Soup Nazi

I make a mean pot of soup. When I was taking my Hotel / Restaurant diploma the Chef would usually put me in charge of soups and sauces. I USED to be able to make a mean hollandaise. I probably couldn't now.

Thankfully, however I have retained my not inconsiderable ability to make soup.

I use soup a little like medicine, I have soups for specific ailments. Here are a few with their back stories.

Cold Cracking Soup.

Several years ago I had the worst head cold I've ever had. I'm sure there was a stress component but none the less I was miserable. Didn't sleep for nearly two weeks.

One day I wandered down to the Organic Underground. This was a fantastic cafe that used to be run by a friend of mine. Great spot, I still miss it.

Anywho. The resident soup maker there, Shawn had made a pot of vegan curry potato soup. He encouraged me to try a bowl. My sinuses began to clear. Just a little, but enough that I could notice it.
I adapted his recipe to suit my personal tastes and some components of Ayurveda. This soup is intended to be vegan. I find it most helpful in head cold / chest cold mucous stuff. Not so good for stomach upset.

You need:
3 large sweet potatoes or yams
1 bag shredded carrots
1 500ml carton of organic Veg broth (cause if it's not organic they put all sorts of weird crap in there)
2 tbsp of yellow curry paste
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 piece of peeled ginger, thumb sized, diced

Peel and cube the sweet potatoes. Cook the curry paste, garlic, ginger  in some olive oil until they become fragrant. Add the potato cubes and carrots. Turn the potatoes and carrots in the spice mix until well coated. Add the carton of veg broth and boil until the sweet potato is cooked. Puree.

You may add extra ginger and garlic if you like. I usually crank them up until they are almost too much depending on the amount of mucous you have. This soup seems to have a sinus draining mucous thinning effect.

Bone Broth
This one is an old family recipe. I'm not sure where it came from. We just make it. We make it for people who have been ill, are weak and need to be "built up". I will many times give it to Nanny.

You need
 Beef marrow bones (I get these from the butcher or abattoir. The grocery store wants WAAYY too much for them.)
 1 500 ml Organic Beef broth (yes, organic. AGAIN)
2 onions chopped large.
a bag of baby carrots
 2 cloves garlic

Put the beef marrow bones, chopped onions, baby carrots and garlic on a baking sheet. Throw them in the oven at 350 until cooked. The marrow should look like fat inside the bones
 Pour it all (and any fat that accumulates) in a large pot.
Cover with cold broth
Boil, then reduce  to simmering for 30 min.
Pull the bones out of the pot with  a fork, put them on a plate and dig out any marrow from inside the bones that remains. Put the marrow back in the pot. Puree.

Potato Soup

This is another old family recipe. It's very good for an unhappy tummy. Sits well and rarely causes digestive upset. I serve it with buttered toast.

You need
2 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
A hand full of baby carrots.
butter
milk

Cook the cubes of potato and carrots in water until soft. Drain most of the water leaving approximately 1/3 of the total volume. Add butter and milk to the pot. Mash the potatoes until they are a consistency you like. Add more milk if the potatoes are too thick.

Cheaters Chicken Soup

Now I like chicken soup. I mean, really. Who doesn't What I don't want is to wait all day for it. So I created a cheater's way to make it FANTASTIC. This is great if a friend is sick and you want to help out.Good for General Colds and The Flu

You need:
I bbq chicken from the grocery store. (no, really)
1 500 ml carton of organic chicken broth (AGAIN)
frozen corn nib lets, about a cup
a hand full of dried spaghettini
two green onions, chopped.

Discombobulate the chicken. I mean like tear it all apart and cut it into bite sized pieces. White and dark meat too. Put the chicken in your soup pot. Cover it with the broth. Bring to a boil. Add the corn niblets. Bring back to a boil. Add the spaghettini  and cook until soft. Add the chopped green onion.

 Chili Con Carne

Now this is not a medicinal soup. But it rocks. This recipe has won awards. I didn't win the award mind you, the recipe was borrowed. But whatever. Good chili is good chili. This goes very well over a baked potato to make a whole meal.

You need:
A Texas sized Cast Iron Skillet. I'm sorry, it's just better this way
Three thick cut slices of pancetta (bacon is not the same...but in a pinch will do)
1lb lean ground beef (or venison if you prefer)
1 lb ground pork.
1 5oo ml can of fire roasted tomatoes
1 can kidney beans
1 can chickpeas
1 can navy beans
1 onion diced
2 cups dried mushroom pieces
2 cloves garlic
1 package non msg chili spice mix.(msg is just garbage, you can get chili spice mix in the organic section. I KNOW organic again)

ok, turn on the oven, yes the oven to 350. . Dice the onion and pancetta. Begin soaking the dried mushrooms in hot water. Brown the pancetta until crispy. take it out of the pan, leave the fat. Brown the onion. Brown the beef, then the pork. Drain all the meat. put the meat back in the pan. Add the garlic, and chili spices. Brown until the mix becomes fragrant. Add the soaking mushrooms WITH the water. Add the beans, and the tomatoes.
Throw the whole thing in the oven at 350 for an hour. If it's too thin, add some tomato paste. But not too much, the point of the chili is the meat and beans, not the tomatoes.
Very good over corn bread too!

the trouble with Retarded.

In the past two weeks, I've been exposed to two celebrities who were using the word retarded. One was using it as part of her comedy shtick one was using it to drum up attention for her chosen political candidate.

Now, I have some experience with the special needs community. I  work with special needs individuals, have for years. Also some of the people I love have special needs. So I've got me some opinions and reactions to the use of the word retarded.

I am, however a thinker. I do a lot of thinking.  Sometimes when I ought to be sleeping.

What's the trouble with calling someone retarded? It's just a word, right? It could be considered to be technically correct. A person with a physical or developmental delay does fit the Miriam Webster definition of retarded.

The problem, as I see it is the weight of the word. It's a label. It's no longer associated with the Miriam Webster definition. It now contains judgement.

It's limiting. Calling someone retarded defines them in your mind. They are retarded and that's all. It minimizes people.

I know this because I've been called retarded. A teacher in my life told my parents I was retarded and "people like you don't graduate high school"

That moment, when I was 8 defined me and my self view for years afterword. I was 27 before I realised that I do not, in fact have a developmental delay. Turns out, that woman was mean, just plain mean. As a child I did not want to interact with her and refused to answer her questions and she decided that meant I was delayed.

But the issue was hers. Cause I'm actually kinda smart.

I'm lucky.  I was able right my self perception and regain my confidence.

But what if I had actually had a delay? What if I was at the mercy of people who are like the two self serving individuals above? What if I couldn't speak to tell anybody what that label had done to my heart?

The results may well have been, and probably are horrifying.

Imagine if you will living in a place where you don't speak the language and every one moves quicker than you. Now some of these people don't like you and you don't know why. Because you don't speak the language. But you can feel the judgement. It's like a weight on your chest and you have no defence.

No defence as you struggle to do all the same things that others are doing. It's so easy for them. Maybe you feel sick alot. And the people are so mean.

Every single day is a monumental effort in this place where people don't like you.

As far as I'm concerned the people who live this struggle, with more often than not a sunny disposition deserve our respect for the efforts they must put out to exist in a world not kind to them.

 If we are smart, we will use the example of these special people on how to be grateful and live in the moment and feel joy and persevere..

If we are not smart we will use this word, this limiting small ignorant word to prop ourselves up on the backs of people who deserve better.

FASHION WEEK!!!!!

I have a friend named Christina. My friend Christina is lucky. Not the "hey I found a $10 bill on the ground" lucky. More like "I won a $1000 shopping spree at Gap" and "I won three tickets to Master Card World Fashion Week"
NO. KIDDING.
Fashion Week, in Toronto. With Girlfriends. It's like so very Sex and The City. Except I ain't Carrie, y'all!
As soon as I saw the tweet from Christina I called her. "Are you freaking kidding me?!?!?"
Apparently not, we were going to the first night of fashion week. Courtesy of Ceasarstone Canada! http://www.caesarstone.ca/en/Pages/default.aspx
Which, naturally is when the panic set in.
See, here's the thing Internet. Fashion does not come easily to me.
I can put an outfit together on a dummy in the store. No problem.
I can match accessories to outfits practically with my eyes closed.
But finding clothes to put on this body? Um.......yeah.
Here's the problem, Internet. I'm in between. I'm at the bottom end of plus sized and the top end of regular sized. Also, I lift people for a living and carry nephews whenever possible. So trying to find clothes to fit around my arms and shoulders is daunting. Now, I'm sure that there is a perfect website or store for these problems. So far I haven't found it.
So I get fashion anxiety. Just a little bit.
And apparently going to Fashion week makes this worse. I had no frame of reference. What does one wear?!?!
Panic.
I called my BFF for advice. She's been to fashion week, in Paris. She advised a simple black dress with some pop out colour and a great bag. Um...I don't have a GREAT bag for night. I have coach bags cause my sister loves me. But they're not night bags.
So my BFF lent me her Dior. SHUT UP!

So, I'm dressed, make up on, hair done, bag ready.
In the car with Christina and the always charming Kay.
On the 401, zooming to fashion week. Holt Renfrew! Pink Tartan! Pavoni!!!!!
Construction.
Late for Holt Renfrew.
 Don Valley Parking Lot.
Missing Holt Renfrew.
Skidding in to the Big Tent just as Holt Renfrew is about half way done.
Thankfully, John the rep for Caesarstone our sponsor is an amazing friendly man and was able to meet us and give us our passes. We were IN!

OMG!!!!!!
I was not the tallest woman in the room suddenly!!!
Booths by Mabelline, Essie, Caesarstone, the list goes on and and on!

Swag bags every time we turned around, filled with coupons and free samples and great magazines and catalogues.
The CaesarStone booth was particularly fantastic! Macaroons!!!!

On to the Pink Tartan Show! So exciting! Well dressed people milling about looking for their seats. I was struck by how friendly and polite they were. Not one rude glance in a crowded room full of people looking for their seats. Wow.

The Pink Tartan show was amazing. Lots of pale pink and pale mint green for Spring 2013. Pale mint is good. I'm not much of a pink girl. I couldn't get very many shots of the models, I was too busy gawking but here's one of the great looks!

http://pinktartan.com/

After Pink Tartan, a little break for frree wine samples, red or white and a free hot stone hand massage!!!! Wow! I could get used to this. Maybe I'll petition my boss for free hot stone hand massages at work!
On to the Pavoni Show.

I was totally amazed at how in just a 30 minute break the same runway could be transformed!
The show was everything it promised to be. Breathtaking dresses,

Crazy music, crowds of people

http://www.pavonicollection.com/home.html
Yards, and yards and yards of Tulle and I swear every bead in North America!
Too soon it was time to go home.
Totally tired.
Totally happy!
Thanks so much to Christina and Kay for inviting me and travelling with me! Thanks to Caesarstone for the tickets  and  thanks to MasterCard World Fashion week for the experience!

Nursing Pearls of Wisdom.

I have been nursing for coming on 10 years.
I've spent most of this time in community nursing with a brief stint in retirement homes. I've been to the Arctic and Manitoulin Island and every where in my county from top to bottom.
I've seen some stuff. Not everything there is to see, mind you. But some stuff.
Over this time and in pursuit of my job I've come across some Pearls of Wisdom. Some of it is "common knowledge" some of it speciality knowledge. As always, this is my opinion. Any part you don't like feel free to write down  on a piece of paper in detail, outlining your concerns, then eat.

WASH YOUR @#$%^& HANDS!!!

 Only 50% of what you are going to do every day as a nurse is of a technical nature.
 Only 50%. The other 50% MUST be you sharing your humanity. Otherwise you're doing it wrong. Sorry to all the Nursing Instructors out there who argue that Nursing is a high skills profession. That's not the heart of it. The heart of it is the connection to people.

It follows then that if you truly do not like or want to help people, go work someplace else.
Seriously, you're taking a job or college seat from someone who dreams of being there. Scoot.

Beware of the urge to "fix".
In respecting people we strive to give them their independence. The roll of nursing is never to make people dependent on us, but to show them how to be self sufficient to the best of their abilities.

You are your best tool.
I don't care where you work or how many high technical tools  you have at your disposal your best tools are your eyes, ears and hands. Focus on your patients and pay attention.

Shut up and listen.
In this vein; you have to listen to your patients and their families. If you listen they will many times tell you what the issue is. I once had a lady who supposedly had lost her sense of smell tell me the body wash I was washing her with smelled nice. Upon investigation her daughter told me of  a major family trauma that had recently happened. Then she commented to me "I've told you more about my mom in 20 minutes that I've had a chance to tell anybody else in three days" Here's a hint: the underlying cause of the loss of sense of smell was psych based and not the tumour they were looking for.


You are not too good to do personal care.
I don't give a rat's ass if you have a degree or not. Nurses do personal care. Don't like it? Go work someplace else.

You are not better than any person on your team.
PSW's HCA's and UCP's are on your team . I've learned more from veteran care providers that I did in some clinical placements. In many cases these team members have more face time with patients than you do and therefore notice more.

Always ask "Why?"
It is never a good excuse to say "that's the way I was told to do it". Any policy, procedure or order you are given must always be put through the filter of "Why?". More than once I have seen procedures done in a way that represents an increased risk of harm because nobody asked why. Asking why is your job.

It is not your job, to judge people.
Especially your patients. It is incumbent upon every nurse to understand  his or her own personal bias and either correct themselves, educate themselves or not practise in an environment where their personal bias will  affect their patients. The last last last thing ill people need is your judgement. Get over yourself.

Nursing is not a popularity contest.
In fact, if you're doing it right you're gonna make people edgy some days. That's what comes from asking why, advocating for patients and refusing to do things wrong. 

You are never NOT a nurse.
Never. Once people learn you are a Nurse your actions will be used to judge nursing as a whole. Remember that when the drink specials are good or somebody cuts in front of you in line. Just act right.

Nursing is not for wussies.
You will encounter feces, urine, blood, mucous, infected exudate, feet and the recently deceased. They are your bread and butter. If you can't handle it, go work in the mall.

You must take time for Self Care.
This is non negotiable. Your patient's outcomes will depend on whether you are able to be focused, attentive and present when you work. You cannot give someone a drink if the well is dry.

Medical Jargon is not always appropriate
So you're learning a new language, it's called medicalese. Big deal. Use it to talk to doctors and other nurses. Don't use it with patients if there is a real world alternative. People are already scared and stressed if they have to have a nurse. Medical talk may only serve to increase this stress because they can't even understand the words that are coming out of your mouth.

WASH YOUR #$%^^& HANDS   

If this is all there is.....

I went to a party tonight for my Grandmother's 100th birthday. It was a good, old fashioned potluck old timey party. There were git-tars and cake and babies running around playing with balloons.  We filled the hall with people, we're a big family.
Cousins as far as the eye could see, Internet. Seriously.
Now i don't know how the topic came up, it was a noisy chaotic room. Suddenly one of my favourite cousins ( I said ONE of, don't get yer knickers in a knot other cousins) turned to me and said "life is too short.". Naturally my reply was "for what?"
"To spend it alone"
Well, hell.
This got me thinking, dontcha hate that?
Ok. Here's some background. I'm 36 this year and have never been married or had any kids. Now in my family that's a bit of an anomaly. Historically I've been a bit, shall we say, self conscious of this.
There may have been, at one time or another, suggestions made to help me along the path to husband land. Nothing recent. Nothing in front of my Mother or sister, as Armageddon would have surely followed.
Now I want to be very clear here, Internet. My cousin loves and respects me. I know this as surely and deeply as I know the sun will rise tomorrow. He has recently found his soulmate and he wants that for me.
I'm relaying the history to give you a framework for my thoughts on this topic. Cause I'm a thinker. I think alot. Sometimes when I ought to be sleeping.
 I explained to my cousin that indeed, a soulmate would be fantastic. I have no qualms in that direction. I told him some of my hair raising dating stories, and he empathized.
The love of his life, whom we all adore for more than her cheesecake making I swear, said to me that she firmly believes that there is someone for everyone. Someone perfect.
To which I replied automatically "but maybe there's not"
Cause maybe, Internet. There isn't.
Naturally this caused another round of thinking. Damned brain.
What if, as Jack Nicholson famously quipped,this is all there is?
How do I feel if this right now, is the card I've drawn?
Well, I'll tell you internet.  In that moment I decided I feel pretty damned fine about it.
Would I like a partner? Sure.
But I promise you, Internet as I promised him. I have no holes in me. I am intact.
This is a bit of a revelation for me. I used to walk around feeling incomplete. Like parts were left on the factory floor.
So the plan is, and there is a plan since I'm a thinker; to continue to Aunt / sister/ friend / nurse / coworker to the highest level possible. Also vacation more. That is all. Well, except for maybe some Archery lessons. Gonna need skills for the Zombie apocalypse.

Thank you cards for Jerks.

I have a cousin who manages a card store. I think I'll wander down and see her. Cause if anybody can point me to a card that thanks people for being jerks, it's her.

I feel it's important to thank people who help you out. People who teach you and help form your path. Its a new concept for me to want to thank difficult people. I used to pour vitriol upon them. Sometimes in person, mostly inside my head. Then one day I read a quote that stated "hating people is like drinking poison and expecting others to become ill."

Ain't that the truth, Internet?

So I started thinking. I do that sometimes. Sometimes when I ought to be sleeping.

What do we learn from easy times and compatible people? Other than how to enjoy joy, not much.

It is the difficult times and the hard angled people that teach us. I'm not saying that people should be jerks, I think that people should endeavour to minimise their jerkiness. What I'm saying (and I've said it before) is that with any horrible terrible no good very bad thing; or person, you can learn something valuable if you choose.

SO, you ask. What have I learned from jerks? Well, Internet, let me tell you.

I have learned that sometimes fate puts people in your way to show you how NOT to be.

I have learned that being treated like dirt won't kill me. I don't like it. But it won't kill me. I will survive.

I have learned what it looks like when someone STARTS treating me like dirt. It usually starts slow, yes? Rarely do jerks come out the gate full force, in my experience.

I have learned my limits. I have a long fuse. Maybe too long. But I have learned not to let the fuse run out, cause the explosion is some kinda fugly.

I have learned to stand up. To go up to a jerk like individual and say "you see this thing that you're doing? It ain't gonna fly. You're done"

I have learned how to mean that.

I have learned that sometimes it's just best to walk away. 

I have learned that when you are free of a jerk, hind sight is always 20/20 and not to take it too seriously.

I have learned that despite what the jerks would have me believe the jerkiness wasn't about me. It was about whatever nasty movie reel is playing in the jerk's head. I was merely the screen for the movie. Jerkiness is rarely personal.

I learned the above because...wait for it...I have learned I have a certain amount of value in this world.

I guess I could have learned the value thing from the good times and lovely people. But I'm stubborn, see? I don't learn very well it seems, when the lesson is easy.

Nope, I gotta do it the hard way. Blame my Irish / Scottish ancestry. Blame the Red tint in my hair. Who knows?

I'm hoping that the Jerk Cards, when I find them have flowers and kitties and stuff on em. That's just funny to me.