Grindstone

Had a long but unfulfilling day. Hot as short-circuited powerpoint, deadly as garlic, empty as clouds. A day totally not worth mentioning. The previous couple of days were better, albeit spent at home. Finished a jigsaw from two years before, and organised my notes: threw the irrelevant, filed the useful, stashed away the ambiguous. Breathed in some five-year-old dust, came across some corny mushy cheerful journals, and recollected some almost-forgotten footages.

There are many blenders around, but personally, none works as well as the ah-ma poundstone. Blending involves cuts to diminish food particle size, while pounding makes use of 'mechanical injury' to pressurize and mash up the food, so that either juice or flossy fibres result. The resulting particles are finer. An alternative method of using the stone is to employ a grinding motion, like the grindmill or coffee powder maker.

The hammer can be used as a force magnifier. To break up a piece of rock sugar, especially a small one, it can be difficult. But with a chisel (a knife) and using the hammer to knock a few light blows, the sugar comes off easily from the big block, at the point desired, ignoring the fractures that carry and spread through. It's a good invention.