Another Japanese recipe

This weekend's recipe is okonomiyaki.  I had to make alot of substitutions after I couldn't find ingredients at the asian market.  I see them on Amazon for twice the price.  Okonomiyaki is savory pancakes stacked up and covered in sauce.  LOL, much like egg foo yung.

So I used regular pancake batter instead of plain flour.  Awesome sub!  I don't keep bacon around anymore.  If I want want the taste of bacon, I eat out. A full slab of bacon is just going to go bad in my fridge after I cook a few strips.  So I substituted SPAM.  It fit the bill of "pork" and had the saltiness of bacon.  I couldn't get hold of Japanese mayonnaise, I didn't miss it.  I didn't find okomi sauce, so I used Teriyaki sauce.  I couldn't find the seaweed sprinkles or bonito fish flakes but the furikake I had on hand was an awesome sub.  Wow, what a pile of food!  I ate a little over half and saved the rest for tomorrow's lunch.

So Mom has been in and out of hospital 3 times in the last month.  Last week I had an unsuccessful phone call after she returned to the nursing home.  Mom couldn't hear over the phone.  Today I was able to get a FaceTime.  She was not verbal but she mirrored my gestures like waving & blowing kisses.

I'm still overwhelmed by the back yard overgrowth.  Maybe next weekend.

Update on the yard (a day later):  I was scrolling for other tools to use on my back yard.  I found electric shears so I went to home depot.  They only had one brand in stock.  Ugh, I didn't want to spend $100, I didn't want a cordless but that's all they had.  I wanted something in the $20-50 range but what can you do.  I get the convenience of cordless but, like wireless computer mouse, they tend to be extra heavy because of the battery.  I"m still going to need the lopers for the bougainvilleas because the branches have had 2 years to get thick.  So now I'm motivated to go out and play with my new tool.

Help is not coming

I tried for two days to schedule a FaceTime or help for Mom with the phone.  I left messages and put my errands on hold waiting for a call back.  I have to wait near the home wifi because Sprint data is too sucky for FaceTime.  Yesterday, I couldn't stand to waste the whole day so I finally went to the back yard and 30 min in, I missed the phone call.  So pissed.  I wrote a letter to Mom, drove over there to hand it over at the front door.  There's a note on the envelope that someone should read it to her.  I just found a pile of greeting cards, I'm going to drop one off every day on my way home from work.  My boss is even more of a jerk that I can't talk to the nursing home when I'm in the office.  She's basically been in a black hole since she left assisted living, which I'm still paying for, btw.

Re: the overgrown back yard.  I've been trying to hire help ever since I had the dead tree removed.  I'm just not the energizer bunny that I was 20 years ago.  There was a young guy I cancelled on, he just wanted too much money to weed whack the tall grass.  So I decided to tackle the project in small bites, the swiss cheese approach.  My 20-year old electric weed whacker is not up to the task.  So hiring the other guy, the one that looked like a homeless ex-convict who would have had to use my tools wouldn't have worked either.  I've discovered a new use for the hedge trimmer - yeah it works on the tall grass.  I'll take another bite next weekend.

masking my frustrations

I'm still thinking about art.  I have no time for it but I have a whole box of blank canvases.  On one of my visits to my pharmacy, the pharmacy tech says "we just got in masks & gloves, do you want any?"  At first I declined but when I went back, I figured we may be wearing masks for a while so I got a box.  I don't believe gloves are as good as washing/sanitizing your hands frequently.

I was aiming for a panda nose.  Everyone sees a cat.

My take on Joker (played by Joaquin Phoenix).  I think I scared a couple little kids LOL.  One of Mom's caregivers did a double take, she thought it was blood.  Just acrylic paint.  I've got more ideas.

Mom went to the hospital a couple weeks ago.  It was a UTI & bacteria in her blood.  She stayed for 5 days of intravenous antibiotics.  She was still lethargic on our one Facetime but she was still out of it, barely opened her eyes.  Then she got transferred to a nursing home for physical therapy until she qualifies to go back to assisted living.  I was able to get one Facetime only because I took the whole day off to deal with phone calls.  She talked to the girl holding the iPad, thought she was showing a picture of me and kept asking for a copy.  So I thought I'd try the phone.  The front desk would transfer the call to her bedside but Mom's not going to pick up.  So I had them hand the phone to her.  They must have walked away because after the initial hello, I didn't get any more response.  I think she dropped the phone.  So next time I have to ask the nurse to hang around while we attempt another chat.  This COVID thing is keeping me from seeing her.  She'll talk to me in person.

So my great commutes are only just good now until schools open up again and they go back to sucky.  Restaurants are sucking.  The lunch time lines are taking 20 of my 30 minute lunch break, especially since I was told I can't leave 5 min early anymore (after 10 years).  So it's a difference between a 10 min lunch run or 20 minutes.  Having to inhale my lunch certainly does not help my digestive problems.  I tried to go to the local Mexican restaurant.  OMG so many people in the restaurant at 3:30pm, nobody wearing masks.  So I drove on to Krispy Kreme.  The drive-thru was into the street and they're not letting anyone in for take out.  You must order through the app and pick-up only at the window.  I ended up at the small Walmart (groceries only) to pick up ingredients to turn my old roasted chicken into a chicken salad sandwich.  Admittedly it was much better for me than the (failed) choices.  It was a damn good sandwich, too.

Monday update: Mom was sent from the nursing home to the hospital today.  I got a call from the ambulance driver as he was taking her.  Then nurse called me from the nursing home when she went back.  Mom was alert to talk to me on the phone.  Finally after two weeks.  I mean it was repetitive as all hell but that's her old normal.