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So I used a recipe I found online a long time ago and since then have just made it my own. I don't measure anything but I will try to be as descriptive as possible!

Ingredients:

• Ground Pork
  
  
• Soy Sauce
  
  
• Chili oil
  
  
• Oyster Sauce
  
  
• Black Pepper
  
  
• Garlic powder
  
  
• Onions (or shallots)
  
  
• Garlic
  
  
• Basil
  
  
• Sugar
  
  
• Sesame Oil
  
  
• Fish Sauce (if you have, not needed)
  
  
• Lettuce
  
  
• Rice
  
  
• Egg
  
  
• Scallions
  
  Always start with starch. Prep and cook rice.
  
  [Prep] Dice up about 3 cloves of garlic, and thinly slice one small onion (don't dice). Rinse 1 big scallion and cut ( I separate the white and green parts. White i cut straight, and the green I cut on an angle) Peel off basil leaves and rinse. Rinse romaine/iceberg (any lettuce)
  
  [Cook]Heat up your frying pan on high heat, add some cooking oil, and before the pan starts smoking add the onions and half of the diced garlic (cook for about 30-45 seconds till the garlic becomes aromatic). Then add a nice teaspoon of chili oil (let that simmer a bit).
  
  Next add your ground pork (about a lb or so). Break up the pork with chopsticks or a spatula and let that cook till brown on one side. Add in 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon of oyster sauce, a dash of sugar to enhance the flavors, 1.5 teaspoons of soysauce (or a dash of salt and 1 teaspoon of soy) and if you have fish sauce add 1/2 a teaspoon. Stir and lower heat to medium and cook the pork till its almost done (~5 minutes)
  
  Use a lot of basil! Don't be shy as this stuff shrinks. Wash it thoroughly, and add a nice bunch to the pan. Stir and raise the heat back to high. Cook for about 2/3 minutes, when the basil starts to shrink and chance color. At this point, it may be a little watery from all the pork juices but the high heat should reduce most of that. DON'T overcook the pork else it will become tough. Let the pork sit and soak in all the juices.
  
  Fry an egg or two. Then Add rice and pork to plate with an egg on top and voila! Simple, delicious lettuce wraps.
  
  For added flavor, you can easily make chicken rice or coconut rice instead of plain jasmine/white rice.
  
  
  This is pretty much what I do. At this point it is loosely considered "thai". You're supposed to use holy basil but I've no idea where to get that. It is delicious and if you don't like spicy you can skip the chili oil. :)

Hey! I've been DMing 5th Edition here in Astoria for almost two years now. I won't be able to DM for you, but I do have some advice.

If you are looking for a place to start, I'd recommend Lost Mines of Phandelver starter kit. It gives you everything you need to get started including dice, the basic rules, and pre-created character sheets.

If you take on the mantle of of Dungeon Master, try not to worry about knowing all the rules(it's impossible!). Just have a general idea of what each skill is used for when a player asks questions in game and how combat generally works. You'll make lots of mistakes, but as long as you all are having fun it'll be OK. If you want to move on from the starter set, you'll for sure need the core three rule books: Player's Hand Book, Monster Manual, and DM Guide. In addition, you'll probably need a pre-written campaign, but I haven't played through any of them so I can't give recommendations.

Best of luck and if you have any questions you can DM me and I can try to help!

Not exactly an answer to your question, but I ordered this shaved ice machine from amazon yesterday and got it in today, and I have to say it's pretty amazing. It makes very fluffy shaved ice and it's incredibly refreshing. I definitely recommend this for future heat waves.

Don't lock your bike up outside over night.

If you absolutely have to make sure to use what's called an "insurance lock" in the EU. A lock from Medeco or ABUS that's meant for this sort of application will work, such as this or this lock. They can't easily be cut, can not be shimmed at all, and the people who are capable of picking a disc detainer or dual-axis cylinder aren't the type of people who are stealing bikes.

A lock is only as good as the chain it's binding. You want at a minimum what's called "Grade 70" chain, or the "Transport chain" in trucking. You'll want a couple feet of it at a 5/8" square link thickness, the one I linked is round and just an example of the grade you want. It's the alloy used to tie down loads to trucks. It's a high carbon alloy with a yellow zinc coating to make it easily recognizable to state troopers on the highway. When thiefs see that coating they move on to the next bike because they know their small manual bolt cutters are useless unless they're The Hulk... or cool with potentially bleeding out on the pavement. With that said, there are some crazy and crazy strong people out there who can get through even harder alloys than that with big enough bolt cutters. That's why you want to keep your chain short, tight and high. This way it's harder to rest the cutters on the ground and balance/leverage it under your foot. Don't buy your chain from a sporting goods store; more than likely those generic chains are not rated. Never use a cable chain to secure your bike, the ones with the plastic coating. With carbide hacksaw blade I can rip through one of those in seconds.

A chain is only as good as how you have it secured to your bike. Make sure you're wrapping it around the down-tube of your bike. Never the head tube, top tube, seat stays or chain stays. Also wrap it through the front wheel as well. Anyone can easily take your front wheel by undoing the front hub's quick release by hand. If it's held on with a threaded pin anyone can take it off with a simple wrench too. As I said before, short, tight & high.

How you secure your chain is only as good as what you're securing it to. If the post has an open top, like a parking reg sign, the bike can just be lifted over. Make sure what you're tying it to is securely lagged in to the ground and has a closed loop. If it's under a street light that's even better - but not to a street light. Never underestimate a thief's gangster in this town.

I got the Mohu Leaf indoor HDTV antenna for $40 on Amazon (link). It picks up crisp 1080p digital tv with the basic channels. I use it mainly to watch the main network channels (FOX, ABC, CBS, etc.) so I usually stick to the 1-13 channels. It does have some other ones, but nothing to note. I paid the $40 one time cost so I could cut the cord, but still watch all the football games. Simple, cheap, and hassle free.

Cutting the cable cord, getting this antenna, plus an apple tv was easily one of the best decisions I've made as a consumer.

I highly recommend the book "Walking Queens" ( https://www.amazon.com/Walking-Queens-Discovering-Communities-Treasures/dp/0899977308/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=walking+queens&qid=1573147338&sr=8-1). There are two walks for Astoria/Long Island City and they're both pretty cool. The author points out lots of neat little facts and you get a really good walk out of it. Please keep in mind that everything in the book may no longer exist.

I use one of these. It's very easy to build. Once you have it set up it is so cheap to carbonate all year long. A 5 or 10 lb tank refills for under $20. My 5 lb lasts me all year. I refill my tank at Presto-O-Sales, or you can exchange your tank at Triboro Beverage. I highly recommend this option.

Edit: This is the co2 regulator I purchased. It's easy to use and you can set the psi however you like. I ordered a different one when I started which I returned because it wouldn't let me set the psi as high as I wanted. Also, If I had the choice again I'd probably go with a 10 lb. tank. They're really not much larger physically, and they really don't charge much more to refill than the 5 lb. However, if you're interested in doing the tank exchange at Triboro Beverage, I believe they only do 5 lb. tanks.

A few bits of advice:

1. Don't lock it outside overnight. Keep it in your apartment.
   
2. Buy used. I don't know where the hell you can find a bike of any quality for $15, but you can get some for less than $100. Look on Craigslist, beware scammers, and please don't buy a bike from a bike thief.
   
3. Get a decent U-lock. This one is pretty good. Use the included cable to loop around your front wheel. The cable is a bit short, but it's long enough to get the wheel. Unfortunately it is NOT long enough to get both the wheel and seatpost, at least not on my bike. If you're worried about that, get a 7' cable instead. All locks are breakable, of course, but a decent U-lock will thwart casual thieves and encourage the pros to move on to the next bike that's less secured.
   
4. Don't ride drunk. Combined with #1, that means don't ride it anywhere if you plan on drinking.
   
   I've been riding an old mountain bike I got for $70 off Craigslist for a few years. It looks its age but it rides like a champ. Yes, it's silly that my locks cost nearly as much as my bike, but I don't care. I'm a little paranoid.

The Ziploc idea is best, but I also spray most of my gear and our shoes (especially the kids' stuff) with this stuff. It's not impenetrable, but it helps a lot with water resistance and stain protection. A full can lasts a while. It only took one to treat our giant stroller

I recently used a great cat sitter named Susan after I posted on this sub looking for a female sitter. (She was actually my friend's cat sitter; I didn't get any leads from my post.). I don't know her policy or schedule but she seems really accommodating so you could send her a message and see what she says!

Here's the link to her profile on Rover: www.rover.com/sit/astoriasusan

If you haven't signed up for Rover before (I hadn't either), you can use this link
and get $20 off your first booking (full disclosure: I would also get a $20 credit!)

EDIT TO ADD: Also, [I bought these automatic feeders for wet or dry food] (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07M9J4SNR/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_jKA6CbPX0BEPA)
a couple years ago and they changed my life. I highly recommend them to anyone! You can set up to 48 hrs in advance, and if leaving out wet food for more than 12 hours I refrigerate or freeze it ahead of time so it won't get gross.

FYI I picked up my board last night, lejoost was really nice, and the art and boards are all made in Astoria, and of very good quality. I just ordered this skateboard deck hanger from Amazon and am looking forward to putting my little slice of Astoria up on the wall.

That’s more like the lock on a glass window than a steel plate. Use something like Plugable USB Universal Fast 1A Charge-Only Adapter for Android, Apple iOS, and Windows Mobile Devices to be safe.

Ahhh darn. I agree it’s hard to find in Astoria, I have similarly wandered from store to store before trying to find it. At one point we ended up buying one of these to try and make at home, I’m not sure I’ve found the right recipe to really make it work though. Good luck on your search!

Yeah I really like it, it's single speed though (but not fixed gear) which may turn some people off. But it's easier to take care of myself than a geared bike is.

In most cases you'll be fine leaving it outside during the day for a few hours. If you have lights, you'll probably want to get in the habit of taking them with you though when you lock it up.

When you do lock up, you're gonna want one of these Kryptonite locks to lock the frame to the post and the bendy chain thing to wrap around the wheel and the U-lock. You could also get these Pinhead locks to lock your tires in a set it and forget it sort of way. You can get these at most bike shops.

I don't know anything about bike alarms. The key to not getting your bike stolen is don't be lazy about it.

I actually just did this for myself. I bought a 16" x 20" paint-by-numbers kit and it came as a loose canvas. I bought this wooden frame on Amazon which came with tacks, too. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LYQBKMX/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I ironed my canvas first as it came folded and you could still see creases but after that and tacking it really tight, it looks great.

This manual grinder is great - just be prepared to put in some effort:
http://www.amazon.com/Hario-Coffee-Mill-Slim-Grinder/dp/B001804CLY/

Oh hell yeah. My apartment sits around 70 but my bedroom sits around 64. I put up window film and my room is now up to 70 with the rest of the apartment. I will put a link below for what you need. It is by far te best $7-$11 I spend all year.

https://www.amazon.com/Duck-10-Window-Insulator-420-Inch-281506/dp/B002GKC2GW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1521587453&sr=8-3&keywords=window+winter

We used to have it in bulk at an old wing place I worked at in college. I always noticed a little taste difference between the consumer size and bulk bottles. Either way, definitely good stuff. Glad you found some!

Edit: This is the bottle my old wing spot used.

Here's what my old wing place used to have in their fridge. Still says open pit, but the logo is different. Maybe 'original' flavor is slightly different from consumer size? But most likely, its the Illuminati.

https://www.amazon.com/Open-Pit-Original-Flavor-Barbecue/dp/B00CBKURD2/ref=sr_1_5_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1523291061&sr=8-5&keywords=open+pit+bbq+sauce

This doesn't solve your problem...but....Earlier today someone told me to watch this absolute amazing video listed with this folding table on Amazon. It might make you feel very inspired about your decision to acquire a table.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Cosco-Deluxe-Fold-Molded-Folding/dp/B00DOZTM3O/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

Sounds like a reasonable guy. SMH

Buy one of these. It's under $10 and help monitor the humidity in the apartment. .. and it's magnetized so stick it on the fridge. . https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H1R0K68/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1