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Further down the pile Page 4 of the backlog

Older dispatches, same weather. Nothing back here has been tidied up for the occasion.
A golden, craggy apple rice casserole baked in a black rectangular pan on a sunlit wooden table, yellow branches and pink petals nearby, drawn in a Mœbius-style ligne claire illustration

Mom's Reisauflauf, Remixed The rice casserole my sister kept stealing from the fridge

Reisauflauf, remixed lighter and fluffier - a baked rice casserole with apples that even the pickiest eaters keep sneaking cold from the fridge.
A childhood at the end of the water

Where the Roads Don't Reach A childhood at the end of the water

Cà Mau childhood by lamplight - a wooden house at the roadless edge of the Mekong Delta, where boats wear eyes and the dead wait in the water.
Thôi nôi, and the paint on the wall

A Prophecy In Paint Thôi nôi, and the paint on the wall

Thôi nôi is Vietnam's first-birthday rite - a baby grabs a tray to read her future. One grab in 2000 came true, in paint, on a wall.
He said yes, and the sky agreed

A Powerful Coincidence He said yes, and the sky agreed

Proposal on a wild Vũng Tàu dune, a yes, two gold rings - and a rainbow cloud with impossible timing. The same-sex marriage quest begins.
Two channels keeping my brain alive while agents do the work

Folk Covers & Lofi Bones Two channels keeping my brain alive while agents do the work

Folk-instrument game OST covers from Dryante and lofi reinterpretations from bits & hits - the background music keeping my coding sessions alive.
Tomb Raider: Side-Scroller Edition

Internet Find of the Week Tomb Raider: Side-Scroller Edition

Deep in a TR1-3 remastered playthrough and I stumbled into the best Netzfundstück of the year - Lara Croft, remade as a cinematic platformer.
8 billion people and falling: a brief spike in human history

The Brief Spike 8 billion people and falling: a brief spike in human history

Global population peaks before 2080, then falls. Four-fifths of all human births are already behind us. What that means for the next two centuries.
Singapore – empty corners of a crowded island

Empty Corners Singapore – empty corners of a crowded island

Singapore for a week without a single photo of the Merlion - wetlands, hornbills, empty rain-soaked parks, and the small human encounters most tourists miss.
Bitter orange cake – a recipe in three attempts

Baking Through the Heatwave Bitter orange cake – a recipe in three attempts

A Seville orange loaf cake that took three versions, one feral oven, and an entire office of Monday-morning guinea pigs to get right. (148 chars)
The $137 million game I couldn’t play

A Pearl Resurfaces The $137 million game I couldn’t play

Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within bankrupted a studio, changed cinema forever, and looked like a game I desperately wanted to play. Twenty-five years later, I found it on Netflix.