A new semester's worth of student nurses have started their Public Health rotation. To my surprise, Smitty shows up at my door with one of them in tow -- a real little cutie-pie who barely comes up to his sternum.
He: I wanted you to meet my sister.
Me: How do you do? You know, Smitty, she's much nicer-looking than you said she was.
Cats, unlike dogs, are not ranged on the side oforder
against chaos. They are not motivated by simple human moralities, by universalized
appeals to the superego such as “good cat” or “bad cat,” by guilt culture or
shame culture. Instead they follow their own opaque behavioral structures: Toes
are to be eaten but only in certain shoes, walls are to be attacked but only at
certain times of day, humans are to be controlled through displays of affection
or brute force depending on the hour and mood. ~ Britt Peterson
"Confederate Fruit Cake. Two cupsful each of flour and molasses, one pint of dried
fruit parboiled and fine chopped, one tablespoonful of lard and small
teaspoonful of soda dissolved in half a wineglassful of vinegar."
Flora the Red Menace has served me faithfully for almost eight years but recently developed some troubling little quirks, shall we say (in all fairness, she handled the trip to Pennsylvania like a trooper). So the spousal unit has been watching interest rates and rebate offers like a hawk, and this morning we went to the local dealership and came home with Sarge.
In some indefinable way I became aware, during the drive back, that he was male, and "Sarge" just popped into my head. Maybe it's the color, such a nice manly dark granite.
(I thought it was black but the sales associate, a Guardsman out of the unit in Peoria, informed me that it was granite).
Supervisory staff is in a time-management in-service. We are looking at a pie chart and the instructor is asking us to divide it into three sections; what we wish we were doing, what we need to do, and what we actually are doing.
She: Would someone like to give an example for the section of the pie chart that shows what you wish you were doing?
Me: (sotto voce) Lying in a hammock with Russell Crowe giving me a foot-rub.
From the Woman's Home Companion, 1921. Isabel Conover was the author of a series of books on dressmaking, several of which can be found online at the Antique Pattern Library.
Instructions for making the blouse are on my Flickr account.
Spent yesterday afternoon at the Lincoln Museum in
Springfield, Illinois and spent far more money than I should have adding to my
already-considerable stack of Civil War reference materials (I feel a strong
sense of kinship with the cat in yesterday’s post. I do need them all. Really).
I can remember listening to the griping of of Marines about
our food, admittedly the worst in the Armed Forces and something of which the
Corps is perversely proud, and when I was a platoon commander on Okinawa I used
to routinely field complaints that my Marines were sneaking into the chow hall
at the Air Force base at Kadena, just down the road (they also used to sneak into the Kadena officer's club for the Friday night dances, but that's another story).
But military food has come a long way from the salt horse
and hard tack of the 1860’s or even the field rations of both World Wars. The depressing fact of chow up until the
second half of the century was the inevitability of the bean.
Nominally the bean is a food powerhouse, packed with all
kinds of good things that, were I a dietician, I could rattle off by
heart. Militarily speaking they are
highly portable, particularly in their dried state, not prone to spoilage, and
easily prepared as long as the cook sergeant has plenty of water on hand. Gustatorially (is that a word?) speaking,
they are pretty dull unless you have something to spice them up like a chutney
or a salsa.
This is something I make a lot for my lunches at work. I recommend some kind of relish to go with
them, though. Pico de gallo is great
with this but Major Grey’s works, too.
Rice Cooker Beans and
Rice
¼ cup cooking oil
1 cup raw rice
1 cup jarred salsa, such as Pace
1 ½ cup water
1 can pinto or kidney beans, rinsed and drained
Pour it all into the rice cooker, stir to mix the
ingredients up, and turn on the rice cooker.
You can’t get much simpler than that, and another advantage is that the
rice cooker doesn’t heat up the kitchen in August.
I spent most of today at a meeting with the regional coordinator for my program. At one point I became aware that my cheekbones were aching and realized that I had been grinding my teeth for quite some time.
(I wasn't the only one in a highly irritated mood -- based on body language from my fellow attendees, if intent were enough, that man would have perished long before lunchtime).
The Health Department had a booth at the county fair this week (across from a chiropractor/naturopath and around the corner from the local Tea Party. Must bite tongue, must bite tongue, must bite tongue) and the spousal unit and I prepared to indulge in our annual guilty pleasure -- corndog for him, Italian sausage and peppers for me. Unfortunately I was fighting a bug and had to pass on the Italian sausage. There's something in the greasy appeal of food out of a tin box on wheels that you just can't replicate at home although some cookbooks try.
Funnel Cakes
2 beaten eggs
1 ½ c. milk
2 c. sifted all-purpose flour
1 t. baking powder
½ t. salt
2 c. cooking oil
Sifted powdered sugar
In mixing bowl combine eggs and milk. Sift together flour, baking powder, and
salt. Add to egg mixture; beat
smooth. In deep skillet heat oil to 360°. Covering spout with finger, pour ¼ cup batter
into funnel. Remove finger and release
batter into oil in a spiral, starting in center and winding out. Fry till golden, about 3 minutes. Turn carefully; cook 1 minute more. Drain on paper toweling; dust with powdered
sugar. Makes 6 to 8 funnel cakes.
From Better
Homes and Gardens Easy Skillet Meals. I'm thinking that it's fortunate the city kids don't make the connection between the cute baby animals and lunch. The farm kids are used to it.
I don’t know any pawnshop owners, personally, but a close
relative has extensive dealings with the more entrepreneurial element in the
Motor City, and from the stories he tells I have to think that convincing
someone like that to accept a machine that allegedly makes counterfeit money
would be an undertaking just a skoosh more difficult than, say, selling
Slushees to the guys at McMurdo.
I had read a society book that some fellow from back East had left
at the ranch once. There was some of it torn out, but there was a lot of it
left and I learned a whole lot out of it, and I was going to govern myself
accordingly. It said that a young man incompany after
taking his seat, should sit erect and throw his head back, keep his knees close
together, and that chewing tobacco or smoking cigarettes was not good form.
Under no circumstances should the young man wear spurs, carry a gun, especially
in the company of the young lady with whom he is anyways intimate. I guess that
book was written for the Texas trade, as there was a proviso that gun-wearing
would be permissible if there were other gentlemen present. ~ Dennis
Collins.
I spent three hours this afternoon escorting a visiting delegation of healthcare workers from the People's Republic of China around the department. My feet are killing me but I now know the Chinese for STD.
