Tag: food

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One Down; One to Go!

purple flowr

Well, cancer treatments are done, and cryo-ablation is scheduled for next week. Do it is one down; one to go here in Pennsylvania. Last week I got my first Zometa infusion. I do not feel I had any side effects at all. I did have some bruising at the IV site due to my blood thinners. My next infusion is in March. I have a follow up with the Radiation Oncologist tomorrow, then no cancer doctors until December!! It feels like that is all I have seen in the past 6 months since this all began in March.

Next up–Cardiac Cryo-Ablation

I have confirmed with my electrophysiology office that my procedure has been approved for 9/21. I wanted to make sure instead of hearing about a problem at the last minute like last time! After a slew of appointments last week and this week, I will have a relatively quiet time until next Thursday. On that day, I will get to spend most of the day in the hospital. Apparently, I will have to lay flat on my back for 4-5 hours after the procedure.. If you know someone who has had a cardiac catheterization, this is basically the same principle. I just have to lay longer due to the blood thinners. I am more dreading THAT than the actual procedure. My back hurts like HELL when I have to lay flat for any length of time.

Well, it seems that my medical saga is winding down–at least THIS chapter of it! I am thankful and grateful for all of the people who have helped care for me! My family (of course), friends and neighbors, coworkers, even people I barely know–everyone has been so supportive and kind. Most of all, everyone on all of the medical teams that I have come into contact with have been amazing! I’ve dealt with four hospitals, five specialists, plus a SLEW of ancillary staff. There have also been outpatient facilities where I got my ultrasounds and physical therapy. All of these places and people have made this journey a bit smoother.

Beaver Wine Festival

We did take a brief sojourn from medical things this past weekend. We attended the Beaver Wine Festival in Beaver, PA. My daughter’s boyfriend bought us tickets a while ago, and I am glad I went. We got to sample MANY different wines, mostly from places that are small and local. I bought a bottle of white wine, a fifth of homemade vodka, and a wine slushy bag. This is a whole bottle of wine in a bag that you put in the freezer.

Ray bought several bottles of wine and a delicious creamy limoncello that is a perfect after dinner drink. We were very responsible and got an Uber both ways! We had dinner at a newer restaurant right on the river called The Standard. The view was absolutely stunning. The food was passable and the drinks were strong. I got a bulk slushy cocktail, but Kendyl and Ray both got mixed drinks and commented on this. The environment was VERY loud, though, and it was hard to hear each other. It was nice to get out and do something other than go to the store or for a medical appointment.

close up photography of wine glasses
White wine is my FAVORITE!

Up Next!

So, now that the medical saga is settling down, I plan to start posting about past trips! There are many to choose from. I never finished my review of our pre-pandemic trip to Salem. I also went to Dallas for a conference, and NYC to see Seth, both just before everything closed down. In fact, I was in NYC until March 2, 2020, and everything shut down a week later! Since travel ramped back up I have had a few trips. I have been to Florida to see cousins twice, NYC to see Seth and attend Hamilton.

Travel has also included Colorado for a conference, and a river cruise in Portugal! In addition, I had a few road trips. One to the hills of WV to relax. We also went to Cherry Springs, PA to try and stargaze. Sadly, there was never a clear night. Most recently to Cleveland, Ohio with a side trip to see a cousin and my half-sisters who live nearby. So I have a plethora of trips to choose from! I might start with NYC since I have some amazing pictures from both trips. Or write about the amazing time we had in Portugal!

What would you all like to read about?? I’m happy to write about any of the places I’ve been! Maybe I will even pull out my old blog posts and write about some of the places in more detail. I would focus more on the places rather than just what I did with whom! I realize my writing needs a bit more color!

Requests more than welcome!

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Hello, London!

On Monday, May 14, 2018, we took the Eurostar Train from Paris and said, “Hello, London.” It was such a neat experience. It has been a very long time since I took a real-life train! My only disappointment was not actually getting to SEE the English Channel. The train goes through the Chunnel, but the entrance and exit of the Chunnel are too far from the water to actually get a glimpse of the Channel! Oh well, still pretty cool to think that we went under the English Channel!

Accommodations

By the time we got to our hotel, it was late afternoon. We stayed at the Doubletree by Hilton, Tower of London. Like our hotel in Paris, it was a wonderful location. It had a great little restaurant called Natural Kitchen that we ate at a few times! On that first night, we ate there and they had some specials on cocktails (2 for 1) and steak (10 pounds off). I had a wonderful lamb chop dish with the most delicious mint pesto! I need to make some mint pesto! It was so good! Seth had one of the steak specials. I had 2 Cosmos and Seth had 2 drinks called “Penicillin”. Both were REALLY potent!!

Dinner and Drinks

Seth had the steak which was on special, and it was cooked perfectly!
Seth had a delicious steak at Natural Kitchen.
For dinner at the Natural Kitchen, I had a deliciously tender lamb chop with a fresh sweet mint pesto.
My lamb chop with a delicious mint pesto!
Our drinks after dinner in London--a potent concoction called "Penicillin" and a classic Cosmo. It was 2 for 1 night!
“Penicillin” and my Cosmo–it was 2 for 1 night and we had 2 each!

Getting Familiar

After dinner, we took a walk around our immediate environs. We found a Tesco (a supermarket) which became our go-to for things we needed during our stay!

Tomorrow I will share our experiences from our first full day in London! Click here to read that post!

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Another Day of Great Food and Sightseeing!

I almost didn’t have a chance to post tonight. We started the day at the Louvre, then the Arc de Triomphe/Champs Elysees. After that we went to a chocolatier recommended by one of Seth’s customers. It is called A La Reine Astrid and was amazing! We then had lunch at a cute little brasserie named L’Escale that was near the chocolate shoppe. I had a planche de fromage and Seth had a Croque Messieur. Everything was amazingly delicious! I have fallen in love with French cheese and wish I could take it home with me!!! It is so much better than anything else I have ever tasted!

I was pretty exhausted from all the walking, and especially the STAIRS, so we went back to our hotel for a break. I ended up falling asleep! I never nap! After that, we took the metro up to Montmarte and the Sacre Coeur Basilica–more stairs!! This is my favorite part of Paris! Unfortunately, it started to rain pretty hard, so there was no reason to go to the Place du Tertre, where all the artists are–we figured they wouldn’t be there in the rain. Instead we found a cute little cafe up there called Cafe Chappe. Seth again had duck (he loves duck and it isn’t easy to find in restaurants at home). I ordered the Salade Campagnare–a delightful salad with toast points covered with 3 different kinds of cheeses as well as little roasted potatoes that were crispy on the outside and tender on the inside!

This cafe had Kronenbourg also so that is what we had to drink. It was very refreshing after all of those stairs!! We ordered nutella crepes for dessert, unfortunately, they looked so delicious we ate them and forgot to take a picture!! Sorry about that!

I promise I will post sightseeing pictures also! I’m just more obsessed with the FOOD here in Paris!! Tomorrow is our last day and that makes me sad! But I am excited to see London and to visit my cousin Linda and her family next weekend!

Bonsoir!

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Our Parisian Culinary Adventures

With two days left in Paris, I am happy to report that we have experienced AMAZING food and wine in the City of LIghts! I will be reporting on our sightseeing in a later post, but I wanted to share some of our culinary joys!

Yesterday, after taking the Seine River Cruise and visiting the Eiffel Tower, we had dinner at L’Avenue. We were so tired and hungry, I forgot to take any pictures. It was delicious though more expensive than I had planned. We had some amazing champagne, Seth had duck comfit, and I had a seared tuna steak. After we got back to the hotel, our hotel bartender hooked us up with some drinks and we got a great night’s sleep. At this point we had been up nearly 48 hours other than a nap here and there!

Our hotel includes a free breakfast, and I was expecting something light and “continental”, so I was pleasantly surprised to see some pretty hearty fare!

We proceeded to visit a couple of museums (Orangerie and d’Orsay) and had lunch near the latter at Tabac d’Orsay. The staff there were amazing, and I believed it was a family-run operation as the waiter and the busboy spoke about “Maman” and the younger one later left with one of the women who served us. I had seared duck with sauce du poivre and Seth had a chicken salad. Both were amazing! And they had Kronenbourg beer!!!!! I am not a beer drinker, but I fell in love with this beer on my first trip to Europe in 1982 and have NEVER been able to find it in the US! I was so happy!!

Tonight we went to a premium wine tasting at Les Caves du Louvre. We were fascinated and it was so informative! I sadly did not take pictures (I don’t think they were allowed anyway). We stopped on the way back at a lovely cafe called Cafe de la Regence. We each had MORE wine, burrata as an appetizer (excellent with fresh pesto), salmon for me (excellent roasted vegetables as a side), and chicken for Seth. He had a Glenfiddich and I had an Amaretto for our digestifs.

I do not know why the food here tastes so much better than at home! I think part of it may be the sheer freshness! We learned so much today and enjoyed our adventures, both culinary and educationally! Tomorrow will be a whole new day of adventure!

A porchaine!

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