@indigo Oh dear.
I suppose one of the advantages of cooking at home is the reduced risk of that.
Pressure-cooking one of my favourite dishes: red-braised pork belly.
But that's not for tonight. That'll be to reheat after the big event. Tonight is crispy roast pork belly, HK style. It's nice to do two dinners at once. Saves time and washing up…
@height8 The Reserve beans are about as dark as I can stand. Maybe try going to a "third-wave" roastery and getting some light roast Brazilian beans — the few I've had show a curiously sweet grassy earthiness with very little cocoa. Brazilian also goes very well in the Aeropress — not too complex, so you don't risk muddling clarity by using immersion, and get the benefit of the AP brew's richness. It's good that you have a variable-temp kettle. Do you have scales?
Regarding the grinder, you seriously need an upgrade, else everything else will just be a waste of money. Baratza's grinders range from reasonable to quite expensive, and they're usually very highly recommended. I love the Lido grinders, but you have to be willing to put up with hand grinding.
// @indigo
@height8 I didn't mean to imply that you were striving for it, it was just an observation compared to my situation :) There is no upgrade from the Aeropress, realistically, short of spending 5k. I'd suggest the Kalita Wave as an easy-to-learn style though — it produces a pretty unique brew and is forgiving, though you'll also need a gooseneck kettle if you don't already have one.
That aside, I can only recommend varying your choice of beans. In fact I might recommend it more than looking for other devices to play with. Look for single-origin or single-plantation beans, light roast — that's the only way to keep the characteristics of the varietal and the origin intact. Though your aversion to acidity is a limiting factor.
What grinder are you currently using?
// @indigo
@indigo Well, @height8 makes up the quantity, and I blow the budget on quality.
@streakmachine You would, but I'd also be allowed to slap you if you ever overcooked pasta again.
Biggest problem on my mind (at least, for the event): how to hide a 50€ bottle of champagne amongst the other sparkling wines so that only a select few know to hunt for it.
Maybe if I just kept the bottles wrapped in paper towel or something…would keep them cool as well.
Planning my part for Friday's event very carefully. Going to blow the wine society's budget on a few bottles of champagne, and open every last bottle of wine in uni.
If I didn't, it'd be detrimental to next year's budget. I just hope whoever becomes head next gets it easier than I've had it this year — I was the first one in 3 years to do maintain the society at a minimum level. Anyway, whatever happens, I won't be around to watch :o
@JeremyCherfas Mendeley. It works for 99% of what I need, but for linguistics I sometimes (i.e. 3–5 references out of 50) need to cite laws. Zotero's nice as well but Mendeley's Bibtex sync is better still. I suppose I could sync the two.
// @matigo