I like an Aeropress for intermittent cups of coffee, Connie. [link] Available other places, I just like ThinkGeek's writeup.

THe unsweetened cheesecake I've been making is Cook's Illustrated Dense and Firm Cheesecake recipe with the sugar left out. And I leave off the crust. It's pretty close to eating a chunmk of cream cheese, but freezes better.

But I can testify that souffles are not as hard as I had feared (although cheese souffles, not as cheesy as cheesecake) if you like that texture. Don't travel well, but you can't have everything.

I like the idea of a Keurig because I can do tea or coffee or cider drinks. I need to do more to get off the diet Coke addiction. My bones will thank me.

because we drink WAY too much coffee to make it practical to brew one cup at a time.

This is us as well. I'm the same way with tea, brew a pot, not a cup at a time.

Why don't the adult people I work with know what the "address bar" is? And more importantly, why do they cut and paste URLs into google instead?

There's a cheesecake recipe in the archives here that has ambergris as an ingredient...I passed on trying to make that one.

Ack, ita, your hand! And I'm sorry about your dad -- I hope everything is OK with him, too.

Burrell, oh, as usual, dear. Yes, I would be flipping out like a mammal too. That's a lot of data.

My husband drinks coffee like there will be none left in the world tomorrow, but I have a little French press, because when he's away, I only allow myself one cup a day anyway...

I had a rage monster moment, too, last night. We're talking to M, who's totally excited about this camping trip that he was going to go on this weekend. He was worried because there were only 12 spaces, but he got one; he was going to pay 1/3 of the fee, us, 1/3, and K&E (stepdad and mom) 1/3.

The date of the trip has been known for 3 weeks at least. But while we were talking with M on speakerphone, K was texting us, unbeknownst to us, and when we got off the phone with M, the texts were all about how E, his mom, had decided that M WAS NOT going to be able to go on the trip because she didn't want him to miss Yom Kippur. And that E was going to tell M in person -- she's supposed to get back today, so please don't say anything to Micah about how he isn't going to be able to go on this WILDLY ANTICIPATED trip. He even said something about "And it's Yom Kippur, and I thought I was going to miss Sukkoth (sp?) but instead of a really boring Jewish holiday (HIS WORDS, not mine!), I get to go to AWESOME CAMPING!"

3 days before it's supposed to happen.

I was STEAMING PISSED. I think this is just so cruel and shitty of E. I fully understand that Yom Kippur is the most important High Holy Day BUT...BUT...

LOOK AT YOUR FUCKING CALENDAR, YOU IDIOT!!!

How did you not know that this trip was on that weekend and say, No, I'm sorry, but you can't miss Yom Kippur?

To say yes, and get him all excited and THEN decide "Oh, it's Yom Kippur, so I'm going to change my mind?" This is HER fault and now M is going to pay. I think it's really mean, and kind of awful of her.

I'm not dissing the importance of the holiday, please understand me; it's the SITUATION. If she had said he couldn't go in the first place because of it, I would have been like, well, that sucks, but timing often sucks, kiddo.

Add in the fact that they're basically asking us to be complicit in explicitly or implicitly lying to M. Which infuriated me even more.

I told Dan point-blank that if E didn't tell M today before our nightly phone call, I would get on the phone with her in another room, and be all like, you need to tell M NOW, because I'm not going to lie or be a hypocrite about this decision that I don't agree with, because it's a problem of YOUR making, not his, and I'm not going to be party to lying to cover your stupid ass. Or words to that effect, as diplomatically as I can manage.

OK, sorry, guys, but I HAD to get that off my chest...and I also wanted to kind of getting some feedback, of the parental and/or Jewish/raised Jewish persuasion.

Grr. I'm still so RAWR about the whole situation.

When you say rage dinosaur, I picture that icon of the t-rex with the grabber things saying "Unstoppable".

I, too, was picturing myself as a tiny T. rex waving my feeble arms in want of some grabbers.

All right. I'm gonna go get a flu shot and then reward myself with a cookie.

Why don't the adult people I work with know what the "address bar" is? And more importantly, why do they cut and paste URLs into google instead?

People have been doing this for ages. I don't know why. Maybe some people have accidentally hidden thei address bar and forgotten it exists?

Strix, has M made his bar mitzvah yet? That's the age to me when you get to make decisions about your own Jewish faith and practice thereof.

I'm happy to be a rage dinosaur on your behalf.

It's apparently Use Up the Department Monthly Budget by Buying Employees Lunch day today. We're getting Subway. So that's nice.

Ambergris seems like it would be chock full of umami.