the_andy

Maki of Just Bento & Just Hungry has a bunch of articles on onigiri, but the best place to start is her onigiri FAQ (http://justbento.com/handbook/bento-basics/onigiri-omusubi-faq).

One of the links is to the Cooking Cute blog’s instructions on using a mold like the one we sent you (http://www.cookingcute.com/onigiri_with_filling.htm). My instructions are pretty much the same as theirs.


Andy’s instructions:

Make some rice. You need to be using Japanese style short grain rice, sometimes labeled as sushi rice, otherwise it won’t stick right.

Make the onigiri as soon as the rice is done. It will be hot, but since you’re using a mold it should be ok (I’ve made them the traditional way by hand and it’s kinda painful with hot rice).

Wet the mold and fill about half way with rice. Do not pack the rice in.

Make a little divot in the center for filling and put something in it. I’m a traditionalist and use umiboshi or umiboshi paste. If you’re using umiboshi you’ll probably want to remove the pit first: not only is it large, but sometimes it has a little point on top that likes to jab into lips.

If you buy umiboshi paste in a squeeze bottle you can cheat and inject it in after making a plain onigiri.

Fill the mold the rest of the way with rice, then press down the lid.

Remove the lid, turn the mold over, and give it a good shake to release the onigiri. I think the style of mold we gave you has a flap on the back you can push on to help release the onigiri if necessary.

Re-wet the mold and lid before making the next one.

Sprinkle a little salt on the onigiri and, if you’re going to eat it immediately, put a strip of nori on it. I don’t recommend putting nori on the onigiri until you’re about to eat it, otherwise I find it gets mushy, so if you’re packing for a snack later I keep the seaweed in a separate bag until eating time.

That’s pretty much it.

I finally decided to stop talking about getting a tattoo and actually figure out what I wanted. Eventually I settled on a octopus. And if you need to ask why I would get an octopus I will question how well you know me.

Anyway, I got in touch with Erika Moen because I knew she did tattoo commissions, liked cephalopods, and had a style I liked. Here are the results.

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Some rough thoughts on the realities of governance in the Mushroom Kingdom.


Princess Peach is just a figurehead. Mushroom Kingdom royalty hasn’t wielded real power in generations, executive decisions are carried out by a council of advisors lead by the chamberlain. This has been the norm all of Peach’s life, her bubbly airhead personality is an affectation for the public. As long as she doesn’t act out she is provided with an opulent lifestyle: castle, servants, travel to exotic locations, sexy racecars, etc.

Most citizens have some awareness of the current situation. In order to keep either a democratic revolution or a restoration of the monarchy from occurring a constant threat from outside is required. Normally this is Bowser, who’s nation is strong enough to occasionally invade and kidnap the (intentionally poorly guarded) Peach, but can still be defeated by a plumber with a decent vertical leap. Bowser is sadly unaware that he exists only at the Mushroom Kingdom’s whim and that should he ever not present a galvanizing threat (or conversely, ever attempt to offer a real one) the kingdom would suddenly find itself capable of marshalling a surprisingly proficient military and erasing him from the map.

Mario is the perfect hero. Working class. Rescues the princess he loves. Is mostly mute. I don’t think he’s in on the scheme exactly, but he and his brother have to make their way in the strange land they’ve ended up stuck in. They’re good at their jobs and as long as they keep stomping goombas and rescuing Peach they live in relative comfort and are treated like celebrities.

I did something painful to my thumb earlier in the week (pretty sure it's not broken), so I'm going to retroactively claim that's what's kept me from posting for months. Yes, that doesn't make sense, no I don't care.

Wrdnrd and I were strangely mopey yesterday, so we blew off all our cleaning and dinner plans and just sat upstairs watching ATLA and eating homemade salsa. Our moods were gradually fixed, now I just need to be sure I don't get down today because of everything I failed to accomplish yesterday.

Our scooters are in the shop again. Thankfully mine was fixable (parts aren't made for it anymore), but because of the aforementioned thumb I'm not going to pick it up until wrdnrd's is also ready. Also I'm stalling because i don't feel up to budgeting right now, so I'd rather put off paying for it.

We bought a proper carpet cleaner. I've only played with it a little (see mopey and thumb), but it worked way better than I expected. Our carpet is old, so it'll never look great, but it can be a couple shades lighter and without obvious cat vomit stains. And I'm anxious to hit the high traffic area by the kitchen and see if it can look like something other than a packed dirt trail.

I'm off omeprazole for right now. I give it a break when I run out, both to see how my reflux is doing and also because IIRC eventually my body will start overcompensating with more acid, so I'd like to give it a chance to reset. Things seem pretty good right now, but they're always good until they're not. At least since it's OTC if I decide i need to go back on I can pop by the store at any time.

Having a medical billing issue which is frustrating with its opaqueness. And because I paid and subsequently tried to get reimbursement I think no one is really motivated to try and resolve it. They have their money.

Really have been feeling the need to play video games again. But there's always so much to do at home. Maybe I should break out the DS and get my fix in on the bus in the mornings.

Caught up with the new season of Doctor Who. Some of the weakest damn writing I have ever seen. Current theory: they blew the budget on that snippet of "Alien in New York" that played during The Angels Take Manhattan, so they paid half rates for the scripts. But yeah, terrible, terrible scripts so far this season and everyone involved should be ashamed with themselves. On the other hand it has actually made me miss the convoluted "everything is about River always" season, so maybe that was Moffet's secret goal.

Anyone enjoying my tweeting during my Breaking Bad watch? Should I keep it up?

/ramble

To recap the last week, for those not following my twitter/getting complained to in person.

I had my worst case of anxiety ever at work on Wednesday. I had back to back to back meetings scheduled on the day I was trying to wrap things up and leave early to pack for WisCon. I almost ran out of the office when I was done (and then camped in the quiet lobby for 5 minutes to calm down a bit).

Fortunately we planned really well this time and weren't rushed at home and got to the airport with plenty of time. That didn't get rid of my trip anxiety (which was super sensitive due to all my earlier stress), but it helped keep it in check. I still had to pace around the airport to stay calm though.

I still had some chest pain and anxiety during my first panel, but a long weekend filled with nothing but drinking and hanging out with awesome people and just not giving a shit about work was wonderful. I had pretty much no reflux and absolutely no anxiety. Which on the one hand is great, on the other demonstrates how easy it is for my brain to fuck up my body.

My panels went ok, I think (since I'm not going to read any writeups of them). I did way less partying this year, both because beer can often bother my reflux and because Jess didn't need a wingman. And we had a pretty solid bar in our room, so it's not like I needed the parties to unwind at night.

Having a room to just me and wrdnrd was kind of nice (no pants! the toilet paper lasted all weekend! I didn't have to threaten anyone with a knife to get the AC set where I need it!), but also kind of lonely. I miss the planning to cover diverse panels and then report back to the team. Also, it's nice to sleep in, but without roommates stomping about it's easy for us to sleep in too much.

On Tuesday I woke with a little pain, either due to the single malt that ended the night or just the first stirrings of trip anxiety. Throughout the day the anxiety and associated pain ebbed and flowed, and mostly just made me uncomfortable (and a bit of an asshole to wrdnrd at the airport).

Felt better for a little while on the bus home, then just had a mental collapse as my body realized how worn out all the travel and anxiety had made me. Food and sake have made it better, though now I'm struggling with the memories of coming home from WisCon last year. I think I made enough posts about what we went through with Ed, so I'm not going to do it again here.

I think we're skipping WisCon, and most travel for that matter, next year. I've always had issues with anxiety when preparing for trips, but everything in my brain is way worse right now. This is a travel heavy year and I think I just need to spend more time relaxing.

Ugh, my heartburn and anxiety came back this last week. The heartburn is way way way less painful than it was before, but my anxiety doesn't give a fuck about that. All my brain wants to do it convince me I have something wrong with my chest (not all that hard to do, given that some heart arrhythmia runs in my family and my mom is having valve replacement surgery this Thursday). So, like it or not, I end up fixating on the pain in my chest and worrying, which makes my stomach upset, which makes my reflux worse, which makes the chest pain worse. So around and around we go.

I was getting seriously “lets go to the ER” anxious at work today, with weird feelings in my chest and tingling in my hands. But almost as soon as I left the office the tingling went away and my chest dropped to it's “normal” level of ache. My emotions were still a bit out of sorts for the bus ride, but I was mostly back to normal (or what passes for it these days) by the time I got home. Wrdnrd is spoiling me back to health with rice and sake and I'm feeling ok now. Yeah, yeah, alcohol isn't great for my heartburn, but A) I can deal with normal heartburn that's not coupled with horrible anxiety worry and chest tightness, and B) fuck you, I needed a drink.

Notes: isn't it great that my heartburn triggers my anxiety and my anxiety triggers tightening in my chest and tingling in my extremities? We're 95% sure my heart is fine (had an EKG and everything), but it really sucks for self diagnosis that my symptoms mimic heart attack and stroke.

I have another doctor's appointment for Wednesday. Proof that most of it is anxiety is the fact that I reliably start feeling better after making an appointment. Still, I want to cross off the remaining major things it could be and start talking in more concrete terms how to deal with this anxiety. Other than drinking it away I mean, I have expensive tastes in sake.

Got around to watching Redline finally. I think I want to watch the first part on a loop forever.
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I think my gum surgery is healing ok. Hard to tell, everything looks gross, but now it's a different gross? My lower jaw is quite swollen and it makes me look silly.  Every time I attempt to eat something other than soup it's super painful and awkward. Overall though the pain hasn't been too bad, though I'm also never not on something to mitigate it, and often end up with a headache by the end of the day from the dull pain and lack of enough food.

Saw doctors today for some follow up about that tingling I had two weeks ago. After reviewing the symptoms and testing my sensitivity to various kinds of sensations they we're pretty comfortable saying it was anxiety based. If I still have it in a couple weeks I can get a MRI scheduled.

Oh hey dentist, thanks for never calling me back after getting my insurance squared away. It's not like I'm trying to schedule an appointment before the end of the year or anything. Fortunately I lucked out and they were able to find a time other than the afternoon of Friday the 23rd that was their only opening initially. I don't have a lot of Christmas traditions, but I'm pretty sure I don't want to add a liquid diet to them.

Anyway, yeah, I have gum surgery scheduled for next Wednesday. If anyone has recommendations for how I should be knocked out let me know. Everything else I've had done was fine with just a local, but I don't think that's going to be an option in this case. I'm leaning towards the nitrous so I'm not groggy for the next several hours after.

I'm still getting some of the tingling feeling that sent me to the ER. Pretty much it's just limited to part of my right forearm and my right cheekbone (of all places). Also it seems worse at work and fades at home (anxiety or pinched nerve the bus ride aggravates?). But I'm being good and taking myself in next Friday to have that checked out too. It's a bit tough to evaluate accurately though since it's so chilly during my walk to work and then I sit at a window so I end up with a fair amount of tingling from cold that overrides anything else I may be feeling. 

One nice thing about the ER was that now I've had a scan of my head and an EKG it's actually possible to not fret about something wrong with my brain or heart. Take that, hypochondria, I will beat you! 

My heartburn is still around, but the PPI seems to be keeping it to a reasonable level of discomfort, like what I would experience before my bad week. It's a little more constant, but just irritating. That's pretty good considering how much spicy stuff and alcohol I'm still ingesting. I've also become really aggressive with preemptive antacid use.

Ok, I think that about covers everything. Dental anesthesia opinions appreciated. Commiseration about other symptoms is cool, but please don't give me a list of everything they could be, see above, re: hypochondria.