(Part 2) Best products from r/LosAngeles

Not OP but I'll chime in.

From left-to-right:

• I'm not sure what those red/white lightbulb things are.
  
  
• Those foil blankets aren't good for much. You're also in LA so threat of hypothermia is not as pressing a problem as other dangers. The other uses a space blanket can be put to can be done with smaller, lighter things.
  
  
• Hand warmers? Why? Again, we're in LA. Granted it gets cool here sometimes but these are not really going to help you much.
  
  
• Matches are good, provided they're strike anywhere matches. Having tinder (looks like cotton balls) is also good. Those cases tend to be a little iffy, from what I've seen.
  
  
• Glow sticks aren't bad but they're generally not good to rely on. It's difficult to ensure they haven't been cracked before you get them. They also don't put out a lot of light. Not a bad addition but not particularly useful.
  
  
• Emergency drinking water packets are ok but it would be far more useful to have some sort of water purification system (survival straw, chlorine tablets, etc) and, if this is for surviving inside, get something like a bath tub water storage system. Packaged water is heavy and that's maybe a day or two's worth of water.
  
  
• Small flashlights are good. Four of them...less so. Especially if you haven't tested them. Cheap is not necessarily good. Batteries are also good.
  
  
• Medical kit looks like it has a lot of extra stuff in it and is missing some of the more important things like bandage scissors, medical tape, lots of gauze, antibacterial gel, ibuprofin, anti-diarrhea tablets, rehydration salts, etc.
  
  
• Radio is a decent choice. I'd definitely test it out periodically, I'm not 100% confident in mass produced Radio Shack branded merch.
  
  
• Dust mask is ok but they're bulky unless you smash them down and if you do that, they don't work. Better to have a length of very fine mesh cloth that you can then soak and wrap around your face or else an actual respirator with filters.
  
  
• The bag looks a little flimsy and like it would be difficult/uncomfortable to carry. If this is for staying home a solid, air/water tight container would be better. If this is for getting out, you want something that will be more comfortable and easier to carry on your back.
  
  Overall, it's definitely better than nothing and better than what most people have.
  
  When you're building an emergency kit, you have to decide a couple of things.
  
  What is this for? Are you trying to survive in your own home? On the road? Something to make your stay in a hotel/shelter more comfortable?
  
  What you're preparing to do will inform what you pack and how. If you're preparing to hunker down in your own home, you can have more supplies and focus less on keeping things light and portable.
  
  Who is this for? Are you trying to keep yourself safe? Family? Friends? Supplies for one twenty-something are going to be different than supplies for a family with two kids under ten. Consider the needs of everybody you expect to be with you. That means talking to the other people and asking what they might need and listening to them.
  
  Where are you? Consider the terrain and climate that you're going to have to be in. Is it cold? Wet? Hot? Dry? A good way to measure this is ask yourself what you'd need to be outside at an all-day event. Pack with that in mind. Because this is /r/LosAngeles, heat is going to be a big factor so think rehydration salts, sunscreen, and burn gel.
  
  How far away is help? Most people either radically over or under prepare for problems. My general rule of thumb is to assume that help is either one hour away, one week away, or never coming.
  
  If it's bad, EMS and some form of help is probably going to be accessible within the hour, either by you going out and seeking out help or help coming to you. If it's really terrible, meaningful help is probably going to take about a week to reach you. If it's truly massive in scale, help won't be coming.
  
  The majority of the time, help is going to be about an hour away. Planning for a week or two away is usually the most prudent balance between spending tens of thousands of dollars on preparing (which some people do) and doing nothing.
  
  ---
  
  It's prudent to have several "caches" of supplies; one for "I'm staying in my home (bugging in, more on this in a minute)" and one for "I am leaving my home (bugging out)." You can (and maybe should) have extra supplies in your car such that if you get caught out somewhere, you're not completely stripped of everything helpful.
  
  There is an entire community built up around working out kits and supplies for "bugging in/out" (search these terms and you'll get a pile of results) and there are large lists of guides and supplies for every occasion and type of event.
  
  A word of caution, it's really easy to go down the fear/paranoia rabbit hole of "I might need this, so I may as well buy it" and end up spending thousands of dollars. Don't do this. A basic kit is not radically expensive and the money you invest in your "I am ready for fucking anything!" kit is better spent on something else. There is a huge market out there for "prepper/survival" products and 80% of it is fucking garbage. Read reviews, ask questions, and test stuff out yourself.
  
  A good education is indispensable. There are many, many disaster survival guides out there, some of better quality than others. Best thing to do is to skim as many as you can and get a good sense for the range. Some stuff will immediately jump out as BS (you don't need to learn how to make improvised explosives and booby traps).
  
  If you're really fucking lazy, watch something like Survivorman; Les Stroud is a great teacher without the sensationalist bullshit and he has several episodes devoted specifically to surviving in your home during/after a natural disaster. Avoid Bear Grylls. I don't question the guy's toughness but he probably one of the more over-the-top "survival show" hosts out there, most of his stuff is for entertainment.
  
  Take CPR/First Aid training courses and repeat them regularly. The Red Cross gives classes regularly and while the actual certification costs money, instructors are usually happy to let you "audit" for free. Local fire departments also usually provide similar classes.
  
  Oh and buy a can opener. Like a real can opener. You will thank yourself.
  
  Special Note: If your first question is "What kind of gun do I need!?" you're doing it wrong. This has been argued ad nauseum on infinite message boards but it usually boils down to "What if someone tries to take your stuff?" Without wanting to get into the argument again, a firearm is generally impractical if you're leaving your home. If you just have to have the boom boom, get one for your "I'm staying home" supplies and practice with it. Don't just shove it in a box and leave it, you'll probably blow your own stupid face off if the time to use it ever comes.
  
  

Aight girl-

Foreign Cuisine-
How to Eataly - Oscar Farinetti - We made the most AMAZING brisket meatballs and a super simple yet completely delicious red sauce out of this book
Around My French Table - Dorie Greenspan - Where the Cornish hens and gougeres came from.
Real Korean Cooking - Maangchi - Korean Fried Chicken. We've made them twice now because they're so good and can't wait to do more.
Mexican Everyday - Rick Bayless - Learned how to make perfect guac from this book and so far we've made these v tasty chorizo/mushroom/potato tacos. The recipe is SO cheap and SO voluminous that we had it as a taco filling, a quesadilla filling, and we're making a hash with it for brunch this morning.
Every Grain of Rice - Fuchsia Dunlop - We haven't tried anything out of here yet but there are sooooo many good-looking recipes in here.
Entice with Spice - Shubhra Ramineni - Likewise, haven't made anything out of here yet but looking forward to trying it all out soon.
Jack's Wife Freda - Dean & Maya Jankelowitz - This is actually a book from a restaurant that my fiance and I LOVED when we last visited NYC. It's got a lot of fusion recipes. Mediterranean/Israeli/South African/etc. Really unique flavors and also v comfort-food based. We're making rosewater waffles out of this book tomorrow!


Baking-
Rose's Baking Basics - Rose Levy Barenbaum - This book is incredible. She has tons and tons of step-by-step photos which is SUPER helpful. We made the dark chocolate caramel tart out of this book, but pretty much everything in here looks amazing.
Modern Baking - Donna Hay - I mean... There is some INSANELY decadent looking stuff in here. We haven't tried any of these recipes yet but I can't wait to!


Misc-
Cook Like a Pro - Ina Garten - It was really hard to pick just one Ina book but I liked most of the recipes in this one. She has this ridic recipe for a dijon mustard chicken that is INCREDIBLE. Also, this bitch knows how to cook some veggies. Big fan of this one.
The Food Lab - /u/j_kenji_lopez-alt - I just love this guy, tbh. We've made a really fantastic beef tenderloin out of this book and an incredible red wine sauce to go with it and of course, his famous roasted potatoes which are now my holy grail recipe for roasted potatoes. This book is like a science textbook only instead of boring stuff it's FOOD science, which is my favorite kind.


Those were all the ones we purchased ourselves (though technically Eataly was a gift BUT we love it and plan to use it often.) We have other cookbooks in our stable that we've received as gifts, which is what resulted in my fiance and I deciding we wanted to embark on this journey. We kept being given cookbooks and never doing anything with them. But man, do people love it when you send them pics of stuff you cooked out of a book they gave you. If people give you cookbooks, use them!! It will make their day to see it's being used. Here's what else is on our cookbook shelf-


The Forest Feast Gatherings - Erin Gleeson - This is a vegetarian book my fiance's mom gave us a few years ago for Christmas. We have a bunch of veggie friends (and friends with a lot of different allergies) so we turn to this book to have a few things that are edible by all of them when we have them over, as we often do. This book has a really delicious salad that has pomegranate seeds, pear, and hazelnut that is out of this world good. I also got my HG salad dressing from this book.
The Salad Bowl - Nicola Graimes - Another gift from my fiance's mom. Is she trying to tell us something?? Honestly haven't looked much into this book yet but it sure is pretty.
The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook - Dinah Bucholz - This was a gift from the assistant in my office. Everyone in my office knows me as the Harry Potter girl because I have a lightning bolt tattoo, haha. We haven't made anything out of this yet, but we probably will have some sort of epic feast with recipes from this book when GoT starts back up later this year.
Talk About Good - Louisiana Lafayette Junior League - My boss gave this to my fiance and I as part of an engagement gift. My fiance went to school in New Orleans. It's primarily New Orleansian/Cajun food. Haven't made anything out of it yet, but we are looking forward to it.

And that's what's on our cookbook shelf for now.

edit also omg thanks for the gold!! <3

• The Griffith Observatory / Griffith Park check their website to see if there are any public lectures or star parties while you're here. I particularly like the "All Space Considered" talks and Star Parties (the LA Astronomy Society bring their telescopes and let anyone who'd like to look through them) The Observatory is a beautiful place & you should take time to watch a show at the planetarium and enjoy the sunset. You can also throw in a hike to the Hollywood sign while you're up there, or enjoy any of Griffith's many hiking trails. Weekdays will be less crowded.
  
• Drive up the 101 to El Matador beach or Leo Carrillo State Park. It will allow you to see Malibu, take an awesome trip up the Pacific Coast Highway, and enjoy how beautiful it is outside the city. Bring paddle ball or a football or a good book and a sweatshirt. Explore tidepools, climb around in the sea caves.
  
• If you're a hiker, check out this book or at least preview it on amazon and note some of the hikes/trails. It's a great way to see LA, have beautiful views, and momentarily escape traffic.
  
• Abbot Kinney, Santa Monica Pier, and old Santa Monica are all lovely. Venice's boardwalk is fun people watching.
  
• Hit up a farmer's market. The Hollywood farmer's market is on Sunday Morning. You can get great food (sweet jesus... the tamales! the korean! the cuban bbq!), sample local produce, and do some Hollywood touring while you're at it. Amoeba and the Arclight will be right across the street. (Amoeba has free in-store shows most weeknights, check to see if a band you like is playing; if an action movie is playing go see it on the Arclight Dome)
  
• Eat at Pollo La Brasa on 8th & Western. It will look sketchy. It will be the best chicken you've ever had in your life. Get plenty of the aji sauce.
  
• check for bands you like at The Wiltern, The Echo, The Echoplex, The Satellite (formerly Spaceland), The Troubador. Take in Flamenco at El Cid. Get an awesome drink at Tiki Ti's or Good Luck Bar. Catch a show at Upright Citizen's Brigade.
  
• I totally agree with the downtown artwalk suggestion. It's a really rad way to see that part of town. But as for the Galleria & Americana - do you have malls in Alabama? Do you like to go to them? Why spend your vacation at mass chain retail stores? Unless they offer something you can't get at home (H&M, perhaps?) skip them.
  
• Stroll around Los Feliz/Silverlake. Lots of rad boutiques, shops w/personality. Good eating spots: Lucifer's pizza (best pizza in LA, IMO), Flore, the Gelato place, spice station, Home, the Alcove, Figueroa, the pulled pork at Local is out of this world.

Some, but since a lot of them were in the same places, I may as well make the recommendations directly.

I recommend the work of Laura Pazzagila whole heartedly. Her site, videos and book (plus other social media) provides super useful information for all levels of experience with electronic pressure cooking. Highly recommended.

Lifehacker has a good deal of recipes and tips. I've recently tried the recent bread pudding recipe and am quite fond of it.

If you're looking for cookbooks proper, there's two that are the most popular: Laura Randolph's first Instatnt Pot book and Janet Zimmerman's book. I recommend the former for the newbie but both are pretty good. BTW, Zimmerman has a good dutch oven book I'd recommend as well.

Sometimes I just rub coconut oil on my dry body parts that can handle the grease, like my feet and hands, when they are super dry.
It's not as good as other creams, but it's an easy thing to do that helps when I'm cooking (when my hands get extra dry, from all the extra hand washing).

This thread reminded me to moisturize my hands before they crack, to which I am grateful. The best stuff I have right now is a some cheap, but effective stuff my friend bought me some when we camped in Arizona last winter and the hand dryness situation became critical.
I'll keep an eye out for some Handshit. It seems it's mostly unavailable online presently. I'd also love to smell some before I buy it, ideally.* Are there any stores that carry it, or do I need to start asking my friends if they have any I can smell?

*Yeah, I know I'm weird. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
There are a lot of smells I don't like on my hands; I'm very picky when it comes to scented hand soaps and lotions.

This lens or this lens are great all-round and good in lowlight. Half of my album is with an equivalent lens like this.

If you're into ultra-wides (the other half of the album is an ultra-wide), then this lens is great, and this lens is even better but more expensive.

Those two focal lengths have carried me for the past 4 years without me ever feeling the need to get anything else. That being said, this lens I think is a must have for all Canon users. At just over $100, it will deliver great results in lowlight. Honestly it might be the best bang for buck lens in all of photography. And because it's so cheap, plus you're getting the camera free, I might even recommend getting all three, if that's in the budget.

If you want to be a little more conservative, here's what I would do: Get one of the first two I linked, shoot and play around with that for a while, and see what you find you need next. Do you want something a little more zoomed in for shallow depth of field and delicious bokeh? Get the 50mm. Do you crave getting some sweet wide shots? Get one of the ultra-wides. Let your needs decide what your second lens is, because it's a very personal choice and no one can know what you want to shoot until you try it out for yourself.

Software: Adobe Lightroom is all I use really, and it's all you need. It's designed as an all-in-one management, editing, and publishing platform.

Good luck!

Honestly, I embarrassed to even say. It was just a POS combo lock from Amazon. I'm never away from my bike for more than 15-20 minutes, so I thought it'd be fine. Guess not!

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B3T3JW5/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1