Masala Chai Recipes

So. I love coffee. But I have found something that I love as much, if not more. Now, don't get me wrong - coffee isn't going anywhere, and it's still slightly maintaining its edge as the default brew at home. But just barely.

Oooohhh, chai. Mmmmmm. Now, I probably enjoy tea more than most in the Colonies. I mean, ever since we threw it out with the baby in Boston, tea lost its luster over here. We don't have the ritual, we don't have the "high" or the "low" -- hell, we don't really know what those mean. But tea is good. And I like a good, strong black - or a subtle white - or a fresh, grassy green - or a vibrant maté - or a bright, ruby rooibos - or -- well, you get my point. I like just about all of 'em, straight, with milk/cream, with or without sweetener, big mugs, tiny cups at every Chinese restaurant, hot or iced. But there's one that I love more than all of the others.

Chai.

It's something about those spices. Maybe it's because I love the scents of the holidays - Thanksgiving and Christmas. The cinnamons, allspice, nutmeg and cloves. And thanks to my parents and living in Germany, pepper and cardamom - any year without a soft, homemade, mellowed Pfeffernüsse is a year lacking in my book. And chai puts all those together into a warm, tasty, comfy ambrosia.

Ahem. Even if you don't like it as much as me, these are pretty good. Give 'em a try.

Refrigerator Chai

This might be considered cheating - but I thought it brilliant when I stumbled across this in a tea book (Chai, the Spice Tea of India, by Diana Rosen - I think the original is Sally Champe’s recipe.) at a friend's place. By using sweetened instead of unsweetened condensed milk, I don't have to worry about a sweetener - which is also why I've increased the spice amounts so I don't over-sweeten.

• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/3 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/3 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Pour the entire can of milk into a clean, dry jar with an airtight lid. Add all the spices, stir, cover and store in the refrigerator - the longer the spices marry, the better this tastes.

To use, brew some very hot, strong black tea, and add 2-3 tablespoons (to taste). It's that easy.

Masala Chai

Now, I prefer a strong chai, so I like to boil the spices, then allow the black tea to steep for a good amount of time. I've tried, but don't like boiling the tea - it just gets too bitter and you are forced to add too much sweetener. By boiling first, then steeping below the boil I've found you can get really strong spice and tea flavors, and the slight bitterness from steeping longer than 5-6 minutes is counteracted by a reasonable amount of sweetener. Of course, you can always make a stronger tea with less time by using more tea.

• 6 whole cloves
• 4 green cardamom pods, crushed and lightly toasted
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken into pieces
• 1 tsp ginger, (chop for stronger flavor, slice into rounds for milder)
• 1/4 tsp black peppercorn, (whole, crushed or ground - stronger flavor the more you grind)
• 1/8 tsp fennel, lightly toasted
• 1/8 tsp cumin or coriander, lightly toasted

You can toast any, all or none of the spices. I think it helps bring out the flavor. It's up to you.

• 2 cups water
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp black tea, loose leaf (Assam is a good option)

Boil the spices in the water for 5-10 minutes. Add the milk and sugar and bring back just to a boil. Remove from heat and add tea, steep for 3-10 minutes. Strain and serve. Sweeten to taste.

I've found that making a big batch and re-warming the tea works just fine - as long as I don't re-boil it, it doesn't get too bitter, and that second cup after it's been sitting for 30 minutes... might be my favorite of the batch. Also, play with the recipe - if you don't like fennel, reduce it or take it out. Or if there's a ground spice, grind it less or not at all. As a matter of fact, I often use ground cardamom since I love the flavor and get it easier than the pods.

It's your tea, make it your masala.

What's NOT good about melted cheese and flaky dough?

I heard a tale of woe today. The puff pastry, well -- didn't.
Puff, that is.

And that got me thinking about one of the easiest and most "impressive" presentations you can make using this little puffy miracle - brie en croute. I recall rushing at the last minute for a murder mystery that Sara and I were hosting, and we needed something to inspire awe and amazement just in case my first-ever-attempt-with-no-practice-at-a-braciole didn't turn out well, and so I threw this thing together about 10 minutes before the guests arrived. Which ended up perfectly since they got to see the beauty come out of the oven with their wine already in hand!

Brie en croute

• 1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
• 1 small wheel of brie
• 1/4 c chopped walnuts (or pistachios, pecans, whatever nut you like)
• 1/4 c brown sugar (or honey)
• egg wash (1 egg plus 1 tbsp water)

Preheat oven to 400F. Gently roll the pastry to remove lines and increase size 1-2 inches. Place the wheel of brie in middle of pastry. Top with walnuts. Top with sugar. Draw up corners of pastry to the middle of the topped brie and gently press to seal, using egg wash as glue if needed. Brush remaining egg wash over top to help with browning. Bake 20-30 minutes at 400F or until nicely browned. Rest 3-5 mins (or longer if firmer brie is desired). Cut and enjoy with crackers or bread!

Variations:

• You can toast, brown, saute or candy the nuts before you package them up. I prefer a quick brown in a little butter (this isn't a diet dish), but toasting is quicker if you're in a hurry.
• Honey works just as well as brown sugar - and you can pre-mix it with your nuts and any other flavorings (like fresh herbs maybe? Rosemary or mint?)
• You can fold up the pastry neatly, or kind of pull it all up and make it messy - either way turns out pretty after baking. And you can always trim the edges, and put the trimmings on top as decoration, using that egg wash again.

It's so good, looks so good, and is too easy not to add to your emergency list.

Oh, and the braciole did come out perfectly (wish I could remember what recipe that was!), the party was a huge success, and it didn't end until the baseball player fell asleep with flapper gloves on cuddled up with the liter of Jack he successfully befriended -- and then killed. You had to be there...

Good luck, Bon Appetit, Ita-daki-mas!

Pizza Doughs

Pizza. Toppings are, of course, important. But how many times has a pie been judged by whether the crust is better than the next shop down the street? Here are a few of the recipes that I have - just keep in mind that dough is always better when it's had a chance to rise. It'll have better texture, body and taste - so if you can, use a recipe that calls for the dough to double in size. You'll end up with a light, airy crust, with more spring and stretchiness, which will also let you roll (or toss) a thinner crust that won't fall prey to holes.

Having said that, it's also fantastic to have a scratch dough made in about 15 minutes so you can do your own pizza any day after work. All the recipes here have been used pretty dang successfully with nothing more than a 10-15 minute rest while I prep the rest of the ingredients. (Still, a rise is better - or make some dough on the weekend, and refrigerate it till you want it that week for the best of both!)

General Tips/Info:

• Honey: I love using it with wheat doughs - there's not much in there, but I think it makes a difference in flavor!
• Method: I like to make sure my little yeasties are active by...
1. Proofing your yeast
• Confirms your yeast are still alive and burping. (A Good Thing.)
• Allows your yeast to wake up and start working (A Really Good Thing if you are not doing a full rise).
2. Mix your liquids
3. Mix your dry
4. Add liquids to the dry
• Note: You can also treat your yeast like a dry ingredient if you're really in a hurry (as in a couple recipes below), but I prefer to proof first.
• Humidity: How much water is needed will differ if you are in a dry clime, like, say - Phoenix, vs. a humid South Florida or Michigan. Always be prepared to adjust depending on your environs.

What should my dough feel like?

• Adjectives: smooth, satiny, like a baby's butt.
• Pictures: (I'll keep looking for some good examples of just right/too wet/too dry dough)
• Too Dry? Add water by the teaspoonful and allow to incorporate before adding more.
• Too Wet? Add flour by the tablespoonful and allow to incorporate before adding more.

White vs. Wheat

• White and Bread flours are typically more glutinous and will be stretchier, stronger and can be made thinner than Wheat.
• Most Wheat pizza doughs are actually blends - about 40-60% Wheat flour with the complement All-Purpose or Bread flour. You can make an all wheat pizza dough, but it will probably need extra time and...
• Wheat will likely require more liquid - be prepared to tweak and add a little more water if necessary.

My Almost Instant Wheat Pizza Dough

• 1 package active dry yeast (instant or quick-rising)
• 1 tablespoon honey (or white sugar)
• 1 cup warm water (110-120 degrees F)
• 1½ cups whole wheat flour
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Dissolve a teaspoon of honey (or sugar) in 1/4 cup of the warm water. Gently stir in your yeast and set aside while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Dissolve remaining honey in the rest of the water. When your yeast has proofed, mix all liquids in to the dry. Knead into a ball and let rest, covered while you prep your toppings (10-15 mins). Preheat oven to 425F. Roll or toss, top, and bake for 13-17 minutes.

Andrea Meyers' Quick Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
Andrea has a recipe designed for a KitchenAid stand mixer, if you'd like to use your dough hook. Any of these doughs can be done this way and you won't have to manually knead (though I kinda like it).

• 1 scant cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2¼ teaspoons instant yeast or 1 package quick-rising yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• ¾ cup hot water (approximately 115°F)
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• coarse cornmeal, for sprinkling on the peel

Eating Well's Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
And this is a recipe for a food processor...

• ¾ cup whole wheat flour
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• 2¼ teaspoons fast rising yeast, such as Fleischmann's Rapid Rise (1 packet)
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ½ - 2/3 cup hot water (120-130 degrees)
• 2 teaspoons olive oil

Jamie Oliver's pizza dough starter
This is a great dough, though you'll need to be able to weigh your ingredients to follow it as written (measuring by weight is recommended and more accurate in most baking situations). Also, check Jamie's page for the description of how he brings it together without a bowl - pretty cool, and it really works!

• 1kg strong white bread flour or Tipo ‘00’ flour or 800g strong white bread flour or Tipo ‘00’ flour, plus 200g finely ground semolina flour
• 1 level tablespoon fine sea salt
• 2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast
• 1 tablespoon golden caster sugar
• 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 650ml lukewarm water

Good luck, Bon Appetit, Ita-daki-mas!

Hollah! Or Challah. Hell, I hollah for Challah!

Was that blasphemy? Hmm.

So I've loved this bread, well, forever. And I love making it. So if you want some of the tenderest, moistest, goldenest, yummiest, prettiest bread ever, go for it.

Challah

• 2 1/4 c. very warm water
• 2 pkg. dry yeast
• 7 1/2 to 8 c. all purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 2 T. salt
• 1/2 c. butter
• 1/2 c. sugar

Dough-ing

1. Combine water, yeast and 1 T. sugar in a large mixing bowl; let stand 2 minutes.
2. Stir in 2 c. flour; let stand uncovered 30 minutes.
3. Stir in 2 eggs, salt butter, 1/2 c. sugar and 2 c. more flour. Beat smooth and then stir in enough of remaining flour to make a soft dough.
4. Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface (use some of remaining flour) and knead for 8-10 minutes, until smooth and satiny, adding only as much of the remaining flour as needed to prevent dough from sticking.
5. Place dough in a greased bowl; turn once to bring greased side up. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
6. Butter 2 large baking sheets.
7. Punch down dough, turn out onto a floured surface and cut in half.

Braiding

Form a braid with each half of the dough:
1. Cut in two pieces, one twice as large as the other. Cut the large piece into 3 equal pieces roll each into a 14-inch long sausage, and braid the 3 together.
2. Pinch ends to seal, and place on the baking sheet.
3. Cut the smaller piece likewise and braid likewise, starting with sausage shapes about 12 inches long. Place atop the larger braid.
4. Cover gently and let rise until almost double in bulk, about 45 minutes.
5. Beat remaining egg with remaining 1 T. sugar, and brush over top of loaves. (Avoid gluing the dough to the baking sheet with a drip of egg.)

Baking

1. Bake at 350 degrees 40 to 50 minutes, or until done. Cool on a wire rack.

Eating

• I think y'all got this part... Ohhh, yeah... :)

Moroccan Shrimp w/ Pomegranate Sauce

So, apparently this is really a politics and recipe blog... Not really a normal combination!

Moroccan Shrimp w/ Pomegranate Sauce

Ingredients

• 1 qt pomegranate juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (orange juice works well too!)
• 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined, with tails
• 3/4 tsp ground cumin
• 3/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1-1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 4 cups (4 oz) baby arugula (any tender or baby green is nice)

Directions

1. In a pot over high heat, stir together pomegranate juice, sugar and lemon juice until sugar dissolves. Boil until liquid thickens and is reduced to 1 cup, about 45 min.
2. Meanwhile, toss shrimp with cumin, coriander, cinnamon, salt and olive oil and stir to coat.
3. In a bowl, toss arugula with extra lemon juice and olive oil if desired. Place on a platter.
4. Heat a grill pan over medium heat. Add shrimp and cook 2 min per side until pink and opaque (I choose to grill mine rather than do them in a pan. I use a grill cage and cook them for about 4-6 minutes, depending on the heat of the grill.); place on top of arugula. Pour sauce in a small dish for dipping. Makes 10 servings, or 4 servings for main course.

Nutrition Facts Calories 45, Total Fat (g) 1, Saturated Fat (g) 0, Cholesterol (mg) 11, Sodium (mg) 86, Carbohydrate (g) 7, Fiber (g) 0, Protein (g) 2, Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Source: Ladies Home Journal, Apr 09

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

In what is probably a welcome break from political chat - here's the pumpkin seed recipe we tried today - yummy! The cumin isn't something you taste by itself, but it does add some depth to the seeds, very nice.

Sweet and Salty Pumpkin Seeds

Ingredients

• 2 cups pumpkin seeds, remove pulp
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 2 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In a bowl, toss the seeds with the oil, honey, cinnamon, cumin, and salt.
3. Spread the seeds evenly in one layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes, stirring the seeds every few minutes.
4. Remove from the oven and cool completely. Taste the seeds and re-season if desired.

Source: http://www.fitsugar.com/2441616

Colin Powell's Endorsement Decision

I found it interesting to listen to the entire piece - he goes into some detail about why he chose to endorse Obama and why he has issues with his own party. For me, while I don't agree with all of his thoughts, it was a wonderful change to hear a person meticulously and articulately voice both pros and cons for the candidates, and to make their choice based not on sound bites or negative ads (what I see as fear-mongering), but instead on what they believe the qualities of the candidates to be.

Colin Powell on Meet the Press

DMCA Bites a Hand...

Regardless of who you support (or don't), this is f-u-n-n-y! It could easily happen to any of the candidates, but that it first happened to someone who voted the DMCA into law (the Senate vote was unanimous, Messrs McCain/Kyl/Levin/Abraham), well - that's just a delicious homing of roosting chickens! ;)

YouTube to McCain: You Made Your DMCA Bed, Lie in It

If you're not familiar with the DMCA, it affects you if you've ever purchased music, movies, software, MP3 players or used any type of encryption in the past 10 years. The criticism section of the Wikipedia entry gives a good short summary. That this article was published just past the 10 year anniversary of the DMCA is also a little funny. And last - that the YouTube response contains information from the EFF (http://www.eff.org/) to highlight the issues is perhaps a form of justice - given that organization fought the DMCA from being enacted in the first place.

Another Candidate Quiz

It's only 20 questions, and it allows you to weight the questions towards what is most important to you. When complete, it then shows you the closest matches, and provides the detail on how closely you match each candidate. It's not comprehensive, but does have the major alternative parties represented.

Glassbooth

Covering Just the Issues

Thanks to my friend, Erin, I have another site to add:

Campaign Issues 2008

It attempts to deliver succinct summaries of where the candidates stand on the issues by using their own words (from speeches, debates and press releases) and actions (through voting, bills, proposals, etc.).

After this last debate (Which most of the press I've seen calls a slight win for Obama, but where instead I saw two children get involved in a battle of, "Nuh-uh, that's not what I said, that's not what I meant! But you said..." ... rinse, repeat...) it may be a breath of fresh air.

A debate where I heard very little new, but heard both candidates take opportunities to show how contumelious they can be to each other, and still have a thin veneer of civility. I keep finding myself wishing there was a debate where the person asking the question was able to say, "Stop. You're going back to your script. Stay focused, and answer MY QUESTION." And I thought that Brokaw did a better job of this than previous moderators, but both men tended to blow right by their 1 minute time limit as well as any re-focusing attempt.

Is it possible to have a viable third party? I don't know. Is it possible to have politicians that you respect? I don't know. Is it possible to have a politician take a stance based on principle or belief, without weighing the balance of which answer will mean a net increase in votes? I don't know.

Who am I voting for? I still don't know. Grr.

Non-Partisan Sites

I wanted to summarize the sites I've found or had suggested to me (and I'll continue to update if I find more) - and have included them all in the right column of the blog. ------------->

FactCheck.org
This site appears to focus on addressing truth in advertising and published statements. They provide a Summary of the issue, an Analysis section, document their Sources and links to Related Articles. It's an attractive site, with a special video blog called, The Wire, that tries to be "Faster Than the Speed of Spin" and is short and informative.

PolitiFact.com
This site focuses on how true or false statements or attacks are. They have handy gauges that signify True, Partly True/False all the way to "Pants on Fire." ;) They also maintain an analysis called the Flip-O-Meter which analyzes whether a candidate has changed stances, and to what extent. There's also a summary page for each candidate which lists how many items they have under each Truth level so you can see if they tend towards honesty - or not.

OnTheIssues.org
This site provides history based information on where the candidates stand on the issues. Much of their information is obtained from their voting history, which provides them a grade, or rating, on the issues. It also includes public statements on issues, and when they made them. It provides many different ways of viewing this information, and comparing the candidates to each other, and to your views. Be sure to check out the Grid, and VoteMatch. I especially like that they have posed different ways and corollary questions to help you consider your stance on the issues.

GovTrack.us
You can track both current Congresspeople and bills on this site, so it's more for staying current on what your elected representatives are doing, than for comparison to a potential opponent (unless they too have a congressional record). The neat thing is you can set up RSS feeds or email so you get updates as they happen, and I've also set up a widget that shows my current issues and Congressmen's actions on my blog. Useful for me, but you can do the same for your own on your site.

Track and Research Congress

A couple of days ago, I made an entry with links to two Presidential candidates' "Issues" pages. I've since been looking for a place that independently reviews those plans, and the history of how the candidates have acted in the past. While I haven't found that review, I have found something that helps with the latter...

GovTrack.us is a site that allows you to do two main things -- keep abreast of pending legislation and research past legislation. So not only did I find a way to see how every Representative and Senator voted on every bill, but if there is a person or issue you want to keep track of in the future, you can set up Feeds to get that info pushed to you!

Want to look up how McCain/Obama voted on the appalling FISA Amendments Act of 2008 (S. 2248)? Go to the View Votes page and you can see (I'm happy with neither). Though I find that my Representative (Shadegg) voted as I like (this time).

I've also set up Tracked Events to monitor things related to my two Senators and my Rep. I now track changes with an RSS (or Atom) feed (ask me if you want to know more about feeds), and I've put a widget to the right, "Tracked Events in Congress" so you can see my example. I'll find out if it's information overload, or if it's the right amount to make me a more informed citizen. Given time, I think it will help me make more informed decisions - especially when deciding whether to vote for an incumbent!

Craig Ferguson's "If you don't vote you're a moron" Rant

What timing!!! No sooner had I finished the previous post, did I see Craig Ferguson deliver this impassioned, heartfelt plea to all citizens of the US. And he captured so eloquently many of the frustrations that I've had, and have heard from many others.

He touches on our duty to vote, getting news from late-night tv, cutting through the crap, the patriotism of all the candidates, taking individual responsibility, ridiculous news coverage, celebrity opinion and much more. You may not like him, nor agree with him, but the videos are worth a look - if only as fodder for thought (though I think, it's pretty frickin' excellent).

Since he's on pretty late, and you might have missed the episode, take a few minutes to read the excerpted transcript and watch the videos!

The first monologue:

After the break, back at the desk:

Holy Crap! People are reading my blog!

I was (pleasantly) shocked when I saw that I had comments! Thanks so much to my two readers! ^_- I'm famous! I have to admit that I kind of put things up here for myself, not really expecting anyone else to remember to visit.

To briefly continue my thoughts, I've been reading these two sites:

McCain-Palin Issues
(http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/)

Obama-Biden Issues
(http://www.barackobama.com/issues/)

I'm still looking for an independent site that analyzes the issues and both sides' plans and history, so if anyone has one of those, send it along.

I also found this group that apparently does all the fact checking for us - also a very interesting read:

FactCheck.org
(http://factcheck.org/)

They are "a nonpartisan, nonprofit, 'consumer advocate' for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics." I have to believe that there is a slight liberal bias, just because The Media (in general) tends to lean that way, but they seem to do a good job at the "nonpartisan" role. Both sides are checked - though there seems to be more to check on McCain's side (at the moment).

I'm the swing vote

As I've watched the political arena the last few weeks, I've reflected on two thoughts:

• Who are the people who change their minds about the candidates after viewing/reading/seeing/hearing the information presented through the media?
• Holy crap. I'm one of the people that both parties are hoping to influence.

I've long considered myself an independent. Not as a cop-out as I'm often accused -- "Make up your mind!" or, "You just don't want to make a decision." And not so I can avoid having to explain the behaviors of people I align myself over which I have no control. I know Republicans shuddered when they heard about Cheney shooting his hunting buddy, and Democrats cringed when Clinton had his non-sexual relations. (Okay, okay - I am glad that I get to dodge that.)

I consider myself an independent because I find that neither major party has really expressed the values I hold important consistently. I've found I'm more comfortable taking a look at the issues, voting history and how a candidate has shown they make their decisions, and for what they stand -- for each position I feel informed enough to vote.

Which brings me back to my two thoughts. Watching the DNC and RNC I see rabid supporters of both parties (or perhaps just those candidates, those people), the ones that will vote that party. Period. I also find that as an undecided voter, I get very little out of the national conventions. Both parties tend to stand up and give honor to their opponent with the one hand, and try to bash them with the other. I find that I have more appreciation for the party that ends up doing the least bashing, and most genuine honoring. All the other rhetoric seems steeped in emotional ordnance prepared for the group that's fanatical enough to be at the convention - it's not geared to inform and influence an independent with reason.

As I've realized that all those political commercials, approved by those candidates, are really designed to get me to NOT vote for the other guy (or gal), I've also realized that it's hard work and not easy to sift through all the chaff for the real determinants of what a Person, in the Office, will do for the People, and the Country. But it's also something that I realize I really have the responsibility to do.

So I'm doing my best, to watch both sides, and take all the bashing with a grain of salt, to only look at the side show of whose pastor said what, or whose daughter got pregnant to see how the Person running handles it and shows their character. And I certainly hope that these candidates will start talking about what they will do, and how they will do it.

Moving rooms -- again???

I'll fill in the detail here later - but we are back in our original room after I let the staff have an earful. A polite earful. But an earful.

---

Okay, so I'm back - and actually, we moved again. Back to our original room!!!

Now, I understand some moving around, and it's been long enough that I've cooled down a bit and am allowing that a couple of the moves couldn't have been avoided.

We were first moved because Antonia needed to watch two patients - and they need to be adjacent for her to do that safely. So we moved to the negative pressure isolation room. Yay! More space! Better windows! And then, ugh - it's hot. And you already know about being unable to fix the air from Sara's blog.

So we are moved to a room 25 feet from the original. It's a small room, but we get everything set up fine -- and it has air! Yay! And good windows! (It is small, but we're pretty efficient with the layout since this is our 3rd try.) And we're doing great. Then, in the morning after both of us get a nice snooze going -- moving again!!!

This was across the hall, 25 feet, back to our original room. I flipped. (Politely.) I wanted to know what possible reasons could we have for moving an ICU patient to her fourth room in less than 48 hours!! I was told the room we were in had to be a Peds room - all of them over there were Peds. I was told that the nurses needed to be able to cover for each other, and that across the hall was too far. At one point, the charge nurse even (I think) tried to make me feel guilty for asking by mentioning that the small child in the room next to us would be in danger because of the nurse arrangements. While I would never wish to endanger a child, when you're at a one-to-one nurse-to-patient ratio... Whatever. It's just been part of the repeated frustration working with a brand new hospital that doesn't have all the kinks worked out.

Like I said, I've cooled down. I still think it's ridiculous to move this many times. And I still think it's bad planning to move us to a Peds room if that was a known requirement. But if something else happens and we need to move to another ICU room... I'll still flip again.

Moving in ICU... twice

So I mentioned the issues with moving rooms on Sara's blog - it's amazing the issues that are still being worked out in this brand new hospital. Though I guess it's not really that surprising when you bring a whole building up in a week, and have everyone using all the things that hadn't been used before. It's really like releasing software as Generally Available, and using all your first adopters as beta testers.

So we were moved in the first place for a good reason - Antonia, the night nurse from last night that we liked, had another patient as well, so we were moved to the adjacent room. That it was a large isolation negative pressure room seemed an added bonus. But as soon as we were in the room we realized it was hot. So we ended up propping the door to the room to get some air flow in from the hallway -- but that means the alarm for the negative pressure seal was beeping constantly. And both at the room, and at the nurse's station! So we dealt with the incessant beeping for 8 hours! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

In order to change the temp on a room, you need to log in to the facilities management website and go through a four page form with a number of drop down boxes selecting different items (and they better be the right items or your ticket gets delayed). I'm familiar with this from work for IT support, and it's a pain. Add that the staff has never used it, and this form becomes something that takes two people 15 minutes to fill out. Then you get no feedback if the ticket has been handled, so who knows when the person downstairs was able to see you needed it adjusted and make the change in the computer. After an hour with no change, we asked what the status was, and if they could check on the work order. I don't think they really knew how to do that, so we got vague answers. After another hour I told the nurses that I was willing to get on the phone and keep calling people until someone came and fixed it. They pushed me off a bit and said they'd follow up.

After another hour, the charge nurse was brought into the equation and I repeated my offer to her. She preferred to call the nursing supervisor to see if he had any pull, and about an hour after that, we finally saw the first facilities person. He actually mentioned that he had changed the temp in the computer, but apparently it wasn't changing here. Uhhh... yeah. So he utilized a pretty high tech device to see if there was air coming from the vent. An extensible alligator clip with a piece of toilet paper gripped by the alligator. Sure enough, no TP movement. So after a couple of hours of him fiddling, we see an additional 3 facilities guys start going through the ceiling in the hallway, checking our vents, the control panels, and so on. All four people working weren't able to get the thing fixed, so we moved.

But the comedy doesn't stop there! While they were unresponsive to our work order, we were given a cooling blanket for Sara. It's a flexible blanket, with channels for water to run through in one direction. It's connected to a portable compressor that circulates water through the blanket, and while in the compressor, cools it to the temperature you specify. They actually work really well - when you connect the blanket to the compressor correctly, and make sure the tubes are locked. When you don't take that step, you typically end up with a little water feature in your room as the water is pumped out (quite quickly) from the tube that has been forced free of its bonds!

So, after cleaning up the spill, the compressor didn't have enough water in it to work correctly, but we didn't determine this for about 30 minutes. Finding water to replace it took a while as the assistant didn't know where to get any distilled water. Finally Antonia just grabbed a bottle of sterile water (even better than distilled, right?) and poured it in. Voila! After I notched down the temp of the water 30 degrees from its original setting, Sara was finally cooled. It did nothing for those of us in gowns and masks, but we had the freedom to actually leave the room if we needed a breather.

It was a fun evening.

Updates are a bit slower on this side...

All, I've been trying to make sure that Sara's blog is updated regularly, cuz I know that's where most people are going to be checking. So, I haven't had much chance between all the activity here and updating her blog to do much on mine. After some of the cavalry arrives tonight, I may be able to get more of these out!

Thanks all for all the support and love - it definitely helps!!!

Getting to UCLA

(I'm going to be going into more detail on this blog compared to Sara's. Just want to make sure you know what you're getting yourself into if you choose to continue to read... ;)

So we got the call just before 9 pm last night, and didn't really make it to UCLA until almost 3 am - so it took us almost six hours to make the trip - quite different from last time. It wasn't as quite a smooth journey this time, and so it made it a bit more stressful.

We called Medflight and the dispatch handled it fine - they estimated that it would take an hour for the flight team to get activated and about an hour more for them to make the flight to Phoenix. A 1.5 hour flight to LA would add up to a roughly 3.5 to 4 hour total time, getting us in by 1 am. Since the tx coordinator said we needed to be there by 3 am at the latest, this was all good.

However, 1.5 hours later, we still hadn't received the word that the plane was in the air and on the way. I called them back, and there had been issues with the flight plans - something about them not being received and having to re-enter them. But you can't fly without 'em, so it delayed the initial takeoff. They still arrived in Phoenix by midnight, so we thought that we'd at least be in Santa Monica by 1:30, and at the hospital by 2.

However, we found that the flight plan for this leg also had issues, and had to be re-filed. So we didn't leave Phoenix until 12:30 and learned that Santa Monica had been fogged in. Sooo... heading to Van Nuys instead. So we did land right at 2 am, and the ambulance hauled ass and went Code 3 (lights and sirens) to get us there as fast as possible (which was pretty cool)! The driver was really good and the medics took good care of us.

So we're at the hospital by 2:30 and Sara goes straight to Radiology for a chest xray while a medic and I go back and get all our bags. We are in the brand-spanking-still-has-the-bubble-wrap-new hospital at UCLA - so no one knows where all the rooms are nor how to get us to where we need to go. So, after a couple wrong turns, we do end up at the right floor. Where we learn they expected us at 1 am, and have already missed the OR that was scheduled at 3 am for her.

(continued...)

S.O.B. Sauce!

I frequented a little sandwich shop in East Lansing long ago (and I'm embarrased to admit that I can't remember the name at the moment...) (Update: Hobies!!! I remembered!!!) but it had a sandwich with the best sauce - I finally found the recipe that the owner gave me!

South of the Border Sauce

• 1 qt french dressing
• 1 oz black pepper
• 2 oz garlic
• 2 oz cayenne pepper
• 1 oz ground cumin
• 1.5 oz Tabasco sauce

Mix well! Try this on your next masterpiece! Now I just have to find the name of that shop...