A few noteworthy things from August '25
Books I've finished reading, a cute screen-time limiting app, and a one-tray lunch recipe with tofu.
In the times of internet being taken over by the piles of AI slop, we need to defend ourselves. Searching for new cool things via search bar of any widespread website (Google, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Substack) brings fewer and fewer satisfying human-made results. With that in mind, I’ve decided to start sharing a few cool things that I’ve seen, watched, read, or just generally come across in the previous month.
Another reason for this list is to force me to interact with things in a more mindful manner.
I am particularly proud that I have managed to finish a few books this month, ones that I’ve started reading within the last three months and then abandoned in various stages of completion.
Those were:
“Wiosna zaginionych” by Anna Kańtoch
It’s a crime novel by a polish crime and fantasy writer. I am impressed how within just a few first pages the author managed to make me honestly like the main character. Additional kudos come from the fact that this main character is an older lady, a retired police officer, so not a person particularly easy to identify with.
It was only part one out of four, and I will definitely continue reading this series.
“Best before: The Evolution and Future of Processed Food” by Nicola Temple
I’ve talked about it in the previous newsletter, so I’m not going to get into detail this time. But now I’ve finished it!
“Atlas of AI” by Kate Crawford
As the title suggests, it’s a book about Artificial Intelligence. However, it’s not about how to use it or how it is going to steal our jobs, but about AI’s impact on the environment, global politics, and society.
Do I recommend it? Yes, though some chapters are easier to read than others — and I do not mean that those other chapters talk about reality that’s difficult to face (all of them do), but that some of them are rather heavy on the detail side of things. To put it bluntly, some chapters are rather boring.
“Focus Friend” app by Hank Green
Out of nowhere, this app seems to be everywhere. The fact that at certain point it was the number one app in America when it comes to the number of new downloads caught my attention and I have decided to give it a try.
The app is simple and cute. It aims to help you reduce your screen-time by introducing you to an anthropomorphic Bean who loves to knit. And it really wants to knit, but it gets distracted easily when you use your smartphone.
You put a timer for however long you want (between 5 and 120 minutes seems to be possible) and then your Bean-friend starts knitting. And every time you want to use your phone, your Bean asks you not to, and you have to be truly heatless to quit the app during that knitting period.
No account nor registration necessary.
Do I really need this app? Heck no, my problem with screen-time is by far not that dire. But the Bean is cute and it’s knitting! Since I am an avid knitter myself, how could I possibly refuse to help it?
So yes, I’m absolutely following the trends and using this cute screen-time app.
The tofu gyros recipe
The recipe that made me like tofu for the first time. The recipe for gyros but based on tofu. One-tray recipe. That recipe.
Alright, jokes aside.
I’ve never been a fan of tofu, but I’ve kept hearing how wonderful it is. Great, yet I still simply didn’t like it. Well, here is the recipe that has changed that and made me buy tofu regularly.
TOFU GYROS — it’s quick and simple, healthy and nutritious, yet still contains fries, which tickles my need for junk food once in a while.
The recipe comes from a polish YT channel “Healthy Omnomnom”, but it’s available there for free, so I feel it should be alright if I pass that knowledge onto you.
First of all, picking the right fries. I learned that there are better and worse options when it comes to frozen fries and those better options meet the following criteria: the ingredients list contains only potatoes and oil, and there should be less than 5% of oil in there. I managed to find ones with 3.5% and then experimented with my oven settings to get them really crunchy.
So how do you make this wonderful one-tray meal?
1. You grate some natural tofu and mix it with olive oil, gyros spice, and smoked paprika (and I use plenty of those), and then spread over your baking tray.
2. You cut some veggies of your choosing1, and mix them with olive oil, herbs (e.g. herbs de Provence) and salt. Then you also spread them on the baking tray.
3. You spread the fries on the baking tray.
4. In the oven preheated to 200 degrees Celsius you bake all of that for about 15 to 25 minutes with air circulation (I bake veggies and fries for 25 minutes, but add the tofu 10 minutes later in the process).
5. In the meantime, mix a few spoonfuls of natural yoghurt with one pressed clove of garlic, salt, pepper, and a bit of cucumber cut into cubes — now you’ve got a light garlic sauce for your gyros.
6. Eat and enjoy, because I do ;)
Alright, those were the things that have caught my attention this month.
Stay focused on your art,
Robin
The recipe says “bell pepper and tomatoes”, but I’m not a fan of oven baked tomatoes, so I started experimenting and already successfully made that recipe with a mix of green beans, beet roots, carrots, and even a cauliflower.
Yay! So happy that Focus Friend made it in your newsletter 🤩 and that recipe sounds awesome!