Prescriptions, DNA Storage, Narnia.

Now I am teed off, even hopping mad. It appears that my pharmacy can no longer fax my doctor for a prescription renewal. My doctor’s office sent me a letter – if they did, I never received it. We now have to traipse all the way over to Cambridge which is a good half hour’s drive in order to see a nurse who will review my required renewal, make out a prescription and get the doctor to sign it. When you look at the number of pills we both take these days this is going to be a right bloody nuisance. As though we haven’t got anything better to do on the weekend. I have enough of the one’s approaching renewal to last me, but if I hadn’t the pharmacist would cover me til the weekend. Apparently this change is because they were getting thousands (?) of faxes which it was impossible for the doctor to go through so now there are two nurses designated to work at the weekends. It should be a 15 minute visit, no more, and if it is any longer, they will hire more nurses. That doesn’t take into account the hour driving both ways. I think I said we had no more doctor’s visits this week – shouldn’t have opened my mouth.

Now this is fascinating. Scientists have discovered a way to store information in synthetic DNA which they think will, eventually, enable greater storage than we have available to us today. At the moment they have stored all of Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets a photo, a scientific paper and a sound clip from Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech into a barely visible bit of DNA in a test tube. At the moment it takes a long time to read it back, but this will improve they say. Do read the article, it is worth it. That makes me think, we have large portions of our brain which are never used. I don’t know, but have never heard that anyone has tried to access it, that would make a good information storage area.

Been watching some Narnia movies over the last two nights. I enjoy them now and again. However, I discover that another one is likely to be in 2018 due to the fact that nobody renewed the appropriate contracts. The 4th one will be The Magician’s Nephew, not the Silver Chair. There is apparently some kind of moratorium on the books at the moment and whoever does make the movie cannot release it without the involvement of Walden Media. I don’t pretend to really understand it, but seems like it will take years. Which means that the kid who played Eustace in Dawn Treader will be too old for The Silver Chair. It also means that in the last book, all the ‘children’ will be well into adulthood so they will have to use other actors. Pity. I haven’t read Magician’s Nephew in a long time, I remember I didn’t enjoy it as much, however, maybe I should re-read it.

Cooking.com sent me this recipe and I thought it sounded a good one. Scallions, green onions or spring onions.

Braised Chicken with Scallion Purée

Source: Saveur Magazine

4 servings

INGREDIENTS

2 teaspoon vegetable oil

1 chicken, cut into 4 pieces

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

5 bunches scallions, trimmed and thickly sliced

1/3 cup white wine

3 cups chicken stock

2 russet potatoes, peeled and quartered

2 tablespoon heavy cream

DIRECTIONS

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, and cook, skin side down, until golden, about 5 minutes. Turn chicken, add two thirds of the scallions, and brown chicken on other side, about 3 minutes. Transfer chicken to a platter.

Continue to cook scallions until just soft, 1 to 2 minutes more. Add wine, scraping up browned bits with a wooden spoon, and reduce by half. Return chicken to skillet, and add stock and potatoes. Reduce heat to medium low, and braise, partially covered, until chicken is cooked through, about 50 minutes.

Transfer chicken to a platter, and loosely cover with foil. Strain braising liquid into a small bowl. Transfer potatoes and scallions to a medium bowl. Return braising liquid to skillet, and reduce by half over high heat. Add remaining scallions, and cook for 30 seconds. Mash reserved potatoes and scallions with a fork; then stir in heavy cream. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Put potatoes on a serving platter, arrange chicken over potatoes, and spoon scallions over chicken.

Have a great day