chezmax

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).

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.

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.