Summer fun?

Short Chef is back again, with some thought-points, even though my brain is a bit fuzzy right now.

One: it looks like I goofed on the spice section at the grocery store. One of the other chefs who works with me has let me know that what I find there is probably not all the real deal, and an Alton Brown special on spices has revealed that the cinnamon is probably cassia, which is a cinnamon-like tree bark that is usually sold as cinnamon in the states. Gir. I can at least take comfort in knowing that it's serving me well, though, and that I can get some neat flavors from what I have.

Two: My summer "training" has come to a screeching halt. Jaw surgery has gotten in the way. It was a pretty invasive process to fix my underbite, involving breaking my lower jaw and pushing it back to get the bottom teeth where they should be. It's a good thing they decided to only operate on the one jaw... having both halves of my mouth out of commission would be a disaster! I'm essentially on a liquid diet until I feel able to take on soft foods, which should be (according to me, but I'm no doctor) in a week or so. I heal quickly, the entire family does, so my goal is to get my recovery time down so that I can get back to work ASAP. I guess I'll be researching national soups... mmm, gazpacho.

I look a bit like a chipmunk/pufferfish right now, and how we've decided to keep the ice packs on my face is pretty comical. Giant socks, one ice pack in each, tied on the top of my head and under my jaw. It works, though, so I'm happy with it. I've been pretty lucky, no serious pain except for when I first got out and the anesthetics were initially wearing off... I'm on a pretty regular schedule of ibuprofin and antibiotics, but I think I'm going to cut back on the ibuprofin since I don't need it. As usual, I only had to take the hydrocodiene once.

This idea of soups has gotten me thinking, as right now, with 48 hours being past already from being discharged from surgery, I'm bored of sitting around, a little bored of protein shakes, and looking for some better sources of nutrients (blended PBJ be damned). I think I'll try and take my theme back up again, looking for chilled soups, as I don't think I'm technically supposed to have hot hot stuff yet.

Wish me luck,
Puffer-fishy chef signing out!