Snake it till you make it

[halfcactus]

Obligatory hotpot photo because there was a satisfying number of balls:

Some personal/family stuff

Over the past few years my dad has been, hmm, reconnecting with his immigrant roots and recreating ye olde generational recipes, his most successful attempt being Fujianese mochi (麻糬). Traditionally the filling is crushed peanuts (which I'm frankly sick of, after years of taste-testing lol), but this year he made black bean ones for CNY. They were overly but appropriately sticky when they were newly made and the dough hadn't had the time to firm up yet, making them a worthy substitute to tikoy (sweet 年糕) which we never really ate anyway in spite of it being the community staple. So anyway, that was nice, as was the hotpot, which I've been craving madly for weeks. XD

New year things:

Didn't get to do much decluttering, but I did manage to... attempt to get back into putting my clothes in proper places instead of living out of a laundry basket. ^^;

Let go of my computer because I realized I just didn't want to carry the stress over into the new year. This means I've been computer-less for more than a month now, and a lot of things are more difficult: watching shows and movies (I simply do not, outside of group watches), group watches, commenting on posts (I've been reading, though!), and doing any amount of creative work... Thankfully I'm not in the creative industry, but it's been frustrating trying to make do with phone and paper in the absence of a computer in the occasions I've been called to use my ~skills~.

Felt some knot of negativity inside me untangle in the days leading up to the new year, which was a relief. I didn't realize how uncharitable I'd been feeling until it was gone and I suddenly had more room in my heart. I can't tell if it was my introvert need for space and distance making me extremely catty, or if it was just my bad personality causing me to fixate on stupid things that normal people would just move on from... Either way I'm happy to feel normal again. XD

Comments

[profiterole_reads]

Happy Lunar New Year!

[halfcactus]

[profiterole_reads]

Colourful and yummy-looking.

[geraineon]

Happy New Year!

The food looks delish~ hotpot is great!

Hm, will you be getting another computer? I did hear that tablets can be a good replacement with a decent keyboard for the tablet.

[halfcactus]

Happy New Year!!!

Yeah I'm gonna get a new computer at some point (hopefully before my Avistaz account gets deleted from inactivity lol) because some things are non-negotiable , ie. big screen, adblock, downloading music, my files!!!, torrents, apps, and generally the desktop versions of everything)... but it's not an urgent need, at least!

I do have an old tablet I've been using with a wireless keyboard, but it's still a very different experience and very tedious to do little things like make icons or even just post entries on Dreamwidth. XD

[douqi]

Happy new year! That hotpot looks good!

[halfcactus]

Happy new year to you too!

Yeah, dinner was great, and lunch with leftover ingredients was also great. XD Hope you ate well!

[douqi]

Sadly! I was so swamped at work that my LNY Eve dinner was Maggi noodles and my LNY dinner was pre-made dumplings. I'm enjoying your festive meals vicariously though!

[halfcactus]

Toasting your Maggi noodles with my post-LNY Nissin cup noodles. XD I hope your workload lightens up and you have time for yourself again!

[gourdier]

Happy new year!! May the year bring you good health! May all your wishes come to pass!

Having a big meal with family is really nice. Today, it was all vegetables for me because that's the tradition where my mom comes from.

Hopefully you can get a new computer eventually! They certainly aren't cheap, but in this day and age it sure sounds tough to get by without one...

[halfcactus]

I'm a huge fan of celebrating in "healthy" ways, but it's interesting that that's the traditional expectation for you! I hope they usher in more health, growth, and abundance for you. (And also that you enjoyed them!)

To be fair I think smartphones have made computers/laptops slightly less of a necessity (especially since I'm out of school), I'm just not at the stage where I can live without my own computer yet. XD

[gourdier]

Haha, it was my mom's cooking, so it was really tasty! I guess that it wasn't all vegetables; some of it was noodles and tofu as well. I should nab the recipe from her or from my grandma before her vacation ends, lol.

Oh yeah, duh, you're right! Smartphones are just mini-computers ^^;; I'm still pretty amazed that I can print from my phone these days... but yeah, a computer is definitely the easier device to use when doing things online.

[nnozomi]

That is a humongous hotpot! Nice. And good for your dad and his mochi! (I'll eat the crushed peanut filling...)

Felt some knot of negativity inside me untangle in the days leading up to the new year, which was a relief.
What a lovely feeling, good to hear (I don't think you get to call your personality bad in this context...).

[halfcactus]

I would give you all the peanut mochi if I could!!! But if you're ever in Taiwan or Singapore, I think they're commonly sold fresh and in different shapes hehe

[lassarina]

Good luck with new computer, and I'm glad for the releasing of the knot ♥

[halfcactus]

Thank you!

[superborb]

Drop the black bean mochi recipe!

[halfcactus]

I'm not really privy to his ~processes~ and generally avoid going to his mochi man cave, sorry! I do help translate recipes for him from time to time for his research (the last one being this video on making black ben paste) but it doesn't look like he follows them lmfao.