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Right now (7:30am) it is 14 degrees outside.

It is 24 degrees in our bedroom, despite the windows being open all night. Humidity is 92%.

This afternoon it will rise to 26 degrees. I'm glad the office has air conditioning. I'm not looking forward to tonight.

Dilemma

Jul. 10th, 2025 11:33 pm
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Occasionally, I'll drink coffee.

The best option in current conditions from a flavour point of view is the cold brew from the fancy cafe on the corner, but it's something like $7.50. That's not an exaggeration, but in fairness they do use that fancy Japanese tower thing to make it, which carefully drips ice water over a beaker full of grounds over the course of several hours.

The more affordable option is to hit up Tim Horton's, who will sell you their iced coffee for $2.50 or whiz it up as an "Iced Capp" for only $3.50. McDick's is even cheaper, but they are a six minute walk from the front door compared to only two to Timmy Ho's.

I could also do my own cold brew, I guess, by getting my hands on a muslin bag and suspending grounds in some suitable container. That would probably be best of all cost-wise, but I don't know that I would drink enough to make it worthwhile.

On the other hand, tea continues. It's nice for breakfast, even if in this weather a big hot mug is maybe not the afternoon treat it can be in colder conditions.

Extremely short concert reviews

Jul. 9th, 2025 11:59 pm
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Weird Al edition.

I find myself thinking that this was... merely pretty good? I mean, Al's still great, and his band is very talented, but there was almost no patter. But what he did do was very impressive! Including a 15 minute Star Wars medley to round things out.

So, ups and downs I suppose. On the one hand, I don't regret going, but on the other, this was not the mind-blowing experience of his past tours (allegedly; this is my first time seeing him). He did have a number of great costume changes though.

On balance, I'll go with this: high school me had a great time. Most surprising song: "Fat". The one I liked the most: "Everything You Know Is Wrong".


I wore my fancy Etymotics earplugs because I knew it would be too loud for me. I was therefore alarmed when I work up in the middle of the night to find that my hearing in my left ear was not the same as my right -- perhaps my old hearing damage was back?

But no, a couple of ear drops and a blast from the ear bulb, and instead I discovered my canal was just plugged. Likely from shoving earplugs down it. So that's a relief.

I don't know what I expected

Jul. 8th, 2025 11:07 pm
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[personal profile] ink_13

I've been imagining an 'nduja and ricotta pasta, but my usual grocery store doesn't carry 'nduja. I happened to go to Fiesta Farms today (because I knew they'd have Ontario field-grown strawberries and raspberries), and on a hunch I scanned the shelves in front of their deli case, and I found exactly what I was looking for.

I put about half the little tube into a frying pan (~60g), waited for it to heat through and melt, then about a half cup of passata, and when that had reduced a little, 2-3 tablespoons of ricotta (really, just a goodly thwack of it), a little cream, and a couple of twists of black pepper. The whole sauce was done in the 10 minutes it took to get the noods al dente, which I then finished in the sauce with a little pasta water.

Except I was not prepared for the level of spice I have signed up for. Holy crow. The good news is that the flavour is excellent (smokey and rich) and the heat was actually well-balanced. It was just a lot.

I have enough to do this once more. I might try upping the cream/ricotta even further.

Weird ideas

Jul. 7th, 2025 11:28 pm
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[personal profile] ink_13

When I have an electrician in to do work in my kitchen, should I ask for a NEMA 6-15 receptacle borrowed off the oven outlet? The reason to do this is to get a UK kettle and then replace the BS 1363 plug (even though the UK plug, with its built-in fuse, is superior).

I drink tea every day, could very well be nicer to have a 3000W kettle that boils in seconds.

To really reach, there's even the Leviton BSRDP which will allow you to install a UK plug in a NEMA junction box with a Decora faceplate, but that's probably asking for trouble (not least of all because it's not CSA certified).

Reunited

Jul. 6th, 2025 10:58 pm
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[personal profile] ink_13

My Saturday plans cancelled on me, so instead I took an Uber up to the parents' place, had dinner with them, and then after retrieved my road bike Chief Brodie from the basement. A pump-up of the tires was all it needed, and then I rode the 16km home.

In the good:

  • Clipless pedals are still fabulous for getting good power out of mediocre legs
    • Clipped in the whole way and I didn't fall over on stops!
  • Rides smooth and silent
  • The lowest gears will get me up the worst hills still
  • I found the lock/lights/panniers!

In the bad:

  • I bought the Chief in 2013 and it's starting to show: the plastic over the shift indexes is noticeably yellow, for example.
  • The right interrupter is starting to stick
  • The bar tape needs redoing
  • The setup is really aggressive, with a lot of weight on the arms whether I'm on the horns or the flats, to the point I find myself wondering if the Chief has always been the wrong size
  • The lights were all dead

My enjoyment of the ride was also strongly coloured by desperately needing a shit for the last 5km. It seems Friday's tacos, er, came home to roost. So I spent the last 20 minutes or so convincing myself I was only 10 minutes from home. I did make it, but having a highly distracting podcast on the bone conduction headphones certainly helped.

I'm going to ride the Chief around the neighbourhood (5-6km at the most) a few times this week and see how I feel about things now that I have it back. But first impressions are that while the Mundo can be unwieldy...maybe I prefer it in all scenarios anyway? It does have a more upright riding position and the electric assist. The Chief is just easier to park.

Photo cross-post

Jul. 4th, 2025 02:49 am
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Got halfway to the bus stop to go to the pool and realised I didn't have my shoulder bag. Sprinted home, got it, and made it to the bus.

Got off the bus at the other end, realised Sophia's bag didn't have her swimming costume in it. Got a bus home, grabbed it, now in a taxi.

Fingers crossed that nothing else comes between me and drop-off and work!
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

Food volume

Jul. 3rd, 2025 10:11 pm
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[personal profile] ink_13

I always buy my deli meats by weight, but I make sandwiches by volume. Does this mean that I should take the density of the sausage into account? Should I make my sandwiches with the aid of a scale? Well, maybe if I cared more about how caloric they are.


Trying a new thing where I make a single serving of pasta at a time. 75g was too much orecchiette, 60g was maybe the right amount, but a sauce made from two strips of bacon reduced to lardons, half an onion, and then a about a third cup each of ricotta and passata was probably too much sauce. Was tasty, though.


I still have some Italian-style meatballs (about 100g each) so I took one, put it into a ripping hot cast iron, then squished it with my pressy-downy thingum. When a nice crust had developed, I painted the uncooked side with a little dijon, flipped it, pressed it again, and then when it seemed safe, put a slice of mozzarella on it, covered briefly, and then served it on an Ace Bakery roll with more dijon and some jarred roasted red peppers.

My theory was that by treating it like a burger should have been good, and it was, mostly. While mustard-grilling beef patties works well, I don't think I would do that to ground pork again. Also, I'm using cheese pre-sliced for sandwiches, and I might double up if I do that again.

Which I probably will, since I still have one sausage ball left, and those don't keep. Maybe a little passata on the bun? I've got that, too.

Time marches on

Jul. 2nd, 2025 10:20 am
andrewducker: (Default)
[personal profile] andrewducker
As of this morning (2nd of July), we are now closer to 2050 than 2000.

Photo cross-post

Jul. 1st, 2025 01:58 pm
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[personal profile] andrewducker


"Sophia, will you pose with your brother for a photo?"

"I will, but I'm very angry about it!"
Original is here on Pixelfed.scot.

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