12 items (or 18)

I am Thomas, I am Tech Consultant based in South of France. I enjoy cooking and eating and looking at beautiful landscapes.

Here are my own answers to my 6 intro questions:

what are 3 sites or pieces of online content that you have seen recently and still have in mind?
what are 3 books you really like at the moment and would recommend to me in a heartbeat?
what are 3 podcasts you'd recommend listening to?
what are 3 music tracks you can't do without?
what are 3 everyday carry items you wouldn't go without or that is especially dear to you? (and why those specific ones ?)
could you share 3 recipes (their name and a brief description are ok) you can cook ? one that you'd cook to celebrate, one that is the epitome of comfort food for you, and one that is for you what madeleines were to Proust.

3 sites and pieces of content online:

https://leaddev.com/ a great source of food for thoughts for tech leaders
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/09/covid-may-have-pushed-a-leading-seasonal-flu-strain-to-extinction/ : one flu strain potentially gone due to covid
Valve New Employee Handbook: look for it on a good search engine, the first edition of 2012. It's a great little read with some Valve nuggets but also great leadership and management nuggets.

3 books I like and would recommend:

Tools of Titans, Tim Ferris: I'd not recommend everything in the book but there is plenty to pick, check out and adapt to your own life
Essentialism, Greg McKeown: A great one to read, and think about
Meditations, Marcus Aurelius: I have spent years ignoring recommendations, I recently started listening to an audio version of it. It's great, one chapter at a time.

3 podcasts I would recommend:

Tech Lead Journal by Henry Suryawirawan: it's a great listen for junior, senior and leaders in the tech industry
FT News briefing: short, early morning bites about what's happening. It's made by the Financial Times so it has its angle but I like it to get the gist of what's happening while showering
How I work by Amantha Imber: a very different thing; great to hear about ways to work, organise work, books and so on.

3 music tracks I can't do without:

3 every day carry items:

Kaweco AL Sport fountain pen: compact, built almost all in metal, less stylish than a Montblanc, way cheaper than a Montblanc and still great to write with even with my relatively big hands
Crumpler chronicler bag: just enough space for laptop, notebook, pens, charger, cables, phone. It's not too small nor too big, so I have to make choices and only take what I need.
Decathlon 20L MH500 hiking backpack: beats my Arcteryx backpacks by its practicality and conception on many points. A great day hike pack that I can also use to go to the gym without worrying it's too big.

3 recipes (1 to celebrate, 1 for comfort, and one that is to me what madeleines were to Proust) :

celebrate: bell peppers in a tomato, cumin, and red beans sauce with some additional veggies depending on what's around and at hand
comfort: ramen, with plenty of vegetables, a just cooked egg, and some gyoza
memory: soft boiled eggs with fresh, countryside loaf of bread; in the morning, although my memories of them come from evening meals with my parents