#and my insurance is only covering the extraction

[bvckleykinard]

the price of dental care is fucking horrendous

[toothfund]

Please help my best friend save their teeth!

Hello, my name is Tulip and I made this blog as a supplementary way to boost the GoFundMe campaign currently underway for my best friend Peyton's dental expenses.

Peyton has been my best friend for seven years now, and for as long we’ve known each other they’ve had to deal with a multitude of dental issues. They were recently able to visit a dentist for the first time in over a decade, and it was only after their broken tooth had gotten so bad, they were unable to eat, sleep, or do anything but try and distract themselves from the pain. We were able to get that tooth extracted, but due to the cost the remaining issues have gone untreated. If they aren’t able to get more work done soon they’ll end up needing root canals for the worst two.

The priority right now are two teeth-- #19 and #29 in the diagram. Those are the pair causing the most pain and can be fixed with crowns--so long as they're treated ASAP. An appointment has been made for March 18th, with the estimated total coming out at $1,088.60 after the amount covered by insurance. This will be our short-term goal to reach.

I'm sure many of you reading this have personally experienced mouth pain, so you can imagine how hard this has been on Peyton. They've been dealing with most of these since they were still in high school. I don't want them to have to live with this burden anymore or have to give up teeth that can very much be saved! Any amount donated will put us that much closer to bringing them some relief. If you can’t donate, please consider sharing. Thank you for reading!

[friend-crow]

Something I've learned about needing expensive medications is that sometimes you can go to the manufacturer's website and get a (virtual) savings card that reduces what your insurance doesn't cover to $0. Of course this isn't always available, and some manufacturers won't do it for people who are uninsured or on medicare, but it's worth looking into.

One of the medications I take is around $850 retail, and because it's a specialty (ie expensive) medication, my insurance will only cover 50%. You can get a coupon on goodRX, but that just reduces the retail price to $725. If you go to the manufacturer's website, they will cover the other half if you have a commercial insurance plan, though.

It's basically an evil little game they like to play to see how much money they can extract from your insurance before they admit that they don't need to be charging anywhere near what they are.

Paxlovid is one that you can get for free regardless of your insurance status/type of insurance, at least through the end of this year. Hopefully it'll be available again next year.

With my other $850 medication it said the savings coupon was for up to 12 months, but all that actually means is that you have to get a new card at the end of each calendar year.

The more we learn about long covid, the more strongly I feel about getting paxlovid if you can, as it's supposed to help minimize the chances of long term effects (as well as hospitalization or death).

[legy]

hi! i'm caelum. you might know me from @goldentruths-pod or from posting online. im in a financial quicksand pit and i really, really, really need help.

i'm disabled and receive approx ~$950 a month from social security. this has gone from "rough but survivable" when i first started receiving SSI to "i am literally not making ends meet" in 2024. right now my current status is that i am covering my basic needs but any kind of extra purchases are impossible. and the extra purchases i need to make keep piling up because i just can't afford them. some things i need include, in vague level of priority:

dolphin, my cat, is years overdue for a vet visit. this is going to be $300 minimum, possibly more because she has an adversarial relationship with the vet. she needs dental work done which they had quoted me as being $1500 but ive been putting it off for so long that i would not be surprised if that's more expensive too

i have learned today that my gold crown needs to be replaced. really unhappy about this one. it was a miserable experience the first time (everything that went wrong did go wrong, i'll spare you the details) but what is relevant here is that my insurance does not cover this and it was $900 last time. insurance also does not cover extracting the tooth either so that's cool. i have some time before this one is due (my next consult is in july)

my phone is approaching "unusably broken". i've had it for close to 4 years now. the call speaker no longer works (i can only use the phone on speaker mode) and it struggles to run apps or a web browser which makes things like GPS pretty dire. this would be like ~$100-$150 probably, i havent done serious phone shopping yet

my driver's license is expired and i need to get a new one. this was $110 last time. note i havent driven a car in years due to the disability but it's really valuable to have a universally recognized form of photo ID and ive already been hassled over it being expired

god this one is so embarrassing to get into but i had to flee my previous apartment last year due to it escalating into a DV situation. the other tenants did not pay the heating bill, which was in my name (and my dumb ass didnt close the account because it was the middle of february and i didnt want to freeze them to death) so i have a $250 utility bill in collections. i might be able to dispute or debt forgiveness this one but tbh ive been so fucking drained given everything else going on and also my phone barely works so i havent pursued it. especially since i can't afford to pay it if i cant challenge it

i would really like to have a passport again. my previous one was destroyed by my landlord in 2018 but even if it wasnt it'd also be expired now. not sure how much this one costs. likely $200?

my food stamps were slashed in half (covid emergency ending lol) and do not cover my food costs for the month so im paying like $150 a month on food that i didnt have to previously. i can maybe fix this one but im slowly losing my mind from malnutrition from trying to not go into debt and also eat. so i havent had it in me to go 1v1 welfare bureaucracy and possibly make everything even worse

my shoes are probably two months out from fully decomposing. they were $100 three years ago and id like to get something comparable given they lasted me this long

the rest of my clothes are also very literally becoming threadbare, falling apart, or are too big and keep slipping off. i legitimately feel embarrassed to go in public these days because i dress so shitty all the time

insurance doesnt cover my HRT anymore so that's $30 a month i didnt used to have to pay

im sorry this turned into such a ramble. i'm in such a bad way right now, i have been for quite a while and the dental work news is really just the final straw. i can't really have a fundraising goal because due to the SSI asset limit i can never own more than $2000. & i'm aware both that this is the poor people sending each other the same 20 dollars website and that there are people urgently trying to raise money to escape an active genocide. but i held off from making this post as long as possible & idk what else i can do

anyway if theres anything you can contribute to help me i would appreciate it more than anything. at the very least i need to do something about my tooth.

http://paypal.me/hivehum

[arctic-hands]

I'm am BEGGING you if you're chronically ill or disabled or always exhausted or mentally ill, PLEASE do all you can to brush your teeth every day. Switch to disposable sponge brushes if the texture of even soft toothbrushes are sensory hell. Ask someone to help you if you can't move your arms. Keep an ear out for free or visiting dental care if you can't get dental insurance. Do the bare minimum of brushing your teeth, even if you don't have the stamina to floss after or can't tolerate mouthwash. If you can't stick to a routine then brush your teeth as soon as you remember, no matter the time of day. Keep your toothbrush visible in your bathroom so you remember it's there as you wash your hands. Keep a pack of one-time disposable brushes by your bedside if you're too fatigued or depressed to leave your bed or room. Just find SOME WAY to keep your teeth intact.

Once you lose your adult teeth, that's it they're gone forever. I spent almost my entire life too apathetic or too tired to take proper and consistent care of my teeth, and not even counting my infected and impacted wisdom teeth, I've already had one regular tooth completely removed because it was excruciatingly infected and my meager dental coverage wouldn't cover a two THOUSAND dollar root canal, and now I've got a shattered tooth on the other side with crumbling remains that periodically get infected and I'm going to have to have what left of the roots extracted too. And because of my neurological condition and my intestinal diseases necessitating frequent MRIs/MREs, I can't get dental implants because they use metal screws. I'm only thirty-one and at this rate I'm looking at dentures before I'm fifty.

I know the future often seems bleak for people like us so sometimes it feels liberating to not care about the future or take care of ourselves to see it, but the future IS coming, you WILL find a way to stick around for it, and you ARE going to want your teeth as you make it that far and further.

[gateway-2000]

disabled trans lesbian in need of help with housing & dental work

hello, i am a schizophrenic cripple who is currently in need of a lot of dental work, including fillings, extractions, and deep cleaning. my insurance won't cover everything, and I've been given a total of $680 for the procedures that aren't covered. i have been homeless for the last 3 years, so my teeth have deteriorated greatly, and they impact my ability to eat, and my general quality of life.

i also need help with necessities, as well as rent, which i have been struggling to pay, as my landlord wants $475/month and I only make $245/month for being in the process of applying for disability. i have not been able to work for years due to the severity of my disabilities, and a severe injury to my leg. if you are interested in supporting me, i make zines about queerness, including topics like bigenderism, bisexuality, transmasculinity, aromanticism, transsexuality and more, and i have also released a zine about plurality. you can find these on my Ko-Fi shop, as well as generally donate there

you can also support us here:

cash app: $glitterGraphix

pay pal: glittergraphicnightmare @ gmail . com

venmo: equinoxian

chime: $equinoxian

thanks for reading, supporting & interacting, have a great day. you are appreciated

[forest-falcon]

The Butterfly Effect

Chpr 13

⚠️ Minor angst/whump references

🧡💙🩵🚒

"Colonel Casey! Thanks for answering the call."

"Anytime John, though for all your sakes, I hope it is not that often. How can we help?"

"I've got Kayo up in the cockpit with Scott. We could do with another jet pack to help her with the evac."

"Tam, you're up!" McCready gave the order.

Tam instantly deployed the jet and flew to the downed ship.

"McCready, I have a further four people trapped inside the villa. I need you to work alongside Brains and Tycho to work out the safest way of getting to them, and setting up any structural supports where needed."

"Consider it done."

"Jonesy, you're with them. Shift only what Brains or Tycho say is safe to do so."

Jonesy gave a nod and jogged to catch up.

John ignored the familiar sounds of his brother's suit.

Virgil would be fine.

He forced a swallow.

"Mac, you'll be EMT for Scott. I need Tam available as soon as they touch down. We may need those with jetpacks to reach the higher levels of the villa.

"I'll grab a kit.'

"Good."

"Colonel Casey; I need you to provide us all with comms."

"Rigby, ...you're with me."

*. *. *.

"Not long now Scott."

Scott's eyes rolled back and closed; his consciousness hanging by a thread.

"Hey! Hey! I'll be havin' none of that."

Kayo gave his fingers a firm squeeze.

"C'mon, Scott - get your game face on. There's a certain firefighter on her way up to you.

The pilot let out a faint moan, but refused to open his eyes.

"look awf-l."

"I mean, yeah...but if you play your cards right, and you're nice to me, I'll tell her one of us slaved your Bird and bodged the landing."

Scott gave a weak smile. He could hear the mischief sparkling behind her cool facade.

"I mean, it's gotta be worth a month's laundry duty..."

*. *. *.

"Someone order an Uber?"

Tam forced a calm persona. Sure, she'd attended a few blazes that required multiple trucks and stations to attend; but using a laser cutter on the Thunderbird One to extract the Scott Tracy on the family's own secret island, was mind-boggling.

No...No. This was just another rescue.

"Tam, good to see you! We're all strapped in here and ready to go."

Tam couldn't help but hear Kayo's own forced professionalism mirrored within her voice.

"That's the last of it."

TB1 emitted a hiss, not dissimilar to a wince as Tam finished cutting the damaged cockpit with the laser.

"FAB. And all's clear below?"

Kayo spread her fingers wide across the cockpit glass.

Tam flew upwards to give a final check.

"CLEAR."

Tam fitted the suction pads to the glass.

One. Two. Three. Lift!

The glass was heavy. The jetpack instantly wobbled with the unbalanced weight.

The second the glass was safely away from Scott and Kayo, she released the suction, and the glass fell to the ground with an impressive, smashing sound.

"Oh Scott, you should see what she's done to your vehicle. I think we'll need to get her number...for insurance purposes," Kayo grinned.

"I mean, I'm not sure that my insurance covers Thunderbirds, but you could sue me for a questionable sandwich I have left in my fridge. That said, I'm sure all this damage will just buff right out."

Scott groaned at the camaraderie.

Right...shall we get you down? On three Kayo?

"Yes ma'am!"

Both deployed their jetpacks and took hold of the spinal board.

"Ready?"

Kayo gave a small nod.

"One...Two...Three."

Scott was lifted free of his stricken Bird. His eyes flickered open, and for the first time since his ordeal began, he felt hopeful. And for a moment, his pain was all-but forgotten. All he could see was cerulean sky.

[rad-roche]

we tabletopped!! and had, if i may be so bold, an excellent time. my very very first time gm-ing/overseeing any of this so my incredibly convoluted rules spreadsheets paid off. my first ingame terrain setup was way, way too intensive and made my players computers belch black smoke, so i've figured out a cute little work around with tiles and imported furniture

isn't it adorable! easy to chop and change between games too. pictured are the player characters, sharon (the sexiest ghoul in the world), hello nurse (robot, full of contempt) and who can forget. Deez. yes as in that.

my opening screed was pre-written and said out loud with my face, so if you want a scraping more dead man talking/dead woman walking prose, here's some. it's the general outline of how the game started before i winged it for multiple hours

War. War never changes.  In the late twenty-first century, the most powerful men in the world wanted a slice of a dwindling pie; control over the few resources they’d yet to extract and hoard in an increasingly unstable political climate. Food, fuel and water measured in stocks and bonds, gliding from place to place like pieces on a chess board, hand to hand, bank account to bank account, company to company, and then, at the top, nowhere else at all.  What they got was two hundred megatons to the head when somebody finally flipped the board over.�� Nuclear hell ensued. The Great War, the greatest to only last two hours. The United States no longer exists. You don’t know how the rest of the world fared, or if there’s any rest of the world left. But that’s ancient history to you. Two-hundred and eleven years, to be exact.  The year is 2288. Living in the wastes of postwar America is a difficult prospect, and you’ve made your way north to Massachusetts to stake your claim in Diamond City, one of the few places on the East Coast that can still, in fact, be called a city. But it’s a long, difficult journey, and friendly company is hard to come by. On your way, you’ve come across travellers with the same idea, and nobody has killed you just yet. At this moment, you’re in Quincy, just south of the Diamond, in a run-down Irish pub. On a good day, you could be there by sundown. You know better than to expect good days. You’re drinking with your new friends when you overhear some talk from the table beside you: Diamond City has a toll for non-traders. As a matter of insurance after some trouble inside. It's a toll none of you can cover.  One hundred caps per head. Upfront. You’re stranded in an Irish pub that wasn’t made any worse by the nukes.  You need money.  And you need it now.

from then on The Gang get contracted by a creepy rich old ghoul. his name is Slim Pickins

[neuroticboyfriend]

dude. my insurance only covers one tooth extraction... PER LIFETIME. WHAT???

[tcfkag]

TL;DR - chronic illness and dental anxiety

There is nothing like finally overcoming your inertia, partially due to ADHD and partially due to anxiety (with a healthy side dish of PTSD), to find a new dentist (one that offers sedation dentistry in particular) AND make an appointment AND show up to the appointment.... Only to find out that the x-rays show there are so many issues with your teeth, including a back molar that needs to be extracted (I knew it had cracked or broken at some point in the past, though I'm not sure when, I had at least hoped it was salvageable, and somewhere between 5-10 cavities, such that they didn't even bother doing the basic cleaning because I am going to have to come back to get these procedures done under sedation so they recommended just getting the normal maintenance stuff while I'm "under". Plus, depending on the price and whether insurance will cover some of the cost, the dentist recommended getting Botox injections to help relax my jaw since I have pretty bad TMJ which can trigger migraines. I hadn't known Botox could be effective for TMJ (though I had heard about its use for migraine patients) but if it works, they might get a new Botox customer out of the deal. So now I have to go back for in-erpson appointments at LEAST two more times: once to meet with the nurse/practice manager to go over the planned procedure, get written consent, and also review the estimated cost that won't be covered by my dental insurance, particularly the sedation. Only after THAT meeting can I schedule the appointment. Oh, and the dentist wants to get in touch with my PCP and GI beforehand to confirm there are no contradictions for sedation, so who knows how long that will take. Between a rough year health-wise (physically and mentally), having a two-year-old, moving to a new house, etc etc, I knew my dental hygiene hadn't been exactly A+ levels, but I have to get one molar pulled entirely (I knew it was broken but didn't realize how bad it was), get something like a half-dozen cavities filled, and get the normal cleaning, fluoride treatment, and hopefully treatment for my jaw so that all of the time. Hopefully, spending this much time in the chair doesn't trigger a migraine. Other fun observations from the new dentist: given my immunosuppression and tendency towards gum inflammation, he suggests I use medicated toothpaste from this point on but he also said he saw signs that one of my new medications (or maybe just age) was giving me dry mouth, which encourages the environment that causes things like cavities and gum disease, so I also need a new mouth wash for that too. None of this is ideal, but there is really something about having a bad dentist's appointment that really makes you feel like you're failing at adulthood.

[onyourstageleft]

hello friends! I won't be making a GoFundMe for this, since I thankfully don't have to choose between buying groceries & getting vet care for my cat Peggy, but things are a lil *tight* bc of a series of unfortunate financial events (which I will list below the cut for those interested) so if anyone has a few bucks to spare and wants to help me offset the $485 mysterious lump removal surgery my lil baby is getting on Tuesday, I would greatly appreciate it

Cashâpp: $jessiedube (my cat Peggy Sue is my profile pic/name is Jess Bee)

Venmô: jessie_dube (Peggy is in the profile pic w/ me)

this is Peggy <3

heyoo if you wanna hear the money shit that's plagued us you are in the correct place. let us begin our chronicle in August, when I made the grand decision to go back to college for a school media specialist certification. I am enjoying it v much and do not regret it at all, but it did mean that I left my decently paying but incredibly toxic retail job and went back to getting paid beans as an adjunct professor at a community college + had to pay 3k in tuition

next Luna, my loveable but temperamental 2011 Ford Fiesta, started having Problems™️, including but not limited to: water pump replacement (which for some fuckall reason on my car requires cutting & replacing the timing belt?? which of course means it cost more), downstream oxygen sensor replacement, and a new set of front tires bc those bitches were BALD (you could literally see the steel coming out of the side). to add fuel to the fire of my ongoing anxieties, her check engine light comes on and off every few days, it's a perpetual game of chicken. when I was able to catch it on and get it checked she reported a catalytic system issue, which has in the past been cured by a bottle of cataclean, so of course she needed that too. all of which adds up to the tune of about 1.5k (thankfully she's paid off but like she's only worth 2.5k so if she keeps having issues i am SOL)

during all of the back and forth with Luna, my partner has been having dental appointments for ongoing teeth issues. we were under a time crunch to get those taken care of since she turned 26 in October, and in the great land of America that means she was kicked off of her dad's insurance on Halloween. so, after a couple appointments that included tooth extraction and the making of a denture set in exchange for CareCredit agreements, we're in 2.1k of medical debt for that (she also is now without insurance so that's fun)

and, the cherry on top and the thing that has pushed me to appeal to the Internet, a few weeks ago we found two mysterious lumps on my cat Peggy Sue's hip, which are scheduled to be removed and sent off to a lab on Tuesday. I won't retell the whole story here, but you can check the "Peggy Sue" tag on my blog for a few more in depth posts on the situation. overall her care adds up to around $900, $485 of that which is the Tuesday surgery that I'm driving to another state for (my vet was crazy expensive so I'm going to a friend's recommendation)

anyway, I know that I'm lucky to even be able to cover all of these via savings and credit cards without it threatening my food/housing, but things are, understandably, a bit tight. I hate asking for help for myself, but if anyone wants to help take care of my cat, I would greatly appreciate it

or, if you prefer to buy things, I will be listing some collectable Barbies on my eBay in the next week or so, if you're interested in that I can send you my eBay page

pic of Peggy for getting this far, thank you <3

[timeoverload]

I just got home from taking Harry to the vet. It was a challenge but we made it. He was a good boy for the most part. He cried in the car the whole way there and on the way back but I kind of expected that. I'm just glad he is taken care of for now. I do have to take him back in 3 weeks for a leukemia booster. I also need to schedule to get his teeth cleaned soon and he will probably need some extracted so that's not going to be cheap. I am also going to have to figure out how to get all 3 of them on a diet. I got them some fancy food so hopefully I can convince them to eat it because they are picky and only eat the cheap stuff. I know it's bad for them though. Harry is so overweight that they didn't even bother weighing him today. He was 12 pounds the last time I took him. I'm assuming he weighs at least 16 or 17 pounds now. I'm not excited to try to take the other 2 at all but I have to. I'm just afraid that they might have a bunch of problems too. I feel like I'm going to have to go to the vet like every weekend for a while until they are all caught up. It's going to be a lot of work but I want them all to be healthy and live a long time.

I don't know how I am going to start working part-time in November like I planned. I don't think I will be able to get enough money saved unfortunately. I don't know what I'm going to do but I know I will figure it out.

I have a lot more to worry about than I thought. My dentist appointment went well yesterday but they keep pestering me about getting my implants. I need to have that done within the next couple years. I need to budget for that because it's going to be at least $4000 and insurance doesn't cover those. I think it's so dumb because I was born without them and it's not my fault but whatever. There's nothing I can do about that. I don't think I'm in good enough shape for surgery right now either but I would really love to have a full set of teeth in the future. I still haven't rescheduled my eye exam yet and I need to because they are bothering me a lot. I don't want to buy new glasses but I don't think I have a choice.

I'm not going to get stressed about stuff right now because that won't help me. I'm worn out and I don't want to do anything at the moment. It's still too hot outside to go anywhere else today. I'm planning on doing some cleaning tomorrow and Monday. I'm going to have a beer because I think I earned it this week. I'm planning on relaxing the rest of the night and I will probably go to bed early. I hope that the rest of the weekend is good.

[the2amrevolution]

Learning that something that has affected my self confidence and body image could be part of why I've been having sleep apnea, which means it's possible that having it corrected, which I assumed would be a cosmetic surgery pipe-dream, might be possible to have health insurance actually cover.

It wouldn't be an easy surgery. Its intense even for otherwise healthy people, but it has a high success and low regret rate, and nonsurgical options wouldn't really work for me.

The nonsurgical options would be metal braces with certain types of headgear. They work, but my teeth aren't sound enough for metal braces. A lot of them are 25-75% filling/resin bonding due to damage from my orthodontist treatment as a teen and ADHD. I can do aligners, but the aligners have limits on what they can correct. Surgical treatment combined with aligners would be my best options.

Homestly, my biggest worry with anything surgical isn't even about the surgery itself or healing or how much harder i will be affected by diverting energy to healing - its my reflex/brainstem myoclonus when I come out of sedation. I repeatedly, uncontrollably fling my body to the left into "startle reflex posture," and it decreases in severity over time following the reverse of the startle reflex cascade. That means that the last part of me to stop experiencing myoclonus is my neck and jaw.

Not great when you're talking about having orthognathic surgery.

(No, restraints would not solve it, they would actually more likely make me hurt myself because it is not voluntary movement. Restraints only work when the action is voluntary. I have to have my IV line detached before they start and then reattached when my arms are calmer or the line will get ripped out. I need the bed padded with a bunch of pillows so I dont slam against the rails, and I need a person on my left to help keep me from moving to far in that direction. A person can provide support without restraining. Even chest strap style restraints would result in injury because I would put so much force against them I'd bruise myself and possibly dislocate ribs.)

If we knew why I have this reaction to coming out of sedation (while under sedation I have no issues), then we could look into ways to reduce it. My best guess is something MCAS related, so IV ascorbic acid and other antihistamines might help, but we really don't know. Other triggers of my reflex myoclonus are heat, anxiety, strobe lights/flickering, and actually being startled by things like sonic booms, thunder, dog barks, etc.

There is, thankfully, also a much less intense surgery that will likely be recommended for me to reduce my apnea, which is nasal turbinate reduction, which would give the opportunity to test adding ascorbic acid and other antihistamines to my IV cocktail starting right before they reverse sedation. If my reaction is to the agent used to reverse sedation rather than the physiological processes of coming out of sedation, then bringing me out more slowly by allowing me to simply metabolise the sedative may also be an option.

Of course, all of this also requires a surgery and anesthesia team that are willing to listen to what I have to say and also believe me. Otherwise I'll tell them, they'll ignore me, and then they'll have the "oh shit we fucked up" look they've had in the past when they didn't listen and I had my reaction.

There is also the possibility that I won't have this reaction at all from general anesthesia (both surgeries are performed under general anesthesia with intubation). I had no abnormal reactions to anesthesia from my wisdom teeth extraction or gallbladder surgery. The myoclonus has occured with another oral surgery and gastrointestinal diagnostic procedures that were performed under conscious sedation (though I have no memory from either, which is typical).

[pifindsfood]

Chrysanthemum Ice Cream with Sesame Cookie and Sweet Soy Mochi

https://www.americastestkitchen.com/cooksillustrated/recipes/9049-vanilla-bean-ice-cream?

https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/tahini-cookies-2

https://food52.com/recipes/26308-plain-mochi

https://spontaneoustomato.com/2015/05/07/black-sesame-mochi-dango/

Ingredients

Ice Cream

5g Chrysanthemum tea, loose

300g whole milk (1 1/4 cup)

1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean

40g milk powder (1/2 cup)

67g sugar (1/3 cup)

1/4 tsp salt

345g heavy cream (1 1/2 cup)

82g corn syrup (1/4 cup) - can omit, strong flavor

13g corn starch (1 Tbsp+ 1tsp)

Sesame Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

¾ cup sugar

3 tablespoons honey

¾ cup tahini

¼ cup toasted sesame seeds

Mochi

1 cup sweet rice (mochiko) flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup water

1/4 cup soy sauce (Maybe less)

3/4 cup full-fat coconut milk, or about half of a 13.5-ounce can

Sweet potato starch or regular cornstarch, for dusting

Instructions

Cookies

Place racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat to 350°. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar, and honey in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in tahini, then add dry ingredients in 2 batches, beating after each addition until fully combined. Dough will be slightly sticky.

Place sesame seeds in a small bowl. Scoop out heaping tablespoons of dough (about 1 oz.) and roll into balls. Dip tops of balls in sesame seeds, pressing to adhere, and place, sesame side up, on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing about 2" apart. Bake cookies, rotating baking sheets halfway through, until golden brown, 13–15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets (cookies will firm as they cool)

Mochi

Heat the oven to 275°F. Line a 13-by-9-inch glass baking dish with parchment paper. (Note: A 13-by-9-inch dish will yield a thin layer of mochi, only about ¼ inch thick. For thicker mochi, use a 9-by-9-inch glass dish and bake for longer, about 90 minutes.)

In a large bowl, whisk the mochiko flour, sugar, and baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk the soy sauce, water and coconut milk. (Note: Be sure to use full-fat coconut milk. You can usually find it in cans, and it should be quite thick.) Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until the mixture is smooth and no lumps remain. Unlike most baking, you don’t need to worry about overmixing since mochi is dense and chewy to begin with. So whisk away! Some recipes even call for mixing all the ingredients, dry and wet, in a food processor all at once, and call it a day.

Pour the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Cover with foil and bake for about 1 hour, until soft and gelatinous but holds its shape when touched. (Note: A few people have reported that their mochi didn't set. A few notes on softer mochi: Using low-fat coconut milk may result in a softer consistency. You may also want to check your oven to make sure it's at the right temperature. Also, if you want extra insurance, you can add another ¼ cup mochiko flour to the dry ingredients, which should result in significantly firmer mochi but, in my opinion, is a bit more "floury" or "pasty" in flavor. If you've already baked it for 1 hour and it doesn't appear to be set, increase the oven temperature to 300°F, remove the foil, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes more. Also, note that even if it's soft and gel-like when it first comes out of the oven, the mochi will set as it cools.)

Let cool completely or overnight. Dust a work surface with the starch (alternatively, you can simply use more mochiko flour) and turn the mochi onto the surface. Sprinkle more starch over the mochi. Wrap a knife in Saran wrap to prevent the mochi from sticking. Using the wrapped knife, cut the mochi into small pieces, then dust again with starch or flour, and serve!

Ice Cream

In a saucepan, combine milk less two tablespoons and chrysthanthemum tea, tied in a cheese cloth or directly into milk. Steep for 10 minutes and strain out the tea. Add Heavy cream, corn syrup and sugar until it has dissolved. Add vanilla bean now if using and heat to 190F gently. Transfer to heatproof bowl to cool. 

Add to the rest of the mixture, and add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract. Whisk briefly. Combine two tablespoons of milk with corn starch and stir until smooth. Add corn starch mixture to liquid in bowl. 

Chill base until ready to churn. 

Pour the mixture into your ice cream machine and follow instructions according to your ice cream maker. Mix until soft serve texture. 

Add chopped sesame cookie pieces to container as you put the soft serve into a container to freeze hard. Freeze at least 24 hours. 

[bearded-cashew]

I love it when the dentist and everyone involved that got me a prescription for anti-anxiety meds that did absolutely nothing to calm me down told me to take it 30 minutes before the appointment only for the dentists to turn around and tell me after I took it that I needed to take it in front of them in the office before they'll do anything. I also love that they threatened to end all services and treatment for me if I didn't stop crying because fuck me for having extreme anxiety and not having that taken seriously. Best part is that they did fuck all for this appointment and want me to come back in 2 weeks to fuck with me even more and possibly do the extractions and shit without any sedation like I've been begging for since insurance deemed it unnecessary and that I can't afford to pay for it out of pocket. I was told this is all for my safety and nobody wanted to deal with such a high risk patient but they're just a bunch of ablelist fucks who want to just torture and break me because they think it's fun to see me suffer like this. I'm pretty much untouchable because nobody wants to deal with a neurodivergant patient that can't travel far, nobody wants to take my insurance and insurance doesn't want to cover anything I'm begging them for.

[technoxenoholic]

so btw. speaking of dental care. i got my wisdom teeth out (right side last month, left side a couple of days ago)

long story i don't feel comfortable telling short, i kept the only one that was intact (it is also, apparently, unusually large. and it was a bitch to get out). at this point i'm just hoping the government has mercy on me when i file my taxes and include my extractions as medical expenses because if this had happened next year instead of this year it could have been covered by federal dental insurance :')