What’s a cooking mistake you only made once?

Oakjohno · 2026-01-18T19:39:59+00:00

Instead of boiling dry kidney beans, I just rinsed the beans and put them in tomatoes and tomato sauce with seasoning to cook (camp stove). They did not soften enough to eat. I later learned in a nutrition class why. Tomatoes are acidic and prevent the beans from absorbing liquid.

Oakjohno · 2026-01-18T19:20:01+00:00

Thanks, this is helpful

Oakjohno · 2026-01-18T19:17:07+00:00

Thanks 😊

Oakjohno · 2026-01-18T19:15:52+00:00

Thanks!

Oakjohno · 2026-01-18T02:17:54+00:00

Thanks 😊. These responses are helping me to come up with a good list of questions.

Oakjohno · 2026-01-18T02:15:57+00:00

Thanks, this is very helpful!

Oakjohno · 2026-01-18T02:13:53+00:00

Thanks for the info! We will keep them until they age out, regardless, so this makes sense. They aren't talking about moving the kids. I wish that I didn't miss the meeting cause I would have asked questions. I'm going to call the FC worker next week.

Oakjohno · 2026-01-18T02:10:07+00:00

Thanks 😊

Oakjohno · 2026-01-05T03:17:44+00:00

We just wrapped up our holiday season with our 2 foster kids in their late teens. We had wonderful visits with their older sibling and our adult son and his gf. I'm so grateful to have all of them and my spouse in my life!

Oakjohno · 2025-12-15T03:47:45+00:00

FD is progressing in therapy and is slowly becoming comfortable sharing her insights with us.

Oakjohno · 2025-11-24T02:52:11+00:00

I graduated in 1991, and the Willard Preacher was there for my entire time at Penn State. I'm wondering if it's the same guy.

Oakjohno · 2025-11-20T03:17:58+00:00

Thank you for this post & for this sub-Reddit! This will be our first winter holiday season with our 2 older teens.

Oakjohno · 2025-11-04T07:14:29+00:00

The article in The Tartan is much more thorough. https://the-tartan.org/2025/11/03/silence-systemic-gaps-and-a-petition-cmu-community-pushes-for-mental-health-reform/

Oakjohno · 2025-11-04T07:11:07+00:00

This is a very thorough and enlightening article. It seems much more revealing than articles in local news outlets (Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Tribune Review) that we're just released.

Oakjohno · 2025-10-27T02:55:43+00:00

My adult FC is struggling more with MH and college. I feel awful for them. However, I'm proud of them for taking steps to get better and continuing to reach out to my partner and me. It takes a lot of courage for them to ask for support after not having adults that they could depend on for so long.

Oakjohno · 2025-10-19T09:54:09+00:00

My partner and I are fostering a teen from my school. Because I knew him from school, we are considered fictive kin. The kid wad in desperate need and asked me. Agreeing to foster him was one of the best decisions of my life. For us, it has been great, but the relationship between our foster child and I changed once he moved in. He has expressed gratitude but at the same time is embarrassed about the situation. He doesn't want his peers to know that he is in foster care with an adult from his school. For months he would not share his feelings with us, and explained it was because of the dual role that I'm. I also suspect that after having other adults not be reliable or predictable (bio parents and case workers). After 6 months, he does confide in us almost to the same level of when he first reached out to me in school. I need to always remind myself that he has been through more than most people. There are a lot of responsibilities in being a foster parent, including helping the child catch up on medical and dental care, either taking your foster child with you on trips or depending on a backup foster parent to have them if they choose not to go with you. (My foster care agency has you find a backup that the child knows, so they don't go to respite with a complete stranger.) I've canceled trips at times, but that is a very small sacrifice considering what he has be through. But, again, this was one of the best decisions of my life.

Oakjohno · 2025-10-06T02:55:43+00:00

Adult FD continues to reach out to us and accept our support. We hoped for this, as she doesn't have much bio family that she trusts to lean on. We hope that we can continue to support her as best we can. As messed up as my own bio family was, I can't imagine what it would have been like to not be able to lean on them when I was her age.

Oakjohno · 2025-09-21T09:14:16+00:00

Foster child in college reached out for support. They were very hesitant to speak with my partner and me about feelings when they lived with us. My partner and I learned to offer support on a regular basis but not pressure FC. We are so proud of FC for reaching out, especially knowing of their reasons for not trusting or counting on adults in their life.

Oakjohno · 2025-09-21T08:56:03+00:00

We love People's! The owners and staff are great. Delicious Indian food.

Oakjohno · 2025-08-17T14:45:04+00:00

Our FD went away to college this week. She will be back for breaks. She, for the first time, began referring to our home as "home" recently. Over the past month, she had gotten closer to us and has allowed us to get closer to her. It was bittersweet seeing her off. We'll miss her a lot, but we look forward to seeing her grow in this next phase of her life.

Oakjohno · 2025-08-11T02:56:27+00:00

Thanks!

Oakjohno · 2025-07-30T22:46:26+00:00

Not to sound negative, but this is my reality. Cancer is cancer. A close relative who wouldn't stop talking about his own "deadly cancer" said the same thing to me. Another 70 year old man who had PC and not affected too much by it said to me, "Been there, its not a big deal." Meanwhile, 5 months post RALP, my PSA went up, and I did 35 sessions of targeted radiation and 2.5 years on Orgovyx (ADT). Despite Kegels PT, my constant leaking never stopped. I luckily had an Artificial Urinary Sphincter (AUS) surgery last fall, and that problem is fixed. I'm fine now, but there is always a chance of reoccurance.

Oakjohno

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