This brings me to the food. While the care and therapy I received at the nursing home were great, the food left much to be desired. In fact, it could barely be called food. I understand that as people age their taste buds lose their ability to discern flavor but that shouldn't mean that cooks in nursing homes should just stop trying. Ironically, when you are admitted they go through a lengthy process of asking you what your food likes and dislikes are and they put that in your chart. Then, everyday, it is there on your tray, listed on a piece of paper. On mine it clearly stated I loved lots of vegetables and fresh fruits and disliked oranges. It mocked me for the full two weeks. There was a void of vegetables and fresh fruits, except the occasional banana and I got canned oranges almost every day.
My first meal consisted of some kind of chicken that had no flavor at all. It didn't even taste like chicken! On the plate next to it was a pile of cauliflower and broccoli which, normally delicious, ha been cooked into submission and now all just resembled a mushy white paste barely holding onto the outlined form of those veggies. And apple juice. No salt, no pepper, no nothing. It was a harbinger of things to come.
Breakfasts usually consisted of lukewarm oatmeal or Cream of Wheat with a pile of brown sugar in the center. Fake eggs, scrambled with no flavor and, sometimes see-through bacon that carried just a wisp of bacon flavor. If there was toast it was always soggy. And apple juice.
Lunch was a crap shoot. Once I was given a fish patty like the kind that come in the McDonald's fish filet only without the taste and a pile of mashed potatoes and gravy. No veg, no fruit. And apple juice.
Mashed potatoes quickly became a theme. They started coming with everything! One day they served ring bologna, mac and cheese and mashed potatoes. And apple juice.
It started to be a joke, to see what was going to be under that lid when I got my tray. What would they surprise me with next? But the sad part is, the people who lived there permanently were eating this nonsense daily. We have to do better for our elderly and infirmed. No one should just have to eat crap like this. Food should be pleasant and have flavor and be presented in a way that makes a meal something to enjoy. Not just something to maintain life. Do better people. The first thing they do is put everyone on a stool softener so they don't get constipated but then they don't give them anything nutritious that would help prevent that in a natural way. It's crazy and it's wrong.
And if I never see another glass of apple juice, it will be okay with me! They use apple juice in the same way they use the stool softeners. It's the "go to" juice, if you get my drift and it's on every meal tray whether you ask for it or not. I used to like it. Now I can't even look at it anymore. Ew.
The more crap food that I was served the more I started to resent those kids on the KFC commercial who were just discovering how tasty the KFC popcorn chicken bites really are. Every time I saw that commercial my mouth would water and I wanted to slap those kids silly and force feed them my mashed potatoes! Friends would show up with treats but, inevitably, the treats were sweet - candy or donuts. All good choices, but not KFC popcorn chicken bites! I wanted something savory with flavor. Then my sister showed up with a grilled chicken sandwich. And it was the greatest thing I have ever eaten in my life. Haha! Funny how crazy one can get over something like food but I admit I am a foodie who likes my food to have flavor and taste good. It doesn't always have to be great food but it does have to taste good and what I was eating for the last two weeks should be ashamed to even call itself FOOD!
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Friday, November 9, 2012
Random Stuff About ME!
I decided that since I have a small but loyal band of readers, I'd take some time to write Ten Random Things About ME That You Might Have Never Known. Yes, my ego is hug so this is all about ME, ME, ME!!
1. My real name is Mary Elizabeth, not Mary Beth as I call myself and just about everyone else in the world calls. My mother wanted to name me just Mary Beth but, for some reason, she felt that Beth was not close enough to an actual Saint's name, so she named me Mary Elizabeth. That's about as Catholic as you can get! But, for my entire life, she called me Mary Beth. So did everyone else. I learned that as my name when I was learning to write. My driver's license says Mary B. and not Mary E. My Social Security card says Mary E. and not B. It all gets very confusing.
2. I am still a punk at heart. I went through a time when I identified very much with punks. My wardrobe consisted of ripped jeans adorned with safety pins. I cut my hair super short and dyed it jet black, or red or a weird combo of colors that made it look like animal fur. I listened to the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and Iggy and the Stooges. But, just like my wildly eclectic hair color I was also into pure pop, some metal and prog rock! So that time in my life was very musically schizophrenic!
3. My favorite food is the potato. My husband might argue that it's really fried chicken but it's not. It has always been the potato in all it's blessed forms. I love them boiled, fried, mashed, baked, riced, sautéed, hash browned and tater totted. But my absolute favorite way to eat them is in the form of the simply wonderful potato chip. Keep your Cheetohs, Fritos and Doritos! I'll take a bag of Lay's Potato Chips every single time.
4. I'm ambidextrous. When I was in second grade and Sister John Denise was teaching us how to write, I discovered two truths. The first was that I was a lefty by birth. The second was that nuns hate lefties. So, I was made to put my left hand behind my back while we practiced making cursive swirly letter C's and O's on newsprint. Every single day at school, my left hand was banished behind me and I was forced to learn to write with my right hand. So, I did! I usually sign and write with my right hand now but if it gets tired I just switch to the left. I never lost the ability to write with my left hand because even though I used my right hand in school, I did all my homework at home with my left!
5. I wear glasses today because of what Sister John Denise did to me in second grade. This is true! When I was in my 20's I started to squint really bad and get head aches. I knew this wasn't normal so I was off to the eye doctor. After a thorough exam the doc asked me what hand I used to write with. I told him my right - most of the time - and explained the whole story about being ambidextrous. He smiled and told me that this explained my head aches. He said the muscles in my eyes were competing. Everyone is either right side or left side dominant and I was left side dominant, meaning I was SUPPOSED to be a lefty! The constant use of my right hand to write with was forcing my eye muscles to work extra hard and that was why I had headaches and why I would now need glasses. I had to have the glasses so I could strengthen that left eye! So, thank you Sister John Denise for thinking that lefties were sinister and not to be trusted! Geez!
6. I used to have a dog named Dudley. When I was a student at Parkside, I was staying at my oldest sister's house for a week while she was out of town. My other sister called me and asked me to take in a dog for that week. She is a hair dresser and she brought home a dog that one of her customers gave her. She didn't tell her husband and when he saw the dog he kicked it out of the house so now she needed a place for it. It was a supposed to be a temporary situation but during that week I fell in love with that crazy looking dog. I called my mom and asked if I could bring him home. She was dead set against having a dog but my dad heard me and talked my mom into it. Dudley was a goofy, skinny looking thing but he was my best friend for many years. He was there when my dad died and I cried into his fur. He lived a long time but in the end had to be put down. I still miss him.
7. I love to read! One of my favorite gadgets is my Kindle. I love it. I read all the time and usually have a couple of books going all at once. I'm just finishing up one now called "Yes, Chef: A Memoir" by Marcus Samuelsson. I've also started "Cloud Atlas" and just downloaded "A Year of Biblical Womanhood" and I can't wait to get into both of those! I read all of the "Hunger Game" books while in Sweden this year. Books speak to me in a way that I can't explain. I just love reading and once I start I have a really hard time putting the book down again. I can read for HOURS on end.
8. I'm a foodie. Hence the reading of "Yes, Chef: A Memoir" by Marcus Samuelsson. He's an interesting chef on many levels which appeal to me. He's born in Ethiopia, adopted and raised in Sweden (always interesting to me), and strives to infuse local flavor into his cooking. I learned to cook from my mother who was one of the all time great cooks in the world. She truly was. I watched as she seasoned and stirred and experimented with recipes and I learned. I try to bring a little of that into everything I make here at home. I love the anticipation of how my meal will taste. And I love dining out and trying new foods. I don't shy away from the strange or extraordinary because, often, those are the things that are truly amazing. I watch food programs on television. I can watched the Food Network all day long. I can name many great chef's and even tell you why they're great!
9. I have an incredibly high tolerance level. I can put up with a lot of crap from people without getting upset or taking it personally. I've always been this way too. I just don't have a short fuse! Some people view this as me allowing myself to be a door mat. No, it's not that at all. I don't just roll over and take it! I put myself in the other person's shoes. If someone is rude or short tempered or ill-mannered there is probably an underlying reason for that. They may be sick or had a bad day or got some bad news. Whatever! I always think that if I was in their shoes I would want and hope someone would show me kindness and patience and understanding and mutual regard. I really live by this. And, in my opinion, it makes everyone just a little more pleasant to deal with every day.
10. When I was about 9 years old, I stole something from a store. There was a JC Penney's store in downtown Kenosha and I went there with a friend. We got some candy at the candy counter they had there and then went and looked around. In the Girl's Section, they had these really "groovy" scarves. It was in the 60s and groovy was the rage! I so wanted one of those scarves!! It cost something like $6.99 which, of course, I didn't have. I told my friend I was taking one and I shoved it into my jacket and we left. We hit the street running and ran all the way to my house. In the backyard, I took the scarf out of my jacket and we just looked at it. We didn't say much. I told my friend I had to go inside so she left. I went in, making sure no one saw that scarf, and I crammed it under my mattress. For the rest of that day I was completely paralyzed with fear and guilt. Fear - because I did not want my mother to find out and guilt - because I was a good Catholic girl and I knew that stealing was wrong. I couldn't even bring myself to be in the same room with that scarf and that night, just before I got in bed, I took one quick look at it. It didn't look quite so groovy anymore. I laid awake for hours thinking of what to do. The next morning I walked down the block to see Mr. Freeman. Mr. Freeman was a mechanic that had his own shop right in the middle of our block. He was African American and my friend. He often shared his bag lunch with me, sitting on a barrel in his shop, as I asked him deep questions about life and he did his best not to laugh at this silly white girl from up the street. He was kind and smart and I loved him. I walked into his shop and asked him if he I could tell him something. He stopped what he was doing, opened two bottled of Coke, gave me one and said, "You know it..." I asked him, "If you knew someone who took something they shouldn't what would you say to them?" Mr. Freeman thought a bit and said, "I would tell them to take it back." And that's exactly what I did. I ran home and crammed the scarf back into my jacket and ran downtown to JC Penneys. I went straight to the Girl's Section and, looking around to make sure no one saw me, I put that scarf back on the shelf as fast as I could. Nobody saw me and I'm pretty sure no one ever even knew the scarf was gone! But an enormous burden was lifted off of me that day. I felt like a 100 lb. weight was gone! I felt free and happy and even a little giddy. I knew then I was never going to have a life of crime because my own conscience would kill me!
So there you have it. Ten Random Things about ME!
1. My real name is Mary Elizabeth, not Mary Beth as I call myself and just about everyone else in the world calls. My mother wanted to name me just Mary Beth but, for some reason, she felt that Beth was not close enough to an actual Saint's name, so she named me Mary Elizabeth. That's about as Catholic as you can get! But, for my entire life, she called me Mary Beth. So did everyone else. I learned that as my name when I was learning to write. My driver's license says Mary B. and not Mary E. My Social Security card says Mary E. and not B. It all gets very confusing.
2. I am still a punk at heart. I went through a time when I identified very much with punks. My wardrobe consisted of ripped jeans adorned with safety pins. I cut my hair super short and dyed it jet black, or red or a weird combo of colors that made it look like animal fur. I listened to the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and Iggy and the Stooges. But, just like my wildly eclectic hair color I was also into pure pop, some metal and prog rock! So that time in my life was very musically schizophrenic!
3. My favorite food is the potato. My husband might argue that it's really fried chicken but it's not. It has always been the potato in all it's blessed forms. I love them boiled, fried, mashed, baked, riced, sautéed, hash browned and tater totted. But my absolute favorite way to eat them is in the form of the simply wonderful potato chip. Keep your Cheetohs, Fritos and Doritos! I'll take a bag of Lay's Potato Chips every single time.
4. I'm ambidextrous. When I was in second grade and Sister John Denise was teaching us how to write, I discovered two truths. The first was that I was a lefty by birth. The second was that nuns hate lefties. So, I was made to put my left hand behind my back while we practiced making cursive swirly letter C's and O's on newsprint. Every single day at school, my left hand was banished behind me and I was forced to learn to write with my right hand. So, I did! I usually sign and write with my right hand now but if it gets tired I just switch to the left. I never lost the ability to write with my left hand because even though I used my right hand in school, I did all my homework at home with my left!
5. I wear glasses today because of what Sister John Denise did to me in second grade. This is true! When I was in my 20's I started to squint really bad and get head aches. I knew this wasn't normal so I was off to the eye doctor. After a thorough exam the doc asked me what hand I used to write with. I told him my right - most of the time - and explained the whole story about being ambidextrous. He smiled and told me that this explained my head aches. He said the muscles in my eyes were competing. Everyone is either right side or left side dominant and I was left side dominant, meaning I was SUPPOSED to be a lefty! The constant use of my right hand to write with was forcing my eye muscles to work extra hard and that was why I had headaches and why I would now need glasses. I had to have the glasses so I could strengthen that left eye! So, thank you Sister John Denise for thinking that lefties were sinister and not to be trusted! Geez!
6. I used to have a dog named Dudley. When I was a student at Parkside, I was staying at my oldest sister's house for a week while she was out of town. My other sister called me and asked me to take in a dog for that week. She is a hair dresser and she brought home a dog that one of her customers gave her. She didn't tell her husband and when he saw the dog he kicked it out of the house so now she needed a place for it. It was a supposed to be a temporary situation but during that week I fell in love with that crazy looking dog. I called my mom and asked if I could bring him home. She was dead set against having a dog but my dad heard me and talked my mom into it. Dudley was a goofy, skinny looking thing but he was my best friend for many years. He was there when my dad died and I cried into his fur. He lived a long time but in the end had to be put down. I still miss him.
7. I love to read! One of my favorite gadgets is my Kindle. I love it. I read all the time and usually have a couple of books going all at once. I'm just finishing up one now called "Yes, Chef: A Memoir" by Marcus Samuelsson. I've also started "Cloud Atlas" and just downloaded "A Year of Biblical Womanhood" and I can't wait to get into both of those! I read all of the "Hunger Game" books while in Sweden this year. Books speak to me in a way that I can't explain. I just love reading and once I start I have a really hard time putting the book down again. I can read for HOURS on end.
8. I'm a foodie. Hence the reading of "Yes, Chef: A Memoir" by Marcus Samuelsson. He's an interesting chef on many levels which appeal to me. He's born in Ethiopia, adopted and raised in Sweden (always interesting to me), and strives to infuse local flavor into his cooking. I learned to cook from my mother who was one of the all time great cooks in the world. She truly was. I watched as she seasoned and stirred and experimented with recipes and I learned. I try to bring a little of that into everything I make here at home. I love the anticipation of how my meal will taste. And I love dining out and trying new foods. I don't shy away from the strange or extraordinary because, often, those are the things that are truly amazing. I watch food programs on television. I can watched the Food Network all day long. I can name many great chef's and even tell you why they're great!
9. I have an incredibly high tolerance level. I can put up with a lot of crap from people without getting upset or taking it personally. I've always been this way too. I just don't have a short fuse! Some people view this as me allowing myself to be a door mat. No, it's not that at all. I don't just roll over and take it! I put myself in the other person's shoes. If someone is rude or short tempered or ill-mannered there is probably an underlying reason for that. They may be sick or had a bad day or got some bad news. Whatever! I always think that if I was in their shoes I would want and hope someone would show me kindness and patience and understanding and mutual regard. I really live by this. And, in my opinion, it makes everyone just a little more pleasant to deal with every day.
10. When I was about 9 years old, I stole something from a store. There was a JC Penney's store in downtown Kenosha and I went there with a friend. We got some candy at the candy counter they had there and then went and looked around. In the Girl's Section, they had these really "groovy" scarves. It was in the 60s and groovy was the rage! I so wanted one of those scarves!! It cost something like $6.99 which, of course, I didn't have. I told my friend I was taking one and I shoved it into my jacket and we left. We hit the street running and ran all the way to my house. In the backyard, I took the scarf out of my jacket and we just looked at it. We didn't say much. I told my friend I had to go inside so she left. I went in, making sure no one saw that scarf, and I crammed it under my mattress. For the rest of that day I was completely paralyzed with fear and guilt. Fear - because I did not want my mother to find out and guilt - because I was a good Catholic girl and I knew that stealing was wrong. I couldn't even bring myself to be in the same room with that scarf and that night, just before I got in bed, I took one quick look at it. It didn't look quite so groovy anymore. I laid awake for hours thinking of what to do. The next morning I walked down the block to see Mr. Freeman. Mr. Freeman was a mechanic that had his own shop right in the middle of our block. He was African American and my friend. He often shared his bag lunch with me, sitting on a barrel in his shop, as I asked him deep questions about life and he did his best not to laugh at this silly white girl from up the street. He was kind and smart and I loved him. I walked into his shop and asked him if he I could tell him something. He stopped what he was doing, opened two bottled of Coke, gave me one and said, "You know it..." I asked him, "If you knew someone who took something they shouldn't what would you say to them?" Mr. Freeman thought a bit and said, "I would tell them to take it back." And that's exactly what I did. I ran home and crammed the scarf back into my jacket and ran downtown to JC Penneys. I went straight to the Girl's Section and, looking around to make sure no one saw me, I put that scarf back on the shelf as fast as I could. Nobody saw me and I'm pretty sure no one ever even knew the scarf was gone! But an enormous burden was lifted off of me that day. I felt like a 100 lb. weight was gone! I felt free and happy and even a little giddy. I knew then I was never going to have a life of crime because my own conscience would kill me!
So there you have it. Ten Random Things about ME!
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Here we go...
For the past couple of weeks I have been trying to make a serious attempt at watching what I eat and making good food choices for myself. It hasn't always been easy. There was a run in with some Kentucky Fried Chicken on Saturday that ended well but could have been really ugly had I opted for the side dishes and whatnot too. Still, it was a run in!
On Thursday, a group of us at work are hoping to start Weight Watchers At Work. I say "hoping to start" because we need at least 13 people to have an "official" group and right now I think we only have 8 confirmed participants. Now I've done Weight Watcher's before and it's actually a very good program because you can eat what you want. There are no food restrictions. Each food has a Point Value and you get, according to your age, height and weight, a set number of points to use each day. So, you can choose to eat them all in one large jelly donut with a side of bacon or you can portion them out throughout the day for a more "nutrition based" day. And you can "bank" your points! So for example, if I know that on the weekend I am going to Chili's and will have the chips and salsa and a couple of Margaritas in addition to my meal. I can use less points each day throughout the week to have MORE points to use on the weekend. Cool, huh?
Yet, while all this sounds well and good I know my biggest problem with Weight Watchers. I get a wee bit obsessive compulsive about the whole points thing and the food journaling. I get like "I have an apple, which I will eat at 10am for a snack, and I have some soup and a salad for lunch, and I have some chicken and veggies for dinner" and I will think about each one of those meals incessantly throughout the day. Now normally, I don't think of food all day yet, somehow, when I am trying to get a handle on what I eat I OBSESS about food all day and that just makes me crazy! So, I'm going to try my best to just not think about it so much!
Whatever the outcome, whether we can do the Weight Watchers thing or not, I know I have to lose weight. I'll feel better, be able to be more active and just plain be a better me. And just think of all the new clothes I will get to buy!! WHEEEEEEEE!!!!
On Thursday, a group of us at work are hoping to start Weight Watchers At Work. I say "hoping to start" because we need at least 13 people to have an "official" group and right now I think we only have 8 confirmed participants. Now I've done Weight Watcher's before and it's actually a very good program because you can eat what you want. There are no food restrictions. Each food has a Point Value and you get, according to your age, height and weight, a set number of points to use each day. So, you can choose to eat them all in one large jelly donut with a side of bacon or you can portion them out throughout the day for a more "nutrition based" day. And you can "bank" your points! So for example, if I know that on the weekend I am going to Chili's and will have the chips and salsa and a couple of Margaritas in addition to my meal. I can use less points each day throughout the week to have MORE points to use on the weekend. Cool, huh?
Yet, while all this sounds well and good I know my biggest problem with Weight Watchers. I get a wee bit obsessive compulsive about the whole points thing and the food journaling. I get like "I have an apple, which I will eat at 10am for a snack, and I have some soup and a salad for lunch, and I have some chicken and veggies for dinner" and I will think about each one of those meals incessantly throughout the day. Now normally, I don't think of food all day yet, somehow, when I am trying to get a handle on what I eat I OBSESS about food all day and that just makes me crazy! So, I'm going to try my best to just not think about it so much!
Whatever the outcome, whether we can do the Weight Watchers thing or not, I know I have to lose weight. I'll feel better, be able to be more active and just plain be a better me. And just think of all the new clothes I will get to buy!! WHEEEEEEEE!!!!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Cheeseheads Unite!
Yesterday I had to go grocery shopping. A task I find particulary tedious. I think food should magical appear behind a stainless steel sliding door like it does on Star Trek. But it doesn't...so I went. My normal shopping journey generally starts badly and ends up with me having a cart full of crap that I can toss in a pan and cook up mindlessly. So, I end up with a lot of mac and cheese and Ramen noodles. This time was different. I don't know what came over me. Maybe it was spring wingding or something but I got totally caught up in the cheese aisle. I ended up getting some excellent Jarlsberg and garlic toasts. I then swung by the fish section and picked up some incredible smoke fish. I then passed through the produce section taking on some fresh pineapple, grapes, and strawberries. I got some of the usual crap too but tonight when I came home I had the fish, cheese and toasts for dinner, followed by a bowl of ice cold fresh berries and a lovely Bloody Mary with garlic stuffed olives in it. I felt decadent.
I realize that I love cheese. Which shouldn't be too surprising since I do live in America's Dairy Land. But I also realized how nice it was to treat myself to something I'd probably only ever eat when out in a restaurant. I think I'm worth it.
If I can get stuff like this maybe grocery shopping isn't that bad after all!
Oh, I HIGHLY recommend those garlic stuffed olives!
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