Unexpected happenings

mise en place for chocolate cookies

Since my last blog entry three days ago, I have had an eventful week.  I know .... three days isn't a week.  But it kind of felt like a week.  Starting Sunday, I tested out a few recipe tweaks, played a lot of online chess, learned some new repertoire on the piano, and then dealt with an unexpected issue on Monday.  That morning, I laid out my ingredients (mise en place, to use the French phrase) for cookies, and planned out what items I wanted to take to a Thanksgiving dinner this week.  Among those things were the ingredients for hot chocolate ... not hot cocoa, but hot chocolate.  There is a difference, you know.  And Thanksgiving Day here is supposed to be chilly, perfect for hot chocolate.  I planned other things to take as well, but plans are always subject to change by design or chance.

As Monday morning progressed, I could tell something was wrong.  I had some pressure building on a tooth as well as the surrounding areas in cheek and jaw, specifically one of two lower wisdom teeth that had never been extracted in my younger years.  I already had an appointment for later in December to have it extracted but it was beginning to feel like maybe I would be forced to move it up.  By Monday night, I had decided to head out to my dentist's office first thing in the morning and be there when they opened.  I wasn't going to just call them in the morning.  I wanted to be there to grab some time before their scheduled day started, so I just showed up.  Fortunately for me, my dentist and his staff would not be at all dismissive if someone just walked in without calling.  Well, by 2:00 PM Tuesday afternoon that offending tooth was a problem no longer and my appointment for December had been cancelled.  So Tuesday afternoon and evening, rather than spending the time planning and preparing for Thanksgiving cooking over the next couple days, I was sitting quietly, moving as little as possible on instructions from my dentist as the healing process began after my extraction.  On the plus side, I got to eat a lot of ice cream both yesterday and this morning.  Yes, I got to start out my day with ice cream.  Anyone who knows me knows that ice cream is my favorite food of all time.  Of course, I'm not eating any ice cream that has lots of mix-ins out of respect for that tender area of my mouth and jaw.  Still, ice cream is ice cream, and that's always good.

So here it is Wednesday morning, and I'm still supposed to be relatively inactive today but I'm feeling pretty good.  Still no cooking today, and for me Thanksgiving dinner will be less an event than it would have been otherwise.  It's supposed to be OK for me to eat many soft Thanksgiving foods, but I'm going to eat on the side of caution tomorrow, and stay home rather than take advantage of my Thanksgiving dinner invites. 

I think I got through this entry with no typos.  I hope I did.  I re-read it just to make sure.  Then again, I might be bit loopy from pain medication and too much ice cream, so if anyone spots one, just let me know.  Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!