I love making vegetable stew. I tend to start with the Vegi Soup Mix from Bob's Red Mill, and while that's simmering, I sear and season the vegetables in a separate pan before combining it for the last 15 minutes or so.

Soup Mix:
Lentils
Split peas
Barley
Vermicelli

Vegetables:
Mushrooms
Onion
Garlic
Carrots
Green Beans
Potatoes

Seasonings:
Salt
Pepper
Thyme
Soy Sauce
(Anchovie-free) Worcestershire Sauce

A bit of bread on the side with Country Crock spread, and I've got a hearty, protein-packed, vegan meal with enough umami flavors to compete with the beef stew that I remember from childhood.

They're Hungary Hungary Hippos 🇭🇺

Every time I promote someone to my Kurultai, my liege grants them a county within a few days.

I just paid 50 gold to recruit a new stargazer, and my liege gave him a county the very next day.

I paid a valuable chunk of herd to recruit courtiers from my Nomadic capital, and their skills were all 6 or lower. My jaw hit the floor. Doesn't matter, my liege gave them all counties within a month anyways.

Under the Khans of the Steppe DLC, does anyone know if it's possible for a Tribal ruler to convert a nomadic settlement into a tribal holding? I understand the process for feudalizing a holding, but I want to know if I can "tribalize" a holding before I start pushing south as an Ostyak tribal ruler.

I'd fallen into the habit of quick-and-easy cooking (or eating out) since my last major depressive episode. Today I felt inspired to make some pizza from scratch. Cooking does wonders for the soul.

I was so eager that I almost forgot to take a picture...!

I got some pizza disks for Christmas, they're a real game changer. I can finally cook a GOOD hand-stretched pizza crust in my home oven without worrying about messing up the launch or preheating the steel. No longer am I limited to pan pizza.

Got some pizza disks for Christmas. Makes it so much easier to cook a good hand-stretched pizza crust in my home oven.

Pepperoni for my wife; mushrooms and onions for me. A blend of mozz, Muenster, and feta on both.

I arrange a Grand Wedding between my heir and her lover. I think "hey, since she had a child with this guy he better marry her, plus he's got great genetic traits." I try to start the wedding and discover that I can't. The groom-to-be has Consumption which apparently prevents him from participating in events such as weddings.

Okay, no big deal. I have a three year time limit to deliver on the Grand Wedding.

Welp, as it turns out, Consumption is a very long-lasting disease, and three years later he's still sick. So he gets really mad at ME, and I lose a level of fame and a bunch of opinion because apparently it was MY fault that he was too sick to walk down the aisle? Buddy, I've been trying to throw you a wedding for the last three years and you're the one that didn't feel well enough to go through with it!!

I think somewhere between Roads to Power and the Wandering Nobles event pack, more opportunities were introduced for strong republics to rise to power. While I was messing around in the frozen wasteland of Sibirya, Germany somehow established itself as a Most Serene Republic and has been going strong for many generations. I just popped over to check on them and discovered that their current elected leader is both a nun and a Conqueror. She looks pretty badass with that sword.