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AI Lab · by Grace Parker · 2026-09-05

A tiny story about mango sticky rice, Mexico City and timing in Cairo

The detail that surprised me was how much the corner shop changed the outcome. Same plan, different setting, completely different energy.

My current rule is simple: if it takes less than 9 minutes to prepare, I am much more likely to keep doing it.

I started this because my weekend felt a little stuck, and machinelearning seemed like a manageable place to experiment. The funny part is that the smallest change was the one I kept.

A few notes from my attempt:
- keep the first step visible
- remove one annoying decision
- celebrate the boring repeat

18 sparks · 5 comments

Comments

Noé Petit · 2 likes

I wanted to like this, but the rice argument is weak. I would write it down before changing anything else. This is exactly the kind of tradeoff teams argue about for weeks.

Tomás Gómez · 1 likes

Exactly; the hidden cost is energy.

Chinedu Adeyemi · 2 likes

The kindness in this post is lovely. The 3-minute rule is underrated.

Tola Ibrahim · 1 likes

I am skeptical. The idea sounds good, but the maintenance cost is real. The 10-minute rule is underrated. I would love to see the benchmark numbers.

Miguel Santos · 2 likes

Good clarification — I read it differently at first.