Coping In the Kitchen (and Cooking) After This (or That)

[weinoo]

Yesterday, a minor medical procedure was performed.  I had noticed a finger starting to hurt 5 or 6 days ago. Then swelling, redness and heat, along with throbbing pain (fingers have a lot of nerve!), meant a call and plea to get in to see a favorite doc STAT - my hand guy (who is awesome).

 

Now, you know when a doc says "this is going to hurt a lot" (ahem @Kerry Beal), it's really going to hurt.  (Actually, I call the hand doc my favorite torturer.) I looked at the needle (this was no regular needle)...then a brave face, a look away, et voilà...

 

 

Antibiotics, wound care 4x a day, etc. etc. Felt so much better within 3 or 4 hours. And a revisit tomorrow to hopefully hear him say: "looks good." 

 

All fine and dandy, except...that's my dominant hand. The one which holds a knife and does a lot of other stuff in the kitchen. I mean, it's not all bad when seeing this doc, as he's right around the block from the classic...

 

 

Known for, among other things, pie...

 

 

Blueberry crumble and apple pies help with the pain.  And that shop is right across the street from Tal Bagels.

 

 

For the one-handed drive home, an everything with a schmear made the drive easier. A good (though large) bagel, needing no toasting when nice and fresh, as this one was.

 

So...not wanting to deal with lunch, a quick walk over to Scarr's...

 

 

Really made Significant Eater happy (and me too). Shit, there was even a Diet Coke!

 

Now, back to the kitchen, coping and dealing.  An early delivery yesterday included a pound of wild shrimp, and when shrimp show up, the faster they are cooked, the better right? Kinda easy (though cleaning them was a pain in the ass), and then a quick salad topped with a few of those poached shrimp made an easy enough, nine-fingered dinner...

 

 

The céleri rémoulade had already been made, and the pickled turnip was a purchased product. A nice baguette rounded it all out.

 

So - how do you cope?

Edited April 15, 2021 by weinoo (log)

[gfweb]

Decent take out is a bit harder to come by around here.  Pizza is fine, and sushi.

Come to think of it that's enough for a few days.

Hope you heal quick.

[Maison Rustique]

As someone with chronic hand issues, I am super sympathetic. Hope it is better soon!!

[Darienne]

I'd give a lot for a good bagel (as you well know), but certainly not what you are going through.  Quick mending please.

 

Also...to have a doctor who simply tells it as it is...that is, this is going to hurt.  This doctor is a treasure.  Hang onto him.  We are all familiar with the other kind.  

 

Be well and be careful.  And enjoy your wonderful New York bagels. 

[weinoo]

30 minutes ago, Maison Rustique said:

As someone with chronic hand issues, I am super sympathetic. Hope it is better soon!!

 

Yeah - if you need a good doc...

 

24 minutes ago, Darienne said:

Also...to have a doctor who simply tells it as it is...that is, this is going to hurt.  This doctor is a treasure.  Hang onto him.  We are all familiar with the other kind.  

 

25 (or so) years and counting. Don't even remember when I first saw him what it was for.  But a few trigger fingers and various other issues later...

[Margaret Pilgrim]

A Village Peoples' song describes your after-treatment shopping trek.     But you pulled off a superb dinner "on spite of".

 

I remember less successful after hand-surgery kitchen activity when I decided to make bread the day I was released from hospital.    Kneading without proper gloves.     Yucky, yucky, yucky....     Not intelligent coping.

[Katie Meadow]

@weinoothat doesn't sound fun at all. What exactly was the cause of the problem? Okay, so here's how I cope: I make my husband do everything. In the case of an injury to my dominant hand, that would mean a lot of takeout.

[weinoo]

28 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

@weinoothat doesn't sound fun at all. What exactly was the cause of the problem? Okay, so here's how I cope: I make my husband do everything. In the case of an injury to my dominant hand, that would mean a lot of takeout.

 

I think it came from a splinter I gave myself months ago, which I thought I had removed and cleaned up pretty well. Evidently, not all that well; x-ray showed no remnants.

[Anna N]

Coping in the kitchen? Brings to mind that old:

Q What are you making for dinner?

A Reservations!

[Kim Shook]

Looks like you're a lefty like me.  Luckily, we tend to be more ambidextrous than right-handers.  That helps in the kitchen, I find.  I just get help with "wet jobs" if my hand issues involve a bandage.  But if it's pain/soreness that is the problem, I try to plan around it.  I have arthritis in my wrists and fingers, so I have "coping" gadgets (the ones i used to make fun of  😉) - jar opener, mini-chopper, etc. and I'm getting ready to start researching electric can openers.  

[Katie Meadow]

2 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Looks like you're a lefty like me.  Luckily, we tend to be more ambidextrous than right-handers.  That helps in the kitchen, I find.  I just get help with "wet jobs" if my hand issues involve a bandage.  But if it's pain/soreness that is the problem, I try to plan around it.  I have arthritis in my wrists and fingers, so I have "coping" gadgets (the ones i used to make fun of  😉) - jar opener, mini-chopper, etc. and I'm getting ready to start researching electric can openers.  

I'm a southpaw. and although I do have a few right handed skills, working with a sharp knife isn't one of them. The worst offender in anyone else's kitchen is a right handed soup ladle. All ladles should be made double-spouted. So obvious.

[KennethT]

I'm with @Katie Meadow - if I had an injury like that, I'd just get food delivered for the next few days... especially being in NYC it's just so easy, convenient and most times really tasty (if not quite a bit more expensive than cooking - but to me, that's part of the price of getting injured).

[weinoo]

Interestingly, I'm sorta ambidextrous too.  When I write, it's with my right hand. Knife in the left, but the fork and knife at the table are opposite. Chopsticks in left. Paring knife, if I'm holding the object to be pared in my hand, is in the right hand, with the apple let's say, in the left. I throw lefty, but when I badly played ball, batted right-handed. Weird.

 

And @KennethT - so far, pretty much that's what I've done - can't do breakfast like that though. By the way, I tried Public Village for the first time, and it's pretty good. Same owners as Kopitiam.

[Margaret Pilgrim]

19 minutes ago, weinoo said:

 . Chopsticks in left.

Do you suppose if I used Chopsticks in my left it might improve my technique?    

[Katie Meadow]

20 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Interestingly, I'm sorta ambidextrous too.  When I write, it's with my right hand. Knife in the left, but the fork and knife at the table are opposite. Chopsticks in left. Paring knife, if I'm holding the object to be pared in my hand, is in the right hand, with the apple let's say, in the left. I throw lefty, but when I badly played ball, batted right-handed. Weird.

 

And @KennethT - so far, pretty much that's what I've done - can't do breakfast like that though. By the way, I tried Public Village for the first time, and it's pretty good. Same owners as Kopitiam.

I say you're good as long as SE can cut a bagel in half.

[weinoo]

23 minutes ago, Katie Meadow said:

I say you're good as long as SE can cut a bagel in half.

 

Are you joking?  That might be a disaster in the making, and is probably one of the more dangerous kitchen tasks for someone whose expertise lies in dealing with animate objects!

[weinoo]

Here's an interesting (only to me) little known fact. I recently bought a left-handed bread knife.

 

 

 

 

From Amazon (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).

 

It's a great knife, especially at that price.  Anyway, when slicing bread, it appears I'm left-handed. 

But when slicing a bagel, I hold the bagel in my left hand and slice with my right.

[KennethT]

40 minutes ago, weinoo said:

Here's an interesting (only to me) little known fact. I recently bought a left-handed bread knife.

 

 

 

 

From Amazon (eG-friendly Amazon.com link).

 

It's a great knife, especially at that price.  Anyway, when slicing bread, it appears I'm left-handed. 

But when slicing a bagel, I hold the bagel in my left hand and slice with my right.

Slicing a bagel in the hand more than once a year is just an invitation to the emergency room....

 

3 hours ago, weinoo said:

And @KennethT - so far, pretty much that's what I've done - can't do breakfast like that though. By the way, I tried Public Village for the first time, and it's pretty good. Same owners as Kopitiam.

I haven't tried it yet - it looks pretty good. Interesting that the Kopitiam (Malaysian) people are stretching out to Sichuan food.  I know the chef at Kopitiam is Malaysian but I don't know where the owner is from.  I hope the Sichuan place isn't as mediocre as their Malaysian place is... don't get me wrong - I'd only been to Kopitiam a couple times, but both times I was severely underwhelmed.  Their curry puffs were really good though. Their kueh (which were often lauded) were disgusting1

 

1 It wasn't really disgusting per se, but compared to what I got all over Singapore it was very disappointing.

[Anna N]

59 minutes ago, weinoo said:

But when slicing a bagel, I hold the bagel in my left hand and slice with my right.

Just saying...

[blue_dolphin]

8 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Just saying...

 Yeah.  I used to bring bagels in to work meetings.  Had to get one of those bagel guillotines (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) and banish all knives from the conf room to avoid lost-time incidents amongst my staff!

[heidih]

Poor sweetie. Forefinger is tuf Ambi to an extent as well but hard to tuck in. I just stick the ouchie out and lamely cut. You have great take out ops. Did ya see Hannah’s write up on Peter Luger take out?

[weinoo]

9 hours ago, KennethT said:

Slicing a bagel in the hand more than once a year is just an invitation to the emergency room....

 

I haven't tried it yet - it looks pretty good. Interesting that the Kopitiam (Malaysian) people are stretching out to Sichuan food.  I know the chef at Kopitiam is Malaysian but I don't know where the owner is from.  I hope the Sichuan place isn't as mediocre as their Malaysian place is... don't get me wrong - I'd only been to Kopitiam a couple times, but both times I was severely underwhelmed.  Their curry puffs were really good though. Their kueh (which were often lauded) were disgusting1

 

It wasn't really disgusting per se, but compared to what I got all over Singapore it was very disappointing.

 

Here's something weird - I feel the exact same way about Kopitiam. Meanwhile, everyone was raving about it. I never got it, even though because I disliked it, I only got food there twice. Had you ever tried the late Overseas Asian on Canal. Ostensibly Malay, and quite good. There was also the Mouse Tail noodle place.

 

Now, re: Public Village...

 

Quote

A large proportion of its regular menu is Sichuan, via chef and co-owner Kiyomi Wang, who was born in the province.

It won’t surprise you to hear that another co-owner, Karen Song, hails from Shenyang, the largest city in Dongbei’s Liaoning province.

 

Now...let's talk about bagels...

 

9 hours ago, Anna N said:

Just saying...

 

And the slicing thereof.  That article, while lovely, is for idiots. Mind you, @Anna N, I'm not saying YOU are.  But seriously - who tries to slice a frozen bagel?

 

Also, who makes a bagel that looks like this?????? (From that article).

 

 

Quote

 

At least half of these injuries are caused by people trying to cut bagels that are frozen

 

 

To continue...

 

Quote

The rest of the injuries are generally caused by trying to cut a stale or cold bagel with a non serrated knife, again resulting in the knife slipping and slicing where it isn’t meant to cut.

 

Really??  No shit.  I've been slicing bagels the same way for over half a century, with nary an injury. Holding it in my left hand, and being careful. Once in a while, if I think I have a recalcitrant bagel, I'll start it by holding it on the cutting board horizontally, with my flat hand on top (as one might slight a genoise), and then turning it on its side to finish. There's generally a small flat spot to keep it from rolling, when doing it this way.

 

So, no bagel guillotine for me, no fancy devices, just careful slicing with the proper knife! AND NO RAINBOW BAGELS. EVER.

 

On to Hannah - well, I'll be nice and say the less said about Hannah's reviews, the better.

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

 

Here's something weird - I feel the exact same way about Kopitiam. Meanwhile, everyone was raving about it. I never got it, even though because I disliked it, I only got food there twice. Had you ever tried the late Overseas Asian on Canal. Ostensibly Malay, and quite good. There was also the Mouse Tail noodle place.

 

Now, re: Public Village...

 

 

Now...let's talk about bagels...

 

 

And the slicing thereof.  That article, while lovely, is for idiots. Mind you, @Anna N, I'm not saying YOU are.  But seriously - who tries to slice a frozen bagel?

 

Also, who makes a bagel that looks like this?????? (From that article).

 

 

 

To continue...

 

 

Really??  No shit.  I've been slicing bagels the same way for over half a century, with nary an injury. Holding it in my left hand, and being careful. Once in a while, if I think I have a recalcitrant bagel, I'll start it by holding it on the cutting board horizontally, with my flat hand on top (as one might slight a genoise), and then turning it on its side to finish. There's generally a small flat spot to keep it from rolling, when doing it this way.

 

So, no bagel guillotine for me, no fancy devices, just careful slicing with the proper knife! AND NO RAINBOW BAGELS. EVER.

 

On to Hannah - well, I'll be nice and say the less said about Hannah's reviews, the better.

We first tried Kopitiam because of all the hype.  I was sooo looking forward to it, which is probably why I was so disappointed.  As people kept raving about it, I couldn't understand it, thought I might have been tehre on a bad day, etc... so we went back... nothing had changed - same as the first time.  I've never heard of Overseas Asian...  There's a Singaporean/Malaysian place on Grand St. (I think) - Nyonya - that's pretty good.  If I didn't make some of my favorite dishes taht I get there at home (mine are better, just sayin') I'd be there all the time.  Laut in continually disappointing and expensive - I haven't bothered trying Laut Singapura since it's even more expensive than the original and I'm sure is just as mediocre.

 

Personally, my bagel slicing technique is to lay flat and slice like a genoise.  No risk of injury with my wicked sharp Dehillerin bread knife that barely gets used so it's just as sharp as when I bought it.  Hope your finger heals fast!

[weinoo]

The finger looks good; each time I've changed the dressing (per doc's order) it looks better. I go today at 1 for the first follow-up.  I'm bummed because the antibiotics are bugging my stomach more than usual, so I'll be whining to him about that. Yes, I eat yogurt and those other fermented products, but I'm wondering if I should invest in some probiotics (I've always felt those, along with vitamins, are your basic 21st century snake oil stuff). 

 

At one time maybe 15 years ago, there were 3 or 4 Malaysian restaurants down here, all within a 5-minute walk of one another. They were all inexpensive and decent. I don't know why they didn't survive; it was nice to have those options.

 

We'll have to do some more exploring once we're all protected.

[gfweb]

44 minutes ago, weinoo said:

The finger looks good; each time I've changed the dressing (per doc's order) it looks better. I go today at 1 for the first follow-up.  I'm bummed because the antibiotics are bugging my stomach more than usual, so I'll be whining to him about that. Yes, I eat yogurt and those other fermented products, but I'm wondering if I should invest in some probiotics (I've always felt those, along with vitamins, are your basic 21st century snake oil stuff). 

 

At one time maybe 15 years ago, there were 3 or 4 Malaysian restaurants down here, all within a 5-minute walk of one another. They were all inexpensive and decent. I don't know why they didn't survive; it was nice to have those options.

 

We'll have to do some more exploring once we're all protected.

When studied probiotics have been shown to do little for antibiotic gi issues.  taking the drug with food, even if the label says not to , is the best move. At most food gives a 10% reduction in absorption.