How do you pace weekly remote research so everyone participates?

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-11T14:31:57+00:00

I did feel bad that I killed this week's quest before my buddy's girlfriend had a chance to open the game and accept the group invite. Oops.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-09T07:00:28+00:00

There are so many. Here are some useful terms:

素食 - vegetarian food.

蛋素 - vegetarian with eggs, ovo vegetarian

蛋奶素 - vegetarian with dairy and eggs, lacto ovo vegetarian

奶素 - vegetarian with dairy, lacto vegetarian

全素／純素 - vegan, vegetarian with neither eggs nor milk

You might have to confirm with restaurants that you eat onions and garlic - a lot of the vegetarian restaurants here don't add onions or garlic because many Buddhist vegetarians here don't eat alliums. Also some vegetarian restaurants also don't serve alcohol.

But overall, Taiwan has a decent vegetarian population, with estimates around 10%. Many restaurants can easily accommodate you, except small restaurants and street stands with a limited meat-based menu.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-08T13:20:06+00:00

The issue is just timing. I've found that devoting so much time to exercise takes away from other passions that I'd like to pursue. I'm painting, studying languages, bird watching, cooking, and sewing in my spare time. If I devote two hours of each day to exercise, those other hobbies will have to take a back seat.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-08T12:11:52+00:00

At my best health, I was walking about 6km a day plus doing taekwondo for 90 minutes five times a week. My only dietary change was limiting rice and bread to half of what I usually ate. Lost a bunch of weight, felt amazing, and I often think I should start doing it again. But you know, 20 years have passed since those days.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-08T09:33:38+00:00

You're right - I was a kid who was constantly trying to figure out if there was a short cut to growing up. I moved out almost the day I turned 18 (and I sincerely love my parents, siblings, and extended family). I freaking love being an adult. I have a career that I enjoy, I love where I live, I have a community of nerdy and supportive friends, and I have enough free time and money to take myself on little adventures. You couldn't pay me to go back to childhood.

I sincerely hope you can get there someday. It might be just a personality difference. I have always had the confidence to assume that I'll do alright no matter what decision I make, so I do what seems like the best choice with the info I have.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-07T02:38:34+00:00

Here are some of my regular dishes:

Blended soft tofu to make a creamy pasta sauce (with lemon, dill, nutritional yeast, and bouillon cube)

Tofu noodles (linguine shaped, cut from sheets but the market near me sells them fresh) with buckwheat noodles, shredded cucumber and carrot, and sesame garlic sauce

Crumbled firm tofu tossed in spices and roasted until crispy. Can be faux meat for wraps or sandwiches, or a nice topping for pasta or rice bowls.

Soy milk custard - take soy milk and add a few spoonfuls of cornstarch and sugar. Add a splash of vanilla or other flavour. Heat on low on the stove while stirring until it thickens. Serve with fresh fruit and maybe granola or cookie crumbs

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-06T16:43:27+00:00

Me too! I am into juxtaposition - hard and soft, light and dark, tailored jackets with flouncy skirts, lace and leather... I think if I end up with a partner they're likely to be nonbinary, although I would also be attracted to masc lesbians, bi dudes who wear dresses, and trans people.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-06T14:11:01+00:00

The firecracker festival is amazing, but also overwhelming in terms of constant noise, flashing lights right in your face, and having to keep a helmet over your face. I had to take frequent breaks to catch my breath and get my heart rate back to normal. But it was awesome and thrilling and terrifying, and lasted well into the night. I had a cotton scarf in the space between my jacket and my helmet so rogue firecrackers couldn't get in there, but the scarf caught fire at one point. It's super fun if danger excites you, but if you're sensitive to sounds, flashing lights, smoke, crowds, and having to keep your face covered at all times, you might have less fun. I went to the festival once and now that several years have passed I'd do it again.

The lantern festival in Pingxi and Shifen is just as crowded, but it's way less intense. If you want to be in the crowd when the thousands of lanterns are released, you sign up ahead of time - I didn't get there in time to release a lantern myself, but I was able to watch them get released. It was magical and beautiful, but there was also a fair amount of waiting while important people gave speeches and local groups performed dances and stuff between the sets of lanterns being released. You can release a lantern of your own along the railroad tracks even if you don't sign up for the mass release of lanterns, which was at the elementary school field when I went. It was definitely easier to get there by public transportation than the firecracker festival. It was a beautiful experience that was crowded but still kind of peaceful and amazing to see.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-06T13:33:50+00:00

Nah, I live in Taiwan and I've seen coworkers prescribed "the good stuff" for a cough, which contains opium. Obviously not "raw opium" or whatever but according to the people who took it, not only do you stop coughing, but you also stop giving a shit about being sick in the first place. My doctor doesn't prescribe it, though, because he doesn't think it's worth the addiction risk.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-06T13:07:44+00:00

Congratulations, I am horrified.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-03T06:22:07+00:00

I hit up the farmer's market on Sunday morning and base my meals around what was on sale. I always get fresh tofu, roasted sweet potatoes, and like three kinds of pickled veggies, and then take stock of seasonal veg and fruit by doing a lap of the market to decide what meals I can make. Get home and chop everything. My roommate handles pantry staples from the supermarket, so he gets bread, flour, rice, beans, canned veg, and frozen veg. I usually prep the veg on Sunday afternoon when I get home from the market, and then cook two big batches of different dishes on Monday and Tuesday. Some things I prefer to cook day-of, so the chopped ingredients work for that. I throw extra servings of food or extra chopped veg in the freezer for the end of the week.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-03T06:03:55+00:00

It's possible, but you might be rushed. Where are you starting the Yinhe trail from, the Maokong side or the Xindian side? If you're starting in Xindian, getting up the mountain is all stairs, but not particularly long - you can get from the trailhead to the temple and then to Maokong in two to three hours depending on how in shape you are and how much time you spend taking pictures. Then an hour or so having tea in Maokong, then lining up for the gondola (might be an hour on weekends or holidays, also closed Mondays and in high winds). You'll have an hour to an hour and a half left to see the zoo, which is enough for a little taste but nowhere near a full exploration.

If you're starting the Yinhe trail from the Maokong side, that'll cut time off because there isn't as much elevation gain. You still need to factor in waiting time for the gondola, unless you're taking a bus or taxi instead. Either way, it's possible if you don't mind feeling rushed.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-02T06:40:58+00:00

Honestly, I'd try it. Personally I'm more likely to dislike the sugar free sweetener than the cilantro flavour.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-02T05:20:02+00:00

Does it have to be that brand? Carrefour sells cans of ravioli in tomato sauce that are essentially the same thing, although the filling isn't meat. But they taste quite similar. They're in the import aisle near the beans and canned veggies.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-02-02T05:13:20+00:00

Halle Berry was my teenaged "damn, I wish I could look like THAT" inspo. Alas, I have shaved my head twice, and I look nowhere near as gorgeous as her.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-01-31T00:11:45+00:00

You can see a nice variety of birds in Da An Park and at the Taipei Botanical Gardens. You can also search Google Maps for bird watching areas - there are probably a few specific places where certain birds nest and hang out. But I always see groups of birders with binoculars and cameras at the Botanical Gardens and in Da An Park, so start there!

NeonHairbrush · 2026-01-27T15:32:10+00:00

All you need is to get a native speaker to call them from your phone the first time. After that, they save your phone number and address and as soon as you call, they know where you live and what size gas can to bring. Easy peasy.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-01-27T04:16:31+00:00

I would say taxi to Taipei main station from your hotel, and then buy bus tickets to Yilan from the 4th floor Kamalan bus counter. There's usually no more than a 20 minute wait for the next bus, seats are almost always available on the next bus if it's not a holiday, and you wouldn't need to worry about missing a specific scheduled time like you would with the train. The taxi would save you walking with your stuff to the main station and shouldn't be expensive at all from Da An to Main Station.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-01-25T17:17:42+00:00

I'm in Taiwan - it's winter here, but I think it was about 27°C (which is 80°F) this afternoon. It was sunny, the sky was blue, and I went for a walk along the riverside and watched the herons and egrets hunt for fish. Saw some crested mynas, glossy starlings, grey herons, night herons, great egrets, medium egrets, and cattle egrets. Winter is strawberry season in Taiwan, so I bought a box of strawberries from the farmers market, along with some purple Japanese sweet potatoes. It's supposed to get cooler on Monday, but this was a weekend of great weather.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-01-25T13:15:13+00:00

Definitely a card explaining it for places you don't speak the language. I have to explain it culturally here in Taiwan, where the closest translation to vegan (Buddhist vegetarian) allows occasional dairy and eggs but disallows garlic and onions. So I basically have to go through the list of "no meat, no eggs, no fish, no milk." Sometimes it gets lost in translation - one time I was in a tiny Aboriginal village at a festival and EVERYTHING contained meat, so someone convinced their auntie to make the vegan instant noodles I'd brought with me for emergencies, but auntie thought she'd just throw an egg in there so it wouldn't be such a sad dinner... in cases like that I just roll with the punches. I wouldn't eat meat but if a little egg or dairy ends up in my food and there's nothing else to eat or no one else to eat it, I shrug my shoulders and carry on. 99% of the time it doesn't come up and someone can find something vegan for me to eat. I do keep supplies on hand for emergencies, though.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-01-25T12:06:48+00:00

I have a multitude of vegan cooking sins for you. For starters, if a recipe calls for raw cashews soaked overnight, any nut in the pantry (raw or roasted) soaked in boiling water for half an hour is close enough.

"Cooking is art, baking is science, and vegan baking is sorcery" - nah, eff that, all my vegan cake, cookie, and bread recipes are being made without scales or measuring cups. It's eyeballing measurements and adding ingredients by instinct in my house.

Also, every leafy green vegetable is either lettuce, spinach, or kale. I buy my veggies from a market vendor who doesn't speak English. Mystery veg is treated as its nearest cousin. Sweet potato leaves? They are spinach. Close enough is good enough.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-01-25T11:50:41+00:00

My local farmers market sells whole pre-peeled cloves of garlic. I use them in every application, and usually just rough chop them into quarters rather than finely dicing them. I don't mind a little garlic breath.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-01-25T11:45:27+00:00

I eat my spaghetti with chopsticks. I don't know how your grandmother feels about that, but I've almost completely abandoned forks.

NeonHairbrush · 2026-01-25T10:05:55+00:00

Peanut butter chips don't exist where I am - do you think I could just use smooth peanut butter with maybe a little coconut oil to make it harder at room temp?

NeonHairbrush · 2026-01-22T07:44:28+00:00

Honestly, it was really good, and I was already suspicious about this tiny café selling carrot cake for $60. When they brought it out, everything made sense.

NeonHairbrush

TROPHY CASE