So...whats for dinner?

Grilled a bunch of chicken breasts on Sunday so made a nice big salad with lots of veggies and sliced up the chicken breasts to put in the salad as well. Made a balsamic vinaigrette with good olive oil and a nice balsamic vinegar that I use just for salad dressing or drizzling. On Monday, we had leftover stuffed peppers. All in all, very good salad. I enjoyed every bite. Trying to eat a little lighter this week as last week was very heavy food wise.

I'm spending all week celebrating my upcoming B-day. Today ex-DH took me to lunch at Capital Grille. The restaurant had a birthday card on the table & presented me w/a rose when I was seated. They served a complimentary triple dessert - cheescake, expresso chocolate mousse, fresh berries - and champagne for both of us. I had a very nice cup of Boston Clam Chowder (almost as good as those on my Boston trip) and an excellent 8 oz fillet, served with haricot verts. I won't need to eat for 2 days.

Good thing. Going to Benihana's with my SIL for lunch Thursday. Going to Eddie V's with a friend on Saturday. Still have to schedule something w/my friend Pat who has the same B-day. I can already see the extra pounds!!!

I cheated big time today, but not without reason (though it wasn't really a valid excuse): today was my first Zometa infusion (multiple denials of Prolia by my Part D carrier). It took yet another blood test and then four more venipunctures to get the IV going (after lengthy delays from the lab & pharmacy).

So I’m sure you can understand why, en route home, I pulled into a parking space on the street, strode into Hoosier Mama Pies (hitting the loo first, of course) and had a cup of great pour-over drip coffee and a nice big slice of Dark Chocolate Cream--which I hadn’t intended to finish.....but it was a big mug of coffee after all (and the pie was even better than I’d remembered). By then it was 4:30. So I guess you could call that dinner. Off to the bathroom again.....

Last night I couldn't get to sleep--neuropathy from Zometa was like random cattle prods (mostly to my feet, hands, shoulders, knee and right breast). Took a Norco 7.5 to fall asleep--and 90 min. later had to get up to go to my hand ortho surgeon (I got a lift). We decided a second cortisone shot wouldn't work, so I'm getting the trigger-thumb release surgery 9/20. Ortho prescribed me Lyrica at bedtime to keep the “tasers" at bay so I can sleep. We dropped off the RX at CVS and went to Whole Foods, which had sea scallops on sale today, and I planned to pan-sear them tonight. Had a slice of their veggie-vegan pizza (not bad) about 2 pm. Went home, took a nap and woke up with a low-grade (99.2) fever--I usually run 97.6--headache and feeling like I'm wearing a full-body iron girdle. (An espresso took care of the headache temporarily).Took my Claritin...and found my fever is at 100.3. Took a couple of Tylenol 500s. I will re-take my temp in half an hour, and if it's not down I will call the oncologist on call (and message my MO). Will take the Lyrica at bedtime--actually, carry the bottle upstairs so I don't get dizzier (it's hideously expensive--but I found out that despite my being in the donut hole, inHumana still gave me about a $100 discount. Impossible to find out online what is & isn't in their formulary and if so what tier till you get denied). Unless of course my MO says no way. Will take my arthritis formula Tylenol when it's time for my other night meds, after 1 am.

Obviously, all I'm drinking tonight is seltzer & water. That bottle of Santana Brut is staying in the basement fridge, and if I don't get an appetite by tomorrow night, the scallops are going into the freezer.

Update--fever down to 99.7; got a bit of appetite back, so had breakfast for dinner: egg-in-the-hole with low-carb bread. Maybe I can cook the scallops tomorrow, with a bit of Old Bay and saffron.

Think I will make half those scallops tonight and freeze the rest. A little grapeseed oil in the pan; season with a sprinkle of Old Bay mixed with a crushed saffron thread (or after I've seared them seasoned with S & P, do a reduction/deglaze with some white wine or even sherry, and in the meantime soak a saffron thread and a little scraped vanilla bean in cream ahead of time and then add it to the sauce at the last minute). Serve them on a bed of arugula, and will see what other veg. I have that won't overpower them (maybe some julienned peppers).

Mmmmm, April! I had been thinking of instead, perhaps steeping the saffron & vanilla in a little boiling water for better extraction and then adding the water to the sherry de-glaze--then I remembered I have some pesto I need to use up, and a zucchini I can spiralize. So maybe sear the scallops in olive oil with just a touch of S&P, then serve it over the “zoodles” with pesto, topping the scallops with a bit more pesto. Maybe not even need to deglaze the pan after the scallops are done (but if so, just use water and reduce it, mixing it with pesto to nap the scallops). Bummer is that since I’m on Lyrica I can’t have that Santana brut with it--but since my Zometa reaction symptoms seem to be abating, I can just take the Lyrica at bedtime--a good 5 or 6 hrs after dinner & champagne.

When I was recuperating from my second knee replacement (in the hospital, rehab center and home), besides opioids I was also put on Neurontin (gabapentin, an older drug in the same class as Lyrica) and tramadol, because due to a slow gastric bleed caused by therapeutic doses of Aleve after my first knee replacement, I could no longer take NSAIDs (at least not in the amounts necessary to relieve post-op pain). I’m not sure of whether it was from the tramadol or the gabapentin, I would find myself involuntarily raising my arm even in my sleep. I think it was from the tramadol, because I remember discontinuing it much sooner than I did the gabapentin (in fact, before being discharged to home), for that very reason. I was still on Norco (2x10, QID), so maybe it was the combination of all three types of drugs that caused it. The Norco took the longest to discontinue, but I used a careful weaning schedule and was off it by 6 weeks post-rehab. (I stopped the the gabapentin after 2 weeks home).

Thanks Bedo. But can I pass on the spankings? How is the new job so far?

The seared scallops over pesto zoodles were wonderful. Only problem is I had to split the zoodles into two equal portions--and because I keep forgetting to cut the spirals every so often as they emerge, I have to use kitchen shears to cut the finished, cooked ones. Finally, an exception to the Italian rule “never serve fish with cheese.” I dusted the scallops lightly with Old Bay before searing, and topped each with a dollop of pesto. Gotta harvest some basil so I can make more. I need to grate the cheese more finely and use more olive oil.

Accompanying them with 3 oz. of 2007 Mumm Napa Santana “Supernatural” Brut Rosé. (Very small flute looks full with only 3 oz.).

Minus, Not sure that my Costco offers Mandarin Orange Chicken. Haven't seen a zucchini in a few weeks. Maybe I should get a few more at market. We really enjoyed the "ad hoc" spirals I did for several weeks. 90º is way too hot to be playing with freezers. Surely life will cool down soon enough?

Special, do you have an MRI reading yet?

Bedo, how is the new gig?

Eric appears to be driving buses, taking care of phone connectivity, and who all knows what else. No time to report his creations!

*susan*

Special, Well I, for one, am impatient and want results now! *susan*

April - interesting. I just recently read something else about par boiling veggies before roasting. It was actually for a skillet chicken dish, to reduce the total cooking time & avoid turning on the oven. Looks like I'm atypical since I like veggies that are steamed or raw.

Special - I agree with Susan. Hope you're getting good news as we speak.

susan and minus - thanks for worrying with me, I called and just got off the phone with the imaging center because I had not heard from my MO and there was no post in my online chart - all is well! My center has no oncologists after noon on Fri so even though the report was sent this afternoon there was no doc to receive it. The nurse in the imaging center was sensitive enough to the fact that this is Fri afternoon and I would have to wait all weekend that she hunted down the report herself and assured me that it all looked fine. That was so nice, right? Yay!

Tonight will be spent at the Bucs game and I will be selective in what I eat - the MRI contrast has played havoc with my GI system. I haven't eaten in about 24 hours, but I have been hydrating. Not an ideal situation but I will make the best of it and enjoy the evening, especially in light of the good MRI news!

Special - Hooray!!! Aren't concerned nurses wonderful. Now to get your GI tract back on track (pun intended). Enjoy the game.

SpecialK, have fun at the Bucs game. Who are they playing?

I made those Whole Paycheck scallops last night. The fish guy said they were Nantucket day-boat dry scallops, and they were amazingly sweet.

Late lunch was half a can of sardines over arugula with a homegrown tomato that was getting overripe, basil, the oil from the sardines and lemon juice. Went outside to check and perhaps rescue my four remaining tomatoes, but they’re still too small, hard & green for me to justify picking them yet. (I know I’m playing Russian roulette with the squirrels. Remember when I said my neighbor two doors down--who got some of our bumper crop while we were in Italy--was also going to Italy and his brother would bring us some zucchini that needed picking in my neighbor’s absence? Well, the brother never checked the garden, and the squirrels got all the zucchini). After lunch, I was out on the deck with my kitchen shears and a baggie, trimming off the blossom spikes from our basil plants lest they get too leggy & woody from going to seed. (I strip off the white flowers and use the green buds from the spikes in pesto). This did not sit well with a bee that was browsing the menu, so I had to run inside without having trimmed even a third of the plants.

Tonight will be grilled pork chops with fresh rosemary (America’s Test Kitchen has a yummy-sounding recipe for a skillet pork chops with apples & maple-sage butter, but too much sugar for me to dare try), pan-roasted Brussels sprouts finished with truffle salt & balsamic vinegar, and half a sweet potato each with salt, pepper, a dab of butter and cinnamon.