black sesame rice krispie treats

basically the nyt recipe, but slightly varied

2 tsp toasted sesame oil, plus more for greasing
4 or 5 tablespoons grams unsalted butter (1 stick plus another tablespoon)
1/4 (or 1/3) cup black sesame seeds
1 (12-ounce/340-gram) bag mini marshmallows, divided
3/4tsp coarse kosher salt or 1tsp flaky kosher salt
5 cups Rice Krispies cereal

grease 9"x9" baking pan with sesame oil

brown the butter

reduce heat to low and add sesame seeds

cook, stirring constantly, until the seeds smell toasty, 1 to 2 minutes

turn off heat, stir in mini marshmallows (minus a handful) and salt, about 5 minutes

stir in the 2 teaspoons sesame oil

add the cereal and remaining marshmallows, quickly stir until evenly coated

lightly press into greased pan

wait until completely cool to portion

cinamon rice krispie treats

rough recipe for socow fundraiser. note that this is easier if you make two batches of rice krispie treats, whatever the flavor. that way you can get a 10oz bag, plus a 16oz bag of mini marshmallows and use them across two batches. plus, a single box of rice krispies cereal yields at least two batches of treats anyway. (and everyone knows that this cereal sucks when eaten as intended, with milk)

1 stick (4 tablespoon, 1/4 cup) butter
3 cups cinnamon toast crunch
2 cups rice krispies
>10oz mini marshmallows
handful more mini marshmallows
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp cinnamon
>1/4 tsp salt

grease 8"x8" dish

slightly crunch up 2 cups of the cinnamon toast crush to make smaller (otherwise they're too big compared to the rice krispies) 

brown the butter

add the >10oz mini marshmallows

add non cereal ingredients 

when marshmallows are melted, add cereals

start to stir and add in remaining mini marshmallows

press lightly into greased dish

wait until completely cool to portion 

 

reference recipes were from cookies & cups and also 365 days of baking and more

 

ex machina

i recently re-watched alex garland's 2014 ex machina.

something i thought interesting, but also super obvious, was that OF COURSE you can fuck the robots. of COURSE a man, especially that man, would make them sexy and fuckable. tho i guess i appreciate that he made them capable of "enjoying" the sex? but i think most men would prefer that even if many don't put in much more effort to make that happen.

so would a woman make a fuckable robot? i think probably not. and, actually, i think most women would make another woman robot, rather than making a man. i can't decide if that's because people tend to find women less threatening than men, of if we find it easier to order them around. (like how most digital personal assistants have women voices. [this may be because the west traditionally has women secretaries, nurses, assistants, etc.])

anyway, i'm glad ava got out. and while i did feel bad for caleb, like, what was he going to do with her anyway? 

Impressions: slc

much more liberal than I expected (tho, really, it is the biggest city in the state, so of course it's going to be more liberal?)

people are very friendly!! and seemingly genuinely so!

so many big letters in mountains (usually first letter of neighboring city)

actual spring weather lol (rain, big swings in temps)

few porch lights

half basement homes (i'm guessing to keep warm in the winter, and cool in the summer)

south of slc, it's new tract housing as far as the eye can see in the same four shades of gray, ugh

can wave at pedestrian crossings instead of pushing the button

many personalized license plates

flashing yellow for left turn yield lights

so many local print publications

no glass recycling in residential collections, instead has dedicated drop off locations

not many people bring own reusable bags, etc.

lots of local artist sticker [gumball] machines 

 

lots of [city sponsored] murals

 

lots of free, local publications: slug mag, utah voices, etc. 

 

great street naming system (as least in the center of SLC because of the church, which is the center of it all)

 

love how the state capitol building is situated in the city. it's on top of the hill, at the very top of state street. when driving up state street, for at least a couple miles, you can see the capitol building and it's such a lovely view.

 

also love the general view from the city. it's in a valley and when looking around, about 85% of the time you can see a backdrop of mountains

 

love the beehive iconography all over the place :) including it being used on their state higshway signs! (speaking of which, did you know that the california state highway shape represent the spades / shovels used by miners during the gold rush?)

loyalties

i've been wondering about this lately, because j and i are friends, and i've never had a boyfriend be friends with my best friend's boyfriend before. so the question i have is, who do you owe your loyalties to?

let's say the boys hang out. your boy comes back and tells you something you know your best friend would not like. could be serious, or maybe not. do you always keep that between you and your boyfriend, or do you at some point tell your girlfriend? 

the discovery

the discovery is a netflix movie from 2017. in it, a scientist discovers proof of an "afterlife." that is, some part of us goes somewhere after we die. he isn't sure what it is that goes, or where it goes to, but millions of people kill themselves anyway.

which i think is crazy. because even outside the "what" it is that goes, "where" is more important, no? lots of religious people believe that if you kill yourself, you don't go to heaven (or its equivalent), even if you would have if you'd just died. wouldn't that be the same in this the discovery world?

i feel like there may be a slight increase in suicides, but not that many more. the biggest change would be more religious people. and that the religious would be more religious.

another interesting idea is that murder may become more prevalent. because you're not ending their life, you're just... transferring them elsewhere. this makes a lot more sense to me. i think mercy killings would spike like a mofo. not sure about regular murder though, because it's not as if people who would but don't currently commit murder only don't do it because they're worried the victim has no afterlife. plus, there would still be legal consequences to murder. there would probably be more murder, but only a small increase. 

in case you cared: the movie plot summary