RL Questions Thread

Arador

I quit smoking last year Feb, went over to Vaping completely. Convenience was a big factory for me. You get some mean setups and devices but they did not fit me very well. I wanted a device powerful enough to give me that satisfying kick in the throat (I still draw, then inhale like with cigarettes), with enough battery power to last me more than a day and finally, small enough to slip into my pocket next to my phones. I ended up going for an eGo One with the big battery, have not looked back since.

Juices, whatever you enjoy. Try them for a while. Many times I have loved a juice in the shop, then never finished the bottle since it ended up being too sweet/strong/flavourless/annoying after a while. Also, switch up your juices, after a while your palate kinda goes numb on one flavour.

Sub-ohm coils are great for playing dragon and drawing straight into your lungs. Mouth to throat draws work better with 1ohm coils and lower airflows.

You can choose to make a hobby out of it, many do. But if like me, it is just convenience and a replacement for cigarettes you want, be careful of sales people like that since they end up selling you fancy shit and before you know it you are rebuilding coils and adjusting voltages all day.

Omor

Arador said:

[...]
Also, switch up your juices, after a while your palate kinda goes numb on one flavour.
[...]

I can't echo this enough either. I am bad for sitting with one juice for a full day, then realizing that I don't even taste it anymore. Heh.

Exelethril

Is vaping expensive?

Re - smoking : I'm too much of a scrooge with money to ever consider wasting it on inhaling nicotine/tar/<carcinogen>, destroying my breathing passage etc.

Aethele

Exelethril said:

Is vaping expensive?

Re - smoking : I'm too much of a scrooge with money to ever consider wasting it on inhaling nicotine/tar/<carcinogen>, destroying my breathing passage etc.

Everybody I know who switched ended up spending at least as much money as cigs. You don't have to, I think, but they all got way into it and spent a ton on equipment. But it's cheaper than cancer, right? 

Arador

Yeah that's the hobby thing again. I spend about half what I used to spend on cigarettes.

Trilliana

Exelethril said:

Is vaping expensive?

Re - smoking : I'm too much of a scrooge with money to ever consider wasting it on inhaling nicotine/tar/<carcinogen>, destroying my breathing passage etc.

Including my initial purchase (ecig, battery, liquids, and coils), we've spent about 200 bucks in the past 8 months. But I do really only use it as an anxiety aide.

Elsam

So much great advice! Thank you everyone! I found a vape store near me, they sell pre-made and also mix in the store. I'll be heading there this weekend and trying out some stuff, I guess they will let you try samples of stuff (no idea how that works out) so you can make sure to find something that satisfies you. I'll periodically update on how the no-smoking thing goes.

Omor

Exelethril said:

Is vaping expensive?

Re - smoking : I'm too much of a scrooge with money to ever consider wasting it on inhaling nicotine/tar/<carcinogen>, destroying my breathing passage etc.

As others have said, that's completely dependent on the person. Some people make it a hobby, some people just use it as a smoking cessation aide.
When I first got into vaping, I spent a lot of money on it, because I bought so many mods/tanks/drippers that I didn't like, as well as around $25 a month (USD) on juice. Now though, I've had the same tank, mod, and battery set for a few months, and I'm just spending money on juice, though that's gone up to $50 a month. But when I look back to smoking a pack a day, $5 a pack, $150 a month, and seeing that I'm down to a third of that, I'm pretty happy with my choice.

Lachlan

People who vape as a hobby, ugh! @Jonathin

Trey

Hey baby. Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk past and blow another dope-ass vape cloud?

Bleak

I started vaping to quit smoking, but everytime I had to refill that thing, I got juice everywhere. After living in a sticky world for about a month I went back to the cigs.

Lachlan

WTF @Trey!

Blujixapug

I remember going looking for food essences online, to make obscure flavours of ice cream. Stuff like bubblegum, melon, cotton candy, root beer. Most of the reviews were from people using it in vape liquid...

Ahmet

Blujixapug said:

I remember going looking for food essences online, to make obscure flavours of ice cream. Stuff like bubblegum, melon, cotton candy, root beer. Most of the reviews were from people using it in vape liquid...

http://lorannoils.com/
@Bloxorizan

Exelethril

Can I get by with just a stock pot instead of buying different types of pots?

Aesi

I mean, what are you cooking? You probably want a cheap set of saucepans for things like KD/Potatoes/whatever

Armali

I'd say one stock pot and a sauce pan are good enough for the average bachelor or young couple without kids. You'll want more than one though, because you never know when you need another, and it makes cooking way simpler when you can do two things at once instead of, cook, wash, cook again.

Exelethril

I have a skillet. Not sure if I should get a stock pot and a Dutch oven or are they essentially the same thing?

Nfi what I'm gonna cook but probably lots of stews. Already have slow cooker and thinking of pressure cooker.

Aesi

Exelethril said:

I have a skillet. Not sure if I should get a stock pot and a Dutch oven or are they essentially the same thing?

Nfi what I'm gonna cook but probably lots of stews. Already have slow cooker and thinking of pressure cooker.

are you going to use a pressure cooker?

dutch oven is a heavy cooking pot with a lid -- usually used for braising or baking. So, different.

only place I could find this, but this is a win for bachelors: http://www.ikea.com/ca/en/catalog/products/20139322/

get your stock pot for slow soups, or just make em in the slow cooker.

but literally. don't buy something until you're gonna use it, or you will just become the appliance king

Blujixapug

Exelethril said:

Can I get by with just a stock pot instead of buying different types of pots?

You could use a dutch oven on a stovetop (I assume you have a gas stove and not glass induction stove) to cook things like soup, boil water to cook pasta etc, but it's not ideal. That's the type of thing you'd want a stock pot or similar large saucepan for.

A dutch oven or enamelled casserole dish will take a longer time to heat up, but then retain that heat for longer and heat more evenly. It's good for dishes with a long cooking time, like stew or slow-cooked curry. They're also the type of dish you can start heating on the stove and then transfer to the oven (although you'd want to check to make sure of this).

Some other cookware you may want is a stainless steel frying pan (eg. fry onions, bolognese sauce), a smaller saucepan/pot or three of varying sizes (eg. boil potatoes, boil an egg, steam vegetables with a steamer), maybe a wok (stir-fry, shallow fat frying), maybe a non-stick pan (frying delicate things like eggs, fish, tofu), rice cooker (if you cook much rice it's way easier than a saucepan), a big roasting dish/roasting pan (if you ever envision yourself cooking something like a roast chicken or pork belly), and a couple of oven trays/baking trays/sheet pans (eg. roast vegetables, cookies). They have non-stick baking trays but I don't really recommend them, as you will inevitably end up with baked-on crap and ruin the surface trying to clean it off; I line them with baking paper so it doesn't matter.

Anedhel

Woks are unwieldy and not-great multitaskers, I don't recommend 'em (they're also expensive if you don't want them to be flimsy). 

Good skillets are always a wise investment, as are different-sized saucepans, since you can do a lot of things with them (you can boil stuff in 'em, cook rice, make one/two serving soups, etc.). 

A good pyrex dish for baking is also handy, if you like to bake.

Personally, I can cook most days with a cast iron pan, a saucepan, and a baking sheet (you can make all sorts of stuff with just those three things).

Jovolo

Any suggestions on making French Toast tastier? Any healthier variations are welcome too. My current recipe is 2 eggs, 2/3 cup of milk, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon and vanilla and a pinch of salt. Mixing the ingredients, dunking both sides of the toast in the mix and then cooking both sides in a pan. 

Also good things to eat with french toast? I like strawberries & thick cream, and syrup. I have a bit of a sweet tooth.

Nicola

@Jovolo grilled peaches are a must try. For a lazier topping, hard to go wrong with Nutella or something of that ilk.

Aesi

There are a variety of ways you can go with french toast toppings.
 - Nutella and a variety of fruits are amazing as @Nicola said with peaches. Strawberries also good like this.
 - can do roasted pecans/salted caramel
 - Bananas foster (banana/caramel)
 - roasted pumpkin seeds at halloween (bonus points if you serve with a mini pumpkin)
 - blueberries/crumbled pecan
 - apple pie style
 - banana/oat

French toast is fun. Pretty much anything that can go into a pie you can spin into a french toast topping. Experiment! (Savoury is also fun!)

Blujixapug

Jovolo said:

Any suggestions on making French Toast tastier? Any healthier variations are welcome too. My current recipe is 2 eggs, 2/3 cup of milk, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon and vanilla and a pinch of salt. Mixing the ingredients, dunking both sides of the toast in the mix and then cooking both sides in a pan. 

Also good things to eat with french toast? I like strawberries & thick cream, and syrup. I have a bit of a sweet tooth.

In Australia french toast is as often a savoury thing. You'd leave out the sweet flavourings and have it with bacon and tomato sauce, or something along those lines: sausage, potatoes, feta, avocado etc.

I make a not-really-french toast version by lightly toasting a slice of bread, frying it on one side in butter, then lifting it up, cracking an egg underneath, and smooshing down the un-fried side of the bread onto the egg, so it fuses together as the egg cooks. Anything fried in butter is hardly healthy but it's easy to justify if you're hung over.

Nicola

Blujixapug said:

Jovolo said:

Any suggestions on making French Toast tastier? Any healthier variations are welcome too. My current recipe is 2 eggs, 2/3 cup of milk, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon and vanilla and a pinch of salt. Mixing the ingredients, dunking both sides of the toast in the mix and then cooking both sides in a pan. 

Also good things to eat with french toast? I like strawberries & thick cream, and syrup. I have a bit of a sweet tooth.

In Australia french toast is as often a savoury thing. You'd leave out the sweet flavourings and have it with bacon and tomato sauce, or something along those lines: sausage, potatoes, feta, avocado etc.

I make a not-really-french toast version by lightly toasting a slice of bread, frying it on one side in butter, then lifting it up, cracking an egg underneath, and smooshing down the un-fried side of the bread onto the egg, so it fuses together as the egg cooks. Anything fried in butter is hardly healthy but it's easy to justify if you're hung over.

If you then fold this in half once cooked, bread side out, lather with ketchup or brown sauce, this is an amazingly easy hangover cure/egg sandwich.

Ahmet

I'm a heathen who dips his french toast in the goop of his fried eggs. Soooooo goooood.

Melodie

If you want a healthy topping beyond just fruit, yogurt is oddly tasty on french toast. Usually I would use yogurt for more on-the-go or leftover french toast the next day. I expect cream cheese could be used to similar effect (especially if flavored).

I think my favorite is caramelized bananas on top, but I've not yet attempted a salted caramel/pecan thing. That sounds amazing.

Klendathu

Jovolo said:

Any suggestions on making French Toast tastier? Any healthier variations are welcome too. My current recipe is 2 eggs, 2/3 cup of milk, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon and vanilla and a pinch of salt. Mixing the ingredients, dunking both sides of the toast in the mix and then cooking both sides in a pan. 

Also good things to eat with french toast? I like strawberries & thick cream, and syrup. I have a bit of a sweet tooth.

Go for the Atkins version. Substitute the eggs with a steak. Substitute the milk with a steak. Substitute the cinnamon with a steak. Substitute the bread for a steak.

Get meat sweats, have a massive coronary, die happy.

Aesi

Klendathu said:

Jovolo said:

Any suggestions on making French Toast tastier? Any healthier variations are welcome too. My current recipe is 2 eggs, 2/3 cup of milk, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon and vanilla and a pinch of salt. Mixing the ingredients, dunking both sides of the toast in the mix and then cooking both sides in a pan. 

Also good things to eat with french toast? I like strawberries & thick cream, and syrup. I have a bit of a sweet tooth.

Go for the Atkins version. Substitute the eggs with a steak. Substitute the milk with a steak. Substitute the cinnamon with a steak. Substitute the bread for a steak.

Get meat sweats, have a massive coronary, die happy.

my boss did the atkins diet and literally had a bacon and steak salad.