Culinary Derangements

(So... what recipe did you use??)

Today I found myself giving yet another off the cuff lecture on one of my favorite topics: food. It was actually a funny scenario. I was discharging a patient from the hospital that had been cared for by another team. The name immediately sounded familiar, and I rightly assumed the poor patient was a "frequent flier." (A status which unfortunately does not come with free perks!)

I met the patient, found her delightful (if very medically complicated) and proceeded downstairs to write discharge papers. On looking up who was listed as her personal doctor I out it was - me! In a moment I began to recall I had seen quite a bit of paperwork on these many hospital visits... they had all passed my desk. No WONDER the name was familiar.

Heading back upstairs, I found another younger woman relaxing in the room with my patient. I suddenly recognized her as another one of my patients from the clinic whom I had gotten to know very well. Apparently they were "adopted" family and the younger patient had been wondering all morning whether the "Dr. Teresa" that her grandmotherly friend kept referring to (but had never met) was the same one she knew!

So there I was, giving my spiel on fruits and vegetables, and their indubitable benefits for the gastrointestinal tract. I am frequently called upon to give specific examples (name three sources of calcium - no, potassium - how about magnesium??), which calls for quite a mental scramble. Most of the time something reasonbly intelligent comes out.

Had these two avid listeners seen me the night before, however, they would have been more skeptical. My friend Angela and I had plans to make an apple pie with a gluten free crust. The apples were barely a week off the tree (see below!), very much ready for good use. Gluten free baking is not that hard - IF you have all of the ingredients, such as rice flour, tapioca flour, corn starch and xanthum gum. Unfortunately, said tapioca flour was very much missing from my cupboard.

Oh well- how much a difference can it make? We'll add more corn starch.....

You know, all that laughter is very suspicious Angela....

Oh I see....

Funny how the crust won't not roll out right.

Were we supposed to chill the dough first too??

Maybe we can convince ourselves it is a crumble topping....

Sort of??

Well, no, not really....

But it still tastes like apple pie - to be enjoyed in style!

And please don't ask me how much insulin it will take to correct this sugar high - I'm just glad three hours of labor paid off so well. (Next time, we might even review the recipe ahead of time.)

Carpe Diem!!

It is very hard to complain about coming in at 6:30am when greeted with this beauty!

This morning I saw the colors and thought: really, how long would it take to hop on the elevator to the parking garage's 7th floor and take it all in? I timed it - less than 10 minutes. Bonus: no one else is around on the top floor at that hour to wonder why this resident, blue coat, stethescope, brown bag lunch and all was whipping out of her bag not a PDA but a camera.

Although, looking out over the deck - maybe they wouldn't wonder.


Lunch break actually existed today, so another spontaneous 10 minute detour through a different parking deck (that I formerly was unaware existed) lead to this view.... the Illinois River valley with the Cathedral in the foreground.

Many hospital lobbey windows face this direction (east), so I love watching the color and light on the river and steeples. Rarely do I have time to capture it, though!

OSF St. Francis Hospital from the back, the graceful older buildings. As you can see from all the views we are quite up on a hill overlooking the city of Peoria and the valley.... Someday I'll get someone on the top floor open a window and let me capture that prospect!

As long as there are windows, even the longest days have pockets of brightness.

Indian Summer in Center Illinois

Some days, it is impossible to get out of doors despite the warm sunshine that has flooded September day after September day. So when I was given a random Thursday afternoon off, it took little persuasion to head out to the apple orchards!

Not the Garden of Eden, just beautiful Central Illinois. (Ok, you were not about to make that mistake.)

We picked about two bushels - and though an early summer coldspell has made this a bad apple year, I still came home with more varieties than I have ever used before. Straightaway about 20 became applesauce which I enjoyed while on call this weekend. Less than 8 hours between the tree and the pot isn't bad timing!

Fellow orchard lovers, Jen and Laurel... and baby Anna ("I got mom!") with apples in tow. Thank goodness for red wagons!

So warm in the sun!

Hiking between orchards... We had to do it twice. Afterall, the first time you don't know what is ahead and have saved all this room in your wagon - which has to be filled by a second round!

Anna's first apple: Hmmmm.... Doesn't look like a banana!

...Let Autumn bold,

With universal tinge of sober gold,

Be all about me when I make an end.

And now, at once, adventuresome, I send

My herald thought into the wilderness:

There let its trumpet blow, and quickly dress

My uncertain path with green, that I may speed

Easily onward through flower and weed...

(Keats Endymion, Bk 1)

Status Post Caffe au Latte

There is nothing like a good cup of coffee to make a morning go better, provided it is properly enjoyed - that is, well made and preferably entertained sitting down. Four years and three months into medical training, I know the benefits of a dose of liquid alertness while on foot. But that only moves one's mental status from hopeless to surviveable. A GOOD cup of coffee is like the counterpart to a good glass of wine. It improves mood, encourages lively conversation and brightens perspectives all around.

Case in point: At 5:30 this morning I was dozing, semifrozen, in a recliner in the physician's lounge, when I became aware that the voices my fellow nightfloat residents had moved out of the room, followed by the distinct sound of a coffee grinder. Who grinds their own coffee while on an overnight shift at the hospital? One of my fellow interns, a true coffee enthusiast who came prepared with grinder, excellent coffee roasted locally and a French press. I rapidly made my appearance. Minutes later, the three of us were around the kitchen table, suddenly normalized humans who could speak in full sentences about things other than potassium levels and blood pressure. Remarkable.

So remarkable in fact that an attending physician walking in an hour later, greeted with the distinctively fresh fragrance of our indulgence came to a full stop - "What is this?!?" (Sorry... we didn't save any!) So much for seniority. He had to make do with the machine in the corner brewing some distant cousin to what we had in hand. Nonetheless, much entertained by our zeal for good coffee, he joined us and even provided a curbside consultation.

So as I said, there's nothing like a good cup of coffee.... From the hospital to the interstate excursions, here are some snapshots and anecdotes from the ramblings of me, my cup of coffee and my camera.