Fortunately, I’m alive to talk about this. Unfortunately, the radical mastectomy left the right side of my chest looking like a scarred bomb crater. My prosthesis doesn’t really do the job, since they had to take so much of the tissue from , well, everywhere.
I like to wear pretty blouses and the like, and sometimes, the v-neck things are just a bit too low cut. It’s not that I’m embarrassed. Rather, I think the ‘sight’ of what isn’t there might bother others. It’s hard to find camisoles that come up high enough, and don’t look matronly and orthopedic. Lacy and sexy would be better.
That’s why I’m so jazzed about the CamiTOO by Fashion Forms, when I found it in the lingerie department at Macy’s the other day.
You step into it, pull it up around your regular bra and hook two hooks on the bra straps. It stays right in place all day long, without the bulk or warmth (when you don’t want that) of a full camisole - while providing just enough coverage. Plus, you can swap out between the black, white or ivory, and they’re less expensive than camisoles at just $18.00.
This gives me a lot more freedom to buy and wear what I like, rather than what will ‘do’.
For some time, I’ve been buying the bags of frozen, individually packaged fish at Costco. Halibut, Orange Roughy, Cod and such. It’s pretty good, but kind of expensive, some of it coming in at around $15 - 20 per bag which provides maybe eight to ten portions, depending on the type of fish.
Today, needing to restock the freezer - and we eat a LOT of fish around here at Rancho Maven, at least three nights a week - I wandered into Costco for more of same.
I’m doing something very similar to this tomorrow night for some friends. Where I’m going to vary it, is to give it a Moroccan twist with the addition of some fresh Merquez lamb sausage and some preserved lemon slices.
I’ll prep the cod steaks and have the bread crumbs at the ready with the oven preheated.
Just before the cod goes into the oven, I’ll start to pan saute the lamb sausage with some sliced sweet onions in some extra virgin olive oil and minced garlic. When that’s beginning to get happy, with a splash of white wine, I’ll put the cod into the oven.
Then I’m going to add the shellfish, the sliced preserved Moroccan lemons and a rich tomato broth made with seafood stock. The chef uses chicken stock which is also good, but I want a really deep oceanside taste going on. Knowing me as I do - and why shouldn’t I? - I’ll probably be tempted to toss in some sort of vegetable like chunks of zucchini and some dark olives to the mix. Probably a anchovy fillet or two as well to deepen the flavor components.
The plating and presentation will be the same.
We’ll have a green salad with fresh oranges and almonds - in my light, homemade viniagarette dressing to start, along with some freshly baked multigrain popovers. Accompanying the main dish will be some escalloped potatoes. The fish dish will be pretty rich, so pairing it with something very simple like the potatoes is key.
To finish, a twelve whole grain Meyer lemon cake with a lemon glaze and Peet’s coffee (of course!).
Now, mind you, I plan to share this with my love, Mr. Maven. And, that’s the key, portion control on top of choosing the right goodies for that late night snack.
Here tonight, three small but very high quality nibbles of dark chocolate, a Minneola Tangelo sliced for two, and some anti-oxident and nutrition packed blueberries. This will be accompanied by some Mighty Leaf Tropical Green Tea.
We all need an occasional nibble of something wonderful to end the day, and it’s all about your choices. Make them the very best you can afford, since you’ll only be having a bite. This way you can nibble and relax knowing you’ve treated yourself to good health.
Keep it fresh with new options. I really like to end the evening with a crisp cold apple sliced up with just a few - really, I mean a few as in three or four - nuts and about one ounce of really great cheese.
Other times, it’s a single slice of whole grain toast and a sliced apple with a glass of lowfat milk that floats our end of the evening snack boat.
And, it’s so much better than digging into a lame tasting bag of stale, calorie laden chips and feeling bad about yourself.
I couldn’t snag this feature in video, but take a couple minutes to read the following. Orman - a well regarded financial guru - makes the same case I’ve been trying to make with readers: Credit unions can be your best ally - especially during uncertain economic times.
Here’s the CBS transcript:
Hi everybody. You know, last time I talked to you, right around now, the stock market? Well, it was in the tank. The economy was just starting to come back, and then all of a sudden - what happened? The stock market started to go up 65%, everything started to seem like it was OK.
We’re all spending more time - and more money - on making our home our castle. And, it seems, bathrooms get a lot of the attention on the home improvement shows but short shrift in the real world scheme of things. But, the master bathroom - at Rancho Maven anyway - has been remodeled with love. It’s a sanctuary of sorts, with black granite and a natural smooth river stone floor.
A while back, you might of noticed if you’re a regular reader, we did the final remodeling to the two main bathrooms in the house. Money being what it is these days, the final touches had to wait.
The grocery shopping expedition yielded some excellent, fresh okra and some wonderful, fresh New Zealand ‘green lipped’ mussels - which we like in a seafood broth with sausage and some vegetables. It’s a great thing to dunk artisan bread into.
Besides being fast, easy and healthy, it’s also fairly light on the budget and waistline. The mussels were $5.99 a pound and with the vegetables and sausage (another couple bucks for fresh, in-house made Marquez lamb sausage ) it’s not too expensive considering we fed three adults. Nobody went hungry.
I was in no mood to cook a big dinner tonight. It’s been a longish week, and I’d gone to personal training after work. It’s been a while since I’d done full on Pilates reformer work and forgotten how freaking hard it is. Whew!
When I’m like this, it’s eggs for dinner. Hands down.
Eggs are so healthy, so easy on the budget and the soul. They combine with darned near anything that might be laying about in the refrigerator.
In this instance, laying about meant: sliced ham for sandwiches, some onion, and chopped sweet gherkin pickles to scramble with the beaten eggs. There were also some small russet potatoes that begged to be microwaved, and some on-the-vine tomatoes from Costco that lend themselves to being grilled/broiled.
Add some toasted whole grain bread, and voila! I figure it came in somewhere about 300-350 calories and almost no fat other than the egg.
It seems like no matter where you go or who you talk to, just about everybody is avoiding ‘carbs’. The thought that runs through my mind: “Uh, which carbs? The good ones or the bad ones?”
Avoiding all carbs is neither rational or in the interest of good health and nutrition, and it’s not going to help the waistline in the long run.
Again, this cake is a breeze to whip up, and it’s so delicious that you’d swear it couldn’t possibly be healthy, too.
The secret to the nutrition is King Arthur Flour 12-Grain Flour. The secret to the taste is the Wood’s Cider Mill boiled cider syrup. Maple or cane sorghum syrup would be good choices, too.
This really is dinner in a flash - and it’s totally healthy, too. Did I need to tell you that it’s also really good? Oh, come on now. You’re reading my blog. You should already take that as a given.
If you read the previous post about buying okra - gumbo in the language of Natacha’s West Africa - then you should know that I was going to cook it tonight.
Since I had frozen shrimp and scallops in the freezer, that was a no brainer. Bake a couple sweet potatoes to go with it - and some FuFu (cassava paste) if you’re of the total West African persuasion, and dinner is served.
We’re light eaters around here, or I would have made a big salad to go with it.
Most everything West African seems to start out in a marinade of minced onion, garlic, ginger, Bay seasoning and cooking oil. And, that’s the way I marinated the shrimp and scallops, with the pierced habenero chile.
While that’s marinating, I assembled the other ingredients as my dutch oven pot was heating.
The other ingredients are the okra, which I sliced after removing the tips and tails, chopped onion, chopped red bell pepper, bacon and a can of diced tomatoes.
Before I could dive into the okra bin at Whole Foods the other night, a woman and her husband slide in front of me - she’s dragging the produce guy with her. They just couldn’t figure out okra apparently, and the produce guy was equally clueless.
I wasn’t trying to be rude, but needed to grab a couple handfuls of the stuff and get on with my other shopping - so that’s how I entered the conversation.
“Ooooooh, is THAT okra?” she asks me, pointing like the okra was a weeping Jesus picture on a grilled cheese.
“What’s it like?” her idiot husband gushed.
I tried to give her the ClifNotes version - with the disclaimer that okra can be an acquired taste… you know, the snotty part.
I don’t think either of these oh,so fashionable nimrods had ever cooked anything more challenging than Lean Cuisine, and the bottom line for their interest in okra was the fact that Dr. Oz - whoever the hell he is ( actually, I know - and don’t care) - says that it’s the latest superfood. So, they were gonna eat it or else.
I wish Whole Foods could just taser people like this before they get in there and ruin it for the rest of us.
I walked through Williams-Sonoma the other day here in Reno, Nevada, browsing at all the really fine cookware on display. Flicking over a price tag or two, I never cease to be amazed at the prices they ask for a frying pan for crying out loud.
$150? Nice work if you can get it.
It’s just a freaking frying pan.
But, I’m a cook. I love it. The very act of creating food is like art and touches my soul. And therefore, I can very occasionally justify the cost of a pot or pan. Preferrably on sale. At a deep discount.
I have come to the conclusion that buying just one really good pan - price be damned - is more important than having the modestly priced sets from Costco.
The great pan can be made to sing.
The cheaper versions are just an approximation, an imitation - like fake ingredients. They just don’t quite satisfy the deeper part of hunger.
Here’s a small primer on buying those pots and pans - and getting your money’s worth.
Regardless of the kind of cookware you buy, there are a few things that hold true; you want the cookware you select to have thicker bottoms, with good heat distribution, and made of a material that won’t chip or peel.
A pot that has good conductivity will create even temperatures on the bottom of the pot as well as up the sides of it so that the food cooks all the way around.
Friend and collegue, Kristy, is heading up this fabulous effort to address the issues of cooking wild game. I absolutely support this, as I love wild game but sometime find myself facing some questions of technique with nowhere to turn.
Kristy fills a real need here, covering elk, venison, gamebirds and goose with really tasty recipes and drool inducing photos - all taken with an iphone! True! I got it from her own lips over lunch at Truckee River Bar and Grill (Moana and Lakeside location) recently.
We’ve been on a muffin kick of late at the workplace, so I had to see if I could up the bar just a little bit with something along the multi-whole grains line.
These turned out quite good in fact, and I hope you’ll try them.
I used the 9-Grain flour blend from King Arthur Flour. I love working with some of these really intriguing whole grain blends offered by King Arthur, as I’m also looking to up the flavor in addition to banning the plain, the white, the refined, the blah from my diet for something nutritionally richer.
These were ever so light, with a really nice rise, and were very tender crumb and even texture. The flavor was balanced and wonderful, especially the day after - I baked Sunday and took them to work on Monday.
The recipe follows:
Carrot Ginger Nine Grain Muffins
1-3/4 cups King Arthur Nine-Grain Flour, or a combination of Whole Wheat, White Whole Wheat
Don’t these sound like the answer to a naughty dream?
Both are available, as artisan goodies, from Foodzie.
These chocolate truffles are just crazy. The perfect marriage of smoked blue cheese and chocolate. We know, it doesn’t sound good, but it is! Using the Rogue Creamery’s smoked blue cheese, organic milk chocolate and roasted almonds has turned out to be a masterpiece! Think chocolate cheesecake with a slightly smoked almond crust and you are on the right track.
This is it! The perfect bacon bar. You’ve heard about it elsewhere but now is the time to see what’s what. Thick slab bacon is cooked crisp with generous slatherings of real maple syrup and chopped into an organic milk chocolate bar with a sprinkling of yakima nation smoked sea salt. It’s so bad yet so good.
Hardly a day goes by that our West African CNA, Natacha, doesn’t come home from work at the hospital with a horror story to tell about MRSA - the antibiotic and super hero resistant, icky, horrible, gross infection that people on the floor have.
Ackkk.
She gets those hospital uniforms right into the laundry.
Tonight, Katic Couric has a special feature on why the Europeans - those Socialist bums - have left the antibiotics behind when it comes to raising livestock and are healthier and more prosperous for it. In fact, the farmers there are money ahead. Which leaves me wondering just why the factory farmers here can’t seem to get a clue. Could there be too much lobbying money that keeps them from making sensible business decisions?
Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 10:41 
