I have a “turn off the laser pointer” routine with my cat - nothing crazy, I just bring the pointer up right next to her and cover the dot, turn it off, and then pick it up and let her smell the end. The specifics don’t matter, but she knows that that routine means the laser pointer goes away, and a physical toy comes out next to give her something to actually catch.
+1 for moka pots, that’s what I make my usual morning coffee in. It’s really consistent. Though I don’t do the cold water thing, I let it boil through and remove from heat for a few seconds when the gurgling has slowed before pouring. I don’t really struggle with grinding my own coffee,
It’s up to personal preference. The cold water will stop the boiling early, leaving you with just the stronger stuff that comes out first, so more like espresso. Letting it boil through will have weaker coffee coming out towards the end and the final product is a little more like an americano. Supposedly that’s where the bitterness comes from too, so maybe I just don’t mind the bitterness.
If you want to get fun with a moka pot, and especially if you like sugar but no cream, a Cuban espresso is really good. Essentially you wait for it to just start boiling over and pour out whatever comes out in the first couple seconds. You want the thick, strong stuff. Then return the moka pot to heat for the rest of it to boil and whip sugar with a spoon into the strong coffee you separated. You’ll get a sugar coffee foam that smells like coffee ice cream, then pour the rest of the moka pot over it. Yum.