When we started dating, my soon-to-be-wife (later this week!) made me a scarf. A couple years later she crocheted me a queen sized blanket. Those two things are genuinely my prized possessions. I'm a sucker for handmade gifts like that.
The greatest gift she ever gave me though was sticking by my side through cancer treatment. I'll never be able to repay that love and kindness but God knows I'll spend the rest of my life loving her
I don't smoke anymore, but back when I was working as a line cook I used to smoke like a chimney. I'm real happy I stopped, my sleep took a while to get better but now it's way more restful then when I smoked. Weed is chill in moderation, not if it's your only way to relax after a long day of too many hours under high pressure.
Still get a bit of a craving every now and then, but I think it's just when I'm bored.
Mise en place is essential in my mind and one of the most important skills I learned early on in culinary school. At home if you don't want to dirty a ton of dishes, you can organize ingredients (veggie ones anyway, still need bowls for spices/liquids) into small piles on your cutting board. Then just grab a bench scraper or the side of your knife and toss the ingredients in as needed.
Also, get a kitchen scale. You won't need it all the time but it's so much easier to just stick a pot on top of a scale and add 500 ml of chicken stock than it is to have to measure 2 cups in a separate container. This is especially good if you're looking to blanche/simmer something in a flavorful liquid like stock or broth
I've dealt with brain cancer on and off for most of my life, and for a while things were looking pretty bad. I'm good now, but I think I came to terms with my own mortality pretty early on (around when I was 16). As someone now rapidly approaching 30, if I were to go tomorrow I feel I'd be OK with that, though I would worry about how my fiancée would take it (or not, I'd be dead so I wouldn't care about much of anything). I'm still looking forward to many more adventures but when my time is up, so be it.
Dude, I wish I lived in a civilized country. My cancer treatment would have cost somewhere in the range of $5 million without insurance. Healthcare is a human right
I wrote a shell script my mom just has to click on to run the updates and she still can't figure it out. The filename is literally "ClickHereToRunUpdatesMom.sh"
Understandable, moka pot coffee isn't my favorite, just thought it might be a serviceable budget friendly option. I've had decent cups out of mine by preheating the water before putting it in the bottom and putting an aeropress filter on top of the bed of coffee grounds.
Those piston machines are insane and the grinders are even more expensive. It may just be a thing that's best kept as a nice treat when you're in Italy then.
You may like moka pot coffee. I'm a real coffee nut, been roasting my own for over a decade now. It's a real rabbit hole, and something you could almost certainly get into if you'd like, but only really worth it if you're looking for a new hobby. If you're not, probably best to keep it as a nice occasional treat.
/r/kitchenconfidential was my spot, seriously miss that. No going back though, needless to say