My 11 year old cattle dog likes to “reverse spoon” aka rest his butt on my pillow. He is both gassy and irritable. 

I agree! I do all the cooking, and I’ve lived in enough old apartments with galley kitchens that my current setup (combined kitchen/dining area with a U-shaped counter area) is an absolute dream. People can hang out with me while I cook without getting third degree burns! I don’t emerge with dinner to find that the…

Oooof I feel you! I’m in a similar-but-different situation - together for 11 years, including all of my 20s, separated for six months, now I’m working up the nerve to ask for a divorce. Biggest difference for me is that I’ve never doubted that he adores me, but unfortunately that never stopped him from treating me…

He needs real time apart from you and some deep introspection before he can face you and say “please trust me again” - has he really taken that time?

Everything you’re saying is true! It’s just hard when I still love him and he does bring joy into my life - we have fantastic intellectual and physical chemistry, he’s hilarious and smart, and he is very much in love with me. When we’re not together, the “not my job” voice wins; when I’m around him, the love takes…

There should be a monthly PSA that the Giving Tree ends tragically.

The timing is hilariously terrible.

“don’t give someone priority in your life, if they treat you like an afterthought”

Oooof not comforting is going to be hard. A very long-standing dynamic in our relationship is that I am responsible for managing and soothing his emotions and it’s shockingly hard to break free of that. It makes it so hard not to feel culpable for hurting him. 

No dog kicking here! I ended up with all of our pets and have been coping by stress-shopping, so the only animal abuse is a giant wardrobe of dog sweaters.

Anyone got advice on how they knew it was time to end a long-term relationship, and how they went about it without feeling like an asshole?

Just here to say that with a few big, obvious exceptions, being a doctor is also open book. Everyone I know uses additional resources for cases outside their bread and butter, because medicine is too complex for one person to have memorized it all. I have a lot of brilliant colleagues who are shitty test takers who…

SAME. I got calls from friends and family all over the country making sure I was safe from the protests - even extremely lefty friends who live in red states were spooked enough to check in. Now that the air is poison and I’ve had close friends evacuating into the city from smaller towns, I haven’t heard a peep from…

I have a good semi-recent one. Barely counts as a road trip but here goes.

I can reassure you that although dating after a long, important relationship is fucking terrifying, it gets better fast.

Mine is a subpar blender and it does pretty good! I think the blanched almonds are a little softer. If I really cared I’d pass it through a fine mesh but I’m not going to get worked up about a little bit of texture. I brought the leftovers to work and three people asked for the recipe.

The seared tuna and tempura looks DIVINE can I please come over. I find that skipping eggs makes a crispier crust anyway, esp. if you use soda water. Also 100% stealing your idea for butter + clementine juice + capers.

Loooooove okra. I made pickled green tomatoes last year with the recipe from the Kachka cookbook and they’re amazing. Thinking of harvesting this years’ tomatoes early just so I can make more, they’re that good on a BLT. 

I’m making white gazpacho - basically almonds, bread, garlic, cucumber, and green grapes blended with an obscene amount of olive oil. Regular gazpacho is too heavy on the bell pepper for me but this is divine.

I pulled the trigger on the short sleeve jumpsuit in black a while back and now I’m anxiously awaiting the new colors for the pencil pants. And the sweat shorts. And I might get the trouser shorts just in case.