Thinglyness

I can be choosy

2009-01-08T03:03:26Z

Yesterday, in my journey to be a therapist, I had two firsts.

First, one of my clients had an Intermodal Transfer. I know, you say, what the hell is THAT? It is when you switch from one art modality to another naturally. We were drawing, and she said, this makes me think of a song, and then she started singing.

Which brings us to the SECOND first-
She started CRYING. In GROUP.

And me, queen of the crying people, was like OH MY GOD what do I DO?

So I got her some tissues and a glass of water.

And then she started crying AGAIN.
And so I made like comforting sounds and asked her if she had everything she needed- because remember, we were in GROUP, not in an office with a closed door- we were in the ART ROOM, which is like, imagine you went into your basement and put out a stack of construction paper. That is as much ambiance as this place has.

And this lady can't hear.

Let's call her Deaf Donna, for our storytelling purposes.

She is an "older adult". With really bad psoriais on her face. And Tardive Dyskenesia. So she is crying and the tears are making tracks through the scales of skin on her face and her tongue is thrusting and makingthese weird movements as she sobs--
And I'm like-
ME: Are you okay?
Deaf Donna: WHAT? (Still crying)
ME: Are you okay?
Deaf Donna: WHAT?
ME: Do you have everything you need?
Deaf Donna: Oh, yes, I have lots of clothes and food and everything I need.
ME: (Note to self- that was a loaded question. Don't ask that again in this context)
Deaf Donna: Are you engaged?
ME: Ummm, no, but I do have a lovely gentleman friend. (Smiles)
Deaf Donna: Well, I hope so, because you are a lovely young lady. You can afford to be choosy. Bye bye now! (Walks out door)

That totally made my day.

In other news, I made this Grand Decision that were were going to use the coffee cans that this insane lady who is a STAFF bequeathed to me and my fellow intern and I was like WOAH we are going to do marble paintings AND made drums with them! Yeah!

Then I realized that they said "Trader Joes Dark French Roast" on them and were not easily paint-over-able.

So I just spent my evening- in stages, and in between working at the group home and getting kicked AGAIN and making kids take showers and stop being bad- covering said coffee cans in construction paper with gel medium- which I have to say is an AMAZING adhesive-so that tomorrow we can bring them to art group and have the peeps make their own personal drums with them using stamps and glitter glue and paint. AFTER we use them in movement group to do marble paintings, which is when you open said coffee can, put in a piece of paper, a teaspoon of paint, and a marble, put the cover back on the can, and shake it, roll it, move it around, and the marble makes noise and covers the paper inside with paint and makes fun art that has the element of SURPRISE. Ooo, ahhh. And since these are coffee cans, while this art-making is happening, you can totally make lots of banging noises with the coffee cans and the marble, which is what being an expressive arts therapist really is about- making banging noises and jumping around.

Coffee Cans, man. Who knew.

But APPARENTLY it works because it makes people cry in group. And that is how you know therapy is working, right? Didn't I learn that in school, if it makes you cry, its working?

Ha.

And that's just another snippet of the sexy life I lead.

Classic Pad Thai

2008-03-06T03:06:04Z

For a classicmisfit

Collect the following ingredients:
Fish Sauce
Vegetable Oil
Sesame oil
rice wine vinegar
sugar
thai green curry paste
soy sauce
NOTE- if sodium content is of concern for you, use Bragg's liquid Aminos, available at your friendly healthfood store, instead, or low-sodium soy sauce
Siriacha hot sauce
sugar
fresh ginger
garlic
assorted veggies- I reccomend red and yellow peppers, some broccoli, carrots, scallions, onions- whatever
flat rice noodles
some form of protein- chicken, tofu, or shrimp are the ones I have used
peanuts
Thai basil, or regular basil
limes- 2 or 3

Take about two teaspoons of sugar, and with a whisk, whisk it into about two tablespoons of rice wine vinegar.
Then, take a heaping spoonful of thai green curry paste and whisk that in.

At this point, the whole thing will be pretty viscous.
Add about a tablespoon of sesame oil and keep whisking
Then, add some soy sauce to make it nice and liquidy

Take your protein and if it is in large pieces, as chicken and tofu often are, chop it into bite sized pieces.
Marinate the protein in the mixture you just made, the longer, the better, especially if it is tofu and you don't want to have your tofu taste like White.

Next, chop all your veggies into thin sticks ("julienne" them, if you will) and set aside
Mince the ginger and garlic- you know how spicey you like things, I used like four cloves of garlic and an inch of ginger.
The EASIEST way to mince both garlic and ginger, actually, is to grate them on same side of the grater you would use for parmesean cheese. You don't even have to peel the fresh ginger, the skin peels back as you grate it- you do, however, still have to peel the garlic.
Set aside
Finely chop some peanuts
Set aside
Coat a wok or a big skillet with vegetable oil. Peanut oil, preferably, for the most authentic taste. Just don't use olive oil.
Heat the skillet on medium for a minute ot two
Then, remove your protein from the marinade- but reserve the marinade- and throw it into the skillet.
Cook it until it is done but not too done, and remove it
Set a pot of water to boil for the noodles. These noodles boil FAST
Take the leftover marinade and put in LITERALLY three or four drops of fish sauce. Squeeze in some lime. Whisk.
Throw the veggies, garlic, and ginger into the wok and turn the heat up to medium high.
Stir fry like you see on TV, stirring constantly. You want these suckers to be hot and crispy.

When they are still a little raw, throw the marinade over them and simultaneously put the pad thai noodles into the boiling water.
Put a colander in the sink for the noodles. The noodles should be done in 4-6 minutes, TOPS.
When the noodles are done, throw them in the colander in the sink and then turn the cold water on over them. This is a crucial step. It keeps the noodles from sticking together.

Check your veggies and evaluate your sauce situation. At this point, I usually throw in some extra soy sauce, a squeeze of Siriacha, and some more sesame oil.
Then, I throw in the noodles!
AND TOSS! VIGAROUSLY!
Last but not least, throw your protein back in, and heat everything all the way through and let the flavors "marry"

Then, when it is all hot and nice, serve it in a lovely bowl with some of the chopped peanuts, lime, and thai basil on top.

Please note that when I made this, I didn't have any basil. Such is the life of the busy cook.

This is not a science, and I leave things out if I don't have them around.

Final Thought: “I like to say, this is what you should watch out for. This is what you're likely to screw up. If you do screw it up it's no big deal. In fact, I expect you to screw this up the first, and the second, and even the third time.”
-Anthony Bourdain

Nursery Food

2008-02-26T03:02:02Z

There are certain meals that always make you feel like you are five years old.
On certain cold, dark Saturdays, or perhaps Sunday evenings, you need to have that feeling.

Meatloaf does that for me.
Especially when it is served with gravy, and mashed potatoes, and carrots.
And ESPECIALLY when it is frosted with ketchup. Mmmm.
Of course, this is a little bit grown-up. I did, after all, make it with heart-healthy ground turkey.
But no matter.
Then, there were the carrots.

Carrots are one of those vegetables that are so, so good for you, and yet, one doesn't always want to eat carrots.
Nowhere was this issue more apparent than when I was working in residential services, cooking regularly for a group of 7-10 year olds.
I have NEVER met a more veggie hating group.
This is because veggies need a little enhancement

More specifically, they need butter. A LOT of butter. And some brown sugar. And some nutmeg, for good measure.
To make for your inner child:
Channel Paula Deen and get yourself some butter, brown sugar, and nutmeg.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Put some baby carrots (or carrots you cut into little pieces) into a non-stick pie pan.
Melt the butter in the microwave for 30 seconds. It doesn't need to be liquid, just soft.
Sprinkle some brown sugar onto the carrots, and then dumb the hunk of half-melted butter on top.
Sprinkle a few shakes of nutmeg onto the butter.
Then, grab a GIANT HANDFUL of brown sugar, dump it on top of EVERYTHING, and mix it all together with your hands. Make sure everything is coated in butter and sugar, and then throw into the oven until it gets all brown and sticky, 30-40 min. Shake it every seven minutes or so, in order to coat all sides of the carrots with sticky goodness.

It's important to nurture the soul with nursery food.
And I know I love this meal because it gives me an excuse to eat gravy.

In the beginning

2008-02-18T17:08:27Z

We all need a trial run, a scrimmage, and one minute to think before we have two minutes two respond. Since questions count against your thinking time, just sit back and enjoy the process. It's a rebuilding year.

The thing I am most excited about, at this point, is being able to sort using tags.