People being like: “Why do you buy tasty chewable children’s aspirin when we already have extra strength aspirin in the house?”

And it’s like, “I believe that people only need as much medication as does the job. I don’t need an extra strength aspirin when I feel a migraine coming on. I can use a children’s aspirin and stop the migraine before it starts.”

Just because you can buy things directly from the grocery store doesn’t mean they’re automatically safe to use in massive amounts.

Aspirin and Tylenol can kill you. So can alcohol, tobacco, and too much water.

Too much water?

Yeah, if you drink too much water in too short an amount of time, you can throw off your electrolyte balance. I imagine it being as though you’re changing the water in a fish tank, and rather than leaving behind some of the water the fish is used to, you just drain the tank completely and refill it with tap water.

The result? Dead fish.

Drinking gallons of water without adding some electrolytes, results in a dead person. It’s just how the body works.

It’s the amount that makes the poison.

A handful of chewable children’s aspirin spread out over a few days is no big deal. A handful of extra strength aspirin in that same amount of time could result in serious consequences.

We are a society of too much. We need to first realize what “just enough” is before we overindulge due to lack of knowledge.

I only need a low-dose aspirin to get the job done. Taking an extra strength aspirin just means wasting aspirin and possibly putting my organs at risk.

There’s no reason for it.

That being said, I recommend that people should keep low-dose aspirin around. Like, if you’re going to use aspirin anyway, why not have a variety to choose from depending on the reasons you need it?

Even if you just keep aspirin around to grind them into powder and add water to mix up a paste to remove the pain from a possible scorpion bite.

If you’re going to stock regular and/or extra strength aspirin, low-dose aspirin is good to have. You might find out that you’ve been taking a much larger dose of aspirin than you actually need.

You’re trying to get a job done. Not liquify your organs.

And if you’re a Tylenol man? That’s even more reason to lean toward low-dose over extra strength since Tylenol can kill you dead.

I keep looking for cheap but usable yogurt presses. Ever since I saw that "Greek Cake" brand yogurt press in that YouTube video… I am obsessed.

Ever since I saw her with those perfect cake-wedge pieces of yogurt cheese, that’s what I’ve been looking for. Yet all anyone’s selling are presses that don’t look half so useful or cool.

I want to make Greek Cake!

Perfect giant Laughing Cow-style soft cheese wedges.

I want to make cheeseballs out of yogurt cheese. I want to make cheesecake with yogurt cheese. I want to make wraps with a spread of yogurt cheese rolled up with sliced lunchmeat, lettuce shreds, diced tomatoes, and a dipping sauce.

My life is full of wants.

And maybe that’s what life is and always should be.

There should always be things you want but have to work around to get. Because if you have everything and anything you want… then what do you have to look forward to when you wake up everyday?

Like, unless someone likes to read or watch movies and TV, their lives of too-much will lack all meaning. And then they turn into like a Nazi or something.

It’s why I believe that people reading books is good. Not summaries of books, but actual books. From start to finish, through a whole well-written story. A beginning, a middle, and an end, all with characters that are engaging and fleshed out enough that it creates a connection of empathy between the reader and the protagonist.

Reading books allows someone to "experience" the life of someone that comes from a completely different background and active living situation. And even if they’re a totally awful person, if the book is written well enough a reader can enjoy the story.

If you read a book and don’t have an opinion about it when you’re done, then it wasn’t a well-written book. That, or you didn’t really read it.

And that’s what I’m worried about. That I’ll get the substandard yogurt press and the yogurt cheese I make will be so bland and bodiless that I’ll eat a whole batch of it and just be like "Meh" about it afterward.

And yes, I am still on about the yogurt cheese.

I’ve read a lot of books. I have a lot of experience with reading books. But yogurt cheese… That’s something I’ve never had.

But I want some.

Yogurt cheese spread on a toasted bagel topped with some smoked salmon, a glass of lemonade, and a good book to read. That sounds so good to me.

Because now is the time to enjoy the little joys.

Terrible things are happening in the world. Hard choices are going to have to be made. The people will have to raise their voices and ensure that they’re heard. And in the between moments, people need to remind themselves of what happiness is.

• The soft fur of a friendly cat.
• The soulful eyes of a loving dog.
• The song of birds.
• Breathing in clean air.
• The joy of a fruit popsicle on a hot sunny day.
• Having a song play and knowing all the words as you sing along.
• Nachos that are just the right temperature.
• A polish sausage and a cola straight from the hotdog cart.
• Getting dressed and feeling spiffy.
• Biting into a bagel sandwich that has cream cheese, lunch meat, lettuce and/or alfalfa sprouts.
• Having a good conversation with someone.
• Choosing to duck under a sprinkler on a hot day or deciding to stay out in the summer rain for a while.
• Tasting a delicious food for the first time.
• Comfortably lounging around in bed with nowhere to go and nowhere to be, not needing to use the toilet and experiencing no hunger or thirst.
• Eating popcorn while watching a good movie you’re seeing for the first time.
• Sitting down on perfect grass, just long enough, not damp or too dry, and without bothersome bugs.
• Waking up from the perfect amount of sleep and feeling wonderful.
• Dancing alone and feeling like a ballerina from a sport’s movie.
• Perfectly cooked French fries dipped in cold ketchup.
• Sniffing flowers that smell wonderful.

A lot of little joys can add up to make a big sense of joy. A quiet contentment you can feel everyday versus a single moment of glee that doesn’t last for very long, or that can be derailed by events not going absolutely perfect to plan.

A lasting happiness is better than brief experiences that might not be as fun as expected.

I like yogurt and I like cheese, so if yogurt cheese can fulfill both of those cravings… That would make me so happy.

~Harper Kingsley

https://paypal.me/harperkingsley.

https://patreon.com/harperkingsley.

https://ko-fi.com/harperwck.

https://amazon.com/shop/harperkingsley0.
https://www.harperkingsley.net/blog.
https://kimichee.com.

https://www.youtube.com/c/HarperKingsley.

https://harperkingsley.bsky.social.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/HarperKingsley.

cheesecake

One thing I always forget when I’m making cheesecake is that you’re supposed to leave the eggs out until they reach room temperature. You don’t want to use eggs straight out of the refrigerator.

I’ll be like screaming "Why won’t my cheesecake set?!?" And it’s because I sabotaged myself way at the first step.

That said, I do like cheesecake.

rice cooker/multicooker

I ordered a new rice cooker, though this one is more of a multicooker. Which I chose because it makes yogurt.

I like Greek yogurt, so just that right there is delicious.

But if you strain out all the whey, you can make "yogurt cheese," which is about the consistency of cream cheese. And you can spread it on your bagels like cream cheese or use it in wraps and spread on cakes as frosting. There’s even recipes to use it instead of cream cheese when making cheesecake.

It’s healthier. More protein rich. And it’s super easy to make. (I’ll share some videos on Patreon.)

So I chose my new rice cooker because it–

• makes yogurt
• comes with a silicone lid so the pot of leftover rice can go into the refrigerator
• can make 12 cups of cooked rice at a time
• comes with a steamer basket
• has a cake button
• can sauté foods before simmering them
• has a soup button

We’re feeding extra people at the house, so I needed a bigger rice cooker. And also I love watching rice cooker recipe videos on YouTube. So I was already thinking about getting a bigger rice cooker.

It’s just that when making the choice, it was right after I watched a video where someone used the "Greek Cake" yogurt maker to make Greek yogurt cheese. And I am obsessed with the look of that brand of yogurt cheese maker–it creates round cakelike yogurt cheese wheels that you cut into cake slices. Perfect wedges of yogurt cheese you can use as-is or transfer to storage containers.

And I’m sad that the "Greek Cake" yogurt maker isn’t available in my country. I feel like we’re being left out.

But I have a tofu press, and I’m pretty sure I can use it to make yogurt cheese.

Like, I don’t have the money to buy gadgets I might hate and never use again after trying them once.

I want to make yogurt, but I don’t know if I’m going to like it enough or do it enough to justify buying an actual yogurt machine. (Though the Bear brand yogurt maker is chef’s kiss because it makes yogurt, Greek yogurt, cheese, and fruit wine.)

So I think the rice cooker/multicooker is a good choice for me.

I can make rice with it, and yogurt, and I chose the big enough cup size that I can do a bunch of the rice cooker recipes that I’ve watched but couldn’t do with my smaller rice cooker.

And yeah, I’m totally trying to justify the purchase in my own mind.

I’m like "Well, I can use the rice cooker to make rice and all those rice cooker recipes I’ve been watching. And I can use it to steam stuff and make soups and stews. And when I make my yogurt, I can use some of the yogurt to make yogurt cheese, and then I’ll use all that whey to kickstart lacto-fermentation!

Because I have two gallon-sized fermentation jars with airlocks.

And probiotics are good for gut health

And everyone needs more fiber in their diet, and fermenting vegetables is a good way to get people to eat more fiber. Because fermented vegetables are delicious.

lacto-fermentation

Making fermented vegetables is super easy.

You just need a brine made of non-iodized salt and water, and the raw vegetables you want to ferment. That’s it.

1. Wash your vegetables without using soap as you want to keep the beneficial bacteria, then chop them into the size you want and put them in clean dry jars.
2. Dissolve non-iodized salt in water to make a brine, then pour the brine into the jars, completely covering the vegetables. Leave some headspace at the top of the jar to avoid it bubbling over.
3. Either use a jar with a fermentation airlock, or use a regular jar and cover it with a bit of cheesecloth or put the lid on loosely.
4. Put your jar in a cool dark place or on your countertop out of direct sunlight and let it work.
5. Occasionally open the jar and press your vegetables down so they remain completely covered by the brine. You can mix and add more brine if necessary.
6. The airlock and cheesecloth options should let the gases release themselves, but if you’ve just used the regular lid you’re going to want to open it to "burp" the gases.

You can ferment your vegetables from 2 days to 4 weeks depending on the type and size of them and how sour you want them to be. But on average it’s about a week fermenting at 70-to-75-degrees Fahrenheit. (In the winter, countertop fermentation is okay at my house, but in the summer I have to find a "cool" shady spot.) Though if you want to go "low and slow" you can put your jars somewhere that’s like 50-degrees Fahrenheit and ferment your vegetables for as long as 6 months. In old Korea, they would bury the kimchi pots and they could have kimchi all year. Nowadays there are fermentation fridges you can buy.

There are recipes online for fermenting all kinds of vegetables. Though the best advice I’ve seen is to mix "smelly" vegetables like broccoli and brussels sprouts with less smelly ones so you don’t have to deal with the smell of fermented broccoli farts escaping your fermentation jars.

And like, if you turn regular yogurt into Greek yogurt or into yogurt cheese, you can save that whey and add a few spoonfuls to your fermentation jars when you add the brine.

Just remember that whey contains lactose.

So if you’re a little bit lactose-intolerant, you can probably eat your Greek yogurt and yogurt cheese with no problem because the whey has been squeezed out, but eating the whey itself might give you diarrhea.

If you can’t ingest the whey, you can still use it for other things:

• Dogs will eat it and think it’s great.
• You can use it as a toner for your skin, giving yourself dairymaid skin.
• You can add it to your bathwater like a milk bath without wasting a ton of milk.
• You can use it as the conditioner part of your no-poo hair routine in place of apple cider vinegar.

---

Anyways, I’ve got a new rice cooker coming and I’m pretty excited about it.

My mind is full of the dreams of what I’m going to do with my new machine. Not just feeding my family, but opening a door leading to a whole other realm of possibilities.

And I still have my old smaller rice cooker, so I can use it to make side dishes and cakes and oatmeal and whatever while my new bigger machine is making rice or steaming fish or making yogurt.

I think I made a good purchasing choice. Like, there’s going to be tariffs and manufacturing shortages really hitting in the next year or so.

I wanted to buy a chest freezer, but my dad wouldn’t let me because "There’s no place to put it." But I really think we should have gotten one because our refrigerator is going to die at some point and when that happens I’m going to be the one desperately cooking everything in the fridge and freezer while other people scramble around trying to get a new refrigerator. And it’s going to be a total stress-filled mess that makes my stomach all acidy just to think about.

But that’s future-me’s problem.

Current me is waiting for my new rice cooker to arrive. Desperately hoping that I’m going to love it as much as I want to love it.

Please let me love it.

~Harper Kingsley

https://paypal.me/harperkingsley.

https://patreon.com/harperkingsley.

https://ko-fi.com/harperwck.

https://amazon.com/shop/harperkingsley0.
https://www.harperkingsley.net/blog.
https://kimichee.com.

https://www.youtube.com/c/HarperKingsley.

https://harperkingsley.bsky.social.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/HarperKingsley.

I was all like “Whoo, my electric composter machine is a rockstar!” And like a day later, it’s making worrying sounds.

Not crunches or bangs or “Oh shit, the machine is grinding metal. Turn it off!” sounds.

Just like a “murrrrr” of the blades not turning. And yeah, I just screwed up a couple days ago by running onion skins. They turn into ropes and clog things up where the blades can’t turn. So I had to unjam the blades.

This is the first time running my machine since then.

The blades spin inside the bucket. But I don’t know if my machine’s motor got broke inside.

I’m not a handy person. I can’t fix motors. A simple fix in someone else’s hands is a junkable situation in mine.

Every person is different, and I’m not Handy Manny.