TIL that a Turkish developer built 732 faux fairytale castles near hot springs in the Black Sea region of Türkiye, but the development sits uncompleted and abandoned. Weird.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burj_Al_Babas
#WeirdEstate
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Bellycan
@pelicangut@aus.social
mastodon 4.7.2If ye cannae see the bottom, dinnae wade.
Lake Macquarie, NSW, Australia
352 Followers
233 Following
50 Posts
Joined October 28, 2022
I've known China is big, and modern, for a long time. But yesterday I really got a feel for just how big, the true scale of things, via the latest Saintcavish video on Youtube.
Christopher visits Chongqing to look at its Hotpot Industrial Complex. It's something that just has to be seen to comprehend.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_vDjouiCrk
#SaintCavish #China #Chongqing #Hotpot
Inside Chongqing’s Massive Hot Pot Industry
I have completed my finger strength exercises for today, by which I mean that I have squeezed as much Maesri green curry paste as I can from its 400g bag into the wee plastic tub it comes in.
Another bag awaits, for the Maesri kaeng par curry paste. That can wait until tomorrow.
#Maesri
"I'm too special to use a content warning. Blah blah blah."
OK. Fuck you. Blocked.
/subtoot
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@medieval_illuminations@mastodon.social One of these is doctored. Is the original image the haemorrhoids or the arse trumpet?
After lunch we had a walk around the ocean baths at Newcastle NSW. Here's a bunch of sooty oystercatchers settling in for the night on the rocks just past the baths.
Just after this, with the sun dipping, we saw dolphins working the waters around the baths. At least four, likely five or more. Always a wee thrill!
Ridiculously cute wagon spotted in Newcastle AU today. It appears to have a Subaru logo on it. Short, compact, capable.
I finally cracked and bought some soba (buckwheat noodles). I haven't had them in a couple of decades, but hadn't bought any because they don't come in small bundles (~40g) and DW is gluten free and soba are not* GF. But bugger it, I'm a big boy, I can split a 90g bundle.
Used them in today's lunch noodle soup, very nice. Happy to have them in the mix again.
- back in the noughties, New Yen Yen (Chinese grocer) in Chinatown, Sydney had some Korean buckwheat noodles that were gluten free: rice flour replacing wheat flower. That lasted less than a year, sadly.
Last week we finished watching Frauds on ABC. Hectic and very funny. A wicked nest of vipers working together, mostly, for a big heist. Fantastic talent in Suranne Jones and Jodie Whittaker, with great supporting actors. Strong recommend.
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/frauds
https://trakt.tv/shows/frauds
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt35624850/
"Interest Rates Rise in Australia Because Some Fuckwit in America Wasn’t Hugged Enough as a Child" – @theshovel@mastodon.au
https://theshovel.com.au/2026/05/06/interest-rates-rise-in-australia-because-donald-trump/
Somebody on this place shared a link to an absolutely awesome Youtube about birders, and we've just finished watching it over the course of a few days. Highly recommended for anyone, birder or not.
It's called Listers: A Glimpse Into Extreme Birdwatching.
It's hilarious. It's full of great bird shots across the USA. It's an epic story of two brothers and their journey.
It's somewhere between a Christopher Guest mockumentary, Chris Langham's People Like Us, and a nature documentary.
Rated M for a mature audience; includes strong language, nudity, drug references, and I bet you've never seen a documentary about birders that has all of that.
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It reminds me of the book about the giant tortoise I read years ago. Every second chapter had some new character "discovering" them and writing in their journal something like "really big, very tasty".
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@mike@social.chinwag.org @futzle@old.mermaid.town @joannaholman@aus.social protein enhanced, to collect the tactical food tax too
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@joannaholman@aus.social I've met cheap pork sausages that could be described as plant based.
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@joannaholman $6 cast-iron enamelled pot from the Op Shop. Replaces a 3 litre pot with a flimsy handle for long-simmered things. Will be using it tonight, last used it two nights ago for the goat meat that went into a goat tehari. F'awesome.
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@futzle @backupbear they make good bookmarks, and you can just leave them in the book and open another book, safe in the knowledge you'll have a bookmark for it.
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@backupbear @futzle I was going to say you pipped me by a year, but then I remembered an earlier set from 1992…
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@sortius @joannaholman I can't think of much else than a rugby tackle bag. Bring the kids!
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@lalalian@aus.social I love the dedication to the characters. Nicely consistent, dependable, all the way to Kristin's coffee.
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@uep@timeloop.cafe @futzle@old.mermaid.town @joannaholman@aus.social what will the mushrooms have been grown on? Their little hyphae threading through a base of what? Ha! Plant based.
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@aj@gts.sadauskas.id.au @mast0d0nphan@beige.party @joannaholman@aus.social frankly I'd be happy with a sappy Superman reboot where he punches Nazis
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@backupbear how are the paper clips going? I still have plenty from 2002 if you need a top up.
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@backupbear mine are the classic plain steel and I reckon about the same number remaining.
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@joannaholman might be better off with a stash of sprouting beans. Good for B vitamins, also has C, some minerals. Shelf stable.
Lots of things can be sprouted, but easy ones are:
• mung beans
• urad (little black beans, Indian grocers)
• green lentils
Generally good to stock a range of legumes, they are shelf stable. Have a pressure cooker to cook whole (soaked) beans quickly.
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@Dangerous_beans @coolandnormal introduces tempeh spore to the tofu, makes it all go fluffy :sickos1: 
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@futzle@old.mermaid.town I also love what we've done with postcodes.
Scroll up from the External Territories for the lovely exceptions to the rules.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postcodes_in_Australia#External_territories
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@uep@timeloop.cafe @futzle@old.mermaid.town @joannaholman@aus.social well, shiitake are grown on tree logs…
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@stilgherrian my father and my mother in law, boomers, saw rice as dessert food only. Swayed late in life, but uncomfortably.
Dad also considered swedes as cattle fodder, was surprised I cooked them to eat. (Or grated and fermented in kimchi)
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@MarkAsser@beige.party I hear that pomegranate juice can be good for that, with its vitamin C and polyphenols.
Certainly popular in Central Asia, and I reckon this guy knows how to put his back into it.
Edit: dammit, forgot to add the time parameter…
https://youtu.be/OmsLI8MEFM8?t=1924
China–Tajikistan Border Bazaar: Reaching a Uyghur Market by Horse Cart
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@joannaholman the rest off the series is on iView. Such a fun way to learn about stuff!
https://iview.abc.net.au/show/dr-karl-s-how-things-work
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@ellane seaweed always a good idea, I reckon 🙂
Dried wakame breaks up easily and is nice in a noodle soup (daily here). Laver even easier. Toasted nori (laver) is a really nice snack too! East Asian grocers stock them. Good sources of minerals.
@joannaholman
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@backupbear and now I am reminded of Andy the robot from Quark (1977).
Andy: mank you.
Mudd: thank you!
Andy: you're melcome.
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@backupbear it pains me that there are still some good writers there, e.g. @thecontinent but I will put up with it just for them. Basically only them.