One Step Closer To Tamales - Happy Father's Day

If you are disinclined to read a rant, just scroll down to the first photo. and skip the icky stuff.  I totally understand, I really do.

Never again will I go to a Centra Care Clinic,  and especially not the Hunters Creek location, across from The Loop.  If I can't wait to go to my own doctor, then I go to the emergency room.  This time, despite the pain, I could have held out till Monday rather than have this rather unpleasant experience.

I made a "No Wait" online appointment for 10:40 AM.  I pre-registered online.  The person on the front desk took care of me in a timely manner.  She advised me there was only one person ahead of me.  I did not get called until 11:20, which put the whole "no wait" claim to lie.

The nurse who brought me to the back was pleasant, but lackadaisical.  She asked several questions which made it clear she had not bothered to even glance at the papers I had filled out.  When I mentioned the UTI, she looked mildly annoyed, and asked me to wait.  So I waited and waited and waited some more.  Finally she returned and asked if I could produce a urine sample, and gave me instructions, and then she went to sit.

Now it gets really bad: the restroom had no paper towels, NO HAND SOAP, and no garbage pail.  I do not care that there was a garbage pail and wall-mounted hand sanitizer just outside the restroom.  Not the same thing.  I was disgusted, annoyed, and more than a little freaked out.

I went back to the examination room and tried to catch the nurse's eye.  She was totally engrossed in her iPhone, and it took a while.  So I went back to the exam room and waited and waited and waited. Finally the doctor came in. The doctor was very pleasant.  I never did catch his name, which becomes problematic down the road.  I told him what the two problems were.  He took care of one and got ready to leave the room.  Totally forgot or ignored the other.

There was more that grossed me out and left me speechless, but I'll skip the details.  One last thing, though - so I brought the two prescriptions to my CVS and my pharmacist, a very dear and helpful man.  And he realizes the prescription does not have the name of the doctor, his address, the phone number, or his DEA number.  The prescription pads from Centra Care, which belongs to the Florida Hospital system, are not legally sufficent.  And when my pharmacist called them, after having to search for their number, the person on the phone did not seem to understand the problem, and was reluctant to give the pharmacist the information.

I did not expect this - I had used this office when I had the Worker's Comp claim last year, and there were no problems, and certainly nothing to gross me out.  But DAMN, something changed, and not for the better.

Okay, enough stomach-turning talk.  Let's move over to the good stuff - TAMALES.

The first time I made tamales, I made a relatively small batch using one of Bobby Flay's recipes and it was awesome, although not authentic.  And it was a lot of work.  (I've had this tamale at both Mesa Grill restaurants, and authenticity be damned.  It is simply one of the best things I've ever tasted).

The next time I decided to try a traditional recipe, and set out to prepare Family Chicken Tamales, a recipe from my Tamales 101 book.  It was an experience which I related in this blog's August 28, 2011 post.  It was a RIDICULOUS amount of work.  It was after that experience that  I learned that in Latino families preparing tamales at home was a group effort, and all the female relatives would get together and produce copious amounts of tamales on an assembly line that would make Henry Ford proud.  And even with all the help, they were only made for a major holiday like Christmas.

I've never been totally comfortable with group cooking, although I've had some good times cooking with my son. as well as with my niece, Mara.  The problem is that Cory is usually at work, or out playing airsoft, and Mara - well, Mara lives in New Jersey.  So if I want tamales - and I do - I'm going to have to reduce the amounts being prepared, and break up the project across several days.

Since I spent a good part of the day being grossed out at Centra Care, all I managed to get done was seeding the dried chilies.  At this rate, these tamales are going to take me two weeks.

Time well spent.

By the time you read this, it will be Father's Day.  Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there, and most especially to my husband Robert, my father-in-law Murray, and my Pop, Hy Morris.  This Wednesday, June 24, will be 32 years since I lost my Pop to cancer.  Father's Day has never been the same since.