Men’s Interests

How to Make-up After a Fight

1. Don’t go to bed angry. It’s best to agree on this approach before you get into an argument.

2. Make a friendly gesture. If you make the initial overture, it’s likely it will be reciprocated.

3. Apologize for something you did in the fight. This opens the door for a real discussion.

4. Call a truce. Agree to think about the problem and discuss it calmly later.

5. Don’t give your partner the silent treatment. Ignoring someone only distances you further.

6. Accept your partner’s apology.

7. Make a love effort. It’s not enough to apologize, but quality time helps you focus on what’s great about the relationship as opposed to the fight.

from date.com

My Number Eight: Have Sex!

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 onion, chopped
1 medium tomato, cored, seeded and diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 jalapeno chiles, stemmed, seeded and chopped
1 1/2 pounds winter squash, such as West Indian pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
3 cups stock or water
1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 cups whole milk
1/4 cup grated Manchego cheese

Melt the butter in a large stockpot over moderate heat. Add the onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato, garlic, jalapeno and salt and cook 1 to 2 minutes longer. Add the squash and stock and simmer, covered, for about 20 minutes, or until the squash is falling apart and soup is thickened slightly. Puree soup with an immersion blender, or use a blender and return soup to a clean pan. Add the milk and heat gently. Stir in the cheese and adjust the seasonings.

MANCHEGO CHEESE

Manchego is the best known and most widely available Spanish cheese. It comes from La Mancha, the land of Don Quixote, and was originally made only from the milk of Manchego sheep. Manchego is aged for 3 months or longer, and is a semi-firm cheese with a rich golden color. It comes in a 10 inch diameter wheel, 5 inches thick with a herringbone design on the rind. It ranges from mild to sharp, depending on how long it is aged.

When I make this I’ll leave out the jalapeno chiles, and I’ll use cheddar cheese. Oh, and coarse salt? No…I’ll use table salt.

1 1/2 pounds ripe plum tomatoes
5 tablespoons olive oil
2 minced garlic cloves
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled
1/4 teaspoon dried basil, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup dry red wine
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup tomato paste
Sugar to taste, if needed
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese, optional

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Halve tomatoes lengthwise and lay them cut sides down in a jelly-roll pan. Brush generously with 3 tablespoons oil and sprinkle with garlic, oregano, basil, and pepper. Roast tomatoes until their edges are charred, about 15 to 20. Scrape tomatoes, oil, and herbs from pan into food processor. Process until not quite smooth (leaving small chunks and charred black specks).

In a saucepan cook onion in remaining 2 tablespoons oil until translucent. Whisk in roasted tomato puree, broth, and wine. Then whisk tomato paste. Heat the cream and whisk in to the tomato mixture. Taste and add sugar if necessary. Stir in optional Parmesan. Add salt and pepper to taste and bring soup to a simmer.

Don’t have a food processor? Try a blender.

Recipes from the Food Network

cooking soup recipes dating

According to the dating professionals at Match.com, these are the top ten reasons men should be thankful for women:

1. Like it or not, we groom you for a real relationship

2. We’re sympathetic

3. We’re extraordinary ego-boosters

4. We’re soft

5. We keep your social life hopping

6. We listen

7. We have a civilizing influence

8. We inspire you to shoot for gold

9. We make worthy opponents

10. If you want kids someday, we’re usually willing to have them

more…

I thought I should step-it-up and get serious. Today’s holiday lesson is about sexual harrassment at work. Please view these two videos then share them with your associates. (warning-adult content)

Abstract:

Premarital cohabitation has consistently been found to be associated with increased risk for divorce and marital distress in the United States. Two explanations for this “cohabitation effect” are discussed: selection and experience. We present an empirically based view of
how the experience of cohabitation may increase risk for relationship distress or divorce for some people beyond what is accounted for by selection. Specifically, using a commitment framework, we suggest that some couples who otherwise would not have married end up married because of the inertia of cohabitation. We discuss practice implications for relationship transitions that are characterized more by sliding than deciding, especially where a transition such as cohabitation increases inertia to remain in a relationship regardless of quality or fit.

Stanley, Scott M., Rhoades, Galena Kline & Markman, Howard J. (2006) Sliding Versus Deciding: Inertia and the Premarital Cohabitation Effect*. Family Relations 55 (4), 499-509. doi: 10.1111/j.1741-3729.2006.00418.x

To view, print or save the article click here.

marriage, cohabitating, divorce

Dr. Helen got it right when she posted this to her blog Sunday:

Misandric TV

Take a look at this clip from youtube…on the Dr. Phil Show… The video clip shows the willingness of this misandric psychologist to pander to his female audience without any regard for men’s Constitutional rights or equality of reproductive choice.

Unbelievably, Dr. Phil takes the position that a man should be forced to be a father, even when his girlfriend lies to him about her medical condition, birth control and the level of responsibility she is willing to take before they have sex…

If a man lied to a woman in a similar fashion, you’d better believe that he would be ridiculed and held up as a loser…

Here’s the video:

Dr Helen adds:

Yes, these daytime talk shows like Dr. Phil are silly and not worth watching for the most part, but that does not mean that they are harmless. All of us who care about equal justice in the courts for both women and men would do well to pay attention to the cultural messages that shows like this send out…

Apparently, the young man’s views are a joke to the host and females in Dr. Phil’s audience but they should not be to the average American male. Perhaps it is time for a man’s version of The View or other countershows that teach the American public that men’s issues, views, and rights are as equally important as women’s in the American cultural and legal system.

So, what are your thoughts on male reproductive choices?

child support, parenting, children, money, family law reform, civil rights, fathers, fathers rights, mens rights, parents, mothers, family court, misandry

Are you or your partner dieting? Wouldn’t it be nice if every time you went out to eat you knew you’d be able to stay on your diet? Now you can. With the information on this website you’ll never have to hear, “No, let’s stay home and have a salad.”

I searched for restaurants in my area. I found two within ten miles and eight within twenty miles. The site is brand new, looking to launch early next year. Bookmark and check it often.

Dieting Tidbits:

What are your favorite restaurants that serve healthy food?

Why is it when I attempt to do a little digging I end up falling into a huge hole?

While preparing to write an article about my online dating adventure I decided to look for ratings of the different companies. I thought I’d hit a gold mine when I came across RipOffReport. It listed several of the dating sites I’m using now. Most of the complaints were from people who were charged after they’d already cancelled their memberships. Many said that contacting the companies did no good, that they had to use a consumer’s site to help.

Other complaints were that members were still listed after other members told the companies they were part of a Nigerian scam. Okay, I’ll be honest. I have no sympathy for the woman who didn’t wise up until she’d already given a guy $1,000.

I was planning on linking to the rip-off site…until I did more digging…on the site’s owner. First I learned that he’s won a couple of lawsuits filed against him. The courts said he’s not responsible for things third parties post. It was looking good, so far.

Then as I kept digging I learned he’s been sued several times. The word “extortion” came up more than once. I looked at some documents that lead me to believe that’s exactly what he’s doing. Now don’t get me wrong; I’m not accusing him. (I certainly don’t want to be sued!) But what else am I to think?

On the rip-off site there are many complaints by end-users. At the end of each one there’s a form the accused can fill out so a rebuttal will appear online with the complaint. I didn’t see any rebuttals on the pages I visited. It turns out the owner sends the accused companies letters telling them that he will change the complaints to make them seem like wonderful companies, if they pay a fee.

In the documents I saw on BadBusinessRipOff he asked for anywhere from $1,500 to $50,000 to start, and that didn’t include the monthly fees he asked for to keep the rating positive. I’m curious how a current lawsuit will pan out, but according to another website he’s in hiding. His attorney has postponed a recent court date. Click here to see what wikipedia says about RipOffReport.

So, the ratings will have to come from me, and from people I ask. I’ll be doing some online polling and will let you know the results. If you’ve had good or bad experiences with online dating, please leave me a comment.

Another thing I came across in my now excavating was “rate-a-date” sites. These sites are for rating the individuals, not the services. I certainly don’t mind the gender-neutral sites like RateB4UDate and TrueDater. I did notice a lot more men listed than women, but I’m convinced that’s because men don’t use services like these as much as women do. If a man is scammed he usually keeps it to himself.

I do have a problem with one website called WomanSavers. The questions they ask seem leading to me; especially when written to women who are feeling scorned and angry. And according to the site, only the original poster can remove or edit the comments. What is a man to do if a woman lies about him?

Another issue I have with WomanSavers is their use of false statistics. I went to their page on infidelity, and after reading a lot of information about pornography and pedophiles I finally came to the part about cheating. Unfortunately, the statistics are all wrong. They wrote that up to 70% of men cheat, and probably more. They used statistics commonly used in the 1980’s, based on a faulty study done in the 70’s. And when they did use statistics closer to the truth, they added a disclaimer saying they could be wrong because of all the secrecy.

Makes me think the site is run by someone’s bitter ex. The truth is only about 25% of men cheat, and about 23% of women cheat.

I never got around to finishing my original article today. Seems there’s a lot more to the story than I realized. I’m happy to say that I haven’t had any of the negative experiences I’ve read about on other blogs. I’ve only communicated with and met nice guys. Maybe my strong intuition is helping.

Now to wash all this dirt off…

I just came across this easy-to-make recipe for Chicken Breasts with Spicy Honey-Orange Glaze on ivillage.com. Now, if I was making it, I’d probably leave out the pepper flakes, green onions (when serving it to kids), parsley and possibly the orange zest (grated orange peel for those who don’t know.) I seriously doubt it would change the taste that much, and if I don’t already have these items onhand I wouldn’t want to buy them for one recipe. Note* Some pizza places give away small packages of red pepper flakes with their pizza.

You can serve the chicken with a salad, and the easy apple dessert Baked Apple Snack below, also from ivillage.com.

A sweetly spicy sauce dresses up your chicken main dish for an easy weeknight dinner. Kids love it! Serve a salad alongside for a healthy meal.

Serving: 6
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsps frozen orange juice concentrate
1 tsp grated orange zest
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 tbsp margarine
1/2 tsp vegetable oil
Garnish: green onion, chopped
Garnish: fresh parsley, chopped

DIRECTIONS:
1. In small bowl, combine honey with juice concentrate, orange zest, garlic, salt and red pepper flakes.

2. Rinse chicken with cold water and pat dry. Season lightly with salt. In large non-stick skillet, heat margarine and oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook about 4 minutes, until seared. Turn chicken; cook another 4 minutes until just cooked through.

3. Pour honey mixture over chicken and cook, turning chicken to coat as sauce begins to thicken, about 2 minutes. Serve chicken breasts with honey-orange glaze spooned over the top. Sprinkle with parsley and green onion.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
Based on individual serving.
Calories: 200
Total Fat: 4 g
Carbohydrates: 14 g
Protein: 27 g

Source: National Honey Board Wen Zientek

Your home will smell like fresh apple pie while this easy dessert is baking.

Serving: 1
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 60 minutes
Total Time: 70 minutes

INGREDIENTS:
apple
brown sugar
cinnamon
raisins

DIRECTIONS:
1. Wash and core one apple per person.

2. Place apples upright in a baking dish.

3. Fill centers of apples with raisins and brown sugar.

4. Sprinkle some cinnamon on top.

5. Bake for one hour at 180 degrees.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
Based on individual serving.
Calories: 167
Total Fat: 2 g
Carbohydrates: 44 g
Protein: 1 g

Source: Helene Siegel Wen Zientek

From Handheld Comedy:

These guys, Eddie Ifft, Bryan Callen and Dov Davidoff are funny, but what I find even more endearing is their brutal honesty about how the male mind thinks about women.

Friday, Oct. 20th ‘06

WARNING: This podcast includes sexual content that might not be suitable for children.