Catch up!

It has been a busy month since my last report, and a lot has been happening!

For one thing, the kitchen is REALLY finished!  Finally!  With the help of my sweet neighbor, we tiled all the counter tops.  Of course, in the middle of that, my microwave died, so that had to be replaced.  




And for those who know, yes, it's still red, a little bigger, a little faster and a whole lot quieter!  And now I'm done!  The kitchen has been upgraded to the twentieth century, and that's far enough for a little cardboard house!!

Some time in there was Labor Day, and it wasn't at my house for a change!  I've finally shamed a couple of my neighbors into having parties, instead of them always coming to my house!


Besides being a treat for me not to have to do all the cleanup, it's been really interesting to see the changes in my little Misha - she's invited to the parties too, and she's blossomed at being a guest instead of always the hostess.  She's still shy and timid, but not so much so, and lots of folks have noticed it.

I took something fun to the Labor Day party - a recipe that Sooz sent me - corn on the cob bites!  Big deal - corn on the cob.  Lots of people have it at summer parties.  But it's not easy to eat off a paper plate, and it's messy and so some people pass on it.  No longer!


Grilled Corn Disks

An hors d'oeuvre for a casual party. 

I cut ears of corn into rounds about an inch thick, rolled them in soft butter, seasoned them with salt and pepper, and microwaved them. I did four ears, so micro'd them for about 7 minutes (in my old finicky dying micro).  Let them cool for a few minutes and then toss them in a big ziplock bag with a tablespoon of cooking oil for each ear (I used coconut oil) and some more salt and pepper, and Spike.  Cook on a medium-hot grill, cut sides down, about 2 minutes per side.  You can stab them with a fork, or one of those cute corn cob pokers, or just use your fingers!  The coconut oil added a slight twist that everyone liked and no one recognized!  This one is a keeper!  Party or no party!

I also made some hot dogs for the party.  The only place I really enjoy at hot dog is at a baseball game - that's just one of the things you have to do - hot dogs and beer!  And I don't even like beer.  But they wanted hot dogs.  

One of the other things I don't like about hot dogs is the lousy buns.  So...   I looked at dozens of recipes for hot dogs online.  I knew the grill would be busy, and I hate boiled hot dogs, so I found this suggestion from The Paupered Chefs  - and I'm sorry to see, when checking in to get the link to their site, they are taking a break from the website, but the fun recipes are still there to wander among!

Saute the wienies of choice in a little water and a couple tablespoons of butter until they just start to brown and smell yummy.

Use some really good multi-grain bread.  Spread with Dijon or the mustard you like best.  Sprinkle with grated sharp cheddar and lay the wienie in the center.  Roll them up tight and toothpick shut if you need to.  

Lay them on the grill for just a few moments to brown the bread and chow down!

You can cut them into pieces for bite size munchies, or eat the whole thing!  Way better than a standard hot dog!  IMHO!

Then I played Nurse Gayle for a week for an old pal who popped his Achilles Tendon and had it repaired.  Poor baby did not do well with the anesthesia and pain meds, so the first couple days were rough, but after that he was a decent patient, mostly.  Having to be totally non-weight bearing on the repaired foot is not easy.  He tried crutches and tried my old walker, and mostly grumbled.  But we ate well.  

I had some blueberries in the freezer and looked for something fun to do with them and thought to use a pork tenderloin.

I cooked up a sauce by carmelizing a chopped sweet onion, added chopped tomatoes and about a cup of blueberries. 

I let it cook down while I pan fried thick slices of pork tenderloin to medium rare, then spooned the sauce over the little pork steaks.  

Served it with stir-fried white scalloped squash, zucchini and onion.

This odd combination was fabulous!

Now, I'm back to the medical game.  After a couple visits with a couple doctors, I'm going back under the knife.  Tomorrow morning.  

A while back, I wrote about the damned softball in my lower belly - which was diagnosed after several tries, as a seroma.  The doc suggested aspirating it, siphoning off the fluid in the thing.  He said it might fill up again, which it has.  

Just to complicate things, I've changed insurance, so that really nice doctor is not on my 'approved list' - I have found a new one.  This gal is tiny, with more energy than any 10 of us combined!  She agrees with everything the other doc had to say, plus mentioning her opinion that the thing would just continue to refill, and get thicker and harder and more of a pain in the butt or belly!

So we're taking it out tomorrow.  She says it's a simple operation - just a tiny little slit, big enough to suck the thing out.  Of course, it's possible, when she gets in there, that she'll want to do a little more work.  Because, as you may recall, the main muscle in that part of the belly was moved to rebuild my poor boob, she says she might want to put in some mesh to sort of protect that area, and prevent hernias or who knows what else.  Can't wait to find out what she chooses!   :o)

So - wish me well, and have a grand week.