Aaahhh... Sundays!

Noah and I both woke up with a hankerin' to MAKE SOME FOOD! We had so many projects in mind we were stepping all over each other in our tiny kitchen. The first thing I did was make strawberry ice cream. My custard turned out perfect and I got to use my chinois (twice!) to strain the custard then strain the seeds from the strawberry puree. I jumped out of the kitchen to make room for Chef Noah and his fried chicken. He soaks it in buttermilk first to tenderize the meat, then he serves it with a mixed green salad (so we don't feel so guilty about eating fried food).

Another side dish he made, (while simultaneously doing everything else) was sauteed purple baby artichokes, green beans, and garlic.

For dessert, Noah used some pastry dough he had in the freezer and baked it with fresh figs and strawberries. We served it with my strawberry ice cream.

More yummy lunches at our house...

Noah keeps bringing home these amazing, gigantic porcini mushrooms and grilling them on our grill pan. They are so meaty I don't even miss any other protein. Here he creamed corn, pan sauteed baby artichokes, and used amaranth as a garnish. "To make it look pretty for you," he said. We paired it with a Qupe chardonnay blend and ate al fresco on our patio.

We made pickles!

Our lovely dill pickles with mustard seed. So easy, so fun, can't wait to bust into the first jar! I like food I have to wait for. We are so used to instant gratification but food is so much more satisfying when it has a history. Like a slow cooked meal that takes all day to cook and you get to smell it everytime you walk in the house. It just tastes ten times better....

Gettin' ready for the big initiation!

Last Wednesday I woke up to get ready for work and I had a feeling. I grabbed my stethoscope and my EKG quick reference guide and stuck them in my back pack. Sure enough, when I got to the hospital I was told the ER charge nurse wanted to see me. They were short staffed and asked if I could fill in. I usually work in the urgent care area and have never really been "trained" to work in the main ER. I was nervous of course. They deal with critical patients, I usually deal with sprained ankles and lacerations. But, I'm a realistic gal and I know that it's time for me to step things up. I accepted!

They gave me four rooms to take care of. Luckily not the trauma bay or the chest pain/stroke rooms. It started out kinda slow so I was able to ease in gradually and find my way around. I think sometimes we take our regular job for granted: how easy we find things, how we just automatically know where to grab for things without actually thinking about it. Another FABULOUS part was that I had a secretary to put in all the orders for me, make phone calls, copy shit. What a load off! I also had at my fingertips a tech who did all the EKG's, hooked patients up to the monitors, and did vital signs. And volunteers who brought patients' blankets, water, food, the phone, answered questions... Wow! And to top it all off a charge nurse who had no patient's of her own, she was just there to lend a hand, a float nurse who also could lend a hand, and 5 other RN's as backup. There were Physician assistant's (PA) seeing patients and easing the doc's workload. AMAZING! All I had to do was focus on my nursing skills and assessment. (What a concept!)

I jumped in to help other nurses, I especially wanted to get my feet wet in Room 2 (the trauma room), and help with the really critical patients. How can you go wrong when you've got so much help and support around you? I helped stabilize a septic patient who ended having 7 or 8 attempts at intubation that lasted over an hour. He never coded but in my selfishness I kinda wish he had so that I could've assisted. It was sooo cool to see the teamwork of the whole ER team: nurses, techs, RT's, PA's, MD's, secretaries.... You can't save a person's life if one of these elements are missing.

So, I'm doing an actual preceptorship shift on Monday where I will follow an experienced nurse and have her teach me the ropes. (Thank you Tina!) I asked them to give me the hardest "pod" so that I may see and experience as much as I can. (Check future blogs for my complaints on how I went down in flames and how much working in the ER sucks...)

So kudos to all you ER nurses/docs/PA's/techs/secretaries/volunteers that do this everyday. I'm impressed, awed, and bow down at your feet.

Hubby's got a bliggety-blog!

Check out Noah at:

http://figsandconfit.blogspot.com

By the way...

Oh, by the way, if you are going to bitch slap your 67 year old wife, wait until you get home and don't do it in front of a bunch of ER nurses...

Aaahhh... wine country!!

Spent a fabulous day/night in the Santa Ynez valley north of Santa Barbara doing wine tasting by myself. I had so much fun!! I drove up the Pacific Coast Highway on Sunday morning to the 101 past Santa Barbara and then up the 154 to Santa Ynez/Solvang. Cranking the tunes, singing at the top of my lungs, the ocean a constant companion to my left. I did some wine tasting at a couple of wineries before I checked into my hotel. At Sunstone winery I ran into a girl I went to high school with and we sat in the sun, sipped wine, and chatted for almost two hours. She is also a nurse and was visiting the area with her boyfriend. So good to see you Heather! I really enjoyed our time together!

75 degrees perfect, lavender was in full bloom...

Met some friendly locals at The Hitching Post while eating steamed artichokes and grilled quail...

Checked out the vintage motorcycle museum (dreamy sigh)...

Loved my hotel room with the fireplace, a glass of local wine, and fresh out of the hot tub...

And spent the next day dining and wining in Los Olivos...


I LOVE to travel by myself! Of course it would have been so much more fun with Noah but I enjoyed the interaction with people and the feeling of independence of exploring a new place all by myself. I brought home a lot of bottles of wine to share with stories behind each one.