eggmasterflex

Hitchhiker’s Guide

I’m the same: I used it a ton when I first got it and now it’s collecting dust. Here are my personal issues with it:

• I find it a little too big and bulky for 2D, retro, and lo fi games, but too low res and weak for a good experience on most larger/newer 3D games.
• The controls and screen size/res are not adequate for most PC mkb oriented games.
• The size, battery life, and low screen visibility in bright places make it not worth traveling with compared to my Switch.

I guess I essentially just wanted a Switch that could use my Steam library for 2D indies and older games.

Aside from that, I think I also kinda bought it to rejuvenate my interest in gaming, but it only did that for a few months. That has nothing to do with the Deck though.

Everyone likes to circlejerk about revolution or whatever, but for 99.9% of people in developed countries, life is too good to put it on the line.

Bean, chickpea, and lentil dishes last a week in the fridge (probably more tbh).

Also, if you have a desk/cube, a great tip I picked up from a vegan friend is to keep a jar of peanut butter and a spoon in your drawer. Before I became remote, I would eat about 2 tablespoons at 10, 3, and 5. Probably not quite as good as the protein balls but cheap and effective.

Getting two birds stoned at once.

For lentil soup you need:

As much chopped leeks as you can handle. Should cover the bottom of the pot at least. Leeks are huge, cheap, delicious, and freeze really well chopped, so I always keep them stocked. You can use onions instead, but I think leeks are much better for soup.

2-3 medium carrots, quarter slices

2-3 celery, sliced

2-3 cloves garlic

2 cups dry/raw green or brown lentils or split green peas

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 cup pearled barley or orzo pasta (or other pasta/grain, or just use more lentils)

Half bunch kale leaves in bite size pieces

Extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 1/2 lemon or white vinegar

Salt, pepper, paprika

Optionally, bay leaves and turmeric

Step 1: heat a pot with oil and cook your leeks, carrots, and celery until soft. Leeks cook a bit longer.

Step 2: add the spices and let them bloom. Add tomato paste and stir until sauce forms.

Step 3: stir in lentils/peas and barley/orzo.

Step 4: add 7 cups water (adjust to preference) and bring to a boil, then let simmer. Cook for 30-45 minutes (or 15-20 in pressure cooker) depending on the lentils/peas you picked. Lentils are done when they are just about bursting.

Step 5: add lemon and kale

Obviously, a lot of this is to taste. If you don’t have good fresh veggies, the broth can be a little flavorless. You can add a bit more lemon and salt, or bullion if it’s really bland. If you know the veggies aren’t great, just use more of them in the first step. You can also use less water.

You can broil the kale with a bit of olive oil and salt for 3-4 minutes until it’s crispy before adding to the soup. This will give it a less fibrous, more crunchy character.

Sure. I posted the “formula” these recipes below:

1. Fry hard veggies in oil until soft - can be onions, leeks, carrots, celery, potatoes etc.

2. Add spices, soft veggies, and/or pastes and stir to form a sauce - tomatoes, peppers, garlic, ginger, etc.

3. Stir in your beans/chickpeas/lentils/peas. Most beans should be cooked, lentils and peas usually can be dry/raw.

4. Add water, bring to a boil, and simmer. Amount and time depends on if you want a soup, stew, or just some sauce.

5. Add leafy greens and anything that should be dissolved - spinach, kale, lemon, vinegar, sugar, cilantro etc.

So here is a really simple one I make at least once a week, as you can eat it hot or cold, with or without rice. It makes a great packed lunch. You can make the beans or chickpeas ahead of time or use a 30 oz can, but cooking them is much cheaper. Either way, make sure you rinse them off. I put in 1 cup dry beans/chickpeas (makes 3 cups cooked) in my Instant Pot with 4 cups water for 25 minutes for beans, 35 for chickpeas, instant release. Then I use the pot to cook the meal.

Also, you can chop and freeze most hard veggies (carrots, leeks, onions, celery, ginger, garlic). They aren’t as good as fresh, but it’s a lot more convenient if you have to cook after work.

This recipe is really flexible so I’ll just tell you what I do, but the ratios are all preference:

1 large onion, finely chopped

Equivalent amount of carrot, quarter slices

3 cups cooked pinto beans or chickpeas

1-2 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed

3 tablespoons tomato or red pepper paste (I use half of each but red pepper paste can be hard to find in US grocery stores)

Juice of 1 lemon or white vinegar

1.5 tablespoon sugar

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Optionally, bay leaves, paprika, and parsley

Step 1: frying hard veggies. Heat up a medium or large pot (stainless is best but any material will do) and add enough olive oil to fully cover the bottom and a bit more. It might be more oil than you think you’ll need. Fry your onions until soft.

Side note about onions: you can cook them quickly in 5-10 minutes at medium-high heat. They are ready when soft and translucent. But if you have the time and want a complex flavor in your dish, you can cook them for up to 20-30 minutes at low heat. Always salt them to help draw out the water.

Either way, add the carrots when the onions are almost done (2-3 minutes left).

Step 2: make the sauce. Add your garlic and let it cook a bit until fragrant. Add black pepper and optionally a couple of bay leaves and paprika. Stir for 30 seconds to let the spices bloom and then add your tomato/pepper paste and stir continuously until a sauce forms. About 1-2 minutes. The oil should be reddish.

Step 3: add the beans. Just stir them in and make sure they are covered in the sauce.

Step 4: water. Add 3 cups water (less if you’re in a hurry) and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

Step 5: anything that should be added to the water. Add the sugar and lemon/vinegar. This is really to taste, so you can add more when it’s almost done if it needs it. It should be just a little sweet and tangy. You can also add leafy greens like kale or spinach, but I don’t add them if I plan on eating it cold later.

Let it simmer until it’s a very beany stew (not a soup), but at the very least 10 minutes. It should be a little watery. Check the flavor and add salt, pepper, sugar, lemon/vinegar, or olive oil as needed. Parsley makes a great garnish.

This can be eaten hot or cold, with or without rice. Will keep about a week in the fridge.

I’ll reply below with a lentil soup recipe that’s more or less the same thing.

I wonder that any time these statistics are brought up. Like 100 companies are responsible for 70% of greenhouse gases - well isn’t it cause there’s 8 billion people buying their shit? They’re not just running those factories for the fun of it.

In Western news and media, everything has to boil down to a good vs evil story. It’s part of the reason our society has become so polarized. In reality, there’s often no good sides in a conflict.

So in what way is it a luxury?

Sorry, how is it a luxury? Vegetables, grains, and legumes are far cheaper and healthier sources of calories and nutrition than meat, despite the government subsidies. This perception that you should eat McDonalds and rotisserie chicken every day if you don’t have money to buy groceries is so strange to me.

There is a universal type of “recipe” that covers a ton of basic dishes around the world:

1. Fry hard veggies in oil until soft - can be onions, leeks, carrots, celery, potatoes etc.
2. Add spices, soft veggies, and/or pastes and stir to form a sauce - tomatoes, peppers, garlic, ginger, etc.
3. Stir in your beans/chickpeas/lentils/peas. Most beans should be cooked, lentils and peas usually can be dry/raw.
4. Add water, bring to a boil, and simmer. Amount and time depends on if you want a soup, stew, or just some sauce.
5. Add leafy greens and anything that should be dissolved - spinach, kale, lemon, vinegar, sugar, cilantro etc.

This can make lentil soup, Mediterranean or South American style bean dishes, chana masala, coconut curry, and lots of other stuff. Most can be made with a single pot.

Honestly, I’ve stopped chasing substitutes a while ago. Giving up meat and dairy is going to be a lifestyle change, that’s why people struggle so much with it. You can’t expect to just sub in imitations and keep eating the same foods. They’re not close enough to fool anyone, and they’re usually expensive and unhealthy.

The best way eat vegan is to fill your diet with minimally processed legumes, grains, fruits, and vegetables. Learn to cook a few staple meals from cultural cuisines where animal products are expensive (most cultures outside US/Canada and Western Europe) and you’ll realize how much great food you can make with a few simple ingredients and one or two pots. A huge number of them fall into the same basic formula, so if you learn one, you can easily make them all. Plus, it’s much, much cheaper than eating meat.

I’m not vegan but I do eat 95% vegan because my wife is and I agreed to buy and cook solely vegan in the house. I come from a culture with plenty of (accidentally) vegan home cooking already, so it wasn’t hard at all. But those substitutes are gross to me. Apologies to those who like them.

Babe wake up. New US weapons package just dropped.

And thus deliver the election to Republicans on a silver platter.

I think there’s a lot of self selection going on. Most people who migrated here did it based on principles (or a persecution complex), so of course they will have lots of political opinions, often extreme. Frankly, it’s getting a little tiring seeing it everywhere. Even on gaming subs it seems like every other post results in a discussion about the evils of capitalism.

Candy bars?! Who am I, the king of England? They’ll eat mashed boiled lentils and be grateful.

I’m sure this is a bad faith argument and you don’t really think “rice and beans” means literally only rice and beans boiled in plain water, but just in case, you can throw in a couple veggies. Or not, since you live in a food desert that only serves McDonald’s, working 2 jobs to put cheeseburgers on the table for your kids so you don’t even have time to slice an onion. Sorry for being cruel 😊.

Is there something wrong with rice and beans? I eat both of those daily. If the only thing that gives you pleasure is a fat and salt filled cheeseburger, that’s a separate issue.

And anyway, this argument went from “it’s too expensive” to “it takes too much time” to “it’s not good”. We can just agree to disagree. No one is forcing you to eat something you don’t want.

Yes, and I addressed them. And frankly, I’m getting a little tired of people in the wealthiest countries in the world complaining that they don’t have time to cook beans, so instead they’re going to buy a beef cheeseburger cooked and assembled for them for $2.

I have lived in bad neighborhoods. I’ve worked shit jobs. I’ve bought bags of Goya green lentils from a gas station.

If you don’t want to, you don’t have to, but stop with this “poor people can’t afford to eat anything but McDonald’s and frozen dinners” thing.