so I adapted this recipe from watching an anime - but I've found more sources since then. Here's the blended version with some ~authenticity and some convenience.

You will need:
yesterday's cold rice (ideally short grain but any will work)
a mortar and pestle (not optional)
skillet
broiler or toaster oven
nuts (ideally walnuts, subs in order of suitability: cashews, peanuts, almonds)
miso
soy sauce
sugar or mirin
mirin or sake or rice vinegar
optional: sesamie seeds

I usually have about 2 cups of leftover rice when I forget about it in the rice cooker.
Pound/grind the 2c cooked rice with a little water in the mortar and pestle. I'm envisioning a mexican molcajete here, because that's what I have. The big tall mortar and pestle I've seen in se asian and african cooking will also work. A little tiny one will be difficult, but possible. I really really stand by that hand grinding makes the texture. Do it in 2 batches if you are struggling. Try workarounds at your own risk.

Grind the rice until it's a sticky mass, but individual grains are still visible. With wet hands (to prevent sticking) shape it into flat oval patties the size of your palm.
Traditional is to shape it into ovals on skewers and grill it over a fire, but my instructions are for stovetop.

Put the rice patties in a dry, already hot skillet. Cast iron is nice, because it heats evenly, but not required.
Poke them slightly with a spatula from time to time - when they are ready to flip, the bottom surface will have dried out and begun to toast, and they will move easily. Toast both sides.

Take the patties from the heat and set aside. Wash the mortar and pestle. Real wizards will be able to make the sauce while the patties are toasting, but I don't want to stress you out.

In the same mortar and pestle, add 1/3 c walnuts*, 1 tablespoon sesamie seeds if you have them, 1 tablespoon miso, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon mirin or sake or rice vinegar (if you didn't choose mirin, add 1/2 tablespoon sugar or honey because mirin is sweet) and grind until it's a chunky homogenous paste. Add more mirin or vinegar if it seems too thick.

Preheat your broiler or toaster oven

Spread the sauce on the top of the patties, and put them in the broiler/toaster for 3 minutes or until they brown on top.

*a recipe from Tajimi Tourism says use equal parts walnuts, peanuts, and sesamie seeds, but they also say that peanuts were the hot new imported thing in Japan when this recipe was invented. The anime didn't show them, and I think this is a recipe where peanuts don't belong.

dewline

I should not have to set police and lawyers on someone else in order to get physiotherapy, dammit. No one else in similar straits should, either. They should be able to just take their prescription for such treatment to the appropriate clinic and get going without paying out of pocket.

Yes, I do expect that to come out of my OHIP premiums to Queens Park. (Adapt as needed to your home jurisdiction.)

Current Mood: annoyed

althea_valara

Colorful image that says 3weeks4dreamwidth friending meme

Friending Meme! Come make new friends!

OKAY FOLKS it is time for another round of Althea's List of Interesting Dreamwidth Communities! I last posted this during

snowflake_challenge this year, so just a few months ago, but I've stealth added some more since then.

Rules:
1. Share freely! This post is public for that reason.
2. If you know of a good comm and want to see it featured, comment and I'll very likely add it.
3. I refuse to add comms that full of bigotry and hate. That seems to not be a Dreamwidth thing, but I am sure they are out there. I'm here for supportive / fun places!

And now, here's the list! ~~They are roughly in reverse chronological order to when they've been added, so newer ones are at the top.~~ EDIT @ 12:22pm: I've redone the list to be broken down roughly alphabetical by category, which should make it easier to manage!

Dreamwidth

Non-official communities to help make your time on Dreamwidth more rich.

3weeks4dreamwidth is a thing in which people post/interact more on Dreamwidth, to show love for the platform. ♥

addme_fandom A friend finding community, but with a specific fandom focus! Interested in a particular fandom right now and want more people to talk about it with? Here’s a good place to find fellow fans!

addme_fandom is a place to find friends who share your fannish obsessions.

findingfriends : Similar to the addme communities but with a more in-depth approach, including things like posting style and what sort of interactions you’re looking for. Takes more brain power than the addme comms, but I imagine that the connections result in a higher level of compatibility.

followfriday recommends people/communities to follow each Friday.

getting_started is a community with resources for those new to Dreamwidth.

moodthemeinayear is what it says on the tin: the folks there are working on creating custom Dreamwidth mood themes over the course of a year.

reddit_refugees offers resources for newcomers to Dreamwidth.

snowflake_challenge runs in January, and is a way to celebrate fandom and meet interesting people on Dreamwidth.

sunshine_challenge Like snowflake_challenge but runs in the summer months (northern hemisphere, but our Southern Friends experiencing winter are welcome too!)

twitter_refugees is for folks migrating to Dreamwidth from Twitter.

Bingos

Creative or commenting challenges based on a bingo card.

allbingo - They do all sorts of bingos, mostly writing-related but I think they've had some crafting ones as well. There's new challenges monthly!

comment_bingo is a bingo challenge community for commenting on all those fanfics you read.

genprompt_bingo - for the writers! They generate bingo cards of prompts, with all the prompts being gen. You can, of course, write a shippy fic from the prompt – it’s just the prompts themselves that are gen.

ladiesbingo is a bingo challenge to make works focused on the relationship between women, whether gen, femslash, or familial. I'm currently having great fun trying to fill my bingo board!

lyricaltitles is a bingo fest for fanfiction and original fiction centering around using songs for inspiration!

vid_bingo is a community for vidders to use bingo card prompts to inspire vids

Prompts

Writing or creative challenges that are prompt-based but not bingo cards:

100words is a drabble community for fiction of all kinds. They post weekly challenges there.

1character is a writing challenge where you choose a character and prompt set, then write one line sentences to fill each prompt.

25poemsamonth is a community where a 25 prompt table is posted at the beginning of every month and then, members have until the beginning of the next to fill as many prompts as possible.

fan_flashworks is a multifandom comm that posts one prompt for the week you use to write a short fanfic.

ffprompts posts monthly prompts for the Final Fantasy video game franchise. As a big fan of this series, I'd love to see more fills for the prompts happening!

fic_promptly is created for leaving prompts and answering prompts. All fandoms are allowed, as are original work and real-person work. Fills can be fics or poems. There is no minimum/maximum word count.

inspiredby posts writing prompts monthly.

kittens_and_spitefic 's goal is to prompt fan content by acting like a total troll and pretending to bash what you want to see up one side and down the other. Commenters then engage with the supposed "troll" by spamming them with cat (and other animal) macros and/or content that caters to everything the original poster professes to hate.

sweetandshort is a low-pressure community for creating small fanworks / original works each week.

threesentenceficathon People leave prompts, other write short fills of 3 sentences or longer.

Writing

Writing-related communities that aren't Bingos or Prompts.

10trueloves is a writing challenge where you pair a character with ten others (IIRC, they don't have to be romantic pairings, but I'm not sure – check the comm rules for more info!)

getyourwordsout is a writing challenge community where you can challenge yourself by wordcount of number of days written per month.

makezines is for folks doing just that!

Icons

Icon-creating challenges and other icon communities.

iconthat is another icon challenge community.

your_favourites is an icon making community that migrated over from LiveJournal. Looks like they have themes for members to create icons for, and then take a vote for best icon. I've joined it in hopes of finding more icons to add to my own journal.

Books

Read-alongs and other book communites:

booknook posts a weekly Read-in-Progress check-in posts on Wednesdays.

queerbookclub is a no pressure book club dedicated to fiction books of all genres that are queer in some way! each month we take suggestions on what the next month's book should be and we vote on it. if you're not interested in the book for the month, that's perfectly fine!

readingtogether - has seen some activity the past few months. It's not like a normal book club where everyone reads the same thing - instead everyone reads their own thing and posts their progress.

Crafts and General Creativity

everykindofcraft is what it says it is.

get_knitted posts daily check-ins. The folks there are GREAT about commenting on each other's comments. It's not just for knitting, either - there are people there who do scrapbooking and jigsaw puzzles.

justcreate - has weekly check in posts where you can update everyone on your creative progress. All kinds of creativity are celebrated there, including fiber arts, drawing, writing, and more.

nacramamo is National Craft-Making Month, and is gearing up now to kick off in October. The challenge is to work on some kind of craft every day for 31 days.

communal_creators is a community for creative types! A mini-round for time pledges will be happening this spring. ANY kind of creativity is welcome! We have people writing (both fic and original), knitting, crochet, vidding, storyboarding, baking, making websites... if it's creative, you're welcome here.

drawesome - has drawing challenges. I haven't taken part yet because I am a very sucky drawer, but I hope to start there in the future.

Culture

Communities focusing on a specific culture.

c_ent is for Chinese Entertainment, and comes highly recommended by a few people.

latam is a new community for people to come together to talk about latinamerican music, films, food, culture, fandom, and more! Everyone's welcome, no matter where you're posting from! And you can also post in your language (official languages of the community are Spanish, Portuguese and English!)

senzenwomen is a community regaling the histories of women in and around Japan, 1868-1945. Thanks to vriddy for signal boosting this fascinating community!

Nature

What it says on the tin.

birdfeeding covers everything to do with birdfeeding, gardening for wildlife, and related topics.

common_nature is a photo community to share nature pics from your area, and has been active recently.

Fandom & Gaming

Communities about fandom in general and in specific.

allkindsofdolls is what it says on the tin. If you love dolls, check it out.

anime_manga has seen some activity lately!

bnha_fans is for fans of Boku no Hero Academia

fandom_on_dw : Pretty much the same as above, honestly, but it’s good that there’s more than one place that hosts this kind of thing!

fandomcalendar : This is a community dedicated to announcing fandom events, which can include fandom-specific friending memes.

fictional_fans : A community for all fans and fandoms. If you’ve got a post you want to make about fandom in general, or a specific fandom that doesn’t have its own community, this might be a good place to check out.

finalfantasy - of course this would be here, if you know me. It's been very slow there lately, but I'd love to see more activity there.

indie_games sometimes sees activity, and in the past, we did a play-together of A Short Hike.

Social Justice

Because the world is a mess and we just need to fix it.

fandomtrumpshate raises money for charity by creating fanworks.

thissterlingcrew is the UK equivalent of the below.

thisfinecrew is a social justice community focused on the USA. It doesn't get as much action as i once did but there are still informative posts there once in a while.

womansplace is a community that holds dual purpose: 1) Celebrate characters who identify as women or who are aligned with womanhood in transformative fan works. Events include community recs, a prompt fest, and a vid exchange. 2) Raise funds via a vid auction

Other Communties

These didn't fit in the other categories but I feel are interesting enough to warrant being on this post!

queerly_beloved : An anti-exclusionist queer space to get together and talk about all things queer, including intersectional matters. Hosts a weekly recommendations thread, but more and other content is very welcome!

1word1day posts a vocabulary word a day!

agonyaunt - critiques letters to advice columnists and the answers the letter writers get. I love this community because it is filled with smart people that I am learning a lot from. I'm a person of a certain age, and I know because of the timeframe I grew up in I have a lot of inherit biases and whatnot. I try to be above those biases, but sometimes I don't recognize them. Reading the other commenters to agonyaunt helps me recognize those biases and better myself.

awesomeers - they make a post for each day of the week in which they challenge the members to comment with Just One Thing you did today that you're proud of accomplishing. Of course you are free to post more than one thing if you'd like! I love the idea of this community, though I haven't been very active in it lately. I hope to change that, if only to congratulate other people. Also: we celebrate all accomplishments there, so something as simple as "I got out of bed" would be acceptable!

bujo for bullet journalers.

crowdfunding connects creators, patrons, and fans of cyberfunded creativity. Watch for the mid-month Creative Jam with a new theme each time.

do_it - A community for posting to-do lists to make yourself accountable to others.

holiday_wishes - active in the last two months of the year. People post their holiday wish lists there, and others fill them! I really was blessed one year - I got a bunch of cards, some yarn, some chocolate, and some other sweet treats. &hearts

journalsandplanners - what it says on the tin: for those who use a journal or planner to organize their lives.

reference_library is a place to gather helpful links and share them, run by sharpest_asp

signalboost is for getting the word out to others about people needing help in some way.

Current Mood: cheerful

andrewducker

I've been working my way back through some albums I haven't listened to in decades, to see how they hold up.

I just started a shower with Sisters of Mercy: Floodland, and sang along with the whole first song, despite not having heard it in 30 years.

Brought back a lot of university memories too.

Funny thing, memory.

jadelennox

I hope Nael, currently age 16-ish, is doing very well, and still writing delightful poems about tigers.

tcpip

As predicted, this entire week I've been buried in work and study, a stark contrast to the week prior, when I engaged in a myriad of artistic engagements. As part of my doctoral studies, I've powered my way through the University of Chicago's content on climate modelling. The professor, David Archer, understands the physics, the modelling, and even the trickier issues involved in translating one to the other, especially given the handful of uncertainties and modelling challenges at scales. His book, "Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast" is a worthwhile introduction to the subject. I have not yet decided what my major paper will be for this study; although I must mention that my paper "Energy Production Under The Paris Agreement: Options for Developing Pacific Island Countries" from the course "Global Energy and Climate Policy" has been accepted for The Intergovernmental Research and Policy Journal; I just have to clear up some formatting issues (one day, we'll all use Markdown).

One fortunate side of my work in supercomputing is the access to some particularly big iron, which might be useful in these situations. The University's own system, Spartan, has grown from being an innovative experimental system on a shoestring budget to become one of the world's top supercomputers. But another part of my role is working with the West Australian Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, home of Setonix, Australia's most powerful system (named after the quokka, you know). This week, we had a visitor from WA, from Pawsey, to discuss the system, and I was involved in wrangling a lecture theatre full of Spartan researchers to come along and hear about how to get access to this grander system. It was a bit of a highlight for the week, as I'm also organising a major project which includes a couple of major transitions which I strongly disagree with on a technical level, which I know will come back and bite us in the future. But I have long been an advocate of not letting work decisions upset me, and I am all too familiar with people acting as if technical limits are negotiable.

I rather suspect that next week is going to be a bit like the past week; the combination of full-time work and full-time study often means there are periods when my social life suffers quite a lot, and this is one of those times when the pointy end of multiple deadlines is looming. It is times like these that I feel a great deal of gratitude for the especially calm and studious Rookery I've built for myself, and for finding myself in a profession where extended periods of solitude are highly beneficial for output. I guess in the past people found themselves in a secluded hermitage; instead, I find myself in the midst of a vibrant city with the plentiful beauty of art and nature, and it takes some willpower to stay focused.

Current Mood: busy
Current Location: The Rookery
Current Music: Aldred Schnittke, String Trio

dewline

So this looks like fun. And the history of how it got to the theatres makes the trailer more delicious, yes?

Of course, the timing is even more Problematic now, right?

Current Mood: nerdy

sparowe

Second Chances

This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.

The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second Man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the Man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the Man of heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:47-49)

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression,” as the saying goes. In other words—don’t squander that first chance, because it may be the only one you get—like with a job interview or a sales pitch. But in other cases, it’s not the first attempt that counts. I usually burn the first pancake, and the first marshmallow over the campfire. So, it’s not the first, but the second that counts. And the many that follow. For teachers, there’s a reason they say you just have to get through that first year. A veteran kindergarten teacher was telling me that first year felt like war. But the second year, she said, “I was a rock star.”

Patient relationships are what makes second chances possible. In a long-term relationship, the first impression is just the start. Second chances mean commitment, like a parent who drives their 16-year-old back to the licensing office for a second attempt at the driver’s test (or multiple second attempts); or a principal who gives that first-year teacher room to grow. We all need room to grow. And remembering that we are all works-in-progress, we can understand why it’s not the first, but the second that counts. This is a pattern you see throughout the Bible. Scripture tells a long and winding story of repeats, sequels, and second chances.

First, Joseph suffers, survives, and thrives in Egypt; second, his whole family follows. First, Moses is saved through water, tested in the wilderness, to meet God on the mountain; second, all his people experience the same. In our reading today, Paul brings the pattern to its maximal expression in Jesus. Paul writes to people who came from a culture that told them, “You only live once!” Death, they thought, was the end of embodied life. Maybe there was some ghostly after-life, but for life in the body, life in creation, this is all we get. There are no do-overs, no second chances, no resurrection, so they believed.

But Paul reminds them of the Gospel: with the crucified and risen King Jesus, there is a second, better, embodied life to come—not just for Him, but for all who belong to Him. As natural descendants of Adam and Eve, we’re Human 1.0. But the risen Jesus, He’s the better version. And we who trust in Him and follow Him, we will become truly human in Him—Human 2.0.

God is the God of second chances not for Himself, but for others. That’s who God is, and that’s what love does. Love gives second chances because love puts others first. God put us first by giving His one-and-only Son to die for us—us who squandered our first impression. Jesus rose so that we could become like Him, to rise with Him to new life, starting now.

You may not be a rock star human yet, but you can appreciate how good it feels to get a second chance—as many as you need.

WE PRAY: Dear Father, I am sorry I missed the mark. Please give me grace. I want to do better, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker for The Lutheran Hour.

Current Mood: thankful

ink_13

About two months after we started it, the parents and I have completed The Pitt (it's good!). Now we wait for S3 with everyone else, and I choose to avoid the online discourse about the show, because it is notably bad.

The real question is what we watch next. The Pitt was a good choice because it's gripping while still being relatively straightforward, it's competence porn with a dash of character drama, and also it's not a daunting zillion episodes long. We'll think of something, I'm sure.

sparowe

ODB: Staying in Step

Apr 23, 2026/in Our Daily Bread/by YMI

April 23, 2026

READ: Romans 15:5-7

Accept one another . . . to bring praise to God. Romans 15:7

Lillian Colón, who grew up in an orphanage, beat out four hundred dancers to win a coveted spot on a world-renowned dance team. She performed with that group, with its tightly ordered synchronized choreography, until her mid-forties. Now teaching dance at age seventy, she imparts to students her greatest lesson from precision artistry: Work together. “On and off the stage, our lives are deeply intertwined,” she said, “and we all fare better when we support and care for one another.”

The apostle Paul knew the importance of this principle. Harmony in Christ points praise to its true purpose—glorifying God. Paul taught this lesson to believers in Rome, both Jewish and gentile, to encourage their unity. “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had,” he wrote (Romans 15:5). This was “so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 6).

Competing voices won’t produce this result. Joining together to praise God, with no one person or group discounting another, gives unity in Christ its true purpose. “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you,” wrote Paul, “in order to bring praise to God” (v. 7). When we seek God’s help to do this, He inspires our common voice as we step together and give Him glory.

— Patricia Raybon

Whose voice can you join in praise to God? How can you prioritize unified praise?

Please open my heart, dear God, to unified praise with others.

Source: Our Daily Bread

Current Mood: thoughtful

batwrangler

Taking desensitisation to the next level: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXKxpTYRb9I

Giving new meaning to feeding the birds: https://youtube.com/shorts/iTrPDslstjk?si=1seASuqmRsdM0gTb (warning: nature red in tooth and talon)

batwrangler

I'm not sure training this level of problem soving is a great idea (unless that's Sgt. Angua): https://youtube.com/shorts/jDoVvHQWscc?si=yKL5QEWaSq15v04x

mdlbear

Today I am thankful for...

An instruction book written half in English.
Fast delivery, when I can get it. Thank you, Bol and PetsPlace! NO thanks for Ticia needing a kidney diet now.
Diclofenac, Ibuprofen, and Naproxen.
A vet who makes house calls.

Current Mood: grateful
Current Location: Schildhaven in Den Haag

andrewducker

New behaviour from Gideon.

Every so often he'll see a small trinket he can spend some pocket money on. A waddle-dee or a Yoshi toy.

And he'll buy one, take it home, and carefully place it on Jane's bedside table, for her to enjoy.

wychwood

So basically these are all the same song, right:

Paul Simon - Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover
Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend
Robyn - Call Your Girlfriend

What else am I missing that goes on this list? And are there any equivalents about boyfriends? The only thing that came to mind was the Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You, which isn't quite the same vibe.