I was in traffic 30 minutes away from home when the 2003 blackout started. That was a long drive home.

Grains of Paradise are my archaic pepper of choice. They have a bit of tartness to them.

I haven’t seen this one mentioned yet: Chef’s Press. They’re interlocking stainless steel weights.

I was a bit nervous buying them as they aren’t cheap and I wasn’t sure how often I would use them but they’ve proved to be one of my most used kitchen gadgets. I use them a few times a week.

They’re great for keeping steaks in contact with the pan when searing or keeping bacon from curling up. I use them to weigh things down in water for thawing or cooking in the sous vide cooker. They’re good for pressing cheese or tofu.

They have built-in handles that make them easy to pick up, stack, and interlock.

They’re dishwasher safe.

Perfectly designed for their job.

Measure by mass. Actually, that’s the solution to many cooking problems.

If it makes you happy, go for it. If it doesn’t, skip it.

When I graduated from College, my family appreciated the pomp and circumstance. I won an academic award and my parents were very proud, so I was happy to go along with things. It was an hour or so and it wasn’t any kind of burden. Sometimes it’s important to do things for other people.

When I got married, my wife and I were already well established, so it was a break-even affair and people appreciated the party. We come from different traditions, so we picked the parts we liked and discarded the rest. Nobody left unhappy.

I found out some friends of mine who moved here from abroad had never had Dubble Bubble, so I bought some and we all had a piece when they came over for Christmas.

Folding Ideas - In Search of a Flat Earth https://youtu.be/JTfhYyTuT44

It was the first Folding Ideas video I watched. The pivot from the technical portion to the social commentary portion is masterful.

I’d recommend watching it on a large screen to get the full impact from the Lake Minnewanka experiment. It is very striking.