WFH

Most of my friends see it and are fascinated by it, and then are like, “nah, I would never do that.” 😂

Same 😂 Most of mine are like "This is some really good coffee, but I'm not sure it's worth it" too... Most of them are nespresso or superauto users tho.

I managed to convince one single friend who was an Aeropress diehard, he ended up buying a Cafelat Robot 😂

Spoiler alert, it's totally worth it.

I remember in 1978 when Reddit was called "did you read it?" and was a dude in his basement with a typewriter and a Ditto machine, you subscribed to the "submersible read its", he mailed you the "postages" on smelly, purple printed paper, and you could write down and mail your replies and "upward votes" and he would compile them and print them and mail them back and you could argue about the best trim level of the Ford Pinto for WEEKS.

Ah the good old days. Did cost an arm in postage stamps tho.

1zpresso J-Max owner here. Great grinder, incredibly precise (too precise?), super fast, very well built. Love it.

Absolutely love my Flair too, but I agree, it's one of the least practical ways of making espresso. Dialed in, it's capable of producing incredible shots tho.

Makes sense, thanks!

Oh the horror! Guess what, that's exactly how most European countries work. We pay taxes. The rich pay a lot of taxes (not nearly enough but that's another issue), the poor pay a lot less or almost none (except VAT, which is much more of a burden for the poor than the rich). We have public infrastructure. We have "free" public education. We have "free" public healthcare. We have "free" life saving meds. We have paid sick days. The doctors must get their license by studying and working in public teaching hospitals instead of 100k+ a year private universities. It works. Most of the public systems are still dysfunctional, but it works. No one needs to go bankrupt because they broke an ankle or their kid got the flu.

I'm so fuckin sick of this argument. "bUt mUh tAxPaYeR muNeY". You're actively working against your own fucking interests. Enjoy your debilitating lifelong injury that could have been entirely prevented if you had a healthcare system.

My point is, in the context of a "cooking hack" perspective, if you're about to spend 100€ to really up your prep game, spend it on an single, multipurpose, high quality knife instead of six or seven bad ones. There are good kits available, but good kits from reputable brands are super expensive, and you end up paying a lot for knives that won't see much use.

You can buy a cheap cheese knife where the quality doesn't matter as much for cheese platters and a decent paring knife later when you've mastered your chef's knife and feel you sometimes need something smaller and more nimble.

But for the everyday cook, where all you need 99% of the time is to quickly and efficiently chop some vegetables, dice some onions and cut some protein, you don't need anything more than a chef's knife.

It's meta. Their intentions are never honest.

Lucky af!

That kid saw me playing emulated Neo Geo games in high school on the communal space's computer. He went like "oh you like those games? I have one of those, my brother gave it to me, I wanna resell it to buy a N64".

Yeah I sharpened a shit Ikea knife once. It was good for about 5 minutes. A quality knife holds an edge for a very long time. I use and mine daily and hone them about every other day, and feel the need to resharpen them maybe once every two months.

PSA: a honing steel does NOT sharpen a knife, it straightens the edge and should be used very gently.

Also, never buy knives in kits. First of all, these are shit 99% of the time. And second, when properly used, a chef's knife is the only knife you'll ever need.

I went to my first IRL GP in Monaco this year, and the F1s were definitely the "quietest" of the lot. Still painful after a while, but not as much as the other series.

The Porsche Cup cars are obnoxiously loud. The F2 car engines sound dull but downshifts sound like gun shots.

I think if you want ear splitting sound levels and variety, go see a GT3 race.

Knife skills.

Buy a very good chef's knife. There are expensive options, there are some more affordable options. Carbon steel is best, but there are some very good stainless alloys too. Do some research. Don't cheap out, this is a tool you'll buy for life if properly maintained. Pro range Wüsthof, Zwilling or Kai are great options.

Learn how to properly and safely use it.

Learn how to maintain it and keep it razor sharp (not exaggerating, you should be able to shave your arm after sharpening it). I use a dual sided Japanese wet stone (1000/3000 grit), it's great.

Not only proper knife skills with a good, balanced, sharp knife are much safer and save a lot of time, they also make cutting a joy instead of a chore.