The hospital enjoys toying with my mind. I’ve come to that conclusion.

After postponing my surgery for three months [and only after several false potential appointment alarms], they’re now messing with when I can get my bands/wire removed. So the surgeon got sick, but that doesn’t mean his residents can’t relieve me of this liquid diet of no foreseeable end. Seriously. We’re calling them every day, leaving messages, and getting no responses.

The earliest date they gave me for an appointment was March. That’s more than a month away, and it’s after all the Lunar New Year festivities that I’ve been anticipating for the last few weeks. It’s out of the schedulers’ scope, really, so I just need to get in touch with a resident or the doctor himself.

*shakes fist*

All we can do is keep calling.

In the meantime, I’ve got COBRA payments to make as it appears that this whole thing won’t be finished for a while longer. My supportive coworkers have been the saving grace. I can take time off as necessary to rest, which will also allow me time to sort things out with the new house. You know, things like picking out cabinets, counters, and floor tiles.

Oh, and RV made me the most delicious guacamole shake today – avocados, chicken broth [lots of it + water], cilantro, onion, and mild salsa [because the spicy stuff really kicks your throat when it goes straight back].

“If you plan on keeping him around, you’re lucky that he cooks,” my mother tells me the other evening.

She then gifts RV with a cookbook, so that he can experiment with the recipes and keep me well-fed. Hahaha. Yes, I am very lucky that he cooks. In fact, when there is cooking going on in the kitchen area, I stay out and let him do his thing. I’m only in the kitchen when I’m itching to bake. Itch to bake? Yes, it’s happened. Or maybe it’s just that wonderful smell that only comes from baking goodies that sparked my interest.

This big fat chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe actually didn’t turn out bad. In fact, it turned out way better than my first cookie made from scratch – a peanut butter cookie. As the sister will always remind me, the cookies from the very first batch were rather dry. It was like stuffing your face with a glob of chalk, if you could imagine that. Not pleasant. Someone could choke from inhaling the crumbs of that cookie. I made improvements subsequently. For the big fat chewy chocolate chip cookie, I used organic ingredients, fewer chocolate chips, and a little extra vanilla. I let the dough sit for quite a few hours, unlike another batch I’d made a few weeks before. More proof time was a good call, and the cookies turned out quite good. Still a little sweet for my tastes, but I’d follow a similar recipe again.

Since it appears that baked goods I mix up actually are edible, I might experiment more and bake others! I’m on my way to an edible cupcake, which is one of 101 in 1001. Stay tuned!

Who knew baking bread would take hours and hours and hours?! Well, I’m sure OTHER people know. I just didn’t realize it until yesterday when I tried it for the first time. It wasn’t a baking class or anything. Just a random experience brought on after various Twitter conversations! I arrived bright and early [7am!] at Danny’s place and stayed until about 6pm. Some of the preparation was done the night before, so luckily, we were able to prepare doughs, shape ‘em, and bake ‘em!

So what did we tackle? A whole lot! There was: focaccia, honey whole wheat, cumin whole wheat, sourdough, casatiello, and bagels. I didn’t make everything, but I worked on some things here and there! At times, it was a sticky mess. And other times, I was sitting there calculating percentages and ratios and this and that. Lots of math.

The results, although not always the tastiest, were worth it! I took home a delicious casatiello that tasted like a croissant with salami and cheese inside. Mmm… Danny didn’t use commercial yeast, so many of the recipes had to be altered accordingly…

More photos: here! And yes, that was attempt numero uno. I’ve labeled it as such because I intend to try it again! The long hours and mathematics haven’t scared me off yet.

On a side note, I started working on #030 of the 101 in 1001 – Do a Daily Self Photo project for a year.

On Wednesday evening, I had the opportunity to attend an early screening of Robert Kenner’s Food, Inc. [Thanks, Yelp!] in downtown SF, followed by a Q&A session with Kenner and Michael Pollan, author and activist. It was definitely an eye-opener and a reminder that we are what we eat. The film exposed the food industry for what it is, how it got that way, and we’re going to have to do to fix the problems. A handful of corporations control the food supply, basically giving up maintaining the health of consumers, safety of workers, as well as the environment, for money.

One of the featured stories of the film details the struggles of one mother while fighting for regulatory agencies to have more power and involvement in oversight of the various meat producers after her two-year-old fell victim to E. Coli. Another focused on genetically modified seeds, and the harm caused when all a corporation focused on was making money and taking over the market share. This not only wiped out any chance of a seed that wasn’t genetically modified, but it put people who relied on the processes required for maintaining seeds out of jobs.

To say the least, the film is graphic. Animals are slaughtered on screen. It’s not recommended for those who cannot stomach it. Food, Inc. is very informative and doesn’t end in a bitter note. In fact, there are easy ways for making steps in the right direction when it comes to food. They list ten simple ways [click for more details!] to change the food system.

1) Stop drinking sodas and other sweetened beverages. [Yup, I don't do this much anyway.]
2) Eat at home instead of eating out. [Guess I'm learning to cook!]
3) Support the passage of laws requiring chain restaurants to post calorie information on menus and menu boards. [A given, really! What do they have to hide unless they don't know either?]
4) Tell schools to stop selling sodas, junk food, and sports drinks. [Many school districts have done this.]
5) Meatless Mondays—Go without meat one day a week. [Isn't that Friday for some?]
6) Buy organic or sustainable food with little or no pesticides. [I think true organic is hard to find, but we can try.]
7) Protect family farms; visit your local farmer’s market. [Yes, luckily there are a ton of farmers' markets in San Francisco.]
8) Make a point to know where your food comes from—READ LABELS. [It's surprising what you will find.]
9) Tell Congress that food safety is important to you. [Clearly, not enough is being done.]
10) Demand job protections for farm workers and food processors, ensuring fair wages and other protections. [Absolutely!]

Highly recommended film. The movie is a pretty general picture, touching on a lot of different areas. Ignorance isn’t bliss. It’s your life!

So now I have more to add to the reading list: The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, and Fast Food Nation. There are others! Yes, I know that I should have picked those up long ago.

An update on the 101 in 1001 list:

041 – Learn to bake edible cupcakes.
I don’t know when I will tackle this one. Amanda says she’ll help me out, so it’s just a matter of finding time. I think that most of my list just requires time and energy. In an effort to broadening my cupcake horizons, I dragged RV with me to Cupcake Camp v2.0. They picked a bigger venue this time, and I think there was more of everything – bakers, cupcakes, and attendees sampling the cupcakes.

It was a madhouse. We didn’t stay for very long, but it was enough. Growing up, I did not eat a whole lot of cupcakes or sweets, so my tastes in cupcakes has been relatively boring. I like ‘em fluffy, not too dry, and the frosting not too sweet.

Perhaps I will submit my cupcakes next time!

More Cupcake Camp photos: here

Learning to cook [aka "not burning the house down while making something edible"] is on my list of things to do. The idea is to compile recipes that I can try, try them, and then mark the results. So one of the first things I’m going to do, besides look up recipes, is ask my friends for their favorites. My friend, Quinn, already shares his recipes on his blog, Nermo. Of course, he’s all making everything fancy, so I’ll have to ask for simplified versions that don’t require a billion utensils or lots of time that I don’t have.

Anyway, feel free to share your favorite recipes!

Fortunately for me, RV doesn’t require that I cook. In fact, he’s the one who cooks. Okay, so simple things like eggs, but he still does it.

I just make up all excuses not to.