OK, so another recipe. The original was given to me by a buddy, but I have changed it around quite a bit to make it my own. I suggest you do the same!
This is a great summer soup--light, yet filling. It would be great with some crusty bread and olive oil, or with an herb salad.
You need:
1T grapeseed oil*
5 medium zucchini (yellow or green) sliced in half, then into thin half-moons**
1 small onion--roughly chopped
5 (or so) fresh garlic cloves--finely chopped
1/2 C fresh dill--finely chopped
1/2 C fresh cilantro--finely chopped
1C yellow or green beans**--cut into ~1cm pieces
4C veggie stock (yours or a good quality)
3-4C water (depending on how thick you want this soup)
salt and pepper to taste
You do:
1. heat the oil in a nice-sized soup pot.
2. saute all of the veggies, with the dill and cilantro, in the oil.
3. once everything is nice and soft (at least 15 minutes), pour in your stock and water (if using). allow to simmer about 10 minutes to marry the flavors.
4. add salt and pepper to taste.
5. allow to cool a bit and puree in batches in a table top blender... alternatively, you can use a hand-held submersible blender--just be aware that if this splatters and is still hot, you WILL burn yourself. I like to puree just a bit and still leave some chunky veggies.
* you can also use the same measure of olive oil or butter
** if you want a pretty soup, stay with one color--ie: if you use yellow zucchini, then use the yellow beans, if you use green zucchini, use green beans. You could also just leave the beans out.
Enjoy!!
13 July 2010
11 July 2010
great summer dinner
My guy made a fantastic dinner last night that I wanted to share with you. It is light, summery, delicious and versatile... I think you should make it today!!
you need:
1/2 medium head of cabbage--shredded*
3 large carrots--shredded
1/2 medium onion--chopped
1 small apple**--shredded
6 oz water-packed tuna, drained
6 oz water-packed crab, drained (we used Trader Joe's--great quality)
glug or two of balsamic vinegar
salt to taste
* easiest way to shred cabbage is with a good bread knife, I have found. then again, I do not have a mandolin...hmmm, used to, now that I think of it, wonder where it is...
** my guy used a red fuji--he wanted some sweetness, and it was what was in the fruit bowl. I think that a granny smith +/- some raisins would have been equally awesome
you make:
So easy, just dump everything into a large bowl and mix--add salt as needed.
You can have this as a salad--with tomatoes on a bed of lettuce (personally, I think that tomatoes go phenomenally with fish), on a sandwich, in a crepe, in an omelet... next to some brown rice, or a sweet potato. Let your imagination go wild. This makes quite a bit, so get creative!!
Enjoy!!
you need:
1/2 medium head of cabbage--shredded*
3 large carrots--shredded
1/2 medium onion--chopped
1 small apple**--shredded
6 oz water-packed tuna, drained
6 oz water-packed crab, drained (we used Trader Joe's--great quality)
glug or two of balsamic vinegar
salt to taste
* easiest way to shred cabbage is with a good bread knife, I have found. then again, I do not have a mandolin...hmmm, used to, now that I think of it, wonder where it is...
** my guy used a red fuji--he wanted some sweetness, and it was what was in the fruit bowl. I think that a granny smith +/- some raisins would have been equally awesome
you make:
So easy, just dump everything into a large bowl and mix--add salt as needed.
You can have this as a salad--with tomatoes on a bed of lettuce (personally, I think that tomatoes go phenomenally with fish), on a sandwich, in a crepe, in an omelet... next to some brown rice, or a sweet potato. Let your imagination go wild. This makes quite a bit, so get creative!!
Enjoy!!
09 July 2010
Benadryl, Motrin, Tylenol and Children's Tylenol recall
Yes, it has been ages since I last wrote--I have been super busy (as is everyone, I know)... Hopefully, I will have a chance to write something "real" soon.
For now, I have another FDA recall that needs attention. This one is a recall of very common medicines, and not only in the US, but also in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Fiji, Trinidad, Tobago, and Jamaica.
In other words, it's big. Fortunately, it seems to be a voluntary recall, mainly for a smell that has infiltrated the medicines from being on the same pallet as a chemical when they were shipped. Either way, it's there--you make the decision. Also, please let your loved ones in the other countries know.
For now, I have another FDA recall that needs attention. This one is a recall of very common medicines, and not only in the US, but also in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, Fiji, Trinidad, Tobago, and Jamaica.
In other words, it's big. Fortunately, it seems to be a voluntary recall, mainly for a smell that has infiltrated the medicines from being on the same pallet as a chemical when they were shipped. Either way, it's there--you make the decision. Also, please let your loved ones in the other countries know.
12 May 2010
Never get complacent
It is not everyday that you look down, and your "routine" breast case has turned into a chest case. THANK goodness that it is not everyday!!
Young woman--35--diagnosed with breast cancer 3 years ago. At that time, she had her (unilateral) mastectomy and tissue expander placement. Then, skin necrosis and excision, followed by failed tissue expander--they were unable to expand...
So, she went through her chemo, never had radiation, and we come to this year and her care with me. Back in February, I exchanged her tissue expander for a new one (in fact, there was a hole identified in the old one--presumably from a needle stick). I expanded her over the next 3 months. She is finally happy with size, so we schedule an implant swap--gel (silicone) in place of saline tissue expander--and to augment the other side to match. Enter yesterday...
Cancer side: trying to release capsule, I made a plane inside the pectoralis. I caught it right away, but still... not the way things are supposed to go. "Prophylactic side:" Tooling along, releasing the pec and suddenly I am looking at lung. It was not my day.
Cancer side: oversewed muscle plane and started over again... finished capsulorrhaphy and placed implant--success.
Prophylactic side: oversewed intercostal muscles over a red rubber catheter, oversewed with pec... got a post-op chest xray: tiny apical PTX
Kept her overnight, got serial chest xrays. She is fine, felt greal this morning, pneumo is resolving, and she went home. She feels like a queen, and couldn't stop thanking me. I feel like crap. I consider myself a safe, conscientious surgeon--not a cowboy or careless. How could this happen?! I have heard from a few people that the only way to become an expert is to make and overcome the mistakes.
So, maybe I don't want to be an expert!!
Young woman--35--diagnosed with breast cancer 3 years ago. At that time, she had her (unilateral) mastectomy and tissue expander placement. Then, skin necrosis and excision, followed by failed tissue expander--they were unable to expand...
So, she went through her chemo, never had radiation, and we come to this year and her care with me. Back in February, I exchanged her tissue expander for a new one (in fact, there was a hole identified in the old one--presumably from a needle stick). I expanded her over the next 3 months. She is finally happy with size, so we schedule an implant swap--gel (silicone) in place of saline tissue expander--and to augment the other side to match. Enter yesterday...
Cancer side: trying to release capsule, I made a plane inside the pectoralis. I caught it right away, but still... not the way things are supposed to go. "Prophylactic side:" Tooling along, releasing the pec and suddenly I am looking at lung. It was not my day.
Cancer side: oversewed muscle plane and started over again... finished capsulorrhaphy and placed implant--success.
Prophylactic side: oversewed intercostal muscles over a red rubber catheter, oversewed with pec... got a post-op chest xray: tiny apical PTX
Kept her overnight, got serial chest xrays. She is fine, felt greal this morning, pneumo is resolving, and she went home. She feels like a queen, and couldn't stop thanking me. I feel like crap. I consider myself a safe, conscientious surgeon--not a cowboy or careless. How could this happen?! I have heard from a few people that the only way to become an expert is to make and overcome the mistakes.
So, maybe I don't want to be an expert!!
18 March 2010
Oh, boy...
I just read this fantastic entry at The Blog That Ate Manhattan, and I am having doubts about my choices... not that any choices have been made, per se, but the potential and the direction of my choices. Let me explain.
I moved to New York--THE City--10 years ago, to start residency, then fellowship, and then to work. Because my residency farmed us out all over the area--including Jersey and Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn, etc.--living in Manhattan was actually most central. It was wonderful!! I adored living in the city, everything from convenience, to the people, to being able to run in the street at night completely feeling safe (because of all of the people and the light), to the restaurants... oh, I could go on and on. It was incredible. For me, it was peaceful; it felt like home. (This is very hard to explain to non-Manhattanites, but it is so true.) And, as for TBTAM, September 11th, that most awful of all days, made me feel even more tied to the city. as hard as it was.
Then, about a year after I started working, I moved out to Queens. I suffered from SEVERE withdrawl. It is just not that easy to get into the city, although it should be, when you have a life outside of the city. My beloved did not understand--although he, too, lived in Queens, his office was in the city. This meant that he was in the city on a daily basis, and for completely different reasons than I had been. He thought of the city as a crazy, busy, dirty place... quite the opposite of my belief.
Now, in fellowship again, we moved even further away--1 hour north, to be exact. It is a nice place, but WOW! I miss Manhattan so much. But, we have had a taste of peace, tranquility... and still with a healthy dose of convenience (although I still do not feel safe running here at night--too dark, too deserted).
As I look forward to practice again, we have geared our search to warmer climes--this past year was not a kind one to the Northeast--or places in the Midwest, to be closer to family. So, it is in these areas that we are considering larger cities. My love has told me time and time again that The City is just too expensive, and if we stay, he would prefer Queens (most likely), or one of the other Boroughs. Whereas for my tastes, I would prefer to live IN Manhattan, or not at all.
My heart breaks at the thought of truly leaving... there had better be something spectacular out there for me! But I also cannot imagine again living in New York, and not in The City.
I moved to New York--THE City--10 years ago, to start residency, then fellowship, and then to work. Because my residency farmed us out all over the area--including Jersey and Long Island, Queens, Brooklyn, etc.--living in Manhattan was actually most central. It was wonderful!! I adored living in the city, everything from convenience, to the people, to being able to run in the street at night completely feeling safe (because of all of the people and the light), to the restaurants... oh, I could go on and on. It was incredible. For me, it was peaceful; it felt like home. (This is very hard to explain to non-Manhattanites, but it is so true.) And, as for TBTAM, September 11th, that most awful of all days, made me feel even more tied to the city. as hard as it was.
Then, about a year after I started working, I moved out to Queens. I suffered from SEVERE withdrawl. It is just not that easy to get into the city, although it should be, when you have a life outside of the city. My beloved did not understand--although he, too, lived in Queens, his office was in the city. This meant that he was in the city on a daily basis, and for completely different reasons than I had been. He thought of the city as a crazy, busy, dirty place... quite the opposite of my belief.
Now, in fellowship again, we moved even further away--1 hour north, to be exact. It is a nice place, but WOW! I miss Manhattan so much. But, we have had a taste of peace, tranquility... and still with a healthy dose of convenience (although I still do not feel safe running here at night--too dark, too deserted).
As I look forward to practice again, we have geared our search to warmer climes--this past year was not a kind one to the Northeast--or places in the Midwest, to be closer to family. So, it is in these areas that we are considering larger cities. My love has told me time and time again that The City is just too expensive, and if we stay, he would prefer Queens (most likely), or one of the other Boroughs. Whereas for my tastes, I would prefer to live IN Manhattan, or not at all.
My heart breaks at the thought of truly leaving... there had better be something spectacular out there for me! But I also cannot imagine again living in New York, and not in The City.
02 March 2010
Seriously?!
So, I am still getting my little FDA recall emails daily. If I posted on all of them... well, let's just say I really wouldn't have much of an audience. But, from time to time, there is a recall that is simply striking, for one reason or another.
Take, for instance, this one! I mean, seriously?! PEPPER is being recalled?? The stuff you ask the guy at the restaurant to grind a little of onto your salad?! The stuff that makes you sneeze?! The stuff that seems so innocuous that one of the OR techs puts it on her baby's thumbs to make him stop sucking them?! (It doesn't work, by the way--the toddler apparently loooves pepper.)
And, wouldn't you know it? Salmonella is again to blame. What are they doing at the pepper factory, exactly--grinding pepper with the same grinder they use for chicken parts? I mean, really?? It just seems a little insane, no? Many of you don't know, but I recently decided to dive in and become vegan. It is an interesting exercise--one that makes you really think about what you are eating. I am doing this for my own reasons, and certainly I am not a fervent PETA activist (although I have developed a fondness for this cult that surprises even me)... but, shouldn't pepper be safe? I mean, it is one of the things that vegans, even raw foodists, can use because it is of plant origin and it DOES NOT NEED TO BE COOKED!
If you haven't noticed, I am thoroughly perplexed. If any of you have any input on this insanity, please, share the light. In the meantime, I guess I will stick to non-peppery spices: anise, curry, and the such.
Take, for instance, this one! I mean, seriously?! PEPPER is being recalled?? The stuff you ask the guy at the restaurant to grind a little of onto your salad?! The stuff that makes you sneeze?! The stuff that seems so innocuous that one of the OR techs puts it on her baby's thumbs to make him stop sucking them?! (It doesn't work, by the way--the toddler apparently loooves pepper.)
And, wouldn't you know it? Salmonella is again to blame. What are they doing at the pepper factory, exactly--grinding pepper with the same grinder they use for chicken parts? I mean, really?? It just seems a little insane, no? Many of you don't know, but I recently decided to dive in and become vegan. It is an interesting exercise--one that makes you really think about what you are eating. I am doing this for my own reasons, and certainly I am not a fervent PETA activist (although I have developed a fondness for this cult that surprises even me)... but, shouldn't pepper be safe? I mean, it is one of the things that vegans, even raw foodists, can use because it is of plant origin and it DOES NOT NEED TO BE COOKED!
If you haven't noticed, I am thoroughly perplexed. If any of you have any input on this insanity, please, share the light. In the meantime, I guess I will stick to non-peppery spices: anise, curry, and the such.
28 February 2010
Has it really been almost a year?!
WOW! It has been a long, long time... anyone still checking in from time to time?
I have had a bit of a career change--I am currently in a fabulous Breast Oncoplastic Fellowship. This means that I am training to do everything from breast oncologic procedures (and those for benign disease) to the reconstructive aspects of breast... as well as aesthetic breast surgeries. So, everything breast, in a nutshell. I am very much enjoying this, but I have been quite busy.
In addition, I am trying to figure out what is next--in other words, do I want to start a private (solo) practice, or be hired by a hospital... or something in between? and where to? yet another question. We have decided that we either want to be close to family, or in a warm place. and yet... it has not been easy to find something. I have tried recruiters, but the majority want me to either do general surgery with some breast, or they need someone in New York. As for the first, I have not done general surgery in more than 5 (five!!) years, and although I was very good at it at one point, it has been a looooong time. I really am not wanting to experiment on patients... As for the second, New York is terribly saturated with both breast surgeons and plastic surgeons... and it is cold... and I have really had enough... it is time to move on (figuratively and literally).
So, there you have it--the main headers to my brain's thoughts of late. There is much more, but this is enough for now.
So, any ideas or thoughts from the peanut gallery? ;) Are any of you hospital administrators looking for an assertive, passionate breast surgeon? Or maybe you are in need of a partner, tired of doing breast? I can wish...
I have had a bit of a career change--I am currently in a fabulous Breast Oncoplastic Fellowship. This means that I am training to do everything from breast oncologic procedures (and those for benign disease) to the reconstructive aspects of breast... as well as aesthetic breast surgeries. So, everything breast, in a nutshell. I am very much enjoying this, but I have been quite busy.
In addition, I am trying to figure out what is next--in other words, do I want to start a private (solo) practice, or be hired by a hospital... or something in between? and where to? yet another question. We have decided that we either want to be close to family, or in a warm place. and yet... it has not been easy to find something. I have tried recruiters, but the majority want me to either do general surgery with some breast, or they need someone in New York. As for the first, I have not done general surgery in more than 5 (five!!) years, and although I was very good at it at one point, it has been a looooong time. I really am not wanting to experiment on patients... As for the second, New York is terribly saturated with both breast surgeons and plastic surgeons... and it is cold... and I have really had enough... it is time to move on (figuratively and literally).
So, there you have it--the main headers to my brain's thoughts of late. There is much more, but this is enough for now.
So, any ideas or thoughts from the peanut gallery? ;) Are any of you hospital administrators looking for an assertive, passionate breast surgeon? Or maybe you are in need of a partner, tired of doing breast? I can wish...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
