I can't do this all on my own...

The last month has been crazy.

My mom is doing good. She was released from the hospital about a week ago, and a wave of relief washed over me. Her thyroid is starting to work again, and she is down to 154lb from 225lb. The doctors took care of the fluid problem, stabilized her blood pressure, and determined that the mass that was found was not cancerous.

Groovy.

Now it's back to the food.

Things have been tight, but that really doesn't matter. Good food does NOT need to have a huge price tag attached to it. (STRONG!) Case in point, I make a great roast. Most people cringe when they hear the word "roast" and that's just sad. A good roast can be something of joyous beauty. A good roast has flavor and lots of juice and the perfect color! When I make the roast in question for Kerrie and I, I like to do up some pan-roasted rosemary potatoes and a small portion of Demi-Glace. I top it all off with some green beans tossed with a little olive oil and... TA DA!




Roast with Herbs de Provence, Five Peppercorns and Chopped Garlic
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1 T Olive Oil
2-3 T White Truffle Oil
1 T Herbs de Provence
4 Cloves Chopped Garlic
1 t Coarse Sea Salt
1/2 T Peppercorn Mix, crushed
1 - 2 lb Beef for roasting (I use Chuck Tenders)
---
To start, pre-heat oven to 450F then pour 1 T Olive Oil into a oven-proof skillet or saute pan and rub around to coat bottom of pan.
Next, Mix together WTO, HdP, Chopped Garlic, Sea Salt and Peppercorns in a small bowl to make a thick paste.
Make 4 to 6 small slits on the top of the beef and rub ALL of the paste only on the top of the beef and into the slits.
Carefully place roast in the pan and set it in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 350F and continue to cook for 15 to 25 minutes more.
(Depending on how rare you like your meat.)
---

There are very few things so sad as a person who needs to validate their dining experience with a huge bill. (After all this time it STILL gets on my nerves...) Would the real Food Baddies please stand up?

Good luck to Nick, recently of CG fame who appears to moving on to Cohen & Cooke. Shweet dude...


grooveroast:
Lazlo Bane - Superman
Matthew Sweet - Girlfriend
Beastie Boys - Hey Ladies
Jeff Mills - Late Night

Gone For Good, Part 2.

My mom is... okay...

She is suffering from Hypothyroidism right now, and they're working diligently to get her fluid situation under control. As for The Mass, well... The Doctor is pretty sure it isn't malignant. All in all, things are not great, but they are looking good.

One thing that bothers my about the ICU is that there is a laptop stationed outside every patients room for diagnostics and controls of whatever situation a person might be dealing with... Now, maybe it's just me, but I don't really feel comfy entrusting my mom's INTENSIVE FUCKING CARE to a laptop running Windows XP. I mean, while we're at it, why don't we just blindfold Harr, give him a scalpel, and spin him around like you do when you're gonna crack open a piñata!

Just my feelings on the subject...

You're gone for good...

My mom is in the hospital right now.

This is a very frustrating time for me. I'm constantly trying to keep work, the home life, and contact with my mom and brother in a somewhat balanced proportion. Everyday my brother and I talk about what's going on and it scares the crap outta me...

She has an extremely high white-count right now, massive fluid retention -especially around her heart and in her lungs, a "mass" of some sort in her pelvic region, and some silly thyroid problem.

So far, things are coming around. They used a needle to take out a lot of fluid, and they have started her on a medication for the thyroid problem. What worries me is the mass they found. Although there is no definite answer yet, it could very well be cancer. It could also be due to an infection related to the heart\lung\fluid issue. Either way, this is what I get to look forward to for Christmas.

As life moves on, so do we. I guess that's sort of redundant seeing as we ARE life. Sometimes, though, it feels like life is the things that are happening around us - not with us. Not because of us...

Tomorrow Kerrie and I get to make another trip to Toledo to see my mom. Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of ICU's. I'm not a fan of any of this shit...

groove:
Morphine - Gone for Good
Massive Attack - Safe From Harm
Sineade O'Conner - Make me a channel of your peace
New Order - Regret
David Bowie - Golden Years
Gilber O'Sullivan - Alone Again, Naturally