Wait you’ve also met my in-laws??
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OkayMode
I am the pig Daveb's mama was talking about
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I am going to share a life changing jeans hack.
Measure all the key parts of your lower body: Waist, Front and Back rise, thigh, and inseam (don’t worry if they’re really long, you can shorten).
Add a few mm to most of the measurements.
Go on some online Japanese denim sites where they list the measurements of their jeans and find some pairs that look as though they will fit well with your measurements; if the hem width is a lot less than the thigh it will be weird skinny carrot fit, if it’s a bit less it will be like classic 501 fit, if it’s the same it will be retro straight leg, if it’s more then you just bought some bootcut jeans…
I basically guarantee that this will result in a high quality and super sweet fitting pair of jeans for less money than if you bought them in EU or US.
Buy one wash if you don’t want them to shrink.
The inhabitants all seem to be taking orders through small rectangular tablets held close to their faces.
So... the hack is to buy pants slightly larger than you are big, instead of the other way around?
J/K ofc.
I have never looked into buying Japanese denim from Japan as I am used to buying multiple sizes of everything and then returning 2/3 out of every order, which would not make it very worthwhile shipping stuff back to Japan. Never knew they actually have sizes listed in mm.
Do you have any favourite site(s)?
Tried this one and learned Japan doesn’t really have people my size.
OkayMode
I am the pig Daveb's mama was talking about
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The hack is to buy using your specific measurements, that way you remove the guesswork on how they’re going to fit and don’t even have to even try pairs on in a shop (which I hate) or faff with returning things that done fit. It’s one and done babySo... the hack is to buy pants slightly larger than you are big, instead of the other way around?
The majority of the sites I’ve used have measurements in mm/cm and inches.
Bears Tokyo and Rodeo Japan Pine Avenue would be my recommendations. Some of the brands have their own dedicated sites with a shop too.
Jovidah
I'll make you a sponsor offer you can't refuse...
Not to be a smartass but I've seen many graffiti'd boxcars that were far more interesting to look at than a lot of the 'modern art' we see in museums sometimes.
As to the whole langauge discussion. I think it's pretty much done to death already but it's worth remembering that what we consider 'proper English now' is in itself already an evolution that's very different from what was spoken 50 or 100 years ago.
English is itself an amalgamation of older Germanic languages with a lot of French influences mixed in.
HolyDiverScallop
Not too smart, but at least I’m ugly.
The above is good advice.
One caveat: as someone who once took a significant interest in dressing well, I have found that many places measure the same things in different ways, resulting in different values.
I agree 100% that you should get your measurements. It'll help you get the right size. For online purchases, I'll size bracket if it's a maker I haven't dealt with before, because the size that "should" fit may not be the best fit.
I ended up documenting my measurements, and then the measurements of clothing I was interested in or bought, and made notes about fit. Eventually, I could really dial things in, but I still needed to size bracket a fair amount.
I never understand this one. Push cutting is not inherently better nor necessary for using jknives. Rock chopping is one of the safest, fastest, most efficient forms of cutting. There is a reason why it is the first skill taught in any intro American culinary knife skills class. I can't speak for the rest of the world. And even Japanese fine dining chefs regularly employ rock chopping for certain tasks. A gyuto is a slightly evolved French chef knife. Do you think that people should not push cut with a Sabatier? Or does it only bother you going the other cultural direction? Asking for a friend.
Jovidah
I'll make you a sponsor offer you can't refuse...
Agreed, I actually think it's silly how it's almost a default suggestion to newer people here to switch to push cutting. Like you said, you actually see quite some footage of Japanese chef's doing it... just like I've always seen more yo-gyutos in Japanese YT vids than wa-gyutos. But gajin gonna gajin...
parbaked
Senior Member
Yo gaijin...it's gaijin, not gajin...
My remark has nothing to do with culture at all. I'm talking about people cutting like this with a thin, high HRC knife:
Yes I know, there is rock chopping, and there is 'rock chopping'.
I know, you're also guilty of "ending up with pieces of produce at least double the size of other pieces", I've seen your onion destruction videosWell trigger warning. Stay out of my YouTube.
I also know you're a skilled guy though, and if you probably slow down just a little you'll cut just a neatly as I do, only still about 7 times quicker...
Hobbies are less fun when everything is reduced to a numerical comparison of technical superiority. “The shiny thing called to me” is a perfectly valid reason to buy and like something.
DitmasPork
Senior Member
Agree. I seem to be one of the few people reading a book in the subway.
However, the internet has been instrumental in developing my knife collection and knowledge. As a brick and mortar business owner, I’ve needed to pivot more attention to online with how sales are made, and collector interactions.
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I know, you're also guilty of "ending up with pieces of produce at least double the size of other pieces", I've seen your onion destruction videos
I also know you're a skilled guy though, and if you probably slow down just a little you'll cut just a neatly as I do, only still about 7 times quicker...
It all depends on what the purpose is. I ran an Indian restaurant for a few years. When I do videos of me cutting onions it's for a particular dish that requires a lot of onions. Half of them will get pureed with the sauce. Half will be caramelized down over an hour or two until they are black for a crispy onion garnish. I cut those onions different than I would onions for a consomme garnish. It doesn't make one or the other better or worse.
HolyDiverScallop
Not too smart, but at least I’m ugly.
I mean, there are books on phones. Don't know how they get all that dead tree in there, but there you go.
And when the collected knowledge and stupidity of the universe is (mostly) on the Internet, it seems sort of reductive to complain that people are interacting with that knowledge. Or stupidity.
Now I’ve always figured rock chopping would be worse for your edge. The slight pivoting required at the tip potentially torquing the edge, and the fact that it’s constantly in contact with the board and sliding reducing edge retention since it’s in constant motion. Have I been rock chopping wrong??
Yeah that's what I was trying to say with my last message, it's a choice for you to slow down and cut neatly or not, based on what you want to achieve.
I can't however understand that there are cooks with TV shows who chop everything into random bits, and then tell the viewer to fry everything in a pan for a couple of minutes.
You just know either one half of it is going to be raw, or the other half is turned into mush.
It can damage your edge. The key is to make the blade bounce and not let it dig into the board as you twist and pivot. Knife edges hate torque more than anything. It might make it so the edge needs a little touch up. But so does potentially anything you do with a knife. It is all a question of whether you have time to do it some other way and what is appropriate for what you are cooking. And is getting the.job done quicker and possibly hastening how long until you have to do knife maintenance worth it. But all of these are just tradeoff questions. There are no right and wrong answers.
If I am doing a few cloves of garlic I will do three axis method.
If I am doing more than a few cloves but less than a whole head I will use a gyuto
If I am doing more than a head or two then I will use a Cuisinart. We use to start every day at the Indian restaurant with 5 pounds in the Cuisinart and 5 pounds of ginger. Usually we had to pulse more for the evening shift. We weren't gonna try and keep up with that volume with a knife.
We also did our onions with a slicing machine. We had a standing order for 1000 pounds (20 x 50 lb bags) of Spanish onions per week. And frequently had to add more halfway through the week. We had one dishwasher who spent 75 percent of his time peeling the onions and running them through the slicer and moving them back and forth from the walk-in to the tilt skillet in giant bus tubs.
It just depends. But to me, the only thing that matters is making sure that what you produce is good enough for what you need it for and you don't waste too much time. It is very easy for me to touch up a knife. Probably three times as fast as washing a Cuisinart. You always just gotta make the cost benefit analysis. And time is usually the biggest limiting factor. Whether cooking at home or professionally.
DitmasPork
Senior Member
FWIW, I’ve never read an ebook, never been tempted by an e-cookbook, not my jam—view them as akin to plastic ferrules on Ho wood handles. I prefer paper & ink for books. Although, news is primarily from online/tv.
Currently reading:
DitmasPork
Senior Member
Very true, I'm sometimes cringing when I watch TV chefs cook.
However, in the grander scheme of things—I'd rather have home cooks get inspired by TV chefs (Rachael Ray, Guy Fieri, et al) to cook imperfect food, with flawed techniques, than to not cook at all. Gotta start somewhere.
Some of the best meals I've had have been cook with not ideal techniques, cheap knives/pans, cut rate ingredients.
HolyDiverScallop
Not too smart, but at least I’m ugly.
I buy physical books for cooking and for things I really want to keep.
Buying a dedicated ereader changed everything for me.
Everything else is digital now. I read too much and too fast for physical books to be tenable, especially when traveling. Being able to check out ebooks from the library was amazing.
I sold most of my physical books to a secondhand store.
Since @aporigine mentioned the OED, I happened to have a English Lit degree, I went looking. Earliest known use of floored was in the 1500s.
DitmasPork
Senior Member
What e-reader platform do you use? I should revisit e-readers. Unfortunately I had a bad e-reader experience years ago that has soured me. I've a massive cookbook collection—I value the design/photography/typography/tactile elements of physical books, appreciate things like binding/paper stock/printing quality.
My most recent cookbook purchase was Rintaro, which is gorgeous IMHO.
