Life Thacks
A few things that are keeping me awake during the day...
Me and the kids at AI got together to bring you this very special image that can without guilt or copyright restrictions be used as the cover for any Christmas cards you might send this year. If you were wondering, I’ve decided to become Danish, or whatever language means I add an extra A to my name.
I’m teetering over the precipice called RETURN TO NEWSLETTER.
Losing grip from the barest whiff of fingernail, and slowly slipping into the abyss.
A short while ago someone on LinkedIn said: “Why do you post so much, here?”
Because it’s a way of recording things. A journal. Not to farm engagement. But to write down stuff that mattered at the time.
That’s why I’ve now fallen to my fate. I’m back here after a break of two years. I’ll probably only accidentally return here, in the future. But right now it feels nice and warm and exactly what we all need in these shorter, chillier days.
Chances are you (don’t) want an update. But you’re here, so…
In September last year I was fired after myself and colleagues posted rude chat in a private group of a corporate social network.
November last year I met who could become my future wife.
January, I wrote a book.
March, I completed two very challenging AI courses with the University of Helsinki.
May, I moved to Berlin for a couple of months.
July, I started an AI podcast so I could learn through listening.
September and October - Cornwall.
November - Sri Lanka.
December - back to Germany (hey, Bavaria!).
Also, December - hey, Substack!
Food for thought
Aside from learning German, travelling the world, being a worthy fiance, and managing a problematic wound, I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking about what goes into our mouths.
I’ve had this obsession with food and cooking for most of my life. But I’ve only started properly focusing on it in the past decade.
I created something called Breaditation a few years ago. You can ask me about that if you like. The short version is, when I delivered it to students, it was very successful indeed.
Earlier this year I had a chat with one of my most talented engineer-friends about developing a platform to give everyone the chance to teach cooking. It’s not off the ground yet, due to the sheer effort involved.
Lately, I’ve been working through the thousands of recipes I’ve collected, created, and curated, over the years.
My darling has also infused me with fresh inspiration. Her attention to plating is extraordinary, as you would expect from an artist. And whereas I come very much from the brute force school of dishing up, I’m learning daily to have a lighter touch and remember the basics such as tasting, salting, and, er, ‘nutting’ - which essentially means (in this context) to always add crunch.
I got obsessed yesterday with a potato rosti from the geniuses at London restaurant phenom, Fallow.
I’m about to make a Spanish omelette for Sunday dinner and I dare say some of the simpler aspects of the dish in that video will show up in mine.
Simple is how I cook. And while in the past I would slavishly follow recipes, I’m now increasingly going off-piste. Last night, because I wanted a hint of stuffed paratha, I threw some plain flour, olive oil, salt, and water in a pan, kneaded it into a ball, threw it in the fridge, and then cooked up some garlic, butter, and a smidge of caramelised onion I’d cooked a couple of days ago. I then brought it all together in a dry pan so we had flatbreads/caramelised onion and garlic naans.
I’m also thinking a lot these days about the cheapest possible way to live healthily.
I buy a 25kg sack of steelcut oats and create a huge pot of porridge every week in the pressure cooker - and that’s breakfast sorted, when combined with some protein powder, peanut butter, and a banana.
I’m addicted to pulses and grains and anything with dhal will do for a fast, delicious lunch.
And then dinner’s very much a freestyle affair. I love eggs, and steak, and turkey mince, and chicken thighs - and I’ll tend to create a sauce, combining any/some of these ingredients with pasta, rice, potatoes, or a salad with a tasty, quick-made dressing (honey, EVOO, Dijon mustard, balsamic vinegar, S&P, and a teaspoon of dried herbs is a good place to start).
See you ‘next time’
I’m hoping to make this a regular thing, but this is me. I’d like to get into the Life Thacks brand, or maybe we’ll stick with Thacknology.
If you’ve read all this way in, and you’re still stimulated, say hi. You’d be amazed the difference it makes to have even the faintest scent of connection with you, my dear.
Until ‘then’.
Thack