Secular Confessions

[3andMe]

My sister's ex-boyfriend's dad had a wine basement, although it wasn't really a basement, just a climate-controlled separate room near the pool. We actually drank a lot of the wine from it at my sister's college graduation. The boyfriend would open a bottle, mention that it was really expensive and older than we were and it was going to reach peak drinkability in another two years, and then add that his dad was going to kill him. Then he'd open another bottle. Not the most responsible guy. Anyway, over the long term, a climate-controlled room is probably not too much more expensive than keeping your house cool all the time.

I should add that I keep my house warm all the time, though. I'm always cold.

And I like to have quiet during the day. No tvs on. I rarely even play music. I have to remind myself to do it for the children.

I understand what heaven it is to have a perfectly served meal that is absolutely delicious.

[Gwenn]

Me to DH: I'm feeling really emotional and crazy hormonal, which either means that I am or am not pregnant.

Oh, and I just unsubscribed from my cousin's posts on facebook - the one who is 10 years younger than I am, married the same summer I was, and due to be induced with her third child tomorrow morning just as I am due to POAS. Really don't think I can handle a negative test and then listen to updates about her labor. I must not be a very nice person.

[AmeriBrit]

Mandy, that's totally understandable. I'd do the same in your position. Good luck with POAS tomorrow!

Katy, that meal sounds divine! I am jealous of your husband's job; I wish my DH worked with wine! He used to work in merchandising, so we got lots of samples sent home, but now he just works on making systems, so no more cool stuff sent home for us!

On the whole eating meat thing, I'd kill my own animals and eat them if I had to! I love meat. And I grew up around farms so was never under the illusion that things were too cute to eat. My sister and I used to help my papaw pluck the feathers out of the chickens he'd just killed. LOL. I have a cute picture of me and my sister smiling really big surrounded by a big mess of feathers!!!

MTA: (Couldn't resist sharing this one! LOL)

[MashedUp]

I love meat, but I just can't bring myself to eat something that I was petting while it was alive. In fact, I don't even really eat more than a bite or two of any fish we catch for the same reason, and I love fish! I think because they are small, so it's actually the entire fish on your plate (minus the head usually) vs a filet or something. I think if we ever went deep sea fishing, I could probably eat what we caught, but I'm not sure. DH hunts, mostly for birds, but he knows to only bring home the meat part and do all the dirty work elsewhere, or else I won't eat them. And we often get venison or moose meat from my dad and I have no problem with that.


Mandy, fingers crossed for you !!!

[Bridget]

I love that picture. Love it.
I would certainly kill my own animals and eat them as well. Or at least feed them to my family. I'd sooner do that than buy it at the local grocery store.

Katy, that meal sounds lovely and I don't think you sound one bit like an idiot.

I don't even play the radio in my car anymore. Silence is golden. Like these rare few minutes in the morning when I am the only one awake. I feel giddy with aloneness

[missychrissy]

Katy, dinner sounds heavenly I want whatever you had for dessert!

Mandy, no way are you anywhere close to being a bad person

If I absolutely had to, I could kill something to eat it, but I'm afraid I'd be too weak from starvation to actually succeed if it got to that point. Thankfully I'm related to a bunch of rednecks so we're only going hungry if everyone else has already killed/ate all the available meat.

I'm an emotional wreck myself and I don't have hormones to blame.

[Suja]

We just had dinner at Uchiko, whose executive chef just won Top Chef. It was one of the best meals ever, and such a pleasant experience with good friendly unobtrusive service, excellent food, good wine and one of the most imaginative and delicious desserts I have ever had. Almost made me cry it was so good. That was our second time there and it just gets better. I love good food so much.

Oh man, that sounds awesome. I'm a big Top Chef fan, and Paul is definitely an extremely talented chef (my pick to win from early on). We were planning to go to dinner with friends at Graffiato, run by the guy who came in second on Top Chef All Stars. Did not work out, but we'll go at some other point. I also want to go to Morimoto. The kid has to be a tad bit older for that.

Mandy, you are nowhere close to being a bad person. I'm pretty sure I'd have done the same thing in your shoes. FWIW, I used to get asked by my FB friends/family all the time why I wasn't putting more of Mira's pictures online. I had a friend who was STC, and I was trying to be sensitive to her needs. She had mentioned privately that it's hurtful to her to see all the posts from her friends and colleagues who were similar to her in age and such, but not having the same troubles, and thoughtless comments from people that didn't know that she was STC. Good luck today!

[demigraf]

Oh, and I just unsubscribed from my cousin's posts on facebook - the one who is 10 years younger than I am, married the same summer I was, and due to be induced with her third child tomorrow morning just as I am due to POAS. Really don't think I can handle a negative test and then listen to updates about her labor. I must not be a very nice person.

Totally understandable. Good luck, Mandy.

[daylilies]

Katy, that meal sounds like the kind of thing I live for I can go both ways with food too--I love simple American fare like burgers or tacos or a giant plate of nachos but I also love lovely, creative meals.

We're trying to get Bo to leave the cats alone. I called a trainer who came yesterday and she uses the collar I talked about. If Bo gets too close to the cat I beep the collar and if he does it again I press the button that sprays him. She only had to spray him a couple times-something about that beep freaks him out and he gets away from the cat fast. Sometimes I think he had previous training with his first owners.

[Cosmosmom]

Mandy, you aren't a bad person at all! I have felt the exact same way. In fact I really suck because I came up with reasons to not see my bff's new baby...I only live 90 minutes away. I'm finally going to meet her this weekend and the baby is 15 months old. I wasn't ready until we had officially decided our route and were done with everything and waiting...but than I got the puppy and didn't want to leave her for that length of time and than it was winter and our weekends never matched up.

Kate, what are you thinking of using the collar for? I admit that I broke down and bought a remote that emits an ultrasonic sound. Cosmo was just barking too much and wouldn't stop even with numerous warnings. I felt bad because both dogs got the sound but it didn't seem to phase Poogie. But it did stop Cosmo in her tracks. After a few times, she sees the remote and usually stops with the warnings. I had a different one that made a sound in response to barking...but it also sounded if we yelled or made a loud noise so I returned that one. I like that I am in control of the remote and use it only as very much needed and only after warnings.
I also never thought that I would use a shock system either....but since a traditional fence isn't an option, I have been very happy with the electronic one. Poogie learned it quickly and we did gentle training so the static wasn't much at all at first until she learned the boundries. Now it's great that she gets to run around the yard....she loves it, she knows where she can't go and backs up with a beep and I'm not worried that she will run away after an animal or get hit by a car (we are always out when she's out).

Wow, I'm surprised at how many of you would kill an animal if you had to! I think that I would starve but I have lot of reserves to last a while before I would starve. I can't even stand the thought of killing the gophers that are messing up my yard and leaving their mounds and they are rodents. I keep hoping some birds will catch them instead. But I also didn't grow up with hunters and farmers. I have an uncle who hunted but that was it and we didn't see him that much growing up. My daddy is a technology guy....he's all about music and computers and that kind of stuff.
Course that also probably explains why my girls aren't just dogs or animals to us but full on family members and not on the level of a human baby of course but definitely our babies and not just pets.

[Cosmosmom]

I would love to try a fancy meal like that sometime. I have never had anything fancier than a $30 steak dinner.

Kate if the collar works, I would be ok using it. Especially if just the beep is usually enough. Eventually he should be able to learn that you mean it when you verbally tell him to leave the cats alone.

[Gwenn]

I did POAS this morning - which was drama in itself. I called DH yesterday from work to ask if we had any tests, and he said we did. So this morning I peed in a cup (TMI - I prefer that so I don't have to worry about peeing in the wrong direction!) and went to get out the test and found out it wasn't a test, it was a freebie ovulation test that came with the pg tests. We had no pg tests. So I made DH go buy one (kicking and screaming) and he ended up going to two stores and then buying them at Walgreens and paying about $5 more than he would have at Target. Anyway, I took the test and I think I see an extremely faint line. DH says I'm crazy and there's no line. Might be an evap line.

I am SO ticked the doctor won't do a blood test unless I get a positive. I really don't know if this is positive or not and I really don't want to call and tell the office manager I can't tell what the test says.

That said - by this time last cycle, I had AF already. And I'm still feeling nauseous, but that's probably from all the drama. DH is acting like I'm crazy and obsessed.

[Bridget]

You are so not crazy and obsessed. Everything you are feeling is what I imagine I'd be feeling in your place. I have so much excitement and hope inside me for you right now.

[Cosmosmom]

Ugg mandy! Can you call and tell them you saw a line because you do think you saw one????? Or maybe call your regular doc and ask them to send in a lab request? Did you take any pictures?

[girlwonder]

Hugs, Mandy. You are not crazy or obsessed. this is important to you and so you are feeling FEEELINGS. Jeez, I wish people could just relax about feeling feelings!

[Gwenn]

Here's a pic. I admit to editing the photo to heighten contrast - it wasn't that clear before I edited it.

[girlwonder]

okay, here's what we had for dinner:

Hama chili: yellowtail sashimi, sliced thai chile, orange supremes (my husband pronounced this "Bad ASS!"

Madai: Japanese bream, shiso, meyer lemon zest, olive oil (our first serving - delicate flavors, tender and yummy)

Hamachi: Japanese yellowtail, pickled green apple, jalapeno (a little freebie from friend who works there and we learned to flip the sushi so that all the flavor goes on your tongue instead of the roof of your mouth when you take your first bite!)

Hot rock: sear it yourself wagyu beef, japanese river rock (toss a thin slice of raw beef on hot rock and watch it sizzle!)

Brussels Sprouts: Crispy Brussels Sprouts, lemon, chili

Sakana Mushi: Steamed seasonal white fish parcel, galangal, kaffir lime, honshimeji, tomato (I called this one bad ass - so yummy)

Cobia crudo: black kingfish, thai pickles, lime juice, garlic


Wagyu Shortrib: Smoked grape, almond, chive blossoms (sous-vide for 72 hours, so the texture of the meat was tender to the point of dissolving. It was a bit rich for me, but my husband almost started crying at how amazing it was)


My husband tried the marrow sashimi, but I just couldn't stomach it. He said it was very intensely flavored chewy gummy. He said I would have hated it. He seemed to like it okay.

P-38 roll: japanese yellowtail, avocado, yuzu kosho, grilled negi, cilantro

Ham & eggs roll: katsu pork belly, yolk custard, espelette (This yolk custard was outstanding - the roll was a bit too fatty for my taste, but still good)

I started dinner with a cocktail of cava, smoked tarragon, and some kind of sake. Yummy. Then to have with dinner we got a bottle of Albarino - good acidity and minerality and it went pretty well with the more delicate tastes and spices. A red would have been too much. We considered a rose but what we got was perfect.

They gave us a palate cleanser: lemon thyme sorbet, olive oil pate de fruit, compressed cucumber, black pepper crumble

Then on to dessert! My dh got the Tobacco Cream (three white "logs" of tobacco flavored cream( chocolate sorbet quenelles, maple budino (Italian pudding), huckleberry reduction and scotch sauce and crunch candied pecans. Alone, the elements were a bit "off", but when eaten together they were marvelous. The tobacco cream definitely had a tobacco taste, but it wasn't overwhelming and added a lovely deep and smoky savory note that went well with the maple and chocolate flavors. The huckleberry reduction was a bright top-note, as was the purple crackly sheet of huckleberry tuile laid over top. Just marvelous.


This is where I almost cried from how deliciously wonderful everything was: I got fried milk, which doesn't sound like much but it was so imaginative and fun, woven with so many flavors and textures and temperatures. There was fried condensed milk )squares of frozen sweet milk rolled in crunchy bits and battered then fried so the milk melted contained within so that we had the pleasure of crushing the square and seeing all the milk ooze out. There was a square of cool chocolate milk pudding - very stiff, good milk chocolate flavor. Light and fluffy quenelles of iced milk sherbet on top. Chocolate tuilles ( just thin sheets of dark chocolate for a flavor and texture contrast). All on a bed of crunchy sweet "dirt" - crumbly crunchy bits sort of like crumbled cookies but with the chunky texture of a fine granola. I could eat that for the rest of my life.
tumblr_lpa9qx9laJ1ql7ijdo1_500.jpg

Thanks for indulging me my trip down memory lane.

[girlwonder]

Here's a pic. I admit to editing the photo to heighten contrast - it wasn't that clear before I edited it.

I'm seeing a faint line, but I'm not an expert. keeping fingers crossed.

[Smplyme89]

Crazy work computer, won't let me view the pic

[Gwenn]

Katy, that sounds like such a wonderful dining experience! I'm glad you had such a good time.

[MashedUp]

omg, my mouth is watering! That all sounds so good!

Mandy, I'm pretty sure I see a line!

[Cosmosmom]

Mandy I see a LINE!!!!!!!!

[Gwenn]

Are you sure it isn't an evap line? You can only see it with the sun behind you.

[Bridget]

I see it! I see it! I see it.

[missychrissy]

That's a faint line Mandy. Call them!

[Cosmosmom]

Umm, I don't think that I would have eaten anything but the brussel sprouts and Katy's desert. I don't even know what most of that stuff listed was!

And I just looked again and I definitely see a line Mandy....and often when people post pics claiming a line, I don't see it. It's just faint because it's early or maybe because the cup sat while your DH went running to some stores for the tests.

[Cosmosmom]

Are you sure it isn't an evap line? You can only see it with the sun behind you.

I don't get the whole evap line thing. I took many tests in my years of trying and I never had a line of any kind. It was always totally clear on that side.

[Gwenn]

I never did see an evap line before, but last IUI I did get an evap line and AF came the next day.

[missychrissy]

Umm, I don't think that I would have eaten anything but the brussel sprouts and Katy's desert. I don't even know what most of that stuff listed was!

And I just looked again and I definitely see a line Mandy....and often when people post pics claiming a line, I don't see it. It's just faint because it's early or maybe because the cup sat while your DH went running to some stores for the tests.

I agree with this. Call them Mandy!

I'm gonna cry.

[Inca]

Speaking of wine. I normally love wine. Like, a little too much. A bottle normally lasts one night when I'm around. (Of course dbf helps, but I drink the majority of it I think) Anyways, I love Rose wine, but I had never been to this particular liquor store and this lady starts talking to me about the bottle I picked up. And because I didn't really want to talk to her, I walked away with it to buy. Get home and realize it was a sweet rose. BLEH. worst wine EVER. Maybe also because it was from south africa? (I think is what the bottle said) Anywho, moral of the story is don't let people distract you while you're trying to choose wine.