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comment by OftenBen
OftenBen  ·  3132 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Pubski: August 10, 2016

Stealing flacs subheadings because subheadings are neat

The Future

More grad school applications have been submitted. At some point I'm going to have to stop applying and actually pick a program, if for no other reason than applications are starting to get expensive. I dislike having to give people money in order to give them more money.

Related note, which I'm intentionally downplaying, I think I can start to envision what my life might be like if I wasn't constantly at war with myself.

Love Life

For probably the second time in my life, I went on a first date and enjoyed myself. I had a nice conversation with someone I think is interesting, and maybe I'll do it again. I'm talking to someone else too, who seems even more interesting. I hope to enjoy myself if/when I actually meet up with her.

Summer Feelings

I recently learned that I have to make new friends. Beyond the 'I've lived in this city for a year now and don't have people who live close by to hang out with regularly' thing I also discovered that I am no longer any kind of priority to some old friends. In the time we've been apart, they've apparently forgotten that I'm physically limited/unhealthy. And I need to be able to say 'This person, these behaviors are not good for me or my mental health. I shouldn't be on the defensive around people I'm supposed to trust. I should not have to pretend to be something I'm not in order to avoid ridicule.' I'm not going to actively cut anyone off, but I'm done initiating things with people who can't moderate their behavior. I'm going to include a quote because of how much it stung me. Alcohol was involved, the person who said this doesn't remember saying it. I was stone cold sober.

    "Dude, I tell you you're going to be fine because that's what I tell my dog whose dying of cancer. There's nothing else I can say."

MISC

My kombucha turned out well, which makes me happy. The tomatoes in my planter aren't doing well, but the herbs seem to be thriving.





elizabeth  ·  3132 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    My kombucha turned out well

Great to hear that! Ours wasn't great: didn't account for the fact that it was a very hot week and 7 days was too much in this weather. Turned out too sour :(

Have you tried adding flavors to it yet?

OftenBen  ·  3132 days ago  ·  link  ·  

That's unfortunate :[ I was told to think of it more like a pet than a beverage. I kept mine in a cupboard next to the fridge.

After the 10 day ferment, I added crushed lemons and ginger root, let them steep for an additional day, then filtered it.

I'd like to try with green tea next time.

elizabeth  ·  3132 days ago  ·  link  ·  

One thing that worked quite well tho was a tip given to me by our Russian friend: after the 7 days we filtered it and bottled it with a couple of raisins. It ferments some more and adds some nice carbonation :)

OftenBen  ·  3132 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Hmm. Does it change the flavor at all?

Mine had a little bubble to it, not a lot. I ascribed that to the 10 day versus 14 day ferment though, rather than any dearth of sugar.

elizabeth  ·  3132 days ago  ·  link  ·  

It made it slightly sweeter but added carbonation for sure. It's an important factor for me because I feel I've slowly been cultivating a soft drink addiction after Asia (you get sick of water when you drink about 3 litres every day) and I feel it would be a great/healthier alternative. I've heard of simply mixing it with carbonated water after, but I don't want to dilute the taste too much.

I think we'll be firing up our 2nd batch today. We'll add a bit more sugar and taste it after 5 days this time.

It's strange that my friend told me about a 6-10 days ferment not 10-14... What ratio sugar/tea do you put?

OftenBen  ·  3132 days ago  ·  link  ·  

I make a 2 gallon batch, 1 cup of sugar for every gallon of water. Pardon the Imperial measurements.

I'll try the raisin thing with a bottle of the next batch. Does 'a couple' literally mean 2 raisins?

elizabeth  ·  3132 days ago  ·  link  ·  

We put 4-5 for a half a litre bottle. But I'm no expert on this ;)

thundara  ·  3132 days ago  ·  link  ·  

    More grad school applications have been submitted. At some point I'm going to have to stop applying and actually pick a program, if for no other reason than applications are starting to get expensive. I dislike having to give people money in order to give them more money.

What field are the programs in? Public Health?

And fwiw, I kept the numbers on my application and all-in-all, it costed ~$800 for me to apply to grad school. Which felt pretty good compared to my friends and family in med school, which costed each of them many thousands of dollars. I'm not allowed to ask the total costs involved in residency applications. Coincidentally, it's also much less than cost of raw ingredients for a summer's worth of kombucha in my undergrad's co-op.

OftenBen  ·  3132 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Public Health, Epidemiology, related stuff.

I'm trying to figure out how to best apply my skillset/interests to help the patient population I'm interested in.

Also I'd be lying if I didn't mention that I'm also doing some earnings comparisons.