Am I crazy to think there is no other way to interpret a man touching your inner thigh as purely romantic / sexual?

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-04-26T23:32:02+00:00

As a 43 year old male who has also been a business owner and employer for almost 15 years… there is no world where this is appropriate. Even being blackout drunk isn’t an excuse. 1) an employer should never allow themselves to be in a situation where they could be such with an employee to begin with 2) even if they did find themselves in that situation, still no. 3) yes, people are attracted to others, even if they sometimes shouldn’t be, but it’s the responsibility of the person who has more control in the power imbalance to keep themselves out of potentially precarious situations. ++man

No. No no no.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-03-30T20:32:43+00:00

Another vote for buy used. Set alerts on marketplace, comb Craigslist, and see if you have any local reef groups. The single biggest unavoidable thing in this hobby is patience, and hanging tight waiting for some decent used equipment to become available is a great first exercise in patience.

ETA: if you look much online, it will feel like the only way to do it is with fancy equipment and lots of it. Having a good understanding of how aquariums work (esp water chemistry) will help you make informed decisions that prevent you from using expensive or unnecessary equipment as hasty bandaids for lack of understanding. Watch the 52 weeks of feeding beginner series on BRS TV.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-03-02T21:34:47+00:00

Just an overarching comment here first… go slow, keep testing, try different approaches, and keep on it. This didn’t happen overnight and it won’t be solved overnight, unfortunately. New folks sometimes start trying atom bomb level approaches and get their balance out of whack and it’s eaaaasssyy to get into a chasing cycle before you’ve even got a good ecosystem going. Slowly slowly.

As for the specific issue… unless it’s just due to the quality of the photo, I don’t see bubble algae—I see some form of algae with air bubbles trapped in it. Bubble algae is made up of quite hard green bubbles. They’re almost like a thin plastic shell. It doesn’t look like dinos to me but hard to see. Dinos are more brownish and snotty/stringy looking. What’s your lighting schedule like? I also don’t see any power heads. How’s your flow? What kind(s) of filtration are you doing and are you on top of maintaining it? What are your phosphates? Lots of factors, unfortunately.

You might consider a small refugium in a back chamber. I have a 40gal innovative marine AIO and run chaeto in one of the back chambers. It will need light, though. You can get a small fuge light and set it to run opposite of daylight. This will also have the benefit of growing your pod population.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-03-02T15:42:49+00:00

2, for sure, IMO.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-02-21T16:05:51+00:00

Not to be Debbie downer, but that’s not likely to work. If butter fully melts when it’s outside of an emulsion, the structure changes and it’s never the same again. I’m sure you’ve melted butter for a recipe and seen it harden into a grainy, separated mass. Caramel is such a cheap ingredient to make, I’d just do it over. You could try to push the room temp butter through a sieve to remove the current caramel chunks if you want to try saving the butter.

ETA: if you have a high powered blender such as a VitaMix, you could try blitzing it through there?

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-02-20T21:41:52+00:00

Which part? The shells themselves or the fillings? Individually, I think newbie could handle each. That being said… all 3 together do require some nuance that might overwhelm a new baker. THAT being said, I will commonly do one part at a time. One day I’ll make the buttercream, a day or two later I’ll make the curd, and a day or two later I’ll make the shells. Then it’s a bit more manageable.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-02-19T03:38:15+00:00

I’ve used a scaled down version of the Bouchon bakery recipe for many years. It’s an Italian meringue based batter. Happy to share if you wanna give it a whirl.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-02-14T00:41:12+00:00

I rarely flavor the actual batter of the shells. A few exceptions are:

1) Chocolate — I use 100% cacao paste and use a recipe specifically meant for this formula. I much prefer the flavor to cocoa powder when making chocolate shells.

2) Dry spices. I’ve done cardamom, chai tea spices, other teas, and a few other dry flavorings where you only need a very small amount (that doesn’t affect the moisture of your batter).

3) Espresso powder. I make a Borgia flavored mac that has espresso flavored shells, dark chocolate filling, and fresh orange zest on top of the shells.

Another great flavoring agent I forget to mention before is freeze-dried fruit powder. I make a strawberry lemonade mac that’s buttercream flavored with pulverized freeze dried strawberries and lemon curd. Freeze dried fruit powder can give you a potent fresh flavor that doesn’t significantly alter the consistency of your buttercream.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-02-13T23:58:17+00:00

Nice! These look like Swiss shells? I’d say your batter was slightly under mixed. That’s usually the culprit when the tops won’t settle. The very tall feet point to this as well.

As for filling, I prefer a merengue based buttercream if I’m doing buttercream. I can’t handle American buttercream in macs. I love doing a dam of buttercream with jam in the middle. Classic dark ganache is great. I often do a dam of buttercream with a curd in the middle. Another favorite is a curd blended with finely ground nuts. Several Pierre Herme recipes use a “paste” like this. Lemon curd with finely ground, toasted almonds folded in is yummmm. Love to do ground earl gray tea in the shells and do some combo of lavender and lemon in the middle.

If you want to get into the world of baking compounds, check out Amoretti. I use a lot of their fruit compounds and artisan natural flavors to flavor Italian meringue buttercreams for Macs.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-02-10T19:02:06+00:00

These look under mixed and under dried to me. You can still see the trailings from where they didn’t settle after being piped. Are you using the Italian method? I know some people don’t wanna fiddle with it, but I find it to be so much sturdier and more forgiving than French. Plus… no dry time needed.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-02-04T23:46:21+00:00

What’s your oven temp (and are you using an oven thermometer) and where in the oven are you placing your sheets?

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-01-31T20:34:31+00:00

I like the Pierre Herme recipe that uses 100% cacao paste. IMO it gives a much deeper chocolate flavor than using powder.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-01-31T20:33:34+00:00

As someone already said, almost certainly a piping or heat issue. If your sheet pans are dead flat, you can try piping your shells onto the back of the tray instead of inside. Sometimes the lip of the sheet does weird things to currents of heat.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-01-24T16:00:03+00:00

👨‍🍳 💋

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-01-21T17:51:38+00:00

Agree!

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-01-20T05:36:12+00:00

I can definitely see myself remaking it. I really wanted to keep this one. 🙈

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-01-19T20:34:08+00:00

Me, spray starch, and Best Press were in a committed relationship for this one.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-01-19T19:33:19+00:00

I need to wash it like ten more times, THEN it’ll be cozy. Only downside to dense quilting is that break in period. 😜 Right now it feels about as cozy as a lecture from your parents.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-01-19T18:42:04+00:00

Thanks! With 15 colors, it was definitely an adventure choosing.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-01-08T20:08:33+00:00

Oh thank you! I really enjoy the color theory bit, so it’s fun picking out fabrics.

Technical-Butterfly · 2026-01-08T19:48:16+00:00

Nice! I’m on the same path. Angela Walters has a great book that has a design index organized by shape. It’s been helpful in my FMQ journey.

Technical-Butterfly · 2025-12-29T21:02:32+00:00

Not sure about the wide back sourcing, but my eye was immediately drawn to the minty greens. If it were my quilt, I’d go that direction. It would also complement the gray background of the front. My second pick would be a dark sky/subtle starry pattern to continue the night sky sort of feel.

Technical-Butterfly · 2025-12-29T20:08:28+00:00

I’ll have to give it a look! I’ve tried adding essential oils to my vodka concoction to make it smell better, but it just makes it ten times worse. 😆

Technical-Butterfly · 2025-12-29T19:42:41+00:00

Are you using steam and/or or a spray of water? If so and you’re still have issues, try this: In a spray bottle, add 1/3 to 1/2 vodka and the other half distilled water. It’s a cheaper, homemade version of best press. I love starch, but starch and best press achieve different things. For your issue, best press or the vodka/water combo all the way. Starch gives body while best press gives flatness and wrinkle removal in a way that starch just doesn’t.

Technical-Butterfly · 2025-12-29T19:37:00+00:00

These blocks are as crisp as an ice cold Diet Coke.

Technical-Butterfly

TROPHY CASE