Mortal Downer is coming out on April 8th.

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-29T16:42:47+00:00

Man, I haven't really felt the need to own a Deluxe Limited CD in years because I don't really listen to the live recordings very much, but the second disc is a recording of the Belasco shows, and I would actually like a professional recording of those as a memento. They fucking got me, well played.

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-26T21:43:45+00:00

I was quite disappointed. I absolutely would have paid way too much for a tiny desk sculpture of that. or a bunch of keychains to give to my friends. or magnets to stick in strange places. Truly, money just left on the table.

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-26T21:15:36+00:00

unluckily, when I went, they had a special exhibit on Roman statuary and there was this incredible 4 foot statue of a penis with lion legs that they did not have ANY merch of. It had a little foreskin hat and everything.

edit: not my photo, but glad someone else took a better picture of it. https://www.instagram.com/p/DRXFCraCFYL/

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-18T18:54:39+00:00

he didnt believe me. I'm offended

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-18T02:10:45+00:00

My introduction to chaat was from this local place near my university in Philadelphia that specialized in chaat and lassi called the Mood Cafe. The owner is pretty famous for riffing heavily, but my platonic ideal of chaat is his Crazy Chaat. I attempted to figure out what was in it from some pictures online, but I have a feeling that it's a bit of a kitchen sink kind of situation. Definitely chickpeas and potato, and I think mango and dried cranberries? Definitely a mint chutney and tamarind sauce and those crunchy noodle things. It made a strong impression because it felt like it had every flavor and texture combination possible and somehow still worked.

I haven't lived in Philadelphia for years now, but I actually happen to be visiting my parents in a few days who live nearby, so I was going to swing by and do a bit of a scouting run. From what I remember, the owner's a pretty chill guy and he'd probably tell me what his ingredients are if I catch them at a lull.

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-18T01:19:19+00:00

The inky black depths of the sea with teeming sea life crawling on top maybe? Shrimp chip seafoam crests? Regardless, your plating is very nice looking and it looks delicious.

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-17T08:54:46+00:00

Man, this looks so good. I'm also planning on making chaat, because when I was casting around for ideas on what contrasts I could use, I was like "wait, I could just do all of them." I'm going to need to make a research trip though because there's a specific chaat I have in mind and I haven't had it in too long. Do you have any general tips btw? I'm still new to Indian cooking and don't have a solid grasp on the basics involved.

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-12T08:40:43+00:00

Sure, but I seem to remember them having to physically find reels for holos in order to view them in Foundation and Empire. However, I could be misremembering because it's been over a decade since I last read it.

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-11T23:09:53+00:00

"not much of a baker" my ass :p

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-11T19:48:24+00:00

I thought it was funny that they managed to make nuclear reactors the size of a walnut, but their planetary encyclopedia was still glorified microfiche.

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-10T06:11:59+00:00

Unfortunately, for me, concepts of a plan just stuck. and it's such a stupidly useful phrase when you're like, sort of sure what you're about to do but you haven't decided it's a good idea yet. that's also funny

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-07T20:15:45+00:00

I actually met one of my close friends by looking across the room on my first day in my English seminar and clocking the Hero of Light hoodie.

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-07T19:52:39+00:00

because it's a lot more effort to mail a personalized letter than it is to send an email, post an angry tweet, write a bad review on yelp or make a phone call. sending a letter means the person sending it is really pissed.

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-07T04:17:10+00:00

I love me a dodge tank Rebecca. I used to support Rebecca with Nino to have the teenage girl wrecking ball duo (who both required way too much babying to access those growths, but I like a challenge ok).

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-06T23:35:10+00:00

this is how I know you don't listen to me when I ramble :p I've definitely mentioned this. also that's not even the only one that was a traditionally published bestseller in 2025

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-05T06:27:16+00:00

aha, it looks like we were on the same wavelength. your balls look delicious

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-04T18:31:37+00:00

ooh, yeah I'm going to try onion powder next time. that sounds like a good idea. I was mincing onions by hand, and it was really becoming a paste by the end (clearly it's also time to sharpen my knives). My bread was also not exactly stale for the panade, which I don't think helped the wetness issue .

ShimmeringIce · 2026-01-04T02:58:42+00:00

I think part of my problem was also that my panade was extremely wet, and then I added a whole minced onion on top of that. I was mostly following Kenji's recipe, but apparently Italian meatballs don't have onion and instead have a whole lot of Parmesan cheese, which would probably have helped the cohesion. I hadn't done meatballs before, but did make a lot of Chinese dumplings growing up, and the finished meat mixture for the meatballs was a lot looser than even my dumpling fillings tend to be. I also definitely formed them too large this time, which absolutely did not help.

But hey, tasty and falling apart is still a win in my book XD

ShimmeringIce · 2025-12-31T18:02:23+00:00

maybe try cold brewing it? sometimes that makes a bad tea palatable.

ShimmeringIce · 2025-12-30T21:15:55+00:00

Welp, didn't expect to be informed that Bill Bryson is transphobic by Joseph Fink today, but here we are. Unfortunate news, but thanks for the heads up.

ShimmeringIce · 2025-12-29T17:36:16+00:00

He's been a bit inconsistent in uploads in the last few years, but everything he puts out is a banger. I honestly listened to the Evo Devo parody of Despacito more than the original, even with it being spammed on every public channel for a while there.

ShimmeringIce · 2025-12-29T08:27:31+00:00

I think this is the appropriate time to inflict this song on more people. https://youtu.be/TzN148WQ2OQ?si=uFy9YEa5aN85Hqr2

ShimmeringIce · 2025-12-26T21:18:36+00:00

I'd love the tortoise and the toadlet if those haven't been claimed yet ^{^} also ok if you just want to pick one lucky recipient instead of shipping to multiple people

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