the biggest problem with cooking at home
I've been to a good number of restaurants over the years, but I am one of those people who sincerely believes eating out was better in the '90s. Early-to-mid '90s, specifically.
I used to think this was all in my head, thinking yeah, I'm older now, so of course I'll say eating out was better in the past. I don't think that way anymore.
What changed my mind? I learned how to cook.
An example of something I made very recently: Jasmine rice, cheap baby frozen shrimp fried, cheap fresh green bell pepper chopped and fried, then when all mixed together, add a pat of unsalted butter, a light salting and garlic powder. And it was good. Really good, actually. All that stuff together really brought the flavor...
...and that right there is why eating out sucks now. I learned how to bring the flavor, which really made me notice how flavorless food is when eating out. Or if not flavorless, it's some chemical trash masquerading as flavor.
It is really depressing that I can take genuinely cheap food bought at the grocery store, cook at home and make it taste fantastic, and can't get the same flavor experience at a restaurant.
Has the food quality at restaurants gone down? Yes. Big time. It doesn't matter if you pay $15 or $150 a plate. What you get is flavorless trash. It may look the same as food from 30 years ago, but it certainly doesn't taste like it.
What does restaurant food taste like? Nothing. It's all just texture. Oh sure, you can salt it yourself using the cheapest grade table salt the restaurant has (they never use decent quality salt). But all that does it make the food taste like salty texture.
I wish I could say that if you go to a more expensive restaurant, you get better food, but you don't. All you get a nicer environment to eat in. The food is no better than what you can get at a gas station. I'm not kidding. If you don't believe me, go to a high-end chicken place and order some wings. The next day, go to 7-Eleven and get some cheap wings there. No significant difference at all where food quality is concerned. And that's not because 7-Eleven got better. It's because restaurants got worse.
The chemical trash restaurants use is comical. Any kind of flavor you could hope to get out of the food will either be from fake cheese, the lowest grade table salt or "sauce". That sauce will taste like one of three things. Candy-like sweet, fake-tangy hot, or both. There will be mild variations with a fake cheese flavoring and the level of salt within the sauce itself, but make no mistake, it's 100% artificial.
When I go out to eat now...
...I set the bar low. Really low. To-the-floor low. I know that what I'll get will be flavorless texture. Since I know the food will just be fake garbage, I just aim for places with decent atmosphere now.
It's sad that atmosphere is the only thing that sells me on a restaurant these days, but that's the way things are.
Exceptions to this are some bakeries, some Asian places and some Indian places. It takes some hunting around to find any that bring the flavor. And it's interesting that the ones I do find are rarely high-end places. For where I live, the smaller locally owned bakeries and restaurants usually have the best food. That may sound cliche, but it's true.
If you want to bring the flavor...
...you're going to need some proper kitchen stuff to get it at home.
A decent kitchen knife set is mandatory. Gotta have that.
It also helps to have a mesh strainer set for draining things like rice and pasta. Bear in mind the mesh is typically different from a colander, although some colanders are mesh-like, so you might be able to get double duty out of one or a set.
Steam pots are great to have for steaming veg. True, you could always use a rice cooker for the same function, but I like being able to cook rice and steam the veg at the same time, which is doable with steam pots.
It is worth it to have a decent cutting board set (always go wood, don't use plastic), not only for chopping veg but also for things like using a box grater.
Speaking of the box grater, fun fact: Making your own cole slaw is stupidly easy with a box grater since it's just cabbage. You can do cabbage-only or mix it up with cabbage + carrots.
Prep bowls aren't mandatory, but nice to have when putting together something that involves multiple ingredients, especially in smaller amounts.
A decent food container set is mandatory, however. True, you can just use a bowl and put plastic wrap or aluminum foil over it, but it's better to use the container. The square or square-ish ones are the best kind because they're easier to organize and move around in the fridge.
You get the idea. If you're sick of the flavorless trash when eating out (and who isn't?), get the stuff necessary to cook at home. Get the foods, the spices, the oils, whatever. You'll eat better than you ever have in your life once you figure out your way around a kitchen.
As for eating out, do what I do. Go for atmosphere, because any food you get will be terrible. The good stuff will always be better at home.
i would get a jackson monarkh...
Part of the reason I'm thinking of getting a Telecaster again is because it's a guitar that agrees with me. I can work with a Tele even if it has really ratty sounding pickups in it.
But then there's the Jackson Monarkh. I actually have played one of these and do genuinely like the guitar, but can't get one. Why?
It's the pickups. I can deal with ratty sounding single-coils easily, but with humbuckers, yeah, they have to be good for me to get along with the guitar. My favorite of the lot are covered alnico 2 magnet type. An example of that is the Seymour Duncan '78 model. Tons of options for that including open coil, covered (nickel or gold), all black or zebra, and so on. Good stuff. The magic comes from the alnico 2 magnets used. That's a "vintage" spec lower-output pickup (like a real-deal vintage Les Paul would have) that just sings. Instead of sounding like hot-output muddy trash, alnico 2 brings out the highs and mids that sounds much nicer to my ear. You could put those pickups in a guitar made of plywood and it would make it sound amazing. I'm not kidding.
Would it be worth it to mod a Monarkh?
Maybe.
Said very honestly, the Monarkh is a good player, even for the cheap JS22 version (which amazingly does come with a bound neck).
Also, the headstock that's on the Monarkh is the best design Jackson has ever had. It's pointy but distinctive. And while I wish it existed on a Dinky body, it doesn't. To get that headstock design on a 6-string model, it's Monarkh or nothing as far as I'm aware.
And yeah, I know, some people hate the look of the Monarkh, because players would rather see the "open book" Gibson headstock shape. Well, Jackson obviously can't do that, but what's there honestly grows on you over time. It has for me...
...but I can't get past the stock pickups the Monarkh has. I'd have to junk those for a good set of alnico 2 magnet humbuckers.
Monarkh is another one of those "maybe" guitars on my list, especially in JS22 form because you actually get a lot of guitar for the money at that price point.
telecaster again?
Near-end-of-year guitar update.
No new guitars acquired - yet. I am entertaining the idea of a new Telecaster.
Which Tele, specifically? The Squier Affinity Telecaster. Not the Thinline, just the regular solid-body. I have a reason for this. The solid-body has a belly cut in the rear like a Stratocaster and the Thinline does not.
Why have I not bought this sooner? None of the colors offered really do anything for me, so were I to get one, the price has to be right. As in lower than normal. And that might happen with a Black Friday sale. If the price gets knocked down to something that agrees with me, I might go for it.
If I don't, there are two other guitars I'm eyeing right now. a black Squier Affinity Stratocaster (I have the white one but really want the black), or a white Squier Sonic Stratocaster HT. The Sonic HT is an interesting one because it's a top-loader Strat, which means slightly looser play since the strings don't go through the body.
As far as any newer models are concerned, I thought about the Squier Paranormal Troublemaker Telecaster Deluxe, but nah. Nice guitar, but not my vibe. The Squier Paranormal Offset Telecaster SJ, however, yeah I dig that one. Single-coil at the bridge and Jazzmaster pickup at the neck. It's a bit up in price for a Squier, but again, if a Black Friday sale knocks that price down, I could go for it.
Lastly, the Squier Paranormal Strat-O-Sonic. I seriously considered this one because it's a Strat with a 24.75" scale instead of the usual 25.5", and it's a top-loader for super slinky play. The problem is the pickups. Not enough treble "bite" for my taste. The pickups can be switched from in-phase to out-of-phase, so yeah, the guitar has some nice tonal tricks, but from demos I've heard of it (I've not played it), the Strat sparkle just isn't there because it's not that kind of guitar. Darned shame. If it were the regular 3-pickup single-coil setup, I'd probably own it right now.
Either at the tail of this year or early '25, a new Squier might in the barn here. Or not. Haven't decided just yet. Price will be a big determiner, because again, nothing out there for colors really speaks to me, so price will dictate whether a new axe is bought or not.
how cheap is a 1tb usb stick now?
The 512GB USB stick can be had for under 40 bucks now, which I like. I'm waiting for it to dive below $30...
...but I'm still waiting for the 1TB USB stick to drop below $50. Has it?
Not just yet, but oh, we're getting closer.
At the time I write this, you can find real-deal 1TB USB sticks for $65 new, but well known brands are still at $85 to $100.
The funny thing about USB sticks is that 1TB is as far as I can tell is the end of the line. When above 1TB, a USB stick is no longer a stick. It's a drive. Why? Physical size. When you examine 2TB sticks, you'll see what I mean. Those things are either longer and/or wider, which defeats the whole point of having a USB stick. You want that stick to be small and convenient, and you're just not going to get that when going over 1TB. The best you'll get is convenient-ish.
Another funny thing is that flash memory isn't the best choice for long term storage. It's cold storage shelf life isn't great. Supposedly, if you don't plug in a USB stick at least periodically, bad stuff can happen to the data on the stick just from not being used for an extended period of time, even if it sits for just one year. Not good.
Actual SSD (which for me would be 'full size' 2.5-inch) is supposedly better for long term storage, as is HDD provided it's the older CMR technology like a Seagate Barracuda Pro.
There is, however, another option.
Optical.
Two types, specifically. Archival grade DVD and M-DISC.
In 2023, I pulled a lot of data off a big pile of DVDs I had and put most of that to flash storage, swearing I would not go back to optical. I'm now rethinking that decision. DVD, even though it's only 4.7GB per disc, can be put in cold storage, not touched for a long time, and still be read years later easily. This is of course assuming good media was used...
...but if bog standard Verbatim DVD+R discs were used, even those could stay in cold storage for a long time and read just fine years later.
Will there still be DVD drives available in the future? Yes, I'm sure of that. How do I know? Just look at any "retro" vintage PC (and sometimes industrial computer) enthusiast YouTube channel. Some of those guys are recovering original data that was written over 50 years ago using media and file formats nobody has used for decades. How? From modern hardware specifically made to access the ancient stuff.
I am certain somebody will still be making new DVD drives even as far away as 2050 and beyond. If retro PC guys can successfully retrieve data written to 8-inch floppy diskettes from the 1970s (which they have), DVDs written today will still be able to be read successfully in 2050.
good idea and bad idea casio watches
Over the years, I've bought many Casio digital watches. I still own a small pile of them, but I've also bought and returned a few - some on the same day I bought it.
I'm going to list a few of the good and the bad, and the reasons for each.
Good: Casio F-91W
Why it's good: Small and thin, but legible and easy to use. Not-so good night light, but has that classic loud beep if you decide to use the alarm feature. The basic black is the best version.
Bad: Casio CA-53W calculator watch
Why it's bad: Small display, no night light, and pretty much entirely sold on nostalgia alone. True, it wears very comfortably, but once the nostalgia wears off, it is (said nicely) difficult to use the calculator feature. The buttons are tiny and can only really be pressed effectively with the eraser end of a pencil. Also, it does have a date feature, but that's not shown on the display by default and requires an addition button press just to see it.
Good: Casio W218H
Why it's good: Fantastic legibility, fantastic night light, light in weight. It's basically a slightly larger F-91W as the feature set is identical (with the same loud beep). Buttons are a joy to use. Easy to press, and work every time.
Bad: Casio AE1200
Why it's bad: Time is big and night light great, but Month-Date is tiny, and that's made even worse by the insert that casts a shadow over it when trying to read it in sunlight. Buttons on this one are completely hit-or-miss. You might get one where the buttons work properly, and another where you have to mash it with your finger just to get a button press to register.
Good: Casio AE1500W
A big watch that actually delivers with big time and month-date display, but surprisingly can still fit small wrists (note: the long-strap version is the AE1500WHX). If BIG digits and BIG date is what you need, this absolutely works.
Yeah, it's built tough just like all G-SHOCK watches are with 200m water resistance. But the battery life is poor (you're lucky to get 2 years before a battery change is needed) compared to regular Casio watches, the display has nasty LCD washout, the recessed 'adjust' button is infuriating to deal with, and overall visibility is poor. You're basically trading readability for toughness. At least with the GWM5610 you get solar power. Legibility doesn't improve that much, but the battery will last a whole lot longer.
And never, EVER get a negative LCD display. That's the worst. Doesn't matter what watch it is. Nobody ever said, "Yes, I want something that makes the watch more difficult to read", and nobody ever will.