Janell, a tech in our emergency department, asked for a black flower on a black bag. In my mind, it was not likely to turn out very interesting. I was so wrong. The bag looks great and goes well with the black clothing she almost always wears.
There is no story behind this recipe. I was just lying in bed, searching for recipes on my wife’s ipad when I came across it. I had the ingredients so I made them. You really don’t need to flatten them but with so many floaties in them, they don’t flatten out very much and come out pretty rounded.
Somewhere on the Internet
24
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup almonds, finely chopped
1 cup shredded coconut, unsweetened (I used sweetened)
1 cup mini chocolate chips
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Mix in the egg, vanilla, and almond extract. Beat until well blended.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Add to butter mixture. Beat until just incorporated.
Stir in almonds, coconut, and chocolate chips.
Scoop 2 tablespoon balls and place each about 1 inch apart on a parchment-lined or nonstick baking sheet. Flatten with fork, fingertips or bottom of a glass, coated with butter and dipped into sugar before each flattening.
Bake 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown.
Let sit for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack.
Not too sweet.
Consider using coconut flavoring in addition to or in place of the almond extract.
I look at myself as being culturally sensitive as a result of being exposed to many different cultures, especially while living in this wonderfully diverse community.
Here are three little cases that highlight interesting things I come across as a result of working in a place where people from all around the world come for care.
Deer Blood with Faith
A thirty-year-old Spanish-speaking man came in after having had a seizure. He had a life-long history of seizures. He admitted he quit taking his seizure medicines and instead was taking “sangre de venado” (deer blood.) He insisted it had to be taken “with faith” in order for it to work. Unfortunately, his seizure was evidence it had not worked for him. I prescribed seizure medication and encouraged him to take it.
This piqued my curiosity so I did a web search, which was very interesting. Here is a quote I especially liked from an advertisement selling Sangre de Venado:
“This magnificent formula has been created specially for the person who wants to attract that someone special their way and to get rid of any person who wishes harm to you.”
Cuts His Back for Islam
A twenty-six-year-old man came in bleeding from self-inflicted lacerations on his back. He denied any suicidal intent but said he cut himself as a part of a Muslim ritual. He said he had been doing this to himself since he was twelve. This time, he cut himself a bit too aggressively and had not been able to stop the bleeding.
Examination of his back showed that most of the skin was red and swollen with many small lacerations. In the middle of all that were two large, gaping, bleeding cuts. There were also many scars from previous similar injuries.
He allowed us to suture his wounds and we sent him home.
Here is a Wikipedia link that is interesting. It is very easy to find amazing pictures and videos of men and boys and cutting themselves in observance of this tradition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_Ashura
Is that a Russian Name?
My patient’s name, appearance, and accent caused me to assume she was a Slav. I introduced myself and made sure I had her name correct. Then, in an effort to be personable, I asked if her name was Russian. Whoo! What a mistake! She emphatically told me I should first ask and not just assume someone was Russian. She was Bosnian. The Serbs, cousins to and buddies with the Russians, are enemies of the Bosnians. My patient was really miffed I would assume she was Russian. Ouch! How could I have anticipated that? It was a good reminder that being culturally ignorant puts you at risk of offending others, despite your best intentions.
One of my wife’s coworkers brought her a big basket of ripe figs. When I saw them, I went right to work looking for a fig cookie recipe. Most are for filled cookies, like Fig Newtons. They usually call for dried figs. I had to look for a while to find one that called for fresh figs and looked like something I would like. These are moist and very tasty but not really very figgy.
4 dozen
1 cup butter, softened
¼ cup shortening
1 cup packed brown sugar
1½ cups white sugar
¾ tablespoon vanilla
3 eggs
3 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
11 tablespoons cocoa
½ cup fig nuggets*
12 ounces chocolate chips
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment.
Sift together flour, soda, salt and cocoa. Set aside.
Cream together butter, shortening and sugars.
Add vanilla and eggs. Mix until well blended.
Fold in figs and chocolate chips.
Scoop in 2 tablespoon balls on prepared baking sheets.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes until just set. Do not over-bake. Cookies will be soft and appear not to be done.
Frost with your favorite chocolate frosting or glaze. **
* I have no idea what “fig nuggets” are. Do you get them from McDonald’s? I just cut up ripe figs and folded them in.
** They really do not need any frosting or glaze but I am sure they would be great frosted.
I don’t have a photo of every bag I have made but I do have a photo of most of them. I first started taking pictures of them with the idea of referencing them for some future design idea. Then, it kind of turned into a documentation project. A while ago, I decided to try to do something with them and came up with the idea of a bag photo collage. We finished it last night and I wanted to share a picture of it with you. It is 24 by 36 inches and has 96 representative pictures. I am going to hang it in Hilary’s room, where I sew.
A young man was seen by a state trouper to be weaving on the road. When the trouper tried to pull him over, he took off. A high-speed chase ensued that resulted in the patient crashing his car. After being arrested, he was brought to our emergency department by ambulance for evaluation.
My examination showed that he was not seriously injured. I ordered some x-rays.
While the patient was in x-ray, the arresting trouper came into the nurses’ station, sat down and began bragging that the patient was wanted on a large warrant. He was quite proud of himself for bagging a wanted man.
As he sat by me, writing his report, the x-ray technician came in and calmly told us the patient had gotten up of the x-ray table and run out of the hospital in his underwear. Upon hearing this news, the trouper swore, hurriedly grabbed his stuff and ran off after his prisoner. If he was ever caught, they didn’t bring him back to see us again.
