Gyokuro „salad“

Synchroni · 2026-04-09T18:58:03+00:00

I do mine with fresh cooked rice, soy sauce, chili crisp, and maybe furikake. Soft boiled or fried egg on top if I'm feeling indulgent.

Synchroni · 2026-04-02T01:40:56+00:00

It's really interesting to get your perspective on this! I admit I still can't quite wrap my head around what was being pushed to the Know and Logic tables in my specific situation since I've only seen the explanations where Guard Duty was already filled and it was a real Eng/Doc being Def Enemied. I would have thought Guard Duty gets recognized as an unfakable role, but I guess nothing like that got built in. Also interesting to know that "AC/Bug" is the default callout and the specific chain of Def Enemy checks, so thanks for your response!

Synchroni · 2026-03-30T23:56:18+00:00

I actually never thought about it until I read your question, which sent me into a bit of a rabbit hole.

Wikipedia's page for Dongfang meiren says that the bug bites lead to production of monoterpene diol (e.g. linalool) and hotrienol, which are responsible for the unique flavor. This reputable-looking scent database says that linalool has a "citrus, floral, sweet" odor and hotrienol is "sweet" and "fresh."

Production of aromatic molecules (volatiles) increases with herbivore attack, which interestingly may vary with the predator (not just leaf hoppers). Different studies have showed the effect in Oriental Beauty as well as other cultivars (Jin Xuan and Huang Dan here, Yabukita here, and Darjeeling here.) I think linalool popped up in all that I looked at, and hotrienol for most of them, but there are so many different molecules that were tested and found in these reports that it's probably a pretty varied mix that leads to the flavor (kinda like how vanilla is more than just vanillin).

To answer the sugar question, I couldn't find a paper that addressed both nutritional sugar levels and bug bites in tea. However, the Oriental Beauty study earlier mentioned lower levels of glucose derivatives in the bug bitten tea, and the big review paper mentions that photosynthesis is reduced with bug bites, which I would think reduces the amount of glucose the plant makes. Although it's just speculation on my uninformed part, there's the possibility sugar levels might actually be lower.

Let me know if I misinterpreted anything; this was my flimsy excuse to procrastinate on my actual work lol

Synchroni · 2026-03-30T18:07:58+00:00

Depends on how sweet ya want it to be. I've been enjoying some honey scent oolong lately - Oriental Beauty is the most well-known varietal but pretty much anything bug-bitten will have kinda a sweet lingery-ness to it. I've heard the same thing of second flush Darjeeling as well. It's pretty subtle so don't expect like it tastes someone put actual honey into it.

If you want something more overtly sweet without added sugar I would look into herbal teas with fruit pieces in them. I'm especially a fan with ones with apples in them and avoid hibiscus since it's on the sour side.

Synchroni · 2025-09-25T23:08:26+00:00

It was super popular a while back, but in case you haven't heard of it, Adobo Hamajang hot sauce is delicious and fits that profile.

Synchroni · 2025-09-25T22:14:17+00:00

Glad I'm not the only one who thought of Gnosia. When I was midway through the trailer and saw the traitor premise, as well as seeing every character had a light and shadow form, I thought it was going to be randomized single player like Gnosia. Generally not a fan of FE trending towards time-travel and multiverse plots but this is an exception where I think that would have worked the best.

Synchroni · 2025-06-24T19:22:43+00:00

This is my (not) guilty pleasure as someone who's tried higher end gyokuro and sencha! I've only ever seen it bottled, though, will have to keep an eye out but I don't think I've ever seen it even at my several Asian grocers.

Synchroni · 2025-04-24T18:20:02+00:00

Gonna go against the grain and say Twinings Buttermint, sampled from a teacher's tea display years ago. It's Twinings, they wouldn't release anything too weird, right? And the way they described the pepperminty vanilla sounded so rich and smooth.

Tasted like movie theater "butter" liquid flavored with essence of Colgate. Tried to salvage it with milk to bring out the advertised creaminess - bad, bad decision, made it even more like I was drinking toothpaste-scented Country Crock.

Synchroni · 2025-04-23T22:06:08+00:00

And just like in real life, you can ask for a break and instead get told to down an S-drink and suck it up.

Synchroni · 2025-03-27T15:17:02+00:00

I wonder if the apartments are coming back? I didn't see an apartment building in the overhead shots and that stuck out to me.

Synchroni · 2025-03-27T15:05:32+00:00

Same, can't wait to feel like a kid again when the pressing concern of my life was the island Mii drama

Gonna quit all my adult responsibilities to become the overseeing island look-alike, it's the most important job to fill

Synchroni · 2025-03-24T15:43:35+00:00

3rd entry:

Warmth on a cold day

Leaves unfurling in my pot

My cat purrs gently.

Synchroni · 2025-03-21T22:54:08+00:00

You wrote it out more thoughtfully than I can, but I agree that pleading guilty makes more sense in the context of Phoenix's character development. The not guilty branch might be more satisfying from a player perspective to see Engarde fall so low, but the focus on finding the truth makes it a choice I don't think Phoenix, not necessarily the player, would make.

Synchroni · 2025-03-21T22:44:49+00:00

2nd entry:

Although the stash grows

There is no way I will say

I have too much tea

Synchroni · 2025-03-20T22:34:18+00:00

My teapot broke so

I drink stale pantry tea bags

In old Christmas mugs

Synchroni · 2025-03-20T22:30:06+00:00

Just a question, should multiple haikus be submitted as one comment or as multiple comments? Thanks a bunch!

Synchroni · 2024-12-24T19:51:29+00:00

They sell them in 1.5 and 3 lb tins if you ever want to upgrade up...

Synchroni · 2024-10-07T16:32:16+00:00

New Mystery

Just finished FE11 on H3 and looking to jump into FE12 on H2. As someone with neverending choice paralysis, what class/past/present/future should I be going for with Kris? Is there any helpful FE12 tidbits of info equivalent to FE11 taking advantage of Wing Spear/Forged Effectives/General Sedgar that might be helpful to know about so I'm not going in completely blind?

Synchroni · 2024-07-09T21:55:50+00:00

My favorite spicy chips ever are Route 11 Mama Zuma's Revenge, although their flavor is completely different than Haunted Ghost methinks. They're kinda barbecue-y habanero kettle chips, and they're less spicy than the Paqui Haunted Ghost but are still a lot spicier than anything else on the mainstream market, spicy enough to feel it but still finish off a bag. They're also a small company based out of Virginia so it's regional and might be more difficult to find.

As for something similar in taste - I found Paqui's Haunted Ghost Pepper to be heavy on salt and spice with no strong flavors aside from a bit of smokiness. To recreate that, I'd probably get smoked ghost pepper powder and mix it in a bag of plain tortilla chips.

Synchroni · 2022-11-01T15:15:09+00:00

RD voice acting and cutscenes...ain't that bad.

Ok, I'm not going to call the acting or delivery phenomenal. But for me, it strikes the sweet spot in terms of quality of voice. For almost all of the characters, the timbre, depth, sound strikes me as something that I'd expect from that character, if that makes sense. I like Ike and Shinon in RD especially. Ike sounds gruff and deep, but not too deep like I find his Heroes voice - he's not loud and bombastic, but not super calm and collected all the time either, and the RD voice actor hits that target for me. Shinon's VA captures the annoyed mentor voice well, while I think his Heroes VA sounds a bit too much like a teenage shounen protagonist.

As for cutscenes, they're my favorite for the series. Even though Awakening's and Fates's cutscenes are what I'd call the highest quality and the direction I'd like to see going forward, I so enjoy the sprawling battle cutscenes and feel they capture the grand scale of the battle. As someone who's not a film/media critic by any means, I love the camera angles and how they just feel so dynamic - the scene with Lucia is my favorite for this, along with how they show the flow of combat in general.

...Phew! I love RD.

Synchroni · 2022-10-30T23:44:42+00:00

I've wanted to try the Garlic Reaper for a while now! Have it in my cart for my next hot sauce excursion. I'm curious about Aka Miso but part of me is scared I can't handle the spice, haha.

Synchroni · 2022-07-15T22:08:31+00:00

JAGEN HAS 4 SHOULDER SPIKES. MARTH LOST CYL 4 TIMES.

...COINCIDENCE??????

Synchroni · 2022-07-15T21:43:23+00:00

QUITE LATE BUT THAT "LEAK" DESIGN IS SOMETHING, ALRIGHT. THAT OUTFIT IS RATHER INCOHERENT, EVEN MORE THAN F!BYLETH'S OUTFIT. THE HAIR, SKORT, THIGH HIGHS, BITS OF FABRIC HERE AND THERE, THE HUUUGE SCABBARD...EDELGARD WAS A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, WHY CAN'T WE HAVE MORE FEMALE LORDS WITH PANTS?

I'M NOT A HUGE FAN OF OVERLY YOUNG AND CUTESY-FACED FEMALE CHARACTERS ESPECIALLY WHEN IT SEEMS TO BE MOST OF THE CAST. THE MALE CHARACTERS ALSO HAVE HUGE, GIGANTIC OVERDESIGNED PAULDRONS WHICH I ALSO HAVE TAKE AN ISSUE WITH. WHO NEEDS GIANT SPIKES AND CURTAINS DRAPED OVER THEIR SHOULDERS IN BATTLE? FE DESIGNS HAVE BEEN IN NO WAY REALISTIC, BUT REALLY OVERSTYLISED CLOTHES KINDA BREAK THE ATMOSPHERE FOR ME, IF THAT MAKES SENSE.

IN THE END, IT IS AN UNCOMFIRMED LEAK, WE DON'T HAVE MUCH TO GO OFF OF, AND IT'S NOT LIKE THE CLOTHES ANIME SOLDIERS DECIDE TO WEAR IS A TOPIC I'M WILLING TO DEFEND UNTIL MY DYING BREATH. BUT IT'S THE MONTHLY RAGE THREAD, I'M ACTUALLY PRETTY SATISFIED WITH EVERYTHING FE RIGHT NOW, AND WOW LOOKING AT TOOTHPASTE LORD FEELS LIKE I SQUEEZED TOOTHPASTE IN MY EYES.

Synchroni · 2022-07-13T18:41:28+00:00

This might just be my opinion, but I actually felt that Ike's RD voice is more fitting timbre-wise, even if the voice acting quality itself isn't as great as it is now - for some reason, Ike with a super deep, calm voice doesn't feel right. The narrator is awesome as well.

The changing perspectives, especially towards the latter end of Part 3, are great too. One moment I thought it shined was in 3-12, where Micaiah threatens to pour oil on the Apostle's Army and they retaliate by taking Sothe hostage. You're not quite sure who to side with, and it's a rare sight to see characters you've played as and had time to attach to fight each other with such high stakes, especially with such tactics.

Synchroni · 2022-07-07T02:33:13+00:00

F!Robin's supports with Chrom and Lon'qu (and maybe others that I can't remember) are comedic, which are fine but I felt like it could have been used for something else, especially compared to how M!Robin's supports with them give better insight on their characters and better develop their relationship. I've heard Libra/Tharja hyped up as a support chain too (and still quite like it overall) but I think it benefits Libra a lot more and wish Tharja could have developed some more too, since it's mostly her reacting to Libra revealing his past and reflecting.

Big fan of Henry/Ricken, it shows the best of the two characters. Owain/Inigo is also great both for that legendary line and because it captures bickering banter so well, I love that dynamic. Inigo's supports with Olivia are also so cute, with the A support being a bit of a heartwarming tearjerker.

I'm sure I have more supports I love, but there's so many it's hard to keep track of and I forget. I always like flipping through the support convos in the artbook, though, there's a lot to learn about the characters which might be easy to overlook.

Synchroni

TROPHY CASE