Hi, I'm back. I was sick and barfy for three days. No fun. But I return to news of pumpkin cider! I must have it. Website says the local grocery carries it, so it's on the list for tomorrow.

Hiya Zen, sorry you've been sick.

I found the flea meds in the car, yay. Am at D's using his TENS unit while he fetches ice cream from the Walgreens next door. Debating whether we're going to the queer burlesque thing. I was all excited, and now I'm just cranky and tired. I'm practicing recognizing and letting go of my self-judging, but it's not going so great.

Squeeeee! The super hot phones guy sat next to me for a full 15 minutes today to check on the "phone quality" of a new system where I sitting (seriously, 1 call would have covered that, he sat with me for more like 10 calls!). Of course the one day I actually get to interact with him at all I haven't washed my hair in many days and look like i just rolled out of bed, put on outdoor pants and headed for work like that...but it's nice to feel squee-ey about anyone. Especially after so very many utterly "meh" dates. I was starting to think I'd lost the ability to be interested in anyone. Perhaps I also shouldn't have had that second glass of wine tonight. WHeeeeeee

Weighing in on the cider front. I like the ACE pumpkin and pear ciders, although I find that they can get a little overly sweet-tasting by the end of a bottle. I am not overly enthused by the Angry Orchard apple ginger cider, either, but it wasn't bad. I just felt it could have been a bit more gingery. It was closer to a traditional hard cider than many are, which is what may turn people off because of lack of sweetness.

Zen, sorry to hear about the barfy. It seems to be that time of year. I've dodged the bullet, but my roommate has been having tummy troubles for the past couple days. It's no fun even watching from the outside.

ION, I am baking a bread-and-butter pudding and the durn thing won't set at the temperature called out in the cookbook. I really think my oven doesn't heat to temp. After nine years, you'd think I'd know better.

eta: Two hours since it went in the oven and its still not set. I think next time I'm cooking this in a water bath and see what happens. It's much more custard-y (4 cups of milk!) than pudding-y.

I am still sick and taking today as a sick day, which sort of sucks since there's all sorts of awesome stuff happening in town today. My mom yelled at me last night (post-cocktail hour) about going to the doctor which does little for my feeling inadequate in all things. I am unsure why she was so adamant (besides the booze) - maybe because I had a cold a couple weeks ago and she thinks it's been a continuous illness? (It's not- definitely 2 different situations.)

I am not very motivated to get out of bed or turn my phone on.

Health~ma, Nora. Pamper yourself.

Nora, turn the phone off, get under the covers, ignore the world. If ya got Netflix, I say, watch 2 seasons of Buffy and call me in the morning.

Work is paying for us to go to a Cirque Symposium again. It's this weekend. It's been a very productive week. Also, very tiring week. I kinda just want to sit at home and go blah. Watch some baseball. unpack some boxes. And go blah. Alas, when work pays for a cool conference, ya really should go. It's local. So nothing expensive, aside from gas and lunch. Plus, I'm afraid if I say no now, they may stop offering in future. At least the traffic gods were kind. Got here 45 minutes early. Registered and found the building were the sound stuff is. And have 30 minutes to spare. And, free Wi-fi! So, maybe I can monitor the Yankee game while sitting in the seminar (thank you AT-BAT for the iPad). Let's hope there are tables in the room like last year.

Sail, sounds like we've had the same ciders! I was also not a huge fan or the apple ginger. It was fine, but I expected something more like cider meets ginger beer!

Exactly. Just not enough bite for me.

Sounds like a day to cuddle up in bed and read good pr0n fic to me, Nora. Or as omnis suggested, sleep more. I'm tucked under a warm blanket in my comfy chair watching the rain out my window and feeling no guilt at all.

At least my bread and butter pudding finally finished cooking. It is very custard-y. Definitely doing a water bath next time. Still, it is very nom. NOMNOM.

I had Original Sin one day that has champagne yeast so it's kinda of bubbly and light tasting.

I found Mackenzie's (I think that's the name) Black Cherry Cider. It's sweet more like a sweet wine.

Mostly I have Woodchuck because it's local and everywhere. I've tried Summer, Fall, Amber, Granny Smith, Pear, and 802. Of those the only one I didn't really like was the Granny Smith, it was really tart. The summer is really light, the Fall you can really taste the cinnamon and nutmeg it's like cold mulled cider. And I can't remember what the 802 tasted like. (802 is the area code for Vermont).

I threw some Amber in my Experimental Stew and I liked it so I'm going to try that again.