Geek In Da Kitchen

14/07/2024

NAIDOC 2024, this is my first post for a while and it's because of a lot of reasons but I will go in to these on Monday or Wednesday in another post :)

NAIDOC 2024 - I am lucky enough to work for one company that celebrates NAIDOC and encourages inclusion, in the town we live in Echuca/Moama indigenous meaning "meeting of the waters".

We celebrate and embrace the culture in this town and for that I am grateful of, every single day!

There is no room for racism, no room for hate, there is no room or no reason to disrespect a fellow human. Culture is something we celebrate here in Australia and for that I am extremely proud of that.

I was very lucky last week to meet a wonderful lady from at last weekend and honestly that was just amazing, she was friendly and approachable and happy to be there and that was great!

bottle, always was always will be - I love this design but I think the traditional black lid would have been better on this bottle than the lid they have chosen. Most know I am not the biggest fan of straw lids in general regardless of the make of the bottle.

25/05/2024

For many of us in the cycling community or bikes are our life, and we live for our bikes and one of the worse things that can happen is the bike being stolen and that’s just a fact of life.

has delivered all the style po It’s and thought points with this one and that’s a fact of life, using the Apple air tag and the Apple find my network, this item the Maco trace allows you to place a AirTag in it and allows your bike to be traced, protect that asset :)

Everything that Maco has done is well thought and executed with great innovation, Loke is amazing and has so much time of day.

I first met Loke two years ago at , but it was ://rushfaster.com.au that introduced me to the brand :)

21/05/2024

Been talking for a long while about and there's no Suprise they are innovating some of the best stuff around at the moment and live on is their latest campaign, with a Magsafe Phone Wallet that holds 4 cards this is unheard of in the community and an ID window, also unheard of, and that Sunrise Orange looks MINT as all hell!!

It's got multiple angles, with immense support and the sticky pad is a game changer to be honest.

Loke has done some amazing work once I have my hands on a final product, you'll get a full in-depth review of the product.

has been one of those cult classic brands from every day carry community, and this weekend you can catch the team at the in Melbourne and this will be an awesome experience for every one!

19/05/2024

So it's Monday the 20th of May 2024, and that means it's my Birthday every year I tend to make a post within the community and on this page.

Last year for my birthday people helped me celebrate my birthday and for those people, I am grateful for one of them is no longer with us and those memories will always pay a part in my mind to be honest with you, your memories and your legacy will always live on, Carolan you will never be forgotten and the memories from last year will always remain the fondest in my heart 💙

In the last year, I have grown my "GEEK IN DA KITCHEN" brand and social content and taking everything to the next level.

I have built some amazing networks with some amazing people across the country. - , .fong and so many more.

I have taken on a third job on the grounds of getting out from one of my other employers, I have refined my taste in fountain pens and started looking at different things in the world and the EDC community.

So this year, I am taking another lap around the sun!

I thank every one for your support and every thing!

18/05/2024

So I ride a Cannondale Quick 3 in Mercury, and this is the only mode of transport I have short of using local taxi's and they are bloody expensive as hell - We're very lucky to have an amazing new taxi company Bristol Cabs in town that are outstanding, and have been amazing support over the last few weeks however, there is only so much you can do at any given time.

The theft of the bike has put me in between a rock a hard place with being without a way to work and take on a larger work load this has been a tough last five or six weeks with a death of a family member it just seems like I can not catch a break where ever and which ever way I turn and that sucks massively to be honest .

08/05/2024

So we took a week off from Content Creation - virtually a week to be honest - times have been tough to be honest with everything going.

- Mental Health.
- Family Death.
- Employment Stuff
- Life.

In the words of Steve Forde "Life gets in the way of living" and he isn't wrong on that

So much goes on behind the scenes, and I just try to keep soldiering on and keep on keeping on the best I can with everything that goes on in my life.

Content creation doesn't pay my bills, my other jobs do - and that's where I need to shift the focus some times, cause some days just getting out of a bed every day is a struggle, I do what I can to survive

Through here I build networks and connections and there's so many of you I have check in with me and I try do what I can to keep every one happy.

30/04/2024

We've lost so many good souls to Su***de that I know personally and it sucks every time heaven gains a special angel, one that feels they were alone when in reality people where here.

Sadly humans can't read minds and that's a fact of life to be honest, mental health sucks, anxiety is a b*tch, depression is taxing, every thing is draining and life sucks and that's the truth.

One of our biggest concerns in life, is often Money and that cost of livin' crisis isn't getting any better the words of Ronnie Dunn "The cost of livin's high and goin' up" the song Cost of living is one of those bush ballads that resonates with the life at the moment.

Know when life gets in the way, that su***de isn't a solution, there's people here who have you and will be there for you, my DM's are open - what ever you need, my headspace is not the greatest currently but I am here for anyone.

Find out what helps you get through every day. Journalling? Fitness? Sport? Community, you need to find what works for you and take it by the horns and run with it.

Mental health matters and it's definitely not weak to speak!

28/04/2024

On Friday, I started my weekend on a high with a brand new pen - and some of the comments I got was this was stunning, and they aren't wrong.

Thanks to for bringing this amazing maker to my attention, , I scoped out the feed, and making a deal with him couldn't have happened at a worse time, during a death in the family and the week of the funeral but Steve being the legend he was patient and said there was no rush.

Consulted Mick from the The Offstage Me, on nib choices - Mick knowing what I like to write with and my preferred choices, I felt consulting Mick was the right direction for me to head, in the sense of it gave me the ability to get some feedback on what nib might work for me, with every thing.

I am going to break this down very quickly for you, but as I pick up more pens from there will be plenty more content from me, but there will be a full review first week of May on my page, the link is in the BIO.

If you know someone wanting a fountain pen as a gift, then you can't go past that pen bloke these pens are beautifully presented and are stunning to the eyes.

The Sunfyre is brighter than the sun with a natural sparkle and the hints of white breaks up the brighter than the sun orange's and red's throughout the pen. This has been paired with a JOWO #6 Fine Steel Nib. It's not as fine as other Fine nibs that I have that are steel nibs, but that's okay it's still buttery smooth to write with and we paired it with a Interational standard cartridge, Kaweco Pearl Black. Swipe to see a quick writing comparison.

This is a chunky pen and I quite like my chunky pens, always been a fan of a thicker pen.

This is my first from that pen bloke and won't be my last!

23/04/2024

No Suprise that there's another pen being promoted that has come from , I have really been digging the , the M200/M205 series of piston filled fountain pens have really been calling out to me of late.

This is the second one I have picked up in a matter of weeks. photos don't do this marble blue one any justice what so ever this is a truly gorgeous design, with a nice gift box and gorgeous presentation box.

Pelikan has been around for many years, and they are one of the brands that stands out in the crowds. The Piston Filling Mech means your restricted to bottled ink only, but that means the amount of inks you can put in the pen are damn near endless!

I have been digging the topaz ink in one of my other pens, and I could definitely see that ink being a daily writer for me and that's just a fact of life.

Pelikan comes in at good price point for fountain pens and there ink is well made and 4001 ink is a budget ink that is quite affordable as well!

22/04/2024

21/04/2024

Suited up and ready to pay our respects, this is definitely not how I thought it would be the next time I was wearing a suit!

Big shout out to Bendigo for ensuring that I was looking smart and kitted out, and a big shout out to @
platypus_sneakers for ensuring the dr martins were the right fit for me! Legends.

Carolan, you were loved and cherished by so many people and you made a impact with every one that came in contact with you, and that was shown by the turn out.

It was a heartfelt service and there was times there wasn't a dry eye in the service, Nelson spoke from the heart and you'd be so proud. We all remained strong.

We gave you the send off you deserved, I am sorry you thought your time was up and you thought this was your time.

Carolan you taught me so much and was more of a mother to me than my own mother and you took us boys in and for that I will always honor and respect that.

Rest In Peace.

18/04/2024

Carolan, today we lay you to rest and the words I type will never be enough to truly convey everything I want to get across, but I sat here today drawing and thinking about what this post was going to signify, and what I could say.

You took us boys in like we were you're own, you made the effort to ensure we were involved in Bridie's life growing up and for that I will be forever grateful and that's a fact of life.

You were their throughout milestones, you were the constant in our lives and the stability for most.

When s**t went down last year with me, you and Bridie and Daniel was there, for my 30th you guys made the effort to ensure I had the time of my life regardless, when no one else was willing.

The chat we had that morning was a absolute eye opener to how traumatic my child hood was, you said "we are family" I will always be here for you, sadly your not, heaven gained another angel, but you're always going to live on in spirit and memories will never be forgotten.

I will always be there for Brock and Bridie any time of day or night I am there, only a message or a phone call.

Carolan, all you had to do was ask for help and we would have been there with bells on day or night cause you generally don't get to choose your family, but you choose Shaun and I when you didn't have to, and for that I will always love you, during the tough times.

Heaven gained another angel loss to mental health but you may be gone but never forgotten.

16/04/2024

Every one's fountain pen journey is going to start some where to be honest, and I started with Lamy and there's nothing wrong with that, but the , Twsbi is known for their ECO range of fountain pens and are known for a extremely high quality pen at affordable prices, and that's no expectation with the Swipe.

The barrel of the pen reminds me of a espresso cup with the hexagon shape and that's definitely not a bad thing to be honest, we have the Salmon in the EF the extra fine nib is extremely move from the get go, it's inked up with the TWSBI black ink cartridge but this one also comes with a converter for bottled ink and bottled ink is a gateway drug pretty much for those of us in the fountain pen community and that's a fact of life.

It's a nice pen that comes in under $50.00 which I think is the sweet spot for most people with fountain pens, the fact that the Swipe allows me to use a Internation standard cartridge or a converter is a excellent selling point depending on my mood and what I need from my pen on the daily. This can be purchased from .

Over the next few weeks I will compare this to other pens in that price point!

15/04/2024

Almost over 12 hours late with this post, but I have said it would come today and I would aim to keep on schedule and when I said that I truly meant that!

sells a decent size range of
phone stand is minimalist and well made and looks the place on any desk!

I am keen to get my hands on more of the my paper clip stuff over the next few weeks!

Link in the BIO for the full video unboxing on review on my YouTube.

14/04/2024

I will try and keep on schedule with everything as best I can cause content has to be pushed but I can't make any promises.

Diverting from the current plans with the schedule and this is sadly not something I want to post.

I am almost sitting here in tears, and crafting this artwork on the wacom, was hard enough without having to post content.

I will try and keep the routine as much as possible especially on Instagram!

Penning this is going to be hard.

Heaven got a new angel, a soul left this earth too soon and held dearly to many of our hearts, and loved by so many, I wasn't your son, but you treated Shaun and me like sons, you loved us and we loved you, Carolan you were more of a mum to me than my own mum. You encouraged me with dreams and checked in on me, when s**t went down last year with my crap, you and Bridie and Danny was there for me, we dealt with it in true country fashion in the words of Steve Forde drinkin' things over.

I knew you were always a message away and I was always there for you and Bridie and I will continue to still be there for Bridie & Brock.

Carolan, you were a hard working unstoppable force that put up with no ones s**t, the real talks we had that morning after drinking about my child hood, made me ponder and look back on every thing, you opened my eyes to what really went on with me as a child. You led by example to those around you, and you always had the time for every one!

You taught Bridie an example of what she can strive to be, you taught every one something and you showed every one how to live.

Carolan you'll be truly missed.

We speak a LOT about Mental Health and I truly mean it, even if I don't know you my DM's are ALWAYS open, Su***de is every the option or the solution it leaves unanswered questions and sadness in every one 🤍

11/04/2024

Talking the top 10 pens wishlist / - nothing from Milligram made the list, ;'(, better luck next time

made the list a couple of times, as did , no shortage of pens on the list but did some of them shock you?

The full list is now live on my blog!

09/04/2024

/ has skipped no details on this pen, I picked up the Fountain Pen on Saturday from - Aida and the magnificent team always make the purchases hassle free! and that's never a bad thing, new pen day has been something very frequent.

I have never owned a Faber-Castell Pen, I was always encouraged to look in to them, but never actually pulled a trigger it was actually another pen store having a conversation with them about Faber-Castell and them mentioning the OpArt as a nice pen and something worth looking in to.

I headed to Book Binders Design Australia online store to have a look and see what took my fancy, I settled on a OpArt in white sands, and the detail on the nib to the detail on the cap finalized with the details on the actual nib it's self, makes you really understand what they mean by the term the finer things in life, and exactly what they mean :) and that's definitely not a bad thing.

I look forward to writing with more Faber-Castell Fountain Pens, this is smooth and the ink flows easily which is good.

08/04/2024

Mental Health matters, so most people would have noticed, Fridays Post was missing as well as todays 9am post, the schedule will be back on track coming Wednesday.

Honestly content creation can be overwhelming with everything else you've got going on in life, and that's just a matter of life, we can't always meet targets and deadlines and life gets in the way of livin'

Storys and other things and every posts every thing we do is generally scheduled we plan our content, sometimes it's up to four weeks in advance that we plan and schedule and map out content.

We are legit a one man operation, it's a passion game. Content Creation isn't going to make me rich and I know that, I have my fair share of haters across on TikTok, and that's got us reflecting how we use the platform and what content we share across on the TikTok platform as a general rule of thumb.

I love stationary and innovation, technology and cooking and these passions are what drives me to create content on my social media platforms - As Geek In Da Kitchen, that's what brings me to social media and allows me to create the content for you all!

Honestly I have had a lot of people reach out to me by DM's checking on me and I will say this I will slowly get back to you give me three or four days :)

02/04/2024

Been a lot of bike theft, every where lately especially in the local community of Echuca, and we've got to combat bike theft as best we can and that's just a fact of life.

I have tested so many different options for the bike theft combat, and at the end of the day, the Trace still sits as one of my favorites in a tie with the Knog Scout.

The trace has the InGenius design of doubling as a reflector and legally in the state of the Victoria all bikes must have a reflector so it's something that the thief will think should be there any way which is definitely not a bad thing.

The Trace has the ability to fit most round traditional seat posts - honestly that's a good thing so whether your riding a down hill bike, or your riding a cannondale urban commuter the Trace will allow you to find your fit, and it comes in black and white.

There's a article across on the blog, currently live link in bio, there's a video on tiktok and more content to come on the Maco Trace.

31/03/2024

Managed to get our hands on the Moto G04 in the Sunrise Orange, this is a budget phone sitting in the SUB $200.00 AUD price range.

It's not lacking in features, we've got NFC for contactless, we've got fast charging at 15 watts, a 3.5mm headphone jack, 5000mAh Battery which will get you through a whole day and then some! 16 Megapixel camera AI powered, bluetooth, dual sim and micro SD and a lot more under the hood.

3 impressive colors have dropped in retailers across Australia and you will find these in most decent retailers in Australia, it should be noted the retail variant does have a wall charger or a USB cable.

We've slowly started putting this through it's paces - over the last couple of days, we worked out it's a solid reliable first phone or upgrade from another low tier phone, it's not flagship.

In the Australian market this poses really good value with a color for every one.

Full review will be out on buy me a coffee by end of April, will make another post when it's live :)

30/03/2024

Geek In Da Kitchen would just like to take the time to wish every one a happy easter, and remind every one that chocolate is life so eat too much of it!

Get in to the stores on Monday and stock up on the easter mark downs, and gouge your self on more chocolate.

28/03/2024

had thier noughties era early on in their career a lot of the stuff they brough out back then wouldn't fly in today's PC world and that's a crying shame to be honest.

made some iconic stuff like these patch kits with raunchy sayings that were and still are iconic and much a play on words which is good for sure!

I love the newer Knog stuff and the older knog stuff from this era, I wish some of this stuff was still able to be made and sold by knog, I remember when one of the senior designers working for Knog came from .

This was more just a walk down memory lane - and thanks to for having old stock to be obtained.

26/03/2024

Stumbling and Fumbling, when it comes to stationary - I am dipping my toes more and more every day out side of my comfort zone when it comes to fountain pens and different things in my wheel house and there's no shortage of creativity unlocked at , - Honestly I have always love the ideas of experimenting with different inks and doing swatches and stuff, but never wanted to spend a fortune on dip pens.

- BookBinders is the only store that I know of in Melbourne that carries this in store :) I got the Orange Rumble swipe to see the swatch card we did of this one :)

I do have to shout out to Ada, Rue and the whole team for the wonderful service and putting up with my browsing and constant questions, Bookbinders Family 💙.

- these two dip pens are solid and feel nice in the hand, and they are under $15.00 each which is a good price considering some of the dearer dip pens you could be purchasing out there in the market.

24/03/2024

teamed up with for a pride card which was available in the app, with donations of $10 AUD or more to Minus18, Minus18 does amazing work supporting the LGBTQIA+ Community, that's great for those youth to be supported, they offer great education and advocacy, youth empowerment and more, so check out the website for Minus18.

Revolut App is my go to for online shopping allowing disposable cards to be used for the purchases from sites, and Revolut has given me a understanding the stock market and I have brought and traded stocks within Revolut, and I think all and all Revolut is a very well executed application that allows you to manage your money and curb the safety of online shopping with disposable cards and that's definitely not a bad thing to be honest with you.

It's easy to use revolut when they are backing great organizations like Minus18!!

*Please Note: This is not financial advice; all information should be carefully considered before signing up for a new service or investing in stocks.

24/03/2024

FPS - FREE POST SUNDAY.

When I got my hands on this one I knew I had to post the next day!
germany Apricot Pearl Sport, I have always been a fan of the sport series of Fountain Pens to be honest, because they are smart looking pocket pens combined with excellent value for money and come in a large range of nib sizes.

now has these in store and ready to go for the low price of $54.99, that's saving of $5 bucks off retail! All nib sizes are currently available.

Kaweco make some amazing pens, I love the sport for the sizes and the versality of the pen, in general, I am currently using a EF Nib in this Apricot Pearl.

The Apricot Pearl is a light apricot colour with a greenish shimmer too it that gives it that glittery pearl effect!

21/03/2024

- Any Day Now, the any day now campaign has started with Milligram which means Bourke Street, Chadstone & Melbourne Central stores are all in full swing and let's break down the range here for you!

Any Day Now Desk Pad, paired Swift, the A6 desk pad is the perfect size desk pad for writing those notes at the desk on the side of your desk.

Any Day Now Sketch books in A6 and A4, I pair these with a Pearl or Matte Pencil.

A5 Ruled Notebook paired with Al-star Petrol, and rollerball.

A5 dot grid notebook paired with the Ballon Rollerball.

The Any Day Now range has something for everything and the fountain pen friendly paper is definitely amazing to be honest, I love the Any Day Now, especially considering the bright colors as every one knows I love orange and Orange is life!

17/03/2024

So out with the old and in with the new, Apex is top tier when it comes to Bellroy's line up of wallets, I originally brought the Apex Note Sleeve from Bourke Street last year from Terry at the store there.

My biggest complaint about Apex Note Sleeve is it's too big in a lot of ways for my pockets and makes it awkward to carry a lot of the time and that generally means it ends up in Quick Access Pocket or getting switched out for a magsafe wallet.

When the day sale promotion hit armed with exceptional customer service of Jack, Chanel and Michael & very little convincing to be honest, I picked up the Apex Slim Sleeve.

I had been eyeing off the slim sleeve from Bellroy for many months and it was purely a time and a place thing, and sitting at the table I took the Apex Slim Sleeve, I will be taking the slim sleeve for a test drive over the next few weeks seeing how exactly the Apex Slim Sleeve works for me.

The Note Sleeve and the Slim Sleeve have non-apex versions as well.

14/03/2024

/ - DROPPED THE HEAT, bringing every one to the party is the Ark, Ruck and Link.

These drops from Alogic have placed them in a nice category for the company to be in, Sub 100, 200.

These are power hungry devices that are fully fledged and speck with every thing you need to do on a daily basis, I am not joking when I say there's a power bank for every one at this price point.

Ark is the dad of the family coming in a 27K, with 140 W power delivery, Ruck is the mother with 20K, 130 W power delivery and a built in alarm clock and the Link brings 10K, built in USB C cable and Magsafe Charging.

These power banks are available at , if in Melbourne Cam, Mya and Jordy at Bourke Street, have you covered!

Full Article with further information available on Buy Me A Coffee!

12/03/2024

So Australian, Melbourne Based company is no stranger to innovation and design and these Cable Clips go down in my top 10 EDC items of all time.

Loke is one of the most down to earth and innovative designers you will ever have the pleasure of meeting.

On the left we have a untied cable that you can just check in your suitcase or commuter bag, but that's messy and yucky, that's not a good for the longevity of the cable.

Maco's Cable Clips have a small silt which you can thread the cable through for maximum cable management, the cable management game is lit with the Maco Cable Clips.

Cable manager makes every thing neater and more perfect for chucking in those tech kits.

Maco even has some of the larger cable clips for bigger cables like your laptop charger.

These are available directly from or

10/03/2024

You guys would be getting sick of my writing about this pen, but the Sailor Profit Junior Fountain Pen, that I picked up from for $64.95 with a converter and an ink bottle is really good value.

The Medium Fine Nib is a good thing, especially from someone coming from exclusively writing with EF's and F nibs in most fountain pens.

The Sailor Fountain Pen in the Profit Junior pen is excellent this is one of most popular fountain pens in my line up right now.

This pen is the gateway drug for me in to Sailor, it's got me wanting to look at the higher end of the Sailor pens! 😀