Steven Colbert does a segment on his “A Late Show” that he calls “Meanwhile.” It is a collection of little news items, too small to stand alone as a story on his show. Here is another little “Bad Tad Meanwhile.” A little fact about a patient where there is no more information available or it doesn’t matter. Just weird encounters in the emergency department.

A 74-year-old man claimed he came in to be seen “sooner rather than later” because he didn’t want to be a “bad looking corpse.”

A young man fell on an arrow, which stabbed him up under the chin. It passed through his tongue, the roof of his mouth and into his nasal cavity.

A young woman came in complaining of a “bad infection in my grinder.” I had never heard a woman refer to her vagina as a “grinder” before and have not been able to find such a definition anywhere, even in the likes of Urban Dictionary. Maybe I am just not street wise.

I asked the son of an elderly man if his father had any medical problems. He said, “He has something wrong with his arm.” I pulled up the patient’s sleeve to reveal a dialysis shunt. So, chronic renal failure on dialysis turned into “something wrong with his arm.”

More Bad Tad Meanwhile next time!

Here is a departure from my usual bags. I started making bags to find a use for trauma straps that were otherwise ending up in the trash. Years later, we were eating lunch in a little South Asian grocery store with a little restaurant in it. They had big rolls of nylon straps for sale. I was unable to learn what Indians might use them for but I bought a roll to see what I could come up with.

Here is a picture of the bag I made. I modeled it after a shopping bag we bought when we were on vacation in Mexico in 1992. It has been such a great bag for us for all those years that I decided to recreate it. I have now made two of them and they are great for larger volumes like going the beach. No trauma straps but a fun bag.

Recipe By: The Mom 100

Summary:

First made during Covid-19 shut down.

Ingredients:

½ cup unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1½ cups sugar, more for flattening
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chips
¾ cup roughly chopped dried cherries

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment.

2. Over double boiler, melt butter, unsweetened and semisweet chocolates, stirring frequently, just until melted and smooth. Allow to cool slightly.

3. In small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

4. In large bowl, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until creamy and yellow, about 1 minute.

5. With mixer on low speed, blend in flour mixture, in a few batches, until just combined.

6. Beat in chocolate mixture until smooth. The batter will be very thick.

7. Stir in white chocolate chips and dried cherries.

8. Scoop out two-tablespoon balls of dough onto prepared baking sheet.

9. Butter the bottom of a drinking glass. Dip it in sugar. Flatten a dough ball. Re-dip glass before flattening each of the other balls.

10. Bake about 13 minutes until tops are crackly and edges are set.

11. Remove from oven and let sit for one minute on baking sheet (the cookies will sink slightly), then transfer to a wire rack.