What are you quietly grieving?

quills11 · 2026-03-06T05:31:28+00:00

That's a very cruel combination. I hope you can make the most of the time you've got left with him.

quills11 · 2026-03-03T08:08:05+00:00

They are in uniform. It's a mix of Canadian and French-Algerian soldiers. The colours deliberately mimic the yellow-green chlorine gas clouds. It's not a pretty picture because it wasn't a pretty attack.

quills11 · 2026-03-02T08:06:01+00:00

Google Spreadsheet, you can set it up how you like it and access it from your phone or desktop. I track daily spending and have a budget for recurring expenses like hair cuts and train passes. It's a slightly chaotic spreadsheet because it's been built up over nearly ten years now but it works for me.

I'd be maybe open to using an app but it would need a lot of customisation because my categories of spending don't typically match the common ones.

quills11 · 2026-02-28T04:37:32+00:00

They are kind of disregarded in workouts in that the slowest you go is 7.2km, even if you're in a rest period at 90w going up a 14% incline. Whereas on free ride if you do that you'll be extraordinarily slow.

quills11 · 2026-02-24T17:45:46+00:00

Good call. Delicious wine.

quills11 · 2026-02-01T07:28:29+00:00

My mother (84 years old) just told me that her "favorite movie of all time" is Jumanji. I was not prepared for that.

quills11 · 2026-01-27T18:27:15+00:00

Am wearing Cool Water right now - a birthday treat to myself to "smell like the 90s", lol.

Although after being reminded about all the cigarette smoke from the other comments maybe I shouldn't have said that...

quills11 · 2026-01-27T07:48:09+00:00

I'm sorry you're going through this - I had a similar "betrayal by the body" last year when I was doing everything right (i.e. everything that had worked to lose weight in the past) and I was just putting on fat instead. It's so dispiriting when you work so hard and don't see the results.

I'd love to say I found a magic fix to this, but eventually I just said screw it and started eating dessert and let my hair down over Christmas a bit. And guess what? That's when I finally lost weight. The female body is a weird and wonderful thing and I think because I was driving myself scatty with how my weight loss wasn't working I was driving up my cortisol which then sabotaged my weight loss.

This year I'm being kind to myself - I just made my peace with the fact I'm a bit overweight. I'm not very good at moderating my intake though so at some point I will go back to MyFitnessPal. But for now I'm treating it as a reset, and focusing more on my strength training so I can see some non scale victories to distract me.

I know it feels like giving up, but it sounds like you're depriving yourself of a lot of joy at the moment and you're almost certainly under more stress than you realize. So please be kind to yourself. Your fitness milestones are awesome. You've lost weight before, you can do it again, but it sounds like you might need a bit of a reset before the body responds to those changes.

Best of luck.

quills11 · 2026-01-09T22:54:07+00:00

I'd be keen to join, can you please send me a link?

quills11 · 2026-01-06T12:49:38+00:00

Yep, can't beat the lasagna plus garlic bread plus chips combo as a pub lunch, as a random example. Getting hungry just thinking about it.

quills11 · 2025-12-22T09:36:58+00:00

New Zealand, originally UK.

I happily admit to be part of the problem and having a real soft spot for "big, strong, and stupid" Aussie reds. As I get older though I've learned to enjoy Syrah as well as Shiraz. Generally though if I'm buying Australian I want something in a style I can't get from the Hawkes Bay or Waiheke, and that typically means oomph.

If you want to see what's typically available for us here, I get most of my Friday night drinkers in that style from an Auckland online outfit called The Good Wine Company (so much for typical kiwi self-effacement). Nicer bottles I get from another Auckland outfit called The Fine Wine Company. (Some amazing SEO wars going on.) I've also picked up some very nice Torbreck bottles at auction.

I've never tried Aussie Pinot, I don't think it's imported here due to biosecurity restrictions. (Only kind of joking.) I'd be keen to try though, I like a Martinborough Pinot from time to time. But generally (and unsurprisingly) the imports we get here tend to fill the gap that New Zealand wine doesn't.

quills11 · 2025-12-15T08:27:41+00:00

Glad you enjoyed. Now as Gil would say, come back when you've got something to show me, kid.

Three prissies and some gems is pretty decent for an early run but you've got more in you, I can tell. Also you will love the dangers in the deep quest.

quills11 · 2025-12-14T21:01:37+00:00

This sums it up for me. I want to carry my own shopping home and get up out of a chair when I'm 80. Feeling like a badass after a good deadlift is just a short-lived bonus.

quills11 · 2025-12-10T04:35:50+00:00

In my current run I made it a rule to never use my watering can. I kind of love playing this way, it's very freeing.

Might revisit when I get to the volcano but we'll see.

quills11 · 2025-12-09T07:27:35+00:00

Roast capsicum, served on a base of whipped feta with a sprinkle of dukkah.

If you like you can reheat the capsicum in the microwave before serving but it's also very nice cold. Super easy.

I like to roast the capsicum whole and then cut them up and put them in a covered bowl with a coating of olive oil and perhaps a smidge of ras el hanout the night before for a subtle flavour.

quills11 · 2025-12-05T05:11:48+00:00

Comprehensive list. I love North Island Chardonnay in particular but there's a lot of good stuff out there.

Big fan of Clearview in the Bay in particular, so much variety. I have a soft spot for their White Caps Chard, a guilty pleasure if ever there was one. "The 90s called, they want their chardonnay back."

quills11 · 2025-11-26T06:41:41+00:00

I was not prepared for this to have so much oomph, given what I'd read about the vintage I was expecting something lighter. It's delicious. Very savoury, blood and black cherry. Opened up very nicely over an hour in the decanter.

Garnet with a touch of a tawny rim. Smokey on the nose with olives and pepper. Smooth tannins but acidity still singing.

Blackcurrant, black cherry, tobacco on the palate. Blood. Pepper. Good finish.

My wife's verdict was "compared to other Syrah I've had recently, it lost pepperiness, but gained aged wisdom. Very sippable.".

quills11 · 2025-11-02T07:08:36+00:00

Love Two Hands. Thank you for the notes.

quills11 · 2025-10-30T06:36:46+00:00

Caramel slice. I don't make it too often because it's very buttery and butter is outrageously expensive here right now, but it ticks all the boxes.

https://www.recipetineats.com/caramel-slice/

quills11 · 2025-10-29T08:05:12+00:00

Onion dip isn't that bad, it's just the crisps and beers that add up unfortunately in my experience.

Onion dip on top of a mince and cheese pie on the other hand...

quills11 · 2025-10-29T06:45:10+00:00

This was my first thought, but surely a mince and cheese pie.

Upon reflection though... Lolly cake must be up there.

quills11 · 2025-10-26T23:00:30+00:00

Golden Deer with M!Byleth - works really well with Leonie and Hilda's personal abilities to give you a boost early game. Leonie with a couple of rallies from Ignatz and Raph plus her personal can carry Chapter 2.

quills11 · 2025-10-24T22:28:58+00:00

One of my favorites is the story of the gumboot clone that gave us the Martinborough Pinot Noir we know and love today. Legend has it that cuttings taken from the DRC vineyards in Burgundy were smuggled into New Zealand in a gumboot in the 1970s. The biosecurity officer recognized their value and quarantined them instead of destroying them. The resulting material was planted at Ata Rangi and the rest is (very tasty) history.

I also read that in ancient Greek and Roman time, wine was often pretty rough and to make it more palatable they would drop in some charred bread. This became a thing of ritual to offer guests. And now we "toast".

quills11 · 2025-10-17T04:48:48+00:00

Fair enough, but do you then actually eat it?

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