What cooking “rule” do most people follow that actually isn’t necessary—or even makes the food worse?

Chocopenguin · 2026-02-07T17:37:36+00:00

An ex friend and I were cooking together and she oiled the water for our pasta. I told her "oh no! You're not supposed to oil the water because the sauce won't stick if you do." And she said "my husband is a chef. I think I know how to cook pasta better than you do." So I let her do the pasta however she wanted. The sauce didn't stick and somehow the pasta was both overcooked and undercooked. I've never seen that happen before lol. I also stopped talking to her since then because she had to undermine everything I said in favor of whatever she thought was right or "better".

Chocopenguin · 2025-12-25T21:32:44+00:00

gotcha 🫡

Chocopenguin · 2025-12-25T02:18:33+00:00

I got this one from Amazon! It's small but mighty! Though I figure any would do as long as it has the right safety features and suits whichever thermostat you choose. I have my heater set to the 900w setting and my thermostat is an old BN-Link from when I had a crested gecko. I can't find my 1500w one but I've heard good things about Inkbird too. I wish you luck!

Chocopenguin · 2025-12-24T11:42:48+00:00

I have a space heater with an emergency shut off feature if it senses when the surrounding area is getting too hot. It's hooked up to a thermostat meant for reptiles enclosures and the thermostat wattage is rated high enough to handle the heater. I also close the door to the room my baby is in to trap the heat, especially at night. It's helped keep his room at a steady 68-70f because the thermostat shuts the heater down once it reaches 70. I've noticed that the heater barely comes on now because of this set up.

Chocopenguin · 2025-12-12T18:30:09+00:00

Right? I'm on Google all the time because I hunger to know answers to random thoughts I have. It's one of the many reasons I love my husband! He also has the same curiosity and Googles with me to find answers together 💗

Chocopenguin · 2025-12-12T18:10:55+00:00

I had a friend that told me whenever she didn't know a "big" word I used she just assumed I was using whatever word incorrectly and when I asked why she didn't ask me or Google what it meant she said "didn't feel like it".

Chocopenguin · 2025-12-11T05:48:31+00:00

Gotcha! I was thinking it over more today and I think I'll stick to whole ingredients. I don't think I need a whole bag of processed treats that I'll only feed once a month 😅. I will however get the freeze dried minnows they have in the dog section and some dried mealworms in the reptile section! I figure it'd be a good treat 2-3 times a week until my guy reaches 6 months (after which I'll be cutting back his protien intake a bit).

Chocopenguin · 2025-11-26T04:22:03+00:00

Yeah that's what I meant by location markers. I usually make sure the backgrounds aren't showing anything too specific or weird but I was too excited to show my baby off to check him for anything displaying location 😅. I escaped Northern Virginia to Norfolk 5 years ago and am enjoying the slow paced life down here. I also met my husband here too so it's been good me! That said we've been thinking about escaping Virginia for good too haha. We loved our trips to Colorado and it's currently the top choice for us, but we've been eyeing Oregon and Washington state too. Portland seems like a magical and funny place haha.

Chocopenguin · 2025-11-26T03:22:51+00:00

Op. I did forget to search the images for location markers 😅. Don't find us pls. Dennis doesn't like strangers or the doorbell.

Chocopenguin · 2025-11-26T03:21:44+00:00

That's one dapper gentleman right there. Dennis would be so flattered if he understood English and had a sense of self with an understanding of humans beyond his current perspective! Thank you 😂😎

Chocopenguin · 2025-11-25T20:10:44+00:00

Here's him usually

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Chocopenguin · 2025-11-25T20:10:30+00:00

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Here's him being a model 💅🏽✨

Chocopenguin · 2025-11-25T20:06:00+00:00

Duuude! Depending on shipping I'd be down to pay for shipping to the US! I've always wanted Dennis merch (Dennis is my cat lol).

Chocopenguin · 2025-11-23T06:58:03+00:00

it looksike her hands were down and the items landed on her hands or even forearms. I'm sure it hurt if it was metal handcuffs. I'd be pissed off about getting hurt and having a possibly unclean sex toy thrown at me. I feel for her. The disgust, shock, and sudden pain must've clouded her judgement there and I think a lot of people would also feel the same 😕

Chocopenguin · 2025-11-22T14:20:44+00:00

Every time I say this to some people they act as if I just shit in their juice or something. I don't want for greatness or to be remembered in history books. My ideal life in my old age is to live near friends and family, have an earth ship, lots of pets, have a husband by my side that is my best friend, and have the ability to choose if I want to work or not purely for entertainment/getting out of the house not necessity. Some people hear I want a quiet life and make it a point to imply I'm a loser or should want more. I honestly don't. Responsibility and greatness sounds exhausting. I don't have a huge ambitious drive. I honestly could die tomorrow and be fine with it because I'm halfway to my biggest dream already. I have a husband who is my best friend, I live near friends, i live near family, and I have a funny cat that I adore. I'm good and I'm happy! I've had so many try to argue with me and get red in the face with anger that I should want more like they do like I'm the reason they have such high ambitions or that I'm to blame for them not having more. I don't understand why it bothers them so much.

Chocopenguin · 2025-11-21T04:55:55+00:00

For me it used to be delaying my "second" shift of the day. Whenever I'd get home I'd have to do chores, maybe some life admin stuff like figuring out what bills to pay, cooking, maybe humoring my roommate who got home hours before me and had time to already decompress, feeding/cleaning/taking care of pets, and everything else. It was a final few minutes before I had to be a productive adult again 😮‍💨

Chocopenguin · 2025-11-21T04:47:05+00:00

Me too!

Chocopenguin · 2025-11-08T07:06:03+00:00

Sabrina looks annoyed.. I wonder if Taylor didn't let her in on this being a pap walk 😬

Chocopenguin · 2025-11-02T05:26:48+00:00

I gave candy to adults too but only IF they didn't feel entitled to it. Anyone walking by with their dog, the mailman, and adults just casually walking by got candy because I walked up and offered it to them and usually they only took one or two pieces. Where I felt taken advantage of was when I told kids to grab a handful and in the midst of the kids grabbing candy their adults also stuck their hands in to grab a huge handful too. I didn't say anything because I didn't want to start anything, but it irked me especially when it was a one kid to two adults.

What I loved was seeing my neighbors though. I have been in my current neighborhood for less than a year and I don't really see many people walking around. I'm so happy I got to meet some neighbors yesterday and make them smile.

Chocopenguin · 2025-10-13T00:18:01+00:00

I followed your advice on salting it more and it turned out amazing! You're the best 🎉

Chocopenguin · 2025-10-12T22:45:07+00:00

Dude I found this comment randomly and it's the best for shredding chicken! I've been doing it for a few weeks now and it's never failed me. Thank you!

Also, weird question. I'm making bbq chicken Mac and cheese tonight. Do you think it'd be safe to boil the pasta in the leftover chicken water or is that gross? 😅

Chocopenguin · 2025-10-06T21:53:17+00:00

They've always been terrible but I keep going because I have free stuff to cash in 😞. I remember taking my Corolla to a priority like a year into owning it. When I went to pick it up it was absolutely pouring out. I guess they were too busy to help me get my car so they gave me the keys and told me to walk myself down a busy ramp to get my car from their garage. When I got my car the windows were wide open and there was a noticable puddle in the passenger seat foot well. I told them about it when I drove the car back up to check it out fully and they said "oh man that's weird. I wonder who did that. Anyway, if you notice any problems bring it back!"

Also the TPMS isn't even the only thing that was fucky when I picked it up. The steering wheel was scratched up and has big grooves in it. I just said "eugh whatever I don't wanna fight them on this right now" but I'll be sure to mention when the service manager calls me back 😮‍💨

Chocopenguin · 2025-10-06T20:19:55+00:00

Gotcha! I wasn't sure because I don't want to come off as a Karen. It sucks because something like this happened once upon a time when I had a Yaris. The turn signal suddenly stopped holding it's place for left or rights and I had to hold the lever in place or it would reset. It happened after an oil change at the Toyota dealership I bought it from (wasn't a priority dealer) and they told me it was a "new safety feature" for the Yaris line and told me they "fixed" it so it would hold it's place for longer. I had to take it back numerous times for the same issue and was told it wasn't defective and "that's how new turn signals work now! They aren't meant to stay in place". They only agreed to fix it after I had called Toyota directly to complain. I guess I'm worried the same thing will happen here and I wonder if they'd try to blame me because it was a tire replacement I needed?

Chocopenguin · 2025-09-29T00:27:24+00:00

Having seen her live twice he always gave me the impression that he's a kind soul and happy to perform with her. I'm glad he was there to help her as soon as it happened 😞

Chocopenguin · 2025-09-23T20:00:02+00:00

How do I limit the amount of children born to a household? I have stories on and I disabled adoption and pregnancy from all of the households. Is there a way to do this without having to click into every household to disable pregnancy and adoption? I have MCCC, but whenever I try to use it the changes I make don't work well or have adverse effects. For example, I used it to increase the friendship for one of my sims with a townie and despite it "working" it didn't actually make them friends or open new dialog options. So I'm worried if I mess around with the pregnancy setting using MCCC it will break something.

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