Miscellany

[magid]

Still sick. The sore throat is worse than I'm used to for a cold, and having my neck sore as well makes it worse (I assume it's the lymph nodes swelling). Oddly, my nose is just fine, and it finally occurred to me that this might not be a cold after all, but strep. I just checked symptoms online, and I've got enough that I'm going to call the doctor's office once it's open.

ETA: The nurse doesn't think it's strep, though she took a throat culture just to be sure. Of course, she thought my symptoms not too bad, and I know that they're worse than I'm used to.

Side note: I'd never known before that scarlet fever = strep + red rash. Which is somehow much more prosaic than I'd expected, given all the talk in novels of a different era (even though I know it's a pre-antibiotic era, so really, it could be life threatening). Sort of like finding out that the horrible influenza epidemics were "just" flu.

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I went to Brookline yesterday to get some hot and sour soup (which was excellent, but I should've gotten more). So of course I had to make a couple of other food stops on Harvard street while I was there.

At the Butcherie, I noticed they had some prepared foods that listed "Japanese breadcrumbs". I didn't know they had panko! All that was out on the shelf just now has lots of herbs, but one of the men there kindly got me some plain panko from the back. No, I don't know what I'm going to do with it, but it was exciting to find it there; now to find recipes. (I think this is the first time I've ever bought bread crumbs.)

I asked about chipotles as well, but they're out of plain chipotles, the ingredient. I could get chipotle mustard or chipotle hot dogs, however.

I went to Ruth's kitchen to get dumplings. (Mmmm.... dumplings.) I was foiled; they were out. So I dithered, trying to decide what to get instead (or whether to get anything at all), and read the menu. Fish tempura's on the menu; I've never heard of fish tempura (two pound minimum, so I'm unlikely to try it alone). And they have a reasonably complete Chinese food menu, in addition to whatever they have out in the cases. And they'll deliver! Not that I'd be willing to pay the $17 charge (to Cambridge; it's based on some cab service's fares) most of the time, but it's good to know I could.

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Some upcoming events:

Starting this Thursday, and continuing until just before Thanksgiving, there's a series of lectures about science at the Harvard Medical School, in Longwood. Free, but advance registration is required.

As always, the Boston Public Library has lots of stuff going on, including lectures (series and single), readings, and movies. Next month Monday night movies feature movies including librarians. And this month as part of "Stoppard in the City," there's a screening of Empire of the Sun at the BPL Thursday September 29, a screening of Brazil this Thursday September 22 at the Brattle, going along with the Huntington production of The Real Thing.

This is the MIT ballroom dance club schedule for the fall.

Saturday, October 22, is the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival. Free.

Comments

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

Ugh, feel better!

The longwood talks always look so interesting. maybe I'll get my act together and go sometime

[magid.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I came into work now that the nurse has said she doesn't think it's strep (ie contagious, or at least, very contagious), since I have the properly mindless level of task to be done, and it's a lot more distracting to be at work than home. (These are the times I miss having a TV for mindless distraction.)

I haven't made it to any of their talks, either. Maybe we could go together some Thursday?

[jaq.livejournal.com]

You reminded me I haven't had hot and sour soup for ages :-(

[magid.livejournal.com]

That's something that definitely needs to change! (I wish I'd gotten a second bowl...)

I've made sort-of hot and sour soup at home using chicken soup that I add hot (ginger/ hot sauce/ Szechuan spicy sauce/ etc) and sour (vinegar of some sort) to.

[bitty.livejournal.com]

If you go into brookline for more soupy goodness today, let me know and I''ll meet you. You made me hungry :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Unlikely today, alas.

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

I found your journal in an extremely random fashion, something to do with food and recipes and following links...

However, I felt inclined to comment on your scarlet fever=strep remark. Strep can be non-prosaic! I mean, would you call Ebola prosaic?
Some strains of strep are particularly virulent and can kill you within hours by causing total system failure, or better yet, can basically digest your flesh, making it all runny and dead, requiring extensive and immediate amputations if it happened to invade when you got, say, a papercut.

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

Oh, and does the Butcherie carry any Tivol products? (soy/veggie burgers and stuff from Israel)

Or, do you know anywhere in Boston that does? I'm looking for small (cocktail size) veggie hotdogs. I know Tivol makes them.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I know that strep is dangerous; that was brought home to me when Jim Henson died. I didn't know that there were the virulent ones you describe.

It's not that strep is prosaic, exactly. It's just that it's a regularly run-into disease, while scarlet fever makes me picture ethereal Victorine heroines wasting away. Not a reflection on the diseases themselves, just my emotional reaction to terminology, given my reading history.

[magid.livejournal.com]

I haven't noticed Tivol products at the Butcherie, but since I haven't looked for them either, it might be worth calling to ask; they do have a lot of Israeli products. They might also have a non-Tivol version of mini-veggie-hot dogs.

The other place I'd think might carry them is Beacon Kosher, though based on the last time I was there (years and years ago), they'd be less likely to. (617) 734-5300

[magid.livejournal.com]

Oops. I replied to this below.

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

Tuberculosis makes me think of ethereal Victorian heroines wasting away. And these days, more often than not, it's people in Africa with HIV, and it's super tuberculosis that doesn't respond to antibiotics...

[fetteredwolf.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm planning on making Moshe B'Teiva, which here are apparently called "pigs in a basket". How picturesque.

[magid.livejournal.com]

If you can't find the small ones, you can use regular-sized ones cut up. Not quite as pretty, but still "franks in blank[et]s" or "pigs in a blanket" (er, assuming that's the same thing).

[magid.livejournal.com]

OK, I admit, there are a number of diseases that make me think of ethereal Victorian heroines wasting away (never heroes, of course).

Yeah, these days a lot of TB is resistant to antibiotics. It's scary, knowing that there's no line of defense. I think about all the diseases that seem so much less of a problem than they used to be, and wonder how long it'll be until we're back there again.