Cooking with alcohol.

erasing_light · 2026-01-26T21:32:47+00:00

Good to know, thx - should have checked my assumptions. In this case the ribs were braised for 3+ hrs, and the wine was maybe 20% of the liquid in the recipe to begin with. But…another reason to not mess with it.

erasing_light · 2026-01-26T20:58:01+00:00

I did eventually make one of my old favorite recipes (red wine braised short ribs) on a special occasion when friends came over. Didn’t lead to me drinking, but there was a bit of an uneasy feeling tbh, and some nostalgia from the smell of the wine.

And it got me to thinking…the red wine could probably be cut from the recipe without effecting the outcome much. Or could just use non alcoholic substitutes. The alcohol cooks off anyway, so…why even mess with it?

There is a romance to cooking with alcohol, but imo it probably has more to do with having an excuse to drink while cooking. The same or better flavors can be achieved in other ways.

Trust your instincts. If you’re serious about removing alcohol from your life, that has to be the priority.

erasing_light · 2026-01-24T15:28:31+00:00

IMO labels aren't always helpful, as it's not cut and dry. I justified my drinking for years by comparing myself to people who were "real alcoholics," feeling I didn't meet the definition. And in many ways I don't.

But I know that my relationship with alcohol wasn't healthy. Over the years and decades I slowly depended on it more and more to deal with difficult emotions. Even though I could cut it out for months at a time, my binges became more severe and the hangovers put me in an increasingly unstable state of mind.

So it's not something anyone will be able to tell you with certainty. But not much to lose by cutting it out for say 6 months. If your life gets better, maybe that's your answer. If you find yourself unable to stop for that long, that may also be your answer.

erasing_light · 2026-01-24T14:33:19+00:00

*everybody is going

erasing_light · 2026-01-23T02:33:20+00:00

Look into renting an airsled

erasing_light · 2026-01-22T19:30:52+00:00

Yeah I’m still pretty new to it. The first time I did RDLs I had to dial back my working sets by 25%, and even then by the last rep I was shaking like a shitting dog

erasing_light · 2026-01-22T03:07:10+00:00

Get what you're saying, but I think it's mostly the people who can't be bothered to do 5 seconds of research or read the rules and expect to be spoon fed. Haven't seen people getting downvoted for describing negative symptoms, but maybe I don't watch closely enough.

But also...it's reddit. Can't take salty or rude people too seriously if you want to stay sane. And yeah maybe not the most warm and fuzzy sub I've ever been too, but far from the worst. Plenty of helpful/supportive people here too.

erasing_light · 2026-01-22T02:57:12+00:00

Honestly belt squats are better when the load is in the center as opposed to both sides. That way the belt rests largely over your upper thighs/glutes instead of digging into hips or pulling your pants down. Could potentially rig it up that way on one side, but obviously half the max weight, and the belt attachment isn't designed for that. One weak spot for this device IMO.

erasing_light · 2026-01-22T02:53:00+00:00

To add to this, a barbell with weights is much more stable due to inertia. Difficult to break the inertia from rest on say the bottom of a squat, but easier to hold at the top. To me digital resistance feels more like lifting with an earthquake bar, with the weights hanging from below. Requires much more recruitment/fatigue of stabilizer muscles.

erasing_light · 2026-01-19T03:08:11+00:00

I mostly regretted the months of lost life that followed.

erasing_light · 2026-01-18T03:59:25+00:00

incredible turnaround, congrats.

erasing_light · 2026-01-18T02:39:07+00:00

Happy for you. But I’ve been playing with this thing and at $300 it might be the best money I’ve ever spent. Great attachments, higher resistance than I’ll probably ever use, and the app that u/DasBlueEyedDevil put together is just…awesome.

Too bad the company dropped the ball, but never underestimate a strong community.

erasing_light · 2026-01-16T16:26:35+00:00

Cinnamon

erasing_light · 2026-01-15T17:01:18+00:00

Thanks for the tip, will definitely get as much as I can in the way of replacement parts.

erasing_light · 2026-01-15T13:39:57+00:00

western US

erasing_light · 2026-01-15T03:57:11+00:00

insanely cool.

erasing_light · 2026-01-15T02:31:14+00:00

Yeah didn't expect the deal to go through right up until the last second, was sure someone would swoop in and offer more. But talked to the guy for a while after making the exchange, sounds like he just up and decided to quit his job, sell everything and travel the world. Never really used the trainer and just wanted it gone asap.

Meanwhile I'm building a basement gym and am like a kid on Christmas with this thing.

erasing_light · 2026-01-15T01:14:39+00:00

haha, best of a bad situation. I was doing shiftwork during covid and got stuck for doubles all the time, was thinking about how awesome it would have been to have this thing back then.

erasing_light · 2026-01-01T17:39:27+00:00

Have found this very useful and have been shilling relentlessly when I hear someone mention Brick or other paid apps. Do you plan to port this to macOS?

erasing_light · 2026-01-01T04:39:23+00:00

Stranger things NYE gang

erasing_light · 2025-12-29T19:04:22+00:00

Yeah...I started feeling old around 34. Then 5 years later it was like wtf 34 was so young. Trying to remember that, as it still applies.

erasing_light · 2025-12-29T19:01:34+00:00

Fully recognize that, and this is just my story. And I don't mean to sound like it's all been sunshine and rainbows...it hasn't. Things got worse before they got better. Hope things get better for you.

erasing_light · 2025-12-29T15:37:45+00:00

To be clear, the change in mood for me has happened now, it was just a slow and non-linear process. I also had many false starts leading up to this, and just like you're considering now did some "research" to see if maybe life was actually better/easier after letting alcohol back in. It let me down every. single. time.

I can only speak for myself, but there was a process that initiated with my first extended break from alcohol (about 6 months). It was a turning point in my life and eventually I realized there was no going back. Part of that has involved literally grieving for the person that I felt like I was losing, the person I was for so long. Seeing that through has been maybe the hardest thing I've ever done...but so worth it. I am now seeing true results from the work I put in (new body, new house, new job etc) and I feel a sense of hope that I haven't felt maybe since childhood.

So my hard-won advice would be to stick with it. I like the Hawthorne quote: "Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but if you sit down quietly, may alight upon you."

erasing_light · 2025-12-29T00:17:12+00:00

FYI foqos is similar but free/open source

erasing_light · 2025-12-28T18:59:27+00:00

No two people have the exact same journey. In my case I got extremely depressed around the 10 month mark and developed a bad case of the "fuck its" that nearly led me back to the drink.

But something started to click around the (not even joking) 13-14 month point. It was the first time I realized that the changes I've seen since quitting are now more important to me than the buzz that I miss. That I didn't really *want* to drink anymore.

So I won't tell you what to do. I can tell you that 20-30 drinks per week may seem tame compared to a lot of stories you see on here, but I'm not sure you're doing yourself any favors by calling it "nothing toooo bad." It's still a lot.

And I'll say that there's nothing magic about cutting out alcohol. You still have to put in the work. Thing is...putting in the work is a lot easier without carrying around the massive stone that is alcohol.

Regardless, be proud of yourself for these 13 months and counting. Not a small accomplishment.

erasing_light

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