The Morning After

I think there was a movie entitled "The Morning After" with Jane Fonda many years ago, which was about her character's problem with her alcohol consumption...get it? Hangovers...the morning after? Well it's not as though that has never happened to me, but that is not what I am referring to as "The Morning After"...
Yesterday was simply one of those days better appreciated if one had just somehow been able to stay in bed and put the covers over their head...I will do a "Cliff Notes" on this one, as I have an appointment, and don't have enough time to go on and on (the way I usually indulge myself.)
They did not call at 5 am yesterday morning, work was so horrific that I had to stop and take some "time outs" to take some deep breaths so I would not cry, and I DID cry all the way home, (this being the very worst job I could have ever imagined having in my entire life...as I said a quick version, but you get the point), and then to my great relief, there was something happy waiting for me at home, that being the winning night of the Westminster Dog Show (the Academy Awards show for Dogs and people who love them...i.e. me). So, here I am, on the couch, ready to leave my day from Hell behind me ( sort of), and low and behold, the sirens go off...Why? There's a tornado coming! Winds are suddenly shifting everything, small hail is upon us, my Son is mad at me because I am not in the hallway crouched down, but instead watching the weather on television, pissed that they have blocked the "CROWNING OF THE NEW WINNER OF WESTMINSTER!!!!!"...Of course, the tornado passed us, and I barely got to see our new precious winner, the oldest of all time, 10 years old, and he almost died 4 years ago, but lived to see his coronation!!!!! Hmmm...fitting evening to a day that would make the most positive person want to find a rock to hide under or use it on a couple of coworkers ( alright, no I did not mean that...to hide under...I meant that)....More later...At least my hair will look better as I write my next post, if that is any concession....If you're gonna be miserable, at least have a headfull of newly highlighted hair! God knows I probably had to work in Hell for at least 4 hours to afford it, so I am going to fully enjoy the experience, besides, my hairdresser loves me, and he will make me feel better! There!

A phone that rings too early

I know all about the phone ringing at 5 am...It happens almost all of the time lately...Every time I am scheduled to work, that is..( which is 3 shifts/week). Last week I got that phone call 3 times..The message says (hell no I don't pick it up...I know what it is...)..."Nicole, this is Michael...Martin...Shelly...John...(this is the fill in the blank name for whatever supervisor is on)...We are going to have to cancel you for today. Sorry....Thank you...Goodbye"...That's because they are not busy enough...This is one of the biggest and best hospitals in one of the biggest cities in America...and they're not busy? Why? People don't get sick anymore? I mean, I'm sorry, but that affects ability to work...I don't buy it...I know what it is...They all want to staff "Lean and Mean"...They have these practically unatainable quotes...I always know even when I Am there working, when I am going to get a phone call after lunch, telling me that I need to go home because it is too slow...I know when THAT phone call is coming, because that is the day when I am steady with my patient load, but I have time to pee and go to lunch...If I am having a day like that, a day where I have time to do good therapy and get my paperwork done, and pee, and go to lunch for 30 minutes, then I will get a call, telling me to hand my third rounds off to a full time therapist....I did not make any money last week...I need to get paid something this week...I NEED TO WORK...PLEASE DON'T LET THE PHONE RING AT 5 AM tomorrow morning!

A lifelong affair with Mr. Tabasco

Anyone knows, that knows me at all, and maybe even those that don't, that when I die, one of the things that they will have to pry my hand open and remove, will be a bottle of Tabasco Sauce..(the original being my favorite.) I seriously would probably put it on chocolate if it enhanced it in any way....Actually peppers can enhance the flavor of chocolate, but that in itself is another post..

In the meantime, it's not easy to be me...There are many reasons for this, but one of them has followed me most of my life, which are the chagrins from people that I experience every time I bring out Mr. Tabasco (many times he may be in my pocket), as well as their intense exclamations, when they see that I put Mr. Tabasco on just about everything...Now, I don't drown it, but yes, I find it is helpful to most of what is on my plate...Forgive me, it's a dreadful habit, but since I gave up smoking a couple of years ago, and recently cut WAY back on my wine consumption, I am not about to give this addiction up any time soon...

You are probably thinking, "And the point is?"....Please have faith in me...you KNOW that there is one! This is my little prelude before I post the most scrumptious recipe by the Tabasco Company themselves, for a Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad.

Now, allow me just one more paragraph to say, that when my son and I went on this wonderful foodie tour in Chinatown in San Francisco about seven years ago, (my son was definitely NOT a teenager then...), we were asked, in the tour group, to tell everyone our name, where we came from, and our favorite food/dish....They came to me and at the time, my favorite dish was a great Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad. They came to my son and he said "Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad"....I thought that was so cute, and have never forgotten it...He loved to agree with me on most things at that point in his precious childhood...Now he will disagree with me on what time it is, if he can figure out a way to!!!! (teenagers will take your every last nerve and snap it in two...yet another post...) So here goes the recipe...I think it is Fab to the Max!!!!

Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad by my lover, Mr. Tabasco himself! (better known as "Grilled Chicken Salad with Attitude")

Spicy Caesar Dressing
4 anchovy fillets, drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon TABASCO brand Pepper Sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups mayonnaise
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Chicken Caesar Salad
1 cup Spicy Caesar Dressing, divided
1 tablespoon TABASCO brand Pepper Sauce
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
8 cups torn romaine lettuce (about 10 ounces)
4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
For Spicy Caesar Dressing: In a blender or small food processor container, combine anchovies, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, TABASCO® brand Pepper Sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and salt; process until smooth. Transfer to a small bowl and whisk in mayonnaise and Parmesan. Set aside 1 cup dressing for salad; reserve remaining 1/2 cup for another use.
For Chicken Caesar Salad: Preheat grill to medium heat. Stir together 1/4 cup of the Caesar dressing and the TABASCO® brand Pepper Sauce in a small bowl; brush mixture on both sides of chicken. Grill chicken until nicely browned and no longer pink inside, about 5 minutes per side.
Place lettuce in a large bowl and add remaining 3/4 cup dressing; toss until evenly coated. Divide salad among 4 dinner plates and top each with a sliced chicken breast and 1 tablespoon cheese.

More middle of the night musing....

Now I know that these are probably meant to be
offices, and they certainly look like what I might see if I were to jump on the Tollway right next to my apartments, and cruise downtown, the beautiful Emerald skyscraper lit up amongst the other modern designs of slate/ steel/ and glass, glass, and more glass.../That very glass would inable us to see quite clearly through those high rise window, and we would see more people than we would guess, still up there working in their offices at almost 3 am...(Of course I honestly have to admit that I have seen FAR too many of those scary movies where some girl is alone at night in her office and only "Jerry" the guard is downstairs on the first floor and her office is on the 8th floor...She diligently begins this work that just MUST be finished before the 10 am presentation the next morning and she is so involved and fatigued, that she doesn't hear the first "clanking" sound that comes from the end of her hall...She goes out into the hall on the second "clank," and peers both ways down the dark deserted hallway, gets creeped out, and turns around and locks her office door...Well now, you know what happens after that...That is where in some theaters you may hear people scream at the character as though they can heed the advice that the audience is very seriously and obnoxiously yelling at them..."DON' T TURN AROUND GIRL...UH UH NAWWWWW...LOOK OVER THERE, LOOK OUT...RUUUUUUNNNNNNNN GIRL RUNNNN YOUR ASS OUTTA THAT OFFICE"...You know, you've been there! Sometimes it's annoying, sometimes it's funny, er...most times it's annoying...
It is weird to be up at this time of night, because no matter where you are, you feel like you are the only one up...It's kind of a cool and "fun I'm all by myself and I can do anything!"..Well I suppose the piano,especially my electric one is out...A bit too loud for my sleeping teenage son, and the neighbors in general ...Except the one DIRECTLY UPSTAIRS. Do not ask me WHEN or IF this man ever sleeps, because I have no evidence of this. I can still hear his Godzilla feet walk across the floor no matter what time of day or night it is...If i didn't have a son, who has supplied me with an enormous amount of experience in knowing what the video games can sound like, I would have long ago called the police thinking that there were "bombs" going off in his apartment, but no...it just sounds like a game of my son's turned up very loud and probably in super surround sound...There are others sometimes heard across the courtyard...People keep the oddest hours..Since I don't have a regular schedule for work anymore, or when I do they sometimes cancel me at 5 in the morning, I have been keeping very strange hours...I actually went to bed at 4 am last night and got out of bed around 1:30! (SHAMEFUL HUSSY!) And when I do work, I foolishly don't go to bed until around midnight and have to get up before 5....This makes me feel like a loser on one hand, and woman of means on the other...Oh well...when I go back to working someplace full time, I will remember these reclusive wonderful little late night times by myself, and remember them fondly..That is how I choose to think about it..Now tommorow, I will go back into my "what's gonna happen, and how long can I financially keep all of this up" mind set...I resist staying in that mode for long unless I can think of something to do (phone calls/faxing my resume to a new place)...Otherwise I don't allow myself to go bonkers...Not over this...There have honestly been other things in my life that were more worthy of going nuts. I resisted the full fledge nutcase scenario then, and I shall now..The first 6 weeks were particularly hard, even though I went on an "already paid for" vacation and stayed at the Wynn Hotel in Vegas surrounded by complete luxury..I decided to allow myself to have a good time...( I even got two extra night out of it due to the heavy snow that closed the Vegas Airport for years! I never said that I wasn't lucky...)Speaking of Vegas...there are some phenominal deals in Vegas right now, even at the Wynn, and THIS is the time to go if you can pay for it and/or get away...Hell, I've said it a million times...You've got money, and you're not one of the ones that could get laid off....WHO HOOOO! Flights to Europe are 1/2 of what they were this time last year...good rate exchange in Canada right now...homes/cars/ hotel deals everywhere! I live in a big city that apparently has more restaurants per capita than any other (even New York and LA) in the US, and those places are hopping every night...Are people STILL living on their credit? A dinner for two around where I live with wine or drinks and tip will set you back $150, so are these all still being "written off" by businesses? I know that I was invited to one of these I speak of, about a month ago by a pharmaceutical company doing a presentation on asthma...I did not make it, but it is at a very expensive steak house next door to where I live...It is clear that some have not, as of yet anyway, been hit with this repression uh beginning of a depression... Either that or they are in complete denial...That won't last for long.
Anyway, this picture is representative of my apartments at about this time of night...kinda weird..Well I shall finally retire to my bedroom, read a bit of my Capote book, and then force myself to get up tomorrow morning....Heck, there's ooodooles to do when you don't get to work, and no one is hiring fulltime, and the PRN employees (that's me) get cancelled cause the Hospitals are too slow..damned Global Warming.....Hmm..might just go see another one of the Academy Award contenders for best Film..I only have two more to go...My personal feeling is that performances outdo the actual films that are nominated this year...More about that later, when I have seen enough to give it a thorough critique! Until tomorrow then!
"In the real dark heart of the soul, it is 3:00 in the morning, over and over"...F. Scott's Fitzgerald

I've always been intrigued by Oscar Wilde

I simply don't remember when I wasn't amazed by Oscar Wilde's mind.....He was terribly gifted and a victim of the Victorian Era's injustice, which ultimately caused his death...And what a horrible shame that was, for he was less than 50 years old, suffered greatly at the hands of an ignorant society, and it pisses me off as though it were yesterday! Whew...feel a little better now..sort of....Anyway, he is not, and hopefully will never be forgotten. His works, (plays, quotes, one novel) live on, and are still performed on a regular basis...Here are some of my favorite Oscar Wilde quotes..many of which I refer to when I need to smile, or just feel amazed by "clever", which is probably more often for me than most people...Love to entertain, and love to BE entertained!


Some of my favorite Oscar Wilde Quotes and some notes after them...(sorry..can't help it..)

"The basis of optimism is sheer terror." (so much for the "glass half full"), which personally has gotten a bit old for me the last few years, as everyone simply feels it necessary to state whether their's is half empty or full.....And don't think I haven't been asked that in an interview...shameless silly questions!!!!!!!!Anyway, Oscar knew about the glass half full silliness!

"There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about. "....Well, of course I have been ascribing to this for years!

"Thirty-five is a very attractive age. London society is full of women of the highest birth who have, of their own free choice, remained thirty-five for years." Do you know that I actually have a friend, that will not tell anyone her age? She is younger than I am, very attractive, and would not tell her age if her life depended on it...I just don't get it....

"Experience is the name every one gives to their mistakes."...This is so true, God forbid that we should label something a mistake...It seems that every time I have tried to, and there have certainly been my share of "times", no one will allow me to call a mistake, a mistake! "Well that is how we learn!"..Bullshit..I refuse to believe that we must crack our heads open to learn anything...Seriously..Have you noticed this trend in our society? It's really kind of weird...

"It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But ... it is better to be good than to be ugly"...Well of course, this one goes to show us that in hundereds of years some things will never change...

"The tragedy of old age is not that one is old, but that one is young.".....This one I am truly familiar with, as it is something that my Mother has told me for the last 10 years or so...This is a sad and inevitable little truth for everyone if they live long enough...The fact that the outward appearance and body mechanics decline, has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that we may still have young, curious attitudes or mindsets...this of course, is a choice...I know people younger than I am that appear so much older because of their "mindsets".. A most unfortunate fact is that Americans do not tend to treat the elderly very well...This is certainly not true in other countries...So maybe the answer is that we should grow up here, and then move to Europe...Hmmm..but then there would be no family/friends...Besides, if you took your family they would have been raised with the American attitude towards the Elderly, and that would mean you would just be treated like crap when you moved to Europe! No this is obviously not the answer!...Have to think on that one....

Well...that is what is on my mind, along with about 12 other things (which I will spare the world) tonite....
Goodnight..

The Sunday Baker

I don't usually do a lot of baking..Don't really know why, because I have the most wonderful bright red Kitchen Aid Mixer..I didn't even use it the first year that I had it...Shameful, to say the least...Since there are only two of us, if I do bake, I always take some to my Mom and Dad..My Mom doesn't cook anymore, so they appreciate it...There are basically two reasons I normally don't bake..1. It seems to take forever (especially in the case of cookies) AND 2. There is "who needs it" fab homemade stuff that is hangin around, calling your name...(so cruel!)..

When I do bake, it is important to me, just as in any of my cooking, that I have what I consider to be the best ingredients and recipe/knowledge of the product that I am making.

Call me picky, but to me, chocolate chip cookies, are not equal in quality..That is why over the years when I have made them, I have narrowed it down to a couple of recipes, and the one I made today is one of them...Mrs. Fields did not become a mulitzillionare for no reason...She had an excellent recipe, and that is the one that I made today...Her recipe is just what I like in a chocolate chip cookie, different from the other recipes out there...If you like your cookies chewy on the inside, and crisp on the outside, there are two things that you have to do...use a recipe with more brown sugar than white, (preferable dark brown), and bake it lower and slower than the usual chocolate chip cookie..Are they good? Too good to make on a regular basis, unless you are going to sell or give them away!

Mrs. Field's Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookies or "How some cute little stay at home Mom with kids driving her to the brink, turned a simple task into frequent 5 star hotel suite reservations, Nannies, and trips without her husband..."

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teasp. baking soda

1/4 teasp. salt

1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup salted butter, softened..(I used unsalted and it was fine)

2 large eggs

2 teasp. pure vanilla extract

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat oven to 300 degrees

In a medium bowl combine flour, soda, and salt. Mix well with wire whisk. Set aside.

In a large bowl with an electic mixer, blend sugars at medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl. Add eggs and vanilla extract, and mix at medium speed until just well blended...Do not overmix.

Add the flour mixture (about a third at a time) until blended, at a low speed, again...not to overmix....then by hand, mix in chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded Tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet ( I use parchment...it's an incredible invention!) Be sure that they are 2 inches apart and bake for 22-24 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer cookies immediately to a cool surface with a spatula....(Keep your dough in the fridge while others are baking, because a cool dough will keep it from spreading while baking. If you like nuts in them, you can carefully press larger pieces into the rounded Tablespoons of dough after they are on the cookie sheet, before they are baked. I actually make these a bit bigger than a Tablespoon...)

Makes about 3 dozen or so...

My needed new Mantra

The tendency to whining and complaining may be taken as the surest sign symptom of little souls and inferior intellects. ~ Lord Jeffrey