Foiled again by the rain.

It’s been raining for 4 days. Cold, spitty kind of rain. The kind of rain that raises the humidity enough that candy won’t set.

But, like I wrote in last Wednesday’s Call Secrets of the OR, I am nothing if not flexible.

You see, Halloween is my favorite holiday. What’s not to love?

The costumes!
The candy!
The carving of the pumpkins! Or, if you’re me and busy, the buying of pumpkin to put on the front stoop.

I had planned four different candies for this Cookie Thursday is a Thing, Halloween edition! This is a traditional even that has been rained out several times during CTIAT.

But alas, it is too humid.

I was going to make an old fashioned vinegar candy.
I was going to make marshmallow candy corn.
I was going to attempt pop rocks again.
I was going to attempt strawberry mochi.

But what did I make as a pivot?

I made no bake matcha bark (gotta have something green, you know), caramel sweet chex mix, cheddar pickles and, the only recipe that made the line up for this Trick or Treat CTIAT Halloween edition, caramel hot Cheetos.

Also, there is a Trunk or Treat at the hospital right after CTIAT, so I didn’t want to get too ambitious.

The cheddar pickles was something I’ve made before and the department really liked. This was a super easy quick bake. Put the pickles in a layer on a paper towel and pat dry, taking care to make sure they aren’t too small or too large. Very goldilocks this recipe. In a mini muffin tin, put some shredded cheese into the bottom, top with a pickle, top with another layer of cheese. Simplicity itself.

Everything else was a new to me recipe.

The no bake matcha bark was decidedly simple to make. Three ingredients. White melting chocolate, matcha, and rice Krispies. Melt the chocolate, add the matcha, and when it is all combined to a pale green, add the cereal. Chill to set. This was surprisingly tasty. My husband swears by matcha, which is why we had it in the house.

I started the caramel for the caramel hot Cheetos. This is also a simple recipe, 2 c brown sugar, 1 c butter, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 10.5 oz bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos. Make the caramel, stir in the baking soda until the mixture is pale and frothy, add caramel to the Cheetos. Double check the bag against the recipe and realize that the bag was 10 oz of Cheetos.

Shrinkflation strikes again.

All of a sudden, I had more caramel than I knew what to do with. I portioned out most of the caramel into the Cheetos and stirred. I spread them out on a baking pan and baked at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring halfway through. I remembered we had a box of peanut butter chex that had not been eaten. I quickly upended it onto a baking sheet and stirred in the caramel. Now I needed more binder/fluid and I poured in the rest of the white chocolate. After the caramel Cheetos came of the oven, I popped the sweet chex mix in. I didn’t bake this for an hour, more like 20 minutes. When I pulled it out, I stirred it all together. The white chocolate was melty and the caramel was caramelly. Good enough. I chunked it apart and went to lunch with my mom.

When I got home I pulled the match bark out of the fridge and broke it apart.

I used parchment paper as boats for the four makes, so that the pickle juice wouldn’t get on everything and because it just looked neater that way.

Off I went to the hospital with my 2 trays of makes.

Another CTIAT Halloween down. Time to start planning the rest of the year.

Psych!

I’ve already got the rest of the year planned.

To be on call is to do battle with the unknown.

Every day.

Well, every shift.

Each moment you are on call can bring a phone call from the nursing supervisor. Or a text or call from a surgeon.

To be on call is to be vigilant every day. To sleep when you can and to know the power of a nap.

Some nurses and techs are unable to grasp this and stay awake all night, just waiting for the phone to ring to summon them to the hospital. Or they wake in a panic and check their phone, frantic that they have missed a text or a phone call.

Shhh. Relax. I always call twice. And so does the nursing supervisor.

This is part of our flexibility. The ability to sleep through anything and everything. The ability to work all night, have a small sleep with maybe a nap later and emerge ready to do battle with the unknown again.

More than that it is our flexibility to be okay with the known and unknown.

Will there be a case? Maybe.

Will I sleep all night and awake refreshed in the morning because there was no case? Maybe.

It is being absolutely okay with either instance that makes you flexible.

And don’t you forget it.

Battle stations.

Millions have taken to the streets.

Frogs, unicorns, everyday Americans bearing placards.

Saying with one voice “No Kings!”

More are protesting in their own quiet way.

Because they can’t join a march. But protested with their pocketbooks.

Too bad there isn’t a way to quantify that.

This is a message from the American public who say no more.

This is a message from the America public for one man.

This is a message from the American public as one.

No Kings!

Remember we fought a whole Revolution for that.

This is in reference to the U.S. Department of Agriculture letter that advised state agencies to hold disbursements of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for November. T

Their game is unknowable but is probably a lever to pressure Senate Democrats to vote to take on the so called clean continuing resolution to open the federal government. And probably a pain point to get those who are hungry and in need of SNAP to reach out to their representatives and beg them to open the government by passing the CR.

Diabolical in’t it?

That’s what they want. A reason to rat out the democrats to the voters for not doing enough to help those who are hurting.

I hope that people see through this charade.

Especially the ones that this hurts.

Especially as we hear that the government is giving now $40 BILLION dollars to Argentina to prop up their collapsing currency. Perhaps the attention should be on the United States economy and declining dollar. Just a thought.

According to the letter, the money exists in the USDA but the states are not allowed to spend it. The states are not allowed to give it out to the people who are on SNAP.

Instead those affected have to go to food banks, which are already stretched so so thin because of the economy in this country.

It is giving holding out bread to a starving person and then snatching it away and grinding it into the mud. That they then shove the starving person into.

It is giving Old Mother Hubbard with the empty cupboard to give the dog a bone. But she knows full well there is a second, secret cupboard for her own use and she hoards the contents. Even if the dog is hungry.

And shades of the Soup Nazi.

Full disclosure, I have never ever ever seen Seinfeld. I worked evenings/nights through the 1990s after I graduated from high school. I have only heard of it as a bit.

I direct those who are using this moment to make people hungry to Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.

And remember the name Jean Valjean. His prisoner number was 24601.

His only crime was that he stole a loaf of bread to feed his sister’s child, who was close to death from starvation. He received 5 years hard labor for that crime and 14 additional years hard labor because he tried to run.

I feel a relisten/rewatch of Les Mis is in order.