Cliffsnotes of Insanity

A week of unexpected book joy

2012-11-16T19:47:15Z

I've been having some trouble settling down to read lately, (both due to lack of blocks of time and lack of attention span) so finding several wonderful things in the course of a week was delightfully unexpected. Okay, mostly unexpected. Enjoying the hell out of the stories in the Scalzi super bundle I bought during the hurricane was not much of a surprise.

I was recc'd several of the works by LJ author haikujaguar a few months ago (in response to my bitching and moaning that paranormal romance had taken over my beloved genres of SF/F.) I'd read a couple of her things before and enjoyed them greatly. After all, what's not to love about the Jokka, sex changing aliens who go through puberty twice, and at each time may or may not change gender. Neat stories, really neat world/culture building. (Though I enjoyed the short stories more than the novel - a switch on my part. Usually I like novels much better, but the one I read got a little more angsty than my usual cup of tea. Loved the short stories though, and I keep forgetting to see if she's done any more that I haven't read yet.)

So when I sat down to check out the newer series, starting with Aphorisms of Kherishdar, I was expecting to enjoy it, but not be blown away. Wrong! It was like Pringles and I couldn't stop. Not with this book, nor the next, (which has some darker themes, but not as dark as it sounds from the description) nor the third (which was a novel rather than a series of shorts like the first two.) Really wonderful aliens world/culture building along with being an extended meditation on the value of society vs individual and the place and role and VALUE of beauty and art.(*) Totally recommended. Go follow her on LJ. She's always got (it seems) at least one serial story in the works. I've heard great things about the current space opera series. I look forward to reading it once its done. (I can't stand reading WIPs. Drives me insane. Hell, I rarely even watch TV week to week anymore - I'd rather watch the full season at once on netflix.)

And then I was twiddling with my audible account and remembered that I picked up the Jim Dale reading of the original Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie back when it was free. And I went, hmmm, okay, let's try. I am generally skeptical of the classics because they tend to be horribly stodgy and their pacing doesn't stand the test of time well. But no, this was delightful! To be fair, I doubt Jim Dale could give a bad reading. But the story itself is quirky and sarcastic and biting and completely charming. It is clearly the work of a man keeping himself entertained as he tells a story to children.

(It reminds me of how I keep myself from being bored by entertaining small children at the repetitive age. One of my favorites involves a little towheaded 2 year old and a pile of bug toys. "what's this, what's this?" says the small child. Again. The first time it was "spider" or "grasshopper". The fifth it was "fake centipede" or "fake ant". By the seventh, my answer became "cheap plastic." This is particularly entertaining because said small child repeated each answer back to me in a little lisp... Small child's mom across the room laughed hysterically at her offspring's repetition of "teap pla-tic.")

But I digress. JM engages in some pretty heavy handed gender role assassination but it is dealt with an even hand and all are tarnished equally by it and if you choose to listen as a satire of 19th C British Culture, all gender PCness can be swept aside for the duration. At least, I sure could. And it was wonderfully fun.

So my week has been full of delightful stories. Speaking of which, my copy of the Scalzi book, Clays Beneath the Skies (the book of Jokka short stories) and The Worth of a Shell (Jokka novel) are loanable if anyone has a kindle account and wants to borrow. I'm not done with the Scalzi bundle yet, so if you want dibbs on it, you can have it, but will have to wait a bit. (days? weeks? not sure.)

(*) Seriously, I had an entire epiphany about the role of beauty and art in my life in response to reading this. It's good.

Lampshade chili a definite success! (paleo, gluten free recipe)

2012-03-30T23:49:10Z

I've only been wanting to try this recipe for months now, and finally got around to doing so tonight. I got the initial idea from rainbow - but she had trouble giving me exact amounts for the spices, so I gave mom the general directions and asked her what proportions I should use. Mom said she didn't know squat about cooking meat with cocoa, and told me to ask her friend. SO, this is the final result, with the exact wording of both rainbow and mom's friend at the end.

(btw, lampshade chili - is called lampshade as it's a chili-like concoction made without the traditional nightshades of tomatoes & peppers.)

1 giant ass onion, diced (seriously, this thing was the size of a softball)
5 cloves garlic, smushed through garlic press
1 lb ground beef (grass-fed even; spouse said would be awesome with lamb)

2 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp coriander
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1/2tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cocoa powder

a bit more than 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken stock (what I had in the fridge)
about 1/2 tsp salt (to taste, I didn't measure)
about a tsp red wine vinegar (again, I splashed and tasted, so this is a guess)

1. mix dry spices together.

2. Sautee onion (I used EVOO) till really soft, 10ish min, add garlic, sautee another minute or two (on medium), sprinkle about a third of the dry spices on, sautee a minute or so.

3. Lower the heat a bit and add in the ground beef & the rest of the spices and brown it all together. When just barely browned, add the soup stock, salt & vinegar. Cook down a bit and taste. See if the spices, salt and vinegar taste right, adjust as needed. (I just added pinches of salt & stirred and re-tasted until right.)

I served it with rice & sour cream - not quite paleo, but made it seem like a "real" meal for non-paleo spouse. Spouse's suggestion was that it could use some chopped cillantro, but otherwise would love it if this became a regular recipe, even a weekly one.

EDIT: I tried the leftovers with a couple spoonfuls of coconut milk instead of sour cream, also very tasty! (But made me wish I'd cooked it with golden raisins. I may try that next time.)

EDIT 2: Tried the recipe again (a few days later) with a twist: a handful or two of golden raisins, a handfuls of quartered baby carrots, about 1/4-1/3 can coconut milk, and increasing the cocoa significantly. I liked all of it except for the cocoa. I think I'd prefer a low cocoa & bring up the cinnamon a bit instead (plus more carrots & raisins) and maybe some lemon juice. So now I have Lampshade Chili and Moroccan (sort of) Lampshade Chili. :)

The original recipe from rainbow:
"i do something i call chili, although it's both nightshade and legume free: saute ground beef with onion and garlic until the meat is done and the alliums are cooked. add water, oregano, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cocoa, s&p to taste. cook until it's as liquidy as you want (more if it's to be over rice, less for over lettuce, for instance). i like to garnish with chopped onion, minced cilantro, and a squeeze of lemon juice. if you like guacamole, it's tasty on top as well."

And the suggestion from mom's friend:
"Here's my suggestion:

Saute the onion first, and add a layer of seasoning. I'd say 1 tbs of cumin, 1 tbs of coriander, 1 tsp of oregano (BTW, I'm not such an oregano fan; I prefer marjoram), 1/2 tsp each of cinnamon and cocoa, s&p. Then add the meat and cook until it's just done, not fully browned. Add the minced garlic and another 1 tbs each of cumin and coriander and a 1/2 tsp of oregano. Then add about 3/4 cup of either water or broth; check your seasonings. Simmer until it's as thick as you'd like.

Again, I like cumin; don't know if you feel the same way, so after you add the first layer of seasonings, give it a little taste and adjust accordingly as you go."

The vinegar was my idea. I think it tasted a bit flat without it. I suspect the cillantro & lemon juice that Rainbow recc'd would've covered the same function, but I didn't have those. I also think I want to try it with more cocoa next time.

I declare awesomeday!

2012-03-04T17:30:20Z

Y'all remember the rules? Share something(s) happy with me. This here post is cheap therapy for everyone!

1. Had friends over last night! This includes a dear friend who I just don't see often enough, and finally got to meet his SO who I've been hearing about for ages. It was an entirely silly fest of awesome!

2. I cooked ALL THE THINGS - and was not exhausted. I must be doing something right health-wise - as I made a last minute grocery run yesterday and then proceeded to prep food for several hours and I did not run out of energy!! woot! I ran out of time when people came so did not get to the last (and experimental recipe), but I didn't have to tap out due to tired, and then still had the energy to socialize while nifty people were over. And without the extra cup of tea I usually need. YAYS!

2.5 The stew was awesome.

3. There is a bottle of black currant wine in the fridge. Nom.

4. Speaking of booze, have discovered that I actually like really snooty bourbon. Which means I now have a new common interest with my partners.

5. DUDE I HAVE SMART FRIENDS. I've been having entirely too much fun nerding out with Words with Friends and Scarmble with Friends. It keeps reminding me I know SMART people. It is awesome.

6. OHAI, I checked the thankyou points I get with my bank account and realized I had enough to subsidize my next vacation by $250. YEAH BABY. I ordered that card so fast!

7. Have discovered that for some reason, local portabella mushrooms (the big hand-sized ones) cost less/lb than the little ones. And it's infinitely easier to wash one or two of the big ones and chop them than clean all the fiddley little ones. Cheap AND convenient!

7.5 Thus one of the reasons my stew was awesome.

8. Next up on the experimental cooking list: PURPLE VELVET TORTE. Yeah baby, a beet-chocolate cake. BWAHAHAHHA!

Your turn! Make with the happy!

Join in for awesomeday!

2012-02-17T22:06:46Z

Here's my list of awesome (*), please tell me yours!

1. Penguins getting valentines cards! I could leave it there, but really, you deserve the full story, complete with pictures:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/14/california-academy-of-sciences-penguins_n_1277627.html
(This is my favorite news story of the week. Thanks for sending it to me Redcat!)

2. New recipe tried and loved: carrot-scallion latkes! Seriously considering trying them with beets. OMNOMNOMNOM!

2.5 Said recipe called for coconut flour as a binder instead of the traditional wheat flour, so I have FINALLY made a recipe with the coconut flour I picked up to try a couple of months ago. YAY!

3. Diet changes seem to be working for me. Managing super busy days reasonably well despite sleep interruptions (ahem, spouse, snoring), and really exhausting couple of months (2 funerals). And more objectively --

For years and years my weight has fluctuated in the same 9 pound range. Stepped on scale for first time since seriously eliminating wheat & reducing grains and my weight was 3 lbs lower than the low end of the range. And 5 lbs lower than last I checked in november. During PMS with boobs swollen enough that spouse called them "huge" last night. (No one has EVER called my boobs huge.) I sure as HELL haven't been exercising or counting calories. I take this as likely confirmation that I'm eating food that agrees better with me. (**)

4. Speaking of spousal snoring -- a partial solution seems to have finally been found. The super spiffy earplugs I got (because the long treks on public transport were damaging my hearing to the point where I felt like my ears needed glasses) seem to do the trick! When snores woke me at 5am, I finally got smart enough to stumble out of bed, grabbed the ear plug for the ear I keep up and fell back asleep within 5 minutes. it was really weird that I could hear him snoring better through the ear I had down on the pillow. I'm not so sure that it'll be good for me to wear those every night, but I got nearly 10 hours of sleep last night. 10 HOURS. I <3 sleep.

5. Bought a spiralizer - yay! I can't wait till it arrives. Affordable, dishwasher safe, and if I use it consistantly instead of gluten-free noodles, it will genuinely pay for itself in about 6 uses. (What's a spiralizer? This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DF5P-uLXwc ) Not to mention the health benefits of replacing noodles with veggies.

6. Peeled bananas freeze okay! whodathunkit? Peeled bananas frozen 4 days show no more discoloration in my freezer than they would in a fruit salad (with citrus juice) for an hour or two. I'd always heard you could freeze bananas to make an ice-cream like substance, but I thought they might look icky. They do not!

----

(*) This here awesomeday thing is cheap therapy. Tell me good things!

(**) Weight is far from the final arbiter of all things health, BUT given that many of my issues stem from having an auto-immune hypothyroid disorder, and one of the major symptoms of thyroid malfunction is generally weight gain, I'm taking weight loss without counting calories or additional exercise as an objective sign that my thyroid is working a bit better.

And now for something completely silly OR happy half birthday to me

2012-01-30T20:54:52Z

Its my half birthday! This looks like self-indulgent fun, and my last two birthdays got partially or fully drowned out by drama. This half birthday almost could be too, so I declare a FUCK-IT! Happy half birthday to me, I shall do silly things!

Shamelessly stealing this meme from velvetmouse:

"So here's how we're going to play this: I write out the alphabet below. You give me a word for an unclaimed letter, a fandom and characters. I write either a single (100 words) or a double (200 words) drabble. Rejoicing happens." (Wellll, 100-200ish words for me anyway) Feel free to suggest a rating/pairing/moresome, and I'll do my best. Historically, I'm inclined to fairly PG.

I've written less than a half dozen pieces of fanfic in my life, and no fiction of any kind in a few years, so this ought to be a fun brain stretch.

Fandoms I'm pretty sure I can write in:
Harry Potter
Sherlock
Doctor Who (bwahaha - I typo'd doctor whoa!) (9th incarnation or later)
Merlin
Stargate: SG1 & Atlantis
Buffy/Angel
Firefly

Fandoms I think I can write in:
Downton Abbey
West Wing, especially the early years
Due south
Star Trek (original, XI, TNG, maybe DS9 or Enterprise, don't even think about voyager)
Muppets
Babylon 5

A
B is for Bao. Firefly/Sherlock, at a dim sum restaurant in London. Jayne. We <3 Jayne. -- for kythryne, in progress.
C is for crime/Caught/coincidence. Dr. Who/Firefly. Wash. For shogunsquirrel
D
E
F
G is for gone, as in "Something has gone wrong" and Merlin is befuddled!
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P is for pudding (Buffy/West Wing xover, any)
Q
R is for River. Meeting River. Firefly/Who
S is for sea turtle, STARGATE: Atlantis, crack (YES THIS IS MINE IT TOOK OVER MY BRAIN) - DONE
T is for TARDIS, Dr Who/Sherlock crossover, hopefully with Snape thrown in - Done, blame kythryne
U is for "unicorn, existence of" (Babylon 5) - Done, er... sort of. Possibly not *quite* what you meant. For velvetmouse.
V
W is for Wolf. Due South/Harry Potter. Diefenbaker. Lupin. You can only blame kythryne halfway for this one.
X
Y
Z

Caveat: I have no idea if I can write above an R rating much less if I could bring myself to post it publicly. :)

Caveat 2: I'm particularly fond of crack and crossovers. Feel free to point me in those directions.

Caveat 3: no angst, no underage, no noncon, SO not my thing. I find RPF mortifying so again, no.

Caveat 4: There is no caveat 4. Though if I've managed to forget a fandom you're pretty sure I can adore, feel free to suggest it.

Awesome day revival?

2012-01-29T20:34:38Z

I would really really like to revive awesomeday. I have had a month of incredible fucknuttery (2 family emergencies among other things.) I'm going to try like WHOA to come up with a few things here. Please please tell me something GOOD going on with you. No bitching/venting/negativity. This is officially a cry for help (though I am doing much much better than earlier this week. Whew.) I could use some wins here. Please share yours with me!

Awesome things in my life:

1. Have discovered that spicy salmon is surprisingly effective as antidepressant on the bad days. I thought it was just the yums, then thought about it and realized that salmon is one of the few good food sources of omega-3s and vitamin D, both of which are good for mood. So I can TOTALLY LEGITIMATELY say I'm eating medicinal sushi! Totally legit! For reals! It's a medical expense!

2. Have supportive sibling who is excellently good at making me laugh. My favorite links she's sent me this week are:

http://www.dorktower.com/2012/01/24/dork-tower-tuesday-january-24-2012/
http://pictureisunrelated.memebase.com/2012/01/26/wtf-photos-videos-meep-meep/

3. I get to try electrolysis for free - a colleague has an assistant she needs to bring up to speed and needs a test dummy. Hell yes I volunteered. Useful personally & professionally.

4. Life on Mars (US version) and Downton Abbey. Spouse & I have been mainlining these the last 2-3 weeks. The first is pure hilarious pure WTF-crack, the second is excellently written & directed BEAUTIFUL crack. I <3 good production values.

5. I have 3 hats with faces, two of which are penguins. Also, penguin mittens.

6. Mom is being v supportive of the no wheat thing -- anytime I'm around is making rice-based dishes and using wheat-free soy sauce. Perhaps she shouldn't have let me name the most recent one. In my defense though, "Tasty Glop" is an accurate name.

7. I have a 4' x 2' bookcase entirely filled with cookbooks. Clearly, excellent!

8. I figured out how to make tasty vegan coconut milk fudge last month. Yum.

9. Hilarious save-the-date magnet on my fridge for upcoming friends' wedding.

10. Have finally figured out how & explained to spouse that constant singing of weird and off-key songs interrupts my thought process and he has REALLY SIGNIFICANTLY CUT DOWN. Much fewer nonsense songs = less ADD me = less CONSTANTLY forgetting WTF I'm doing. This is really really GOOD.

You? What's your awesome?

Food ponderings & adventures: wheat, paleo, immune system & recipes

2011-11-09T18:02:55Z

I thought about twittering bits of this, but really, even the small bits are too long for twitter. Also, need the longer format to work out some of this in my head.

Also, I do not seem to be smart enough for twitter today. Have had a dozen tweets I've started and given up on as I couldn't shrink them down to 140char. (None of them, I think, related to this post. Just apparently my twitter brain and my food brain are completely separate.)

I Beat my Wheat

So, I proved to myself, yet again, that my body Does Not Want wheat & sugar. 2 and a half weeks ago, I was surrounded by sick people. Sneezing, dripping, using up every tissue in the house sick people. I didn't get sick. I hadn't had wheat/sugar in 8 days and decided to deliberately NOT do so cause DO NOT WANT GERMS, thank you. And it seemed to have worked. 4 days ago I got back from cruise with sweetie in which I'd had wheat & sugar every day. Small amounts, nothing like I used to be able to put away. Half a dessert & a small dinner roll one day, a cookie or two the next. I figured "fuckit, I'm on vacation, I don't have to be smart enough to work with patients & I'm going to be sleeping in & spending my days in the spa anyway, so fuck intellectual rigor." The next day (after I came home) I was sick. Full on sore throat leading into fever & respiratory STUFF the next day. Feels like a flu-lite actually. Mrrph. Spouse suggested that what he'd had just had a really long incubation period, but honestly, his symptoms were different & he had no fever.

So once I got that through my head, I cleaned up the diet significantly. Definition of clean follows.

On Paleo

Over the last 4 months or so, I've been leaning more and more towards the Paleo diet. I'd already figured out that wheat & sugar didn't like me much, and the idea behind paleo is to ditch all processed food, especially wheats, grains & legumes. (Many include dairy in that as well, but that seems to be a some people thing, not everyone.) Basically, eat what the body evolved eating because the humans haven't been eating grains for long enough in history (only about 10K years) for our bodies to know WTF to DO with them & they're likely a causative factor (or at the least highly in why so many people are having autoimmune issues. (And as of a month ago, I'm one of them. I finally convinced my MD to test me for Hashimoto's Thyroiditis -- an autoimmune thyroid issue. And lo and behold, yes, I was positive. Sigh. This explains so freakin' much.)

Let me take a moment to remind the audience that I am the queen of carbs, and love love LOVE my bread, rice, pasta, etc. I have very good reason to be resistant to paleo-style diets. But the premise made sense to me. So I started reading. And reading. And reading. And more reading. And both the science and testimonials sound awfully good & has meshed with my experience. So more than cutting out sugar and wheat 95%, (which already made quite a difference to my pain & energy levels) I played a bit with cutting out grains & legumes (again, about 95%, except for white rice, which many paleo folk consider to be mostly harmless, except for the people it bothers), & increasing meat consumption and when I do that, my energy&pain improve yet more.

It probably says a lot that yesterday, 2 days completely grain free, that while my fever was higher, I was actually feeling better than the 2 days prior. *mutter*grumble* Yes, it is wonderful that I'm finding a solution (at least in part) to my health woes but GODDAMMIT, I LIKE CARBS.

On Meat & Cooking

I also do not cook meat well. Eating meat out is expensive, and I clearly feel better when I eat more of it (So Weird for this former borderline veggie), so I've been trying to learn. After several experiments, I've concluded that I can cook ground meat into quite tasty things, but I am on the sad side of mediocre when it comes to actual chunks of meat. I'm giving up on that for now - I'll try again when either bored or brave or have a Very Good Teacher.

One of my first really successful experiments was in trying to cook Keema. Keema is a ground meat indian dish that is tasty! Here, have a wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keema I have my doubts about how authentic it came out as "Keema" per se, but tastes pretty darn good. I was so proud of it that I actually submitted it to a Paleo food blogger who sent out the call for ground meat recipes. They loved it & posted it. See?
http://paleoparents.com/2011/this-week-in-red-meat-week-1/

They did, however, make it significantly more coherent than when I emailed it to them. They also made a couple of changes for their own dietary needs.

My Keema Recipe

(My = adapted from an online source or four)

Ingredients:
1 onion,
3-4 cloves garlic,
a metric buttload of spices, all measurements approximate as I'm still tweaking it: (2tbsp garam masala, 1tsp salt, 1tsp ginger, 1tbsp cumin, 2tsp cinnamon, 1tsp ground cardamom)
1 8oz can tomato paste,
1c beef broth
optional 10-16oz frozen veg (defrosted)
1 lb ground meat. (I've been using grass fed beef, & I understand lamb is traditional too)
oil/butter for sautee

1. Brown ground meat, set aside.

2. Sautee one diced onion for 5 min until soft. Turn heat down to medium & add several minced cloves garlic (the more the merrier, but I usually use 3-4, and put through the garlic press) & sautee another minute or two.

2b. Sautee note: I've used olive oil, and it's good. I'm sure Ghee would be better, but I don't have that. I throw in a tbsp or two of grass-fed butter with the spices in a later step to roughly approximate the ghee flavor. Definitely improves the dish.

3. Dump the bowl o' spices on top of the onion garlic (and stir) & let cook briefly to bring out the best fragrance of the spices. I usually panic and add liquid to this stage too early to avoid burning them, but I'm fairly sure you're supposed to actually brown the spices for a minute.

4. Re-add browned meat. Also add broth, tomato paste, and optional veggies (stirstirstir, get it all mixed up & all the stuck bits off the bottom), and simmer for 5-15 min to reduce liquid to thick gravy. It always seems to reduce faster than I expect.

5. Taste it! If you added veggies (in my case, generally chopped spinach or that mixed pea/carrot thing from the supermarket), it may need more salt. If your spice tolerance is SUPER high, you may want more cayenne, though I find the garam massala adds enough pepper for me. If it's too spicy, you can add some coconut milk. Like I said, I'm still tweaking it, & think it might want a slightly more acid flavor, and plan on trying it with diced tomatoes added next time. Real ones if I can find decent this time of year.

Serving: I've eaten this straight & I've eaten it over rice, depending on how grainy I'm feeling. If you're making rice, toss some salt, cinnamon sticks, cardamom pods, whole cloves & a spoonful of coriander seeds into the rice cooker along with the rice.

Context: I'm a white girl raised jewish, living on the border of a neighborhood of NYC that might as well be called little pakistan. So while I am personally not remotely authentic & I based the initial recipe from something online, my taste buds know what the food SHOULD taste like & I've been tweaking this to try and get it more authentic. It still tastes a bit americanized to me, but definitely tasty.

-----

Loose Meat

My favorite way to work on a recipe that I like/has potential is to do it over & over, tweaking just a little each time. I don't get bored of a food I like easily. My sweeties however, do, and I know this from experience. So I've been trying to remember to try other things. I remembered coming upon a recipe for "loose meat sandwiches" a while back, made via crockpot, that looked tasty. Tasty, cheap, perverse sounding name & crockpot, so it's a must-try, right? Just because it's for a sandwich doesn't mean I need to eat it with bread. That's what potatoes are for. Or rice. or for making faux sandwiches out of romaine lettuce or filling small sweet peppers with. It sounded an awful lot like a tomato-free sloppy joe recipe, and I was game to try!

The original recipe is here:
http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2011/02/slow-cooker-loose-meat-sandwiches.html?m=1

I made it with lean ground turkey, as the author suggested. (I also halved the sugar; I was going to skip it entirely, but decided to try the recipe more correctly for the first time. Next time, I think maybe maple syrup or no sweetener.) But it came out a little funny. I probably should've taken a picture. Rather than being all gravylicious, it has turned into a shallow meatloaf, pulled in 1/2" from the edges, with edges pretty badly burnt. I think my slow cooker is hotter than that of the author of the recipe. I set it for 10hrs & left it overnight.... clearly, if I try again, I'll set it for 8 & add more liquid besides.

As what was left was tasty, if a bit dry, I spooned out the unburnt 90% (occupycrockpot?) & warmed/lightly simmered it for a few minutes with about a half cup of water and a half can of coconut milk. The results were quite tasty, though not particularly pretty. Looked quite a bit like grape nuts as hot cereal. I stood at the stove and thought, "my god, I think I made baby food." I ate it over a sweet potato & steamed green beans. Healthy & tasty, but... not pretty. Possibly I smushed all the ingredients together too much in addition to the overcooking, because really, it was a loaf! Possibly I should also brown the meat first next time so that it keeps a sense of intact texture. But... I rebel at the idea of browning something before crockpotting it. The whole idea of a crockpot is to make food EASY.

I believe the lesson here is that it's near impossible to go wrong by adding coconut milk to anything.

----

Next recipe?

I'm thinking of playing more with either indian cookbooks to get a feel for spicing things properly, or trying the sweet potato "spaghetti" mentioned on the same food blog page as my Keema. I'd actually really like to try the Pasketti, but shredding raw sweet potatoes sounds like a LOOOOOOT of work to me. And I am sick.

btw, I'd love ground meat recipe suggestions from you guys. Preferably once without too many processed ingredients that I'd have to work around. Eventually, I'll get bored of ground meat and/or brave enough to try solid pieces of meat again, but for now, I would like to try things I can *do.*

fyi: acupuncture recommendation for washington (not DC) people

2011-09-06T23:04:55Z

I get people asking me for referrals all over the country all the time. If any of you happen to be in or know anyone in the Bellingham, WA area, I officially know someone good in the area. (Someone asked for a referral. I got an enthusiastic recomendation from my alumni mailing list. The person I referred out there wound up being very pleased & thanked me repeatedly.)

No, I don't know her personally. But I now have that info if anyone needs it. Feel free to ask here or LJ message me if you would rather remain private.

Healthy PMS-worthy Cocoa Smoothie

2011-08-12T21:35:19Z

Considering how much I've been loving this and how many times I describe it to someone ("chocolate softserve icecream meets tropical drink") and they go, "ooooooh, recipe?", I thought I should post it here for posterity:

My basic indulgent PMS-remedying tropical chocolate smoothie recipe: (yes, it's in a mathematical ratio, where X = 1, 2 or 3, depending on how much smoothie you want, I am a GEEK)

X bananas
X tbsp unsweetened cocoa (***)
X tbsp oil, ideally coconut, but as the coconut seems to set off my gallbladder, I've been using EVOO & it's very tasty that way too
X large frozen strawberries or 2X slices frozen peaches (I like the peaches better)
X+2 shakes ground cardamom (seriously, this takes it from good, to GOOOD)
1/4 X cups cold water

(healthy(er) option: you can fairly easily hide 3-8oz of green is this if you like. I once successfully hid 6-7oz of bok choy & a a small beet in one, but don't feel obligated)

1. put in blender, bananas first & blend till smooth (20-30sec)
2. Adjust to taste -- it depends slightly on the ripeness of the bananas. If you want it sweeter add more bananas. If you want a darker chocolate, more cocoa. If it needs to be brighter/tangier or seems flat, add more strawberries/peaches. Then reblend.
3. Sip & cackle gleefully.

Banana Hater Note: I bet you could try this replacing each banana with about a cup of sweet grapes.

Flavor note: as chocolate is inherently strong tasting/bitter, it hides the heck out of any possible odd flavor from the EVOO & greens.

Spice note: I suspect that allspice, or allspice + vanilla extract, may reasonably replace the cardamom, but haven't tried it. CARDAMOM GOOD. TRUST THE CARDAMOM!

PMS note: I've noticed that making it a darker chocolate, using 3-4tbsp cocoa, kicks the HELL out of my PMS** moods & sweet/carb cravings. OTOH, at that level, it contains as much caffeine as a cup of green tea, so you're warned.

PMS note 2: if you're brave enough to try including greens, that ups the mineral content calcium/magnesium of the smoothie - which should further help with all moods/cravings from PMS.

(**) Upon researching chocolate info, I realized that this amount of cocoa contains about 20-25% of your RDA of both iron and magnesium, which explains a lot about it being menstrual-worthy. (Magnesium is a mineral most people are chronically deprived of & is involved in muscle relaxation INCLUDING UTERINE MUSCLE. The iron, I believe, is self explanatory.)

(***) EDIT 3: QUALITY OF COCOA MATTERS. Seriously. I had been using Droste cocoa for drinking/baking. I ran out today so used Hershey's. I even used extra. Still good, but not *remotely* as intense and an order of magnitude less dark chocolatey than the Droste. Yes, it totally matters. I knew it mattered, but wow did I just have it re-proved to myself.

EDIT: I am completely incapable of posting something without changing it a zillion (8+) times for clarity. Sorry if it keeps changing and seems surreal.

EDIT2 : Husband seems to think it's gritty. I don't notice it, but it's entirely possible that I didn't get the cocoa + cardamom powders sufficiently mixed in. You may wish to consider adding more water or oil or just mixing the liquids + powders FIRST before adding any fruit.

Conditioner Washing Hair

2011-07-04T14:23:50Z

For idat who was intrigued:

Conditioner washing is washing your hair without shampoo. Cheap conditioners apparently have mild surfactants (detergents) in them, so doing so is way less drying. CO (conditioner-only) washing consistently has left my hair with a lot more body than it had, and frequently, full on mermaid hair (long curls). It also behaves better. I can actually leave it down & have it stay out of my eyes when I'm not a year overdue for a haircut. *eyerolls*

How to?

1) Select cheap conditioner. You don't want a protein conditioner because this will leave your hair feeling vaguely icky and coated. You don't want a silicone conditioner because I understand they won't work as well. (It may just be that silicone conditioners are too high end and don't have the surfactants.) You also want cheap because you WILL use a giant handful or two of it, not the small dollop you're used to for shampoo. I find that the Suave Naturals line works best for me.

2) In shower: wet hair, take giant handful of conditioner and massage the hell out of it into scalp like you would with shampoo (use fingertips, not nails). You're going to leave it in for 5-10min (**), so unless your hair is short, the next step is to pull hair up into hair clip to keep it out of your way, & then take a smaller dollop of conditioner and get the underside of the hair that's now exposed that probably didn't get the conditioner worked in as fully. If your hair is thin/fine, this might not be necessary, but my hair is thick and the first dollop never seems to get it thoroughly.

3) Go about the rest of your shower: soap/body wash/shave/etc. You've got a few minutes to kill.

4) Take down your hair, stick your head under the spray briefly & massage scalp again briefly. (you're loosening up the dirt for the rinse off)

5) Rinse thoroughly. For at *least* two minutes. (Literally, I count to 120 while combing out my hair under the shower spray.)

6) If you're just getting used to the process(***), or if your hair is particularly oily (**), you may wish to repeat this whole process. (Note: this is one more reason for the cheap conditioner.)

(**) - Many conditioner washing websites will say something like, the longer you leave the conditioner in the better, the better. I never found that true. I find the leave-in time to pretty much not matter. I do find that I generally need to do it twice. Probably because I leave it too long much of the time, but possibly just because my hair is *thick.*

(***) Many CO washing sites say, (and this I find true), that shampoo is overly harsh and your scalp produces too much oil in self-defense. And that after you've been CO-washing for a bit, your hair produces less oil. True for me (****). But in the begining, your scalp is still in defensive mode, so you may wish to CO-wash twice (lather, rinse, repeat), and still shampoo every 2nd-3rd time & gradually draw it out.

(****) Anyone whose seen me on a bad hair day and disagrees, I blame the fibro. On bad weeks (pain or fatigue) I've allowed the lesser amount of oil produced to spoil me and I'll push off CO washing far too long (more than 4-5 days) and I know it but fool myself into thnking that I'm covering. Body gets washed with hair out of the way every day. Takes 5 min. With hair THIS long, (to my butt) a shower with hair washing takes next to forever (30-45min), and yes, has serious spoon cost. If you don't know spoon theory of chronic illness yet, here, have a link: http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory-written-by-christine-miserandino/

Save Mia - support auction to keep a kid away from an abusive ass

2011-06-22T03:13:26Z

Some of you have seen my posts about this on twitter, but this is too important to simply hope that I managed to express it right in 140 characters.

Short version: A close friend of mine is running a charity auction to raise funds (for legal fees) to keep a 4 year old girl away from the abusive asshole who's currently trying to drown Mia's mom in a nasty custody battle.

http://savemia.livejournal.com/

The explanation post for Save Mia is here:
http://savemia.livejournal.com/505.html

There is some lovely jewelry and other interesting items up for auction. I posted 2 auctions myself -- one for an hour of my time to bend the ear of a health professional, the other for hard to find collectible BPAL perfumes. (The latter of course is really only of interest if you're part of the slightly mad BPAL community like myself.)

I would urge you to go check it out, bid if you can, put something up for sale if you can, join the community so that you see when new posts come up, and most importantly, please signal boost (re-tweet & post links to this post & to the savemia comm itself.)

Thank you.

Ah phooey. Wheat hates me. Any suggestions?

2011-06-16T17:55:19Z

After various diet experiments, it's been dawning on me that wheat hits me like a sedative. SO. I've finally decided to get smart about it -- No bread/pasta/pizza for me *unless* it's a) for dinner, and b) I don't plan to do anything energetic after.

This is an utter pain in the butt. All my favorite foods are bread/pizza/pasta. (Well, and rice and other squishy carbs. But. Rice can stay! At least for now.) This isn't just a willpower thing, this is a I have to relearn how to eat thing. Annoying, but doable, esp since I can just replace my 1st meal of the day with a green smoothie. And then I just spent several hours googling ideas it dawned on me to ask you people.

What are your favorite recipes that are bread and noodle free?

Caveat: I can't eat peanuts, am avoiding sugar, and Do Not Want pork or shrimp. Or cantaloupe. Or cillantro/fennel/anise-flavored things.

Caveat the Second: Spouse can't eat too much in the way of lentils and beans. *sigh* I love my beans. So suggestions with out them will be appreciated extra, but with them is okay. I do eat without him much of the time.

Caveat the third: It is OMG-HOT out right now, and extra points go to recipes that are easy and/or require little heat. (I know, it's usually one or the other.)

I know I can get wheat-free bread & noodles, and I will at some point to see if those are less of an issue or if it's all refined squishy carbs. But it seems like anytime you try substituting, it's full of scary ingredients. (Have you ever looked at the label of dairy-free half & half? *shudder*) I'd rather just learn to cook more foods from cultures that don't worship the wheat.

Update on phone survey: 51 calls down!! 19 to go!

2011-05-10T02:00:56Z

[EDIT: Bumping for the day shift, as I did post pretty late last night. 2 RTs from friends last night, and now we've got 56 calls! Almost there! Please help if you can spare a few minutes!]

[Edit 2: Or at least I tried to bump. Edited the Time/date but, no, no bumping. No clue what I'm doing wrong.]

THANK YOU! Everyone who called in and/or reposted to help my spouse out with his grad project is officially AWESOME with AWESOME sauce. As you may have noticed from the subject, we're actually 73% of the way to having all the data we need! That is SO close! And I genuinely think we would've hit 70 already if not for the fact that LJ started throwing ALL KINDS of crazy errors right after I posted. OR if it hadn't been mother's day yesterday.

SO, I renew the plea! If you didn't get around to calling in already or meant to and then got distracted, you can still help! (please??? It's a 347 phone number, open to anyone in North America, you press numbers on the keypad to answer questions and takes 7-8 minutes.) Let's get my sweetie the hell OUT of grad school already! :D

Short version: You make one 7-8 minute phone call to answer a short survey (robot voice, don't even have to talk to a human) and you can help my sweetie to finally FINISH FREAKIN' grad school and help my life return to our version of normal.

PLEASE???

Long version: T has one class left. ONE. After seven freakin' years, (and innumerable delays) he's down to his last bloody class.
[EDIT: this last class, btw, was because his school changed the program on him at the last minute and said he had to take an extra class. He should've actually been done in December 2010.] He should be graduating in May. Should be. But the last class is a research class. He therefore has to conduct a research PROJECT, and the class is notorious for 3/4 of the class needing an extension to finish - the nature of the beast - you actually have to find people to conduct the research on.

I cannot BEGIN to tell you how little I want this dragging on until August, or worse, December. I want it DONE! Possibly, even more than T wants this over with.

Here's his craigslist post asking for volunteer phone calls:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/vol/2364970723.html

It says:
"We are conducting a study of how computers surveys are perceived by the general public. Your opinion matters and will help the industry improve the design of spoken user-interfaces. Our study is conducted in English and is open to callers from North America. It will only take a few minutes of your time, it's for science and, who knows, you may even have fun!

Please call (347) 741-8046 and help us out by answering our survey questions. "

My request: make the call. Make it quickly. And then please link to this post and or RT the post I'm going to put on twitter linking to this. As I recall, he needs a minimum of 70 people in order to start collating data and close up the project. I'm like "70? I bet my friendslist can hit that in 2 days." Especially if you (*AHEM* especially you sis) relink & RT.

You have my heartfelt thanks.

EDIT: we have all we need now, thank you so much!

Help my husband finish grad school, PLEASE? (no, not money)

2011-05-06T19:24:03Z

Short version: You make one 7-8 minute phone call to answer a short survey (robot voice, don't even have to talk to a human) and you can help my sweetie to finally FINISH FREAKIN' grad school and help my life return to our version of normal.

PLEASE???

Long version: T has one class left. ONE. After seven freakin' years, (and innumerable delays) he's down to his last bloody class. He should be graduating in May. Should be. But the last class is a research class. He therefore has to conduct a research PROJECT, and the class is notorious for 3/4 of the class needing an extension to finish - the nature of the beast - you actually have to find people to conduct the research on.

I cannot BEGIN to tell you how little I want this dragging on until August, or worse, December. I want it DONE! Possibly, even more than T wants this over with.

Here's his craigslist post asking for volunteer phone calls:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/vol/2364970723.html

It says:
"We are conducting a study of how computers surveys are perceived by the general public. Your opinion matters and will help the industry improve the design of spoken user-interfaces. Our study is conducted in English and is open to callers from North America. It will only take a few minutes of your time, it's for science and, who knows, you may even have fun!

Please call (347) 741-8046 and help us out by answering our survey questions. "

My request: make the call. Make it quickly. And then please link to this post and or RT the post I'm going to put on twitter linking to this. As I recall, he needs a minimum of 70 people in order to start collating data and close up the project. I'm like "70? I bet my friendslist can hit that in 2 days." Especially if you (*AHEM* especially you sis) relink & RT.

You will have my heartfelt thanks.

My sister the esthetician!

2011-02-15T01:24:23Z

For those of you who don't know, my sister is in an esthetician training program -- learning to do professionally do all those girly things that baffle me, like facials & waxing & that sort of thing.

She is now officially a "senior student" and free to book her own clients in the school (at a significantly less substantial price than you'd pay in a spa. I think it's $39 for the basic facial package/treatment?) If you're in NYC and interested, check out her LJ entry:

http://amireal.livejournal.com/936649.html

EDIT:
PS. Also, she's been practicing on me all along, and the face/neck massage = AWESOME.

PPS. This might make a nice Valentine's Day present for someone if you've been delinquent. Just sayin'.

Mindbloom.com

2010-10-20T04:19:11Z

Anyone else have an account there? Anyone want an invitation to join my forest?

Oh, what's mindbloom? Think of if the power of internet social networking games were harnessed for the power of good, not evil. It's a game where you consciously choose the most important aspects of your life that you wish to develop, and choose the actions that you wish to do more often (or at all.) Then as you do them, you get points, go up in level, etc. (You can also get points for encouraging other people in your forest on their chosen actions.)

The game itself is cute. What I really like is the results. I've been playing it for a few weeks, and I've gotten *much* better about consistently doing the actions I've chosen. For example *looks at the account* I've apparently only missed one day of flossing in the last 16. I've apparently done at least my minimal qi gong & stretching ever day since Sept 29. And I've only missed one green smoothie in the last 10 days. I've also been much more consistent in my professional habits, including keeping up with my alumni mailing list which led to me meeting someone who's helping me make a change this week in which I'll be able to bill the insurance companies for a few of my patients instead of doing a purely cash basis. This is Significant and Cool. And I can promise you I wasn't that consistent with any of the other good habits before.

I'm quite pleased with it. 3(ish) weeks on mindbloom and my energy/stamina is better, my desk is neater, and I might even be about to make more money. Might. I'm still in the learning phase, no clue how that one is going to work out yet.

Anyone want an invite? Also - figure that if you don't know my real name, there's a decent chance I'll say no thank you, as it does display your full name.

a friend in astoria seeks a roommate

2010-07-17T15:56:26Z

Hey folks, a friend of mine who is good people is having one of her roommates move out. The apartment is surprisingly sizable for NYC though I'm not sure about which bedroom in particular it is they're looking for someone to fill. I remember the rent is really reasonable. $600month I think? Do you know anyone, preferably female, queer-friendly, and student/professional-friendly who needs a place? A very sweet cat lives there. I'll hook them up. More details to come when I actually remember to ASK my friend to link me to her craigslist ad.

Do you know anyone who needs a place?

housecleaning...

2010-03-19T15:55:47Z

Feeling antisocial + overwhelmed = clearing out my f-list a bit (30% or so) today. If this includes you, please don't be offended, I'm just feeling the need to pull my walls in a bit.

pretty scent lockets!!

2010-03-17T17:04:48Z

I was browsing this website full of pretty things, (I was actually on the site drooling at their kindle covers) and saw that they had some really lovely scent lockets. I figured at least a few people here would be all over them. Personally, I'm eyeing the ginko & tree of life amulets.

http://www.oberondesign.com/shop/cart.php?m=product_list&c=59

Awesomeday!

2010-02-09T04:42:48Z

It's back! I've got a whole bunch of nifty! Come share yours too!

1. Tried Peruvian food for the first time today! Yum!

2. Had lunch today with two friends I adore who I don't see remotely often enough and giggled my ass off!

3. Spent an hour with one of said friends in our favorite semi-precious gem shop! SHINY EVERYWHERE!

4. Due to unexpected weather patterns forcing me to reschedule 1/3 of my patients this week, I actually get to spend my sweetie's birthday with him! (I'd been feeling very guilty about this, so despite the bother, it's pretty great!)

5. I graduated a patient this week having utterly abolished all of her pain in 2 treatments. I freakin' RULE!

6. I received a package in the mail today -- a free sample of a YUMMY limited edition perfume from someone I know online just because I happened to mention in conversation that it sounded good but I hadn't tried it! (BPAL-ers, the perfume in question is Mead Moon, from alicia_stardust)

7. I was also given another gift today -- a giant hunk of polished labradorite with NIFTY streaks of shimmery color running through it, giving it an almost holographic-fossil-ish look! (Thanks nightrainbow!) I *adore* labradorite! It's like the darker, sexier, more intriguing sister of moonstone. ;)

8. My sweeties are very determined to make sure I'm aware of how appreciated I am. I am damn lucky.

9. Dude, I totally discovered the awesome that is Toe Warmers today. They KICK ASS. (And keep my feet & legs warm & help deal with menstrual cramping. Seriously, if you have anything from the waist down that hurts or hurts more in winter, you've gotta try these.)

10. My new haircut is still goshdarn cute. And it stays OUT of my face without my pinning it back!

11. I has Betas. They is awesome & make my life significantly easier. And harder. But better.

12. Kyth's #2 from awesomeday last week is still cracking me up -- dude, she taught her dog to chase her tail on command!!

Your turn! Gimme some sugar, babes!

Awesome day!

2010-02-03T19:12:11Z

I don't know about you, but it seems to me there's an awful lot of cranky about lately (justified or otherwise, still there)... so, to fight back the darkness, I bring back, AWESOME DAY! (Hey, does that fit the imbolc theme?)

My Awesome:

1.) Going out to shovel snow away from the walkway up to my office and discovering that it'd already 90% melted away! Thank you mother nature!

2.) Preparing to go out into the cold and realizing that I'd hung my coat up over the radiator. WARM, SNUGGLY COAT, AWESOME!

3.) Finally have a draft of the copy for my new homepage that I like AND passes the SEO optimization analyzer! (Now to polish it a few times and then send on to Betas in a few days.)

4.) Thought of an idea to spread some local happy! Will post that behind the f-lock in a few minutes. Or at least by the end of the day.

5.) My friend the shiny goddess (yes you, Kythryne) is coming to visit next week, YAY!!!

So what about you? If we all could, spread a little sunshine....

(bonus points for identifying the not too terribly obscure quote)

(extra bonus points for suggesting a song with shiny happy lyrics for me to get stuck in my head) :)

Seeking Betas...

2010-01-19T04:11:11Z

Anyone want to volunteer to beta-read health-related (generally alternate health) articles? I probably won't need you for a couple of weeks still, (I'm still working on the site org & set up) but I'm putting some serious time into major professional website revamping including a blog. I know that one of you has already volunteered, and thank you E. I'm hoping to be prolific with the articles, as well as get multiple points of view, so would be grateful for as many other volunteers as I can muster. :)

Thank you.

Oh. And beta readers can probably expect bribes of some kind. I have no clue what kind. Maybe bath beads. Maybe ginger candy or spiffy tea. Maybe I could part with some of my yarn stash. Maybe something else entirely. (links from the new site if you've got an online presence?) NO CLUE. But I believe in bribes! :)

EDIT: ohhey, feel free to tell me if you're interested & especially like one of the bribe ideas. :)

quick update

2010-01-08T15:12:23Z

Mom's home from the hospital, moving better, sounding better. (It dawns on me that half of her mental fogginess of the last couple of days was a sudden 5 days of coffee-cessation.) She's behaving for now, though I predict within 3-4 hours she'll be driving me nuts again.

Thanks to everyone for your support this week. Every note/email/text/phone call helped keep my spirits up.

Can I sleep for a week now?

PSA: A quick plug...

2009-12-28T20:22:34Z

My friend kythryne's friend Kate is having a sale to help pay for her cat's vet bills. She makes jewelry & homemade "goo"s, lotions, etc. I've tried a couple of the goo's, (balms), I think it was the muscle & sprain goo. I found it nice, effective, and more skin friendly than my chinese linaments (which are stronger, but also smell a LOT stronger. Kate's goos as I recall, smelled gently of rosemary & other herbs.) I don't use them in my practice, but I've used them on myself when I didn't have my others available.

Anyhow, the sale is a free soap with any purchase, and no increase in shipping for the addition of soap. http://tinyurl.com/ybofvpv The link will take you to her etsy shop.

EDIT: PS. I've met Kate in person, (about 12-18months ago) and she seems like a pretty spiffy person too.

EDIT: PPS. What on earth am I doing from with the lj user tag?? I know I've done it before!

I <3 my MD

2009-12-23T23:07:00Z

Seriously, aside from the fact that I waited nearly 2 hours to see him, I totally love my doctor today.

Background: after about 2 1/2 years nearly asthma-free (I dug out my rescue inhaler maybe 3-4 years in that time and was on no other asthma meds save claritin, which is OTC and barely counts) I've started having a major major asthma exacerbation recently. (rescue inhaler 1-3x/day. Not Good. Using a rescue inhaler >= 3x/week is officially "Poorly Controlled.")

So after a month of severe breathing issues (and yes, that sounds like a lot, but you have to understand it was only while at home. whenever I came to queens for a couple of day, it got better. I'm 99% sure that the INSANE 90degree apartment heat + major dust allergies are why it got worse @ home), I finally go in to see the doc. Doc proceeded to win points all over the place.

Point 1: After hearing me describe what's been going on, he asks me, "So, why do you think this is happening?" OMG, I love that he treats us like we're intelligent human beings. (BTw, my answer is that I got sick 2-3 times in a row and I think I just fried my immune system combined with the major trigger of cold air -- it's been a rough season here. Which has been incredibly frustrating as I buckled down and started being all good and virtuous with my new habits in late september. Then I remember that a) I didn't get good about my sugar intake until about 3 weeks ago, b) I caught the first bug or two from T, and c) the last and worst of the viruses came from a case of ABJECT STUPIDITY. Seriously, if one is in a bowling alley, once should NOT be sticking one's fingers in one's mouth, and if one does that, ONE GETS WHAT ONE DESERVES.)

Point 2: He gave me an orally-inhaled steroid with the emphasis that this was to probably be a temporary solution. (temporary = 2-3 weeks at full dose, then half dose & see how it works. And sometime after that, I'll start weaning myself off.) Which is good, but I am not up for being on meds the rest of my life. It's extra good because I'm under the impression that most docs go straight to the "you have asthma, therefor you need to take this and this and this permanently." Um, no. I have ways of dealing with this as proven by how damn well controlled I'd had it under almost no meds, thank you.

Point 3: When I asked to get my vitamin D levels checked, he looked at my chart & frowned and said he'd order full spectrum blood work because I hadn't had a physical since early 2006. "But this is NOT a substitute for a physical and you really should come in for one." And he's absolutely right on that. Still, he gets points for the emphasis on preventative care.

Point 4: He has a sense of humor. I'd sent him an email the night before to warn him that I had dramatic looking marks on my chest and that I thought we'd avoid the drama in his office of him being startled by me looking like I've been beaten. (Explanation for those not on twitter: I did gua sha on myself the other night to try and help with the breathing. Which it did, but not enough. Gua sha is a chinese medicine thing which leaves marks that look like massive hickies that fade to bruising, and I took a picture of it even, see: http://twitpic.com/ugkxf )

So the doc says "okay, let's see these marks." I pull up my shirt, and he says "you did that to yourself??" I respond, "Yup. I thought I got a whole bunch of macho points for that. You should've seen it two days ago. It was so dramatic looking that I took a picture of it for my friend who's into S&M. I thought she'd be impressed." The doctor outright giggled at that. Not often that a man of my parent's age actually giggles (and you know there's a difference between a laugh and a giggle.)

Point 5: When putting together my prescriptions, he took a minute to research if there were generics available. (Alas, there aren't.) But I SO APPRECIATE that.

So yes, not all MDs are evil.