Thursday, October 8, 2015

Surgeon Visit, Tiling and Roadworks.

Having gone to the surgeon's office Matt got the stitches removed from his forehead but not from his
leg for another week. It turns out that the cancer on his head was deeper than she thought and there was some she didn't get out so he has to go back again to have that removed although she assures us it is an in and out procedure and won't take long. Matt had the option of some time in the next couple of weeks at the hospital or in her office but not til December. He chose the hospital as it was sooner. Trouble is the parking isn't free there, apart from the fact that the hospital is in the next town. I really don't know why she didn't do it at the time? I asked about bowling and they got him to demonstrate how he does it and they have decided that, so long as he is careful, he can bowl again. He is a very happy camper.

We then decided to get the weekly shopping so headed to the store, had some meds to pick up for me
anyway. Only problem, which we knew before we went, our floor is closed off  so we ended up going to the floor above and unloading a couple of shopping bags from our trolley, and Matt bumped it down from step to step and I carried the bags behind him. You have to imagine that full of shopping bags and ours only has two wheels. What a pain and we are relatively healthy. What the heck other people do who are in wheel chairs and such, I can't imagine. At the moment they are laying the new tiles on various floors and we understand it will take 3 days. The one floor I looked at did look pretty good I must admit. Friends came to visit Matt yesterday afternoon (bringing some delicious creamy patissseries which, of course, I shouldn't eat) and I didn't even know that they were working in our hall. It also turns out that our road is closed at the bottom so they had to phone me for directions and then they had to work out about going to another floor and walking down. The whole of our town is involved in major roadworks anyway, it is a total pain.

A friend sent a link to the most complicated recipe I have seen for a while. Thought you might be interested to see it. It is a very elaborate recipe for eggs and soldiers. It includes duck and special breads. Some of you might be interested in trying it. Looks delicious mind you.

The following recipe might remind you that there was a recipe for Scotch Eggs provided by Melissa Maygrove when we had her book featured on my blog. This follows a similar food theme.

Scotch egg pie

BBC Good Food
By

Servings

Serves 8 - 10
Two picnic classics come together in this pastry pie, filled with sausagemeat and eggs - ideal for wrapping up and eating outside

Ingredients

  • cornichons, to serve (optional)
  • salad, to serve (optional)

For the pastry

  • 200g plain flour
  • 100g butter, cut into small cubes

For the filling

  • 7 medium eggs
  • good handful parsley
  • 1 tbsp thyme leaves
  • 1¼kg good-quality sausagemeat
  • 5 tbsp dried breadcrumbs (see tip)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil

Method

  1. Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Tip the flour and butter into a food processor and process to fine crumbs. Add 2-3 tbsp cold water and pulse until it forms a firm dough. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly to form a smooth ball. Roll out and line the base and sides of a 21-22cm deep flan tin or 20cm springform cake tin. Trim the edges and chill the tart case while you prepare the filling.
  2. Put the eggs in a small pan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 4 mins. Cool quickly under running cold water and peel off the shells.
  3. Chop the parsley and thyme. Tip the sausagemeat into a large bowl and add half the herbs, a little salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper. Press a third of the sausagemeat over the base of the pastry case and make a circular trench in the sausagemeat. Trim the ends off each egg and line them up to form a ring of egg, then cover with the remaining sausagemeat, forming a smooth dome and making sure the eggs are completely covered.
  4. Mix the remaining herbs with the breadcrumbs and oil, and sprinkle evenly over the pie. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hr until the pastry is golden, the filling cooked and the topping crisp and golden. If there are any juices bubbling around the edge of the pie, carefully tip them into a jug and discard. Leave the pie to cool in the tin. Will keep in the fridge for a few days. Take to the picnic still in the tin covered in foil or cling film, and serve cut into thick slices with cornichons and salad, if you like.


Have a great day
 

19 comments:

  1. Hi Jo - the pie looks positively delicious. Glad Matt can bowl gently and that the surgeon will take out the rest of the cancer shortly. Then he can have his leg stitches out in a week or so. Roadworks and work in the building must be a pain - still nearly done ... well not the city - but the apartment floor ... take care - Hilary

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    1. It will be nice to have all the skin cancer over although I guess he can still get more. I don't know about nearly done, they have several floors to do and I heard that the whole thing will take 5 months. Not sure how true that is.

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  2. How can they close the floor when there are people in wheelchairs? I guess they are just stuck in their apartments for a while.
    Glad Matt can bowl again although bummer he has to go back. It still blows my mind that you have to pay to park at the hospital.

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    1. Those people are just stuck Alex. I have no idea what they do. Especially if they don't know in advance that it's happening. We didn't this week, just suddenly we were barred from the elevator lobby on our floor.

      Well I moan about parking fees but we don't have to pay for the treatments and right now Matt is horrified about dental costs in the States, Saw something on TV yesterday, woman being charged $4,000 for simple procedures.

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  3. Boy they really have your building torn up with projects don't they? What a pain and inconvenience. I'm also surprised that you have to pay to park at the hospital. That's not right. All our hospital parking is free....which probably explains why you can never, ever find a space. At least at the one in Hyannis. I've had to go into the surrounding neighbourhood to look for street parking.

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    1. They certainly do JoJo. It is a pain, and a bigger inconvenience for the wheel chair brigade. As I just said to Alex, at least we don't have to pay inside the hospital.

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  4. And I'm guessing there is no elevator! I agree with everything Alex said, pay parking at a hospital? No access for handicapped? So sorry she didn't get it all the first time...Wow, and Yay that Matt can bowl again! A crown for one tooth here in the states is over $2000 Jo. The medical establishment and the chemical establishment are in cahoots here, I am convinced. Both make major money off of all of us: chemicals causing cancer and the medical est. making money from all these sick people. And we're a bunch of sheep being lead to the slaughter, not only from big business, but, well, I won't even start!

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    1. There is access if we go to another floor, but not on our floor for the moment Lisa. Spoke to the workers tonight, they assured me they would still be there tomorrow. As I keep saying, paying for parking is a lot cheaper than paying for medical treatment. I actually don't know what that would cost here, but we personally have extra insurance so wouldn't pay the whole whack. Mind you it still costs us quite a lot of money.

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  5. Hard for me to understand why she didn't get it right there on the stop, if she saw there was more. I dunno. Odd.

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    1. I agree Ivy, I thought it was odd too, whilst she was there anyway.

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    2. Just so weird the way some docs are.

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  6. I feel your pain. There are roadworks on my way to work and our school is undergoing major reconstruction and getting to the staff room from my classroom is like traversing a battlefield. It's very unsettling!

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    1. Glad somebody is sympathising with me Pinky. Had to go to a store which is right in the middle of the most major road works right now. The store owner has posted directions all over the place. Done a really good job but I thought we were in a maze. Was also worried if we would ever get out again LOL.

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  7. It annoys me that hospitals charge to park.

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    1. It would annoy me a lot more to have to pay for the medical procedures Maggie.

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  8. I'm sure Matt is happy to be bowling again. I hate it when I have to skip my pilates classes because the activity seems to make me feel better - athough I do find the repetition somewhat boring - so I can imagine he was feeling something similar. Pity he has to have more done though.

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    1. Yes he is Helen, even if he didn't bowl all that well. I haven't been to exercise class in a while either, first because it was cancelled for a while due to the construction and then because I was with Matt in the hospital or doctors or something, so I expect I will feel it when I start again.

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  9. At least the Dr is getting the cancer taken care of and he can bowl:) I often wonder why work crews etc... do not take into consideration people who have health issues and can't climb stairs or need something to help them like a walker. I don't think I will try that dish-the eggs in there put me off:)

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    1. Sure thing Birgit. It's not really the fault of the work crews, they are told what to do and do it. I think the landlords should have thought it out a bit more carefully though. They have made some allowances but insufficient. You don't like eggs?

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