I did get a flu shot, and usually do.
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Great then you probably do not have the flu…my late sister was a forecaster for the amount of flu vaccine available and produced in the USA, as well as the person who got the HPV vaccine approved from the FDA…
I am a strong proponent of vaccines…just saying…
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Well, the dumplings were a success! The premade wrapper really made all the difference. Much stickier than the homemade ones from last month, which made it easier to fold and also less stressful! The other key was using chopsticks to mix and place the filling onto the wrapper-- better portion control and easier for it to drop.
Below is the whole process from market to table!
Happy Chinese New Year!
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Very professional!
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Halfway through a close friend’s 50th birthday weekend…
Last night was the intimate celebration, just a few of us out for dinner and then back home with a few more added. But it started early and went late, and though I refrained from drinking given allergy risk and the big party tonight, the combination of a very late and very active night on top of jet lag had me wrecked today.
So… I now have a pot (well, PC) of chicken soup going for an early bite before the big night. I’ve promised to drink tonight (why do people care so much of other people drink? I’m perfectly capable of having a great time without, but for whatever reason it makes the drinkers very uncomfortable… anyway not that I’m giving in to pressure, I was always planning to have a couple of glasses of champagne if I like what’s being poured, or some old fashioneds, or not if I’m not feeling like it).
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I love this French feta, I get it in Boston.
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you can get the flu even if you get the vaccine. That’s well known. However, if you get the vaccine and the flu, you will probably get a less severe case of the flu and you may be less infectious to others. Some years the vaccine approved months before flu season turns out not to have been a great prediction for what strains actually show up. It’s always a good idea to get the vaccine…but not too early…because the immunity wears off. Even if it’s late in the season, good idea to get it, however.
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I never understood why some people make it their concern about when people don’t drink or don’t drink as much as they themselves are drinking. If you have to promise to drink…that just sounds wrong to me. And I usually drink.
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From start to finish, it took probably two hours total in making those dumplings. All that work, and our portions were devoured in moments. Ended up being an afternoon snack. Had to stash some in the fridge before we ate to keep us from destroying the whole batch.
Anyway, on to dinner. Mom is cooking tonight, and not realizing it was Chinese New Year, prepped a Greek pastichio yesterday. We also have some frozen spanakopita which I may or may not heat up.
Such a multicultural day. Not feeling my usual Saturday 'tini. May go with an Old Fashioned.
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Two bowls of chicken soup later, I’m feeling less crabby 
But yes, insisting other people drink is idiotic, saying it reduces your enjoyment if they don’t is also idiotic. There’s definitely social pressure, right or wrong. And I realize I use the allergy explanation rather than get into a thing… (on that point, last night two people - not my friends - suggested that I should “just risk the allergy” because the occasion was so important… huh? Idiot much?)
I realize I have myself been annoyed in the past at friends who specifically arranged to meet at a wine or cocktail bar and then proceeded to order only water themselves… not because they didn’t drink, but because I would rather have met any host of other places or done something together instead.
Meanwhile, my friend’s visiting (other) bestie has been forbidden from drinking at the party tonight - her behavior after a few last night was a good explanation of why 
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It’s the best I’ve had
Tonight wife’s away dealing with her elderly parents. Good time to make some shrimp which she dislikes
Butter poached shrimp over green tea soba noodles
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Oooh yum!
Excellent! Thanks for the step-by-step.
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Very late dinner. But a pork chop was quick-marinated in olive oil, lime juice, maple syrup and s/p, the grilled and finished in the oven.
Roasted Yukon Gold potatoes with oil, s/p, and Herbs de Provence, done in the new Breville Smart Pro convection/toaster oven I’ve been needing and happened to find at Home Goods at a deep deep discount plus having a $50 GC to help me make my decision, and steamed green beans with toasted almonds alongside.
Oh yup. Wine. And I might even have some ice cream or Cuarenta y Tres as dessert.
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Hell yeah on the convection oven! I have an air fryer which I use at least once a week and is one of the best gifts I’ve ever received!
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I was so happy when I saw you got it there - I always see them there and was hoping you didn’t pay full price!
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I think it would be great if we all stopped talking about why/how other people don’t drink, insist that they do for some important occasion??? That’s so wrong. And for you, I hope you would feel comfortable to respond to an invitation to somewhere, to say, what if we tried…(non bar, etc.)…enforcing drinking for some and forbidding drinking for others??? I don’t get it.
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Total bummer mariacarmen, sorry you are having such a siege of ill health 
Rest, hydrate & get well soon!
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And I’ve NEVER seen them there…then again, maybe I’ve not been looking before!
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