Thursday, December 11, 2008

Slacktastic

Slack-tas-tic [slak-tas-tik}
-adjective
1. completing an everyday expected task that while postponed, was completed faster than a true slacker.
2. doing something necessary, in an not-so-impressive time frame, while still being appreciated.

Julia, are you going to finally take back the garbage?
I guess so (grrr....)
Thanks, you're slacktastic!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Will's tangy sauce

The day has finally come. Will finally made a batch of homeade hot sauce!

The quest began a year ago. I bought him The Chile Pepper Encyclopedia for Christmas in 2007. In the late spring, we bought seven different varieties of chile peppers from Niagara Produce and planted a total of 28 pepper plants in our pepper and tomato garden. The plants had to fight for life as the nearby cucumber plant tried to suffocate them. While none of the crops could match the success of last year's habanero plants, we were still proud of ourselves. We were able to freeze some leftover peppers, but at no point did we have enough to try to make a batch of hellishly good poison.

Until our recent visit to Niagara produce.

Right out in the open, it had our names written all over it. And a price I could not refuse- 3.99 for a huge basket of mystery red peppers. There had to be over 40 peppers in the basket. These red beauties looked like chubby cayenne peppers, like they could almost be hungarian wax peppers. Were they hot? I was willing to take a chance.

The next morning we had eggs for breakfast, and used this opportunity to determine the heat level. Not knowing what to expect, I touched a sliver of the pepper to my tounge, and my mouth woke up immediately. These were going to be some good eggs, and even better hot sauce!

10 Chili peppers
2 cloves garlic
3/4 cup vinegar
salt to taste

Will started by removing the seeds and stems, and roasting off the skin under a broiler. I left the handling of the peppers to him, but he was not the only one to feel the power of the capsicum. Every breath filled my lungs with the fiery air. My eyes could feel the burn every time I walked into the kitchen. I did not have the guts to breathe in through my nose. The latex gloves could not stand up to its power while he was removing the meat from the skin. The ingredients were sent for a spin in the blender. Even after "diluting" the sauce with the requisite garlic and vinegar, it will still need to be declared at security checkpoints as a weapon of ass destruction.

Mission accomplished.

I can't make this stuff up

Have you seen those Simple Save pharmacy discount cards recently? They're everywhere. I've received two of them in the past week, one in a coupon mailing, and a second one with my national fuel bill. If for some reason you have yet to receive one of these, I'll explain how they work. They are not an insurance card, and they do not pay anything towards your prescription. we submit your prescription information to this carrier, and they have a "negotiated" price- basically they tell us how much we can charge you for a specific drug. It's usually less then our cash price, and will save on average 10-30%, more on generics.
I had a woman come in the other day. She seemed smart, until she started talking.

Me: How can i help you?
Patient: I have this card and i would like to get these two prescriptions filled.
Me: (running scripts through) the ambien generic will be 9.99, and the retin-a generic will be 63.57.
Patient: They're not free?
Me: (????????????????????????) why would it be free?
Patient: the card says "present your FREE drug card to the pharmacist"
Me: The card is free, you don't have to pay for the card, but you will still have to pay for the prescription.
Patient: that card is misleading, it says free, it shouldn't say that.
Me: It says on the card that they can save you 10-30% off prescriptions. It is only a discount card, not insurance.

(apparently the simple save card is too complicated for most people to comprehend)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

It's sauteed, not chard!


One of my favorite things about summer is the abundance of fresh fruits and veggies at the farmers' markets. I've been trying to serve vegetables with every meal, and my latest adventures have been with Swiss Chard. I'm not a nutritionist, but i have to wonder how much credibility this healthy vegetable loses when it's sauteed in bacon fat. What can I say? Bacon makes everything better!


Swiss Chard with Bacon and Feta

3 strips thick cut bacon
1 bunch Swiss Chard
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup feta cheese
salt and pepper

Directions:
Cut bacon into bite size pieces, add to a large saute pan and begin to render out the fat (medium low heat)
Cut out the thick stems from the swiss chard, and cut the stems into 1 inch pieces. Slice the leaves into 1" strips. Rinse well. Drain the stems well, but it is ok to leave some water on the leaves (helps with steaming).
Add the stems and garlic to the bacon and saute in the bacon fat until the stems soften, about 10-15 minutes.
Add the leaves the pan, cover and stir occasionally until the leaves begin to wilt. The leaves may need to be added in multiple batches.
Remove from heat, add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with feta cheese prior to serving


Thursday, September 4, 2008

Thursday morning

I'm amazed it took me so long to realize this. I worked the entire weekend prior to Labor Day, and not a single person called to see if they could get their controlled rx filled early. To everyone that does not work in the profession, our store is closed on labor day, and this is as rare as a steak that says moo when you stab it. Tuesday morning i came back to work, and my SP had cleared the queue (yay!). The day was still pleasantly busy and flew by. I had a few crazy people as usual, but the most annoying part of my day was having a drug rep stop by at 9:15 in the morning. Who does this? He didn't even have any free pens! At least he had coupons for some free nice blood glucose meters (not going to say the name, but they are preferred by most ins. companies). I'm saving them for nice people. There's nothing I hate more than giving up a valuable coupon and still having a patient bitch at me. Learn to say thank you, and i'll take care of you.

Friday, August 29, 2008

post numero uno

I have the day off today. I should be cleaning to prepare for Labor day, but i'm still waiting for the motivation. I need to prepare today because I work the next two days, and I tend to freak out the day of a party. I'm also hoping to do some baking today as well, and fit in some grocery shopping.
I've been on the search for a Wii recently, and i've been hoping to buy it from target so I can use my 10% off reward coupon before it expires early next week. Hopefully i'll have better luck this weekend.