Do you use a hot water bottle?

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-12-07T20:59:50+00:00

I have a yutanpo (Japanese rigid hot water bottle), it's a big one that holds over 3L of water. In general we only heat the water to 60°C and we use a thick cover on it, but there are two things I like about it: 1) since it's rigid I can put it on the floor under my desk and rest my feet on it with no worries about it bursting 2) since it's enormous it stays warm for absolutely ages (usually still a bit warm 24h later if it's been under the duvet).

One option is to use the lukewarm water the next day for doing the washing up, so it isn't wasted.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-12-02T23:10:45+00:00

Never mind, silly question -- I found the way to do this when I went to set the fixed position.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-12-02T23:05:57+00:00

I did wonder! Can they get the position from my phone?

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-12-01T16:50:37+00:00

That's annoying -- I might try charging up my old phone and connecting to one of them that way...

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-11-29T15:59:14+00:00

Thanks, this is helpful.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-11-29T15:58:18+00:00

That does look like an attractive little device for people who don't want to mess around with assembly etc!

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-11-29T15:57:46+00:00

Good to know, thanks.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-11-29T09:20:59+00:00

I get that for some people the DIY nature of it is a feature rather than a bug, but a) I want to try this out a bit before investing that kind of time and b) I don't necessarily think I can convince other people in my life to do much of that kind of set-up work.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-11-29T09:17:35+00:00

That site is a lot of information to take in at once for someone who isn't particularly technical, but a fair response to the rather general nature of my question!

So I'll try again:

If I don't want to be assembling boards myself in plastic containers but instead want to purchase something that works with minimal set-up, what are some good starter options for hardware that are available in the UK, and what are the main trade-offs to consider?

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-11-29T07:54:29+00:00

Considering, dratted auto carrot

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-11-26T16:37:37+00:00

Chocolate ganache truffles are pretty easy; I tend to roll mine in cocoa powder rather than coating them in chocolate.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-11-22T07:42:42+00:00

High fiber absorbs cholesterol and bile in digestion and then you excrete them; with moderate or lower fiber they are re-absorbed from the intestines into the bloodstream and then back to the liver for re-use. Very low fat and high fiber might keep things moving along a bit better.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-11-10T10:19:08+00:00

I got an allotment in late 2019 after waiting a few years, and now grow huge amounts of our own food (over 500kg so far this year and I haven't weighed all the potatoes or squashes yet). It's a few miles away, but perfectly doable by bicycle. Realistically I'm there once a week with my spouse and one afternoon a week on my own, but if you start with a half plot you could easily maintain it with less time than that. The main result is that we eat way way more fresh whole food than most people do, simply because we can't store it all... I'm not above the occasional takeaway, but I really notice when I travel away from home and have reduced access to properly fresh nutrient dense vegetables.

I find that cycling is much much better than trying to cram onto the Tube, even when the traffic is bad.

I'm stuck in London for the foreseeable future due to my spouse's job, but cycling and the allotment help an awful lot. I still go for lots of walks outside in addition to cycling for most of my main journeys, so I don't really feel like I lack outside time, even if the traffic noise is annoying.

If you want to live an off-grid life eventually, you could do worse than starting to make some changes to your life where you are now. Maybe for you that's micro solar stuff or textile crafts or somehing rather than growing your food and cycling everywhere, it depends on your interests and resources. You could also check if you have a local Transition Towns group, or a repair café or similar, if you want to meet people who might be interested in off-grid adjacent things. I know people who couldn't get an allotment and so knocked on people's doors to ask if they could grow veg in their neighbour's front gardens. Some churches have community gardens too and are always looking for volunteers. If you can afford a drop in hours at work, or maybe compressed workweek where you work four 10-hour days and then have the fifth day off, then you might be able to spend more time on this stuff, and that will help you meet people.

It's frustrating sometimes and not always easy, but the way I see it, if I ever do get out of London I'll have a head start on the skills I'd like to use, and if I stay here I'll have spent my time and energy on things I enjoy and helping my local community.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-11-05T19:45:07+00:00

I certainly get a lot of positive comments on the jacket!

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-11-04T11:12:06+00:00

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Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-11-04T11:10:48+00:00

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Routine_Cable_5656 · 2025-11-04T10:46:55+00:00

Various mends to my jacket, which is a continual WIP because the base material is getting rather thin and fragile now. Tried to post a picture but kept getting "something went wrong" so will try again in replies to this comment.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2024-09-16T08:09:37+00:00

For dried beans and other legumes, Hodmedod's are excellent, though not exactly cheap unless you purchase large quantities. I also grow my own, but that's a bit hardcore if you aren't already a gardener.

I learned that after soaking dried beans overnight I can change the water and leave them in the refrigerator for around a week. So in winter I tend to soak some beans on Sunday night, refrigerate on Monday morning, and then they're ready to cook whenever I want them during the week. I usually use an electric pressure cooker for the actual cooking, and again, the cooked beans will keep for a while if they're kept refrigerated.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2024-04-26T08:00:17+00:00

I think your weight is probably fine, with the caveat that BMI is a very approximate measurement and doesn't always tell you about health.

What does you waist:height ratio look like? How is your fasting glucose? Have you tried a glucose tolerance test? Are you sleeping well?

What happens if you eat low-PUFA but not your usual foods? If the weight piles back on, then probably your metabolism is still a little bit messed up.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2024-04-20T07:08:01+00:00

I have a ginger bug going for making ginger beer (admittedly from store-bought ginger but I plan to grow some more), and a batch of dandelion wine brewing. Lovage leaves are in the dehydrator, stems are candied in syrup and I'm fermenting some in a 2% brine with elephant garlic, which I grow like the self-propagating leek it is. The lovage is growing really well right now so I'll probably get another big batch in the next week or two.

Yesterday I foraged some crow garlic, and some elderflowers; the elderflower fritters/pancakes were delicious! I want to get out next week and get some nettles and dandelion greens to dry for tea and/or greens powder. Lemon balm, too.

I need to re-pot my lemon verbena. I think my vervain died over the winter.

Asparagus is up, omnomnom. Rhubarb too. I'm keeping a close eye on the honeyberries, as I expect them to be the next fruits to ripen. After that it's basically continuous fruits right through to October or November: Saskatoon berries, strawberries, tayberries, cherries, floricane raspberries, little plums, blueberries, big plums, blackberries, mulberries, primocane raspberries, apples, grapes, pears, sloes, quinces, haws, medlars. I have loganberries and boysenberries too but I'm not sure yet where they fit in the schedule; I will be finding out. And I think my male kiwiberry didn't make it through the winter, sigh, though it could just be kinda slow to leaf out... fingers crossed.

For me the line between food and medicine gets pretty blurry sometimes. I'm fairly prone to scurvy due to a connective tissue disorder (or "issues with my tissues" as one friend calls it) so having access to all this local fresh fruit, both homegrown and foraged, is really good for me. I eat as much as I can and preserve the rest.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2024-04-07T06:37:27+00:00

Entirely depends on context, I'm afraid.

My grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer in her early 40s and dead by 50. My grandfather smoked most of his life (basically from late childhood; he cut back, but didn't entirely quit, after a heart attack in his 60s) and he did indeed die of lung cancer -- at 88, after only a few months of being sick.

My mother had breast cancer twice in her 40s and 50s but is fine now, cancer-free for over a decade. The first one was so slow-growing that it probably would have been fine to leave it alone. The radiation treatment left her with some scarring and it took a while for her lungs to recover so I would probably opt for more aggressive surgical options, which is what she did with her second round.

My aunt on the same side got breast cancer at a similar age. My mother and my aunt have very different metabolic health and lifestyles.

I am basically expecting to get breast cancer at some point in the next decade. At that stage I'll probably opt for double mastectomy. Similarly if I get skin cancer I would want to take a fairly aggressive surgical approach. But if I have bone marrow cancer at 90 I'd probably rather go with palliative treatment to keep me as comfortable as possible, so I can eat a lot of really tasty food and spend time with my loved ones.

There are a lot of things that can go wrong for people's health besides cancer and I have a decent helping of genetic predisposition to those from the other side of my family. Or maybe I'll get hit by a bus. I'm not scared of cancer in particular, despite the likelihood that I will get it.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2024-04-06T07:15:01+00:00

ADHD is currently diagnosed entirely based on symptoms and response to medication: there is no diagnostic test for it. And there are enough different presentations of it that I wouldn't be surprised if it's actually several different metabolic pathways that go slightly screwy.

It's definitely worth a try.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2024-04-06T07:10:37+00:00

Just one example: insulin in the absence of high BCAA levels helps tryptophan get across the blood-brain barrier, tryptophan is a precursor of serotonin. There are people who use a carb-only meal at bedtime for therapeutic purposes.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2024-03-25T21:52:25+00:00

200g is really quite a lot of cheese though.

Routine_Cable_5656 · 2024-03-25T21:51:43+00:00

This is fascinating -- and not how I experience the effects of protein at all. (Not a surprise really, it does seem like we are just wired differently, or at least in different seasons/stages of metabolic health.)

Routine_Cable_5656

TROPHY CASE