@snarkysteff@mastodon.online
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snarkysteff

@snarkysteff@mastodon.online

Words for hire. Canadian, so… funny-ish? West Coast. Foodie. Oxford commas are a hill I’ll die on. Traveller. Anti-Nazi, pro-science.

In 2015, I sold everything to travel the world for over 4 years. I stopped 3 months before the pandemic. 25 countries in the Before Times? Worth it.

I share photography, tasty things, & cooking tips. I'm also political, left-leaning. Victoria, Canada.

And I swear. A lot.

#politics #yyj #travel #food #cooking #writing #writer #photography #canadian

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snarkysteff, to food
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Learned a new trick that's apparently an ancient Mexican trick for cooking tamales:

Put river rocks in the steaming water.

This way, as your tamales (or whatever) steams, the clattering of the rocks tells you there's still enough water for the job.

When the rocks stop rattling, you've run out of water and things will burn soon.

I know I'll be throwing some rocks in the dishwasher for this little hack!

#food

snarkysteff,
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@jeromechoo OH NO! Perfect timing for you to learn of this handy, free, easy hack, then. Your next bamboo steamer will last a lifetime.

I am the dummy who owns a bamboo steamer I've never yet used (just a couple years old tho).

(I have so many food issues with soy/wheat, etc, that I just keep avoiding a lot of East Asian cookery, but YOU WOULD THINK I WOULD USE THE STEAMERS. Duh.)

snarkysteff,
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@jeromechoo Did you ever see the Andrew Zimmern show "Family Dinner" when he joined that family (Bill, etc) in their home for dinner?

It's a great episode.

Sadly, I think I can't eat beans/legumes, I can't do anything fermented, etc, so it's really killing my cooking right now.

(I'm hoping it's just a couple decades of inflammation and that 6 mos or a year of really restricted food will clear things up, then I can hopefully explore a lot more again.)

snarkysteff, (edited ) to random
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Keith Haring/Grace Jones/Fela Kuti/Basquiat, by Andy Warhol. 1986, NYC.

In the next 12 years, 3 of them died, 2 from AIDS.

If you didn't live through AIDS, you cannot understand how many brilliant creative minds died in its early years.

I sometimes wonder if all the artists dying in the 1980s explaids our soulless corporate world since the '90s.

What a turning point. If you ever want to know how important art, music, & creativity are to a society, look at North America post-1995.

snarkysteff,
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@CStamp Of course it existed. But at least there were more voices against it when artists weren't dying in record numbers.

snarkysteff,
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Yes, of course "soulless corporate America" existed prior to AIDS. But we had people shouting truth to power.

When a generation of those artists died, it happened JUST BEFORE the Twin Towers came down on 9/11.

Now there was the rapid advancing towards conservative politics, when even people like Dennis Miller jumped ship, and there were few artists left to correct that lurch.

It was a perfect storm of situations that conspired to advance the right-wing worldview.

snarkysteff,
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And yes, "AIDS still exists," etc, but my posting wasn't really 'about AIDS,' it was about the death of most of a class of progressive thinkers, people who were the gatekeepers of progressive thought in America, a country that set the pace of the ENTIRE PLANET.

It's like going from being able to plug a hole in a dam with your finger to suddenly having it all break wide open and there's no way for you to stem the tide.

That was American conservatism of 2000, and remains the case today.

snarkysteff,
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ANYHOW, yay for depressing topics. Apologies.

And no, I don't want to discuss "the value of life in Africa," etc, etc, because THAT WAS NOT THE POINT OF THE POST.

I can't even FATHOM the amount of horror AIDS caused elsewhere, particularly Africa, where it's still a huge problem.

That's a whole other topic.

snarkysteff, to food
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Lazy night. Veggie platter.

I made muttabal (like baba ghanoush but with pomegranate molasses) on Sunday, so that and carrots and celery, plus air fryer home fries with Aleppo pepper, and some garlicky mayo for dipping.

Watching Shogun now for the first time.

offby1, to random
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I saw on the internet today something interesting: ai art as an argument for the existence of a soul, by demonstrating what art looks like without one.

snarkysteff,
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@offby1 how could “soul” possibly make a better image than this?

snarkysteff, to food
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It’s time, or will soon be time for you colder regions, for planting food gardens.

I’m motivating myself for some patio cleaning, so I dug up this photo from June last year.

My balcony is south-facing in Victoria Canada, just 5x15 feet long.

On it, I grow 15+ herbs, 3-dozen leafy greens (and share with my building), tomatoes, strawberries, sometimes cukes & peppers. I’ve grown carrots & peas too.

You can do a LOT on an apartment balcony!

Grow , eat better, save money. :)

snarkysteff,
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@Catawu I have to change out my soil this year and see if my tomatoes perform better this year than last year. I got started too late!

I can’t grow many here, sadly, because my space is limited but at least I get to eat them for a couple months.

snarkysteff,
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@Catawu hmmmm, maybe.

snarkysteff,
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@Catawu I would loooooove to be able to grow those kinds of things. I might have to see if there is somewhere in our building garden to plant such things.

snarkysteff,
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@Catawu yeah! That’s why I keep pushing the gardening agenda on here. I hope to inspire even one person to take it up. :)

snarkysteff, to food
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Roasted potato and some turkey breast.

Some tomato salad on the side.

Dry brined the turkey breast overnight with garlic, tarragon, and thyme.

The potatoes, I parboiled in homemade chicken stock with thyme and garlic and salt. They’re (air fryer) roasted with seasoned duck fat.

I reduced other homemade stock with the potato liquid after for a jus for the turkey.

snarkysteff,
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@goblin thanks! It’s the “parboil, steam dry, then shake to fluff before roasting” method. Works fab. Mine are done much faster in an air fryer, with less fat.

The little air pockets fill with oil and create an awesome crust.

snarkysteff, to random
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After two years of being bitter that my apartment building doesn’t clean the windows, I figured out how to pull the window and screen out, and clean the outside myself (with a longer squeegee).

Yay. Oof! Spring cleaning is hard!

snarkysteff,
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@Catawu oof! But yes, I’ll be much happier and more excited to look out the window at dawn.

snarkysteff, to random
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I replaced all the lightbulbs I’ve hated and cleaned the top of my fridge. Hah. I’ll stop pushing my luck now.

snarkysteff, to random
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I had to change a lightbulb. It was the easiest lightbulb I have changed in years.

For some reason (probably because I have realized corn, fermented foods, and wheat are all things I am intolerant of, thus eliminated), I’m losing weight fairly quickly in the last 6-8 weeks.

But I’ve also figured out all the stretching needed for my knees to be the best they’ve been in a couple decades.

It’s never been that easy to climb up on a chair! Yay.

Strandjunker, to random
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Here’s the deal: If you threaten people — the president, judges, whoever — you should be immediately arrested, thrown in jail, and disqualified as a presidential candidate.

snarkysteff,
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@Strandjunker Yeesh, stop making sense.

snarkysteff, to random
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I’m not a Rolling Stones fan, really, though I appreciate their contributions, but I gotta say — Mick Jagger has a great Instagram account.

He’s a good traveller — he likes exploring and shooting the shit, and he does a great job of sharing it on his account.

snarkysteff, to random
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It is humbling when you finally realize the little upholstery brush does shit for the Bad Dust, and you finally vacuum all your furniture and bed with the beater brush.

Humbling. But so good.

Highly recommend.

snarkysteff, to random
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I’m the dumbass who Moved All The Things, so now I’m exhausted but also about 1/3 through deep spring cleaning.

Putting the living room back together. Time to make din-din. Tomorrow, spring cleaning continues.

This was my living room an hour or so ago. I did same on my patio, because I woke up ALLERGY ANGRY. I’m conquering Dust In All Places.

That means vacuuming windowscreens, upholstery, storage boxes, cleaning floors, etc.

Oof. Yay?

My eyes have stopped watering after 2 weeks. YAY.

snarkysteff,
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@Catawu I’m not done yet but gosh, it’s feeling better already!

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