Tying Up Loose Ends
Head Wound
Staple remover and staple (I have the other staple somewhere in my purse and am planning to produce it “accidentally” during staff meeting tomorrow if things get slow).
I went to the doctor today to get the staples removed.
I have really enjoyed my interactions with medical personnel during this whole head wound experience. Everyone I interacted with got right on board with my snickering self-deprecation, from the intake people to the stapling doctor to my regular doc today. As he removed the staples, he told me I would be able to pass through airport security now. I told him that was good but I was kind of bummed about the Halloween possibilities I was missing out on. “Well, you really would’ve had to staple your forehead for that,” he pointed out, before adding that I should not take that as a suggestion.
(Side note about my doctor, his “hold” message includes, along with the usual recorded boilerplate about my call being important to him, the comment, “I promise we are not standing around drinking coffee and cracking jokes.” The lunchtime message asks callers to call back at 1 p.m., “when my well-fed staff will be better able to assist you.” He could misdiagnose me with prostate cancer and I would STILL think he was awesome.)
After he removed the staples (totally painless, in case you’re wondering), I asked if I could keep them. He made me promise that I would not let Eliza play with them, then boxed up the staples AND staple remover for me. So, if you should happen to need a stple removed from your head, let me know.
***
Bruce
I will NOT be attending the opening night of Bruce Springsteen’s world tour tomorrow with Jim. Babysitting was proving a challenge, but I probably would’ve tried harder to solve the problem or taken one of my friends up on her offer to help, had we not managed to snag floor seat tickets for the Nov. 18 show in Boston for me, my sister, and one of my friends. That’s right — in two months, I am going to have my very first overnight sans bebe AND sans husband, EVER. And I love them both more than life itself, blablabla but can I just tell you that I am beside myself with anticip…… ATION?
This was actually Jim’s idea. When he learned Auntie Johanna was coming to visit for Thanksgiving, he looked up the Bruce shows and suggested we do this. I made the obligatory, “Are you SURE you don’t mind?” kinds of comments and then accepted quickly before he could change his mind.
***
Anniversary
There’s a line in the chorus of Bruce Springsteen’s torchy seduction song Drive All Night that goes: “I swear I’ll drive all night just to buy you some shoes.”
I love the song and this funny/desperate declaration is one of the main reasons. It’s the sort of demented thing you might catch yourself thinking if you’re that crazy in love. This song is MUCH more popular (by, like, orders of magnitude) among female fans than male fans. Jim knows I number myself among its fans, and so I do not think it is a coincidence that for our 5th anniversary, he gave me a gift certificate to my favorite shoe store.
I decided to go with the Scotch idea and bought him a sampler set of three, including one that was new to him. He was quite pleased.
We went to dinner at Circa, for those of you who live within driving distance of me, and I can highly recommend it if you have a reason to splurge. I had a venison appetizer — seared, with butternut squash and a hazelnut cream sauce — that was so good that on my trip to the restroom, I poked my head in through the order window of the kitchen to thank/gush embarrassingly at the staff. I would probably go vegetarian or maybe even vegan if bambis and pigs didn’t taste so good. I do feel ever so slightly guilty every time Eliza watches Bambi and they shoot his mom.
***
Apple Progress Report
2 more green apples down — we are within sight of the end.
One of our friends gave Jim a $37 bottle of wine for helping him move, so we decided to keep celebrating the anniversary and crack it open Sunday night.
This unprecendented level of wine demanded that I bring my A game in the kitchen. I made sweet-potato gnocchi with a mushroom, apple, and chard cream sauce with vegan sausage. That last bit was supposed to read “smoked kielbasa” but when I opened it, it had a weird ticky-tacky texture that did not bode well for our intestinal health. The vegan sausage did OK, though — it’s nicely spiced but subtle enough that it blended well with the other flavors.
Recipes:
Sweet Potato Gnocchi
2 large (1 lb each) sweet potatoes
Wholewheat flour
2 eggyolks
nutmeg
salt, pepper
Nuke sweet potatoes until they’re thoroughly cooked
Peel, then mash
Add wholewheat flour, yolks, some fresh nutmeg and pepper and salt. I have no idea how much flour, just keep going until the mixture stops sticking to your hands while you’re kneading it. Roll it into a worm about as fat as your thumb, then cut rounds about 3/4 inch wide. Press a fork into the side.
Toss into boiling, salted water. When they float, they’re done.
Sauce:
Butter
Truffle oil
1/2 cup shallots
2 green apples, cored and diced, peel on
10 oz. sliced mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
Organic chicken stock
Sage, stems trimmed off and sliced
Light cream
Several leaves of chard, cut into thin strips
Thingie of vegan sausage, cut into slices, then quarters
In a pan with a little butter and truffle oil, sautee sausage. Transfer to plate, set aside.
In a big pan, melt 2 TBSP of butter and add 3 TBSP white truffle oil. Sautee 1/2 cup shallots. When they start to brown, add apples, then mushrooms. Once everything gets soft, pour in about 2 cups chicken stock and add sage. Let it reduce, then pour in a quarter cup of cream, stir everything around so the cream distributes nicely. Toss chard on top, let it wilt, then stir under. Add sausage, then gnocchi to warm up again, serve. Try not to eat the entire pan in one sitting.
Eliza liked the gnocchi a lot. Until she realized they were getting the way of her Tigger-outfit-wearing, and then she got all shouty with us.
We placated her with Sarah’s cake, of which we all had three or four pieces. And then we posed for the illustration for “Gluttony” that will be appearing in the next edition of the dictionary, the end!
Your doctor sounds like someone you can feel really comfortable with. And he gets your kind of humor! (Remember a blog from the past with your complaint about nobody ever laughing at your jokes?) I am having a hard time finding doctors I can relate to. Part of it is that I have reached an age when people of my childrens’ enter the room and try to act confidence-inspiring. And they have names like “Corey” or “Ashley”. I don’t trust those. Period. Anyway, keep those staples somewhere in your jewelry box as proof for your bravery - and safe from Tigger.
Jim’s anniversary present shows that he understands both Bruce and you absolutely, completely. Three - or more - cheers to him. Sometimes, a gift certificate says more than a thousand words.
The cooking sounds awesome, and I can’t wait for the Gluttony picture. The solo trip to the Bruce concert? I can so very much imagine how you will feel. Yes, we all love our husbands and children, etc. etc. But to be MeMeMe, just ME Myself for a short time. Oh, boy. Or girl. What an exhilarating feeling!
Comment by Mama — October 2, 2007 @ 9:12 am
Meant “people of my childrens’ AGE”.
Comment by Mama — October 2, 2007 @ 9:13 am
I’m so gonna try the gnocchi. As soon as I move into my house and have a kitchen. I heart sweet potato anything. I’ll have to search out some truffle oil, though. Oh, yeah. My mom says the recipe for the cake calls for a tube pan. So I’m thinking it probably turned out even better for you in the bundt than it normally does for me in round cake pans. Oh man, I want some cake.
Comment by sarah k. — October 2, 2007 @ 9:23 am
I’m glad getting the staples out didn’t hurt. I would also have asked to keep them. And the staple remover? Bonus!
The Bruce event sounds totally fun. You will have a great time. Possibly greater because Jim with be with Eliza and not a babysitter.
Happy Anniversary!
Why do you ever go out to resterants since you cook such amazing food? And also, were you once a chef?
Comment by Mama D — October 2, 2007 @ 9:49 am
Hey Sarah, if you like sweet potatoes, check out this recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/236482
I made it last year for Thanksgiving and it was divine.
Comment by elizasmom — October 2, 2007 @ 9:50 am
Oops, cross posted w. you, Mama D — No I was definitely not once a chef. In fact, my mom is probably hooting with laughter at the thought. I was a disaster in the kitchen until I hit about my early-mid-20s, I would say — and even now, I regularly set off the smoke alarms. Basically, I get by on being too ignorant to realize I’m in over my head when I tackle a recipe.
Comment by elizasmom — October 2, 2007 @ 9:54 am
Whoot! A free stapler remover! You can go around on the streets, offering to remove other people’s staples. A new job for you.
I don’t like sweet potatoes, but otherwise, the dinner sounds great. You do realize Mormons don’t drink alcohol right? So drink now, when you join up for your special mommy bloggy powers, you will have to quit. Sorry…
Comment by Jo in Utah — October 2, 2007 @ 10:14 am
I would like to weigh in on the cooking. As one of AM’s fortunate IRL friends, I can attest to the fact that she’s a fabulous cook, much to my waistline’s chagrin. If you go to her house, she almost always has something delicious on the stove that she’s “just thrown together”, and she always shares. I like her.
Can you email me your doctor’s name? I need a new one.
Comment by LT — October 2, 2007 @ 10:54 am
Last week the girls saw watched the neighbor bring in his Deer Season kill. Birdie explained it to me that “Maddie’s dad had a deer with a head that was dead and a body full of meat.”
?
I have no idea, I am just the mama.
Comment by bon — October 2, 2007 @ 11:31 am
That internet just ate my words! *****!!! But about the cooking, I am still laughing. For the longest time, we were afraid that our otherwise so impressively intelligent daughter (she was taking after us, of course) might be sort of learning-disabled in the kitchen-department. So glad she fell into the family line of gourmet food lovers. We just relish talking, preparing, imagining, EATING (x3), great food. And then we go running, to get away from all those calories! Listening to great music on the Ipod! Yeah! It might not be spectacular, but I think that’s a pretty good life. And I have no envy of anyone. Neat!
Comment by Mama — October 2, 2007 @ 7:32 pm
That recipe looks dangerous. I’m so excited for fall and fall food!
Comment by sarah k. — October 3, 2007 @ 9:46 am
Your doctor sounds awesome.
Comment by sue — October 5, 2007 @ 9:34 pm