Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

Day 2 of #SageDandelionAdventIsh: Today’s moon is Nix, another one of Pluto’s small and more recently discovered moons. The chocolate was a Schwarzwälder (Black Forest) truffle with chocolate, vanilla, and cherry layers inside. I’m not a huge fan of chocolate + fruit, and yet this was incredible.

The ornament box, info page, chocolate, and label for December 2. The truffle is square and covered in dark chocolate, with a small pink circle on top. The label identifies it as a Schwarzwälder by Thomas Haas Chocolates & Patisserie.

DECEMBER 2 | NIX (PLUTO)
Leaving Hydra behind, we glide toward Nix, another of Pluto's five moons, discovered in 200S by the Hubble Space Telescopc.
Nix reflects sunlight off its likely water-ice surface. It's less than 31 miles wide, irregularly shaped, and tumbles unpredictably, rather chan spinning in a steady rotation. NASA's New Horizons images, captured in 2015, reveal a large impact crater nearly 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) across — massive relative to Nix's size — as well as a mysterious red splotch, possibly made of tholins (organic compounds formed by cosmic rays interacting with methane or nitrogen). Named after Nyx, the Greek goddess of night and mother of Charon, the moon's spelling was changed to "Nix" to avoid confusion with an existing asteroid. With its scarred surface and reddish mark, Nix might be Pluto's oddest moon.

A Note from Lina:
Hydra and Nix are strangely shaped moons that are very small compared with other moons. As I found very few images of these moons to be inspired by, I decided to look for inspiration from mythology rather than the moons themselves. Nyx is the Goddess of Night. From different visual source materials, Nyx appears as a woman surrounded by a moon and the stars; her name is Luna.
For the ornament, I chose to draw to symbols, the stars and the moon, to represent her. They're drawn in the same technique as the other ornaments.

A similar photo, with the half-eaten truffle held in a hand to show the inside’s layers of white and chocolate filling topped with a layer of dark red cherry filling.

November 21, 2025 at 2:29 AM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

Day 1 of #SageDandelionAdventIsh: Today’s moon is Hydra, one of Pluto’s moon. The chocolate was a pistachio knafeh truffle, and it was so tasty. Somehow the filling was both smooth and crunchy, with a creamy pistachio flavor, all surrounded by excellent dark chocolate.

Advent calendar info booklet:

DECEMBER 1 | HYDRA (PLUTO)
We begin our journey at the far edge of our solar system, where dwarf planet Pluto is circled by its outermost moon, Hydra.
Shrouded in ice and mystery, Hydra marks the silent boundary of our cosmic neighborhood. It's named for the many-headed serpent slain by Greck mythical hero Hercules, following a tradition of naming Pluto's moons after figures from the Underworld.
Hydra has a notably bright surface, reflecting about eighty-three percent of incident sunlight — unusual for such a distant, icy body. This reflectivity suggests a coating of clean-water ice, possibly maintained by micrometeorite impacts that strip away darker material. Hydra, at just 51 kilometers (32 miles) across, is smaller than some Earth mountains. Discovered in 2005 by the Hubble Space Telescope, Hydra is an ancient relic of the early solar system, estimated to be as old as nearly four billion years, based on the number of craters on its surface. In 2015, NASA's New Horizons spacecraft captured the first close-up images of the moon's irregular, cratered, frozen surface. Hydra spins rapidly and chaotically through space — like a glittering ornament drifting at the edge of our solar system.
A NOTE FROM LINA
Hydra is a creature of seven heads — it has some mystery. I looked for a natural hydra in the world, and there is an insect called a hydra that has seven legs; it's very beautiful. I also looked at different inspirations and illustrations from Greek mythology, and considered what kind of image might look good within a circle. I did not want to be too literal with this lumpy moon.

Day 1 chocolate and Hydra moon box. The chocolate is a pistachio knafeh by Annie Rupani of Cacao & Cardamom Chocolatier. It’s a half-dome truffle with a green and yellow surface, topped with a small gold leaf leaf. The box art is of gold tentacles against a grey background.

A white person’s hand holding a half-eaten pistachio knafeh truffle in front of the Dandelion Chocolate advent calendar packaging. The inside of the truffle is a slightly greenish golden color.

November 18, 2025 at 9:37 PM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

Day 1 of #SageDandelionAdventIsh continued, looking at the chocolate boxes. Each box has stylized art representative of a moon. They’re all cylinders, and when you pick them up they have a small ribbon attached. It took me a moment to realize that they’re for hanging on a Christmas tree!

25 cylindrical chocolate boxes arranged concentrically inside the larger advent calendar packaging. Each box has stylized abstract art on the lid in shades of red, white, grey, black, gold and silver.

November 18, 2025 at 9:29 PM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

So for Day 1 of #SageDandelionAdventIsh, opening up the packaging for the first time. Wow. The calendar is moon-themed, and it turns out it’s all actual moons of the solar system! There’s a moon map and a daily info packet.

The lid of the 2025 Dandelion Chocolate advent calendar chocolate box. A round box is decorated with white, red, black, and gold swirling patterns, accented with stars. The center of the decoration is a gold stylized moon.

Inside the box is a black sheet decorated with small gold stars, with cutouts in the shape of a crescent moon and a full circle revealing the gold covers of the moon map and the advent calendar information booklet.

The gold covers of the moon map and the Advent Calendar 2025 information booklet, laying on top of the aforementioned packaging.

The unfolded moon map, showing miniature versions of the art for all 25 moons represented in the chocolate advent calendar.

November 18, 2025 at 9:25 PM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

My mom ordered us the Dandelion Chocolate advent calendar after I got a targeted ad for it and showed her the gorgeous packaging. At the request of the lovely @clairewillett.bsky.social, I am sharing as we go through it, aiming to share small joys in this rough time.

#SageDandelionAdventIsh

The Dandelion Chocolate 2025 Advent Calendar. A large round chocolate box is sitting inside a red-lined square box. There is a silver drawing of a cocoa bean on the inside of the box lid. Below it, the round chocolate box is nestled between red triangular holders at the four corners, and is wrapped up in a gold ribbon with a large bow at the center. Beneath the ribbon is a round black tag printed in gold with “Advent Calendar 2025.” The chocolate box itself is decorated in black, red, white, and gold swirling patterns.

November 18, 2025 at 9:17 PM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

Here’s the recipe. Note that the developer says tahini alone doesn’t solidify enough, but I wonder if a mix with cashew butter could?

GENEVIEVE KO
HOMEMADE PROTEIN BARS
TIME: 1 hr 15 min
2 July 2025
½ cup/167 grams pure maple syrup
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
¾ cup/217 grams almond butter or ½/ cup/145 grams peanut butter
1¼ cups/122 grams quick-cooking oats
1¼ cups/150 grams finely chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, cashews, peanuts or a combo
½ cup/74 grams pepitas
1. Line bottom and sides of a 9in sq pan with parchment paper.
2. Bring syrup, salt and pepper to a boil over medium-high in a large saucepan, stirring occasionally. Boil until thickened to the consistency of honey, about 2 minutes. Turn the heat down to low, add the almond butter, and stir until smooth and bubbles just start to pop, about 1 minute longer. Turn off the heat.
3. Add the oats, nuts and seeds, and stir until everything is very evenly coated. Smash and scrape the mixture as needed to get everything coated; the mixture will be quite stiff.
4. Scrape the mixture into thé parchment-lined pan and press firmly into an even layer.
Refrigerate until stiff, at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
5. Use the parchment to slide the slab out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Cut into 12 even bars. Wrap individually, if you'd like. The bars will keep in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Tips: Peanut butter binds ingredients best, but almond butter works as well. You just need more of it to glue the bars together. Sunflower seed butter can be used, but the bars may crumble. Tahini isn't quite sticky enough to do the job. All-natural varieties, in which the only ingredients are the nuts or seeds and salt (and, sometimes, oil), deliver the nuttiest flavor.
You can use any variety or combo of your favorite nuts. Just make sure they're raw, or natural, without added oils or salt. Also make sure that they're chopped small enough so that the bars will hold. Pre-chopped walnuts and pecans and sliced almonds make this recipe come together more quickly.

August 18, 2025 at 7:39 PM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

My dog is Mouse but we do cal him Moyz sometimes. And he’s largely Mouse because his foster named him Moose. He’s also my (very big) little black and white cookie!

A medium-large black and white dog is lying on the floor on a patterned rug. There is a dog bed next to him that he’s not in, but he’s using the edge of it as a pillow and glancing up at the camera.

August 16, 2025 at 4:05 PM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

Okay I am late to the party but here are some spoons!!

(Sold as stitch markers by a local yarn store that has a bit of a witchy theme, but I saw them and immediately went ”OMG EXTRA SPOONS FOR THOSE ROUGH DAYS” which to me is extra funny because such tiny spoons won’t get you anywhere :P)

Six tiny spoon charms on jump rings are attached to a larger clasp mechanism, in the palm of a human hand for scale.

July 9, 2025 at 6:20 PM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

These are a few of my fava-rite things…

Onwards to cooking and the second peeling!

Two large bowls of fava bean pods are next to a smaller bowl of uncooked fava beans on a grey speckled kitchen counter.

May 16, 2025 at 6:20 PM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

I realized tonight that our dogs are huge punk rock fan.

Why’s that, you say? Well, what’s their favorite band?

Greenie Day.

Two dogs are sitting in a kitchen, with the hands and arms of a person holding two “greenie” treats visible in front of and above them. The dog on the left is a smaller brown and white street dog with pointy ears, a pointy nose, and long thin legs. The dog on the right is a larger black and white mutt. Both are eagerly focused on the treats in front of them.

March 14, 2025 at 2:21 AM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

This was the front page of my local paper today. I took one look and yelled, “WHERE THE FUCK WERE THESE HEADLINES BEFORE THE ELECTION?!?!???”

“One of the choices before you would upend American life as we know it,” god forbid we the media inform the public of that when there’s still a choice. /s

The front page of The Mercury News, Tuesday March 11th 2025. There are two large headlines: “Refugees, agencies worry about future” on the left and “Foreign workers fuel tech industry” on the right.

March 12, 2025 at 4:56 AM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

Thanks for the dinner inspiration!

Several white dishes on a green placemat at a table. From left to right, there are a small shallow dish of soy sauce; a tri-divided plastic container of yellow, green, and purple japanese pickles; a dinner plate holding a pile of white rice with sesame seeds, sliced cucumber, sliced avocado, and imitation crab; a plastic container of korean seaweed pieces; and a plastic container of umeboshi.

March 12, 2025 at 4:44 AM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

Note that it is dyed bright pink, which is of course an issue for some folks.

This price is for delivery via instacart, so in warehouse would be about 20-30% cheaper.

A screenshot of the Kirkland Signature Allergy Medicine 25mg, 600 mini tabs from the same day delivery part of the Costco app, showing a delivered price of $5.84 (US dollars, this is Bay Area California prices)

February 3, 2025 at 10:34 PM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

I hope things will resolve soon and perhaps even be accompanied by illuminating test results!

Here’s Mouse and Lucky waiting: Mouse patient but with side-eye, Lucky demanding to speak to the manager.

Two dogs in front of a kitchen counter. A large black and white dog with a red collar is lying on the hardwood floor, giving side-eye to the photographer. A smaller brown and white dog with pointy ears is standing next to him, and the photo has caught him mid-yowl as he demands to know when dinner will be already and he would like to speak to the manager actually about these timeliness issues.

January 29, 2025 at 7:18 PM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

Sending many many hugs, Jaime. I hope the climb back up will start for you soon.

Here’s a Mouse and a Lucky curling up to wait with you:

A large black and white dog is curled up asleep on a donut-shaped light grey dog bed next to a small brown and white dog curled up asleep in another of the same dog beds.

January 7, 2025 at 12:46 AM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

Not Christmas, but my family’s Holiday/Solstice dinner from a few nights ago: leg of lamb, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy with mushrooms, and “fall-toush” brussels sprouts and delicata (from Smitten Kitchen, less the pita). Mandarin cheesecake with cranberry sauce.

A dinner plate with leg of lamb, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy, fried mushrooms, and “fall-toush” brussels sprouts and delicata squash. A fork and knife are to the left and right of the plate, which is on a woven straw placemat.

A slice of mandarin cheesecake topped with cranberry sauce.

December 25, 2024 at 3:11 AM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

I made mashed potatoes today using an incredible hack seen on TikTok (that the maker of the video didn’t even mention! she said to mash by hand or use a ricer, while clearly doing this instead): using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment to mash the potatoes and incorporate other ingredients.

A white corelle bowl of mashed potatoes with dark brown gravy on top. The bowl is on a small white plate, which is in turn on a woven straw placemat on a wooden table.

December 2, 2024 at 3:18 AM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

Cool new forearm tattoo courtesy of my infusion appointment on Monday. I’ve been in long sleeves all week and got surprised by it this morning.

Infusions help me a lot, but it’s still not really a fun time. I’d prefer to not have #LongCovid from my Feb 2020 infection and not need them, y’know?

The inner forearm of a light-skinned person. In the middle of the forearm is an elongated oval-ish bruise in shades of purple, yellow, and green. The bruise is the result of a (failed) IV placement.

November 22, 2024 at 6:03 PM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

My (direct only, not extended) celebrates Holiday, which falls on whatever day I determine to be best each year. Sometimes it’s the solstice; sometimes that’s inconvenient for whatever reason and I pick another day. We cook and eat a special meal and do gifts under the Holiday forest.

An artificial lit birch tree forest, about 2 feet wide and 3 feet tall, is sitting on a small table in front of a window looking out at the dark. There are bags and wrapped gifts sitting on the table and on the floor nearby.

November 15, 2024 at 6:11 PM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

I made pizza (dough is my hybrid sourdough bread dough; one is grilled onions, mushrooms, and black olives w/ homegrown tomato sauce and mozz; the other is greens blended into ricotta with green garlic, tomato sauce, mozz, and herb oil) and mom made election cookies. Trying to stay calm.

Half of a pizza (mushroom, black olive, and grilled onion on cheese and tomato sauce) next to a full pizza (herb oil, cheese, ricotta with greens blended into it, tomato sauce) on a large cutting board on a counter. Behind the pizza and to the right a tray of oatmeal cookies is visible.

November 6, 2024 at 2:22 AM

Sage

@sagetoko.bsky.social

STOP
THIS IS A CUTE ANIMAL PIC CHECKPOINT. PLEASE SHARE A MINIMUM OF ONE (1) CUTE ANIMAL PIC BEFORE PROCEEDING.
THIS IS A PRECAUTIONARY MEASURE TO PRESERVE THE MENTAL HEALTH OF THIS SITE. WE THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.