Good to get confirmation - I cut around it and will see how it goes. If it is a goner, at least now I know what to do better next time 😔

The YA series Uglies will always be one of my favorites. I remember reading it as a tween and not knowing quite how to describe it; a friend called it a dystopian novel, which is true, but… it didn’t feel quite “right”, or at least, like the complete truth. The setting is utopian, bordering on solarpunk; no more worrying about climate change or overconsumption - we’ve fixed the climate, everything we own is infinitely recyclable in minutes, nature is healing! - the only thing we need to worry about is looking good at the party. But, it turns out, living in a society where the most important thing in the world is being beautiful - even if everyone is beautiful - is maybe… not great? Almost by design?

It was written to be a critique of plastic surgery, but I think there’s so much to dig into even as an adult in 2023. It probably lit a nice rebellious fire in teenage me, questioning authority and the seemingly unquestionable rules of the world. The relationships between the characters are still fascinating to me, and I’m still mesmerized by the beautiful, terrible world they live in. Even though the writing style is very simple to be easily digestible to early readers, the ideas the book explores are as complicated as you let them be. Surveillance, nature vs. nurture, institutionalized self-hatred, autonomy, sustainability, forced metamorphosis… there’s a lot to unpack.

Fair enough that for higher-level cooking, it probably isn’t nearly good enough. My current rental has a glasstop stove and I’ve been really happy with it because the main thing I was worried about was the heat level - everyone warned me that getting a good sear was impossible, but my food is still coming out great. I’ve been experimenting with different pans to get better results and it’s been pretty good for me so far. But I don’t really work with recipes that require lifting/tossing because I’m too weak for any of that, even with normal pans 🥴

As far as the difference in health, it’s really staggering. To say it’s less healthy is, of course, accurate, but it also feels like an understatement. Continuous exposure to benzene is extremely harmful, and the fact that it’s highly linked to asthma, lymphoma, and leukemia, and that any amount of exposure is considered unsafe, makes me feel like it’s completely not worth it residentially. I would rather have worse food and better health (said as someone with a lot of health issues ruining my life already).

This is how I feel. I’d rather have things be fragmented than be too big to fail. A lot of people have joked in the past few years that it feels like the internet only has 4 sites on it now; I’m pretty happy to be back to browsing multiple. It reminds me of following multiple forums around the same topics back in the day. Variety is the spice of life!

Yep, my old oven always made me feel like hell, and the ventilation was godawful. There was a “vent fan” but I’m not sure if it did anything. In hindsight now I’m like 🙃

Have you tried an induction plate? It’s only one burner obvs but seems like a great way to get the benefits of induction in a rental. I’ve never tried it, just something I considered buying for myself, haha.

Is the heat the problem, or the shape of the wok? This video has some advice for using a wok on glass-top electric. If it’s the heat concern, then my experience is that, while you have less control over the exact heat than on gas, you can still get to VERY high heat - I accidentally charred my minced garlic to a crisp in 30 seconds the first time I used the stove (quick boil is seriously HOT, even on low heat settings). I switched to using stainless steel pans for most things because they hold a lot of heat, and I’m way too weak for cast iron, but it seems like cast iron is great on electric too.

For a snack, I really like just heating up some frozen edamame in the microwave. Depending on the portion size, expect maybe 1 min of microwaving; let it cool off for a few mins because they always come out boiling in my experience. Salt em with kosher salt (or regular if you don’t have) and squeeze the beans out of the pod in your mouth. Easiest way to get a little bit of veg and protein, hands down.

It’s not the laziest, but this one can be prepped and made in the air fryer in <15 mins and it’s honestly AMAZING. Could probably be really good with some heated up grilled chicken slices for protein, too. Requires a lot of fresh ingredients so it’s more of a rare treat but it’s sooooo good.