toridas_

toridas_, 14 days ago to random

The moist wind from the Bay of Bengal is driving the felt temperatures in Gangetic Bengal to intolerable levels, too. I'm aiming to make the most of this heatwave by learning to make pickles and preserves, because the alternative -- climate despair -- is dangerously debilitating.

#ClimateDiary #FoodSecurity

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/north-central-india-sizzle-under-severe-heatwave-nearly-50-degree-c-in-parts-of-delhi/article68227337.ece,

toridas_, 14 days ago to gardening

Curry tree (Bergera koenigii) fruits, ripe and ready to germinate, with more on the way! I cut and peeled one, very carefully, for a better look. It's basically the whole seed itself, enlarged within the fruit skin. Easy to sprout and take root, I think. I'm going to collect just a few more as they ripen, grow them in pots and distribute the saplings locally, and leave the rest for the birds 🌿💚

CC: @skinnylatte

#Gardening #ClimateChangeGardening #ClimateDiary

toridas_, 15 days ago to disability

Generally I'm seeing a lot of people these days post media without #AltText and being blasé when confronted about it. Some correct their habits, but not all. Some add very cursory alt-text, clearly they couldn't be bothered doing more. And it really disappoints me, because good alt-text is not only necessary for disabled people anywhere, but also a boon for those with insufficient internet connectivity, AND a great supplement for any media when used thoughtfully.

#Ableism #Disability

toridas_, 19 days ago to magASEAN

Just wanted to let anybody who might need this know: iced black tea brewed with rose petals, fennel seeds, and tulsi leaves, stirred with the juice of a quarter of a lime, and with rock salt and sugar/honey to taste, makes an excellent aid for heartache, tired muscles, stressed gut, and frazzled nerves 🧊☕🧡 Also for roleplaying as the best tea monk in Panga.

Inspired by @irfan 's #MakanApaToday posts featuring iced tea varieties 🙏🏽

#VoidMoonVibes #MarsNightMusings
#KitchenWitch #AstroHerbalism

toridas_, 1 month ago to random

Does anyone use handmade personalised calendars? I don't know if that's a thing, but I'm throwing this out hoping that it'll find someone who knows this stuff. I'm not talking about a bullet journal, just a calendar, but a layered one, with all sorts of stuff that one might find useful and interesting on a daily basis, stuff varying from person to person, and handmade (that can be hand sorted and illustrated or designed and printed).

toridas_, 1 month ago to random

Today for #3GoodThings I:

🍀 made লেবুর শরবত for myself and BFFs (they've never had it with tulsi before)
🦋 helped a black and white butterfly trapped in my home escape into the garden on the back of my black umbrella patterned with pink roses and green leaves
🌿 a bundle of fresh jute leaves BFF#2 bought me that I can make a soup of, with one perfect yellow flower
🪮 got a pair of wood combs that I'd bought myself for Pôyla Boishakh (great scalpfeel)

Closeup of very soft and green jute leaves, one leaf among them with noticeable tears in it, with one dainty little yellow flower blooming on the green stalk.
Against a background of yellow walls, black granite counter and shelves, a bit of window and bicycle, a brown hand (mine) with short squarely rounded nails holding a pair of wood combs. They're shortish but hefty. One is a wide-toothed "post-shampoo detangler" and the other is a fine-toothed "styling comb". The combs have got a company brand carved on them.

toridas_, 2 months ago to magASEAN

After two glasses of limeade with added sprigs of fresh tulsi in twelve hours, and prayers to those who listen (my pain medication alone doesn't do much anymore), my fatigue and chronic pain is much more within control today 🙏🏽 So I've been able to cook lunch again! after over a week!! I wanted to cook dinner in advance and clean as well, but the only work I've got any spoons left for is cleaning the kitchen.

Figures that today is an auspicious day 🌒✨

#MakanApaToday #HomeCooking #EidMubarak

toridas_, 2 months ago to random

Accidentally had breakfast at the same time as my Muslim friends are probably having their sehri today in India. Have a good and safe #Ramadan2024 , people 💚

#BreakfastFood #Brekky

toridas_, 2 months ago to random

I want to work more with my hands, work on the move and with the flow, instead of stationary work that burns out my brain and taxes my eyesight. More cooking and learning to ride my bicycle, than banging away on my laptop. Writing, if required, by hand in a notebook with my favourite old gel pen. Learning to sketch and draw again, with a pencil in a cheap notebook. Giving myself diligent and generous pre-bath oil massages. Not feeling bad about working s l o w l y . .

#MercuryRetrogradeMusings

toridas_, 2 months ago to magASEAN

Managed to cook lunch by sheer willpower, but the chronic pain worsened so much later that I had to tell BFFs to order takeaway for me (I always pester them for this, deliberately).

Things are on the mend; I've cooked more this month than previously. But building strength takes time.

Realised I don't have a picture of my favoured takeaway, so had to correct it. BFFs are old friends of the owners of this place. Great food, and quite cheap, too.

#MakanApaToday #HomeCooking #ChronicSickDiary

On a blue glass top table with peacock feather patterns in shades of blue, green, and purple, today's dinner: a steel plate piled with Kolkata-style chicken biryani, with the meat more visible under the rice than the potato, accompanied by round slices of cucumber and red onion (it's actually this brilliant purple, though, I adore the shades of purple in red onions). The chicken is a glazed yellow-brown, and the long grain rice has varying tints of yellow due to the saffron.

toridas_, 2 months ago to magASEAN

Inspired by @agasramirez I tried my hand at silog, but with ghee instead of butter or oil, and added curry leaves 🍃 This is partly because for some reason, I don't feel confident enough to make @skinnylatte 's favourite muttai kalakki yet. I think this would be perfect for cold wintry or rainy days, esp. when I need low-effort meals or a change of taste.

Delighted that this is my first attempt at a SE Asian recipe, and a definite W at that! 🥳

#MakanApaToday #HomeCooking #TootSEA #MastIndia

Closeup of the silog. I used parboiled rice, not jasmine or basmati because I didn't have them on hand, and I wanted to get the basics right first. But the rice is more or less intact despite some fairly thorough stirring and turning using a steel spatula. Whatever broke, happened more due to me being clumsy while detangling the cold leftover rice before dropping it in the wok.

toridas_, 2 months ago to magASEAN

Spicy Kongunad kozhi kuzhambu as per Kannamma Cooks 🫶🏽 a fantastic and quite easy recipe, even for an amateur like me, with measurements meticulously listed.

Got mildly scalded when making the fried spice paste because the mixer wasn't closed right and I got splashed with the hot oily water when I switched it on 🔥 Just Mars squaring the Moon, not a big deal, just enough to make me pay attention.

Tagging @skinnylatte because we were talking about this 🍃

#MakanApaToday #HomeCooking #MastIndia

toridas_, 3 months ago to magASEAN

Needed to use the milk that had stored up, so I made suji halwa for Saturday breakfast ✨ BFF#2 had shown me how to make it last month. We were talking about fasting for Shivratri yesterday. She's doing it; I wanted to but I knew I wouldn't be able to fast. Today I did have enough milk to pour over a Shiva linga, but instead I used it for my breakfast. And Lord Shiva and I are both happy! in a casually blasphemous but physically and spiritually fulfilling way 🖤 💚

#MakanApaToday #HomeCooking

On a blue glass top table with peacock feather patterns in shades of blue, green, and purple: an aluminium bowl (with a steel spoon) of puffed rice stirred with mustard oil, and a medium-sized steel bowl of suji halwa. On the right is my dark grey and black laptop with a wallpaper of peacock train feathers. In the background, a doorway leading to the garden.

toridas_, 3 months ago to random

Fans of #Bats ! Please share your favourite bat facts 🦇 CC: @loren @futurebird can you please boost for wider reach? 🙏🏽 I wanna see people going batshit over bats.

toridas_, 3 months ago to magASEAN

When you've got your period and so sick that you can't cook a proper lunch, but you also need something a bit fancy to feel good about 🍀 Incidentally, I heard recently that eating khichuri on Tuesdays and Saturdays helps in remediating the malefics. This is technically a khichuri; not a traditionally spiced and wok-stirred one, but simpler.

Not pictured: a softboiled egg that was unhappy to be peeled and didn't want to be photographed 🌚 #VoidMoonVibes

#MakanApaToday #HomeCooking #MastIndia

toridas_, 3 months ago to magASEAN

So I'm getting a bit desperate to learn Mandarin because my copy of the Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon pentalogy is begging to be read, and because I'm too ambitious for my own good 🫣 Any recommendations, resources, tips, for a beginner? I don't want to have to resort to Duolingo with their AI rubbish, but I'm very short on money, which is an automatic hamstring when it comes to getting an education, I know 🙃

CC: @skinnylatte #TootSEA #China @liztai @chu @Fury

toridas_, 4 months ago to music

I'd found this guy's music mixes back in 2012, and it's been a long journey of loving ambient music and depending on it to feel safe, sane, and purposeful despite very hard times. He's kept up his blog all this while, it's basically completely unchanged since 2012, and it feels so wonderful to be listening to his mixes again after a gap of about 2 years.

Here's his latest mix. I hope someone can bring him over to the Fediverse.

#Music #Mixtapes #AmbientMusic #Blogs

http://lowlightmixes.blogspot.com/2024/01/apricity-warmth-of-sunshine-in-winter.html?m=0

toridas_, 4 months ago to random

I, uh,

• bought a bicycle (not an ebike, those are hella expensive here) instead of a fossil fuelled bike
• refused plastic bin liners although my biological family love them because it's "efficient"
• reuse any plastics safe and viable for reuse
• insist on planting and propagating native or naturalised plant species instead of following corpo social media fads with houseplants that drive a horticultural industry big on fossil fuel
• hate and avoid wasting water

https://mastodon.social/@sundogplanets/111836609415029818

toridas_, 4 months ago to random

The financial condition is dire right now. The family I'm dependent on for my finances are threatening to stop paying me the bare minimum they give me (I'm rightfully owed much more than that according to law!) And I'm unemployed, and chronic illness is fucking expensive. I wish I knew better ways of managing this stress other than wanting to sit down and cry.

toridas_, 4 months ago to magASEAN

Really enjoying cooking these days because, although I fail quite often, I'm learning steadily, too, and I like working with my hands, thinking practically and being mindful. It's oddly calming. I hadn't anticipated this, but learning to cook has been drawing out a lot of my inner demons and exorcising them.

And on days with Ws such as tonight, the effort seems especially worthwhile.

#MakanApaToday #HomeCooking

On a blue glass top table with peacock feather patterns in shades of blue, green, and purple: a steel platter of steamed rice with a generous helping of begun bhorta piled on top, with two pieces of fish fried red-brown next to the rice.

toridas_, 4 months ago to magASEAN

I just spent more time with this photo and sharing it than I spent reading, heh.

But I'm doing it for the Aesthetic 🌹

Oh, and I make good chai, too, I guess.

#MakanApaToday

toridas_, 5 months ago to random

Hey y'all, I'm trying to raise USD125 to settle some debts from back when I left my abusive biological family and moved to my new place last year, and the debts need clearing this month itself. I'm unemployed and chronically ill, I've got no other way to do it.

So 🥁 I'm offering tarot readings! ✨

If you've got a question, I'll answer it for $5 👍🏽 For every extra question, add $5.

We can talk here in DMs or on Signal, your choice. Comment below if you're interested ✌🏽

#PleaseBoost

toridas_, 5 months ago to magASEAN

2024 is off to a good start 😌 Stupidly happy with two days of having made lunch on time, and eating it on time today, too.

#MakanApaToday

toridas_, 5 months ago to random

Yeah with COVID making headlines here in India now, I've started masking up as well.

toridas_, 7 months ago to magASEAN

Hey #TootSEA please post your favourite noodle dishes? Dealing with fatigue without spiralling into self-destructive moods is difficult, so I want to do something creative and nourishing. Also, the #MakanApaToday tag makes me hungry 😁