I based this on a recipe from Xiachufang. This was only my second time baking bread, so I don’t have much experience. The first loaf I baked wasn’t this one — it turned out badly, more like a flatbread…

I remember the summer of 2003, right after I graduated middle school. Around August 15th, the rain started in Zhengzhou and just wouldn’t let up. After that, summer left and never came back. My closest friends from middle school scattered too, and we lost touch. The next time we met was Chinese New Year. That was the first time I felt like I was “abandoning the past and opening up a new world,” but I wasn’t all that keen on opening that new world. I still liked my old friends better. August is over again this year, which means summer’s over. Maybe there’ll be a late-summer heat wave, but every autumn rain brings a chill with it. I didn’t do much in August either — just worked. Hard to believe my job actually has busy periods. Probably the whole country’s been fucking around lately. I originally wanted to stir things up and then keep pushing, but in the end I chose to give up on fixing things. My health isn’t great, so I figured I might as well rest.

Lately I’ve had to drag myself out of bed and make breakfast every day, so I’ve worked out a routine that gets it done in 10 minutes.

A while back I saw this salad on Rishiji (日食記), so I tried making it myself.

Saw a guy on Reddit making popcorn chicken out of potato chips, so I gave it a shot too. And, well… it turned into a landmine dish. First you need some potato chips. I grabbed the cheap ones on sale at the store, and they were all fuckin’ cucumber flavor.

Easiest cookie I’ve ever made, and it tastes the best too.

The plan was sautéed fish slices. Recipe still from Xiachufang. Things went fine at first — marinating the fish, getting the ingredients ready, that sort of thing.

Saw a recipe on YouTube a while back, figured I’d give it a shot. Turns out it’s a massive pain in the ass to actually make.

This time I roasted chicken thighs. The method is pretty much the same as last time.

Saw this online, glanced at the recipe, thought it looked dumb as hell, and just went ahead and made it.