I wish I had never seen it. But the inaccuracy just had me all in a tizzy. And I agree with @CateCAParent i hate thinking of people coming along later and reading bad information.
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I lost that battle quickly as she started by asking her questions directly in my personal thread. Then went on to make her allegations against me and my parenting directly in the other thread. I always try to see the best in people and assume good intentions. I do truly think there was a fundamental misunderstanding from her about what I wrote, but I did lose my cool a bit when she said I couldn’t care for my daughter and told another user that because her son only called home every once in a while that mom had abandoned her son.
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I don’t know how I managed to stay out of it. Kudos to all of you who stayed level-headed by refuting the posts which were wildly inaccurate.
I’m a NY Times subscriber, so I could see the article which mentions Scarlet, the teen who went from her home in Austin, TX to Proctor Academy in NH during the pandemic who “struggled to find her niche.” This is a ridiculous example to use as evidence that boarding schools are abusive to kids. Scarlet was not there against her will as it says: “She decided to leave her magnet school.” Note, it does not say her parents decided to put her in boarding school. And, she only described it as “horrible” when she had to stay on campus to quarantine after the other students left. Being on an empty campus may not be fun, but it isn’t abusive.
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I have to tell you that I was impressed with how tactfully you handled yourself in that situation.
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@CateCAParent my thinking was also about people who might read the thread who don’t have an opinion or understanding of BS yet. I grew up in Texas where BS is just not part of the culture; when people here hear the phrase they picture either military/reform schools were kids are sent as punishment or Harry Potter. Most have never actually known someone who went to the types of schools discussed here. The OP was clearly committed to their convictions but I couldn’t bring myself to let the “alternative facts” go unchallenged.
Plus I just really, really hate arguments based on glaringly faulty logic and bad evidence. It’s a fool-proof way to push my buttons.
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Me too. Me too. Sigh.
I also don’t like when people insult others. There’s nothing to be gained by that. I try to be polite about it, but that will almost always trigger me.
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For me it was the repeatedly ignoring of valid points and not replying to actual facts presented. The holier than thou comments and implications that everyone else is a horrible person were my triggers. I actually think they were here to have fun stirring things up and not, as they said, writing an article.
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TBH reading through it after the fact I’m going to stick with the view that they are a ■■■■■, plain and simple. The behavior you’re all describing fits the definition pretty much to a T.
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Perhaps we can all get back to cocktail hour. Discussing another person behind her back, even one who has been banned, is not really good form. Plus it’s a ToS violation.
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Ski it’s not even 9 in the morning here! But I’ll happily oblige. We were very interested to explore the martini culture in Venice. I asked for my usual choice of gin and preparation, and they pleaded with me to try things their way.
They premix batches (either 10:1 or 15:1) and store them in the freezer. Then they pour into pre-chilled coupes and serve. One place was so insane about it that the waiter brought out freshly chilled coupes to pour our partly-consumed drinks into in order to keep them primed. And I’m not a slow drinker.
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The only way to drink a martini. We keep our gin and glasses (coated with a smidge of vermouth) in the freezer. DH bruises the gin before pouring such that there is a microfilm of ice that kisses your lip when you sip. When that lovely skin melts, the drink needs refreshing.
Evidently, the Venetians understand this.
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I think this is the solution I’ve been looking for! My problem with “the Venetian way” was that it seemed to more or less rob one of the process of making the drinks, which I actually quite enjoy. I’m more of a stir than shake kinda guy when it comes to gin, but I do so much enjoy the microfilm of ice on DW’s vodka martini…
Also sounds like we’d all be friends.
Two questions:
- Do you also put a smidge of vermouth in the gin in the freezer, or only the smidge in the glasses?
- What gins are you drinking these days? My rotation currently consists of Blue (probably my favorite, Austrian and generally very hard to find esp as they have no distribution in MA), Dorothy Parker, and Monkey 47.
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DH puts a drop or two in the glasses using his vermouth can,* then coats the inside of them with his finger before placing in the freezer. We’ve tried every gin imaginable but always come back to Bombay Sapphire. Occasionally, we’ll smoke the martinis with a sprig of rosemary or some other botanical:
DH favors Manhattans and keeps a bottle of oak-smoked Teeling for when he wants a darker version (wouldn’t dare desecrate a bottle of Blanton’s, his fav):
I prefer Angel’s Envy and may be responsible for the sad state of this bottle:
*Christmas present eons ago.
Interesting! We’ll have to part ways on the Bombay Sapphire, but I love the rest including the Angel’s Envy, and the dropper/can. I’ve gotten remarkably adept at pouring a trace of vermouth into the cap, then using the cap to let a drop or two out…which is about all I use. I may hunt for a can however as that looks like a lovely and practical accessory.
Haven’t gotten into smoking though my local does it. And I can walk to/from so that helps!
I love a Manhattan and when not martini-ing I rotate amongst the Boulevardier and Negroni and Manhattan depending on mood and weather. Yet the martini serves as the touchstone. Is it 5pm yet?
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Totally understand, but it’s like Domino’s pizza to me. I’ve tried every “best” pizza on the planet (have lived in Chicago, Boston, and hundreds of stays in NYC) but Domino’s (original sauce which they don’t make anymore, so we make our own pizza) is just the taste that says pizza to me. Plus, I went to school in Ann Arbor, D’s home. I know, I know…don’t throw things.
Sapphire is uninspiring, but nothing else I’ve tried can shake me loose, anything else is just not a martini to me.
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OFF WITH YOUR HEAD says this born/raised native NYer. 
ETA: btw Sir Jack’s had the can so I scooped it up 
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Let’s get serious now….my glasses are in the freezer along with my Lewis ice bag and the mallet…
One of the reasons we chose Deerfield over the other schools that we could get a great martini without technically leaving campus or driving 
Yes….Deerfield has its own Martini.
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Deerfield has come up in my estimation, then. Not much, but still…
+1 to the ice bag, @Golfgr8. A necessity for mint juleps.
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DH is aghast at my post and has corrected me. He says he long ago dispensed with the finger-swipe and now swirls the vermouth, pours it out, rubs a lemon rind along the rim, and then freezes. He also freezes our garlic & jalapeño olives to act as ice cubes as water in any form should never touch gin, so I guess shaken is a thing of the past, but he still gets that microfilm somehow. Perhaps I’ll leave my lounger just long enough this evening to watch this new preparation.
Vodka! And you remain married to this woman?
I don’t know if Choate does, but we gifted our son with a set of West Point martinis and highball glasses as it’s very important to start your kids out right.