The long weekend so far

[gurdymonkey]

I was taking the pear pie out of the oven yesterday and thinking it would be nice to see if I could delay the next dose of Advil by a bit, so I ran a face cloth under some hot water and sat watching the news with the compress against my jaw.

Suddenly I tasted something really unpleasant. Yup, the abcess finally began to drain. A few minutes of spitting and rinsing with warm salt water and I felt So Much Better. I haven't had an Advil since noon yesterday.

There is still some swelling, pain and heat, which tells me there's still some crud brewing in there that needs to drain. However, the amoxicillin is doing its job and I am slowly getting more mobility on that side. Some tentative bites against the temporary show that the pressure sensitivity is pretty much gone now. However, since I still can't open my mouth all the way, I'm still trying to stick with relatively soft foods at this point. (The sandwich I attempted this afternoon was a bit of a struggle.

Asian pear works perfectly nicely in a pie - a co-worker has a tree and I'd enough fruit for a pie for the party. I also took a bottle of the Shirakabegura Tokubetsu sake, which went over well with the sake drinkers. By right of chewing disabilities, I had no qualms about taking as many scallops as I liked, seeing as I couldn't manage some of the other party foods. There was an interesting pasta salad with broccoli and bits of sausage I had some of.

I was also reminded - as if I need reminding of it - that when it comes to friends, I tend to hit the jackpot. You know who you are. Thank you.

Parties two nights in a row means screwed up circadian rhythms. I slept late yesterday and today, but it was good, uninterrupted sleep, which I clearly needed. Ran an errand, did some laundry, called my Mom just to catch up for catching up's sake.

Comments

[takadai-no-tora.livejournal.com]

You sound like you're feeling better; I guess Amoxicillin finally showed up and got to work.

I have a recipe for apple-crumble topped cake that I think would be good with Asian pears. The cake part looks an awful lot like a muffin batter, but you spread it in a pan and top with peeled, sliced apples and a butter/sugar/flour/spices crumble--the writer's from the UK, we'd probably call it a streusel topping, then bake. I'm mentally tasting it with Asian pears, spiced with cloves...better think about something else before I drool on the keyboard.

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

My recipe is a tweaked apple pie recipe from an old paperback Pillsbury cookbook. I use store bought crust basically because I just plain don't have the room to be rolling my own dough. I use 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 3/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 cup sugar, a handful of currants (though raisins would work too), and a generous squirt of lemon juice. You'll note I don't add flour to the fruit - I like the fruit just the way it is. Works well with half apple, half pear and as we found this weekend, worked very nicely with the Asian pears from Bill's tree.

[takadai-no-tora.livejournal.com]

Every once in a blue moon, our local Latino supermarket has Asian pears and the price is great, otherwise they're either expensive or simply not available around here. I envy you your homegrown ones. My mom's apple pie recipe is very close to yours, the filling isn't gloppy like most are.

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Bill brought some more in today. I grabbed a bunch and they're buried deep in the veggie crisper drawer as I write this. I will bring you some next week.

[takadai-no-tora.livejournal.com]

Thankyou!Thankyou!Thankyou!Thankyou!Thankyou!Thankyou!

They will be much appreciated and enjoyed.

[laurensa.livejournal.com]

Ooh. And I just got a big bag of apples that desperately want to be used up. The only ingredient I lack is pie crust. (Make mental note to send hubby to store, since I also have a serious lack of space for rolling out pie crust.)

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

Oh, sweetie, I feel magnitudes better than I did two days ago. Trader Joe's organic popcorn with olive oil and sea salt. Someone brought some to the part last night and it was really nummy.

[ladycelia.livejournal.com]

Thank heavens the abcess finally gave way!

I'd have never thought to make pie with Asian pears--they've always seemed the wrong texture to cook well. I may have to give it a try.

[gurdymonkey.livejournal.com]

If you're concerned about them being too soft, choose a pear/pear that's not overripe. I like Bartlett's in near-brickbat consistency for cooking. And for eating too, come to think of it.

[takadai-no-tora.livejournal.com]

I got some "brickbat Bartletts" at the supermercado this morning and I'm going to try them in the apple crumble cake recipe later today; I'll let you know how it turns out.

[takadai-no-tora.livejournal.com]

The apple crumble cake made with pears was very tasty; the pears made it a little too moist, but it disappeared in a day and next time I make it, I'll just use less milk in the cake part, knowing the pears will make up for it.

I also made the apple version and took a big chunk to work yesterday to thank our in-house techie guy for getting my printer working again; now he wants to adopt me as his "auntie"!

[helblonde.livejournal.com]

I like my pears rock-hard too! Just like apples: crisp.

I'm glad the abcess is passing on. That sounds like a bucket of blech.