2-do list: where things are now

• make keto-ish cookies
• one more walk
• finish prep on care package
• proof STP 10 ms one more time (might not happen)
• prep supplements + meds for trip
• do STP 10 answer key, Units 1-4
• do STP 10 answer key, Units 5-7
• do STP 10 answer key, Units 8-10
• give Severance document to dentist & make crown appt (Mon)
• do final packing & prep for the walk by Tues morning
• take care of food-spoilage situation
• replace goat's foot on trekking pole
• talk to front desk re: leak in bathroom ceiling (Mon)
• shut off toilet Tuesday morning before work
• write "The Boys," Season 4 review (probably at motels)
• write "Deadpool & Wolverine" review (probably at motels)

Here are the keto-ish cookies:

the grand view of all three batches (rather modest yield)

second batch: five cookies that needed to be separated (a tiny offset spatula did the trick)

third batch: nine cookies that mostly didn't need persuasion to be separated

first batch: as with pancakes, this is the sacrifice batch, but the cookies actually tasted good, not burned

These can be made totally keto by using Swerve brown sugar (which I don't like) and sugarless chocolate chips; I used Truvia's brown-sugar "mix" of Stevia plus regular sugar. It's more carby, but with way fewer calories, and half the carbs don't need to be counted, i.e., the net-carb count is half the real-carb count. Also, by using almond flour, there's only a third the carbs of regular wheat flour. I did use cashews, which are carby, and I used real chocolate chips because I couldn't bear to inflict sugar-free chips on my boss and coworker, so the chips carry the full impact of their carbs and calories. Overall, it's a somewhat healthier cookie, by which I really mean it's less damaging to your health. But it tastes awesome as a result; you wouldn't think diet cookie at all, expect maybe for the slightly more pliant texture.

This recipe, from the All Day I Dream About Food YouTube channel, is different from the one I'd used last time. That recipe had come from Joe Duff, and the result was a cookie that, despite cooling, was still too weak and flexible to be held by the edge without bending and/or crumbling. This cookie, by contrast, hardens up like a teenage boy at his first strip club. The batch made 16 cookies, all uniform thanks to my trusty, small ice-cream scoop. 4 disappeared today; the remaining 12 were taken to work and repackaged in smaller plastic containers, 4 each for a total of 12. I gave myself the worst of the remaining cookies; the two absolute worst cookies (which weren't bad at all, as I said above) disappeared in a tragic oral accident this morning.* Two more disappeared when I brought 14 cookies to the office, and the remaining 12 are now divvied up, 4 to a person, and have been placed at my boss', my coworker's, and my work stations for devouring tomorrow.

The ADIDAF recipe is by far the superior one. Joe Duff's isn't bad, but the result is just too soft to be practical for shipping or even room-temp storage.

I'll be heading out to the nearby Suseo train station on Tuesday straight from work. I'll likely leave around 5:15 p.m.; it's a 6:24 p.m. departure to Busan, and I need some Murphy's Law time to figure out the QR-code situation. It shouldn't be hard, as I've said before. But you never know. And that's it: I'll have finished my 2-do list, and I'll be enjoying simplified, streamlined bliss for three weeks before I'm back in time to watch my country explode in the aftermath of what will be an ugly, ugly election. If he wins, Trump should go all Demonic Donald on his enemies, knowing what he now knows about the nature and vastness of the swamp. If he wins. "Mostly peaceful protests," my ass.

__________

*Today is technically a fasting day, but I was impatient, hungry, and not averse to a little risk-taking. I had also spread my cookie-eating over several hours—2 cookies in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Tomorrow, I'll eat my 4 allotted cookies along with a nice, salad-y lunch. Tuesday, when I go to Busan, is another fasting day, which I interpret to mean no solid food, but one smoothie plus diet sodas are okay (all of that technically breaks a fast, but my caloric and carb consumption will be way down). I'll be bringing along Survival Tabs for 11 of my meals during the trek. Gonna be brutal, but there should be significant (temporary) weight loss. I'm at about 108 kg right now; I could theoretically be well under 100 kg by the time I'm done. My goal weight has long been 90 kg, which is what I weighed in Switzerland as a college kid. I won't weigh 90 by November, but I might hit 90-something.