Save money #7 don't be afraid to alter recipes

 

Disclaimer while this works for cooking it's not always suitable for baking where ratios are more important.

A few years ago my sister had a Hello fresh meal-kit subscription. For those that don't know each meal-kit includes apart from ingredients also a recipe sheet. My sister saved the recipes with the thought of recreating the dishes later and soon found herself with a large stack of them. Realizing that she wasn't going to use them she let me pick out the ones I might like to try before throwing the rest of them out. I've made some of them but doing so I have realized that most of them asks for unnecessarily expensive ingredients. It's nothing big just things like consistently using pointed cabbage (29,9 kr/kg) instead of normal cabbage (19,9 kr/kg) even though having tried both I honestly cant tell any difference once it's cut up and cooked.

Ant that's the thing once an ingredient is cut up, cooked, seasoned and combined with other ingredients most minor differences will have disappeared. So you might as well chose the option that you already have at home or that's cheapest. I've compiled a list of things that cam easily replace each other.

Any kind of bean with any other kind of bean.

Spinach, cavolo nero, kale or any other leafy green thing.

Cauliflower with broccoli.

Cream fresh, ricotta and yogurt. (just double check if it's meant to be cooked that it won't split)

Tahini with peanut butter.

When I defrosted my freezer I found two leftover hamburger-buns (because they never sell them in the same amount as the burgers) they became garlic-bread.

In general things in the same biological family mostly works. So just experiment.

5 tips for new students

  

1. It you are going to write a thesis start considering the subject as soon as possible. You want to have time to do a preliminary check to see how doable it is and change it. Also this lets you start collecting notes for it early. If what you want to write about turns up in a text book write down the reference  and you don't need to find it later.

2. Keep all your thesis notes in one place and make sure you always gave it with you. If you have a good idea in the grocery aisle you don't want to forget it. When I first started studying ages ago that meant a dedicated notebook in my handbag today it means a folder on google drive.

3. Start immediately at a high tempo. The assumption is that studying is a full time job so spend 8 hours a day on lectures and reading. But some subjects are more chill than others and if so you can always lower the tempo later. But you don't wan't to cram late into the night the day before a test.

4. Don't buy textbooks, or at least buy as few as possible. They are expensive and you are never going to open them again, seriously never. Most if not all should be available through the university library but check local public libraries too depending on the book you might get lucky. If you find that you have to buy them try to get them second hand and sell them immediately.

5. When writing an essay read the question and guidelines thoroughly. Then read it again during the writing and again before you turn it in. You don't wan't to fail because you misread the question, or you went on a tangent. and you don't want to be like me who the day I needed to turn it in realized that I needed to add another reference to meet the minimum requirement.

Chilling reflections by Drew Hayes

Plot

After the end of the last book life has gone back to whatever counts as normal for our superheroes and villains. With the addition of Tories line of self-defense products that are being launched forcing her to spend be presentable and spend time in the corporate world. That it until a dimensional nova bursts and sends shock-waves through the multiverse including earth. For a time the barriers between dimensions are weaker causing random (and not so random) portals to open releasing various monsters.

The nova is a time of chaos but also opportunity for those like VRX77 who can more easily travel to this dimension. Traveling here means hiding from Lodestar but it's worth it because this Tori Is a 97% match and VRX77 will do anything it takes to get her.

the New science sentries are struggling with the death of their teammate at the end of the last book. Something that's hitting Ellie hard and professor Quantum is plotting to get the team back to how he wants it even if it means kicking out certain members.

My thoughts

I didn't know the short story collection would be so integral to this but it is. For a large part of the story Ivan is off doing his own thing after getting called away to an other dimension by a friend from one of the short stories. Which I don't mind between him and Lodestar there are a lot of potential deus ex machina characters.

It had a point in the middle that felt very much like it was the end. With the main threat being neutralized. This book however is one where different characters follow different plots intersecting one another rather than converging like the other books. 

After Ike's death in the last book the characters ever present need for more power takes on a new urgency. Tori realize that even her new suit made from the material she stole from Alfred Settler doesn't hold up as well as she had hoped against VRX77 and the other more powerful foes they are coming up against. In this world there is always someone stronger and so getting stronger just means more difficult opponents.

Also professor quantum gets worse the more you learn about him to the extent that it's questionable why he is even in the AHC. At least if Quorum or Lodestar knew about it their reaction would be interesting. At least in this there are a sense of petty revenge in that his plans all fail and some theirs steal his stuff.

The epilogue sets up so much plots and I can't wait for the next book.

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Chilling.

Witch king by Martha Wells

This book has been languishing on my to read shelf for far to long. I originally bought it because I like other books the author has written (Murderbot) but this one never really caught my attention. 

Kai wakes up imprisoned and held in stasis/dead under water with his demon powers bound. Realizing he has been dead for almost a year and now that he is free he sets out to find out who and why he was held prisoner and where his missing friends are. Since he found out they had disappeared at the same time he had. Finding a larger conspiracy then he was expecting. Interspersed in this is flashback from his youth and the war against the Hierarchs and rebellion he and his friends lead against them.

My thoughts

There is a lot of world building here to be explained, about the demons and their powers, about all the other kinds of magic users and their powers. This isn't really helped by every other chapter being a flashback too the original was and rebellion. The war it an other thing to be explained though even after reading quite a bit it's still confusing. There is some big meeting happening and they have been kidnapped to keep them from going but its not clear what the meeting is about or why it's important. All this explaining means that it took a long time for the plot to get going, over a hundred pages. In general it feels like a sequel. Maybe it's because of how it started, with them already imprisoned and with all that happens before. But just as it feels like a sequel it also feels like it never really got past the beginning. Even after 300 pages it still feels like it haven't really started.

Appart from this it's fine, but I don't like the characters as much as I like others she has written. Though that might have to do with this book having a larger number of them. All in all it's a bit meh to me. The descriptions are good, so is what action there is and the descriptions of magic but there is nothing tat realy speaks to me. In the end I might read the next in the series if it seems like it has more plot but also I might not.

If you have read it what did you think? Leave a comment. If you haven't read it you can check it out here Witch king

Save money#6 make stock

 This is a bit of an experiment since I've never done this before. But I was inspired to do this when I saw a video about environmentalism and a person said she saved her kitchen scraps to make stock. This was from a zerowaste perspective but it works equally well for frugal people. Not that stock is that expensive but still. 

So before I begin I should say that I've never made stock before. I know my sister tried to do chicken stock once and ended up throwing it all away so I'm not super confident. I decided to try it. 

Looking through my big cookbook I actually found a recipe for vegetable stock. So rather than look for another I used that. The recipe assumes using whole vegetables rather than scraps but well see. 

For a while I have been gathering scraps like carrot and parsnips peels, leaves from cauliflower, onion and other things. This was the work of a few weeks so I put it in boxes in the freezer and slowly filled them. 

Cooking

I'm not going to include the recipe here because it's not my recipe and I'm sure there are plenty you can find. But it was basically put vegetables and salt in pot add water, boil then let simmer. Finally run it through a sieve. To make it more flavorful I threw in some oregano. I have some growing (dying) in the window so the wilted pieces went in as well.

At this point I realized I have nothing to store it in except some glass jars which is less than ideal for freezing. I did worry that the jars would break when it froze but I also wasn't sure it would last in the fridge. I tried to not fill them completely and luckily they didn't crack. 

Results

I'll admit this takes some time both to gather the scraps and to cook the stock. I'm currently at a point where I work from home and so have time to keep an eye at a pot that need to simmer for a few hours. 

I've used it in a few things since then some couscous and a soup. It's worked well though it is less salty than stock-cubes and it is less versatile so ill still be using them but this was I fun little experiment and I'm already starting to gather scraps for the next batch. 

Handbok i livets konst by Epictertus

Those that read my labour day post might recognize this book since it's the book I brought to read on the picnic.

This is a Swedish translation of the Greek original. In English the title would read Handbook to the art of life more commonly known as Enchiridion of Epictetus. It's technically not written by Epictertus either but is a compilation of his thoughts written by his student. 

Most importantly it's Roman/greek philosophy from around 100 A.D. Epictertus was for a time a slave belonging to Emperor Neros secretery. Meaning he and an interesting combination of high influence and low status. He was part of the stoic movement which among other things focused on self control and duty. 

My thoughts

The book it short only 70 pages and is made up of 53 texts each raging from a singe sentence to two pages. So it's a very fast read even if you stop to consider it. 

A lot of the texts express what is today called the circle of control. Basically that you should recognize that there are things in your life that you can control and things you can't. In Epictertus the things you can control are your own thoughts and actions. Everything else should just be accepted for what it is. He does take it a bit too far though when he talks about how one must accept the loss of things and family. He isn't wrong everyone you know will die eventually but the way it's phrased is a bit cold hearted especially since he doesn't seem to think that the loss should upset you. In general nothing should upset you. 

This is the parts where you are reminded of him being a slave and so having less control of his life than most.  

Apart from self control another theme is doing ones duty and to consider ones reputation. Though it does hold people to an impossible standard to the point that I think would sap any joy from life. I'm thinking of text nr 33 which says to avoid invitations to parties and to talk as little as possible. That just unnecessary harsh.

curly girl method an experiment

 For the last half a year I've seen a lot of curly hair things on the internet specifically the Curly girl method. I figured some more defined curls would look good on me so I decided to try it out and document my results.

As a starting point my hair is wavy and loosely curled when wet after some tests I concluded that it's also lowporosity and has thick strands. 

So what is the CGM I'm lazy so rather than reading a lot of different blogs I asked chatgpt to do it for me. Basically it's things you can do to get more curls and to have them survive for longer. Reading through it I did things several things that I already do although for different purposes. 

1 prewash detangle your hair with a wide tooth comb 

This is something I already do and don't feel the need to change. Though my main reason for detangling my hair before showering has more to do with limiting the amount of hair stuck in the drain.

2 washing use a shampoo without sulfates or silicones

So, there is several ingredients that weighs down your hair I used the  curlsbot to check the ingredients before my experiment. 

3 same with conditioner

I don't usually use conditioner, I've never really seen much difference weather I use it or not. But for this I'll get one and try.

4 apply gel while wet 

This is to not loose the curls while the hair dries. Reddit recommended I use aloevera gel for this. I have a vague idea that its skincare properties will translate to hair, maybe? My sister on the other hand who has also gone into the CGM rabbit hole recommended something called Ecogel.

5 air dry 

Again I already do this mostly cause I'm lazy 

7 refresh mist with water and scrunch waves into place 

This is things to do the next day. 

8 other

There is a few other things one can do like sleeping on a silk pillow case or with the hair in pony tail on top of head. I tried the second one but it was very uncomfortable and I value my sleep more than my hair so we shan't be doing this.

9 time

So chat gpt said nothing about this but some googling turned up that it might take some time to show results. 

The experiment

My plan is to try these things out one at a time to see what will make a difference starting with shampoo and conditioner. I'm going to try each for a month and see what difference it made.

For this I have 3 different shampoos. 

Garnier solid shampoo, with forbidden ingredients. 

By Viera curl shampoo, This should be specific for curly hair and has only approved ingredients.

Friendly lavender and teatree bar, this is not specifically for curls but it doesn't have any of the forbidden ingredients (after an update to the curlsbot it now has some but it's too late to change) and I already had some. 

The fact that two of them are shampoo bars might be a problem but I prefer them and haven't found anything that suggests it would make a difference.

To this I'll add conditioner TRESemme flawless waves and Aussie three minute miracle. 

Month 1

First out was the friendly bar and the Aussie conditioner.

The results was distinctly mid. My hair is wavy but not more or less then it always is. It is more greasy though unpleasantly so though it isn't really visible.

Month 2

Garnier time and still doing the Aussie conditioned.

Testing them I get some unexpected results the Friendly one leaves my hair greasy and full of build up. The Garnier doesn't something about the shampoo makes the conditioner stick so my hair so really soft. It is a little dry so I added a few drops of hair oil to the ends. 

It doesn't make it curly but it's nice and I considered getting more of it only to realize that it is apparently out of stock everywhere. 

Month 3

Curly girl time with the By Wiera and TRESemme. 

This is sort of in the middle a bit greasy but not much and again no change in the curls. The By Wiera is wierdly gelatinous but it's fine.

Results 

At the end of every test month I took a picture of my hair. This is my hair washed with shampoo and conditioner, air dried and nothing else. Looking at them now month two does have nicer curls but not to an extent that I cant say it's because of the length. In general this is not at all what the results should be according to CGM.

With results like these I think I'm going to give up on this use up my leftover shampoo and then try to get a hold of something like the garnier bar. 

As for the gels the eco gel that my sister recommended worked well and the aloe vera did nothing.

The Scum Villain´s Self-Saving System 3

This is the 3rd book in the serie if you are curious about the previous ones the reviews of the first and second are here. But the general premise is: Shen is dragged into the fantasy book he read and now has to fix the plot.   

Plot

After last book Shen is in the demon realm held hostage by his former disciple and stalker Lou Binghe.

Shang the author who is also dragged into the book visits and reveals more about the story and that the reason for several of the plot-holes is him dropping the more complex plot-lines about Lou´s parent in favor of adding more romantic partners. Mostly as a result of fan reactions.

This becomes relevant when Shen collapses unexpectedly and wakes up in his original body (technically its his second body) laid to rest in a mausoleum filled with dead demon kings and magical traps along with Tianlang-jun Lou´s father who is contrary to popular belief is not dead. But who does plan to get revenge on the humans who trapped him for decades. 

Thoughts

All descriptions of this series describes as danmei (boys love) and I've got to say it's not. The system ships the Shen/ Lou romance but Shen doesn't really have any romantic feelings for Lou. Don't get me wrong he cares for Lou but it's more paternal maybe. Also the more interactions they have the less sure I am of Lou´s feelings either. He is obsessed with Shen but I'm starting to think it more like a father figure. Though one he wants to fuck so maybe not. They definitely need to actually talk to each other rather than just making assumptions of the others feelings.

this all lead to  the book being a bit attempted rapey. I suspects that they will get together in the end but I'm not sure if I want them to. On the other hand that would be following the tropes and this author is very aware of tropes and cliches using and subverting them. So hopefully it will end well.

We do find out that part of last books plot was caused by the demon Zhuzhi-lang helping Shen. Though the help was ruining his reputation so he'd leave the sects that the demons are planing to destroy. I do like this character being another in the long line of people making Shens life difficult. Shen's continuing struggle to be dignifies, proper and respected being hindered by the system, Lou, Shang and many more is just one of the things that makes this book fun and enjoyable.

In this book The system forces Shen to explore various the backs stories of different characters including his own, sort of. At least it's the backstory of the character he is inhabiting. Alss the backstory of Tialang-jun Lou´s demon father who like Shen now have a body made from mushroom (it's a weird book). It does deepen them and adds substance to the book and explains some of the characters actions adding nuance to them. It wasn't necessarily something I'd thought the books were lacking but it is nice. 

save money #5 free stuff swapping

In my local facebook group I saw that a local garbage company was organizing an event. Here people could get rid of things that can't be recycled in the normal bins but also for things that were in good condition they would be set out for people to take. 

Events like this along with buy nothing groups are fairly common and good places to find things for free or at least cheap. The downside is that the selection tends to be limited so finding something specific can take time. 

I didn't have anything I needed but I had things I wanted to get rid of and I was curious. It is amazing how much things I found that I didn't want anymore. I wasn't even doing a decluttering just keeping an eye out and slowly the pile of things grew. Adding  that I'm maybe considering moving soon and it makes this very timely. 

The day of

The event started at 3 and I had a lecture until 4. It didn't say on Facebook when it would end but I assume it's at least a few hours so I'm trying to make it if not there is another event in a month. 

I did make sure to pack everything before hand so I could just leave directly after the lecture. That same day I'd gotten a delivery and the box came in handy to transport it. Partly since I was going to get rid of the box and I don't want to get rid of the bags.

Turned out my lecture ended early so I could leave and be there a bit after three. There were quite a lot of people there but not that many interesting things. They brought things out as they came in so there might have been something if I stayed longer. But I didn't. 

Though I did find some things a stack of clay pots but they didn't have draining holes so I left it. I did pick up a pot to use as a mold for some future candle-making endeavors. 

In the end I didn't find much I wanted but if I had been less picky or stayed longer there were plenty I could have picked up. I'm mostly glad to be rid of my things, mostly my printer which has been a source of frustration almost since I bought it. 

Alla fredagsaftnar samlades man by Eva Öhrström

 This is a non-fiction book about salons as a phenomenon. From their origins in the 1700 and until they disappeared after the first world war. The book sorts them by location but focuses on France, Germany and dome Sweden. It describes some famous and influential ones. 

In general salons were regular or weekly gatherings hosted by members of the upper class, though the guests could be slightly more diverse with various artists. They would meet and discus art, music, politics, philosophy etc some with more politics side others more entertainment. 

My thoughts

While the salons in themselves are a fascinating subjects this book focused more about the people at specific salons. There were a lot of detail about the hosts, hostesses and guest  in a way that at times felt a bit gossipy. I would personally had liked to know more about the wider social context and their impact on the arts and politics. That being said it is very well written so despite me not resonating with the focus it was still enjoyable to read. 

What it did show was the interconnectedness of the salons in the different countries. People traveling from one place to another would get invited to the local salons even in times when their respective countries were at war with another. 

Still a lot of it just felt like rich people amusing themselves in a way that didn't affect anything real.

Sewing a summer jacket: part one Zero waste pattern

 A while ago I bought a sewing book with patterns designed to leave no fabric scraps. Considering the amount of scarps I have leftover from other projects this seemed like a good solution.  

So I'm going to try it and since I was planning to make a summer jacket anyway this seemed like the perfect opportunity. I will say I think this is an excellent book for beginners or people making things out of thrifted fabrics like tablecloths where you have to conserve fabric. My struggles with it mostly stem from me using a dress-pattern to make a jacket.

In general most of the patterns are of a loose fit made for people with different proportions than me. The way the pattern is made with all the pieces fitting neatly into a square means that the length of the sleeves determine the width of the body. Hence the loose fit and three quarter sleeves where I wanted a tight fit and long sleeves. But I found the pattern closest to what I wanted and set to alter it to my measurements and needs. 

Considering all the uncertainties I managed to talk myself into actually making a mock up, a test out of cheep fabric. This is good practice and something I should be doing more. However it also adds to the fabric waste, although this fabric was an old bed sheet that my cats had ripped up and I'd already assigned it to my rag rug project.

Since there isn't a paper pattern to copy I needed to measure it out using a ruler. But since it's all straight lines its not that hard.  And, no I did not iron it before but it doesn't matter if it's not perfect. 

I put it together with clips rather than sewing it because there is a limit to how much time I wan't to spend on this. Putting it on I learned a few things. First it gave my wizard robe wibes which I don't hate. Second the sleeves could be a bit longer, they are just barely long enough but I want to have a margin for seam-allowance and stuff. Third the pattern does not give the shape I want. But this can be solved by pleats. 

I decided to do some adjustments with slightly thinner sleeves and slightly shorten hem. Once I'd learned what I could it was time to try it on the proper fabric. This is a stiff black cotton that I bought at a thrift-store a while ago. Almost immediately I realized that since the end fabric was thicker and stiffer than the test it did not behave like the test. 

It stretching uncomfortable in the back of the neck where the fabric is just straight. I solved this by cutting out a bit turning it into an arch. For this I used parts from a coat pattern that I have.

There is also some weird folds around the arms which needed some strategic pleats to fix. In general this has become a lesson in how far you can stretch a pattern before it would have been easier to just use a different one. 

Still it looked decent enough so I sewed it together and then got started on the pleats which is what will give it a shape. I'm thinking boxpleats and making a thing of it. 

After far to long adjusting them I sewed the pleats together and ironed them open. I'll sew them down later when I'm sure I won't have to unpick them. Instead I turned my attention to the front and the collar. Mostly how I didn't like it since the collar was just straight. So I'm taking the collar from the pattern from before mostly since it matches the part I cut from the back. In order for this to fit though I needed to cut a bit of the front.  I then stitched the collar and lapels together pressing the seams. These pieces and the front lining I cut out from the same fabric though these were not part of the neat square pattern and there was some scraps left over from this. But in even with this there were still far less scraps than normally so while it wasn't zero waste it was low waste. Also these will all be used for my rug so that's fine. I then stitched everything on unfortunately breaking a needle in the process.

At this point the jacket is about half way done it still needs a lining and I'm debating if I want to buy new fabric or use what I have. It's also going to have embroidery so that's up next once I have decided how they should look.

Artificial condition by Martha Wells

This is the second book in the Murderbot diaries here is my review of the first one All systems red.

Plot

Having left the people who bought Murderbot from the Company, they they decide to travel to the mining station were it all began. Where it hacked themself, went on a killing spree and named themself Murderbot, not necessarily in that order. To get there they hitch a ride with ART a research ship far more intelligent than they thought who insists on helping Muderbot after some threats. 

At the mining station they take a job as security guard to get a travel pass. Working for a group of researcher trying to get back data that was stolen from them. something that turns out to be just as dangerous as Murderbot thought it would be.

My thoughts

The friendship between Murderbot and Art is one of the highlights. Basically ART (not their name it's just what Murderbot calls them) is a bot piloted ship owned by a university. They are a know it all, giver of unwanted advice and the extroverted friend Murderbot needs. 

In the first book Murderbot only interacted with humans which they did as little as possible. In this one though we see them interacting with a lot more bots, besides ART there is a Comfortunit (similar in structure to Secunits like Murderbot but without the weapons). Murderbot tells Art that bots can't trust each others since they always have to obey humans orders. Despite this its clear that they do trust bots more than humans probably because they can't force them to do something. 

I kind of like that the mystery of what happened to make Murderbot free themselves was so pointless. There was no great conspiracy just people being greedy and underestimating dangers, stupid choices that lead to horrifying consequences. 

Save money #4 thoughts on discounts

Buying things on discount is a usual way for people to save money and that makes sense. If you pay less for things you save money. However it's not really that simple and I'm going to talk about it because relying on discounts might loose you money in the long run.

To begin with why does companies offer discounts?

Get rid of products

Getting you into the store

Getting your data

Promoting impulse buys.

Getting rid of products.

This is when the store knows that they can't sell the item at full price but that it's either easier for them to sell it than to throw it away or they are hoping to re coupe some of their losses. 

Examples of this include: out of season items like Christmas decoration in January, food nearing the last sell by date, everything in a store that is moving or closing or when the store has just a few things left in a batch and they don't want to make room for new stock.   

The discount for these are usually significant starting at 30% but I have seen up to 80%. 

You have a good opportunity to save money here assuming the thing is something you actually need. But there's often a reason why these things couldn't be sold full price. 

Getting you into the store

It's quite common for some stores to always have discounts on some of their items. Most grocery stores will do this where there every week will be new items sold at a discount. The idea is that by having a discount on one thing you need you will buy other things while you are there. This is the same as getting the first month for free when you sign up for a streaming service. 

The discounts here usually aren't that good. It's also common for the price of something to be advertised as a discount but just be regular or there are similar products that are cheaper. 

In general if you know what the regular prices are and don't get carried away you can save some money here but it wont be much.

Getting your data

Similar to the previous the store is hoping that a small loss now will make a profit in the long rum. Things like 10% of if you sign up for a newsletter or a membership where the aim is for them to be able to advertise to you. Still not great discounts but there is nothing stopping you from getting it and then close down whatever you signed up for. Being constantly sent ads wont help you save money.

Promoting impulse buys 

This is things like few percents of to get you to try a new product rather than what you usually gets.

This won't save you money, because the products probably isn't thing you need and the discount is still well within the profit margins. Making you think you are getting a good limited time deal to make you buy something. 

In general the way to use discounts is to not buy things you don't need even if they are cheap. It's also useful to know or look up what a product should cost. I have noticed that branded items even with the discount often are more expensive than store-brand products.

Deadly Assessments by Drew Hayes

 This is the fifth book about Fred the vampire accountant and his motley crew of friends. Click the link for or my review of the first book. 

The plot

The house of Turva (from the third book) are back and has decided to rather than face Fred head they should report him and the clan to the Blood council. They being the organization ruling the vampires specifically. Claiming he is unfit to act as a clan leader and that a clan shouldn't be made up of non vampires.

The Blood council sends Deborah to assess Fred as a vampire and clan leader. But also raking the time to teach him what he should know as a vampire and acting as his bodyguard.Of course the punishment should he fail the assessment is death for Fred and all the other members of his clan. 

My thoughts

The fifth book and like the others it's made up of several shorter stories. But with Deborah and her assignment being the over arching plot tying them together. It also sheds some more light on vampires their abilities as Deborah teaches Fred. 

Despite her mission Deborah doesn't really read as an antagonist. Being generally good humored and helpful both as a teacher and bodyguard. The reason for Fred needing a body guard being things that happened at the end of the last book. But all in all it makes her feel more like a part of the gang all be it one they keep secrets from.

The book also has an interesting take on power and kindness. That it takes power to be kind and that Fred in trying to help people when he doesn't have the power to back it up is putting them in more danger. But also that his kindness makes other people think he is stronger than he is assuming he is on par with the other members of his clan. 

Labour day 2025

As I probably wrote in last years post (I can't be bothered to check) I have a bit of a labour day tradition. I'll have a picnic in a park listening to socialist speeches. 

This year I'm going with a Victorian theme. This of course starts with some research and some inspiration from www.english-heritage.org.uk. Mostly to figure out what food I should have. This lead me to borrow Mrs Beeton's book of household management from the library to check out more exactly from a historical source. Now this is for a 40 person picnic so I'll have to scale it way down. So in the end I choose to bring.

Meat-pie

Sallad + dressing

Fresh fruit

lemonade

Blancmange

The second thing is deciding where I want to go. This was harder than it should be mostly because I'm planning this month in advance and the various parties doesn't release their plans until just a few weeks before. It's very inconsiderate.

In the end I managed to determine that my two options were Socialdemokraterna in folketspark or Vänsterpartiet in slottsparken so either same place as last year or same people as last year. Partially because I wanted a different view for the pictures and slightly for the more interesting speakers I chose socialdemokraterna. This time I doubled checked the time so I wouldn't arrive there hours before they did. The plan was to be there half an hour early eat my lunch read some and then listen to the speeches. So all that was left was finding recipes and waiting for the day.

The day before I made meat pie for dinner and two small ones for the picnic, I then left them cooling in the fridge.

Morning of I bought some ingredients and then had to figure out how much gelatin can replace 1,25 oz of isinglass halved for the blancmange. One of the joys of working with old recipes. Once it was done I realized that it was eleven o'clock meaning it would have just two hours to set which is less than I would like. Still it was too late to do much about it more than putting one in the freezer. Then I set to packing my picnic basket and getting dressed in a floofy dress and Victorian inspired makeup. 

To let the blancmange it have as much time as possible I left a bit late but I made it in time anyway and had plenty of space to set up even if there were a few people there already. Like last year weather was very nice sunny and 20 degrees.  

The wineglass while adding an air of sophistication was a mistake considering the uneven ground. Still the pies and the blancmange was excellent and had solidified by the time I ate it.  

This years book was Greek philosophy with Epikretos the art of life. The basic theme of which is ,sometimes bad things happens but that is not a reason to loose your composure. I'll write more about it in a different post. 

One and a half hour later I decide to move. I have eaten all my food and someone with the worlds smelliest cigar had sat down upwind from me. So the plan had been to eat and read for half an hour before it all began but checking the party website it said they wouldn't arrive for a while I suspect they have changed the time since I checked last. Also there was things to check out and I wanted to be in a good position to actually see the speeches. 

I didn't actually see them I took pictures but they are mostly of crowds. The speeches wee fine about what I expected but it's an election next year so I thought it would be good to know what they wanted since this is a party that I might vote for. It was a bit fun though when one of them misspoke and said they were with Tesla and got laughed at by the crowd. 

At this point I was starting to worry about sunburn and packed up and left.

How to become the dark lord and die trying by Django Wexler

 This is another one of the books I bought mostly for the title and I'm happy to report that the title match the content and tone. 

Plot

Davi dies being tortured in the dark lords dungeon. Then she wakes up in floating in a pond, just as expected after all this has happened a few hundred times before. It's all part of the time-loop she is caught in. Normally she would go to the kingdom seduce the prince and then rallying the kingdom's armies to fight against the dark lord when one inevitably arises. Before loosing, dying and ending up right back in the pond. 

This time she has a new plan rather than wait for the dark lord to appear she will be the dark lord. 

My thoughts

It's not a book for the faint of heart after all there are quite a bit of gore, sex and the aforementioned torture. Davi also dies quite a few times. Before she manages to convince a small band of orcs to join her and becomes her minions. In general the tone reminded me of Deadpool with fourth wall breaks, violence and humor. But I didn't mind it. I'm less sure about the turns of phrases or references. Basically Davi is from earth but has been in this fantasy world for long (a few hundred loops most lasting a few years) enough to have forgotten most of her life there. However she use English phrases frequently which the wilders doesn't understand or recognize. One would think that after a few lifetimes spent there she would have changed her speech. So how she remembers and how much she says she remembers don't really add up. I know this is a very nit picky thing but it's one of those things that once you notice it you can't stop.

The world-building is one of the strongest points and the conflict between the humans and creatures of the wilds (orcs, humanoid animals, and other things) have nuanced reasons. based on the humans expanding their holdings and the finite supply of Thaumite driving it. Thaumite being stones humans need to do magic and wilders need to live and reproduce. As Davi travels through the wilds she meet different creatures befriending some killing others and adding to her hoard she gains a new understanding of the people she has always just seen as her enemies and their way of life. 

As for the traveling that's most of the plot. In order to become the dark lord she needs to be chosen at the convocation a gathering in a ruined city sacred to the old ones. From previous lives she knows it happens roughly two months after she is reborn Wich is not a lot of time to gather minions or cross a mountain range and miles of wilderness. The plot is the obstacles on the way from cliffs that needs to be scaled, supply issues and hostile locals. Still they are varied and interesting enough to keep me reading. Having a main character who is kind of immortal does lower the stakes. But it was reasonably engaging the book explained why she couldn't just start over when things got difficult. In general I liked it and will probably read the sequel some time.

Painting jars for cat food

For various reasons I keep some of my cat food in two tubs and because I open them several times a day they mostly stay on the counter. Which this is a problem since it's just two old peanut butter tubs that I have written their names on and it's just not very pretty. Actually it's quite ugly and makes the counter looking cluttered. So something had to be done. The easiest option would be to move them into a cabinet, I have more space than I know what to do with but I know that it would only work for a few hours until I was going to to feed them again and then they would be right back where they started. So if I cant move them the next option is to at least make them nicer. I first looked into buy some aesthetic jars and though I did find some, there were none that I really liked. I also had the idea that they should be different (so I can tell them apart) but still matching and it was proving bit difficult. In the end I decided to make my own. 

I have a pair of pickle jars that are of a decent size and figured they should be fairly easy to paint.

Test one 

I decided to begin with a small scale test, mostly to check if acrylic paint even sticks to glass. I didn't put that much thought into the pattern and just free handed a night sky. It went on quite well specifically the black paint went on smooth and satisfying. Though some colors did need a second coat I'm quite satisfied with the visual result. As for the durability I have some concerns.

Even the next day it's...not sticky but something. Also I can scrape it of with my finger nails (I tried this on the bottom where it's uneven). I'll give it a week or two and see if it gets better. If not I'm considering covering it in lacquer. I do need to buy some anyway to fix a chair. 

Update one, a few days later

The lacquer did not work. Rather it dissolves the paint to the point that the brush I'm painting on the lacquer with rubs it of. 

Update two, There's been a slight delay to this. A bag if rice I opened was made of some kind of flimsy plastic that rips if you even looks at it. So now all of my previously empty jars are now filled with rice. It's not a major problem and does give me more time to consider the design and test things.

Test two

Can I paint metal lids with acrylic paint. A fair number of mason jars regularly pass through my kitchen but since most have ugly branded lids I don't keep that many. One of the jars I was considering using have lid like that and I would like to change it. 

All in all it worked fine. I have trouble coming up with a design so I just made it blue. With one coat I can still make out the label but a second coat did the trick. Though it's still uneven.

Test one part two

There is of course paint made for glass but they tend to be a bit transparent which I don't want since the whole plan is to hide the cat food.

 At this time I remember that there is a decent chance that my cats will realize there is food in the jars, knock them over and break them. I'm not willing to risk them eating food mixed with shards of glass and so I will find some other storage for my cat food and for now I'll leave this project. I'm considering getting some pretty metal tea containers. 

Satakatraya by Bhartrhari

This is a book of classic Indian poetry from the 5th century CE. I'm reading a Swedish translation of them. This version contains 183 poems though there appears to be some discussion about which of a number of poems should be part of the collection I'll link to the Wikipedia article for those who wants to know more. 

The poems/words of wisdom are mostly about the evils of riches, luxury or women and about the inherent superiority of Asceticism. But there are several about the value of being a good person.

My thoughts

Would knowing about Indian myths, symbols and philosophy help understanding these poems? Yes.

Do I have anything more than the barest idea about those things? No but that's not going to stop me. The book do have some helpful asterisks to explain the symbolism of the various plants, animals and gods. Which is good since there are a lot of those several of the poems are of the format creating a simile between something in nature and some human behavior. 

In general I was underwhelmed sure there were some poems I enjoyed like the one that is a fair description of the Dunning-Kruger effect. But my largest take away was how similar the poems all were to each other. This might have been partially my own fault I don't think you are meant to read them all in one go. Also most show a worldview that I don't subscribe to, mainly the sexism.It does the, women's only value is in their beauty but they bring ruin to men, thing. But also the asceticism, sleeping on the ground does not automatically make you a better person.

All in all I didn't like it which isn't helped by me not really feeling like reading it in the first place. Basically I'm reading a lot for my studies right now so I don't feel like reading anything difficult to relax. So I picked this one because each page is just one poem. Forgetting that short doesn't mean easy.  

Save money #3 Cook based on what you have.

This is primarily a way to reduce food waste though it can lower the weeks expenses they will simply be moved to later. That being said things don't stay fresh for ever so it's important to prioritize eating things you have. It's also just easier you are going to cook anyway and using what you have rather than buying ingredients and then throwing out things you had because they went bad is more work. In a perfect world you would avoid this by having a meal planed that takes care of all this but lets face it no one's that organized. 

The easiest way is that before you decide what you want to cook you check your fridge and cupboards see what there is. Mostly the fridge actually since the food there has the shortest shelf-life. Also by limiting your choices it can make it easier to come up with ideas. Easiest is to just google one of two ingredients and recipe I promise you are going to find several. Even better if you find one that lets you utilize other things you have. This is also why its important to know what you have and to regularly clean out cupboard and other food storage.

I don't have that much food at home in general. But as an example I have some celery and broccoli left over since the everything can be frozen post. But also some frozen heavy cream. Googling the ingredients got me among other things broccoli pie, checking the recipe it is mostly things I already have at home. Though I might need to buy more eggs and I do have a lot of cheese that needs to be eaten.

All in all it was quite a nice pie. 

The fangs of freelance by Drew Hayes

Plot

Everyone's favorite vampire accountant is back in this fourth book in the Fred series. At the end of the last book Bloody Aquisitions Fred and friends created the new vampire house and Fred signed up as a freelance asset for The agency. Hoping to gain their protection against the encroaching house of Turva. 

Bureaucratic wheels turn slowly but now the agency is calling on Fred to fulfill his end of the deal. But before he can officially work for them he is taken to their headquarters for a skill assessment. Along with agents Arch and Krystal who decided to tag along Fred will meet not only His prospective boss Roderick but also run into September Windbrook brother of June Windbrook and Krystals ex fiancee. 

My thoughts

Did I actually manage to make guy going on a job interview sound exciting? I think so. Like the others its a collection of chronological short stories. And the first is literally just Fred going for a job interview and meeting some of Krystals coworkers. The other stories follows Fred and co going on assignments, some for The Agency others helping out friends. Of course in a world of  magic assignments for accountants can still involve lovecraftian wizard ghosts in a crumbling castles and other dangers. 

There is less of an over arching plot to this one but there is a theme though one in the background of the plots. It's about how moving forward and not stagnating becomes more of a conscious choice as an immortal or undead creature. But also what happens for those that don't make do that choice. Although sort of immortal Fred and his friends are all quite young by supernatural standards. Fred and Krystal are in their ... early thirties? Neil and Albert are nineteen. Bubba and Amy are probably older than Fred but I don't think by much. So this is all a bit new to them.

All in all it's good but it is mostly Fred doing more or less accountant things. I'm not saying this as a bad thing it's just a bit of calm and return to a new normal after the last book and before the next.