It's an icon party!

This was the most popular choice in the poll, and funny enough, I haven't encountered yet a person who didn't like it, even when initially sceptical towards oatmeal or apples. (Well, unless they have allergies, of course.) I'm going to use °C and metric measurements for the recipe, but converters are easy to find online and also it's not one of those where you have to be super accurate, so that shouldn't be a problem.

What you need:

- oatmeal (I buy the 1 kg package which lasts for several meals)
- 2 to 3 apples
- sugar
- cinnamon
- a bar of butter (I use the 250 g bars -- you'll definitely need less than a pound)
- vanilla ice cream

and a greased baking pan, casserole dish, or similar (if it's fireproof and somewhat flat it'll work).

( Read more... )

Serve fresh out of the oven, in small bowls, with some ice cream on top. Makes for a nice hot-cold contrast. Oh, and you eat the cake with spoons.

Additional info:

- Makes you feel full extremely quickly. I've had huge people who are big eaters laugh in my face when I served them the "tiny" dish, only to see them declare defeat after their second bowl.
- The dough can be kept in the fridge to use it up later, and also works great as a muesli breakfast substitute.

You can't really mess up this one. Trust me.

Do you know of any video games ("with nice graphics" would be a bonus) where there's a transformation sequence of a MALE character where the camera pans lovingly and repeatedly over the guy's ass and bare chest for what feels like ten minutes? And he wears, I dunno, a thong and a few strings of strategically placed floss to cover his nipples.

You don't have to guess why I'm asking.

A discussion on Dreamwidth asked for the steps you take when updating -- what you use / pick / do, and in what order. The interesting part is how it made me view the update page more closely than usual and I consciously noticed all the things I don't use. On InsaneJournal, these are:

( Cut for those not interested )

As for updating, I more or less follow the modules in the way they are ordered from top to bottom, i.e. first the subject line and icon, then the entry text, checking it in the preview window, then adding tags, and posting it.

What annoys me a little is that I often have to look up my tags in a new tab, because there's neither an auto-complete feature nor a direct link (to the tags page) on the update page. It would save me some hassle.

What about you?

♣ I might participate in this Sunday's fandom chat again. I had issues with the first one, simply because chats in groups tend to make me feel overwhelmed and my energy drains quickly. But I like the idea in itself and I think I'm ready for a new try. The chat is being held via AIM and open for all, so if some of you would join me (us), that'd be nice.

♣ I feel tired. I have a light cold -- definitely not swine flu, as I don't have any other symptoms. I'm just sniffling and feeling a bit murky. Fighting it with lots of rest and cream cake. (^^) But it's making it hard to cook. I wanted to make noodles with a mushroom-broccoli cream sauce, actually, but instead I just fried the mushrooms together with some cheese. Definitely beats having no breakfast. Will buy new food later.
Other recipes I already tried in the last two weeks or so were the ones mentioned in my cooking poll -- nut-honey waffles with fried apples, noodles with meat-tomato sauce, baked bread with cheese cream... plus butter-vanilla cookies and a Moussaka. A Moussaka is basically a casserole with fried eggplants, minced meat with onions, a cheese-tomato sauce, and extra cheese on top. The recipe mentioned "skim[ming] the fat before serving", so I was, like, oh this is possibly going to be oily and stuff. I definitely wasn't prepared for skimming off a small dessert bowl of pure fat. And it was still really oily. It tasted fine, but the texture made me feel slightly sick. I think the problem was caused by a) the sauce and fried meat, b) the eggplants because these had to be fried in oil as well and they soaked it up like nobody's business. Next time I'm going to do it differently somehow.

♣ Upcoming: the recipe that won the poll (Apple-Oatmeal Cake With Vanilla Ice Cream) and another two issues of Nachbarschaftsschau (I'll start with a German edition first).

♣ I also might try to answer a number of old comments this weekend. Here's the explanatory post, just as a reminder (if needed).

This is a bit complicated to explain.

My process of transitioning to my real gender has reached an important point -- now it's not just about gender presentation, therapy, or a bit of paperwork anymore, now it's also biological.

I've had times when I felt depressed, jealous, or oversensitive when I read about other people's transition process -- not because I disliked them or thought they didn't deserve it, let's be clear on that! -- it was because I couldn't move forward on my own journey and was powerless to do anything about it (laws, medical requirements, etc.), so I didn't feel like I could deal with the topic. Therefore I retreated (up to a certain point).

Now my position has changed, and I could make others feel just as bad as I did back then; a role reversal of sorts.

Fact is, I feel the need to write about my transitioning, and of course I have that right (it's my journal, after all). Additionally, it could be of interest to others, although not all of my situation here in Germany will be comparable to other countries and regions. So this journal will include more content that is not just about trans issues in general, but my personal changes, problems, and successes during transition. (Not sure yet whether I'm gonna file it under the "transgender" or "life / meatspace / socialising" tags, or create a new one.)

I'm going to use cuts and try to give at least vague hints about what's underneath, so people can decide for themselves if they want to read it. (Eta: I'm not going to create an extra filter for these posts, as I don't like extra anything, actually -- I'm very much a WYSIWYG journaler.)

If you are in a difficult situation yourself where you feel you have to defriend me or filter me off your reading list for a while to take care of yourself, I understand. I really do. All I'd like (if it's not too much of a bother) is a short message or comment -- private message, email, reply to this entry [comments are screened]--, so that I am informed. Don't feel bad about it. You can always come back later and I'll welcome you with open arms like no time had passed.

That's it, I think.

5x09 "The Real Ghostbusters" - A fan tricks Dean and Sam into attending a "Supernatural" fan convention.

After seeing what else they did re: integrating "funny" stabs at/parodies of fans and fandom into the show, I'm not going to watch this. Never mind that I fucking hate the fact they created that meta level on the show in the first place. It's giving me similar feelings like when Stephen King wrote himself into the Dark Tower series. Only with the added nauseous feeling that "uh-oh, these people think this is YOU".

Dammit, SPN.

(No, this is not a proper meta entry.)

... for all the well-wishes re: doctor's appointment. I survived.

Still wishing the doc wouldn't make me feel either stupid or like I'm wasting her time. ( Cut for trans-related stuff that ties into cis privilege )

Dept. DW: I still feel honored when someone gives me access. Hello! *waves*

I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow in nine hours. Endocrinologist, to be precise. Of course, I dealt with my nervousness by postponing sleep and writing that long-ass not-quite-meta entry on "Heroes". I'm stupid like that.

Sigh.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Entry contains 1. musings that are broader and don't require following the show, 2. musings that require following the show, 3. minor or vague spoilers for S1 and idle speculation for S2, because I'm only at ep. 1x11 or so. (I'm ALWAYS late, people.) However, the wiki I occasionally link to is definitely spoilery when you read more of it.

( Cut for length. )