Living's easy..

Summer time. Squid, watermelon, cucumber, and cool glasses of reisling on the patio. What else do you need?

Summer is probably my favorite food time. It seems so fleeting... I get greedy with the heirloom tomatoes and corn. We buy every fig and soft shell crab we can get our hands on. I almost feel a desperation to eat as much as I can, while I can. I don't feel this way in the fall or winter. We spend many nights on the patio, with rose wine and plates of cool food. Farro salads with cucumber and tomato. Barbequed NY Strip and cold yukon potato salad. Seared pork with shell beans and beet puree. It's difficult spending time with non-"foodies". I was invited to a BBQ recently where the salads were from a bag and the ribs were bulk from Costco (shudder!)..Most people have lost sight of good food. It's always refreshing to hang out with people who know the difference between a roma tomato and a heirloom tomato. I just read a great blog from a chef's wife called dcw that inspired me to write more about my experience of being married to a chef. So hard to not be a food snob when my husband makes scrambled eggs and morels for breakfast before I go to work.

Another toughie on being a chef's wife: Making a reservation at a great new restaurant and husband knowing half the servers, managers, and other chefs who happen to have the night off and also dining at the restaurant. One of the most difficult things is that it's hard to get people to relate to my job. It's easy to talk about cooking...But what about nursing? Every great story I know is usually inappropriate for the dinner table. Pretty much inappropriate at any setting. So I let him have his glory while I stand supportive by his side, looking as pretty as I can.

Had a fantastic anniversary weekend! Stayed at the Culver Hotel in Culver City. You may not know that Culver City is a huge movie mecca. Sony Studios is here. The Culver Hotel was built in 1924 and the local newspaper headline said, "Newest Skyscraper!"; it's six stories! So many famous actors have stayed here. During the filming of The Wizard of Oz, 124 little people stayed at the hotel, sometimes 3 to a room, reportedly sleeping horizontally on the beds. All sorts of debauchery were reported to have happened during their stay. I was really excited because I had just watched "Gone With the Wind" for the first time and had learned that Clark Gable stayed at the hotel during the filming. I knew that the hotel had a special Clark Gable room but we couldn't afford it. They also have a John Wayne room (who was part owner in the 50's) and a Marilyn Monroe room (who stayed there several times while filming movies). When we checked in, they gave us our room keys and when we went up to the room we realized they had put us up in the Clark Gable room!! So we fucked, shit, and drank booze in the same room that Clark Gable did!!! How cool!

More fun in the ER!

So, this is the first time I will ever say this statement (and hopefully the last!): I was pissed on by a 300 pound transvestite. Yes, yes, I was. Not his fault, exactly. He, pardon me, SHE has Parkinsons and needed the help of two nurses to urinate. We pulled down her pink and white striped leggings and discovered that she had tucked her penis and balls deep in between her legs. So the other nurse began the task of pulling out folds and folds of skin. She actually asked, in frustration, "Where's your penis?". She finally found it and placed "Maggie's" penis into the opening of the male urinal. Now, of course we were wearing gloves and waited patiently for Maggie to urinate. "I think I'm done," she said. "You think??", asked the other nurse. "Are you sure?" "Yes, I'm sure." Not to sound like House, MD but never, ever trust a patient. The other nurse started to pull Maggie's penis out of the urinal and, like a newborn boy, as soon as "her" penis was pointed upwards, she shot out another huge stream of urine. It rained down on us like a golden shower. The other nurse and I both yelped and pulled our bodies backwards. But, being the professionals we are, did not let go of the patient. I felt hot urine hit my forehead and hair. "Are you hit?" I asked, as if we were in a war zone. "My arms!" the other nurse replied. We quickly pulled up Maggie's stretchy pants and ran to the bathroom to scour ourselves. We avoided eye contact because both of us wanted to laugh, and I knew it would only progress into the type of giggles you succumb to when you are absolutely not supposed to laugh; i.e. church, school, in front of a camera, and in front of a patient who truly can't help it. Poor gal, so out of control of her body on so many levels...