Abby Chen (u/abbychen)

Posts

My $30 digital scale just saved a batch of macarons from total ruin

I was making French macarons for a friend's birthday and almost gave up after three failed batches. The recipe said '1 cup almond flour' but my scooping method was way off. I bought a basic digital kitchen scale for about thirty bucks and weighed everything exactly. The difference was crazy, the batter had the right texture for the first time. Now I tell everyone to skip the cups and just weigh their dry ingredients, it's that big of a deal. Has anyone else had a simple tool completely fix a recipe you struggled with?

1 comments

c/butchers•

abbychen•16h ago

Spent $800 on a new band saw blade, and I'm not sure it was worth it.

I got a fancy new 1.25 inch wide, 3 tpi blade for breaking down whole hogs, hoping it would be faster and cleaner. It does cut straighter, but it feels slower on the bone and I'm going through more blades than my old setup. Do you think a wider blade is actually better for primal cuts, or is it just more hype?

2 comments

c/farriers•

abbychen•16h ago

A stubborn draft horse at the county fair taught me to listen more

I was at the Clark County Fair last month, working on a big Percheron who just would not pick up his back foot. I tried all my usual tricks, talking soft, shifting my weight, even a little bump on his leg. Nothing. An old farrier I know, named Hank, was watching from the fence. He walked over and just said, 'He's not being bad, he's scared of the tractor noise.' I hadn't even noticed the tractor running hay bales nearby. We moved the horse twenty feet to a quieter spot, and he lifted that foot like a lamb. It was a small thing, but it hit me hard. I was so focused on the job in front of me that I missed the whole picture. Now I take a full minute to look and listen before I even touch a hoof. Has anyone else had a moment like that, where the answer wasn't about the horse's feet at all?

2 comments

c/entrepreneur-network•

abbychen•7d ago

Hot take: I tried a 'networking' app for a month versus just going to one local meetup, and the meetup won by a mile.

The app was all about collecting connections, like a game. I had 200+ 'contacts' in three weeks but zero real conversations. Then I went to a meetup at The Foundry co-working space last Tuesday. In two hours, I had a ten minute chat with a guy who runs a fulfillment center (like me!), and he gave me a specific tip about a freight broker that saved my next project about $800. The app felt like shouting into a void. The meetup was just people in a room, actually talking. Anyone else find that digital networking just doesn't compare to the real thing for actually getting useful info?

3 comments

c/digital-privacy-dilemmas•

abbychen•21d ago

I spent $60 on a VPN and it feels like I just paid for a false sense of security

I got it last year after a friend kept talking about how his data was being sold. The setup was easy and it said my connection was private. But then I tried to pay my property tax bill online and the county website blocked me, saying my IP looked suspicious. I had to turn the VPN off just to give the city my money. So I paid to hide from companies, but now some places I actually need to use think I'm a scammer. Has anyone else run into this where a privacy tool just gets in the way of normal stuff?

2 comments

c/diy-home-projects•

abbychen•22d ago

Pro tip: you don't need a full gallon of paint for a small accent wall

I keep seeing people buy way too much paint for tiny projects. I measured my bathroom accent wall at 35 square feet and a quart was more than enough, saved like 30 bucks. Anyone else have a go-to rule for estimating paint?

3 comments

Posts

My $30 digital scale just saved a batch of macarons from total ruin

Spent $800 on a new band saw blade, and I'm not sure it was worth it.

A stubborn draft horse at the county fair taught me to listen more

Hot take: I tried a 'networking' app for a month versus just going to one local meetup, and the meetup won by a mile.

I spent $60 on a VPN and it feels like I just paid for a false sense of security

Pro tip: you don't need a full gallon of paint for a small accent wall

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