{{{Fay}}} I'm so sorry.

Fay, I'm so sorry for your loss.

I'm so sorry, Fay. My thoughts are with you and your family.

Fay, I'm so sorry. -ma to you and your family. Maybe try changing your clothes a lot? I hear it's helpful.

Thanks guys - it means a lot. Kind of not the best week ever, this. Sorting out travel arrangements in the morning, insh'allah.

I'm so sorry to hear your news, Fay. Thinking of you and yours. {{{}}}

Oh Fay, honey. I'm so sorry. I hope you get your travel arranged and that everything goes smoothly. Peace and comfort to you, and to your family.

I'm sorry, Fay. Much peace to you and your family. I hope traveling to be with them will be hassle-free.

Also wishing you hassle-free travel, Fay. Your poor mom.

Going back to quester's question, the dryness of a martini is determined by the ratio of vermouth to gin. The less vermouth then the more dry the martini is. Martinis got progressively more dry over the second half of the 20th century until people were barely including the vermouth. There's been a backlash against that approach trying to get back to the original formulation.

There really isn't a "wet" martini, but there is an older variation called a perfect martini which uses sweet vermouth.

And because it felt out of place with the previous post,

I'm not as interested in food as you are, certainly - I'm baffled by all the folks who talk about their food all the time! Happy you're happy, of course; I just don't get people who are so into food. It's great to have a fine gustatory experience, but for every meal? someone else would have to be cooking it! Anything that takes me longer to prepare than to eat annoys me; it feels like a waste of time. I can fry an egg and get on with my business. (People are dying of shock right now, aren't they?)

Zen is me, sort of. I have some supertaster tendencies, to the point that I have developed a pre-emptive comedy routine about preferring white food. Bland is better, for me, because bitter, sour, or sharp flavors turn me off foods instantly. I like subtle herbs, plain steamed veg, white rice: jasmine, basmati, or grocery store plain white, meats braised, broiled, baked or grilled in a few herbs, garlic, lots of black pepper, and no esoteric flavors or spices. I'm not unadventurous, I do experiment and taste, it's just that most flavoring, including a lot of ethnic ones, are too strong for me to enjoy, and too tiresome to cultivate mere tolerance.

I have a problematic relationship to food, anyway. If someone could provide a pill or a blender powder to provide all necessary nutrients, I'd be thrilled to never give food another thought again. I have to approach most meals obliquely, eat while distracted and not allow flavors to overwhelm me, or my stomach fists, my jaw locks down, and it's water only for several hours after.

Thinking about food: shopping, storage, prep, following recipes, thinking about and comparing recipes, sitting down and savoring food--those are all things I'm capable of at times. But not all in one meal, and not frequently. I do better either preparing and serving or accepting what's put before me.

And I can't help being mystified by others' preoccupation with foods and enjoyment of their prep, combination, presentation and consumption. But then I take a step back and remember that *I'm* the odd one here, and I smile and shut up about it. Mostly.