You can't fairly judge all church weddings by just one.

omnis, that doesn't sound like any church wedding I have been to.

Whew. I know I'm a 'heathen' and all, but o boy did I feel like a fish out of water this afternoon. Good to know this is atypical. I really hope when she gets back from her honeymoon, the wedding doesn't come up in conversation at the lunch room. Apparently it was his church, she's marrying into it.

Passover question. Cous-cous are wheat, but they contain no ingredien except wheat and cook in 5-7 minutes unlike most pastas. Does that make them Kosher for passover? (assuming the facility they are prepared in is OK).

Hil, I would think Passover would be particularly hard on a vegan, it must really limit your options.

Well, I'm not totally vegan -- I still eat dairy, and I'm not always quite as vigilant as I think I should be about eggs as ingredients -- which helps some. Also, I decided that eating beans during Passover is OK for me -- I grew up with, basically, "We don't eat beans during Passover because our ancestors didn't, even though we acknowledge that the rule doesn't actually make sense," but I found a bunch of rabbis who've published things saying that beans are fine during Passover, and many of them added that especially vegans should consider eating beans, so I decided to add them back into my Passover diet.

None of that really helps, though, when my kitchen basically contains a box of matzo, an onion, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of almond butter, and a tangerine that I just ate. Plus some canned and dry beans, and a few packages of tofu, and a bunch of spices. I'm not going to starve on this, but I'm not going to eat anything very interesting, either. I need to go grocery shopping tomorrow and get some fruits and vegetables.

Passover question. Cous-cous are wheat, but they contain no ingredien except wheat and cook in 5-7 minutes unlike most pastas. Does that make them Kosher for passover? (assuming the facility they are prepared in is OK).

Nope. Wheat is allowable only in matzo form. There is something called Passover couscous, which we had at the seder, which is basically couscous-sized bits of matzo, and it was pretty good.

Huh? What is the reasoning on this? Not leavened, cooks in less than the minimum? What is the logic for matzo yes? couscous no? No time for yeast to grow in either case.

Umm just to be clear, not arguing, just curious.

Well, it's supposed to be 18 minutes from the time that the water first touches the flour until the time that it comes out of the oven. I think that something like couscous that doesn't cook in an oven might mess that up. Also, if you're starting from dried couscous, you've also got to factor in the time that it took to mix the semolina with the water, form that dough into couscous, and then dry, which I'm betting is where the problem is. (I really don't know the "why not?" answer for sure, but this is what I think seems like it might be the explanation.)

Except now I have to figure out what to wear tonight that is a fine balance between comfortable, sexy and not too slutty.

remember, boobs OR leg is sexy. Boobs AND leg is slutty.

remember, boobs OR leg is sexy. Boobs AND leg is slutty.

What is the reasoning on this?

Religion freaky

Church of Christ, from my experience is way out there.

I went to a service once, I was some place and these people came up and introduced themselves and gave me a card with the church name and I figured I'd go.

The longest church service EVER. There was no music. I asked about this, and was told that there's no mention of music in the New Testament so no music. I asked well, there's lots of mention of music in the Old Testament but the answer was some thing along the lines of we follow the New Testatment.

And the service? An entire service on how being fat is a sin against God. It's a sin because your body is a temple and an extension of God (since we are made in His image) and that being fat is desecrating that and tarnishing God. Being fat is continually sinning so unless you get thin you are risking your chances in Heaven even if you are saved. Because you are supposed to stop sinning to really get in Heaven.

The preacher mentioned one woman in particular that he was "consueling' and talked about how they were working together so she could be skinny and right with God.

I was cornered as I left by the person who gave me the card and when she gushed about the sermon all I could do was clench my teeth and say it was interesting. And ask about the no music to deflect any further questions and then get out.

Not too long after that there was a write up in the paper about how Church of Christ is seen as cult like by some people and how it cuts members off from their families etc.