Retarded

In Houston, MRSA accounts for 60% of all the S. aureus in town. For those not in medicine:

1. MRSA = methicillin resistant Staphlococcus aureus = very bad bacteria that can kill you if not treated properly.
2. MRSA will not be killed by the old school antibiotics like Augmentin, Keflex, etc.
3. Good pediatricians should know the above information.

But hey, if you're not from around here, or didn't train around here, the MD might not know. Fair enough. However, ONLY A RETARD gets mad when I alert you, as the primary pedi, about the above facts.

Hey buddy, if you wanna get sued (and/or kill the patient) 'cause you're too proud to listen to some FRIENDLY ADVICE that's not my problem. I'm still gonna admit your patient, treat with appropriate antibiotics and disregard anything stoopid coming out of your mouth. Don't yell at me. I'm just trying to help.

Yummy to my tummy

Recipe for tonight's meal:

Vinaigrette & Greens

- 1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup avocado oil
- generous tablespoon tarragon
- two generous tablespoons minced shallots
- one smallish tablespoon dijon mustard
- three large fistfuls of mache (a type of green)
- two large fistfuls of spring mix greens
- two generous tablespoons of minced chives
- one medium tomato, cut into chunks

Shrimp & its brine

- 3/4 lbs deveined, but not peeled, shrimp
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups ice

Crostini

- a dozen or so cripsy pita chips
- goat cheese

Make the vinaigrette by mixing the first five ingredients in an airtight container. Shake vigorously and set aside. Wash the shrimp, then place them in a plastic bag along with the sugar, salt, water and ice. Shake to mix, then set in fridge to brine for 20 minutes, shaking to remix about halfway through.

Meanwhile, wash, dry and mix the mache and the spring mix. Toss with the chives. Then spread the goat cheese on the pita chips. Spread the chips on a baking sheet, goat cheese side up.

Once the shrimp have brined for 15 minutes, preheat the broiler and broiler pan on high. When the shrimp have finished their brine, rinse and then thoroughly dry them with paper towels. Pull the broiler pan out and spread the shrimp over the pan. Return the pan to the broiler for 2 minutes. Flip the shrimp, then broil for another minute or minute and a half. Replace the shrimp with the pita chips. Watch carefully! After about 90 seconds, the goat cheese will have melted and the chips will be browned. Remove the pita chips from the oven and set aside.

Toss the salad with several tablespoons of the vinaigrette and the tomatoes. Separate into bowls. Peel the shrimp and arrange on top of the greens, then add the pita chips.

Enjoy!

Hold music

Note: this a post I started months ago. I was going through my posts creating labels, and decided to finish it.

There are few things worse in life than hold music. There are many varieties: easy listening, informative, piped-in radio music, classical. But do you know what's worse than hold music? No hold music at all. Then you have to keep checking the phone's display to make sure that they dumbshits on the other end haven't hung up on yo ass.