Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Remembrance of things Pabst

Whenever we go to the shows in the city we always take time on Tuesday nights to go to our favorite new restaurant "Incognito." Yesterday it was a special treat as we had our daughter with us as she came to help us shop at Moda, Accesories, Curcuit and Curve which are all the shows we were at the last couple of days.

So we were paticularly happy to get a chance to relax and enjoy a great meal. And all the staff and the owners were really happy to see us back. They all came over to greet us.

We started out with a cocktail as I had a Cuban Collins which is a lemonade like drink with a delicious Cuban rum and the girls had "Incognito Cosmos" which is the same as regular Cosmo but they like to be a little pretentious. I mean this is a mid-priced Italian restaurant in New York City so they try and up their game to attract a nice clientele. They seem to be doing great considering what their rent must be and I have to say I am impressed with how they go about their business.

While we were enjoying our drinks I ordered the wine and the appetizers. They had a nice full bodied Tuscan varietal which they decanted and put on the table to breath. Then they sent over a Margarita thin crust pizza as an amuse bouche as the chef's gift to us as we looked at the menu. I ordered the prosciutto and pears and the Gorgonzola walnut salad and a double order of the mini-meatball appetizers. All were sublime.

Then we ordered the main course. Both of the girls were doing no carbs so they went with the filet mignon. Lisa had it with Bearnasise sauce and Melissa had it with the peppercorn sauce. I repeated myself as I am want to do by getting the goat cheese ravioli in the tomato balasamic vinegar sauce. The sauce is so delicious that you can't believe it. I ordered a plate of fries as a side dish. When the waiter asked if I wanted ketchup I said no. You see I dipped the fries right into the sauce. It was unbelievable! So good!

We opted to not have desssert as we had really put on the feedbag and just had a final after dinner drink.

Then back home to sleep before another busy day today.

Living well is the best revenge.

257 comments:

  1. That's it: I'm coming to Brooklyn and not leaving till I'm fat. Well, fatter.

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  2. The sauce is worth the trip alone. Now I am hungry.

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  3. I love these posts, they make me hungry.

    Titus, We visited my brother-in-law and went to a classic Supper Club called Jakes, just outside Menomonie. It must be all nostalgia for you regarding these places, I've been to many and I have NEVER had a memorable meal..but usually good drinks. As Lewis Black said in a hilarious bit, "You Wisconsin people aren't alcoholics, you're professionals."

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  4. This really made me hungry too!

    Wow.

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  5. I just finished up a morning of burning brush. I smell like beef jerky gorgonzola prosciutto.

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  6. Living well is the best revenge.

    With writing about it coming in second .

    Recognition and appreciation serves as the dessert. Optional, and not needed for the first two to count, but special when the time is right.

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  7. The last course, hours after the actual meal, was acid reflux. Well, it would have been for me. You have to work up to that level of eating without suffering consequences later.

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  8. In my experience Mama, people who think they write well don't. In my experience those who give out advice they believe to be so deep and meaningful are usually full of shit.

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  9. Shane: A gun is a tool, Marian; no better or no worse than any other tool: an axe, a shovel or anything. A gun is as good or as bad as the man using it. Remember that.

    The same holds true for words. A life well lived provides the meaning.

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  10. Geez Allie. Give it a rest.

    Are you going to pick apart every comment made by MammaM. She was giving Trooper a compliment for his great writing style.

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  11. That dinner sounds fabulous. I've never had goat cheese ravioli, but I'm going to try next time I have a chance.

    Question: How long does this dining experience take. I like the idea of a long leisurely time at the dining table. The staff doesn't sound like they are trying to rush you out of the place.

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  12. Some of youse guys need to stop hanging out at TOP!

    It will upset your tummy!

    Just sayn'

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  13. I have a bunch of zucchini growing, but they are all babies now (I have picked the bigger ones out several times now). I am grilling them with sausages.

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  14. I was hoping the shit would stay contained in the Titus thread.

    lasciate ogni speranza voi ch'entrate

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  15. Apparently the enema of one's frenemy is not one's friend.

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  16. Poo flinging sometimes results in poo being flung back, that's the way the shit flys.

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  17. Chip S. said...
    Apparently the enema of one's frenemy is not one's friend.

    Exsqueeze me? Baking powder?

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  18. I'm rooting for MamaM's continued display of grace under pressure.

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  19. When I was drinking the GoLytely, I was sitting on my hospital throne contemplating life, people, family, health, truth and grace, and how love does win, like Darcy says.

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  20. I really think I'm in the wrong place.

    I get that Allie's reactions are tiresome. Well, they are. (Sorry, Allie, but I did try to warn you not to do this.) But did you read the comment that set her off?

    Geez. Grace? It's displaying grace to call someone douchey because they claimed they were sick and as it turns out apparently were quite ill?

    What. The. Fuck.

    Yeah. Talk to me about grace again. I do want to discuss it.

    Ready.

    I am in the wrong place.

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  21. I'm sorry, Trooper. You're a good guy who just wants to provide a little entertainment and a fun place to hang out.

    I'm sorry.

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  23. Not you, Sixty. Please don't go.

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  24. Sixty, yes it makes me very sad too, thanks for your concern, my best to you. Here's to guts and heart Sixty.

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  25. Do I have to break out my Brandon DeWilde impersonation, 60?

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  27. Wait!!! Let's all quit! I've been thinking about it too--seriously.


    BTW, where is Mr. James Titus Bondo to glue us all together?

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  28. Blake was worried about a sausage-fest, when the real problem on the horizon was a flounce-fest.

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  29. There'd be years of things to take into consideration writing a post mortem for this place. I would definitely not be up to that because I lack too much data. There seems to be a surprising amount of backstory that I don't get here. Whenever I've been doubtful or troubled about some uncertainty here, I've just tried to ignore it or take it at face value. What else is there to do besides leave?

    Sixty is definitely right about weighing how one should spend one's time.

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  30. I'm not leaving Trooper's place. He's been a gracious host.

    I'm not leaving.

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  31. In the words of Walter Sobchak: "Fuck it, Dude. Let's go bowling."

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  33. Well, he towered over Veronica Lake, at least.

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  34. Absolutely fucking love your dinner posts, delightful. A wonderful, slow dinner is one my favorite things to do.

    I had to take a candidate out to dindin tonight. We went to Rialto in Harvard Square-very beautiful restaurant. I hadn't been there for years.

    My menu selections:

    First
    Octopus Terrine, basil salad, capers, lemon jelly, pine nut oil...$17.00
    Second
    Bucatini, loberster, red tomatoes, chilis, safron...$17.00
    Third
    Slow Roasted Organic Cage Free Long Island Roast Duck, braised escarole, roasted fingerlings, sicilian green olives
    Final
    Three Cheeses, almond stuffed dates...$16.00.

    The guy I had to entertain was a Harvard MD and Phd Graduate-a real underachiever.

    Seriously, I am not proud of many things I have done in life, but in the business world I do know how to communicate effectively with intelligent people. My dad knows this and he said it is because I am an excellent bullshiter.

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  35. Stop talking about food. I'm trying to get skinneh!

    Hmmph.

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  36. I didn't have my buddies die face down in the muck so that you could flounce off!

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  37. Was it over when the...oh, never mind. The Big Lebowski is funnier.

    Let's fold scarves!

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  38. Ordinarily when you make glue first you need to thermoset your resin and then after it cools you have to mix in an epoxide, which is really just a fancy-schmancy name for any simple oxygenated adhesive, right? And then I thought maybe, just maybe, you could raise the viscosity by adding a complex glucose derivative during the emulsification process and it turns out I was right.

    So there.

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  39. What's wrong with AllenS, Dude?

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  40. blake opined: ...an epoxide, which is really just a fancy-schmancy name for any simple oxygenated adhesive, right?

    The fancy word for epoxide is oxirane. It's a strained, three-membered ring having two carbons and one oxygen. The oxygen is so voracious, it sucks the juice out of both carbons and leaves them vulnerable to be popped open by any some other nucleophile's lone pair.

    That's where we get anti-freeze.

    True story

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  41. Now onto this fucking thread. My job, seriously in the real world, is dealing with all kinds of complicated employee relations and conflict resolution issues and I am pretty good at my job.

    So here is my counsel to the crap I see here.

    Everyone here has a very unique voice and if any of those voices leave it is a loss to all of us but I believe it is an even greater loss to the person "flouncing".

    No fucking flouncing! I don't even like gays flouncing!

    Allie, love you to death, but stop. I want you here but today you seemed ready for a fight. And why? I mean really. Think about it.

    Sixty, I know you don't like me and I respect that but stop fighting with the cow. You made an excellent point about the shortness of life. But with your comments you can still add to this blog.

    Cow, I think you are hilarious and very creative. Ignore Sixty.

    Darcy, the hottest women around, let go. I know some crap went down, but just let it go.

    Mamam, I guess you pissed some of the ladies off, but you have seemed to move on and I admire the biting of the tongue over the past 24 hours. I think you are great and an important contribution to this blog.

    Chick, what can I say, you big cheesehead.

    Allens wicked sense of humor.

    nspinelli you are a cool cat.

    And also think about why Troop put this place up. My guess is for fun, depravity, camaraderie, to highlight his incredible wit....and TITS. Let's "celebrate" that shit and move pass the other shit.

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  42. Bruce, I'm sorry for my outburst. I really am. Please forgive me. I didn't see the comment a few days later from MamaM to Allie about her health.

    Anyway, I'm going to try to stay out of it. I like you guys too much. I don't want to be a part of the bickering. I have been, and I regret it.

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  43. Jeez, Titus, all that and not one word about my recipes?

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  44. @Darcy, when I wrote "grace under pressure" I was remembering a Hemingway novel we learned in high school. Now I see that you took it the wrong way. I'm sorry for that.

    MamaM reminds me of a stoic Hemingway character who's seen a lot of bad. So does Allie. I just wish that had Allie had turned the other cheek or clenched just a little after downing all that GoLytly.

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  45. Thanks, Bruce. Nothing to apologize for. You are my friend and if I ever have a bone to pick with you it won't be in public.

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  46. Titus, your post was hilariously sweet. Thank you.

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  47. Hey Titus, do you know anything about Malkovitch other than catching sight of him in your local coffee house? Is he single? Married? Is he on your team or the straight team? I can never tell whether he's acting or just being John Malkovitch and if he's acting whether he's doing a good or poor job. I think it's his face which is a supremely decadent face. What's going on behind that face is another matter but the face is...well, you can't get around it. I think that's why he's such a big deal, because his decadent face is emblematic of the age. Although I think he did do a good job in that Coen Brothers film about the CIA. Can't think of the title. Know anything about him?

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  48. Know anything about him?

    Didn't Malkovitch play God?

    Somewhere?

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  49. Apparently Malkovitch plays God in a commercial for something called Nespresso Espresso. George Clooney is also in the commercial. Pretty expensive commercial.

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  50. I smell like beef jerky gorgonzola prosciutto

    You smell like the New York Giants?

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  52. I have moved my computer from where it was to another room where I look out a large window while also looking at the computer screen.

    I did it purposely because I had begun to believe that I was missing too much of the good things in the world (or that small part of it outside my window) while I was following and joining arguments on blogs and websites.

    The arguments were mostly senseless battles of egos between strangers. And too often, some of those arguing were dolts who hid behind anonymity and deliberately provoked, demeaned and insulted others. It's an ugly sort of thing to do. Some revel in that ugliness.

    The arguments were sapping me. They became squatters occupying my mind without paying rent. Real life was being supplanted by a false life.

    Do you remember going to the carnival and paying the carny fifty cents for three chances to knock over milk bottles with a baseball? Knock over all three and win a giant teddy bear!

    Arguing with fools online is like taking a roll of quarters to the carnival booth. No matter how many quarters are spent, the teddy bear is never awarded.

    I'll hang around someplace if I'm made to laugh, entertained, informed a bit, chat with good friends, and listen to those friends talk about their successes, tribulations, losses and lives.

    Otherwise, it's a big world outside that window.

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  53. I have moved my computer from where it was to another room where I look out a large window while also looking at the computer screen.

    My desk and computer is in the office, which is off of the great room (dining, kitchen, living combo) separated by big french doors which I usually keep open so I can give my husband orders....er....I mean have conversations.

    To my right are two large windows that are low to the ground (foot and half from the floor) and go all the way up to the ceiling. It looks out onto a wooded area with a big apple tree, cypress tree, black walnut,some sort of bushes that have red berries on them right now and a bunch of Oregon Grape bushes. I feed the quail and other birds daily and get to watch them bring their new babies up to show them where all the magic food appears. Sometimes I see deer out the window just a few feet from my chair.

    It is lovely because I get to see the woodlands, the animals and see the seasons change. Plus there is a great cross breeze coming up from the river below. I love my house!!!

    When I get sick of the internet and all the pointless arguing....I have a comfy recliner positioned at the other window and I can put my glass of wine or scotch on the window sill, read and glance at the beautiful trees and birds.

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  54. Mamam, I guess you pissed some of the ladies off,

    Titus...You are once again correct, with part but not all of the truth. It appears I have pissed off two women and one man, each of whom perpetuated false information about me and held onto animosity based on the premise that I had a part in fooling them into thinking I am someone I'm not. When presented with information contrary to their mistaken belief (from none other than Trooper Himself), they choose to double down rather than own the mistake and clear the air.

    From my point of view, this type of behavior, complete with creative name calling and bold sounding "Fuck Offs" does not reflect the safe, friendly, loving, gracious behavior I hear them holding up as the standard I need to meet in order to be considered part of the TY community.

    I meant what I said when I wrote Love wins when grace and truth walk together To mock me for this, or accuse me of throwing the phrase in someone's face misses the point. I've yet to see an uncomfortable situation resolved, or a broken relationship mended without the presence of truth and grace.

    I hold SixtyGrit in high regard. I wouldn't go so far as to call him adorbs, but he's no "fucknut". Not even if he'd hope to be mistaken for one or feel honored by such a distinction.
    I consider him to be one of the people here who consistently presents himself as real. I hope he decides to return.

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  55. When I felt that we had a person (or two) posting here who was possibly known to us, but presenting themselves as a different person, did I purposefully sow division in this community? Yes and no. I caused suspicion and distrust under the belief that I was protecting myself and others. I did not intend to destroy the community here. But I did cause division. I did gossip. I am sorry for the damage that that did. Words do have consequences. It's caused a long period of people here having to read nasty crap and has caused hurt feelings. I am sorry. I own my own actions and words.

    MamaM, I thought you were at times one of a few different people many of us knew from other blogs posing as someone else. I have come to believe that was incorrect and I am sorry for that and the subsequent treatment of you by me. I am not proud of any of it. It wasn't kind.

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  56. DBQ, I was reading your post and envying your view and home! But mostly just really happy for you that you have such a place to enjoy. I can tell through your postings over the years that that home is the result of many hours of hard work you and your plumber have endured in order to have some years of enjoying the fruits. And nuts. :)

    Well done. You too, Michael.

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  57. Wise words, as ever, from Michael Haz, arguably the best writer and clearest thinker among the refugees of this little commonwealth. I tip my virtual hat to you, Michael, and wish you a good day and prosperous journey through that larger world outside our windows.

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  58. Michael, once again you display your wisdom and kindness. I've gone down to my bench on my pier many a times and watched the sailboats and the beauty of our lake to decompress from negative personalities that I've encountered online. Life is truly too short to remain in a place that although great fun many times, is also upsetting and disturbing too many times.

    I guess when one is usually surrounded by folks in real life who are sincere and genuinely decent and kind it's a shock to the system to find people online that have intentions that are less so. It's sad to see these types draw in and influence others who haven't come to the realization that they are being manipulated for that person's purposes, whatever that may be.

    I won't flounce off, but I will be much more selective when commenting here to try my best to avoid this person. I enjoy Troopers place, adore Trooper and his troops, except for one, but I hope that the one I speak of does some soul searching.

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  59. DBQ, Darcy, Tim and Allie - thanks for your thoughtful words! They are greatly appreciated.

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  60. Having been caught in the crossfire and, I have come to believe, betrayed by some untrue gossip (not to mention some outright outrageous accusations) and unfairly expected, it seemed, to prove a negative, it is tough to be sanguine. Absence appears to be the better part of valor, to me. So it goes.

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  61. I look out on a farm field when I sit at the computer. Worth everything to me, that field. So far the farmer keeps on farming rather than make a killing selling it for "development." Fingers crossed. This year it's in wheat so I have a golden field to look out on. Last year it was in alfalfa, all blue-green. As I say, it's worth the world.

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  62. ricpic - I think there is no better fragrance than freshly cut alfalfa.

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  63. ripic and Michael: Ain't it the truth!

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  64. MichaelHaz, I'll see your freshly cut alfalfa and raise you garlic simmering in olive oil.

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  65. Spinelli! How can I waist away when you people keep talking about food and lovely aromas of food?

    I don't know if I've ever smelled freshly cut alfalfa, but I do love the smell of a freshly mowed lawn.

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  66. Darcy, alfalfa when it's cut smells like fresh lawn plus freshly cut mint.

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  67. I just spent a long time looking for a picture of hay in my barn along with my hay elevator, but can't find it.

    I planted 1/3 alfalfa, 1/3 timothy and 1/3 red clover. I would plant oats as a nurse crop and then mow and put up oat hay. You have to cut the oats when the seeds had formed and were still in the milk stage.

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  68. Mr. Haz is correct - I was wrong to pick on the retard who thinks he is a cow. I shall resume my self imposed exile and contemplate how to avoid such behavior in the future. With luck I will learn something. And perhaps I can actually stay gone this time.

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  69. Please don't, Sixty.

    I would miss you terribly here.

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  70. The alfalfa sounds lovely, Michael.

    And Allen, do you own horses or any livestock?

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  71. I too appreciate Grit's grade of abrasion though I don't understand his animus towards the cow.

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  72. They pull me back in - he is a dishonest link whore, stupid, trite and wholy unoriginal. Vomits, then chews it. You may like it, but it is undigested roughage.

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  73. Aw, come on Sixty, I too tried self imposed exile, it didn't work. But taking a break now and again is refreshing and cleansing, like a nice long hot shower before bed, IMO.

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  74. Sixty, undigested roughage is hell on a sensitive GI track.

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  75. There used to be a mint farm just outside Cottage Grove. It smelled heavenly when cut, but too powerful when distilling it.

    Back in the 90's I wass working two cases. One was in Columbia County right near a kraut factory. Now, I love kraut but when it's being canned it smells horrible. The other case was in Burlington, Wi. near the Nestle factory. Real heavenly smell. I'm not letting up, Darcy. Put your willpower hat on kid!

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  76. Mint grows wild here too but I cultivated some in my herb garden. We use it for mojitos.
    I also planted lemons, limes , and oranges this year but they are still babies.

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  77. Sixty,

    I like your plain-spokenness.

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  78. Nick, you had to go and mention chocolate didn't ya? Now I'm sitting here eating a 75% dark chocolate mint bar, well ahlf of it anyway. There's something wonderful about the combination of chocolate and mint, and chocolate and coffee, and chocolate and strawberries, I could go on and on.

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  79. I am an open and unashamed blogwhore. There is nothing surprising about that given my lineage and relation to TOP. Hell, you thought I was Meade himself for a while. I do not have to defend myself and frankly I do not need your patronage. I do not get the animosity, but maybe it stems from me defending Crack in the past. What ever. If only out of respect to our host, I have no reason to mess with you.

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  80. Chocolate and the books of the Gospel! ;-)

    Really, really want chocolate now. With or without the Good Book.

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  81. Sixty Grit - My comments weren't directed at you.

    I hope that you stick around here.

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  82. You people really want a recipe link, I see.

    OK.

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  83. I would marry that cake, Chip.

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  84. I don't know that I'd go that far.

    I'd definitely sleep with it, tho.

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  85. I would never marry or sleep with a cake but I'd definitely mess with one.

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  86. Even I do not want Sixty to go. I am not sure why such a boring blog as mine generates such animosity in him. Especially given it was started in response to TOP and a certain blog hostess who likes to call her commentators "would lickers." It is his choice.

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  87. V.Richards here in Wisconsin makes a chocolate raspberry cake very similar to that one Chip, that was my favorite choice for my birthday cakes before this lowcarb diet. I have made a flourless chocolate cake, but it's not comparable to the real thing. If my stomach wasn't already messed up, I'd be tempted to go get one for the hell of it.

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  88. Sleep with it, marry it, in my case I lust for it.

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  89. *Looks at picture of that cake*

    *Looks at number of notches left in belt before "thinner" is achieved*

    I guess as regards that cake, I'm celibate. Dang.

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  90. How about if we make a pact, we will only mess with each other if it's done in love and affection? Or too much to ask for?

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  91. EBL mused about "would lickers"

    That's downright homophonic.

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  92. I have one horse, Darcy. I used to raise beef cattle and at one time I also had three horses.

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  93. Some day I shall post some pictures of dogs in my life.

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  94. Allen any chickens? When I go to Black River Falls to visit my sister I always come home with dozens of farm eggs, free range, such deep yellow yolks, made the best yellow cake, mmmm, cake with chocolate frosting.

    And custards, mmmm.

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  95. That's so cool, Allen. I just love horses

    I can't keep track of all of these convos! I also can't keep from thinking about rolling around in that cake.

    It will be a miracle if I don't head for some chocolate tonight, but miracles happen!

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  96. Darcy,

    On the right side of the blog you'll se LABELS, click on AllenS and then scroll down to There's something about Mary.

    No chickens, Allie.

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  97. Fresh eggs are the best.

    "would lickers" That is funny, but unintended.

    This is not TOP. Most here are cool and I think the comments are generally the optimum that Michael Haz describes. I like Sixty's comments generally too. Of course, I am completely banned at TOP until I apparently email Meade and comply with his authoratay. Which isn't going to happen. Which should give me some field cred.

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  98. I also can't keep from thinking about rolling around in that cake

    Have you ever given a thought about a roll in the hay? ;-)

    HA!

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  99. Raspberry and chocolate are a very good combination.

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  100. Ok I just HAVE to... But Allen if you roll in the hay you won't be able to eat it off Darcy afterwards, if you roll on the cake, well, you know.....

    Well unless you are EBL of course;)

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  101. Hayyyyyyy! No hay in my cake, please.

    LOL

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  102. Hahaha. Love that movie, Chip.

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  103. Frau Blucher makes me think of TOP for some reason.

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  104. or maybe it's Nurse Diesel I'm thinking of. ("You're so strict!")

    Cloris Leachman, for sure, anyway.

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  105. My humor-Fu is weak. I need to deal with a lot of issues (insert Bull Durham quote here), but I will be back. Thank you all for your kindness - I hope to be worhy of it.

    Can we still mock Outhouse and her fucked up family?

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  106. Allie, Being diabetic a sweet treat for me is higher end dark chocolate. I'm into the Ghiardelli Sea Salt Soiree w/ roasted almonds. It's intense dark chocolate[I think 70%] but the salt and just a bit of finely chopped almonds is a great taste and texture. Darcy, it's really hard for a dago to stop talking about food. Mea culpa.

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  107. It's okay, Nick. I only have 2 days and then carbapalooza (girls' weekend)!

    Chocolate will be partaken of.

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  108. Bruce, I love seeing citrus trees in the yards around San Diego.

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  109. clitoris leichmannii is the correct taxonomic term for Cloris Leachman, Chip.

    I didn't realize she'd done a movie in the 50's called "The Rack."

    She rocked in DWTS.

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  110. Nick, I share your love of dark choco w/almonds.

    I'm sure the Ghirardelli version rocks, but my budget leads me to See's bars instead. Excellently roasted almonds in their v. good dark choco.

    Now, anyone who combines dark choco & almonds with raspberries has made the ultimate candy bar.

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  111. @chickelit, Also appeared in something called Climax! in the '50s.

    Typecasting for clitoris leichmannii, I suppose.

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  112. @Nick, as soon as I top off the decomposed granite on my tiered citrus garden, I'll post some photos. It's got a unique underground water system that uses rainwater in the winter. I call it my xeriscape cascade.

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  113. Nick, I love dark choloate withe sea salt, also love it with hazelnuts, Frangelico chaser.

    Oh yes, and Lindt has a dark choloate bar with cayenne pepper, or some sort of hot pepper, great combo.

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  114. Sixty I live for pointing out the hubris and hypocrisy of TOP and my doppelgänger. So the answer is yes.

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  115. My iPad keeps correcting chocolate to choloate!

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  116. Chocolate lover's tip: Aldi sells a 70% cacao chocolate bar under the trade name 'Moser Roth'. It is made in Germany and is delicious. And very reasonably priced.

    Trader Joe's sells the same thing ina different shape under the Trader Joe's brand name.

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  117. Well, I haven't had chocolate in years. Tonight I might go big and buy a vanilla shake at the DQ. I haven't had one since Darcy's promotion celebration.

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  118. @EBL and 60, I'm giving TOP's mistress a pass for the rest of the day, having finally looked at the thread that is nominally about Ann Romney's horse.

    One of her best posts evah.

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  119. This chocolate is made in Chicago and is, in my opinion, the best chocolate on the planet. It is carried in some Whole Foods Markets, otherwise, order on line.

    Worth. Every. Penny.

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  120. Thanks for the "heads-up" over there, Chip. Photo #18 was the most honest display, IMHO

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  121. Yeah, but where's the horse? ;)

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  122. 18 is great, no question, but my fave was 19, of only for the variety.

    It's one Olympic event where everybody seems to be Brazilian.

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  123. Haz, that was an interesting link. Sounds kind of New Agey...

    an experiential realm of storytelling through the medium of chocolate...

    to the point that I would've passed it by w/o your endorsement.

    Intriguingly, the website refers to Katrina Markoff's "process" for choco-making.

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  124. decomposed granite on my tiered citrus garden,

    Oh how I wish we could have citrus trees here out doors. You might be able to keep some alive in large containers that you bring in in the winter. It just gets too cold.

    Always hit or miss for our fruit trees. This year the plums, Santa Rosa, Italian and Wild Plum, are groaning under the weight. Last year we had a bumper crop of apples too, but thankfully, not so much this year.

    I'm really depressed because our faithful Sour Cherry tree which was a prolific bearer last year and almost every year....caught a fungal disease and I think it is dead or on the way to dead. So sad. It was a 30 year old tree. I can barely stand to look at it :-(

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  125. Chip S, I understand liking the link but I am not sure what unique spin TOP is putting on it, although I did not read her comments.

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  126. Chip waxed lyrically: It's one Olympic event where everybody seems to be Brazilian.

    We'll just have to agree to disagree on that. But the athletes do show that they work their butts off compared to leading cheer.

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  127. The combination of wax, Brazilian, and beach volley ball makes a decent sentence.

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  128. I assure you it was synthetically contrived. Now go tear it down. :)

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  129. DBQ: The loss of a good pie cherry tree is tragic. My condolences.

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  130. Bruce, Your growing system makes me think you are considering growing Califonia's biggest cash crop. I'm a legal card carrying patient, you could be my legal caregiver. With kids that would be quite difficult, I know.

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  131. ChipS, I believe See's candy, which I love, is a west coast regional product. I could be wrong.

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  132. nick, They have a production facility in LA; not sure about anywhere else. But they have retail outlets as far away as Boston.

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  133. Of course Minnesotans love Nut Goodies.

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  134. DBQ - it is possible to create something permanent out of a beloved tree. That's something I do, perhaps you can find someone in your area who could do that for you. If the wood is sound I can tell you from experience that cherry wood bowls are among the most beautiful wooden bowls there are.

    I suck at flouncing.

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  135. I understand liking the link but I am not sure what unique spin TOP is putting on it

    MamaM could do amazing things with this, but she's not here so I'll just take the low-hanging fruit.

    TOP spin?

    make it spin like a TOP?

    OK, that sucked. I'll sTOP now.

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  136. I worked with a guy who used to work for Pearson's Candy in St. Paul, MN and they made the Nut Goodie. He told me that if you were caught eating any of the stuff while at work, they fired you on the spot.

    Can you imagine what it would be like to work at the US Mint?

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  137. I lost some big cherry branches and I plugged them with shiitake mushroom culture. You leave them in a shaded pile for about a year and a half and then they should start sprouting shiitake mushrooms. They were about five inches in diameter, so too small to turn. I cut them in four foot lengths. You have to get the culture in within two weeks of initial cut of the live branch so your mushrooms are not competing with other wild strains.

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  138. @ Sixty....that is a great idea. We know someone who turns manzanita burls into beautiful bowls. Maybe some small cups or something. /sigh

    First, though, next year we will cut the poor tree back and treat it with some chemicals and fungicides (even though we've been told that the fungicide might not work) and dormant oil this winter. I'm continuing to water it just like usual since there are a couple of branches that still have some spindly leaves. Hopefully it will recover and in a few years we might see some fruit.

    It just makes my heart sick to see it so decimated. Silly isn't it to feel so emotional over a tree.

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  139. shiitake mushroom culture

    Shiitake sounds like it either needs to buy a vowel or move one.

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  140. I don't eat any sweets. Not because I am concerned about my girlish figure, which I am.

    I just don't care for sweets.

    Right now I am really into the Poppyseed Chicken/Fruit salad at Panera-only 340 calories and it fills me up.

    I listened to a seminar on Medical Imaging today. I found it fascinating. It was all about the costs of the different procedures. Who does and doesn't get them. Like MRI's and shit. Also, how doc's, hospitals, providers and insurance companies "utilize" them. Patient's who generally don't need them and want them...for peace of mind. Some docs like them because it means less time with the patient and more time with other patients. Lots of talk about chest pains and mammographies Also, which I found astonishing about offering them to an 85 year old who has multiple ailments and whether it is worth it to even do it for them...fucking sad.

    Oh and malpractice. Tort Reform was one of the "outcomes" of this research. This is an unbiased organization too. Just the facts and data.


    tits.

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  141. @DBQ: There is a new and deadly citrus pest down here: link

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  142. A guy at my company got hit by a car while walking his dog. He was in a coma for a week and was pronounced dead today.

    He was 44.

    Awful

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  143. new and deadly citrus pest

    Eeeeew!

    We were told by our Ag outreach guy from UC Davis that the area's peach and cherry trees took a hit from the fungus because we had an unusually early, damp and warm spring that the fungus went wild in the blossom stage.

    So sad about your friend Titus. One minute we are good and fine and then next...whammo...a freak accident. This is why we should try to enjoy every minute of life we have.

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  144. Sixty--

    Worst. Flouncer. Ever.

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  145. I stayed up late last night writing and reading, and didn't fall asleep until early morning, just prior to the Darcy's posting of her comment at 7:04 am.

    Darcy, I accept your apology. I also very much appreciate and respect your willingness to be direct, sincere and honest. I experienced a sense of relief and peace when I read your words. They conveyed the heart and character I've seen you reveal in some of your other comments posted here. Thank you for reaching out and being open to see this through with Love.

    Sincerely, MamaM

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  146. I see Progress!

    Yes!

    Very happy and like it long time.

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  147. Titus. Sorry about your coworker. Did he have a wife and kids or was it just him and the dog? Does the dog have a place to go?

    I am not being morbid, but those are questions one thinks of...

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  148. It just occured to me that it would have sounded better had I said that "Shiitake Mushroom" needs to either buy a consonant or have a vowel movement.

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  149. Please Chickie, all this talk of Shiitake mushrooms and vowell movements reminds me of the GoLytely torture.

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  150. The guy giving the seminar was a MD. He was small in his 60's.

    I sat right next to him in a room of approximately 60.

    I saw him up close. He had a huge blackhead on his temple. I could not stop looking at it. There was a gray hair coming out of it and a large skin color circle around it.

    He was a very neat appearing older man. Attractive and meticulously dressed. And an MD and Phd. And all I could think about was, don't you fucking see that monstrosity? One major squeeze and it would be gone. His seminar was exceptional but I had to say "no" in my evaluation. A huge blackhead not noticed was reason enough to not hire him. I thought to myself, I could have to see that thing for "long time" while we work together. My sense is that thing has been on his face for a long time and those things can last forever. I also thought that it looked like he may of had some sort of face lift.

    I knew this guy, who was not really a friend, but whom I saw on social occasions. Every time I saw him he had this ginormous black head behind his ear. A year could pass and I would see him and was still fucking there. I didn't know him well enough to tell him but I really wanted to say, hey, major blackhead behind your ear dude. For all I know it is probably still there.

    Moral of the story...give your body and face a good physical monthly.

    tits.

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  151. The last announcement was the dog was in critical condition. He does have a wife and three small children.

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  152. Titus: I am very sorry for your coworker's family. That is a horrible story.

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  153. As for blackheads. If you are married your spouse should pop them for you. That is what spouses do, if they love you. Plus there is nothing more satisfying than taking out a nasty black or white head.

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  154. I love the fact that they actually call their product GoLytely.

    Too bad Audrey Hepburn isn't around to do an ad for the stuff. I suppose they could hire Mickey Rooney, but I'm not sure that would go well.

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  155. Blackheads gross me out on other people, I had to pop one the circumference of a pea once on an elderly lady's abdomen, made me gag.

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  156. I have two cleaned out plastic gallon jugs that the GoLytely came in. They have such a functional heavy duty look and feel, that I figured I should save them. That, and the memories.

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  157. EBL said: That is what spouses do, if they love you.

    So true. No need to pay Madge to do things for you.

    They other night my spouse pulled a 4mm sliver out of a finger tip. When it first went in a couple weeks ago she tried to dig it out but it was too deep or a broken off so lived with it. But every time I pressed on it I could feel it.

    A neighbor advised me that wood floats and shrapnel sinks, meaning that slivers eventually work there way out, while metal (nails, bullets, etc.) seek deeper lodging). So I waited and sure enough she was eventually able to extract it after lancing an exit with a sterile razor blade.

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  158. Thanks for the memories, the drinking was so fun, the cramping made me run, the taste was so divine, the results were so sublime.

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  159. Penny's not very bright, is s(he)?

    She can't figure out that I sent her that Youngbloods tune over there, not bagoh20.

    I guess you have some competition, Allie?

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  160. Oh thanks Chickie! For that backhanded compliment. I was going to correct her, but thought, nah, she'll notice sooner or later.

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  161. It's best to put the stuff in the refrigerator, and when you're ready to start drinking the stuff, don't pour it into a cup, but chug right from the gallon jug.

    If someone would get the stuff to taste like beer, it wouldn't be so bad.

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  162. chickie, we could do a long series of comments on TOP commenters who don't pay much attention to comments.

    In this case, I just assumed Penny was drunk. I tend to assume that about several TOP commenters, on both sides of the political divide.

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  163. Wait...Allen, you've got to drink a gallon of that stuff???

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  164. Oh thanks Chickie! For that backhanded compliment.

    I meant you have competition for bagoh20, not the smarts department.

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  165. OK, maybe I am dumb, LMAO, you meant competition for Bagoh?

    I don't see a future for Baggy and I, he is hot but would forever be trying to change me into a conservative.

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  166. Yes Chip, it's a whole frickin' gallon!

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  167. Just to clarify, that comment was about the gallon of colon cleanser, not Allie's girl crush on Penny.

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  168. I had to drink half a gallon during the evening, then finish the other half early in the morning.

    Haven't you had a colonoscopy yet, Chip?

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  169. @Allie: I've been sincerely trying to be nice to Penny for years--including here before the site went private--and always smacked. It's almost a comedy act now--or it should be.

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  170. I thre up about half of it and then they made me drink more the next morning, cause there was still time, my Endoscopy and Colonoscopy were at 2 PM. I woke up during the last third of the colonoscopy and say the inside of my colon, fascinating to watch the doc snip off the tissue for the biopsies.

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  171. Allen, it does sound like a lot of fun....

    The drive to the hospital sounds dangerous, tho, if they've got you drinking that stuff at home.

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  172. I love how or conversation is going in several different directions at the same time, hysterical confusion, hahaha.

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  173. Allie, I hope you were replacing "say" and not "snip" there.

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  174. Allen, they had me try to drink the whole damn gallon in the evening starting at 6PM.

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