Headaches, literal and figurative

Nothing like a couple of mugs of homemade hot chocolate to get rid of a headache. I get 'em every single month. Sometimes bad, other times not so bad. But they always come. Stupid &*^% plummeting estrogen levels...! I guess I shouldn't bitch about hormone troubles, because from what I hear, they haven't even begun yet. So far I've been able to explain away the times I've gotten too warm all of a sudden, and surely the sweaty episodes can be explained by being covered up too thickly with bed covers. It is a little early for that crap to be starting, but not outside the realm of possibility. My attitude is if it's going to start, then bring it on. So I can get it over with, with hopefully as much grace and humor as possible. Leaving my so-called child-bearing years behind will be a relief, not a tragedy.

I look back on the week, and I think I can say it was a little busy. Tuesday and Saturday nights we had potlucks at work, and there is no conceivable way I would ever just go to the store and buy something. Nope, Tuesday I was going to make jambalaya anyway (leftover ham, rice and the undiminished pile of peppers in the garage inspired that), so I just made a bigger pot, and took the extra into work. Chicken breasts were on sale, so chicken salad sounded good too. I made a massive container of that for sandwiches. Then, since no one had mentioned bringing a dessert, I decided to make what I will dub German Black Magic Cake. That was a lot of stuff to haul in to work, but everyone loved and appreciated it, and it always makes me joyous when I see people filling containers and stashing away plates of food for later.

Saturday night we had a breakfast theme for another coworker's birthday. What a fat bomb, but oh, so delicious. Someone brought a bacon and cheese laden quiche, someone else brought sausage gravy and biscuits. Hash browns, bacon, and orange juice rounded out the menu. The voice of reason told me we needed something halfway healthy, so I brought in a cut up fresh pineapple. And I brought the caramel rolls from a couple of blogs ago. They went over very well. As first shift was coming in, I saw people coming out of the break room licking or wiping sticky fingers. That made me smile.

So we ate well all week at home and at work, and Tim made a very delicious Sweetest Day dinner of smoked cornish game hens. He made FOUR of them, and they're each the size of small chickens, so we'll have meat for many days, plus the makings for soup. While he had the smoker going, he put on a beef eye of round roast, and we plan to simmer that for a day in barbecue sauce for shredded barbecued beef. He's taking that for a potluck of his own, but I'm sure there will be some left to keep at home. Smoked meat...it's a beautiful thing.

We have a new arrival at work on our shift, and she started last week. We are finally caught up with the staff for third shift again, after 3 years or so of a revolving door situation. Hopefully this one will stay. She's worked a lot of different places, and has been a supervisor, so this might seem like a comedown to her, but I think she'll work out just fine. Usually we can tell the delicate flowers pretty quickly and predict about when they'll quit.

Friday was a long day. Mom's long-anticipated knee replacement surgery took place that morning, and I figured it would be a good idea to go up and sit with Ron, her boyfriend, and keep him company while he waited. On the way up, I hit Big Apple Bagels and had breakfast right after work. Love the way they make them at the Grand Blanc store. Each location is a little different. This place puts a nice coating of corn meal on the bottoms of the bagels. However, the west Saginaw location makes the better veggie lite cream cheese...more veggies. Anyway, I picked up a few bagels for the grandparents and stopped in Frankenmuth. I proposed our plan of Scott, Ann, the boys, Tim and I to come up on the 24th and clean, rake leaves, change porch windows and whatever else needed to be done around the house. And bring up dinner. I tried to make it sound as though getting together for a family dinner was motive number one, and the housework was secondary. They invariably say 'we don't have to do all that', but I treat this as token protests. Because we're doing it anyway.

What on earth does one do about the godawful urine smell that has been steadily getting worse in that house? That is one singularly depressing, sickening smell. It's the smell of nursing homes, loss of control, aging, and helplessness. I inhaled great gulps of cold air as soon as I got outside. Got to do something about that, but my fear is that it's going to be an impossible smell to vanquish, and the conditions that are causing it aren't going to go away. We'll clean the carpets this Sunday, and see how much that helps.

Mary Ann, mom's only sister was there when I stopped in. I'm glad to hear from Grandma that she stops in every day she works (just down the street at the florist shop). She was doing the dishes. I hadn't seen her in over a year, not since Grandpa's 90th birthday party. She looked and seemed the same, although she did make a catty comment about mom, something to the effect of knowing how hard it is to 'put up with your mother' when we were discussing her relationship with Ron. I chose to blow this off, and later thought I could have sweetly told Mary Ann she's no picnic, either. She was a bit of a bitch on wheels the day of Grandpa's party last year. Anyway, I sat and visited, discussed a little politics, and explained to Grandpa that the big circular objects I was giving them were bagels. They looked like donuts, but were made of bread. This was apparently a new thing to him.

The subject of Jeremiah briefly came up. It was mentioned he wouldn't be getting up until sometime well after noon. And the same pattern of behavior was in evidence whenever he's brought up: Grandpa wants to bitch and complain about him living there, Grandma gets irritable and defensive. I think we all know by now that this situation isn't going to change until both of them are laid to rest in their graves, so it's not really worth getting pissed about any more. But I still do.

At least it's good to know that if a crisis came up, Mary Ann is just down the street most days, and there's a warm body just upstairs who would, I believe if push came to shove, be able to dial a phone, or transport someone to the doctor or hospital.

To my surprise, mom was already out of surgery by the time I arrived at Covenant-Cooper hospital in Saginaw. Ron was in the middle of calling everyone and leaving messages about her outcome, and this was only 9am. She'd gone into surgery at 8. I would have liked to see Dr. Weir and hear his report, but I was too late. But Ron said Dr. Weir had reported that the surgery had gone well, and it was definitely high time this knee be replaced. We sat and talked in the waiting room, and I got to meet Ron's sister Kathy. We seemed to hit it off immediately, and she's someone I wouldn't mind knowing more (she likes to cook too, hee, hee!). We got word we could go up to see mom, and to our surprise she was amazingly lucid and felt wonderful. Of course she was loaded up on pain meds and the epidural still hadn't begun to wear off, so she was numb from the waist down. I was sort of dreading going up there, because after the first knee surgery she was still so groggy and got sick as soon as they sat her upright. And she didn't remember a thing about me being there. This time things looked to be in order (no leftover materials and ID from the previous patient, and her ID wristband was correctly on her wrist, where it belongs). The device that slowly flexes her knee was working properly too (the first time, the nurse and I struggled with two or three of them before it worked right).

I mentioned to mom I had just come from her parents' and that Mary Ann had been there, and that I had mentioned her surgery to them. She petulantly replied that she hadn't wanted them to know about it, but that since I had now told them, it was OK. I thought it might be a bit harsh to say 'tough shit' to someone less than two hours out of major surgery, but that summed up my thoughts. Whether she likes it or not, the family is still connected by the threads we kids represent. And I don't mind in the least that now our grandparents and aunt have to wrestle with the fearsome idea of sending a get well card to mom or not.

I felt pretty good about leaving, because by that time the room was full of Ron's relatives/her friends, and it sounded like a party going on. Plus she was her usual self, schmoozing with the RN and LPN and insisting she was going to get out of there Monday. She was already talking about ordering lunch, but we suggested *maybe* she hold off on that. It will be interesting to see how much of all that she remembers.

Recipes? I've got recipes. Enjoy!

German Black Magic Cake

1. Make Black Magic Cake

From Hershey's 100th Anniversary Cookbook

2 C sugar
1 3/4 C all-purpose flour
3/4 C Hershey's cocoa
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 C buttermilk or sour milk*
1 C strong black coffee, or 2 tsp instant coffee plus 1 C boiling water
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

*To sour milk, use 1 tablespoon white vinegar plus milk to equal 1 cup

Heat oven to 350 F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round baking pans**. In large bowl, stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add eggs, buttermilk, coffee, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. Batter will be thin. Pour batter evenly in prepared pans. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes, and remove from pans to wire racks. Cool completely. Frost as desired.

**One 13X9X2 inch baking pan may be substituted for the 9-inch round pans. Prepare as directed above. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Frost as desired.


2. Make Coconut-Pecan Filling and Frosting

From Kraftfoods.com

1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk
1 1/2 sugar
3/4 C (1 1/2 sticks) butter or margarine
4 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
7 ounces Baker's Angel Flake coconut (about 2 2/3 cups)
1 1/2 C chopped pecans

Mix milk, sugar, butter, egg yolks and vanilla in large saucepan. Cook on medium heat 12 minutes, or until thickened and golden brown, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add the coconut and pecans; mix well. Cool to room temperature and of desired spreading consistency. Makes enough to fill and frost top of 3-layer cake, or tops of 2 13X9 cake or 36 cupcakes.

Notes:

I toasted the pecans and the coconut before stirring in. I also used the entire amount to cover one 13X9 cake. A thinly frosted cake is inexcusable (in my humble opinion).


Leaf-Peeping Chicken Salad

8 or 9 chicken breasts (boneless/skinless)
2 or 3 tart fall apples, cubed
1-2 C red seedless grapes, cut in half
1-2 C finely chopped celery
1 C lightly toasted pecans
1 C (approximately) light mayonnaise or salad dressing
1/2 C light sour cream
1-2 Tb spicy brown mustard
Chopped fresh herbs: parsley, thyme, sage, chives, rosemary and the green parts of scallions are all good. Use whatever combination you have available or prefer.
Cider and a few tablespoons cider vinegar

Marinate the chicken breasts for 20 minutes to an hour in the cider/vinegar mixture. Grill and cool. Cut or tear into small pieces and mix with all other ingredients. Toss until everything is coated with mayo. Salt and pepper to taste.

Makes enough for a small crowd.

The chicken doesn't need to be grilled, it can also be poached in the cider.