Tony’s Nurse . . . words from the one and only TONY!

I must admit one develops and close relationship with a lady whose fingers are buried 5 inches deep into ones stomach cavity. A certain amount of trust and closeness are required for such a harsh treatment. We meet three times per week. During the treatment I lay on the couch helpless as a baby lamb.

It is as it happens the only way that this wound will heal. While it seems counterintuitive to me; apparently opening and draining fluids from me through a black sponge stuffed into a surgical opening will hasten my recovery.

With all of the above said my nurse and I have plenty of time to discuss our lives and histories. She does however confuse me, and makes no excuses for doing so.

My first point:

The Philippines are a bunch of islands, kind of thrown into the South China Sea with Malaysia to its southeast. It is in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by water. My able and talented nurse cannot swim and hates the water.

Secondly:

Based on all of the programs where guys travel everywhere in the exotic Philippine climate to eat native cuisine, there is common element; fruit. It seems that plantains and pineapples grow from every roof. My classically trained nurse hates fruit.

Thirdly:

When is asked if her family was effected by the tsunami she laughed at me and said “I’m not from Japan!” seems fishy to me.

There is much more I have to learn about her. She hates yogurt (Biz gave her some Greek yogurt and she said she ate it, but hated every bite), on that point we agree. She became engaged in Venice while backpacking through Italy. She loves very spicy food (eww), and has two lovely children.

I have several months to get to know more about the Philippine enigma, I will update you as more abnormalities surface.

Tony (that is my only name!)

Thanks for the lovely guest post honey! 😀

I have a lot of food to make this week, so I will make this short and sweet.  I also have to deep clean my pantry today.  The other day I spilled A WHOLE container (like 3 cups!) of sesame seeds and it was raining sesame seeds all over. 🙁

I love canned potatoes.  They are cheap and delicious – Aldi sells this brand for .59 cents a can.

I cooked them in some Pam, salt and pepper, then scrambled an egg with them.  I had some leftover steak that I needed to cook up, so I topped my potato mixture with 2.5 ounces of steak.  No cheese was even needed!  Breakfast comes in at 7 points.

I went to the grocery store (spent $93) and then got my eyebrows threaded – I got a woman who literally did it in like 60 seconds so the pain was minimal. 😀

Tony asked if I brought home anything for lunch.  It’s funny, because that used to be our routine, I’d be out and about, text him to ask what he wanted and bring home a cheezy beef or gyros.  He hasn’t eaten real food for so long, that it never even crossed my mind!

So I made hot dogs.  His with relish, mustard and celery salt (and tomato if I had any) and I just had yellow mustard and spicy pickles.  Can you tell I was hungry, my one and only shot of my dog came out blurry.  But in case you are wondering, that’s not too much mustard. 😀

My Mom got me these pickles Austin when she was visiting my brother and his family.  Since I am her favorite child, its only natural that she thinks of buying me shit when with my sibling. 😀  And they are amazingly delicious – super thin, tangy and spicy all at the same time.  Lunch came in at 7 points.

As I was meal planning with Tony, I mentioned steak and baked potatoes and he said yes, but he wanted the steak to be thin.

I decided to make a chimichurri sauce for my steak – it really wakes up a steak and slaps it in the face.

Chimichurri Sauce (makes 1/2 cup – 1 tablespoon is a serving for 2 points)

• 1 cup packed cilantro
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 2 gloves garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

I put this in my mini food processor – my regular food processor was too big.  Just chop until all the leaves and garlic are chopped.

My dinner:  5 ounce of thin steak (5), tablespoon of sauce (2) and a 7 ounce baked potato with light margarine (5).  Dinner is 12 delicious points.

Hannah and I went to the gym yesterday too!  I ran 2.5 miles in 25 minutes!!  I am still trying to build up my speed and stamina in running.  If I were to keep that pace up, that means I can run 5 miles in 50 minutes – which would shave 8 minutes off my previous best time!

Thanks again Tony for your wonderful story!  Hugs!