Noah Krohn (he/him) @monkeyninja@mastodon.cloud

I finally got around to trying #sousvide mashed potatoes and I’m not sure I can go back to boiling my potatoes. This was too easy and too good. Not that making mashed potatoes is all that onerous a task but this was even easier and the flavors and textures were superior. I think this is likely doable with simmering water & a sous vide safe ziplock so I’ll experiment with that and report back but for now, if you’ve got a sous vide setup, do yourself a favor and make mashed potatoes with it.

Just setup an Inkarnate account to create some #dnd maps. It's been *way* too long since I played or DMed. Part of me wants to do a 2nd edition game. That's the part of my brain still in his twenties, running a Beowulf cluster with 3 old Sega Dreamcast whilst staying up until 3 AM. The rest of me thinks I should keep it easy and just use a modern system like any sane human. That's the late forties crotchety DevOps manager who uses Linux package managers and goes to sleep at a reasonable hour.

While #verification and #verified accounts are less a thing here, proving you are who you say you are is not a particularly onerous task. If you’re a #keybase user this is natively supported. For your website, simply add a link anywhere on the page to your Mastodon profile and then add that as one of your metadata references (see my profile as an example). I’ve noticed trailing slashes on the url will sometimes cause the verification to fail so if yours doesn’t work, remove the slash to fix it.

I have said this before but I think the biggest missed opportunity for #vegan food in the US was in starting with healthy foods. You want the average American to give it a go? Feed them my vegan biscuits and gravy. It tastes unhealthy. It *feels* unhealthy. You need a nap afterwards. That’s how you do it. With all the burger and cake alternatives out there now, I think we’re on the right track.

If there are #genz folks reading my posts, thank you for coming out in force to #vote and #voteblue.

One of the most horrible realizations for me yesterday was accepting that I was actively afraid that if the Republican incumbent in my district lost, there was a not insignificant chance that an idiot with a gun would roll up to the polling place (which happens to be the zergling's school) claiming the election was rigged. I hate this country so much sometimes.

Go #voteblue. Every #midterm #election is important but this one more so.

Another #newbie note for folks. I definitely see most folks immediately getting the utility of a #hashtag to allow a post to be found across instances, but remember, it can be something nonsensical you create in order for friends from other sites to find each other. For example, you let your friends know to create a post with the hashtag #ognork and now suddenly you have a way to easily find each other's content cross-instance. One part content-sharing, one part #shibboleth.

My tastes with #coffee are such an odd hodgepodge. I adore richly complicated beans that have subtle notes you only pick up on if they're brewed *just* right, but I also have such a fondness for a fresh and uncomplicated cup from a diner or hole-in-the-wall restaurant. There is something uniquely pleasing to coffee whose only note is coffee.

It is proven! I am monkeyninja on Keybase: https://keybase.io/monkeyninja/sigchain#d615187821bb925b09d381829afd5e6877549a46b7c8739c91e96e48995cdee90f

It's been quite a learning experience for me personally watching some of the younger #newcomers and #newbie struggle with how to leverage the #fediverse. I grokked it pretty intrinsically because it's built on the bones of the Internet with which I grew up. I don't think I made that connection before now. I hope the technical antediluvians like me aren't gatekeeping. I don't speak for everyone obviously but I'm really happy so many new folks have found their way here. If you have questions, ask.

Watching the debacle unfold on #twitter is kind of like watching fans of crypto learn why we have centralized banking.

I am compassionate by the way towards the #newbie folks who leveraged Twitter to build a personal brand, career, friendships, etc. In the exodus from a platform, I think for many it’s too easy to be dismissive of the “social” in “social media” not to mention the very real business impact this has on many. I’ve no idea if the influx of new voices signals a boost to the #fediverse in a way we’ve not seen before or not, but I do genuinely hope the new folks feel welcome.

You know...I really should have posted that #recipe in metric as well, sorry about that folks. If you were looking at https://mastodon.cloud/web/statuses/109297106447698499, here's the metric amounts as well:

45 grams / 1/3 cup sour cream
2.5 ml / 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 large egg
5 ml / 1 tsp vanilla extract
240 grams / 2 cups flour
100 grams / 1/2 cup sugar
100 grams / 1/2 cup dried cherries
113 grams / 1/2 cup butter
5 ml / 1 tsp baking powder
2.5 ml / 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 177C / 350F / gas mark 4

Form a circle with the dough on parchment paper (this will be sticky) and then cut into 8 triangles
Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for 15-20 minutes until the scones are lightly browned on top
Move to cooling rack for 15 minutes and then enjoy

These pair well with a nice malty Assam or Ceylon

A scones #recipe to start your Sunday:
1/3 cup sour cream
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F
Mix sour cream with baking soda and set aside
Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt then cut in butter
Beat egg and vanilla and combine with sour cream
Add cherries to dry ingredients, mix, then add wet ingredients
Mix just until combined