The co-pays are determined by your employer, by the way. Plans are purchased and the drug plans are offered at all kinds of different levels. My highest co-pay on my current plan is $30 no matter what, even for non-formulary.

Do people get sleepy from Zyrtec, or is it just me and my psychosomatic craziness?

I don't, Pim, but if you do it doesn't mean you're psychosomatic. Or crazy.

Do any of you have a mail order drug plan? It should be cheaper to get the drugs that way. You'll get a 90 day supply, and in many cases the copay is the same as retail (they want to incent you to use MOD).

Yes, I get all the meds I take routinely by mail, through Medco. Their service is very good.

The aggravation I go through monthly over meds drives me crazy.
And to think I spend hundreds of dollers a month just on co-pays.
I take Rebif injections for MS three times a week and the drug is mailed to me directly every month in which it never fails to be some problem or another.

Razor clams.

Only Allegra works for me, and it's $35 for 30 under my Oxford plan. Too bad I spilled 3 down the sink drain this morning.

I love it when you guys talk about medical insurance. It's like this whole secret language.

Cathy: No, but they didn't work out.

They were pretty good razor clams, I think. Huge. Definitely all alive. The problem began when I purged them. Normal clams squirting in your face when you tap them is bad enough, but you really don't want to see your dinner burping and farting and having little accidents in the bath. It's all a bit personal and personalising. And then they got masochistic: two of them were partly flopping out of their shells (and looked quite obscene), but when I tried to tuck their bits back in, they clammed up instantly, and remarkably tightly (nearly caught my finger), thereby doing their best to sever their own i-don't-know-whats.

So when that bit of unhelpful pathos was over, I decided to steam them (fishmonger had said to steam them). Fried some garlic, tiny bit of shallot, and chilli, finely chopped, in evoo, after a bit added a slug of white wine, put in clams, closed lid, waited a little, checked, saw they were all open. Took out clams, reduced juice a little more, chucked over, ditto parsley, ready to eat, yes? Except that evidently while normal clams, by the time they are killed and therefore open, are also cooked, these were quite definitely not, at all. I didn't really want clam sashimi, so I took them out of their shells, and did them a little on a ridged grillpan. At this point, they actually looked and smelled delicious. But my heart wasn't in it any more. And they were so big and, you know, animal in a very complex way, and full of little pockets and tubes and dark deposits and sphinctery things, and it all brought to mind their bathtime a little earlier, and I so I had some pasta. Well, the second batch. The first I overcooked.

oh kiku. dear.

If they are plump, you need to cut out the guts and stuff. Then please try them Pacific NW stye. Not on the grill or steamed. After cutting out the parts you don't want to eat (guts, intestines), you bread them by dipping in beaten egg, then dip in seasoned flour or panko and pan fry in a layer of oil on medium high temp for just a minute or 2. And serve with tarter sauce. Like you had at Flying Fish in Seattle.

Well, that'll teach me to listen to the fishmonger ('just wash them and steam them')

A diagram of which bits to cut would be nice. I'm not sure I can recognise clam gut.

ps. I remember Pacific style very well, was great, although I do also like grilled and steamed, usually.

Hold on, are these Pacific razor clams?



They look nothing like the ones I'm used to. Those -- of any size, from tiny babies to the massive specimens this evening -- look like this:

gj -- thanks, and great minds &c

Twice this week, whilst cleaning the Florida gulf red snapper bones for fish stock; we find fish hooks embedded in the throat areas.

Oh yes, the annoyance...

The menus were already printed with the prices, keeping me from adding $5.00 to the menu price and calling the fish "Line Caught".

Kiku, here's another idea for razor clams from Esca chef Dave Pasternack.

I've been sick, off and on, for almost three weeks, with the flu at first, then a stomach thing. I haven't had a year of illness like this since before I had my tonsils removed.

Clients that do not pay. During the last six weeks I have been, for the first time in years, pursuing clients who normally pay automatically to cough up the dough. I, a pleasant, calm and wonderful fellow, have become the nasty dude. Necessity or fear as the mother of attitude. Maybe it has something to do wiith the economy or something. Perhaps coincidence.

Does someone have a gun I can borrow to get rid of those squirrels? I've been considerting a stakeout to find who is giving them nuts... maybe the gun would be handy there too.

People who use exuberant when they mean exorbitant. Also, those who think the expression for stopping something before it gets established is “nip it in the butt.”

The word "luxury" - everybody pronounces it "lugg-zchury" now.

Also, don't get me started on Voila.

Fly

At least once a month:
"Hi, my name's Liza".
"Nice to meet you, Lisa".

I went to elementary school and junior high with a girl named Leeza. Talk about confusing. She used to introduce herself: I'm Leeza, L-e-e-z-a.

Root canal. $$$$

I'm SO sorry.

I feel for you. I had two teeth go over to the dark side in a span of 4 weeks last spring. There went my planned trip to England.

Me: Hello, my name is Omni and I was referred to your office by Dr. Smith. I am looking for a new PCP. I want to develop a long term relationship with a PCP. I'd like to speak to Dr. Jones on the phone to discuss whether or not we'd be a good fit, and to make sure we're not wasting each other's time before we make an appointment and go through the switch-PCP process.

Sec'y: What's your social and date of birth?

It really needs to rain. That's what's annoying. The 70-80 degree weather for the past few weeks has been lovely, but it can rain anytime now.

Doctor thinks I have a pinched nerve, but MRI and visit to the neurologist for further diagnosis will have to wait for approval by my insurance.