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roasted carrots with lentils and yogurt

“I was looking for a simple roasted carrot recipe on your site and couldn’t find one,” a friend told me a month ago and I immediately put “simple roasted carrot recipe” on my sprawling, decades-long To Cook list because sometimes I forget myself, too. Spoiler: I was never going to write a simple recipe for roasted carrots.

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Links: Podcasts, Cheese, & More

Welcome, everyone! My partner and I are officially homeowners and we got to sign our paperwork in a haunted law office. Absolute perfection. We won’t move in for a bit because there’s painting to do and flooring to replace, but I’m feeling very emotional (in a good way) about the whole thing. The notion of not renting anymore and being able to customize whatever I want feels so freeing! The possibilities are endless! I’m also … Continue reading Links: Podcasts, Cheese, & More




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Book Beat: A Cozy Camping Romance, a Fantasy Mystery, & More

Welcome to Book Beat! Book Beat aims to highlight other books that we may hear about through friends, social media, or other sources. We could see a gorgeous ad! Or find a new-to-us author on a list of underrated romances! Think of Book Beat as Teen Beat or Tiger Beat, but for books. And no staples to open to get the fold-out poster.




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Hide Your Wallet: October 22nd Release Week!

Happy Tuesday! A bit of a bite-sized Hide Your Wallet this week, with one release leftover from late last week that I neglected to include. I can hardly believe October is nearly over! Time to consult my November TBR pile, so it doesn’t sneak up on me. Which releases are you excited about this week? Let us know in the comments!




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HaBO: He’s Described as a Lion with Tawny Eyes

This HaBO comes from Kiruthika, who is trying to find this Mills & Boon romance. Content warning for mentions of abuse and rape: It’s a 70s or 80s Mills and Boon that my mom had that I sneakily read as a 12 year old! The cover was white with a couple embracing, fair haired woman and darker haired man. He’s described to be lion like in movement and has tawny eyes. I remember that part … Continue reading HaBO: He’s Described as a Lion with Tawny Eyes



  • Help a Bitch Out



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Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris

Strange Beasts is so much fun that the minute I finished the book, I downloaded the audio for my husband to listen to. This is a paranormal adventure meets gothic mystery with a sapphic love story intertwined in all of that. It has shades of Penny Dreadful, non stop action, and it’s just a blast to read. The novel takes place in an alternate Victorian era where paranormal creatures openly exist with human beings. Sam … Continue reading Strange Beasts by Susan J. Morris




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Podcast 638, Your Transcript is Ready!





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Hide Your Wallet: October 29th Release Week!

Happy Tuesday! It’s a short and sweet release week for us at SBTB HQ! For us, there are only three books that make the list this week. From here on out, things seem to slow down a little bit as we approach the end of the year and the major holiday season. What books are on your list this week? Let us know in the comments!





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Season’s Change by Cait Nary

Kim is a longtime SBTB reader. She writes boring professional documents by day to fund her ever-growing TBR pile, which is currently overflowing with T. Kingfisher, mystery thrillers, and MM romance. Everything she knows about hockey, she learned from queer love stories or the Mighty Ducks franchise. … Recently, I’ve been on an M/M hockey romance binge (and let me just say “queer romance” + “professional hockey” is the Reese’s “you got your peanut butter … Continue reading Season’s Change by Cait Nary






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Hide Your Wallet; November 5th Release Week!

Welcome back to Hide Your Wallet! Just a small handful of books for us this week. I also wouldn’t blame publishers if they decided to bump release weeks to another Tuesday. We have dark fairytales, cozy fantasy, ponies, and more! Which books are on your radar this week? Let us know what’s on your TBR pile!




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HaBO: Anti-Gravity Nipple Pasties

This HaBO request is from Delia, who is trying to help a friend find this book: The heroine is an astronaut or scientist on a fairly normal space travel mission, but ends up either back in time, forward in the future, or in an alternate universe. My friend is confident it’s the same planet, but it has an ancient-yet-futuristic civilization. It’s very metaphysical: crystals, prophetic visions, etc. They don’t remember any plot details, but the … Continue reading HaBO: Anti-Gravity Nipple Pasties



  • Help a Bitch Out


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We Will Find Our Daily HEAs

Well. This sucks. Currently I’m sitting with two sets of feelings. I’m already so tired, and scared, and discouraged. And tired. We just did this. I have semi-accurate predictions of how this is going to go, and none of it is good. And on the other hand, I know how resilient and compassionate and loving people can be. How loving and compassionate and resilient you are, and me, and all of us. I can grieve and worry … Continue reading We Will Find Our Daily HEAs





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Chloroplasts




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Easy In, Easy Out

eeeeee

haaaaaahhhh




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Question Worth Asking

Could be!




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The Brewmaster

It's pretty average tbh




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Masochism For Dummies

Pintsize is doing book reviews now???




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Asking The Hard Questions

Hi Tai




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He's Just Asking Questions

Questions, questions




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A Lengthy Dynasty

Richard is in safe hands




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politics is easy

Today on Toothpaste For Dinner: politics is easy


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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thought this was real

Today on Toothpaste For Dinner: thought this was real


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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my past life was better i think

Today on Toothpaste For Dinner: my past life was better i think


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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nothing was my fault

Today on Toothpaste For Dinner: nothing was my fault


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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the fucker has arrived

Today on Toothpaste For Dinner: the fucker has arrived


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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the news was a mistake

Today on Toothpaste For Dinner: the news was a mistake


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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youre as dumb as i am

Today on Toothpaste For Dinner: youre as dumb as i am


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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climate change grilling season

Today on Toothpaste For Dinner: climate change grilling season


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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error your password

Today on Toothpaste For Dinner: error your password


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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casu marzu hybrid

Today on Toothpaste For Dinner: casu marzu hybrid


This RSS feed is brought to you by Drew and Natalie's podcast Garbage Brain University. Our new series Everything Is Real explores the world of cryptids, aliens, quantum physics, the occult, and more. If you use this RSS feed, please consider supporting us by becoming a patron. Patronage includes membership to our private Discord server and other bonus material non-patrons never see!




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'As the breadwinner, you hold all the leverage': Husband refuses to spend $2,000 on wedding gift for wife's friend, wife tallies up his recreational finances

It seems that both parties are at fault here. On the one hand, you have the Redditor, who is the breadwinner of the family. He recently brought home a bonus of $3,000, a bonus that his wife wanted to be mostly used to pay for a wedding gift for her friend. Now, this friend frequently extends financial generosity to the Redditor's wife when they socialize together. It makes logical sense that the wife would want to pay her friend back for all the meals and financial assistance her friend provided to her over the years during difficult times. However, spending $2K out of your husband's $3K bonus on a necklace does not seem like the kind of idea her husband would be happy with. Naturally, this started a heated argument between the two spouses.

This conflict led to the wife tallying up all her husband's expenses on recreational activities, such as hobbies or the two cars he owns. Clearly, he is not the most generous spouse either, especially since his wife still needs help with her personal finances from her friend. Keep scrolling below to see what people had to say to this guy in the comments section. For more, check out this post about a 40-year-old who was passed over for a promotion in favor of a younger coworker.




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20 In-Law Memes To Help Prepare You for the Holiday Season

Let's face it: Some of us are blessed with really sweet, endearing in-laws, and the rest are faced with parents-in-law who seem to possess a likeness of an underworld ruler. There is simply no in-between. Whether you said something they disagreed with and have written you off as a lost cause or they are simply entitled individuals who care more about their happiness rather than their child's, in-law qualms are more common than not.

To ring in the holiday season, we thought what better way to get festive than to prepare folks for the hectic and chaotic scenes they enter every year during November and December. Though you can't change who your in-laws are, there's no shame in poking fun at your sticky situation. You can love your partner to the ends of the earth and it still wouldn't be enough to combat some families. Know that you've done your best, and your best bet is to take a sip of a yummy drink and watch the fire from the couch this Thanksgiving. Sit this one out, folks! Scroll below.




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'It was nonsense': Entitled employee constantly takes credit for other's work, coworker gets revenge by making a fake presentation for her to present in front of boss

There's always that one coworker who knows how to get away with taking credit for everyone else's hard work. You put in the effort, lose sleep over the details, and then they swoop in, ready to present it all like they thought of it themselves. This exact situation happened in one office until one clever employee decided to turn the tables. After watching his entitled coworker repeatedly swipe his projects and pass them off as her own, he put together a presentation just for her. Packed with confusing data points and meaningless buzzwords, the presentation was just convincing enough to look important…until you actually tried to explain it. And sure enough, the coworker snagged it and confidently presented it in front of their boss. The employee watched with quiet satisfaction as she stumbled through, each buzzword making less sense than the last. When the boss turned to him for clarification, he threw her under the bus, telling the boss she had no idea what she was talking about. Sweet, sweet office justice.




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'The manager [said], "You really want to burn this bridge?" I said, "Yes"': 20+ Employees who quit their jobs as fast as possible

There's no need to double down on a bad bet, especially when your career is on the line. Although it can be a letdown to try and start a new job only to leave immediately, it's better than staying somewhere you hate for years only to regret it each day. 

 Some workplaces have working conditions that are completely unacceptable, and a lot of folks cited that as their reasons for leaving. For example, one person found themself working in a propane tank factory, but they realized they were working in the second-hottest room possible. They were stationed right next to a kiln room, and the room they were in was often at 130 degrees! They rightfully refused to return to that job. 

Other people were dealing with some really incompetent management situations. As one worker shared, their management at a small retail shop barely bothered to train them, and they spent their entire second day on the job alone. This was the deciding factor for that person, and they called it quits. At least some of the people who shared their stories moved onto way better jobs after learning from these bad ones. 

After that, read about this job candidate who chose the wrong interviewer to lie to, because at the job he claimed to work at, "Nobody knew him." 




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'She has a temper [...] I hate her': 16-year-old girl refuses to tutor her terrible 15-year old sister despite parents' threats of punishment

We're often taught that we have an obligation to love our family and that "blood is thicker than water." While this is overly simplistic, I think it remains true that we should try harder to make things work with our family than we would with other random people. We should seek to resolve issues that reasonably can be resolved with a higher obligation than we would with friends and acquaintances. But even with family, there is a point where cutting ties becomes the only option.

Still, these sisters may come to find they grow closer as they grow older and as whatever chip this younger sister has on her shoulder subsides and she matures—or they may never come to find common ground, with old deep cuts festering and becoming impossible to resolve and move past. But, for now, it's hard to say that the older sister is wrong for not wanting to help her sister out. Siblings are going to fight, but there's a point where things go way too far, and the parents desperately need to intervene. Perhaps the parents would be better off just hiring a tutor to help her with the subjects she's falling behind in.




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'A masterclass in how not to get hired': 18-year-old writes unflattering pitch for themself on social media job page

This person is young and aspirational, but their methods of finding a new job could use some fine-tuning. 

Creating your very first resume is both intimidating and kind of embarrassing. Because you have zero job experience, you have to write about the clubs you participated in school, or your hobbies where you have leadership qualities, or even just the classes you're currently taking. None of that life experience is going to wow a hiring manager. But that's why kids start small, picking up jobs at fast food chains or clothing stores and working for minimum wage. 

This 18-year-old had a different idea of how they think their first jobs should go. They wrote in to a Facebook group for job offerings with an interesting paragraph about their own experience. Instead of highlighting their best attributes, they insisted on avoiding jobs where they have to work with customers (even though they claim to be outgoing in the same breath). The internet found this all very funny, and had some notes for this kid about better ways to find a job. 

Up next, have a laugh at some employees who got fired after getting petty with their most entitled customers, like one who informed a customer that, "If I have to talk to you again, you have to sit in time-out for 10 minutes."




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'[He] was on 24/7 call, so unplugging the phone wasn't an option': Tech support guy gets revenge on an angry IT customer by programming the office phone to call him at 2, 3, and 4 AM every night

We learned from a young age that you should be nice to the other kids on the playground. Share the bouncy rubber ball, don't pull a girl's pigtails, and include everyone in your fun games! That's how it should be in the working world–the adult world–because if you make an enemy on the blacktop, you might just get destroyed in the next game of dodgeball. 

This IT customer learned never to mess with their tech support crew after being a total buffoon on the phone. He was known for screaming at the guys who were just trying to help him troubleshoot his modem, but finally, after being placed with the same phone support guy one too many times, he snapped and decided to get some revenge. 

Frankly, I think this guy's sleep schedule became a little more precious to him after he got completely pwned by the dude he was used to screaming at–I guess now it looks like the phone is the only thing screaming at 2 AM… 3 AM… and 4 AM. Do you think he'll be nicer to his next customer service rep after this? You be the judge.




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'Leaving was the best thing I did': Employer of 3 years hires new employee at $30k higher than experienced worker, they quit

It's no secret that a lot of employers in as many industries allocate more budget to hiring than they do to staff retention. This is a bit silly when you consider that large organizations will go on to spend tens of thousands of dollars on recruiting, onboarding, and training processes—in addition to value lost due to lost time and productivity of vacant roles. Though some of this cost is silent or not immediately apparent on the books and, in contrast, the idea of approving even half that money in the upfront cost of giving a raise is daunting. While this is an organizational flaw that often occurs, there are, of course, more intentional reasons why employers choose not to give their workers even deserved raises.

Whatever the reason or cause, unfortunately, this ends up with a turnover of the most experienced staff who are frustrated at their own lack of advancement and pay that is falling behind the market rate, discovering that new hires are being paid more than them despite their experience and contribution.

That's what this worker in a "niche" field discovered had happened when they learned that their employer of 3 years had hired a new hire at $30k more than they were currently earning. Frustrated, they found a new job as fast as possible.




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'His hand pauses in midair': Front desk attendant gets scolded for using his phone at work, instead he maliciously complies with company policy by wasting other precious office resources

No personal cell phones? Okay. This employee took his malicious compliance to the next level after getting scolded one too many times for using his cell phone on the job. 

I get it… It doesn't look good for a hotel receptionist to scroll memes while the line at the concierge starts to grow. Smacking your gum, rolling your eyes, and scrolling endlessly really isn't something you're supposed to be doing at work, but as many of us forget, our phones are actually super useful little tools. We've grown accustomed to traveling around all day with a tiny computer in our pocket that it's easy to let slip their more convenient functions. The front desk reception guy in our next tale knew all the ways his phone could help out clients, but after his manager got on his back about using his personal device on the clock, he decided to use the second language translating tool at his disposal. 

Keep scrolling to read how an employee turned a spiteful MC into a memorable guest experience when a traveler needed help with a quick translation.




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14-year-old daughter asks her mom to tell her the truth about how she looks, 39-year-old Karen mother does not mince her words: 'I told her she was average-looking'

Sure, honesty may seem like the best policy, but this Karen of a mother took things way too far.

At first, when reading about her seemingly genuine concern over her teenage daughter's body insecurity, one might think that this is an attentive, caring, and decent parent. However, when her daughter asked her to honestly tell her the truth about how she looks, this Karen thought it would be a good idea to tell her that she is, in fact, only average-looking. Her supposed point was to inform her daughter that most people in the world are average-looking, but as one might expect, this "truth-telling" moment did not sit well with a 14-year-old. 

When the mother shared her side of the story on Reddit, people eviscerated her in the comments section, and rightfully so. Keep scrolling below for the full story and for the best reactions from other mothers and daughters. For more, check out this post about a husband and wife's heated argument over money.




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'This is the first time I have ever asked to have some time off': 22-year-old babysitter gets denied vacation time for her sister's wedding, boss tries to guilt trip babysitter into skipping it

This kind of boss is just the worst, as this flustered nanny can tell you. 

Taking time off at your job can be awkward at times, especially if you're close friends with your boss. You might feel obligated to tell them everything you're planning to do with this time off. This person certainly did, but they at least had a great reason for requesting a few days off. U/Nannyneedabreak writes that as a babysitter for two kids, ages 6 and 8, she gave her boss a generous warning that she'd be gone for a few days. She gave this boss an incredible seven months of notice that she would be out of town for just four days! That's way more generous than most employees would be. 

This woman shared that she also reminded her boss about that important date at least once per month. Still her, boss insisted she cancel the trip when the date got close. Come on, lady, there are other babysitters in the world! Just ask for a reference to someone else, and let this woman go to her sister's once in a lifetime event. 

Up next, this non-HOA homeowner is refusing to take down their holiday lights, and told the HOA member to "just get off my property… I've just had enough."