Impatient patient



[this entry has been written under the influence of vicodin, I'm sorry]

My right knee and I have had a love-hate relationship ever since I had some arthroscopic surgery 13 years ago to remove the remnants of my ACL and some fragments of meniscii. We survived nicely with the use of an external support for skiing until I fell down stairs at my parents' in February. Ultimately, I decided it was time to do something before I actually needed a full knee replacement. The picture above details how I spent my last week. Good times.

I can report now that I am up and walking without crutches, but will be in a brace (crotch to ankle) for another 5 weeks (more good times). I'm also coming out of the vicodin stupor...what a nasty drug. I don't understand how anyone could abuse it. Who thinks a high is worth constipation and nausea (TMI, i'm sorry).

I've watched every movie on Showtime, HBO and TBS; caught every update about MJ, Farrah, Billy Mays and Sanford as soon as they broke and followed everyone else's lives on Twitter and Facebook. Thanks for keeping me entertained, guys! (And for the record, Harold and Kumar is REALLY funny when you are jacked up on hydrocodone).

And, I've also thought about the healthcare system in this country (or rather the lack of it), especially after watching 'SICKO'. I'm lucky. I have two health insurance plans (only because either one alone doesn't cover our needs) and I'm fairly savvy about paperwork and medical issues. That said, I'm already overwhelmed with insurance issues...When do you need to call to get pre-authorization? Why is one office visit covered in full; but the next one isn't? How many recorded options does one have to sit through to finally get to speak to a real person? (these insurance companies are getting smart--pressing '0', even if they didn't instruct you to, no longer takes you to a human being).

r>

I can't imagine the trauma of seeking care if I were poor, non-English speaking, or naive. I can't believe that I get one standard of care while another gets a lesser. (Case in point: I have unlimited physical therapy torture visits. My son (who had ACL surgery last December under his father's insurance) was only allowed four visits). Life was much better before we lived in a world run by HMOs.

We need single payer....anything else will just complicate this mess even more. I would be much happier if some of my premiums went to provide health care for another American, rather than to support some wonk at an HMO that can hold other people's lives in his hands.

One Local Summer: June 14

On Wednesday, I picked up my first share from my CSA (community supported agriculture). For those of you unfamiliar with this concept, people who like farm produce invest in a farm before the growing season, and then receive ‘dividends’ in the form of produce for the rest of the gardening season. In the past I have always had my own garden….I’ve tilled it religiously with my little rototiller, planted, weeded, sworn at hail and burning sun and suffered through harvests of 6 peas and 40 thousand hundred and 12 tomatoes.

This year I thought I would take the monies I would normally spend in plants and also consider the value of the sweat equity of my gardening and buy this CSA share. I’m a bit skeptical of the whole process (will I get a bunch of crap we’d never eat; will there be enough for my share?) but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised on Wednesday afternoon. I stopped by after work and came away with collards, kale, lettuce and spring mix, garlic scapes, potatoes (from last year), haruki turnips (which I think will be lovely braised), strawberries, peas and wildflowers. Nom, Nom, Nom.

So this week’s fully local meal (in reality, there are local foods in just about every meal we eat) was:

RED BEANS (sans rice)---if rice could be grown in NY, it would have included that. As it was, I made a stew out of red kidney beans from Mary-Howell and Klaas Marten’s farm in Penn Yan, NY. In that stew was ham from Cobblestone Valley farms and andouille sausage from The Piggery. We sopped it up with some crusty sourdough bread from Le Banneton. The meal was accompanied by a simple salad of greens from the CSA and more of the Lively Run feta, topped with a homemade vinaigrette with herbs from the garden.

SAD CLOWN



Normally, I find clowns quite scary. This one, however, is too cute for words.

One Local Summer

This is my third year participating in One Local Summer, a group of bloggers that make it their goal to make a 100% local meal each week in the summer and then showcase their creations via their blogs.

To be fair, I try to make local foods a guest at our table frequently and try to include local ingredients whenever possible. In the summer, it is easy as there is an abundance of fresh veggies and fruits in Upstate NY; winters are harder unless you really feel you can eat squash, beets and applesauce at every meal. As much as I consider myself a locavore (emphasis on the loca), I still crave an avocado or twelve. And rice....oh, I love rice.

Eating local has a number of benefits. It has less of a carbon footprint. The spinach in tonight's meal did not travel here from Chile (no offense, Chile, I've visited and I LOVVVE your country); instead, it traveled about 6 miles. Eating local also keeps a local farm in business and keep money here in my community. The CSA (community-supported agriculture) farm from which I buy also employs people who live in my community. Local food is often safer. If there is some E. coli (unfortunately) in that head of lettuce I buy, it's likely only my family that will get sick. However, if one head of commercial lettuce is contaminated with E. coli, the consequences are greater. That head of lettuce is shipped to an industrial processor and washed with hundreds of other heads (think E. coli soup)...then those heads are chopped up and packaged in 1000 bags of 'salad mix' and distributed all over the country. In Scenario One, my family got sick; in Scenario Two, hundreds are at risk.

And really, the REAL reason we eat local: Flavor. You can't beat it.

So tonight's menu is:

• All Beef hot dogs from High Point Farms


• Spinach salad with local strawberries, Autumn Harvest bacon, spring onions, and Lively Run Feta



• Sabol's potatoes smashed up and cooked with garlic and parsley from my garden and a few splashes of balsamic vinegar



• All washed down with some CascaZilla ale
  

What's on YOUR plate this week?

Good Times

I'm just back from my weekly outing to the Farmers' Market. Stocked up on first-of-the-season strawberries, our weekly ration of sourdough and 'worker' bread (man, I really am becoming a Socialist, aren't I?) some potatoes, a silk-screened skirt and some handmade soaps. With a summer roll in hand, I decided to enjoy some of the local culture....

Music is always good at the Farmers' Market. This week's offering was some bluegrass-

Though most people drive, walk or bike to the Market each Saturday and Sunday, it's located on the inlet so you may also come by--

Your own personal Chinese Junk--




Or Dragon Boat--

And I noticed that not only were produce, breads and crafts marketed at today's Market, but people were also marketing themselves. The gentleman pictured below had inscribed his 'screenname' and 'Match.com' on the back of his T-shirt (sorry, for the bad picture but I didn't want to give him the impression that I was actually interested....). You have to give him a few points for originality!

Now I'm off to pick up G from her Driver's Ed class and meet the rest of the family for some boating (power, not junk or dragon).