Exhausted

Just got back from a holiday trip to Seattle. It was awful. It rained the whole time. Will post more later.

Cravings

  Oh Harrisburg, I've pretty much conquered you. You, with your commercialized restaurants and lack of innovative chefs, you give me nothing. The only ethnic food you offer is Italian, with the long "I". You leave me no choice but to cook for myself, and daydream of what once was.

And so I daydream. I daydream about picking blackberries from the backyard, of fresh seafood and produce just plucked from the earth; I dream of restaurants that at the very least have seasonal menus, not to mention weekly or daily changes. What is an inspired pseudo-chef to do in this very central Pennsylvania, Dutchish town. You don't aspire to culinary greatness because it’s not expected or asked of you. There are roadside produce stands, but no chefs in line for its selection. Sigh, sigh, sigh.

When I don't know what to cook, or where to get dinner, I usually have several things from Seattle that I'd be willing to venture out to get. The first would be teriyaki. And I don't mean that sweet, BBQ-y junk that its become. But, steamed, spicy chicken, thin juices soaked into fluffy rice, with a crunchy salad on the side. Ah, its Styrofoam heaven.

People here think pork and beef when they hear grill. All I long for is a whole salmon, stuffed with lemons and dill, cooked until its skin is crispy and its pink flesh is medium.

But, deep down, I know what I really need: anything that comes from Tom Douglas' restaurants. More sighs. Yes, I have his cookbooks and rubs-with-love. But, what I really want is the atmosphere, and the sample of Washington state pears with a bleu cheese and WA honey drizzled over it, that I got at Dahlia's that one time. A Lola breakfast. Mussels and clams steamed perfectly in a medley of wine and their own God-given juices. I want to partake in after-hour cocktails and happy hour at Palace on a Thursday night. Not to be noshing on chicken strips, but a beautiful soup or clam bake. Heaven, I'd be in Heaven.

Instead, it’s just up to me to try to infuse some of these elements into my cooking. So, I rub my chicken and steak with love, I check back often for new ideas from his kitchens, and I dream--how in 2 years I'll be sitting in one of his 5 (star in my opinion) restaurants, enjoying his food even more than when I always had it.

In Memory of

Please pray for the families of the 4 officers who were brutally murdered today in Lakewood, WA.  They were targetted and killed off-duty 0815 this morning. How can one person cause so much devastation?

Infamous Seattle

Living in Central Pennsylvania, but being from Seattle has its benefits. You always have an ice breaker at a party. You'll always have something interesting about yourself to talk about, something unexpected.  Because, not a lot of people willingly move to this area.  But, that's besides the point.

So, when I do let people know where I'm from, I'll usually get the following: "Why did you move HERE?", "Did you move here for a man?", and eventually, "Doesn't it ALWAYS rain there?" 

Yes, I did move here for a man, and that's working out swell.  And, no, it doesn't rain there all the time!  Did you know there's more annual rain fall in Philly, DC, New York, Boston, and Miami?  Miami!!! It does rain, thank God, because its so green.  If you're not from the Pacific Northwest, then you pretty much sum that area up as rainy.  So not the case.

However, recently there's a new subject that people are fixated on when you mention Seattle.  Sigh.  I didn't want to talk about it, especially now because everyone is.  But, I guess now is better a time than any: Twilight. Yes, that book series and now movie series.  My new hairdresser here asked me one time (after hearing I was from Seattle, and after I told her about the lack of rain) if Seattle's tourism has gone up since the books.  I didn't even know at the time where the story took place. 

Which leads me to the main point of this post.  Seattle is a gem. Seattle is a hidden treasure. Seattle is not just rain, coffee, apples, and salmon, and now some teeny bopper books.  Unfortunately, a lot of people have it in their heads of what Seattle is. Yes, we have Starbucks coffee, but did you know that Seattle's Best coffee is actually better? Pike Place Market is on everyone's list to see, but don't just go to watch the flying fish! They won't throw the fish if you don't buy anything!! Try the cinnamon-sugar mini doughnuts right around the corner from the flying fish. Travel across the cobblestone lane and you'll find another portion of the market, unattached, that has beautiful breads, multi-cultural cuisine, and produce.  Pick up the Chukar Cherries near the skybridge entrance. Hell, go outside and find Mt. Rainier! 

This area should not be defined by Forks, WA, an abandoned logging town.  It should be defined by the Hoh rainforest (right next to Forks, WA).  People should read about our mountains and our waterfronts. They should travel for our cuisine, for our wild mussels and blackberries.  We should talk about the history of this place, about our lifestyles, and about our connection to this land. 

That vampire story has been told before.  There have been better movies and better television shows devoted to its metaphors and passion-filled tales.  For goodness sake, please don't come to Washington because you want to take the Twilight tour.  Especially since its being filmed in Canada now.

Get it together, kid

You're all thinking that, right? More posts! More posts! All the both of you who follow this are thinking exactly that. I don't blame you. 

Most days, I wonder if I'm doing the right thing by advancing my nursing career.  I think about all the lives that I've helped, all the elderly hands that have patted my bottom (literally), and all of the bodily fluids that I've come into contact with.  And I wonder, is this what I want for the next 30 years?  My gut says no, but my wallet is like, "yes, yes!!!!". So I continue, because I do believe in medicine and I like answering questions from my family members about this drug and that disease.  I also believe that with more education, I'll really get to a place where I'm meant to be.

Then, something happens that makes me question all of that good reasoning again.  Take last night for example:  I hear this blood curtling scream at the nurses station from way down the hall. Just a horror-filled scream.  I'm thinking---someone has fallen, someone's been stuck in a bathroom for 30 minutes with the call light on, I don't know....maybe a mouse??? 

These kinds of screams are pretty common in a nursing home because you have a lot of hallucinations (probably brought on by the calcium pills that we're shoving down their 95 year old throats).  But, I rush anyways because the sooner you get there, the less you have to clean up. Ha, no I was really concerned.

I hear it again as I get closer, and decide its coming from this one room, which is inhabited by this schizophrenic Jewish lady.  She's propped up in bed, red as a beet, her facial expressions mimicking her earlier screams.

So, I ask her what's wrong.

"They didn't put MAYO, on my TURKEY SANDWICH!!!!"

What? Is that all?

Yes.

To which I proceed to look down at her plate--her empty plate. She already ate it. There was nothing that I could do. 

Times like this are the times I want my money back from nursing school.

November already?

Yikes, my last post was way back on Oct 12th. Not that anything has happened since then, its just principle. What can I say, I'm livin the life: Full time work and part time school, mixed in with a little sleeping.  I wish I had some funny stories from work and/or nursing school, but alas, everything is all a blur. 

K and I are seeing less of each other lately, but not by choice. He's got the same schedule as I do, and next month we will have even less time together. And less money, also not by choice. You see, my school has decided to schedule classes Monday thru Friday next semester, and having them end between 2-3 pm. This means day and evening shift are out of the picture.  I will be working the weekends only pretty much for 3 months. Not ideal for a single girl living by herself in Harrisburg. This mecca requires rent and all utilities be paid out of pocket. The solution: I'm movin in with my guy.

Sin!  Calm down, the good Lord isn't going to condemn me. 

So it will be interesting.  Two dogs coming together. Date nights spent with the xbox.  Two soulmates working on the days they're not going to school. Its going to be a fun year.

Sick as a dog

This was a bad weekend.  A stressful weekend, a weekend that I'll probably never forget.  That little puppy up there had to have emergency surgery.  She ate part of a towel last weekend, which isn't that unusual for her.  What is unusual is that she stopped eating.  My dog is a vaccum cleaner when it comes to food.  She doesn't chew, she just inhales.  So, when she wouldn't touch her food, we started to get really concerned. And when she wouldn't walk down the stairs, I knew something serious was happening.

We took her to an emergency vet in York, PA on Friday afternoon. She had blood tests, xrays, and they indicated she needed surgery.   The doctor called half way through and told us that he needed to remove 2-4 ft of her intestine because she had such a bad blockage and it was causing her insides to kink.  We had 5 minutes to decide what to do.

Some of you may never understand this decision. You may look at it from strictly a financial perspective.  We looked at everything. The odds were stacked against her statistically, but we knew that she had the fight and the energy to make it through. I didn't care how my lifestyle was going to change. I didn't care about cleaning up after her more or buying different food.  We told him to proceed.  She was in surgery for 7 hours.  She didn't eat all of Saturday. Finally, on Sunday,when she was given less pain medicine, she inhaled her food again and we got to take her home.

That was this weekend.  Today, we spent the whole day together and she is doing great.  I don't regret one decision.  She is happier now, more comfortable than before, and just wants to play.  The next few weeks may be tough, but I know that her lifestyle isn't compromised and that I made the right decision. 

Lilly is a special dog.  She is empathetic and affectionate, she's gentle and spunky.  She's my first dog as an adult and it didn't seem right to give up on her at 10 months old. She has so much to do and to see.  I'm so grateful for the chance to play with her again, and I'm so thankful for the doctors and techs who helped her this weekend.  I was very close to loosing her. 

From now on, everytime we take a hike together, play in the snow, go for walks along the pond near my apartment, and cuddle in bed, I'm going to remember this weekend and cherish the time that we have that much more.