Saturday, July 02, 2005

My right hand really hurts.

It's stiff, too.

That's because I spent twenty minutes with a hell of a lot of weight on it, leaning into that nice man's groin last night, trying to keep him from either bleeding to death or getting the world's nastiest bruise after that post-A-gram bleed.

That's the bad news. The good news is that, not only did he not bleed, he doesn't even have a hematoma there today. Nurse Jo with the magic fist!

It's not often that you can come home from work and pat yourself on the back for something you did really, really right. So I'm wearing out my other arm, patting away. It didn't hurt that the poor post-surgical nurse is brand new and so stood there gaping like a trout, thus making me look good. She was scared to death, poor thing, having done mother-and-baby for the past fifteen years.

In other news, it poured rain today for umpteen hours (actually about two) just at the time I was at the farmer's market. I stood in the rain and talked organic gardening with the thin, intense guy with tomatoes, okra and peppers with the old fat farmer guy, and blackberries with the blackberry guys.

Then I came home, napped, and made this:

Stuffed Zucchini, Jo-Style

Get you two "Eight-Ball" zucchinis. No, these are not zucchinis that have been mulched with heroin; they're round and about the size of baseballs.

Cut off the tops and scrape out the insides with a spoon, leaving about a half-inch border of flesh on the inside.

Chop that scooped-out zucchini gut stuff up.

Chop up about three tablespoons of onion and a handful of small mushrooms, too, while you're at it.

Heat a pat of butter in a non-stick skillet. Add a handful of chopped pecans and saute them until they start to smell really good. Then dump in the rest of the vegetables. Salt and pepper them once they turn soft, then add a tiny bit of dried thyme or oregano. Garlic is optional.

Just when you think the veggies might be done, when they're looking mushy and slightly browned and marvelous, add a chopped-up Roma tomato or two that you got from the organic gardening guy. Heat the whole kit and caboodle through, then take it off the heat.

When it's cooled a bit, stuff the zucchinis with the veggie and pecan mixture.

Put 'em in a pan, add an inch or so of water to keep 'em from burning, and bake 'em at, oh, about 350 until the sides of the zucchini wonderfulness cups can be pierced easily with a knife. Parmesan cheese, grated over the top during the last few minutes of baking, is really good.

Serve to general applause.

Now, can anybody give me some really good recipes for the umpteen gazillion crookneck yellow squash that Thin Intense Organic Gardening Guy gave me as a bonus?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooooh. You like the same food I do - zucchini, mushrooms, cheese....mmmmm. I may have to try these. Bake them sitting right in the water?

I've been shredding and making zucchini pancakes.

Anonymous said...

Jo:
Here in the South we chop the yellow squash, boil til nice and soft, then mix it with lightly sauted onions, bread crumbs and shredded cheddar cheese. Bake at 350F till cheese is all bubbly.

Actually, I left the bacon and its drippings OUT, since eating like southerners eat, unmodified, is why I had to have an emergency A-plasty followed by a quadruple bypass back in February. I learned a lot from that experience. One rule is as follows:

When four nurses come in your room at the same time, they are going to do something that is going to REALLY HURT, like, say, remove your chest drain. If they still have good AV access, send them out, tell one to come back with the morphine, and wait 30 minutes. Then you won't care if they pull the chest drain out. DO NOT BELIEVE the nurse who says, "I will be your breathing coach while we pull this out. Just like Lamaze, it really helps." B.S.!