garden at keukenhof!! the majority of my classmates were going (likely bc sunday was the last day that the garden would be open and it would be closed for a whole year after that) so i decided to tag along~

idk why my frens chose to leave at a later time instead of following the rest of the class there but i was alright with that decision bc that meant more time in the morning for me to do my lab report

out of sheer bad luck my group was assigned to one of the hardest (if not, the hardest) practical on friday so i had to somehow complete a very difficult lab report while juggling my weekend plans with frens (i really didn’t want to be left alone in the dorm... writing lab reports by myself... when everyone else is exploring a foreign land...)

anyway we hopped on a bus at around 10 am?? and made our way to the train station

it was the first time i took a train there and it was so complex but luckily jae (he’s the adult ntu staff accompanying us on the trip) happened to be on the same bus as us so we were lost together

apparently you need a minimum credit of 20 euros to board a train... and it was also roughly the cost of a train ride so rip my wallet

but holy shit the train station is so beautiful??

it was a pretty long ride to keukenhof!! had lunch at the airport (expensive ramen that was not tasty) and then got on the bus (again, but this time the cost was included in our ticket)

we got to go up the windmill!! the spinning blades were functioning and dangerous but they blocked off the area where the blades would swing by so it’s safe!! since the windmill itself was not that tall, it was hard to get a good view of the whole garden (tbh the garden was a lot bigger than i expected)

we went to play in a hedge maze and i reached the end first

apparently this field was supposed to be a captivating tulip field but everything was harvested rip still a pretty view tho

chi tried on a hat!!

chi did try to eat the yellow tulips... was it the cheese flavour that chi hoped it to be? nope

tag yourself i’m yosemite

THERE WAS A PETTING ZOO IN THE GARDEN!!!! IT WAS MY FIRST TIME MEETING MEEPS IRL AND I ALREADY WANT TO BRING THEM HOME

i love their rectangular pupils.... and how they are kinda aggressive and will charge at the other animals if they get too close..... cute....

i mean they kinda smell like pee and grass but i can tolerate that (the pigs were A LOT worse in comparison)

the baby goats were cute too!! they were unexpectedly more talkative compared to the sheep lol they never stopped bleating the whole time we were there!!

THIS ONE LOOKS SO SMUG

a wild COOPA appeared!!

thinks about the strawberry ice-cream crepe that i didn’t buy bc it was 5€ for one which seemed overpriced to me at that time (later on i found out that i was wrong and everything is just that expensive in europe)

we also checked out the indoor plant art area?? there were some... interesting works (they should’ve planted legumes instead)

chi had fun playing around the garden~ i actually took a ton of pics of chi (using my fren’s iphone bc rip my phone) but i can’t upload all of them bc tumtum would explode weh

stopped by a cute cafe but didn’t get anything lol the apple pie looked tasty tho

i think i spent more than 100€ in one day (mainly because of the travelling costs and the entrance fee to the garden) and most of the tulips were already harvested but overall it was still pretty fun!! i don’t usually visit places of nature in sg bc the sun is a deadly laser but?? it’s really cold here??? and the sun is blazing?? how does that even work i’m so confused

anyway we left at around 6 pm to get dinner!! hunted down this ulu seafood restaurant that fren recommended that we try

turned out to be a High Class place by the sea and our wallets suffered a huge blow as a result (the food was good tho ngl)

the diners there must be wondering how a group of broke college kids ended up in a place like that lol

the 2-pax seafood platter costed 46€...... rip (the pasta was an additional 15€) but on the bright side all the extra fees (service charge and tax) were already included

i like all the stuff in the platter (especially the deep fried soft shell crab mmmMM) and the vongole pasta was notto baddo but despite looking like an oil-based pasta it was super buttery?? nothing like any of the pastas i’ve had in sg

they gave us free bread too bc our food took a while to come!! the bread alone was super nice oqo

tbh since we had to share the food among the four of us it was probably not a very filling meal but trying out a high class dining experience overseas was actually pretty cool imo

after dinner (around 10 pm+) we embarked on our return journey and ended up reaching our dorms past midnight lol i think we were lucky enough to catch the last bus!! the year 4 students were also on the same bus as us which made it less scary

i think we tend to lose track of time bc the day is long and it only starts getting dark at around 9 or 10 pm

anyhow i pretty much KO’d after bathing

aah before the trip my plan was to enjoy a neet life in my own room and maybe take a walk around campus if it wasn’t too cold (i was especially curious about friesland campina since the company was located on the campus and we wrote about it in one of our assignments)

that plan would have been cheap but i would not have met the meeps so

to end off this extremely image-heavy post pls enjoy some chi!! and a smol daisy field!! (+ the NG)

[katygoestoeurope]

Day 17--September 16 We woke up again to a wonderful breakfast and this time Kimmie and her mom joined us. We just adored our host and talked for a long time about a lot of things while we ate. Here are some things we learned from her: - The economy in Italy is really bad, way worse than other EU counties - Their income tax is about 55-60% and she felt as though they did not get nearly enough back from the government to make it worth while. - The salaries are low and the cost of living is exorbitant. For example a street vendor (of whom there are a lot) make around €1,000 a month and doctors make only €1,800 when rent can be upwards of €2000 in a place like Venice. We were shocked and she just kept reiterating how it's impossible to live there. - You are required to pay your income tax a year ahead so they just predict you'll make the same money the next year and if you make less? It takes years to get a refund. - Overtime pay is not possible. Strange how we have this perception sometimes that the US makes their employees slacs away and we don't have enough work life balance but this is the other extreme. Desperately needing more money and being denied an opportunity to make it. - Black money is huge. "Under the table" because it isn't taxed. So like her mosaic job is all black money and a lot of the vendors won't type in cash payments and will give discounts for paying in cash for that exact reason. I see the temptation to do this and I would probably do it also myself, but I'm positive it makes the whole economic problem even more messy. - Sales tax is 22% - There are many people who live in Venice who have never been to Rome - Venetians have their own language that is much different from actual Italian and many of them speak only that. - The southern part of Italy is entirely different with people living with no electricity and a lot of people not working so the northern workers have to compensate--a source of political friction and economic turmoil - If you attend public school, they don't teach English at all. Private schools do but they are, at the minimum, ���400 a month. - Italians eat like 4 courses. They eat breads and spreads and cheeses first, then pasta, then more pasta with some meat, then desert. Our host has dinner with her husbands family every Sunday and they won't take no for an answer when they serve a meal! We just kept talking to her and before we knew it we didn't have much time to walk around Murano, the place outside of Venice we were staying. Murano is known as "the city of glass" and we wandered around for a brief hour looking at some of the shops and admiring the massive talent that inhabits the streets. From Murano we took a water taxi to Venice and then used the "people mover" to get to the Tronchetto bus station. However, we did make a pit stop for some pizza first. The options to get to La Spezia were complicated and either we could either different busses, 3 different trains, or one direct bus that left later than we'd hoped but we figured the convenience was worth it. This bus ride was 5 and a half hours long and boy did it feel like it. I love the bus rides, seeing the country but this ride was basically all ugly and it was far too long to be enjoyable. It took us 3 hours and 2 stops to realize there was a bathroom on board because when we would "stop" to let people off and people get on--I use parenthesis because it was more like a pause than a stop--there was not nearly enough time to use the bathroom. Also at no point did we stop long enough to get any food so we were running on a slice of pizza basically all day. The only redeeming quality of this ride was the sunset. As the sun went down we were driving through mountains in Italy and they were beautiful and massive and rolling and green and I tried to take pictures but they didn't come out. The clouds were cotton candy and they hung delicately over the simple towns that were nestled in the canyons and mountains. At 8:00 we arrived at La Spezia but when we got off we noticed some people were staying on the bus even thought it was supposed to be the last stop, and we didn't seem to be at a bus station. The driver was rushed, frantically throwing open doors and running around the bus. I went up to ask if there was another stop in La Spezia and either he really didn't speak much English or he did and was just being a dick (I've heard the Italian and French do this sometimes). I tried even using sign language but he wasn't helpful. So we were already off and he drove away and I looked at my map only to find that we were way the hell away from our Airbnb, a 45 minute walk instead of 10, and not even at a bus station. As someone who works in a job dealing with lots of people from everywhere don't you think he should speak some English?? I mean for goodness sake we couldn't even ask a simple question about the bus ride. We were pretty frustrated at this point because we were far away and not at a bus station meaning we'd needs to call a taxi or uber. We walked a ways until we got to a building that ended up being a movie theater. Both starving I drooled at food even though it was Burger King and then saw they had the worlds longest line. I tried downloading the uber app and then was informed they don't have Uber in Italy. Taylor went up and asked a guy working there if he'd call us a cab and he tried to dial the number then hand it to me. As if I would understand anything the other person said or even be able to repeat the name of the street we were on hahaha goodness. Then we waited for the Taxi and proceeded to take the worlds scariest drive. Truly, drivers are crazy here. Maneuvering through tiny alleys, speeding down main strips, dodging motorcycles, it was wild. I told taylor I thought we were going to die, her reponse? "thought?! I was certain". 8-10 minutes later we got there and he charged us €20....... when we got in the cab I saw him bump something from €11-14 and then we started and I assumed he'd just subtract but no, we had a BASE of basically $15. Before we'd moved. So idk what the hell that was about but we got ripped off and couldn't do anything about it because he spoke as much English as we do Italian. It's just beyond frustrating especially since that freaking bus was supposed to get us here and we ended up spending an extra hour and a half and $25 getting to our destination. It was a looooong day. Thankfully the host was there to greet us on the street when we arrived and she showed us around. The building has the worlds scariest elevator that barely fit us three with our suitcases and has no light so it we pitch black and it has a window so you can see the floors passing. The whole apartment kinda smelled like poop, the bathroom kinda like mold, there were mosquitoes everywhere and I'm pretty sure the bed sheets weren't cleaned because I found a few hairs, and the floor feels like it hasn't been cleaned in about a year 🙃 on the plus side the bed is decently comfortable and there is a free bottle of wine in the fridge--though I'd prefer a clean place in lieu of this present. Since we were still starving we went out to look for food. Luckily there were a lot of places open and we had, as always, a difficult time choosing. We ended up at this place where there was a queue, which is always a good sign. We shared testolini pesto and a pizza with onions and bell peppers. The pizza was to die for and the pasta was different and kinda like a flat gnocchi. We also spent the last part of our meal trying to learn the Italian phrase to ask for the bill. Well, it was more like taylor picked it up right away and then spend 10 minutes trying to teach me and laughing at me butchering it. I really struggle with language and I'm jealous of her affinity for it. Anyway I finally got it down ahah "senori, solo il cunto per favore" --"sir, just the check please". In an food comma we got home and quickly went to sleep. Having no internet is difficult but it's only for a few days.