I'm showing you this picture purely for sympathy. This is what my shoulder looks like today - rotator cuff surgery, which I can't recommend, has a LONG recovery and I'm ready to be done with it! I've started PT, which as you know stands for pain and torture, although the people who do it say it stands for physical therapy...whatever..."Just lean forward and let your arm hang down loosely, now I'm just going to pull it up and let it go and it will swing like a pendulum..." My physical therapist will probably wear earplugs when she treats me from now on...just for the record, my arm is not a pendulum, nor does it swing like one and having someone lift my lifeless, very sore arm and then drop it was just downright rude...rude I tell you!! I don't have enough pain pills left for that type of therapy!!!
Now, let me tell you about the mister and his very sore arm. He asked his doc to take a look at a spot on his arm and on his chest, which he is certain is cancer. The doc, I think more to humor him, scraped off the spot on his chest, and then dug out a small piece of flesh on his arm - and he put in a few stitches. Like 5. Teeny-tiny stitches. Probably not even needed but the mister, who is a Level 3 Hypochondriac, acted like his arm had been severed and then reattached. He came home whining...to me...as I stood there with my arm in a giant sling and an ice pack on my shoulder and he pointed to his little stitches and winced. I said nothing, I mean, what was there to say?!?!? Had he gone blind??? Could he not see the Silence of the Lamb contraption on my arm??? Could he not see the empty bottle of Vicodin on the counter??? Could he not see the furrowed pain on my brow? I let him whine for a few minutes - his whimpering was amusing to a point, but when he lifted his shirt to show me a little bandaid on his chest, and said "no stitches but it really hurts!" ...I lost it...I pointed to my dead arm and said, "LOOK AT ME!!! KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE MAN!!!" And with that I limped, out of the kitchen...limping was strictly for dramatic effect!
Thank you to DeRue for this idea...she recently returned from Hawaii and while telling me about her fabulous trip with her near perfect husband, she mentioned she had been served homemade ginger ale - she said it was refreshing and different - really, really good and suggested it would be easy to make...and she was right! Fresh ginger is used to make a simple syrup - a tropical elixir that will transport you from the doll-drums to the islands with one sip!
After the syrup has cooled a bit, it is combined with club soda and lime juice...pour it over ice in a pretty glass and then you're ready to sit back and pretend you can hear the waves lapping at the shore! Bring a little bit of island life to your table - make this and serve it up to your family, guarandamtee they will love it!
Homemade Ginger Ale - Pots and Pins
1 piece of ginger, about 5 inches long, peeled and chopped
2 cups water
3/4 cups sugar
pinch of salt
1 to 2 limes
Club soda for serving
In a small sauce pan, combine ginger, water and sugar. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in pinch of salt, cover with lid and let steep for 20 minutes. Pour syrup through a sieve into a glass jar. Let cool to room temperature. When ready to serve, fill glasses with ice, pour club soda over ice, filling glass 3/4's of the way, and then stir in ginger syrup, 2 to 4 tablespoons per glass, depending on how much ginger flavor you want. Squeeze in juice from 1/4 of a lime, garnish with lime slice and enjoy! Makes enough for 4 to 6 drinks.
Ginger syrup will keep in fridge for 5 days. You can mix up a big pitcher of ginger ale in advance but it's kind of fun to let everyone add their own ginger syrup so they can have their mocktail to their liking!
Thanks DeRue!! It really is good! We're on our 2nd batch! Now if we only had an island breeze...and sun...and sand...and surf...
