Shiro's Hangout |staying active!!|

[Lemon Cheesecake]

I meant pharmaceuticals will be making money in vaccinations and the other drug treatments that have been, will be done. I heard Johnson & Johnson has signed up for billions to be paid to them. I mentioned that to someone and they said " aren't they the company that got sued over asbstos in talc powder? What does that tell you?" . lol. The face masks was a dig at how many face masks have been bought...like saying having stock in toilet paper because there was such a run on it.

50 a day seems scary. Our levels are maybe 1 a day and no more then 4 in ICU at a time...usually the same people just in there for weeks recovering.

Some western restaurants will ask if you want ground pepper on your food but most just have pepper on the table to use. I personally don't like to add extra pepper...makes me choke. You must have had a full service meal if they serviced soup with it. Sushi over here is what is expensive! All relative to where you live I guess.

One of my favorites is a 14 ounce New York steak with garlic mashed potato's and gravy, veggies and rolls with a baby green salad or soup. But it cost $31 which is a bit high for my liking, however, I eat only 4-6 ounces of meat at a time so it lasts me several meals. There was a place that offered all you can eat soup, salad and onion rings and an entree plus a dessert for about $25... which I would eat the soup and onion rings and dessert and take the food home for another day! But the cook changed and it wasn't as good anymore. I don't go to the gourmet restaurants because they are WAY too expensive.

[ShiroGEM]

Ahhh.... yea I worry about that sometimes... healthcare is expensive :/ I really hate it when companies try to capitalise off things that really should be a given, makes it harder for less economically developed countries to afford healthcare for their people
Haha i'm glad toilet paper is no longer running out at least! A lot of car companies have actually been manufacturing masks because of the pandemic, it's sort of amusing

Ahh yea I heard the recovery could take a total of 4 weeks and that's insane O_O i'm glad you're are is doing fine though!

I'm more used to them just having it on the table haha never had someone serve it to me like that! It made me feel fancy though Sushi here is really expensive too but I typically get lower grade sushi because it doesn't make me feel as guilty and I like it haha

Ohhh I don't think 31 USD is that bad? Fancy steak like that can go up to 32-60 usd where I am, it's much cheaper to cook it yourself but it's far from affordable in my opinion xD Luckily beef is not a must in my diet, i'm actually not really allowed to eat it because my mom's religious (but i'm not). That's such a shame though! I do miss buffet quite a bit, the last time I had it was when I stayed in a hotel in Singapore last year~

[Lemon Cheesecake]

I think buffet style is going to be a thing of the past...too easy for food to become contaminated. They started phasing it out a few years back....might be too expensive to operate as well...people sit for hours eating!

Korean style BBQ is fun... they bring out the plates and you cook it yourself but if you ask for too many & don't eat them they charge you extra, a good discouragement from being wasteful. I hope we can go back to eating at places like that! Right now restaurants are encouraged to do "out door" dining instead of indoor...even as far as setting up tables on the sidewalks or parking spots! Crazy!

I still keep trying to wake up from this dream!

Thankfully, home is a respite.

[ShiroGEM]

You're right c': kinda sad but it does attribute to a lot of food waste too, I guess only hotels will have them from now on~

I do love BBQ but they sell a lot of beef so my family doesn't go... I do miss roasting marshmallows though T-T
HK went on a complete indoor dining ban for like 2 days but then they realised that workers had no place to eat during lunch break so the ban was lifted very quickly haha.. now we have limited seating and lots of delivery services like deliveroo and foodpanda~ Parking spots aren't efficient here because most people don't own cars, but I do see how it would be better to eat in a car in Taiwan for instance!

Being home isn't too bad, i'm so used to it already |D Definitely privileged to not have to work during this time though

[Lemon Cheesecake]

People are on "stay-cations" since they can't ( are encouraged not to) travel. Our beaches are very busy and lots of people on bikes to get outside.

Does your family eat meat at all?

[ShiroGEM]

I think stay-cations can be really nice to be honest~ at least for me I haven't visited a lot of places here because I was too busy as a student

Yea! We mostly eat fish and chicken, often pork as well, but my mom is a vegetarian

[Lemon Cheesecake]

There are a growing population of people in this country who are choosing to be vegetarian's or strict vegan's but not for religious reasons. I know some vegetarian's who will not touch meat or cook it for others. Meat is gross when you think about it...so I try not to think about where it originated from!

A lot of what we eat is influenced by the culture we live in. I like the belief's of the indigenous people's centuries ago who did not believe in wasting anything and to honor the sacrifice of the animal used every part of the animal from the skin for clothing, sinews for sewing, bones for tools and not just meat for eating.

One thing about the pandemic restrictions I find I really miss is being able to go to a restaurant and sit inside and eat...just be able to sit and have someone else serve, cook and clean up after me while I can actually sit and enjoy a meal instead of being the one cooking and serving and cleaning up...and everyone can order the food they want to eat...no having to go food shopping, preparing different meals...just relax and eat while its hot.

Now I am getting hungry! I bought some fresh blueberries so I think I will make some blueberry pancakes...pour over some maple syrup and dollops of whipped cream... not the healthiest of meals but oh so yummy!

[ShiroGEM]

Yea definitely! I do think its very beneficial for the environment, but a lot of my favourite things aren't vegetarian c': I do avoid eating beef as much as possible though because it's still the most inefficient meat to grow

do you eat stuff like chicken feet and beef tripe though? that's pretty common over here but I know a lot of people who think it's gross haha

I do know some paint pigments are made of fish bones so a lot of vegan painters avoid getting them, it's pretty interesting! Some paints are made with honey too~

Ahh yea, I feel that haha
I don't suppose food delivery is as prominent of a thing as it is here? We can have sushi delivered to our house now because thats the only way restaurants are earning any money at this point

Take a picture!! You're making me hungry too

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Too late to take a picture ~ I already made it and ate it! haha! Yummy but now my tummy is too full. <sigh>

Are you going to cook or bake anything today?

I did not know that about paints! Fascinating! I always assumed paints were from plants or minerals mixed with oils or water. Fish die after spawning so what if the bones were taken from the already dead spawning fish, would vegans still be against it since they were not killed for food? I wonder.

We have take out and delivery but if it is hot food it always seems to cool down too much...I like food hot off the grill and I like to be able to go out for a change of scenery. I will pick a meal up sometimes but if I am going to do that then I might as well pick up the groceries and cook myself.

Some places you can find chicken feet and beef tripe amongst other things but not prevalent...more in the larger cities populated with cultural preferences.

[galled]

Hi, Shiro! So glad you've checked in!

With all of the stuff/changes we've been seeing going on in Hong Kong, you've been in our thoughts. It really seems like they're clamping down and big changes are coming. I hope it all ends well.

I seem to recall most paints that Michelangelo and artists in that time period used egg white based paints. Kinda gross, when you think about it, but it did produce great looking results, if not the kind of longevity modern paints may have.

I didn't know about fish bones in paint tho. You'd think we wouldn't have a shortage of fish bones from the fishing food industry. I feel like it would be a good thing to up-cycle things like that into something useful rather than create more refuse. I don't understand why anyone would be against it. :/

[ShiroGEM]

Noooo lemon I was robbed from a visual fest :C
I'm too lazy to bake haha my brother has been getting into it though! He made banana bread yesterday and it was pretty good, but he likes a drier texture so he's probably gonna switch back to an old recipe that worked out just as well~

I think it depends on the individual for sure, one of my vegan friends doesn't really have anything against beeswax or honey but the other one avoids it as much as she can!

True that! I rarely eat stuff off the grill to be honest, warm food is enough haha
Have you tried hot pot? We used to eat it during Chinese New Year with my family and it's literally just raw stuff being boiled together in a soup base, it's really good and pretty easy to do if you have a portable electric stove (i think that's what it's called? Haven't done it in a while)

Chicken feet and tripe are so good though I prefer it over chicken wings haha

You guys don't need to worry much about what's happening here to be honest xD (if you're referring to the political situation) I've been expecting them to place pressure for a while now, I hope it ends well too~

Yea they're called tempera paints! We actually have a modern version that doesn't use eggs, but I agree that it is a bit gross haha, and not as durable as our modern alternatives for sure. I studied art history last semester and an entire section of the textbook was like "Oh sorry 90% of this tempera mural was lost" and i'm like gee thanks imagine what could've been there xD

I found the specific thing! turns out it can be bones in general so maybe that's why vegans avoid it, since it can be from any animal bones
http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/ind ... black.html

[murmurlade]

Galled, your avatar is looking cute..... It's so bubbly.

But yeah.. would certainly be interested in seeing if our new CK players can snag a spot on the leaderboards.

Thanks, mur! How are things?

I'm good. Soon to be out of school again for semester break. (just 1 more week!) Hope you don't mind me moving the conversation to a hangout thread, don't wanna intrude on the CK stuff lol.
What about you?

[galled]

I'm good. Soon to be out of school again for semester break. (just 1 more week!) Hope you don't mind me moving the conversation to a hangout thread, don't wanna intrude on the CK stuff lol.
What about you?

No worries. That's so close! It'll go by in a flash! Have you been distance learning over there too? I don't hear much from your part of the world re: lockdowns.

Nice to see you around as always!

[murmurlade]

I'm good. Soon to be out of school again for semester break. (just 1 more week!) Hope you don't mind me moving the conversation to a hangout thread, don't wanna intrude on the CK stuff lol.
What about you?

No worries. That's so close! It'll go by in a flash! Have you been distance learning over there too? I don't hear much from your part of the world re: lockdowns.

Nice to see you around as always!

Yeah. Right now I'm just happily finishing up one of my bigger assignments for my marketing research module amongst other stuff.. But yeah. All classes are online, but next semester (starting in mid September) will be half online and half physical.

Our strict MCO (movement control order, basically lockdown) period was from Mar~Jun and after that we went into Recovery MCO (still can go out but large gatherings prohibited) and we don't really have that serious of a case still >_< Most of it is due to the new strain, I believe, and from foreigners.

Generally everyone here wears masks and are social distancing (except for foreigners. who don't give a crap lol like I feel like I'm being racist but literally everyone BUT the foreigners from overseas like US are not wearing mask and social distancing. such a bad image to give off)

[Lemon Cheesecake]

Sorry about the bad reps from the foreigners! We have issues with the tourists over here but mostly that they don't clean up after themselves. Trash has increased on the beaches and the parking lots. If you carry it in carry it out! Its my number one complaint. I would prefer they go back to blocking the beaches if people don't start picking up their trash. But it is also because food is mostly take out now where before they'd sit in the restaurant and have it cleaned up for them after they were done. Trash cans aren't picked up as often either which doesn't help. urghhh

Glad your assignments are going well Mur! Always good to have you and Shiro livening up Windlyn!