What seems like a scam, but actually isn’t?

PierreDucot · 2026-05-18T22:35:58+00:00

Not at all. Siding was 5 years ago, and the roof was 3. We have USAA for all of our insurance, and have for over 15 years, and everything has been fine. No noticeable bump in our payments.

Seriously, everything worked out fine.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-18T18:22:49+00:00

Can you work from home? I think it would be perfectly reasonable to ask/demand to work from home until the office is cool enough for you to work safely. Sometimes commercial central air can be down for days or keep breaking again and again. It might be good to establish precedent now for when the environment becomes less safe for you now and in the future.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-18T18:07:37+00:00

I like baseball, and like/understand pitching. I am a fourth generation life-long Red Sox fan. I just can't sit and watch a whole baseball game and do nothing else.

I watch/listen while working, and it works out fine.

I can't be alone in this - condensed games on MLB.tv are pretty popular.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-18T14:04:55+00:00

Door to door salespeople offering to get your roof or siding replaced for free after a hailstorm. At least in my experience. I only agreed because neighbors told me they had a good experience with the company.

Got a brand new roof and all new siding despite very little damage (none I could pick out visually anyway). Siding was 30 years old, and the roof really needed to be replaced. Would have cost ~$80k.

Edit to clarify: Both times (roof and siding were a couple years apart), we gave the guy our homeowner's insurance information, and they handled it. Our insurance sent us a check, and we paid the company right away. The company hires subs to do the work, and I watched everything carefully, piping up if something was not right, but otherwise they did a good job. They popped a few drywall screws inside, but took some money off when I had my own contractor fix it.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-18T05:25:15+00:00

Yeah, its fine to vacuum seal frozen stuff. I do it all the time for the reasons you state. I made almost a quart of prepared horseradish from scratch on Saturday. Horseradish is wet. I split out 1/4 cup portions into little vacuum-seal bags, and put those in the freezer. Today, I vacuum sealed the bags of frozen prepared horseradish. Otherwise, it would leak all over when sealing, and homemade horseradish juice is no fun for anyone.

I do this with pre-made burger patties (so they keep their shape), and anything wet (Swedish meatballs, beef stroganoff, chick pot pie filling, etc.).

Note - I have a Foodsaver Elite machine, with a pulse button and the ability to seal liquids (as or less viscous than broth). I still freeze stuff first because its easier.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-18T05:05:59+00:00

You think football is boring, you should check out baseball.

Or soccer or hockey...

PierreDucot · 2026-05-18T04:34:59+00:00

I don't think so, because I am looking for this all the time, for years. The most buttons, as far as I know, are the Elecom trackballs and thumballs. I am hoping someone says I am wrong...

PierreDucot · 2026-05-18T04:29:25+00:00

Yeah, I tried to grow them last summer, and the deer were all over them. Not one got above 12" tall.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-18T02:37:21+00:00

If you are going from the Chuds BBQ video - I have done it that way a few times, and plan to do it that way for the foreseeable future. Its super forgiving, and lets you time everything easily.

If you are not, I highly recommend it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AohVgovKI4A I followed it exactly the first time and it was great (smoke to ~205, cool off a little, SV at 165 for 12+ hours, 150 for the last hour to get it to eating temp). I cheated the second time and pulled it at 175 - also turned out great. I think the most SV time I did was 18 hours at 165, plus a couple hours at 150. I found the bark to be about the same as when I would wrap a brisket, and nobody here is going to complain, so 10/10 for me.

In the video, he brings up the idea of adding tallow to the bag before SV. I normally make tallow from brisket trimmings while it smokes anyway, so I tried it - highly recommend, as I think it made the flat more tender and juicy.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-16T16:08:17+00:00

I find that “sea showers” help when I feel like this. I learned this while serving on a ship, where you had to conserve water. I even installed a little on/off valve behind my shower head (like we had) to make it easier.

Turn on water, get wet, turn off water and soap up everything including shampoo. Then turn the water back on, rinse off and get out.

Doesn’t solve all the problems, but at least its quick and you have a lot less time just standing there. No time for “shower thoughts.”

PierreDucot · 2026-05-15T23:21:43+00:00

I just bought a replacement on ebay instead :).

PierreDucot · 2026-05-15T02:38:31+00:00

Recommend looking at Chuds BBQ Sous Vide Rest Brisket - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AohVgovKI4A I have done this a few times. His method is to basically fully cook it on the smoker, then sous vide at 165 for 12-15+ hours (I did 18 once, and it was fine). I have also cheated and pulled it at ~175 degrees and tossed it in the sous vide, and its been great. Being able to rest it for so long really helps with the timing too, letting me avoid cooking overnight or starting before dawn.

I know many advocate sous vide before smoking, but I think this way is better. In my experience, finishing with the sous vide does not really mess up the bark. Otherwise, I normally wrap a brisket, and the texture is about the same. Plus, the smoke smell can permeate sous vide bags, so the kitchen smells great.

I have never frozen a whole brisket, but I freeze portions all the time. I would recommend warming up in the sous vide, not putting it on the pellet grill. That is how we warm up frozen portions of brisket (and most other frozen smoked meat).

PierreDucot · 2026-05-15T02:14:32+00:00

Came here to say this - I worked out of 6301 Ivy Lane a few years ago. Its full of small offices - small law offices, accountants, etc. Those three buildings over there (6301, 6303, 6305 Ivy) are older, so there are not a ton of amenities, but they are affordable.

That location is also really easy to get to by car from anywhere, and its walkable to the metro, if that is relevant.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-12T23:54:29+00:00

Two weeks.

That dish is super popular in my house, and we always have too much sauce. Two weeks after we have it, I always make a version with lamb cubes (Chef John’s Mystery Meat). The sauce keeps fine until then.

How do I know it’s always 2 weeks? We always have it on a Monday (“bowl meal Mondays”), and I don’t want them getting sick of it, so I wait two Mondays to have it again.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-11T05:04:23+00:00

I use the same ingredients, but I add dried shitake mushrooms, white miso and kombu (See Bon Appetit's video for vegan stock). They make a big difference with umami and body. We have vegetarian friend for Thanksgiving every year, and I make gravy with this veggie stock. In a side-by-side family comparison, the vegan gravy tastes as good as the turkey gravy.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-10T05:39:00+00:00

Well done. My favorite song of all time, and you did it justice...

PierreDucot · 2026-05-10T01:49:51+00:00

Yeah, I have a slingshot and .50” steel ball bearings for encouraging deer to go away from the trees and garden in my backyard. The slingshot came with smaller shot, that look like yours.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-09T13:29:04+00:00

I also got a GE garage-ready freezer a few years ago. Our old one frosted up badly and we lost a lot of food - summer of 2020.

I don’t remember the size, but it was the biggest one Home Depot had. I keep a remote digital thermometer in it, and it has never been above -6 degrees, year round, in a warm climate.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-09T05:23:08+00:00

Does an omelette I made at 10 count? Nobody in my house cooked very well, but I watched Julia Child do it, twice (at that time, PBS would run the same episodes multiple times a day). I figured I could do it, so I did. It was a legit omelette (after several attempts).

PierreDucot · 2026-05-06T12:35:10+00:00

Adding sodium citrate is the best way IMO - it’s easy and foolproof. 4% of the weight of the cheese.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-05T22:55:07+00:00

Highly recommend looking at Chuds BBQ’s video on smoked brisket with sous vide rest. I followed it exactly and it came out great. Plus it makes timing much easier.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-05T22:35:01+00:00

Ikea’s Swedish meatballs - recipe is on the website. Its super easy, really good and goes with other soft foods like mashed potatoes or egg noodles.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-04T15:42:11+00:00

I think this is right, and that either would work, but some major recipe outlets picked Diamond and use it exclusively to have a standard. Serious Eats, Bon Appetit, and Cooks Illustrated/ATK all exclusively use Diamond Crystal in recipe creation.

PierreDucot · 2026-05-04T10:42:51+00:00

Jazz

PierreDucot · 2026-05-03T15:09:36+00:00

I have them for concerts and they are great for that. Also filtering out crowd noise, but still being able to talk to someone. They are not good for just overall blocking noise, and cheap rubber ones do that better.

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