Aotearoa Weekly Kōrero 12/8/2024

Welcome to this week’s casual kōrero thread!

This post will be pinned in this community so you can always find it, and will stay for about a week until replaced by the next one.

It’s for talking about anything that might not justify a full post. For example:

Something interesting that happened to you
Something humourous that happened to you
Something frustrating that happened to you
A quick question
A request for recommendations
Pictures of your pet
A picture of a cloud that kind of looks like an elephant
Anything else, there are no rules (except the rule)

So how’s it going?

41 comments

Having to performance manage one of my direct reports and it is incredibly time consuming, frustrating, and above all demoralising.
I hate working at the best of times so this is really making me want to call in sick for the rest of the week.
- This is why I shun management roles, but then people think you just don't have ambition. I actually just don't want to deal with people.

Cute dog sitting was super tiring but I seem to have bounced back okay with no lasting effects so am feeling pretty good.
Still citrus galore everywhere!
- How's that tree of yours doing? Trying to remember what it was, tangelo?
  I've been scoffing down oranges and mandarins recently. My eldest decided to stop eating mandarins. I was using them as lunchbox fruit but apparently they were all soft. Well yes, that's the baggy skin so they are easy to peel. Apparently that wasn't a good enough explanation.
  They will still eat them at home if I peel and serve them though 🤷
  
  Oh no, easypeel are the best. Sudden childhood flashback to my mum having to demonstrate to me that actually no a sausage roll is not hard crusted dried meat all the way through, only the bits that stick out the ends. 🤦‍♂️
  Yep tangelo, still going crazy, so is the mandarin. I was going to cut some fruit for the birds and post a photo friday PSA about feeding windfalls to waxeyes and tui but got too caught up in mundane paperwork. Citrus is great though isn't it, comes along at the perfect time!
  When it ends will be the best time for pruning too, to repay the tree with a bit of tlc.

We live next door to 2 x Kiwi fruit orchards. Just had a notification that one is spraying Hi-Break, same thing as Hi-Cane, this Friday. Warns do not enter the orchard for 5 days!!! Seems Friday should be a day indoors for us.
- That must be super frustrating. If they need to use this because of a lack of frosts, what's the benefit of growing kiwifruit up north instead of growing where there are frosts? Do the fruit grow faster and bigger in the warmer weather?
  
  It’s used to promote the bud burst, and hence fruiting, so more fruits appear at the same time which makes harvesting better controlled. Hi-Cane is also used on apples for exactly the same reason. I’m not an expert, but I’d suspect the warmer weather up here would typically promote more random fruiting.
  The sprays are to replicate frosts which we don’t get that would do something similar. The warmer weather probably means earlier harvests as well up here.

Currently day 10 of whatever sickness has been going around. Spent all of last week with constant nausea, then last weekend in bed. Been popping ibuprofens and paracetamols for the last few days just to get through. Still getting a bit of nausea, but head and ears are feeling lots of tension and throat is swelling up, but now combined with the fun being unable to sleep through the night for the last few nights! To top it all off can't get a doctor's appointment for more than a week. I guess I'll just resign myself to either being better or dead by then.
- Ugh that sounds gross, I hope it goes away soon!!
  
  Thanks, luckily managed to squeeze in and get a doctors appointment this morning, so now have some extra antibiotics and steroids to take. She is thinking either strep throat or glandular fever, also did a blood test so they can confirm.
- Lots of flu going around at the moment. Our house feels like it's been in a low-level sickness state for weeks. Everyone is drained and grumpy (and also having trouble getting a good night's sleep).
  
  The stupid thing is I know exactly how I got it too. My wife had it for around two weeks previous and lost her voice and everything. Then a couple weeks ago I stupidly grabbed her cup from the night before which hadn't been washed yet (I usually wash them up in the morning) to quickly get a cup of water to drink. I remember thinking "it'll be fine.."

Got a filling today, now I'm unpleasantly aware of the places I got stabbed in the gum for the Novocaine.
On the other hand, work is progressing.

Can anyone tell me how a cafe would normally make a long black?
Single or double shot of espresso?
How much water to add?
Online I found things that say a single or double shot plus 100ml of water, but this seems way too much. A standard long black cup may only hold 100ml total? Do I do a double shot with 40ml water added?
- Definitely 2 shots.
  In NZ everything is 2 shots unless it's short (a pet hate of mine, a caffe latte shouldn't essentially be a giant flat white wtf nz) but a long black is 2 shots for real.
  
  A Long Black is prepared by adding approximately 2/3rds boiling water into a cup then extracting a double shot of espresso (60ml) over the water. [...] Served in a 200-220ml Ceramic Cup.
  That makes it about 120ml water, which is in line with the other stuff I read. But I'm not convinced, it seems like too much water. Or my espresso isn't coming out strong enough. Or maybe it's the preparation. I have been doing the espresso first then the water. Maybe I need to try water first, then espresso.
- A real cafe gives you black coffee and a slap in the face while screaming "enjoy it!" at you.
  But seriously good cafes, will give you a double shot espresso with a jug of hot water ~100ml, so that you can add to your preferred level.
  I am a terrible coffee snob, I drink my coffee black! Usually just espresso but if I'm adding water it is only 20-40ml in a double shot. I find that most cafes are not that good at making black coffee, they get away with it because people mask the flavour with milk etc...
  
  I've definitely been served hit water with the coffee but most places have this cup that is the same everywhere, and has a much smaller volume.
  I'm still getting the feel for making my own espresso and so was thinking if I knew how a cafe makes it then I'd have a good benchmark, especially for getting the espresso shot the right strength.

I would really appreciate it if shitsville would finish already.
- Finish? According to this it hasn't even started!
  
  https://www.realnzweather.com/
  
  IMO it came early this year

41 comments