u/Shrink1061_

Was feeling bored of the plain silver interior trim. So decided to try wrapping in Alcantara to see how it felt. I quite like it. It’s a bit scrappy as it’s my first time doing a wrap, but it’s a decent
Proof of concept.

I also took a blow torch to the scratched A pillars to refresh them!

Seems all setups are “modest” now. So here is mine. It’s been a journey to find a grinder I was keen on. I started with a Specialita, and tbh I still think for 95% of people it is an excellent, low retention, low fuss, espresso grinder.

But I sought more clarity and taste separation so I started climbing the grinder tree. I got a Mazzer philos but immediately hated everything about the single dosing workflow.

I was looking at all kinds of other options, including the E64WS, but all seemed to have some serious design flaws. So I opted for this.

Eureka Atom excellence 65. A sensible burr size keeps waste on the better end of the scale, but a large motor means it’ll chew through anything. Excellent portafilter holder and interface is pretty much the same as my specialita.

Too new to comment at the moment, but it’s fast, quiet, clean, and easy to use. So watch this space!

Well, semi home made! I bought a baguette lol

Yearly MOT test was up, and I always hate them. It’s like having someone else mark your homework! Because I do all my own work it’s always odd to have someone else poking around my car!

So this week the car got (in preparation)

- new chassis cross brace

- new stainless centre pipe and catalyst

- rust treated and sealed most of the rear area and subframe mounting points

- oil service

- brake fluid flush

- gearbox fluid flush

- diff fluid flush

- caliper service (slide pins etc).

Tbh I’m a little annoyed at myself for not just replacing the discs and getting a clean MOT!

Oh well… next year!

New discs are on the way!

Decided to fix my mid pipe, which at this stage, had become two mid pipes!

Picked up one of these, as the price seemed Almost too good to be true:

https://bofiracing.com/performance/exhaust-system/catalytic-converters/malian-2-3in-sports-cat-mid-pipe-for-mazda-mx-5-nc/?srsltid=AfmBOoqPlChhy1ZOqyVAe5fNOl01vfPw9XAHgX0g3BjI9z3gTdFKG0-v

And I must say, it looks, feels and fitted superbly. Really puts the expensive models to shame. Especially given it’s made in the EU.

The back box join was easy and having no issue there, but on removing my front section, one of the spring loaded bolts decides to sheer and snap. Thankfully leaving just enough thread to be useful, but with a rough edge that wouldn’t engage. So has to get the tapping kit out and sort a thread to screw the bolt back onto.

Then fitted my new mid brace, which meant for the first time in about 2 years the cover that goes over the catalyst section could be re fitted

Then sorted out some sagging heat shield, and did a power steering and brake fluid flush.

Not a bad result for 5 hours work!

My home server solution (if you want to call it that) has varied over the years. I've had a little NUC in my life for years that used to run a music control suite called "Roon". Lately, having introduced a slightly aging QNAP 269L to the house, I set roon up in a container on that and had been using it for about a year.

Sadly Roon cut off support for the older QNAP platforms and needed to move to docker. I couldn't do this so was left with no functioning Roon, and an aging QNAP. So I decided to see what was out there that I could turn into a useful replacement.

I considered a newer QNAP NAS, but they're hugely expensive, limited in function, low power and ultimately pretty poor value for money. I did consider just spinning up another little NUC for roon and keeping the QNAP for backups, but I wanted to modernise.

So I hit ebay, and found a brand new unopened HP Microserver G8. So I bought that, shoved a Xeon E3-1240 V2, 16GB of ram and all my available drives into it. I had a few drives to decided I could use them as follows:

• 128gb SSD - in the optical bay, for TrueNas Boot
• 1TB SSD - in bay 1 for Application pool
• 2x 2TB SATA 5400RPM drives for general day to day data (music, videos etc)
• 1x 4TB 7200rpm Drive for backups - calm down calm down, i also backup to cloud and USB (i picked this as backup because its noisy and I prefer to spin it down when not in use). I also have a second one of these spare in case of failure.

It was a steep learning curve to understand ZFS, Datasets, ACL's, Bridge Networks, Containers, VM's and the like. But I'm a Cisco / Microsoft infrastructure consultant by day, so It was just about learning the new languages for things.

Now it's all up and running and doing:

• Roon
• Plex
• Automatic Ripping Machine (I added a 4gb Nvidia T400 GPU and it flies)
• AdGuard Home
• Home Assistant (via HAOS VM)
• Win11 VM (for testing and anything I can't do at home on my macbook

Overall it took a long time to get here, but now its stable, hands off, reliable and doing great work.

I look forward to finding out what else I can use it for!

I had a little of the Saag Chicken from the other night. But I didn’t have any bread, so decided to make a batch of naan for the freezer and then I got a bit of a “bhaji” itch! So made some onion bhajis, a bit of onion salad, and since the oil was hot, I did some fresh Puppodoms!

I’m so full I could explode!

A variation on the misty ricardo chicken saag, but with some fresh mint, a bit more kasuri methi and a bit more heat.

It’s a winner!

I forgot to post this the other day when I did it. Decided to make a little Lebanese feast for a friend and threw together a little Hummus, Tabouleh, and beef Kafta, along with a little flatbreads and some olives / peppers.

Was my first time making hummus from scratch and I stupidly forgot I needed Tahini, so I made some tahini from scratch also lol. Thankfully it all ended up being very tasty.

I need to learn to be less “UK” about the Tabouleh though and get it really really green! Needs even more parsley and mint than is in this one! Next time!

A standing evening with a friend where one of us brings wine and another cooks. Tonight was my night to cook.

Crayfish tails in garlic butter

Beef wellington

Tarte tatin

So my Philos arrived today. Here begins a Lomb journey. Right now it’s a disaster of mess and channeling as I’m just not used to this way of working. The burrs are new also and will take a little time and coffee to settle down.

I’m excited about the journey but hoping I get to a stable point again. I had a good relationship with my Mignon Specialita.

If it turns out I can’t get on with it, I’ll chop it in for an E64WS

:)

With sneaky peek at the vinyl cupboard!

Edit - as people as asking :) :

-Speakers: Harbeth SHL5+ 40th Anniversary

-Stands: Something Solid

-Subwoofer: REL T9x

-Amps: Marantz MA9S2 Reference Monoblocks

-Streamer / Pre: Lindemann Musicboook Source

-Phono Stage: Gold Note PH5

-Cartridge: Clearaudio Concerto

-Turntable Technics SL1500C (waiting to get a 1300G)

On a bit of a pasta theme this week. So while I was shopping I bought some beef and pork mince. Used half the beef to make burgers and half the pork to make a Korean dish. But the other two halves were mixed with milk soaked breadcrumbs, Parmesan, fennel and salt to make these juicy moist bad boys.

Served with simple shallot, tomato, garlic, chilli and olive oil sauce stirred through pasta to finish cooking both.

I Always finish the pasta in the pan, emulsify and then dress with a little high quality olive oil at the end !

One of those store cupboard 15 minute weeknight meals!

Washed down with a glass of white!