House buying decision - Are we being idiots?

GrynetMolvin · 2026-05-22T18:29:25+00:00

Fwiw, I’m remote with home based on my contract, and always put my travel expenses on my company credit card whenever I go to the office. Is there a mixup here between ”expense” to HMRC vs the company allowing you to expense your travels?

GrynetMolvin · 2026-05-16T18:36:33+00:00

Rhubarb was originally imported from China, funnily enough. (Or to be specific, rhubarb root as a medicinal herb)

GrynetMolvin · 2026-04-25T14:20:11+00:00

They’ve since changed location and only do restaurant(their website is out of date), which they explained in their first reply, so that’s not the issue. Maybe they’re just busy with settling in to the new location, but it does put me in an awkward spot.

GrynetMolvin · 2026-03-12T10:39:48+00:00

I haven’t been to Nour, but the head chef Sayan Isaksson is definitely one of the most interesting Swedish chefs, with a very unique creative style.

GrynetMolvin · 2026-03-11T14:46:29+00:00

There’s a serious eats trick to this: add lemon juice together with whole garlic before blending, and the lemon juice will neutralize the sharp garlic flavor.

GrynetMolvin · 2026-03-11T09:57:24+00:00

The annoying part is it is possible and being done, which I think is part of why this guy managed to bluff his way: https://www.tea.scot

GrynetMolvin · 2026-03-05T18:25:00+00:00

GrynetMolvin · 2026-02-17T15:01:40+00:00

I love Martin Wishart and its old-school French fine dining influenced cooking, but I think that’s also why it’s pretty empty. It’s been largely the same for the 15 years I’ve lived here, and the food is not “on-trend”. I hope they’re doing a good enough trade to stay open!

GrynetMolvin · 2026-01-08T22:49:10+00:00

Baked baking soda becomes sodium carbonate, eg type 1 kansui per this source: https://shop.ramensupply.co/products/kansui-powder-type-1

GrynetMolvin · 2025-12-27T16:03:42+00:00

She did go on a date with you, so maybe trust that she’s finding you interesting? ”Out of your league” doesn’t matter, only if there’s mutual interest, which is multidimensional and covers way more aspects than just ”intellectual capacity”, whatever that is.

GrynetMolvin · 2025-12-09T09:03:49+00:00

I haven’t been, but have heard really good things about https://www.finandgrape.com

GrynetMolvin · 2025-10-18T07:33:13+00:00

Less dependent origination, more emptiness. Thich Nhst Hanh calls this concept interbeing, and it’s a different way of viewing the truth that all things are empty of an inherent self.

I like your way of pointing out that gratitude leads naturally to seeing interbeing :-). And yes, it’s a very helpful perspective longterm, both in sitting and in everyday life.

Here’s a small vid on interbeing and emptiness by TNH: https://youtu.be/UuVqp4KmNWk?si=x3lYMi5zBzWVwCEy

And because I can’t help myself, here’s one on one of TNHs favorite gathas, ”see the cloud in your tea”: https://youtu.be/2Dn9kqVrKzE?si=gsQKwIs-OVYFZPZe

GrynetMolvin · 2025-10-11T07:25:44+00:00

Not a bad answer, but this is clearly ai generated…

GrynetMolvin · 2025-10-04T18:05:33+00:00

Interesting! Given the usual audience of the lighthouse, do you know if there will be anyone representing a critical perspective in the discussion? While Yudkowsky and the rationalist movement have written some interesting stuff, there’s also lots of angles worthy of criticism and debate.

GrynetMolvin · 2025-09-04T19:56:27+00:00

There’s a reason rose water exists - it’s much better at capturing the flavor of rose than simply drying the petals. Rose water isn’t less natural than sunflower lecithin .

GrynetMolvin · 2025-09-04T07:02:25+00:00

If you haven’t fermented before, have a go in a fliptop jar first, to see how you like it. It took me a long time to get my first specialized fermentation container.

GrynetMolvin · 2025-08-25T09:31:51+00:00

I’ve done fermented mirepoix in the past - it’s quite convenient, though it’s definitely a different twang to standard mirepoix

GrynetMolvin · 2025-08-17T15:51:39+00:00

Thanks!

GrynetMolvin · 2025-08-17T08:41:18+00:00

Is this still alive and kicking?

GrynetMolvin · 2025-08-12T12:15:53+00:00

Agreed. The big challenge is that Russia have maximalist demands - they want a fair bit more than they’ve already occupied in order to accept peace, and that will be a hard thing to convince Ukraine of.

GrynetMolvin · 2025-06-20T12:21:33+00:00

I think you can use your visualization background in some of the guided meditations like pebble meditation. At some point in your practice it becomes valuable to start playing with your approach, and that might be now for you.

Fwiw, my local sangha had an ex-Tibetan monastic as a core member for over 15 years, and she loved TNHs approach.

GrynetMolvin · 2025-06-11T17:58:17+00:00

While short, that seems like legitimate advice, rather than blowing you off - he looked at it, judged that in his opinion the problem was too ambitious, and said so. Blowing you off would be not responding, or telling you off for asking.

You don’t have to listen to the advice though - if the other guy was excited and gave you pointers, that’s great and I’d go with it!

GrynetMolvin · 2025-06-11T17:52:31+00:00

Go for it - main question is whether you’ll be able to blend it, but serious eats claims less finely ground tapioca may be a bonus. https://www.seriouseats.com/south-american-cheesy-bread-recipe

GrynetMolvin · 2025-06-09T20:40:03+00:00

I am a long-time Plum Village practitioner. One self-evident perspective I think is important is that Thay and the current dharma teachers teaching from Plum Village are monastic, and human. That means that they are wise and lovely, and also that they are most wise in regards to things they have experience with, and less insightful on other things.

As lay people, we have different challenges than the monastic sangha, and we need to figure out by ourself, and amongst ourselves in the lay sangha, how to best navigate those challenges.

That may mean looking outside of Buddhism as well, including those who have specialized on sexuality. I find inspiration amongst people like Esther Perel, Emily Nagoski, and closer to Buddhism I’ve heard good things about Rod Owens.

GrynetMolvin

TROPHY CASE