Showing posts with label Zoom Meeting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zoom Meeting. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Hospital, PSWs, Zoom Meeting, Shopping, Supper,TIA,

I hadn't thought about it before I read Denise's comment yesterday, but yes, it was a bit irresponsible of the hospital to expect a senior to drive in the middle of the night. I know they didn't know me, but they must have realised that Matt's wife would be no youngster. Maybe I should complain!!

I was delighted to see his PSW this morning. Ladydog had suggested that the PSWs should take Matt's blood pressure. I mentioned it to the young man this morning and he said I would have to talk to Paramed about it. So I called Paramed who said I had to talk to the LHIN. Amy, who is our care coordinator said she would investigate and call me back. She did so, turns out that PSWs cannot take blood pressure readings!! Dunno why. Although I am perfectly capable of doing it myself, I cannot remember to take my own, let alone Matt's.

This morning was our meeting of Alzheimer spouses through Zoom when one of our discussions included how very difficult it is to ask for help. Ladydog has always accused me of using my British stiff upper lip, but one of the spouses said she was using the German hubris. Whichever, it is very difficult to ask for help. When I came away from the meeting, slightly early to make lunch, I found Matt all upset because he said he hadn't seen me all morning, I had been in the meeting for an hour and 15 mins but he figured he hadn't seen me at all. He was in tears and all upset about it. We eventually got over it and had lunch.

After lunch we went out and the first thing we did was go to the car wash. The car was covered in dust through sitting in the underground parking lot. Matt was amazed at the car wash - he has used this car wash many times but appears to have completely forgotten it. I then checked the liquor store and nipped in to get some more bubbly. Then went to get the shopping. Not sure why, but it took for ever for them to bring it out. I even had to phone them and ask where they had got to. Matt was getting antsy. Came home and managed to most of our shopping in our walker baskets although there are still a few things left in the trunk, nothing which will hurt of course.

Once we got home I worked on preparing supper and did a few other things. We then had our 5 o'clock drink and I got another display of tears - can't quite remember what that one was about. However, once I put his supper down in front of him he managed to eat it and forget it.

I forgot to mention, Matt also had some of the early symptoms of a TIA again today, twice, neither occasion developed into anything serious, but it is a bit worrying, Not much anyone can do at this stage, should perhaps talk to the doc about it.

Another recipe I had forgotten, I love meringue although have never been very successful at making it, mind always went brown rather than staying a pure white.

Ambrosia Pavlova

Pineapple Curd
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp kosher salt
Grated zest of 1 lemon
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup fresh pineapple juice
2 Tbs unsalted butter, melted

Meringue
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 Tbs distilled white vinegar
1 Tbs vanilla extract
1 tsp kosher salt
2 cups sugar
8 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 cup very finely ground pistachios, toasted and cooled

Topping
1/4 cup sugar
Grated zest of 2 oranges
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 cup cold heavy cream
1 orange, peeled of its pith and cut into segments
1 grapefruit, peeled of its pith and cut into segments
1/2 cup candied cherries in syrup, such as Amarena Fabbri
Large dried coconut shavings, julienned lime zest and chopped pistachios, for serving

1. MAKE THE PINEAPPLE CURD In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, salt, lemon zest, and egg yolk until smooth. Add the pineapple juice and butter and stir until smooth. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly. Once it begins to simmer, continue to cook and stir the curd until it is thickened and coats the back of a spoon, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and let cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

2. MAKE THE MERINGUE Heat the oven to 350°. In a small bowl, stir together the cornstarch, vinegar, vanilla, and salt until a thick paste forms. Put the sugar and egg whites in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and mix on low speed until smooth. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until soft peaks form. Add the cornstarch paste to the beating egg whites and continue to beat until very stiff and glossy peaks form, about 5 minutes. Add the pistachios and, using a rubber spatula, very gently fold until evenly incorporated.

3. Trace a 9-inch circle onto a sheet of parchment paper. Flip the sheet over and transfer it to a baking sheet; spray lightly with baking spray. Pile the meringue in the center of the circle and, using an offset spatula or small rubber spatula, form it into a 9-inch disk, smoothing the top and sides. Transfer to the oven and immediately lower the oven temperature to 215°. Bake until the meringue is dried on the outside and looks set, about 1 1/2 hours. Without opening the door, turn the oven off and let the meringue sit inside until completely cooled, at least 4 hours. (The cooling process allows the meringue to dry and cool slowly enough so that it doesn’t collapse on itself.) Once cooled, gently tip the meringue onto its side and peel away the parchment paper. Carefully place the meringue on a flat cake stand or serving platter.

4. WHEN READY TO SERVE, MAKE THE WHIPPED CREAM In a food processor, combine the sugar, orange zest, salt, and coconut milk in a food processor and process until the sugar is dissolved and the zest heavily perfumes the coconut milk. Pour into a large bowl, add the cream, and whisk until stiff peaks form. Pile the whipped cream onto the center of the meringue and gently nudge it to the edge of the meringue, leaving about a 1 1/2-inch border.

5. Arrange the orange and grapefruit segments on the cream and then drizzle with some of the pineapple curd. Dot the top with cherries, coconut, lime zest, and more chopped pistachios and serve immediately.

Servings: 8

Author: Ben Mims
Source: Food and Wine

Have a great day, stay well, stay safe
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Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Night Ills, PSW, Zoom Meeting, Lunch and a Nap, New Recipes,

One day is good, next day is bad. We started off with Matt being in howling pain at 3 a.m. I was given pills to give to him when this happened as it has done a couple of times before. It's pretty awful and he was beating the bed and crying in pain. Tossing and thrashing around, etc. so, even though I knew it was pointless really, I called the ambulance. Eventually they came one guy protected up to the hilt with a breather type mask and a plexiglass shield over his face and the young woman with him just had a simple throw away mask. They were both wearing gowns and hazmat type trousers. The result of this was, I had trouble understanding the young man, let alone Matt. I couldn't get through to him to speak slowly and clearly. I certainly couldn't get him to say less. They took all his readings and such and were preparing to take him to the hospital but double checked with me. I said to Matt did he really want to go to the hospital, spend 5 or 6 hours on a very hard and uncomfortable bed waiting to see the doctor when he was obviously so much better by that time. In the end he agreed he didn't want to go so I signed their computer and eventually off they went. I persuaded Matt to go to bed and then did so myself. Of course, I had trouble getting back to sleep.

I had set the alarm for 7 as the PSW said he would be here for 8:30 to 9. I mentioned that to Matt when I called him. He crawled out of bed and said he would NOT go anywhere with anyone. I kept assuring him he was not going anywhere. Unfortunately, but the time the PSW arrived, he had decided he was NOT going to let him help him in any way Not to shower, dress or anything else, he was quite capable of doing it himself. The PSW kindly got rid of my recycling and then left. The result was, no shower and of course I had to supervise dressing. Some help that was.

10:30 I had a conference meeting on line with several Alzheimer spouses so I made my salad before it started. We chatted for 1 1/2 hours and discussed all kinds of  things. I was pleased to see two of my friends from the session I attended some while ago. In fact today we had a pretty full house. We use Zoom and it seems to work very well although we do have an odd glitch or two at the beginning, none of us are electronic whizz kids LOL.

Then, I finished making my lunch and did Matt's. I had several jobs to do online and finally I got to sit down on my lounger and have a nap. Not sure how long I slept but as expected, a delivery came of another pair of slippers. Matt insisted on putting them on and wore them for a while. They are the kind you need to wear a bit to get your feet used to them, but he decided they were pressing down on his toes and hurt. They actually looked fine to me, but then I guess I am not wearing them.

Later I did some Spanish and then hunted up a new recipe for supper, had an email with some Instant Pot Dump and Go recipes so I decided to try one. It was pretty good but it did want some salt. I did not have Balsamic dressing so I used Italian. I have ordered some Balsamic to try another time.

You worn out yet? I was/am.

Instant pot 2-ingredient balsamic chicken

Tender, moist bites of shredded chicken flavored with balsamic dressing. With literally only 2
ingredients and the fact that it’s made in the Instant Pot, this recipe couldn’t be easier to make. This balsamic chicken tastes great on salads, over rice or with a baked potato.

2 ½ lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs trimmed of excess fat
1 cup balsamic salad dressing

1. Add chicken into the Instant Pot and top with the salad dressing.

2. Cover the Instant Pot and secure the lid. Make sure the valve is set to sealing. Set the manual/pressure cook button to 15 minutes for fresh thighs or breasts or 18 minutes for frozen.

3. When time is up let the pot sit for 10 minutes and then move the valve to venting. Remove the lid.

4. Shred the chicken and serve it drizzled with sauce.

Servings: 6

Author Notes
Chicken: you can use frozen or fresh boneless skinless chicken thighs or breasts for this recipe. You can also use bone-in chicken pieces with the skin removed.

Salad dressing: substitution ideas are zesty Italian salad dressing or any other salad dressing that is thin and not cream based. For example, raspberry vinaigrette, catalina, greek vinaigrette, asian sesame dressing, etc.

Pot in pot rice: You can cook rice at the same time using the pot in pot method. To see this demonstrated watch the video. For white rice, converted rice, basmati rice use 1.5 cups of water to 1 cup of rice. For jasmine rice use 1 cup water to 1 cup rice. Brown rice would not work in this recipe since the cooking time is too short.

I used my 6 quart Instant Pot Duo 60 7 in 1*. You can make this in your 8 quart or 3 quart pot with no change

Source: Karen from 365 Days

Have a great day, stay well, stay safe.