Monthly R.E.P.O.R.T. : January - 2025

Jan 8, 2025

a banana slug looking up at the camera
a banana slug looking up at the camera
a banana slug looking up at the camera

R.E.P.O.R.T. January - 2025

Hello 2025!

Welcome to the R.E.P.O.R.T. of the month. This is a post that goes over my monthly braindump. This will include recipes, stories about my life, and other tidbits that you may find interesting. Try out them, let me know about it! Wanna see what I watched and read this month? Check out my reviews on Storygraph(https://app.thestorygraph.com/profile/breadgloves?redirect=true) and Letterboxd(https://letterboxd.com/breadgloves/).

Reading - Affinity Fraud by Håkan Geijer

Have you ever seen someone from the same community as you use their place in the community as a way to discredit or attack others? Do you often wonder why there are people within the LGBT community or communities of black and brown people that are bad actors and seed drama into discussions? Håkan Geijer's zine talks about this concept of "Affinity Fraud" and how it is used to undermine social movements. What is really "The Left" when we so often mirror our "opposites" on The Right? When engaging with the opposition, it is commonly known that stooping to the level of argument is worthless. Does that mean we shouldn't debate our peers? No, but we should have a better understanding on who is going into a conversation with the goal of "dunking" on someone and sending them mindless harassment. This doesn't mean those people shouldn't have the freedoms we want, but why engage with someone who is just there to argument and not have a productive exchange?

Check out this zine and others by Håkan Geijer here:

and

Eating - White Bean Soup

My favorite way to use my slow cooker is by making soups in the morning, then enjoying them in the evening. I find it to be a lot more accessible to me for cooking than cooking over the stove. I have a disability that makes me very fatigued, so I need all the energy I can get. I found a recipe on Pinterest that I tried out this month. It had white beans, crushed tomatoes, and a lot of garlic.

The recipe can be found here (https://alexandracooks.com/2015/01/15/slow-cooker-gigante-beans-tomatoes-pancetta/print/51800/) on Alexandra Cooks. You can also follow the recipes I am currently making by looking at my "Good Eats" board on Pinterest found here (https://www.pinterest.com/breadgloves/good-eats/).

Playing - Imogen Heap

While Imogen is getting back into virality, I remember listening to Speak For Yourself for many years. There is a unique vocal range that Imogen has. I believe she can do the trick called the "vocal flip" most commonly heard in yodeling. It is where you go from singing from your throat to your stomach in one breath. It is the vibe of a 90's movie scene with Halcyon and On and On by Orbital playing. A nostalgia that can only be found in frutiger aero aesthetics. Check out Imogen Heap and let me know how you feel when you listen to her music.

Obsessing - Pistachio Butter

I recently received a food processor as a gift. I have a lot of uses for a food processor, but the first thing I whipped up was pistachio butter. The original idea for this came from a local business in Portland, Chio, who makes pistachio butter. Pistachios are the only ingredient in their version. When I made my butter, I didn't roast my pistachios before blending. This makes it so the natural oils of the nuts wouldn't release as much. Because of this, I did have to add in a stick of unsalted butter. Any neutral oil would work for this though. My butter did end up solid, like butter, which was my intent for this batch. If you want a more soft texture, stick to oils that are liquid at room temperature. If you wanted to make this more sweet, you could add in a pinch of salt and powdered sugar. I eat this with dates as a sweet snack. I would need to experiment, but this would be great to add in a cookie dough blob before they go in the oven.

  • 2 cups pistachios, raw and unsalted

  • (optional) Pinch of salt

  • (optional) 1/3 cup powdered sugar

  • (optional) 1-2 tablespoons of a neutral oil (vegetable oil, avocado oil, etc.)

  1. Preheat oven to 325º F

  2. Lay pistachios flat on a baking tray

  3. Roast nuts for 5 minutes

  4. Let pistachios cool for 10 minutes

  5. Transfer nuts to food processor, pulse on high

  6. The pistachios will become grainy, scrape down the sides occasionally

  7. The pistachios will form a ball. Keep. Blending. for 5 minutes or until it turns into a paste

  8. (optional) Add in oil to make paste creamier

  9. (optional) Add in salt and powdered sugar to make paste sweeter

  10. Enjoy!

Recommending - Non Violent Communication

Non Violent Communication (NVC) is known as the language of compassion. It is an effective way to communicate your needs and feelings if they are not being addressed. This can be useful for instances where we are talking to people that have hurt us in some way. Instead of lashing out at the person for their identity, we can use NVC to communicate how that person's words or actions impacted us.

This is so I can clearly communicating how I AM while being empathic to how YOU ARE without placing blame

There are four main parts to NVC:

  • Observations
    • What I observe / What you observe


      "When I (see/hear/remember/etc)…" / "When you (see/hear/remember/etc)…"


  • Feelings
    • How I feel / How you feel

    • This one is kind of hard. Try no to use "…feel like…" I will search up a "feelings wheel" to really pinpoint what I am feeling.


      "I feel (sensation or emotion)…" / "You feel (sensation or emotion)…"


  • Needs
    • What I value or need / What you value or need


      "…because I value / need…" / "…because you value / need…"


  • Requests
    • Actions that I need taken / Actions that you need taken


      "Would you be willing to…(concrete action)?" / "Would you like…(concrete action?"


Treating - Random Serotonin

How do you find random joy in your every day life? Do you do things for yourself that is just out of making yourself happy? While being disciplined and consistent in your life is a great way to be healthy, it feels good to be silly and do things out of the norm. Have you ever tried to roast a starburst over a fire? Do you eat messy, frozen fruit in the shower? Worn an outfit that was meant to stand out? Little things like this can make life just slightly less terrible. It doesn't seem like much, but being nice to yourself is important. This is your first and only life, you must be kind to yourself.

Final Thoughts

Did you like my R.E.P.O.R.T. of the month? How was your January? Let me know by sending me an email or following me on Bluesky. Hopefully the first month of the new year wasn't too hard on everyone. We are in unprecedented times, all we can do is keep moving forward with our heads up. If you are in need of help, let your peers know, you can build healthy support systems. It is a lonely world, but we can still help each other out. Have a fun and safe week!