English

balmy - Wiktionary - soothing, fragrant, mild, pleasant. Found in Behemoth by Peter Watts.

Vim modeline

I should check vim modelines (Vim documentation: options) out, systematically.

Cooking

Pasta

Try adding cauliflower in my pasta water ¹

And pasting my favourite Reddit comment for posterity:

[deleted] 385 points · 1 year ago · edited 1 year ago

This isn’t wrong, but not the tradition Italian way. The way we do it in Italy (Sicily) is to split the sauce in half. Take the pasta out about a minute or less before al dente. If you’re going for the creamy flavor, sauce permitting, mix some butter with the pasta as you’re draining the water. Then put the pasta in the sauce pan with half of the sauce and a (tiny) bit of pasta water. 1/4 of a cup is too much in our opinion because you don’t want to cook the pasta in the sauce for too long. Use the other half of the sauce to top it off. That’s not to say this is the only way Italians do it, but my Southern Italian family has been using this method for generations. I’m not a fan of OP’s method, if you want this kind of pasta just make a cacio e pepe.

On a separate but related note, tomato sauces (without meat) should only be cooked for 30 minutes, after that they lose the aroma. Of course I’m biased, but a simple tomato sauce is one of the easiest and most delicious things in the world to make. Simmer garlic until sizzling (add red pepper flakes with garlic for arrabbiata) add decent plum tomatoes (buy whole ones and hand crush them) with S&P, basil, oregano. You can add some butter if you like. Stir occasionally, 30 minutes later you’re done.

Edit: I always used to laugh to myself when I saw people getting excited about getting their first gold, and now I’m that person. Thanks kind stranger. ²

Bread

You can freeze bread without problems:

He starts with what not to freeze: “I never recommend freezing things like baguettes or ciabatta. Anything that has a large surface-to-crumb ratio just never refreshes the same.” ³

If baking, let your bread cool completely. This will prevent it from becoming soggy or moldy. Wrap each loaf tightly in plastic wrap. Then wrap it in foil or freezer paper. The double-wrap is your secret weapon for freshness.⁴

Unfreezing works overnight in the refrigerator. ⁴

While I’m at it, the yeast ratio is 2 1/4 teaspoons dry active, instant, or rapid-rise yeast granules (usually one 1/4-ounce packet) = 2/3 ounce fresh yeast ⁵

Markdown

If I do annotations / sources / references, I have to put the definition on a new ’new’ line, so it’s a new block. This was my error back at the very beginning. Not one but two.

TODO Vim

Vim macro to create an reference based on a selected line.