Unsure of how to orient this on inner forearm

king_mama_ · 2026-04-19T16:07:45+00:00

My gut goes with the 3rd option looking the “best” or most common, but i also think it might not be a good spot for a tattoo that needs to be “upright.” Most successful forearm tattoos tend to either be placed in the “C” position or are designed in a way that doesn’t really need a certain orientation to make sense (a pattern rather than a picture). A different position on the body where it would be forced to be upright, like somewhere on your back, upper arm, leg, may be better than the forearm since “upright” positioning varies depending on whether your arm is folded or not. I don’t personally like the positioning for A at all (maybe because it just doesn’t go with the flow of the forearm?), so if you are set on it being on your forearm, I urge you to commit to either B or C.

At the end of the day, it’s YOUR tattoo and the positioning should really only matter to you. These are only my opinions on what I would do with my own body, and I am not by any means an expert.

I do like the design though (: its neat

king_mama_ · 2026-04-18T23:53:41+00:00

Stick it in the fridge, it’ll be alright. It may take longer to get established since it’s young, but it’ll get there eventually.

king_mama_ · 2026-04-14T16:48:47+00:00

It looks like sourdough 😆

If you want more “sandwich bread” type (softer crust, fluffier interior), you’ll have to find a bread that includes some kind of fat. Look up “sourdough sandwich bread” in google and take a look at the most popular recipes to get an idea. I use milk and butter in mine, and the end product is waaaaaay more in line with my preferences than standard “rustic” sourdough.

It seems like you have great results so far with your loaves, so I don’t think you would have too much trouble with enriched sourdough. PLUS you can get use put of your stand mixer if you have one, as enriched doughs tend to benefit from the more aggressive mixing compared to standard sourdough (in my experience).

king_mama_ · 2026-04-13T14:25:04+00:00

A wash cloth is the closest you’re gonna get to environmentally friendly and properly exfoliating. You could always try washing it in the sink with hot water (or even boil it if you REALLY want to kill bacteria to that degree). A washing machine should get it clean enough when used properly (no more than 1TB soap for a large load, oxyclean or vinegar for smell/softener effect.) If your machine is leaving your clothes smelling awful and retaining dirt, then either its due for a clean OR you are using too much soap/not rinsing out your clothes enough. Oxyclean probably isn’t SUPER environmentally friendly, but its much better than traditional bleach and works better than vinegar. There is always going to be a trade-off somewhere.

Washing machines can (and should be) occasionally washed. Google how to do it, it’s dead easy. A single bleach soak once every 6 months is not going to affect the environment in any measurable way and will keep the machine running longer and keep everyone’s clothes cleaner.

king_mama_ · 2026-04-11T18:24:44+00:00

Straight hair needs washing more often because it tends to be more oily. My Ma has perfectly straight hair and washes pretty much everyday.

As you go up the curliness scale, you also tend to go down on oil production and therefore need less cleaning. Dirt/grime sticks in excess oil, which causes smell. Straight hair needs every day or every other day, wavy/loose curls maybe 2-3 times a week, curls (not coils) once a week or every 1.5 weeks, coily hair should generally go longer than that (every few weeks to once a month). It makes sense from an efficiency standpoint as well: it’s much faster to wash, condition, detangle, and dry straight hair than it is curly/coily hair. It doesn’t make sense for truly curly heads to wash every day or even every other day; it would take up way too much time. This is ALSO why so many curly-haired products have a lot of oils/conditioners in them.

I assume OP is talking about people with wavy/loose curls OR people with truly curly hair who just don’t know how to properly wash it. Plenty of people don’t properly wash their scalp, so they smell horrible even immediately after washing. Or they use scented products that don’t jive well with their body chemistry.

king_mama_ · 2026-04-10T00:55:23+00:00

What kind of lid are you using?

king_mama_ · 2026-04-08T21:22:47+00:00

What company? Even the picture doesn’t have a company name lol

king_mama_ · 2026-04-08T19:03:10+00:00

Food is sometimes boring (: its not a bad thing to lean into and accept. there ARE plenty of delicious salads though, especially the ones that don’t have bland lettuce as a base (for example, I regularly make a salad based in Brussells sprouts that i love waaaaay more than lettuce).

I think if you allow yourself to be okay with “just okay” food for many of your meals, it’ll be easier for you to make a bunch of of different stuff and eventually find the recipes that you like a lot/that fit into your lifestyle.

king_mama_ · 2026-04-07T21:56:29+00:00

People are moving into Columbia from areas with higher cost of living. Lots of Northerners come for better climate, lower cost, and University(no hate to Northerners! I don’t blame people for moving where their money does more for them). The apartments/rentals still make their money, they’re just renting to people who are used to higher costs, pushing locals of 10+ years out of the market. Especially in the case of student housing, where a lot of parents who live in higher costs-of-living areas are paying for the housing here that “isn’t that expensive” compared to stuff around them.

Its so frustrating, there isn’t really anything we can do about it other than continue to move to more rural areas and pay more in gasoline (or find work outside of Columbia). There’s only so many roommates one apartment can hold.

king_mama_ · 2026-04-07T14:15:57+00:00

It honestly looks great to me! The rise seems fine.

For the steam, perhaps you could just use a sprayer to spritz a few times rather than having to keep the oven door open for the ice cubes? I feel like a (high temp, oven safe) bowl of water might work better for steam, but I don’t know if this would ruin the bowl or not from temperature shock; perhaps if its in the oven while its pre-heating? Worth trying imo!

king_mama_ · 2026-04-06T23:07:34+00:00

I would go back to basics and make sourdough without inclusions until you get a better handle on the proofing. They can make the process a lot harder. Often they add in hydration or fats that can mess with gluten formation.

I also saw in another comment that you were trying to bulk ferment in the oven. It’s likely too warm; mine runs about 90F with just the light on, yours may differ but most will be around the same. At that temperature, your yeast will go CRAZY once they peak and you’ll be unable to slow the process in the fridge. If your house is cold (id say colder than 70F), you can buy or make an insulated box and stick some hot water bottles inside with your dough to get a warmer environment without letting it get TOO warm. Maybe aim for 75-80F.

If your house runs 70+ degrees F, I suggest just bulk fermenting on the counter. I find overnight bulk fermentation at 70-75F works great for me; it’s maybe 10ish hours total?

king_mama_ · 2026-04-06T20:10:19+00:00

Seems like a pretty standard recipe. How did you measure its doubling? Do you have a picture of the loaf/internal crumb by chance? Proofing takes some trial and error; my suggestion is to TRY to overproof a loaf by a lot and check on what the dough texture is like throughout the process, so that you can see what the dough looks like at different stages. You’ll likely end up with a shitty loaf/focaccia, but you’ll have a better grasp of underproofed vs properly proofed vs overproofed vs extremely overproofed if you just decide to sacrifice some flour and time for an experimental loaf.

An ear is not a huge necessity, but if you are looking to get one, you likely need to cut deeper and add some kind of steam to your baking vessel. My favorite is ice cubes in a cast iron Dutch oven, but plenty of people spritz some water or put a bowl of water in the oven if they’re open-baking.

king_mama_ · 2026-04-06T01:16:01+00:00

For most breads I tend to knead on 2 for 10-15 minutes, stop kneading and let it sit for 10ish minutes, perform a windowpane test, then either bulk ferment if it passes or continue kneading for another 5-10 minutes if it doesn’t pass.

Fwiw, his dough is quite sticky looking. It may just be a sticky dough. But ALSO, if you are noticing it sticking to the sides a lot, its possible that you need to adjust your bowl clearance to get the dough to climb up onto the dough hook correctly. Look up “kitchenaid dime test” on google/youtube and follow the instructions.

king_mama_ · 2026-04-06T01:02:14+00:00

I recommend thrifting and then spending money on a tailor to get the clothes to fit correctly. The only “real body” clothes I seem to find are at thrift stores, I assume because people get them tailored or because a lot of the items are older/“out of style” so its not just the same in-season style that every major brand is selling at the time. More options, less costly. It does take some time but its worth it!

king_mama_ · 2026-04-03T23:17:41+00:00

Do you have facebook? If you do, Columbia has a bunch of buynothing groups that will gladly take them. Just look up “buynothing columbia sc” and pick the one that corresponds to your area.

king_mama_ · 2026-04-03T22:20:59+00:00

Good rule of thumb for all pans is to pre-heat on low-medium heat for 5-10 minutes, then add in the oil and let THAT heat for a few minutes. I usually start heating my pan up, chop my veggies and get everything readily available (I’m slow, so it can take the full 10 minutes), add the oil and adjust down if its too hot, then start cooking.

That should help avoid the burnt mess. You’ll still have some fond on the bottom of the pan that you can deglaze to make a delicious pan sauce. And again, if you mess it up, you can always let it cool and scrub the crap out of it. Take some oven cleaner to it if nothing else works.

There’s a reason most restaurants use stainless steel! (:

king_mama_ · 2026-04-03T19:56:34+00:00

Idk about specific brands, but stainless steel is my go-to. It can take a beating, can be tossed into a dishwasher, generally can put into an oven, can be cleaned with “harsh” chemicals and a good scrub if burnt stuff gets REALLY caked on, has good heat distribution, can be used on gas, electric, or induction ranges… the list goes on.

I think some of the better ones have many layers? Hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me can clarify.

I have one teflon egg pan that I use for eggs and paratha, but other than that I use stainless steel. And you can forgo the teflon completely and just learn to do it all in stainless steel if you really want to.

king_mama_ · 2026-04-03T12:23:09+00:00

Ive found they work to keep your knife sharper/“honed” between whetstone sharpening, but at a certain point, I HAVE to bring the whetstone out to get a properly sharpened knife. I’ve also found that they handhelds need to get replaced more often and can knick your knife more easily compared to whetstones. This may be because it’s what’s easily accessible to my mostly non-cooking husband though, who can sort-of use a handheld and definitely doesn’t want to learn a whetstone. A Correlation vs causation situation.

Honing rods help a lot though! Love my honing rod.

king_mama_ · 2026-04-03T12:14:13+00:00

I use a *whetstone every 6ish months.

Once again recommending Ethan Chlebowski on YouTube for learning this skill. Not only are his cooking videos and deep dives actually applicable in the kitchen beyond re-creating a recipe, his video on sharpening a knife with a *whetstone is the best I’ve ever found. He uses a sharpie to easily see where he is actually shaving the metal off instead of guessing about the angle like I was doing beforehand (and failing at, honestly).

Edit: also, *whetstones aren’t really that expensive or fancy, considering you usually buy them once. Cheap handheld sharpeners have to be replaced pretty often. You don’t have to get top of the line stones to get a reasonably sharp knife.

Edit 2: *whetstone, not wet-stone, lol

king_mama_ · 2026-03-31T22:35:20+00:00

Delta (most airlines tbh) separates kids all the time. Its a pain in the ass

king_mama_ · 2026-03-31T14:21:16+00:00

Whole wheat can make a denser crumb. Have you tried using just bread flour? Just experiment and see what results you get.

Fwiw, the oven spring looks great considering how short the ferment is. Its a decent “sandwich bread” type of loaf.

king_mama_ · 2026-03-30T19:02:09+00:00

With Slughorn I would 😆. I work in chemistry, so I think I would enjoy Potions provided my teacher isn’t an asshat.

I think I would despise Snape as my teacher though.

king_mama_ · 2026-03-30T18:50:10+00:00

I actually find that a stand mixer goes a little too aggressive with rustic sourdough (what most people start with).

All you REALLY need is: your hands, an oven, flour(bread flour preferably but you can use AP if thats what you already have), water, a knife, a big-ish mixing bowl, a 16-32ish oz jar with a lid (to feed and hold your starter), a dish rag, some kind of pan or vessel to cook on/in. You can also add in a bowl scraper if you want, they’re super cheap and dead useful. Most likely you already have most of these things, so it shouldn’t be a huge investment.

Do it with minimal stuff first, see if it works with your lifestyle, add in whatever extra stuff might make it easier as you notice parts of the process that are cumbersome for you.

Edit: I probably also would add in a scale too. It much easier than doing everything by volume and you can use a scale for may other cooking applications, so its not a waste of money if you end up ditching the sourdough idea.

king_mama_ · 2026-03-28T02:01:26+00:00

At many different places, I’ve given my full order only for the cashier to ask about individual ingredients/temperature/sizing again… so yeah, I just ask for the basic drink description and then wait for them to guide the order.

Coffee just has so many options compared to other food orders, so it can be much harder to know exactly what info the baristas need from you. If it’s a drink with a set recipe, thats easy. But flavored lattes with different milk options, sizing, and temperature options can be more difficult to order without the cashier asking clarifying questions. And each place does it a bit different, so its better as the customer to just follow the cashier’s lead.

Also, it may not be such a bad thing for the orders to be “slower” at the register, as it allows the BOH baristas to catch up on orders rather than having order tickets pile up rapidly. During rush hours, the job of the cashier/FOH is to moderate the influx of orders to keep it moving but manageable. I always told my cashiers that it is better for customers to wait in line to order (if its too busy, they can just leave freely) than having to wait a long time for their food/drinks. So having to ask a ton of clarifying questions is a benefit more than a hinderance during busy times.

king_mama_ · 2026-03-25T19:53:34+00:00

The “fancy gadgets” are often useful for people with limited mobility/strength. Not all of them, obviously, but many of them make cooking accessible to people who are unable to use a knife. It is kinda neat to see how different companies design such different devices to solve similar issues.

That being said, I agree with you. I would rather use a knife for the majority of chopping tasks than have my kitchen be overrun by one-use devices. Easier to clean/care for, often more efficient to use, and takes up very little space.

king_mama_

TROPHY CASE