Another crazy day in Flu-ville

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Oh, Ethel, bar the door. Cookies and scotch aren't going to get me through this flu season. It's OCTOBER, for crying out loud. There's no flowers in March to look forward to. No cherry blossoms. There's only more flu. February. It's MONTHS away, yet it seems like it's already here.

It's like a NEW DISEASE was discovered. "Flu? Flu? I HAVE THE FLU?????" No, wild dogs aren't going to consume your head. You are not being consumed by flames. For 99% of you, it's just the flu. You are going to feel like poop for days and then you will feel better. And next year you can say, "Dr. Latte, you were right. I should get a flu shot." I was once naive, too. But then I had the flu. In medical school. On call. On OB call. Did anybody send me home as I spewed evil juices all over pregnant ladies? Ah, medical education. Nothing like it.

Despite my recent permanent resident alien status in Flu-ville, I chanced upon a few decent recipes and food interludes. Here's one. For those nights when you think, Hmmm...Should I get Chinese take-out or just eat more potato chips at the counter, how about eating potato chips at the counter while you make your own Chinese? SKINNY Chinese?

From Slashfood, "Takeout Vegetable Fried Rice"

Not feeling like Chinese? How about Indian? Pakoras? From a blog in my very own Central Ohio backyard--Hungry Wolf--a most enchanting trip down Pakora Lane. Not a recipe. An Indian snack vignette:

Taste & Create, Pakoras

A bit of Central Ohio navel-gazing, but delicious, Navel-of-Venus gazing, also from Hungry Wolf, a locavore dinner with a most intriguing cast of characters. Now, blogging is Class A, 100% navel-gazing. For moi, the food blog, is a notebook I browse like a cookbook. What should I make? What sounds yummy? What is interesting but probably too much work? I put it on the blog. If I like whatever it is, if it survives my own kitchen test, I put it into a real-life notebook. Well, a file. I have a lot of recipe files.

But what is cool about navel gazing for me, anyway, is all this local stuff! Who knew there was a winery in Johnstown? I do now. That plus a whole lot more. It's so intriguing, it's so virtual, but I'll be converting my new virtual knowledge to calories soon at a wine or cheese shop, farmer's market, or bakery nearby:

Locavore Dinner at The Winery at Otter Creek.

Went out for sushi this weekend with some dear friends. Had my favorite, spicy tuna. Could it be that the magic is in:

Spicy Sriracha Mayonnaise?

Well, golly, I might have to find out and become quite addicted.

Meanwhile, back in Central Ohio, I mull over the Slow Food movement. Ha! I have a 20 minute Speed Racer food movement every evening in my slap-dashery to get food on the table for us all. There's nothing I love more than cooking for a day with nothing else to do, whipping up a some braised protein and a perfectly chopped vegetable fraggonarde (I made that up) while tippling a sipple of thistle but it just doesn't happen in my life, which is mostly neatly divided into 20 minute chunks. 2o minutes to get coffee and breakfast ready, check calendar; 20 minutes to get kids ready; 20 minutes to get me ready; 20 minutes to get to work; 20 minutes per appointment for nine hours; 20 minutes to get home; 2o minutes to make dinner, blah blah blah. Where does the all day braise fit into that exactly? I'm not sure, but I'm going to take, ah, 20 minutes and read about it in my own town:

Slow Food Columbus

And I'm going to check that website monthly (must add to-do item to reqall) so that I never miss another fabulous event. Unless I'm busy crazily cutting everything in my house into chunks 1/20th of original size.

When slow food fails to slowly ooze deliciously from my own two hands, though, I will enjoy it prepared by others. How about breakfast? Nick, at Breakfast with Nick conveniently published his favorite breakfast items, many (most?) practically in my back yard:

My Ideal Breakfast

And that, friends, is it for tonight. I have to go attend to my colleague, Dr. House. He needs my help. Some poor soul, sick with a dread fake disease, about to be examined and tested in an excruciatingly ridiculous but hilarious quest for diagnosis. Sure, most of the cases would be figured out in 5 seconds in a decent lab, and sure, the rest of the cases would never happen, but oh, the preposterous fun.

Later!