1. I was most appreciative of the woman who helped me at Heritage Health in uptown Kellogg today. I strolled in to have my every three months bloodwork done for Dr. Bieber. I'd called Dr. Bieber's office on Monday, trying to make sure the order either was in or that they would fax it over to Kellogg. Neither of those things happened, BUT here's what did: the woman at the counter, after looking in two different places for the order, hopped right on the horn, called Bieber's office, reached a live person (which I didn't do -- I left two messages), and secured the order.
Yes, I had to wait a little while for the fax to fly in, but no problem.
The fax came.
The superb phlebotomist from Labcorp led me out of the waiting room to her lab and, before long, I got to go home, having left blood in vials and urine in a cup.
2. Today was blood draw Tuesday. I also needed to have the monthly sample I have drawn for the kidney transplant program sent to Spokane to the Vitalant lab. Now, for whatever reason, Labcorp and Vitalant do not have a working agreement, so I blasted over to the Shoshone Medical Center, kit in hand. I fervently hoped that the standing order for this blood draw was on file -- and it was!
Whew!
Once checked in, a superb phlebotomist escorted me out of the waiting room to her lab and she drew the blood, filled out the label, packed the vial and my paperwork into the kit box, and mailed it to Spokane.
3. Oddly, these blood draws left me feeling spent and I joined Copper and Luna on my bed and I took a refreshing cat nap.
Once I woke up, I went to work slicing an onion, mincing a clove of garlic, dicing a zucchini, halving a lemon, chopping a jalapeño pepper, and removing stems from cilantro in preparation to make HelloFresh's very tasty Apricot and Almond Chickpea Tagine with Zucchini, Basmati Rice, and Chermoula.
This meal required some juggling.
I managed.
First, I put about a quarter of the onion I'd cut up into a pot with olive oil, cooked it for a couple minutes, and then added vegetable stock concentrate, rice, and water, brought to it a boil, put a lid on, and let it simmer until the rice was cooked.
In two separate bowls I made, first, the chermoula by combining cilantro, jalapeños, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. I set it aside and then, in another bowl, combined sour cream, lemon juice, and some water to make lemon crema.
In a large pan, I heated some olive oil and then cooked the zucchini and onion. When they were softened, I added garlic, salt, and a packet of Tunisian spice.
Once the zucchini and onion were heated up and fragrant, I added water and vegetable stock concentrate, stirred it, and then added chickpeas and simmered it all for a couple of minutes or so.
I plopped a chunk of butter into this tagine along with more salt and pepper and let the butter melt.
I then added a chunk of butter to the basmati rice, let it melt, stirred and fluffed the rice, and divided the rice between two bowls.
I topped the rice with the tagine and then added the chermoula, lemon crema, apricot pieces, and sliced almonds. Last of all, I boosted the dish's flavor with some hot sauce.
This meal really worked!
Its multiple flavors and textures combined to give Debbie and me great pleasure as we relished this splendid dish.
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