I've been watching a historical telenovela (pirates! sword fights! tiaras!) and I've found that I understand more of it now than when it started. Also - serious eye candy.

I once heard about some Swedes who learned English from a woman from Yorkshire ... ended up with the wildest accent

Similarly, the strangest I've ever heard was a Frenchwoman who learned all of her English in Glasgow.

But mostly, I'm here for the Tom Yum Gai -- thanks for the reminder, o_a, as I dragged out all my cookbooks and now I'm incredibly hungry and have no lemongrass in the house and the car is out with the hub. Pout. Thanks a LOT.

N-E-WAY. The "Yum" in Tom Yum is completely different from the salad "Yum" which is more often spelled "Yam".

The Tom Yum "Yum" only appears in those recipes, in the books I have that spell things consistently, and from what I can tell, it's a very fixed phrase -- there are packaged Tom Yum sauces or concentrates or soup mixes, and people (by which I mean, basically, English-language food sites written by Thais) talk about how they don't give you as genuine a Tom Yum flavor as doing it from scratch, etc. etc. etc.

So whatever the "Yum" originally meant, the phrase "Tom Yum" is kind of its own thing, in the way Hot-and-sour refers to something distinct in addition to just the words "hot" or "sour" on their own. If that makes sense. I'll get further info when I see one of my helpful and foodie Thai students tomorrow. Although the last time I got her started on Thai food, I ended up at her recommended restaurant three times in the next week, and on a budget shortly thereafter. Oh, the sacrifice.

(The "kha" in Tom Kha Gai, btw, is much simpler -- it's the word for Galangal, which is a relative of Ginger.)

Similarly, the strangest I've ever heard was a Frenchwoman who learned all of her English in Glasgow.

Ow. Ow! OWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOWOW!

I believe I said "strange". Not "pretty".

French/Glaswegian hurt, and I didn't even have to hear it firsthand.

So, I left a message for a supervisor at MassHealth. She never called back. So, should I just let it go, or should I call and ask for her supervisor tomorrow?

Having tooth pulled tomorrow. I want to put up a soup in the crockpot in the morning for dinner that night since I suspect I won't be doing a lot of chewing. I have marrow bones, onions, and beef broth in the house. Just dump them all in the crockpot for ten hours with some garlic, bay leaves, salt, olive oil and wine? Roast the marrow bones first? (How long, what temperature?) Any low labor suggestions to improve this, remembering that I want results that don't need chewing?

vw - my vote is for getting in touch with a human (emphasis there) but it depends on how much time you want to commit. I would write a letter too - and keep a copy in your files.

I'm actually thinking about going to the office tomorrow. This has been such a clusterfuck. I want to hand them the paystubs and make sure everything is accounted for.

Ugh. I went to the gyn for a followup to my annual which was on the 4th. She thought I might have fibroids or endometriosis. Turns out I have to have surgery on May 6th, if not sooner because (whitefonted for the squeamish) I have an 11cm. cyst on one of my ovaries. It's apparently so bog she thought it was my uterus during my pelvic. But wait, that's not the sqeamish part! It might have TEETH. And/or HAIR.

I've named it Little Orphan Annie. I had blood drawn to see if it's cancerous, which my gyn seemed really supersure it wasn't. BUt they're going to chop me open and take it out. On MAY 6th. End of the school year. TWo weeks, at least recovery. And I'm out of sick days (Thanks, Little Orphan Annie!) so it will be two weeks right at the end of the school year WITHOUT pay. With a $1000 deductible and 50% freaking copay on everything over that. Le fucksticks.

So, what I really want to probe the hivemind for it: anyone ever had one of these things, how long does it take to recover from a chick slice and dice?

And how good are the drugs?