Lorna

Agreed. My first pan took about four months before eggs slid. I nearly gave up at week eight and I'm glad I didn't.

Go down the prebuilt listing and write in the actual model number for: power supply, motherboard, RAM kit and speed, SSD, CPU cooler, and how many case fans. If the listing won't tell you, that is the answer. Every time I have done this exercise the small gap turned into two hundred and something once I matched the parts honestly, which is roughly the point where building starts to make sense to me. Under about $150 of difference I stop arguing with people who want the warranty.

The colander in the sink first is embarrassingly obvious and I have never once done it.

Same, I label jars with the month made and the older ones move to the cooking shelf. Stops me being disappointed when I want it crunchy.

Clustering on the long tail is the standard shape. Anything you check by hand will be short, because you are the one who has to read it.

It genuinely changes, and ten days is far too early to judge. A bar at ten days still has significant water in it and the crystalline structure is still organising - early bars feel harsher, dissolve faster and lather less than the same bar at eight weeks. Try the same sliver at week six and it'll be a different product.

That said, 30% coconut is at the upper end for a hand bar. Coconut is where the big bubbly lather comes from and also where the stripping feeling comes from. Most people settle somewhere around 20-25% for a bar that still lathers well without the squeak. If your finished bar is still drying at eight weeks, that's the number to change, plus maybe going from 5% to 6-7% superfat.

So: wait it out, and if it's still harsh in six weeks, adjust the recipe rather than concluding soap making isn't for you.

That's the part that surprises everyone. Cure isn't just drying, though drying is most of it. Keep one bar from every batch uncut for six months and you'll see it keeps improving.

Switched them at 18 weeks, so that should be fine. Good thing to check though.

How would I tell if they're eating it? The dish level barely seems to change.

There's a cellar under this room so I could get at the underside. Is that a DIY job?

On the family diplomacy half of this: do not argue the science at the table, it never works. I started serving mine as one component of a dish rather than a jar with a spoon in it, and about a year later my mother-in-law asked for the recipe without ever conceding the earlier argument. Some of this is not about pH.

Printing the extension leaflet and leaving it on the counter genuinely worked on my father-in-law. A stranger with a university logo said it, so it was true, whereas I had merely been saying it for two years.

Worth saying - the black flakes are not dangerous, they're just polymerised fat. Annoying in food, not a health issue. So don't panic about the ones that got eaten.

We've all done it. Worth keeping a notebook column for supplier behaviour notes: after a year you'll have your own list of which ones need cool temperatures and a spatula.

Check whether the fragrance contains a lot of vanillin or floral notes with high alcohol content: suppliers often list acceleration behaviour in the product notes and people don't read them until after. Some will even say 'accelerates trace' outright.

True, though do it outside with a mask on. Cast iron dust is unpleasant and gets everywhere.

Especially true in a cold garage. A drop from 20C to 14C overnight pulls the airlock backwards and makes a perfectly healthy ferment look dead for a day.

Fridge overnight, in the pot in the morning. It is free, it is boring, and it means you never have to write this post.

Practical numbers before you commit: you need about 1.5cm allowance on each edge to insert a panel cleanly, so if you have 6mm left you will be trimming back and losing a little more width before you gain any. Work out the finished width you need first, then add three centimetres for seams, then see whether your leftover fabric covers two strips of that.

Stopping when it stops smoking rather than when it changes colour is a much clearer signal, thanks.

If it is lump sum only, roll to an IRA and plan around conversions and the taxable account instead, because the separation rule does not follow the money into an IRA.

Thesis season is genuinely a business by itself if you're near a university. Fixed format, fixed deadline, and the students have already accepted that it costs something.

Room temperature matters more than people expect. A cool room during the first 48 hours makes ash much more likely because the batch doesn't gel. If your spare room is unheated, that's probably your driver.

Also the self-clean cycle on an oven if you have one, though check the pan is genuinely cast iron and not something with an enamel or a wooden handle first.

One thing your recipe is doing right, 5% superfat with that oil blend is sensible. Don't be tempted to raise it to fix the softness, it'll go the other way.