affreca

Pickled Shallots

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 23:51:26 GMT

One of the latest quick sale produce hauls was a bag of shallots. I've been meaning to try quick pickle onions, but I rarely have red onions in the house. It was tasty enough yesterday, so writing it down while I remember

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/4 cup boiling water
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1/2 cup thinly sliced shallot (1.5 medium sized ones)

Add salt, sugar and boiling water to small jar, stir to dissolve. Add vinegars to jar, stir and then add shallots. Let cool on counter for 30 minutes and enjoy.

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Rose Bubble Tea

Sat, 31 Jan 2026 20:14:00 GMT

2 spoons Irish Breakfast tea
200 g boiling water
200 g milk
30 g black tapioca bubbles
20 g rose syrup

Make tea with 200 g of boiling water and black tea, let steep for 5-10 minutes. Microwave milk in drinking cup for 1 minute. Bring more water to boil in small pot, and add bubbles when at a roiling boil. When the bubbles float, cover and cook for 4 minutes. Then turn off stove and let cook for an additional 4 minutes. Strain, add to cold water for 20 seconds, strain again and add to syrup. Froth milk, add tea and bubble to drinking cup. Stir with straw and enjoy.

For cold version, brew tea a few hours before, skip microwave and frothing milk, add ice.

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More cookies

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 01:53:48 GMT

Lawnchair bought me discounted hazelnut pieces, so after looking at all sorts of national hazelnut cookies (German, Italian and Balkan) I settled on chocolate hazelnut cookies. Only major change was added some instant coffee powder. I used a teaspoon from a bag labeled "coffee + sugar" left over from a couple of years ago when I was trying to make an instant coffee blend that I liked for backpacking. My current coffee solution for backpacking/kayaking is Maxim mocha from the Korean grocery, but that changes based on what I can find.

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Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 23:50:26 GMT

The cashew butter cookies are good, but these are better. I plan to make some once I get done with planned travel. Posting so I can find again. Original recipe

1 3/4 cups [230g] flour
1/2 tsp [2.5g] baking soda
1 1/2 cups [240g] chocolate chips
1 stick [115g] salted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup [100g] granulated sugar
1/2 cup [100g] brown sugar
1/2 tsp [3g] salt
1 large egg [50g]
1/2 cup [125g] tahini
1 tsp [5g] vanilla extract
2/3 cup [90g] sesame seeds

Combine the flour and baking soda in a medium mixing bowl. Add in the chocolate chips into the dry ingredients.

Beat the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 2 minutes, until a little lighter and fluffier. Scrape down the sides, and add the egg, tahini, milk, and vanilla. Beat at medium-high speed until silky-smooth and lighter in color (about 1 minute).

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix at low speed just until it all comes together. Stop mixing once it’s combined.

Fridge the dough for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Shape the dough into scant-1/4-cup blobs [50g]. Roll one between your hands until smooth, then roll in the sesame seeds, and then place on a prepared sheet pan. Gently press the dough ball’s top down slightly so it’s just a little flattened. Repeat with the remaining ones, leaving space between each cookie.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are set, but the centers aren’t completely set

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Cashew Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 22:15:01 GMT

I wanted tahini chocolate chip cookies and couldn't find any more tahini in the pantry (I'm blind, there were two more containers down there), so instead I searched for cashew butter chocolate chip cookies because I've been haunted by a jar on our shelves for a while. The recipe I found uses 3 times the amount of cashew butter than I have, but thankfully all the ingredients (including the egg) were easily divisible by 3. Bonus, I also only had 1/3 the recipe's amount of cashews. So here's the smaller version.

1 egg
1 cup cashew butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp table salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup cashews
Sprinkles of kosher salt

Whisk egg lightly in a small bowl. Add egg, cashew butter, brown sugar, baking soda and salt to stand mixer and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips and cashews. Preheat oven to 350 F, portion out large spoons of dough on lined baking sheet, sprinkle on kosher salt and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Edited to add
Original recipe

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For Reference

Sat, 25 Oct 2025 20:57:28 GMT

Backpacking mango sticky rice

1 cup instant jasmine rice / 1/3 cup
1/4 cup coconut milk powder / 4/3 tbsp
2 Tbsp. unsweetened coconut flakes / 2 tsp
3 Tbsp. cane sugar / 1 tbsp
3 oz. dried mango / 1 oz

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Fall Cooking

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 18:57:26 GMT

Trying this recipe for Butternut Squash and Chicken. Planned alterations include: adding freshish rosemary and thyme because I have only one small sprig of sage, swapping 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar since I don't have any lemons, and using the instant pot because I don't want to make a sauce in the cast iron frying pan. Plan is to use the slow cooker instructions, but cook the chicken and squash for 12 minutes under pressure. Oh, and maybe crumble some goat cheese on top because I have it.

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State of the Me

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 01:42:48 GMT

Trip was successful, with a lot of self reflection. I flew out to Seattle for WorldCon. As my friend S decided he couldn't afford to attend due to finances, I ended up rooming with a random conworker found through extended acquittance network. She was a good roommate, but didn't end up socializing with her or really anyone at the con. Still working on accepting that's just how I attend cons, and debating again if it's worth it.

Then caught up with a high school friend over dinner on Sunday night after the con. Which was good, but leaves me thoughts that I need start pushing family to discuss plans for dealing with aging parents.

Monday I went back to the airport to pick up a rental car for my 10 day camping/road trip. Added two more national parks to my visited list, and did a lot of hiking. One thing about experience is that I'm getting better about hiking uphill without bailing. I did bail on one uphill hike, but looking at the map it was a lot of elevation for not much to see and getting later in the day.

There's things I could have done differently if I did more research/planned (timed hike better for ferry ride, been able to float down river I camped next to), but successful. Saw pretty places (Nisqually glacier and Nisqually delta) and some new to me animals (sooty grouse and marmot). I rediscovered that I enjoy meeting and chatting with people while traveling. Most of my trips for the last decade plus have been work or with Tom, and I don't as much.

On the other hand, I'm happy to be home. The air smells right here. I like the smell of both the wet west and dry east parts of Washington, but it's not home. Also, it's screaming tree season back home.

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Two Months In

Mon, 19 May 2025 02:41:22 GMT

It's been about two months since I quit my job. I haven't been good a motivation for physical things, but Lawnchair's bike training gets me out of the house, either to meet up with him in a different small town 20-30 miles out or taking the RV trailer out to a lake from which he can bike 60 mile loops and I can hike random 2-6 mile trails. I've been a bit better about going to fiber guild meetings, or Fiber evenings at L's studio. I did also manage to spend three days volunteering to teach middle and high school students how to measure surface water characteristics. And training to volunteer with local river NGO kayak trips, with the first I signed up for on Wednesday. That actually sounds like a lot...

Most of my actual time (that isn't internet surfing) is spinning. I blended and spun up 42 different one ounce yarns to make myself play with new color and fiber combinations. I learned a lot, but by the end of it I was running out of ideas (multiple attempts at blending orange and teal wool and getting unexpected results, including the time I made grey).

During that set of experiments, I took a class from L that inspired a new set of experiments. See, most of the color blending classes I've taken bring out the same color wheel - red blue yellow. L's was cyan magenta yellow, and one of the students asked why. While L couldn't answer, it stuck with me. I know printing inks are CMYB, but I never thought why. I know there's a different set of primary colors if you're adding lights, but.. 20 minutes of googling and I realize that my color theory education has holes.

So I decided to blend up RBY vs. CMY color wheels in wool fiber. I dyed four ounces of each color, and started making .5 ounce batts. I've done the primary, secondary and tertiary colors, and even did some cross wheel batts - blue/cyan, blue/magenta, red/magenta and red/cyan. Next up is some tints, tones and shades. Still deciding if I'm going to spin up the entire batt, or save a sample unspun. Maybe spin most of the batts, but tape a small bit of wool to a flashcard..

Useful, no.. but finding projects.

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Backpacking Couscous

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 19:47:45 GMT

I finally had/took the time to develop a tasty couscous recipe to take backpacking.

1/4 tsp Ras El Hanout (version from local grocery coop)
1/2 tsp chicken bullion powder
2 tsp coconut milk powder
2 tsp dried onions
2 tbsp almond slices
2 tbsp dried cherries
3 tbsp dehydrated vegetables (with peas removed because they don't rehydrate well)
1/2 cup couscous

1 cup boiling water
1 sausage (sliced)

Mix everything except water and sausage. Boil water, wait 5 or so minutes, add sausage and eat.

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Recipes to copy down

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 22:34:36 GMT

I started a physical recipe book, so I'll copy these down at some point. Hopefully before link rot sets in.

Hungarian goulash - https://eatingeuropean.com/hungarian-goulash/

Smashed Potatoes - https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/213492/smashed-potatoes/ - used hoisin sauce

Mexican casserole, need to try first - https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/20680/easy-mexican-casserole/

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Forgetful

Sun, 16 Jun 2024 21:46:14 GMT

Going to have to go back to checklists. Forgot to pack both my lunch and work ID for my work trip. Lawnchair is sending my card to the hotel, because I can't access my work email or computer without it.

Otherwise, travel went well, only a half hour flight delay.

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Still Living

Sat, 15 Jun 2024 00:55:52 GMT

Somehow I feel like I used my vacation day productively, though not sure it is justified on analysis. Last night, I realized left my wallet at the office. As I'm off on another work trip Sunday, I sort of need the wallet. So I needed to go in to get it. This morning, I realized I also left my work laptop in the office, so even more need to go in. I got up at my usual early time, but lazed about before driving into the city. I got a mile walk around the neighborhood in with Lawnchair before it got hot.

Reassuringly, both my laptop and wallet were in the office as expected. I decided to do an hour of work (dealing with money crap), and then the yarn store I've been meaning to check out would be open. Yarn store was cute and woke, but I wasn't thrilled enough with their fiber selection to buy any. Then decided to check out the used art supplies store. They had about four ounces of fiber, but not worth buying. Finally, I hit the Target on the way an buy out the last of the 18 gallon rubbermaid tubs they had (I need more for organizing the yarn and fiber in the library). A final stop to pick up prescription and I did more errands than a normal day off.

I do still need to pack for work travel. I'm volunteering at the river clean up tomorrow, and I suspect I will be hot, sweaty and tired by the time I get home.

I cast off my last travel socks this evening, and wound up the next yarn into a ball to start on this trip. I think I'm back to socks being so much more suitable for travel than any other knitting. Maybe hats, but it's to hot to get exciting about hat knitting.

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Sourdough Scone Recipe

Sun, 09 Jun 2024 16:11:23 GMT

Ingredients

280 g all purpose flour
100 g granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 stick salted butter, frozen 113 grams

142 g sourdough starter discard
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract (or other flavoring)
45 grams milk

1 cup mix ins chocolate chips, blueberries, dried cranberries

In food processor, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and butter. In bowl, mix together sourdough starter discard, egg, extract and milk. Fold in dry ingredients and mix ins. Make scone piles on silicone baking mat on cookie sheet, cover with second baking mat, place in fridge for a few hours. Then move to freezer. Cook two at a time at 400 for 20 minutes.

Recipe based on https://www.farmhouseonboone.com/sourdough-scones

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Apple Pomegranate Crisp

Tue, 26 Dec 2023 18:50:50 GMT

Adapted from this recipe, with alterations based on comments and my own tastes.

Filling
4 medium apples - peeled and cut into small pieces
3/4 pomegranate's seeds
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup brown sugar (could be decreased slightly, but needs to be brown)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
ground cloves and cardamon
~1/2 cup nuts (I used pistachios as that's what was in the house)

Topping
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter (soft)
(Might be worth doubling topping)

Mix filling ingredients in 9 x 13 greased casserole dish, and top with nuts. In a bowl, cut butter into other topping ingredients with a fork. Crumble bits over fillings. Bake at 350F for 45 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes and eat.

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Back to the Grindstone

Wed, 04 Jan 2023 03:15:39 GMT

Went to work in the office. Attempted to chat with coworkers, but wasn't terribly into it. How quickly I lose the habits. To be fair, I was barely in the office the last two months, so it isn't just the previous week of vacation. I was almost productive?

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Trying to Find Lessons

Mon, 02 Jan 2023 22:19:20 GMT

in today's aggravations. After thinking about it, I decided that I'd rather frog the hoody progress rather than keep contemplating the better construction idea that I'd had - starting at the top of the hood so I didn't have to pick up stitches on the neckline (though this will decrease structure at the neckline). I got 14 rows into that before I decided that I really wanted an i-cord edge on the hood. 8 rows into that, I decided to search for a way to minimize pulling on the i-cord edge, but that could be fixed going forward without frogging. For the last, I'm doing an extra slip three/knit three every four rows. I'm 18 rows in now.

Today is soup and bread day, so I'm ready for the work week tomorrow. My mistake with the soup is that because it's basic leftover turkey soup, I'm not following a recipe for amounts and I added to much garlic. I went online for suggestions other than add more stock to dilute it, and found the suggestion to add something creamy. Half a can of coconut milk, and it's a good soup now.

However, as I was focusing on my soup, I was not paying attention to my oven preheating. At 45 minutes in, it still had not reached 435 F. Or even 400 F. It did make it to 400, so it's partially working. I decided to bake it at what I had (yeast is on it's own schedule), and see. Worst case, I throw it out and go buy bread.

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New Year

Mon, 02 Jan 2023 03:46:43 GMT

And still here. Job is going well. The last month and a half before winter vacation (i.e. use or loose vacation time), was a lot of travel. Which was fun, but I have a lot of overdue trip memos. I'm not sure my boss is putting my promotion to use yet, so hopefully I can get more projects out of her, before she retires in late February. I'm pretty good not applying for her position - I don't feel ready. I just don't want to learn how to deal with a new boss, but that's a working life.

I spent vacation spinning with minor knitting. Almost no house cleaning occurred, especially in the neglected library. The spinning fiber is still out of control, though I did find the stuff I wanted to spin. And I canceled my paradise box. I'll miss the randomness, but I'm better off spending the same amount from different suppliers each month (or buying less fiber, but I keep making more per diem than I eat). I also started knitting a hoody, though I just figured out how to make the hood without picking up stitches. Do I undo two days of work in order to try out my idea?

Outdoors stuff started on a good note this year - I went to the closest First Day Hike at a nearby state park. I also brought K and Lawnchair with me. 1+ mile in beautiful weather with a bajilion other people. I've got two backpacking trips on the Ozark trail mapped out, just have to find a good long weekend. I'd like to start section hiking it with the goal of doing the whole thing. It's no PCT or Appalachian, but it's a hell of lot closer.

Cats are still great. I look at the local shelter, but I really don't want to mess up the current dynamic. They like each other so much more than any other set I've lived with.

May everyone's 2023 be better than 2022.

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November Scheduling

Thu, 10 Nov 2022 01:35:07 GMT

Today was the last of my in house sampling work for the year. I was delayed a couple of weeks due to software issues, and found out the pump isn't working in the well I was supposed to sample. I had to rejigger plans, but still had a nice time dealing with the people in my old job. It turns out I do like training people, and if I train the regulators, they'll expect things to be the way I do them. And having faces for names helps since there's been so much turn over in the last few years.

Which means I have to go into the office tomorrow, to return equipment, scan receipts and water my plants. I was out yesterday working the election, so it's only one day this week.

I'm glad to be flying to see S. in Oakland on Friday, as we're getting winter tomorrow. The low tonight is supposed to be 67 (after a high in the 70s). Then we'll get to 70 in late morning, followed by crashing temperatures to a low of 24 tomorrow night. The forecast is then highs in the low 40s to lows in the low 20s.

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Still Hear, Reading

Mon, 07 Nov 2022 00:40:35 GMT

So I'm still not in the habit of posting, though I read my FL frequently. News of the last 8 months include:

A new lead geologist position was created, and I got the position. I applied before my big trip, interviewed four days after I returned, and started a week after that. My first week involved oversight of someone else's site that went terribly bad. As it the contractor was not allowed to finish sampling, and we took it over. It took a month to prepare, but a team of five flew out and finished the sampling. It went mostly well?

This is my month of not being in the office. I'm taking Tuesday off to work the election, have field work on Wednesday, and fly to California for vacation on Friday. I'm also going up to Nebraska for Thanksgiving and have two local and one out of state oversight trips in the works. With the timing of the last two in flux.

Big trip was two weeks in Mongolia, with several days either side in Seoul in August/September. Mongolia was exactly as planned, but was somehow not how I pictured.

Cats are still adorable and lovable, as is Lawnchair.

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Shepherd's Pie

Wed, 21 Sep 2022 00:42:00 GMT

I'm still waiting for it to cool, but the shepherd's pie I just made mostly following this recipe smells amazing. Changes made were - fish sauce for Wostershire sauce, 10 ounce bag of frozen vegetable mix (carrots, corn, peas and green beans) for 1/2 of cup each of carrots, peas and corn, my recipe for sour cream potatoes (plus couple of shakes of garlic powder in the potatoes), 1+ tsp mural of flavor for rosemary (just didn't have any in the house). So mostly following the recipe.

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Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes

Mon, 25 Jul 2022 23:13:26 GMT

Posting here so I stop guessing which recipe I used. From NY Times, though I usually half the recipe

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sour cream, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
⅓ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, or to taste

Put 1 cup of warm water and the 1 tablespoon salt in the pressure cooker and stir until the salt dissolves. Insert the steamer basket and place the potatoes in the basket.
Cover, and cook on high pressure for 8 minutes. Release the pressure manually.
Transfer the potatoes to a bowl. Add the butter, sour cream, remaining 1 teaspoon salt, and the pepper and use a potato masher or fork to mash everything together. Add the chives and mix well. Adjust the seasoning to taste, if necessary. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese just before serving.

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Spring

Wed, 30 Mar 2022 01:37:08 GMT

Did not get the job I interviewed for, which is fine. Grandboss mentioned that he's trying to get another technical lead position for the geology section. We'll see if it opens before they realize how good the newer geologists are. I'm sufficiently paid as it is.

Weather has turned to spring. Not sure if I should blame today's migraine on stress/disappointment or pressure changes. I managed to knit half the remaining sleeve. I'm trying to decide if the tension changes are worth worrying about. I notice the body is denser than the sleeves. The question is are my notes about the needle size used wrong, or did I get looser in the 1.5 year between doing the body and picking it back up to knit the sleeves? Also, I think (hope) my spinning has gotten better in the 4 years since I spun the yarn. It is thin and thinner, and not well plied in places. Sweater is going to pill like crazy. Though I love the colors. The fiber was a mix of blue, black, brown and orange, and I spun it into two yarns - blue/black and orange/brown (with the brown and black not as well separated). The sweater has inch stripes in each color. I'm usually not a fan of orange, but it works well.

Storm finally hit. I'm hoping to go to bed soon.

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More of the Same

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 00:01:49 GMT

Knitting: Mostly the blue/orange sweater. Ravelry tells me I started knitting it in fall 2020, and spun the yarn in early 2018. I'm pretty sure I'm a better spinner now, as I'm seeing all the unevenness in the yarn. I finished the first sleeve today, I'm hoping that knitting the ribbing while watching the local team basketball game didn't make it my tension to tight. I've also started a hat so I have a project small enough to take to work. I really can't do phone conferences without something in my hands anymore, and I'm in the office three days a week now.

Work is.. work. I've got a big project due in two weeks, and I need to knuckle down on it. Argh. Interview for the promotion I want was Thursday. Boss (who was one of five in the interview committee) told me afterwards I did well. Hopefully they'll be as fast as the ITA decision. It's not the end of the world if I don't get it, I'm well compensated and early in my position to be getting promoted. I just figure the competition will be higher as the new hires get a chance to show off how good they are.

Hiking is going well. Did an overnight at Indian Cave last weekend with Dirty Girls, which was nice. Steep hills out there. Then S. (coworker, new hiking buddy) suggested that she wanted to try 10 miles with a pack (she's prepping for a week on the Appalachian Trail this summer), so we did the north shore white trail at the nearby lake. My cell had us at 9.88 miles, while hers had us at almost 10.5, so I'm going to take 10 miles. My legs are sore today, but it's all muscle soreness. Not sure I can do 10 miles multiple days, but I think I can do 15 miles over two days, which is what I'd need for Elk River (next rough plan).

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Ready for Spring to Stick Around

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 03:07:33 GMT

Getting sick of cycle of beautiful weather, then snow. I know that's how the midwest is, but we should be done with serious snow storms. Though it is a great excuse to not work downtown on the worst day of the basketball tournament. New car pool partners are working out great, though I keep bailing on them (original plans for new license fell through, sudden trip to site, tomorrow's snow, and next week's unplanned trip to another site). Still would prefer van pool start back up, but need riders.

I finished the unplanned green shawl this evening. I need to weave ends and block it, and then find a recipient. I knit it because I thought the yarn looked interesting together and I found a pattern that matched the amount of yarn I had. I'm not sure about the colors or shape, so I hope to pass it off to someone else. And then start another portable project.

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