A brighter day at work

Today work was as if the work Gods had read yesterday's blog and felt pity for me. And for that I thank them.

When I got here at 8:30 the pathologist who comes by a couple of mornings a week to take care of all that stuff was still in the office that I use so I didn't have to start working until about 9:20, that was awesome. After about an hour I had only received about two calls all morning and one of the Doctors asked me to run to target to get his little daughter a bathing suit and bring it to her camp since she had forgotten one this morning and was very upset that she couldn't swim. This was awesome because I got to get paid for going to the mall. Since then the phones have been super quiet all day and the calls that I have gotten have been from very pleasant people. A good day at work indeed.

I'm also excited because once I get out of work I am meeting my fairy-God-mother to see Harry Potter at the IMAX.

Tomorrow will be a little crazy, I have to drive for about 7 1/2 hours all around MA to see Jon for awhile and pick up my cousin in Lee. If it wasn't supposed to rain, then I would say it will probably be alright but it's supposed to rain alllll day. Hopefully traffic won't be too bad!


I don't really have a PSA for today, I tried but couldn't think of anything good and I'm kind of in a hurry so here is a link to a delicious cupcake recipe that I used last night minus the peanut butter icing.

Tschüß!

♥

"I asked for the secretary and you sent me to a machine."

As promised earlier, I have for you today some wonderful work stories. Well, they aren't really stories, but they are common quotes that are said to me from people on the phone and the responses that I wish I could give.

The most common phrase I get is "I asked for the secretary and you sent me to a machine." I get this phrase mostly from older people who don't understand the concept of the answering machine but also from impatient people who feel that they are too important to leave a message. What I tell these people is that I did in fact send them to the requested secretary; however, that secretary is either on the phone with someone else or they are helping a patient who is here in the office and that if they just leave a message on the machine she will promptly call them back. However, what I want to say is "Yes, we have recently replaced all of our employees with machines, they are more economical, I am the only human being who still works in this office."

A variation of this phrase is . . . Patient: "she's not in the office" Me: "yes, she is. She is either on the phone with someone else or she is helping a patient here in the office" Patient: "She is helping a patient? Is she a doctor?" Me: "no, but she needs to set up new appointments for the patients who are seeing the doctor today." The way I wish this could go is as follows . . . Patient: "she's not in the office" Me: "yes, she is I just fricken saw her. She is either on the phone with someone else or she is helping a patient here in the office because believe it or not you are not the only patient out there" Patient: "She is helping a patient? Is she a doctor?" Me: "You've been here before, you know that she is not a doctor, you know the drill. You see the doctor then you see the secretary for a new appointment, leave a damn message."

Another fairly common phrase I get comes after a patient has called several times refusing to leave a message is "What kind of office is this? I've called 5 times and no one answers" variations on this are "Does anyone besides you answer their phone in this office?" and "I've worked in an office before and there is time to answer your phone, how come it's so difficult for you guys to do?" I never really know how to respond to this. I typically apologize and try to send them through again. What I want to say is that there are three doctors here all with full schedules. Everyone is busy LEAVE A DAMN MESSAGE AND BE PATIENT!!!

Today I got kind of an original one. A woman called and asked to be put through to one of the secretaries who was busy with another patient and did not answer. The woman promptly called me back and the conversation went like this . . . woman: "I called to speak with the Secretary but she isn't in the office today" me: "she is in the office today, she is either on the phone with someone else or she is helping a patient. If you leave her a message . . . " woman interrupting: "I can't leave a message because I can't be reached. You don't seem to understand why I'm talking to you." me in my head not out loud "You're talking to me because I answer all the phone calls and how are you calling me if you can't be reached?" Me out loud: "ok" woman: "I need to speak with her and I am going to keep calling YOU until she answers, you are going to be very busy if she doesn't answer" me in my head: "I can't wait!" me out loud: "ok, hold on one moment" I transfer the call and say to myself "I will now use my magical powers to force her to drop what she is doing and answer your call pew pew pew" She must have answered because the woman never called back.

My favorite part about all of this is that the past two weeks when I was doing someone else's job and dealing primarily with people in person, I had none of these problems. It seems that it's only when they're on the phone that they feel they can be this obnoxious. Of course there are always people that are just as rude in person as well, they're fun.

Now I'm not bashing my job or saying I hate it or anything that would possibly deter potential employers and make them think I'm a terrible employee, I am simply sharing my experiences for your entertainment. I am always as pleasant as possible with these people in real life and I do try to help them but some of them seem to only be looking to make things as difficult as possible.


Anyway, today's PSA of the day!
Today's PSA is a lesson that I learned this morning. Caffeine does not counteract the effects of benadryl.
On my way to work this morning I was bit by some sort of bug and my entire wrist turned red and i had a huge bite. When I got to work I took a benadryl and quickly realized that was not the right decision to make. However, I was soon happy to find that some drug rep had wasted some more money and brought in coffee for the office this morning. I thought "this benadryl has made me drowsy and normally this coffee would pick me up, therefore they should combine to create an equilibrium of normal function." However, it really just made me even more tired and I had to pee every 20 minutes.

Today's recipe is one that I came up with all by myself.
Chicken and Mango

1 lb chicken cut into pieces
1 mango cut into pieces
1 red pepper diced or julienned
1 shallot or half a red onion
1 lime
1/2 cup mango juice
2 T rice vinegar
1 1/2 t jalapeño sauce
Chili powder
Salt
Pepper
1 cup chicken broth
Mint


Heat a pan with oil. Add chicken and let cook for a few minutes. Add red pepper, shallots, and mango. Season with salt, pepper and chili powder and cook until chicken and fully cooked and veggies are tender. In a separate bowl combine the mango juice, lime juice and zest from whole lime, jalapeño sauce and chicken broth. When the chicken is cooked through, add the sauce and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add more chili powder if needed. Add a few leaves of mint and let simmer for one more minute. Serve with rice.


That's it for today, thanks for reading!

♥

ACH NEIN!! DIE SCHWEINEGRIPPE!!!

I was planning on writing a typical blog today that started out with this article I found on Spiegel online but once I started writing, I couldn't stop. So today we now have a very special Swine Flu edition of my blog.

~cue lights and dramatic music~

I finally found a swine flu article worthy of sharing. I found this article on Spiegel Online (don't worry, it's in English). The article is an interview with epidemiologist Tom Jefferson. Jefferson's thoughts about the Swine flu are very similar to my own. I have been skeptical of the swine flu "pandemic" since it came about earlier this spring. This is mostly because WHO and many scientists have been crying flu-wolf for quite awhile now. They terrified everyone with the bird flu a few years ago and that ended up just being silly. They have been telling us for years now that we are over-due for an influenza pandemic. I find this statement ridiculous. If we had control over when pandemics hit, then they wouldn't be a problem. How can we say when we're supposed to have pandemics? We can estimate from past pandemics, but they aren't an orderly occurrence, pandemics aren't migrating geese.

When Jefferson was asked why he thought scientists paid so much attention to the influenza viruses when there are so many others out there, he responded the same way I would: Money. There is money for the scientists and for the pharmaceutical companies in influenza. I'm not saying that there is not going to be a huge problem with the swine flu, but I'm not convinced that there will be either. Jefferson also mentioned in the article that WHO had changed the definition of pandemic so Swine flu could be declared as one. They changed the definition by dropping two major qualifying features: high morbidity and mortality rates . . . okkkkkkk. This pretty much says to me that the Swine Flu is not a pandemic. It just needed the name to scare people. I did not previously know about this change and I figure most people are also unaware which adds to their growing fear of the swine flu. People hear the word "Pandemic" and they think of an uncontrollable virus that kills most everyone it infects. Now it apparently means a virus that spreads a lot . . . but that sounds much less dramatic and won't convince everyone and their mother to buy certain anti-flu drugs (which Jefferson also mentioned seems to have some major psychological side-affects) and get a flu shot (which typically don't even work for the regular flu). Speaking of the seasonal flu, Jefferson mentions in this article that only about 7% of cases involving influenza-like symptoms caused by actual influenza viruses. There are tons of infections that can cause the same symptoms of an influenza virus that all get grouped together and raise the numbers for influenza cases each year making it look far worse than it should.

The swine flu issue bothers me for a number of reasons. First of all, I don't think all this flu-hysteria is really healthy for the world. There are sooo many bigger problems that could be dealt with, but everyone is super paranoid about the swine flu. I read a headline somewhere that the WHO recommended that countries start closing schools to slow the spread of the virus. That may sound awesome if you're in the third grade and you get to stay home and watch power rangers all day but what about high school seniors that want to celebrate senior year and go on to college in a year, they would have to wait around another year? What about people in college? I DO NOT want to stick around until 2012 to graduate, I can hardly wait until 2011! I am supposed to study in Germany next spring, now I have to think about what if they won't let me go over there? That screws up my entire schedule of completing my degree. What if I get there and they won't let me go home? That sucks. What if I can go there and get home but I have to stay in the Germany the whole time or that one town the whole time? I love Germany, but I have plans to visit some other places while I'm there. This only adds stress that I do not need. Thanks WHO.

This adds stress to everyone. When people hear that schools are being closed, then they are going to get even more paranoid. This makes it sound like it is spreading like lice and killing everyone who gets it. This could lead to people not traveling which will hurt everyone's already fragile economy. People may start locking themselves and their families up in their houses and stopping all human contact. Mass hysteria can break out over something that might not even be that big of a deal.

I also have a big problem with the way that they have "advertised" (for the lack of a better word) the swine flu. It began in Mexico, ok. It killed people there, ok. When this first began it was a huge story that this new influenza virus was killing Mexicans and was going to come to the US and kill us too. During this time, shortly after people in the US started getting infected as well, I heard a phrase on the news that said "We are still trying to figure out why the Swine Flu is killing people in Mexico but not in the US." My response was " . . . . . really? really? . . . you really don't know? Do you know anything about Mexico? . . .rrrrrright." Of course this is going to kill more people in an unfortunate country like Mexico, they don't have the same standard of living as we do. Of course now it is killing people in the US, but they are not your average healthy person. It is known to hit younger people more than the seasonal flu, but it's not killing perfectly healthy people. When you read further into the cases of people who died, then you find that they had other underlying problems. They had heart problems or lung problems or they already had pneumonia. The seasonal flu could have killed these people as well.

Another major reason the swine flu hype doesn't sit well with me is the involvement of the pharmaceutical companies. I would need another special pharmaceudical edition blog to express my huge problem with this but I will try and sum it up. A short disclaimer first: I do not have a problem with all Pharmaceutical companies. Some make wonderful drugs that help people and some very nice people can work for them (like my father). However, some pharmaceutical companies feed on this fear that spreads quicker than any pandemic can. This recently happened when a certain company introduced their cervical cancer vaccine which supposedly prevents cervical cancer (but not all types if you listen to the end of the commercial). This vaccine took off and some states even require girls to get the vaccine. However, when further researched, you find out that it was fast tracked and the long term side affects are absolutely unknown. I refused to get the vaccine even though my doctor pressured me for about 10 minutes because I do not trust that it is really worth it. It does not prevent all types of cervical cancer and who knows what affects it will have later on in life. A few months later I read an article that this company had begun researching to see if they could expand the HPV diseases they could advertise this drug as preventing. This is mostly because not enough girls were willing to get the vaccine. If they could prove that it would prevent other HPV diseases then they could also begin marketing to boys and older people as well. I then read an article about some pretty bad side-affects that were popping up. But as I thought I would be, I am WAY off track.

Anyway, Jefferson mentioned in his article his skepticism over flu shots because they really only seem to work on healthy young people but they are marketed for really young and really old people in which studies have found the flu shot rather ineffective. I have never gotten a flu shot because I really see no need. I hear a lot about people who have never had the flu, get the shot and then get the flu that year. Companies are also coming out with drugs that are supposed to lessen and shorten flu symptoms. I have read that they do work if taken correctly but they can have some nasty side-affects and recently the swine flu seems to be building a resistance to these drugs. Lucky for these companies, people who are being misinformed about Swine flu and subsequently terrified, will likely hand over their money in exchange for a falsely guided piece of mind. (I'm pretty sure this blog just made it impossible for me to ever work for a pharmaceutical company)

I think I'm going to stop my ranting here since my hands are getting tired and your eyes are probably killing you. I apologize for the epic length of this blog but I hope that you did read it and took a look at the Spiegel article. I think the entire thing was probably good enough for PSA of the day but here's a good pork recipe from my mom's collection in case I'm wrong and the swine flu wipes out the majority of our population ;-)

Pork in Balsamic Vinegar
1 1/2 lb pork tenderloin
2 T olive oil
2/3 C dry white wine

1 medium onion, sliced
1/4 C cider vinegar
3 T dried rosemary
2 T dried sage
1 T dried parsley
2/3 C balsamic vinegar
juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 375.
Simmer onion and cider vinegar until soft.
Add rosemary, sage, parsley, balsamic vinegar and lemon juice. set aside
Dry the meat and rub with 1 T olive oil. Brown on all sides in remaining oil. Transfer to roasting pan and add 1/3 C wine. Roast 15 minutes, add remaining wine and roast 15 minutes more.
Allow to cool and transfer to large zip-lock bag. Add marinade mixture and marinate 8 hours in refrigerator. serve warm or at room temperature.

That'll teach those pigs to mess with us!

Feel free to comment with your opinions if you agree or disagree with what I said.

♥

Back to Effective Treatment

Alright, I am ready to get back on track. I apologize for slacking and either not posting or posting something boring which complete defeats the purpose of this blog. :-( But today I have tons of stuff to blog about and I am ready to start once again effectively treating your boredom!

I didn't blog last night because I had a very busy night. I got a tattoo. It is on the inside of my left ankle. It's kind of a strange design, but there is a story behind it for those of you who do not know. ~cue flashback music~ In high school I took voice lessons with possibly the nicest woman ever. She always had food waiting for her students but I was particularly lucky and had my lesson at 2:30. She lived right up the street from school so I always got there early and had lots of time to eat and enjoy Nina's company. At some point we started drinking cappuccino before every lesson despite what everyone says about singing after consuming dairy products (it worked for me, I tended to sound better after the cappuccino). I continued taking lessons from Nina until my senior year when she was diagnosed with colon cancer. She died in the fall of 2007. I chose to get this tattoo in her memory. The cappuccino cup is a reference to the story above and the music coming out is a measure from the last song I sang with her before she was diagnosed with cancer and stopped giving lessons. She had one final recital where I performed Aria #5 from Hector Villa-Lobos' Bachianas Brasileiras. It was the most difficult piece I had ever done and we spent 6 months preparing it. It was definitly my best performance, but I didn't want it to be my last. Once she died, I stopped singing. I hope that now that I can always have a cup of cappuccino with me maybe I can start singing again.

Anyway getting the tattoo was fun! Nina's son, Aaron, who has been my friend for quite awhile now came with me which was cool. It really didn't hurt, despite what everyone says. The further up my leg it went, the more it hurt but it was nothing beyond mild discomfort. I got it done at Drastic Tattoos in Peabody which I totally recommend to anyone around here who wants a tattoo.

Today I am just finishing up work and remembering why I never liked doing this job. I'm not very good at it. I don't really have a choice actually because I can't get into all the scheduling systems that the regular secretaries can get into. Therefore, whenever a patient needs something beyond a routine follow up, I have to ask someone else and waste some of their time. This makes me seem rather useless to the patients and makes me feel more awkward than usual. Also, I think I have killed Robin's plant. When I first started working on Monday, I took a picture of it. It looked real nice. Today . . .it looks pretty sad . . . I watered it and everything but it's just not a trooper. (the first pic is from Monday, the second is from today) whoooops.

I found two articles today that I would like to discuss. The first one Here is about Apple's anger towards Microsoft for their recent "laptop hunter" ads in which macs are portrayed as over-priced. This article made me happy because I am a PC fan. I don't think apple has any place to whine when you consider all their anti-microsoft ads. I especially dislike their anti-vista ads considering I am a very big fan of windows Vista. I know many people that hate it but I think they are just scared. It is confusing when you first see it because of how different it is. However, once you get used it, it is SO easy. I hate when I have to use XP now that I am so used to Vista. Go Microsoft!
The second one Here am I not as happy about. It is titled "Gentler Bruno to play in UK for younger teens. This article relates to one I discussed a few posts back regarding the reaction of the Austrians to Brüno. I praised the Austrians for their awesome response, however I am very disappointed with the UK. They apparently cut the film by two minutes in order to get a 15+ rating instead of 18+. I hate the idea of toning down films for mass appeal. Some movies just need to take the hit and go for the R rating. Sure they won't get as many movie-goers as they could, but the film will suffer less. So many films with awesome potential are dumbed down just to get a lower rating and it makes me sad. So UK . . . no.

Super exciting news! Watchmen comes out on DVD on tuesday!!! I've already pre-ordered my copy because I'm a huge dork and I can not wait!

I think it's time for a PSA of the day!
Today's PSA is getting into the open lane in time when one lane is closed on the highway. This issue probably hits home to my local readers who have been dealing with route 128 this summer. When the sign says "right lane closed 1/2 mile" GET IN THE LEFT LANE! Don't wait until your right in front of the closed lane dicking up the line for everyone else!! If everyone would just get into the correct lane ahead of time instead of trying to be clever and get ahead of everyone we wouldn't have so much damn traffic!! If someone tries to merge shortly after the sign, I will gladly let them in but at a certain point I refuse to let them get infront of me. They can wait like everyone else. ahh, traffic related PSAs always make me angry! Anyway

Today's recipe of the day!!
Today's recipe is SUPER SUPER easy!!!
Asian Noodle Salad

1 lb Chinese noodle, cooked according to package instructions
3 ½ T soy sauce
3 ½ T balsamic vinegar
2T sugar
2t salt
1 t chili oil
4T green onion

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl, Mix well and refrigerate until ready to serve.


I think that's all for today! Thanks for reading and please keep voting for my picture!
♥

Keep Voting!

My picture has made it to page two of the "newly popular" pictures which is very exciting and I thank you all sooooo much for voting!!! Luckily, you can vote as many times as you want, so please please please keep voting!!!!!!!!! You're the best!!!! (Please refer to my last post if you don't know what I'm talking about!)

I don't have a lot to talk about today, hence the lack of a post yesterday.

Last night was the all star game . . . big surprise, the AL won (Mariano Rivera's 4th all star save!) I'm not really the biggest all star game fan, i find it kind of boring. I flipped back and forth to it throughout the night but was glad to see the AL win . . . again.

I didn't have to work today, that was exciting! I didn't do much either which was nice.

since I don't have too much to say today, I think I will just post some pictures of my favorite puppies!





so that is Broadway, Kenya, Mekka, Snitch, Sweety, Jon, Jupiter, Mozart (kitty) and Lui.

I don't really have PSA for today but i do have a recipe. . .

Buffalo Chicken Stir-fry
•2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
•2 pounds ground chicken or turkey breast (chunks will work too)
•1 cup mushrooms
•1 green pepper
•1 yellow onion, finely chopped
•3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
•Salt and freshly ground black pepper
•2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
•2 tablespoons brown sugar
•1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
•1/4 to 1/3 cup hot sauce
•1 cup chicken stock
•1 cup blue cheese crumbles

Directions
Heat a large skillet with extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Add meat and break it up with wooden spoon, cook 5 to 6 minutes. Add in mushrooms, pepper, onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper, cook 7 to 8 minutes more. In a bowl combine the vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire, hot sauce, and stock. Pour sauce into the pan and stir to combine. Simmer a few minutes more. Serve with rice and top with blue cheese crumbles.

Sorry today's blog was kind of boring. I'll try and find something interesting to talk about tomorrow. Please keep voting!!!!

♥

Arrrrooooo (Jupiter came up with today's title)

So first off, I need your help!!! First I need you to click HERE! On that page you will see this picture:
Under that you will see a button that says "View & Vote". I need you to click that button and vote for my picture. Please and Thank you!!!!!!!!!!

So now, on with today's blog.

I don't have too much to talk about today, but I have got some stuff. First off a work story. I'm writing so late tonight because for the next two weeks I am covering one of the secretaries at work. Typically, I dread this time of the summer because compared to what I used to do at work, it was a lot more work and really boring. However, this year, when it is compared to what I usually do, it is actually less boring and the people are a lot nicer when they are face to face than when they are on the phone.

Secondly, I would like to approve of the Austrians' general reaction to Brüno. Today at work I read this this article. I was glad I had found it because while I watched Brüno, I wondered how the Austrians had reacted and whether it even played over there. In the article is basically says that some people reacted as you would expect and thought it was the trashiest, most disrespectful movie to ever grace earth but the majority took it in stride and laughed. I was glad to hear that they were mostly enjoying the humor in this film and that not everyone is as stuck up as us Americans. After reading American reviews about the film before seeing it (most of which were bad), I feared reading about how the Austrians reacted. So Austria: you're awesome.

Now I think it is time for today's PSA. Today's PSA is dedicated to my dear friend Kate. Beware of old men on mopeds. They are dangerous. This warning comes from a very personal story. . . One day, many a year ago, while Kate and I peacefully walked home from middle school, we were nearly taken out by an old man on a moped. He seemed to come out of nowhere and nearly ended our lives right on the spot. After the shock wore off, this soon became the story of our year and left us paralyzed in a fit of laughter. But it is no laughing matter, old men on mopeds are a real threat! So beware.

Today's recipe is a very simple one, but it is another of my absolute favorites. Lucky for me, my mom is making it as I type and lucky for you, you can make it now too! Spinach Pasta Salad!

Spinach Pasta Salad

1 lb Geminelli pasta, cooked

½ C olive oil
4-6 cloves, minced garlic

8oz package fresh spinach, stems removed and torn into pieces

½ C grated parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large fry pan and sauté garlic for 30 seconds, add spinach and cook until tender, about 3-5 minutes.

Pour over cooked pasta and combine well. Sprinkle with grated cheese and mix well.

Refrigerate until ready to serve.


Well, I think that's all for today. Hope you are all enjoying my blog! If you are or even if you aren't, leave a comment and tell me what you think. What you like and dislike and if there's anything else you want me to write about!

♥

unexpected kindness and typical drivers

So it's 2:30 am. I worked half a day today and then drove to North Adams to spend the weekend with Jon. Unfortunately, he has to work 11 pm to 7 am today. I've spent the last 3 hours playing the Sims 3 and decided to update before going to bed.

Work was unexpectedly pleasant today. I was working the front desk instead of answering the phones like usual. I was soon informed that one 80 year old patient would have to sign a waiver saying that we had not yet received their referral from their PCP. This was very concerning for me as I saw the conversation to likely go something like this:
"Good Morning, I just need you to read and sign this for me." "WHAT? I'VE NEVER HAD TO SIGN ANYTHING BEFORE!" "yes, I realize that, but we haven't received your referral yet; but don't worry, it was requested. "I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU NEED ME TO SIGN THIS!" "It's just saying that you know that we have not yet received your referral, that's all." "I'VE NEVER HAD TO DO THIS BEFORE!" and so on.
However, to my delight, the man walked in and I asked him to read and sign the slip and he promptly complied with just a question as to what exactly it was. I responded by telling him that his referral was requested but not yet received and he informed me that his primary care doctor had been sick and that is probably why and then continued to tell me all about how his daughter and him are planning to go to the cape soon and he was very pleasant with me the entire time he spent in the waiting room. If everyone who came to our office was that nice, I would be much happier.

After work, I embarked on the 3 hour journey to North Adams. It was a nice day, so it wasn't too bad. Jon and I saw Brüno. We enjoyed it quite a bit, but you definitely have to go into it knowing how ridiculous it is going to be.

Now it time for a very important PSA of the day!
Today's PSA is about yielding. The yield sign is a somewhat mythical creature in the eastern part of Massachusetts. Everyone learns about it in drivers-ed, but it is rarely seen by drivers. Oh, they are there, they are just ignored. I have found that once you get to the middle of the state and beyond, they are more vigorously acknowledged. However, for the east I feel that I must spread the word. The yield sign is that triangular red and white (sometimes yellow) sign that you see, especially while merging onto the highway. This sign means that you can only fly onto the highway if it is clear and safe, not if there are 5 cars coming. If this is the case, then you must stop until it is safe to go. Many many many drivers in eastern Massachusetts choose to just drive right onto the highway regardless of what is coming which leads to many a problem. Those who manage to go fast enough and get lucky enough that any cars are far enough away, can make it work. However, it often happens that there are cars coming and the person merging without yielding is going 30, nearly gets hit and pisses off the other driver. This can all be avoided by YIELDING!!!!

On a lighter note, Today's recipe!!!

Today's recipe is soft pretzels! I love pretzels. I love hard pretzels, soft pretzels, pretzel sticks, regular shaped pretzels, pretzel nuggets, pretzel goldfish, etc. I like them with just a bit of salt, no mustard or cheese to take away from the purity of the pretzel. (Something I forgot from my I love food post: I am a total food purist.) Pretzels are one of the few adventures I will take into the world of baking and it is always worth it! I've tried a few different recipes and sort of combined them all into my own that I think works the best.

Pretzels

1 ½ C warm water
1 T sugar
2 t kosher salt
1 package active dry yeast
4 C all purpose flour
2 T melted butter
10 C water
2/3 C baking soda
1 egg for egg wash
Kosher salt to salt pretzel

Combine the 1 ½ cups water, sugar and kosher salt in a medium sized bowl and add yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes or until the mixture gets foamy.

Add two cups of flour and butter to the yeast mixture. Mix for a minute then add the rest of the flour. Mix until all the flour is mixed in and it forms a dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. (this can be done in a mixer with a dough hook attachment, but I find it easier to do by hand) Remove the dough and clean the bowl. Lightly grease the bowl with some vegetable oil or non-stick spray. Put the dough back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough sit in a warm place for about an hour.

Once the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray two sheet pans with non-stick spray or cover them in parchment paper. (I find it best to lightly grease the parchment paper as well, just to make sure nothing sticks)

Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a boil. Take the plastic wrap off the bowl and lightly push down on the dough. Take out the dough and place it on a floured work surface. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. (I find it easiest to pat the dough into a square then cut it into quarters and those quarters into halves) Roll out each piece into a rope then cross the ends over to a make a pretzel shape.

Place the pretzels one by one into the boiling water for about 30 seconds then place them onto the baking sheets. Brush each pretzel with the egg wash and sprinkle on the desired amount of salt.

Bake them in the oven for about 12 minutes. (I find it best to set the timer for 6 minutes, check them and switch racks then set the timer for another 6 minutes, this way each sheet gets 6 minutes on the top rack of the oven. Depending on your oven, one sheet may have to come out slightly earlier than the other, just watch them) Let the pretzels cool for at least five minutes, waiting 10 or 15 will allow them to get their normal chewy pretzel texture. Less than 5 minutes and they will be too hot and less than 15 they have a more bread-like texture.


Thanks for reading and remember to yield!!

Tschüß!

ps feed my fishies and follow my blog!

I love food but hate computer STDs.

Hallo liebe Leute!

I have an hour an fifteen minutes left of work and have had plenty of time to prepare today's blog! Today I am going to share with you my love of food. I have also decided that every blog is going to end in a recipe that I want to share with you. Every blog is also going to end with a PSA about a subject I feel you need to be warned about (many will likely not be as serious as others). So here we go . . .

• I love food. I love cooking food, I love eating food, I love smelling food, I love looking at food, I don't so much love having to pay for food but that's besides the point.
• I love a lot of foods, but there are very specific foods that I do not like. I hate potatoes. I have never ever liked potatoes. When I was a small child, my parents tried to feed me potatoes and I not only spit them out, I wiped my tongue. I also do not like eggs. I used to like eggs, but then I stopped. I don't like yogurt, but I wish that I did. It smells so good but tastes so bad :-(
• I love chicken, pasta and seafood but I will eat any animal (Fun to pet, better to chew! -Jim Gaffigan)
• I grew up with parents that both love to cook. They always cooked things that I found normal but I realized later in life that they were not. For example: We ALWAYS had a rice cooker in the house and we ate rice like our lives depended on it. However, when I was 16 I finally realized that not everyone, in fact very few people, have rice cookers in their house. This was slightly embarrassing.
• So now that I am older I have inherited their passion for cooking (UMass dining also helped move the process along) I started cooking at school and have acquired quite a few delicious recipes from various places.
• I'm addicted to the food network. I watch it all the time and have lost countless hours of sleep watching "Food network night time"
  
• I love Rachael Ray and don't care how annoying you think she is. I also love Paula Deen.
• I'm not so much into baking. I had a traumatic experience involving expensive brownie mix and egg negligence. Kate and I were supposed to make four boxes of Ghirardelli brownies which we did. However, we did not add the eggs. Therefore, they sat in the oven for two and a half hours and never cooked. So I stick to cooking and minimal baking.

• As much as I love cooking, I also love to eating at restaurants. Some of my favorite restaurants are The Melting Pot, Legal Seafood, McCormick and Schmick, PF Chang's, Buffalo Wild Wings and the Thai restaurant in Gloucester. I suggest you try all of these restaurants because they are delicious!
• For your viewing pleasure: This is a video that Jess and I made for German 311 about Schnitzel and Pretzels (don't worry, there is minimal German speaking.) it's epic.
  

I think that's enough about food for now, there will likely be more later on.

Now for today's PSA . . .

Get your computer tested for STD's! Just as you don't want to have the clap, your computer doesn't want to have a virus. I suggest getting a main anti-virus program such as McAfee as well as anti-spyware or anti-malware programs such as Super antispyware or malware bytes. These extra programs can usually be found online for free and are very helpful in protecting your beloved computer. Also invest in an external hard drive to backup all of your important files just in case something does happen and you need to wipe your hard drive or if your computer crashes.


Today's Recipe: Chicken and Green Onion Sauce! This is one of my mom's many recipes and one of my absolute favorites.

Chicken in green onion sauce

2 t soy sauce
1 ½ t sugar
1 T sherry or cooking wine
4 chicken breasts, pounded thin

Cornstarch
4-6 T olive oil

6T rice vinegar
6T sugar
4T soy sauce
Bunch green onion, chopped
1T sesame oil
1t chili oil

Place chicken in a ziplock bag with 2t soy sauce, 1 ½ t sugar and cooking wine and let sit for 10-15 minutes.

Combine the final 6 ingredients and set aside

Dredge the chicken in the cornstarch and shake off any extra.

Heat the olive oil and fry the chicken until golden brown 3-4 minutes per side. Remove to a serving dish.

Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a slight boil. Pour over the chicken and serve with rice


That's all for today! Hope your treatment is working. Thanks for Reading!

p.s. Feed my fishies on the side and follow my blog!

Pre-Treatment Consult

So lately I have been trying to keep sane at work by reading my friends' blogs. This has been quite successful and today I have decided to give back and create my own blog to try and help other people suffering from chronic boredom. It also gives me something else to do while I'm at work.

For those of you who do not know, I work for a group of three Urologists in Beverly. I used to wander around the office doing whatever needed to be done, but this summer I have leveled up to Operator. It sounded good at first when I thought about the money I could get with a 40 hour a week job. However, I soon remembered that I hate getting up early, I get bored real easily and I have a low tolerance for humans, especially the cranky old kind suffering from urinary problems. There will be many a post about the people I speak to during the day.

I will likely just write about whatever random subject I feel needs to be discussed throughout my day and hopefully it will keep you entertained for a few minutes and I will feel satisfied.

I will also probably post a bunch of random videos and pictures that I take with my camera or that I find and think need to be shared with you.

Anyway, enjoy!