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Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

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Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#581

Post by mywittyname »

OJFord wrote: post #344
falcolas wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do both. Sous vide to your tastes, then in a hot pan on each side for 3-4 minutes. Best of both worlds, without having to worry about overcooking the outside to get the desired internal doneness.

> Sous vide to your tastes, then in a hot pan on each side for 3-4 minutes Cook a steak, and then put each side in a hot pan for 3-4 minutes?!

IKR. I sear steaks for 6-7 minutes per side anyway for rare to mid-rare, so I don't see the point in sous viding for hours just to save 3 minutes in the pan.

I love sous vide for tougher cuts that need a long cook time, but using a sous vide for a ribeye is just pointless.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#582

Post by hvoiiita »

the_gastropod wrote: post #386
astura wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have friends who eat out every single meal of every single day. I have friends who do too but it's not because they don't know how to cook, it's because they don't like to and don't wanna bother and can afford the luxury of having someone else to do it for them.

I have a suspicion this kind of living, in part, explains why so many people are miserable. I feel like removing every inconvenient thing from your life, and "having someone else do it for you" must make your ability to handle discomfort atrophy to the point where the tiniest unpleasantness feels like a catastrophe. Like muscles, your brain, your immune system, etc., we need a little discomfort / struggle once in a w…

My struggle is that I look at it as a time/cost relationship. I'd rather use my time more wisely because the cost of me maintaining a pantry, cooking, and cleaning for one outweighs the cost of getting takeout. It's probably an excuse more than anything but my work schedule can be irregular and makes it more difficult to plan.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#583

Post by sdinsn »

stakkur wrote: post #491

Marcus Aurelius' Stoic idea of winning the morning. This means doing your best to make the most of the first part of the day: arise early and jump into doing the most important tasks of the day. Practice good habits. Then, as the day expands and becomes less in your control, you've 'won' the morning. I use 'win the morning!' almost as a mantra, and just that single, simple idea been life-changing.

I agree with this- my day is always more productive if I get started early.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#584

Post by nske »

nske wrote: post #392
smileysteve wrote: post #347

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$75 is even an exaggeration. It might be more bland, but eggs, chicken breasts, some veggies should get you through a week for < $30.

And lentils with bread -most people look down on them for some reason, unless it's a side of some sort, but I find them just beautiful as proper dinner!

Sorry it just occurred to me that I was using a more specific word to refer to the family of edibles that I meant, the correct one would be "legumes" -I'd never leave things like beans or chickpeas out on purpose!

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#586

Post by relativeadv »

localhost wrote: post #291

I would say focus on building a solid, functional body vs. say focusing on goals like "how much can I lift?" or "how much do I weigh?" or "how fast can I go?". Those goals, while laudable, can also cause you to break down your body in your quest to achieve them. An example from literally yesterday. Over the past few months, I struggled with medial knee pain that was limiting my ability to walk up stairs and do other…

There is beauty to the simple goal of "I want to lift x amount one day." Instead of worrying yourself to death over whether you are "functional" or not. I've seen so many regulars at my gym over the years still doing the same stuff, still looking the same, still lifting the same, still doing kettlebell goblet squats and farmers walks and step-ups and whatever else have you.

I realize what an elitist knob this makes me sound like but I decry all of this because I've been there before and made the same mistakes. I like your example because you mention a specific issue you had that you then went on to fix. I know of many who train this way when they have no ailments whatsoever.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#587

Post by seddin »

stakkur wrote: post #491

Marcus Aurelius' Stoic idea of winning the morning. This means doing your best to make the most of the first part of the day: arise early and jump into doing the most important tasks of the day. Practice good habits. Then, as the day expands and becomes less in your control, you've 'won' the morning. I use 'win the morning!' almost as a mantra, and just that single, simple idea been life-changing.

I highly recommend watching this lecture about Marcus Aurelius https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5897dMWJiSM

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#588

Post by m3kw9 »

tnel77 wrote: post #225
chrissnell wrote: post #100

Some suggestions: - Build something. A new workbench for your office. Fix up an old car. Build a pull-up bar in your garage. Use your hands, cut some wood and metal, and treat yourself to a new tool or two. Do this with every project and you will have a nice tool collection before you know it. - Learn to take pictures on a manual camera. You can do this with a modern automatic camera if it has a manual mode. Learn ab…

What blows my mind is how much I took my ability to cook for granted. So many people my age (millennial) can barely cook anything. I have friends who eat out every single meal of every single day. People give me weird looks when every single workday I have the same answer to “you wanna go out and get some lunch?” “Nope. I have leftovers!”

Eating left over for lunch at work is usually not a good experience as the only way to heat food is microwave, unless the food you bring is best reheated with one, or just have a cold salad or sandwich. As an aside, learn the best method to reheat food for each type of meal. Steak, spaghetti, fish, bread all have the best way to make it as enjoyable as possible.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#589

Post by mywittyname »

colecut wrote: post #455
ryanmercer wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Instant pot (best kitchen purchase I've ever made) and meal prep. There's entire subreddits dedicated to meal prep with a lot of good ideas.

Sorry you're being downvoted. I guess the instant pot isn't hacker trendy enough

The IP is pretty overrated. I have one and use it really often, but it has serious limitations that fad blogs just kind of ignore. Like, it's not really a huge time saver because it's low pressure and takes so long to come to pressure anyway. Also, pressure cooked meat is very often gross and spongy, so you should use it as a slow cooker in those situations.

It's great for rice, beans, sauce & soup bases. Plus, it doesn't heat up the house in the summer. But I think it's limitations make it a poor suggestion for a novice cook.

Re: Ask HN: What Skills to Acquire in 2020?

#590

Post by m3kw9 »

the_gastropod wrote: post #386
astura wrote: post #288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I have friends who eat out every single meal of every single day. I have friends who do too but it's not because they don't know how to cook, it's because they don't like to and don't wanna bother and can afford the luxury of having someone else to do it for them.

I have a suspicion this kind of living, in part, explains why so many people are miserable. I feel like removing every inconvenient thing from your life, and "having someone else do it for you" must make your ability to handle discomfort atrophy to the point where the tiniest unpleasantness feels like a catastrophe. Like muscles, your brain, your immune system, etc., we need a little discomfort / struggle once in a w…

Cooking plus cleaning is usually a 2 hour experience. So you really need to enjoy cooking to do it or if you have no choice. Yes I see most cookers here omit cleaning which is part of the deal
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