Jay1980

And now this is this morning:

"Ummm yep and I'm not loving it anymore!"

And then:

"Not sick but I might b. Honestly This isn't fun for me anymore."

Sooooo happy this isn't me this morning.

NESfan

Tigger, you're my sobriety superhero today.

Jay, Facebook is cool this morning if you're into schadenfreude (I often am). Of course, I'm still major tired from not getting home until like 2 AM, but at least my tired brain-fog is all-natural.

Welcome back, Stevie!

Marine, Vantrina, Tres, IP, Fraggy, Bimm, congrats and happy new year!

Vantrina

So good to hear from you! 2012 is going to be a good year! Best always! Keep in touch with us.

Tigger, good for you.

Jay, feels good to be removed from chaos, doesn't it? Think about how good your day is going to be today…hanging out and watching football w/a happily tired pup nearby. No alcohol-related craziness. Good going.

Nothing more on the agenda today than taking a snooze, watching football, and preparing and enjoying a nice NYE family dinner. Will go for a long walk in a bit…

Marine, I am completely jealous that you are going to the islands for two weeks. Enjoy, enjoy, and don't forget the EXTRA sunscreen.

Jay1980

My sober heroes of the day are everyone who stayed sober last night and especially those who stayed sober in dangerous environments. I know for a fact I'm not ready to be around it yet.

Marine28

Does anyone know if the "cooking wine" you buy in the salad dressing aisle of the grocery store contains real alcohol? I am guessing the answer is NO because liquor cannot be purchased in grocery stores here in my State, but I am making a recipe that calls for one cup of white wine. I don't want to go to the liquor store to buy even a tiny single serving bottle. Even if the "cooking wine" does contain alcohol, doesn't the alcohol "cook out"? You can tell I am not that much of a cook, can't you? I am currently drinking pink grapefruit flavored seltzer water from my soda stream machine. Just okay. Think I will try the diet root beer flavor next time.

Tigger41

I believe cooking wine has a very minimul amount of alcohol. And yes if you're cooking something for awhile it burns off but the flavor stays.

I'm making chicken soup today as for 2012 I'm going to try to be more healthy in my eating.

For my first day of 2012 I went Razor scootering with my 10 year olds. Thank goodness I didn't fall but I'm already sore. I must have been a sight

NESfan

Some of the alcohol does cook out, but nowhere near all of it. Most of the time the cooking wine, sherry, etc... that you'll find is real and has alcohol, but also has a ton of salt added in an attempt to make it too gross to drink. What are you cooking? Might be able to substitute broth or stock instead of wine, if the idea is just to get a flavorful liquid in there.

Fraggy

stevie! glad you are back!

Fraggy

Deleted...goofed it up..want to get it correct

Fraggy

Ethyl Alcohol comes off at 172 degrees Fahrenheit...please do not ask me why I know this...

Dee74

the wine will definitely have information on the label Marine...I think I'd prefer to not dance with the devil tho.

some substitution suggestions here:
Alcohol Cooking Substitutions - Alcohol Substitute Recipes

and some info on alcohol cooking out
Alcohol Burn-off Chart

D

DarrenW

Happy News Year classmates.

Marine28

I am making spaghetti and clams. The recipe I have, even "halved", is enough to last me a week! I went to the grocery store and bought the "cooking wine". It says it contains less than 10% alcohol, but it also has a bunch of other stuff in there, too, as you said, to make it too gross to drink. I have to bring the white sauce to a boil, so I am sure whatever alcohol is in there will burn off and I have no desire to drink that stuff.

Marine28

Thanks for the links, Dee, just saw your post after I posted mine. :-)

Bruman

Happy Sober New Year!!!

Vantrina

Since attempting to remain sober I have substituted chicken broth, orange juice, soy sauce, and a host of other concoctions for any type of cooking wine. I'm not so extreme that I won't enjoy something when out dining in a restaurant that is flavored w/wine, but I do not want any thing that hints of wine in the house.

I mix things….chicken broth w/ a shot of soy sauce has flavor that works in many dishes that are not typically Asian. Adding spices to broth before adding it to a dish can also perk it up.

My former method was akin to Julia Child's…one cup of wine for the pot, one cup of wine for me.

My former rule of thumb was to never add a wine I would not serve to myself or guests to my cooking. Same goes for a sherry or whatever. "Cooking wines" in my honest opinion, ((and I am serious about my food and my cooking)) are not worth the $.

If you are making clams w/red sauce, you really need some good garlic and a hit of sea or kosher salt more than wine. What time would you like us over for dinner? Pasta and clams are akin to heaven! lol.

This sobriety thing is not always so simple, is it? Had to really struggle w/ myself making dinner tonight. I was all grouchy because I wanted a glass of wine or a shot of anything to take the edge off while I cooked tonight. Wasn't expecting that. Drank about four glasses of lemonade in my favorite glass, grumbled throughout the whole cooking process, and eventually, snapped out of it. Fortunately I was ok when dinner was served.

I was actually annoyed with myself for not being able to drink, and angry at the thought of not being able to anytime soon…glad that passed.

Tigger, I thought of you. Didn't you go through something similar a few weeks back…you were sad and angry about not drinking? Thought of that and it helped. Thanks.

Going to finish the dishes, blow out the candles, and watch some tv w/the family. Have a good and sober night everyone.

Jay1980

Hey everyone. I had a so-so start to my 2012. I keep getting these random headaches. I think it might be because I ran out of one of my meds (it's supposed to help alcohol cravings) and I haven't picked up the refill yet. I dunno.

Just watched football and spent time with the puppy today. Kept looking at my phone wondering who to text/call/IM and the number of people I talk to now has diminished so much that it's kinda been depressing me. I guess that's how it goes though.

Tigger41

Yep - I go though this and it feels like it's going to last forever but usually passes in 15-30 minutes. Sometimes I'm so mad at myself for becoming an alcoholic and then I think... well that's in the past and I can't change it so move on.

I hear you - I'm down to about 2 friends outside my family who I speak to on a regular basis. Sad I agree, but I think I'm going to take a night yoga class and make some new friends. What can you do to expand your circle?

Well I did great with drinking today but ummm not so good with the eating right. I made brownies and ate about 1/3 of the tray (I love brownies). I'm seriously going to have to start on Tuesday (first day back to work).

Have a good night Ninjas. I'm going to watch and hope the Giants can pull it out.

Hey Burman - HNY!

Marine28

Hey Jay. I am going through the same thing. I went all day without seeing or talking to anyone except the clerk at the grocery store. I keep telling myself at least I wasn't drinking! What meds are you taking for the cravings? I had the valium but it made me extremely depressed! Still a bit down but not like i was. Must try to find something positive about each day to think about! My clam sauce was good, but not as good as in the past. That cooking wine was horrible. Tomorrow I am going to add more garlic when I have it for my leftover dinner.

Jay1980

Tres, I think you can relax now. The Giants have this one in the bag

And to Tres and Marine - the making new friends thing isn't easy. Or at least I haven't found it to be. I go to a couple AA meetings a week but that's it. I've found the people there are very, very nice but if I ever call them or wanna hang out I feel like a lot of the time I'm being lectured. "Oh, you have to go to a meeting every day!" "If you don't work the program and the 12 steps you'll relapse!" "If you stay sober without meetings you're just a dry drunk!" I just wanna find some people relatively close to my age who I can hang out with, talk to, anything, that don't feel the need to drink and party.

I tried MeetUp.com once. I joined a movie going group where everyone would get together before the movie, watch the movie and then get dinner afterwards and discuss. I went once and never again. These were the people in movie theaters I'm usually furious with. They were loud, obnoxious, rude. I got up to go to the bathroom and then came back and took a seat about 20 rows ahead of them, watched the movie, left and never considered that again.

Marine, I'm on Baclofen for the cravings. Apparently it's main purpose is a muscle relaxer and they're just now being used for alcohol cravings. I could NEVER take a pill that caused depression. I already have that and am on an anti-depressant. That would just be awful to have that increased in any way.

Well, this too shall pass. Hopefully tomorrow is a bit better.