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Is there anything you've ever wanted to ask a law firm partner?

We'll be filming a couple of YouTube videos with a special guest this weekend, so if you have any questions please let us know by replying directly to this email!

All questions will be anonymised.

Strong opinions, loosely held 🧈

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Greetings, friends -

We change our minds a lot.

Here's a quick example: from the 1950s onward, margarine was touted as being a healthier alternative to butter. A growing body of scientific opinion found that saturated fats (like those found in butter) led to heart disease and other serious health issues.

Growing up, I (Lloyd) remember everyone around me talking about how butter was "going to kill you" and that margarine was the "healthy version" of butter.

However, just 40 years later in the 1990s, research began showing that trans fats (like those found in margarine) were, in fact, heavily linked to higher instances of heart disease. In 2006, the FDA began to crack down on trans fats, which were used to create solid margarine, and the opinion towards margarine began to shift.

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The takeaway here? While we can hold incredibly strong beliefs on certain topics, it's important to recognize that those beliefs could be wrong.

I've personally reminded myself of this plenty of times - and for me, it's almost always been in the context of nutrition. I firmly believe whatever diet I happen to be on is the best for me at any given time (through research and rigorous trial and error on myself) - and I've done high fat diets, low fat diets, high protein diets, and everything in between... but I also try to remember to keep an open mind to new information as much as possible, and to be aware that what the "best" diet for me is at any given time will change based on my personal circumstances at that time.

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The concept of "strong opinions, loosely held" suggests that we should believe strongly in the things we do, while keeping an open mind towards contrasting opinions (particularly in the face of new evidence).

While it might seem contradictory to have a strong opinion "loosely held", I think this just means we should research, consider, and believe in our opinions, while also being open to the idea that they can change if we are presented with new and better information, or if circumstances around us change.

It's important to believe in things strongly enough to live a life with purpose, but similarly important to have the maturity and awareness to recognize when our beliefs may be outdated or, in some cases, incorrect.

Tomato and egg 🍅

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This week, we're sharing a comment from one of our recent videos on what we eat!

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I've been experimenting a lot more with Chinese cooking at home over the last few years. After I moved out from my parents' place many years ago, I started to miss a lot of the dishes I grew up with - and I figured that the best solution was just to learn how to cook them at home.

Tomato and egg was one dish that I messed up a lot when I first started cooking. For some reason, I couldn't get the egg texture exactly the way my mom makes it (it's meant to be light, pillowy, and able to soak up the tomato sauce).

I realized after watching my mom make tomato and egg one summer that she cooked the eggs completely differently from how I did. I had learned how to cook eggs from Gordon Ramsay on YouTube, and was doing a French style soft scramble in my Chinese tomato and egg. My mom, on the other hand, was using very high heat to puff up the eggs, and even put a bit of color on their exterior. My mind was blown.

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Since then, when cooking most Asian dishes containing eggs, I've tried using higher heat to get that pillowy texture, and it's worked wonders. If you, like this commenter, are having difficulty recreating some of your favorite Asian egg dishes, give this a try!

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PS: It's worth mentioning that there are SO many ways of cooking tomato and egg, and it varies from region to region within China. For example, some regions like to add sugar, and some like to add the egg uncooked into the tomato sauce for a more broken apart egg. The way I cook it here is how my mom made it for me growing up, which is why I think it's the best way (definitely biased lmao).

Something Cool - CarJitsu 🚗

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Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) has become quite a popular sport in recent years, in large part due to the popularity of mixed martial arts.

There are many styles of BJJ outside of the traditional practice. For instance, in "no-gi" BJJ, practitioners opt to wear only a rash guard and shorts instead of the traditional gi.

Enter CarJitsu - a derivative of BJJ which (you guessed it) takes place in an actual car, where every element of the car (e.g. the steering wheel, handles, seat belts) can be used in sparring.

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No-gi fighters argue that training without the sleeves and lapels on a traditional gi makes for more realistic sparring and combat training, and is more useful if the user finds themselves in an actual self defense scenario.

But what about if one finds themselves in a situation where they need to defend themselves in a confined space, like in a car? That's where CarJitsu comes in.

But all of that practicality aside, it's sure as hell entertaining to watch.

Check out some CarJitsu fights here.

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