Battle of the Badges' Tee-shirt and Shepherd's Pie

Today started off with my friend Mary and I going to give blood. After reading all the instructions and doing all the finger poking and blood pressure testing and all, one is required to answer questions on a touch-screen. Among the many questions was one asking if I was taking any antibiotics. "Yes". After I completed the questionnaire, the technician came back to finish up. He started through the questions, and when he got to the antibiotics one there was a problem. Long story short: I was deferred. I'm taking a drug to supposedly stop the decay of bone beneath two teeth. I honestly don't know if it's an antibiotic, and I also don't know if there's an infection there. I just know I'm on 30 days of this "stuff" to stop the decay of bone. With four days of medication left to go, I was deferred. And yet, was told that I can give blood 24 hours after taking the last dose of it. Hmmmmm.



Meanwhile, Mary had nearly finished giving blood. She was ushered over to the eating area where we sat while she had a bowl of chili and some carrot sticks. Upon leaving, we were to vote for either the Fire Fighters or the Police (this blood drive is The Battle of the Badges), and pick up a free tee-shirt. Mary stopped to do so and I just stood back and waited. The ladies at the table said I should get a tee-shirt and I explained that I wasn't eligible as I was deferred. They insisted that I'd shown up and tried to give blood, and that I should take a tee-shirt. Very nice! So..I did.



In summation: everyone that can should try to go give blood. It's truly pretty painless and you'll feel pretty good about it afterwards. Even though I was unable to give today, I'll go back in March and try again. All of the people who are working there are extremely pleasant and will do just about anything to make you comfortable. Try it...you'll like it!!!


Then later today I decided to try my hand at Shepherd's Pie. I don't think I've ever made one before and saw one on tv the other day, so thought I'd give it a shot. I bought way too many groceries at Christmas time, so needed to use some things up. I had potatoes and carrots that I needed to use. I used ground turkey, with celery, onions, red and green peppers, a little chili powder, salt, pepper, and little flour for the base. Topped that with mashed carrots, and topped that with mashed potatoes. Then sprinkled with shredded cheese. Baked for about 30 minutes and this is the end result. It's pretty good! A little "carrot-y"....luckily I like carrots. I'd probably use peas if I did it again..they're a little milder tasting to me. (By the way...this isn't really "a recipe", but if you decide to try it, you need to pre-cook the meat, potatoes, carrots, etc!)






I really need to eat more vegetables...maybe this way I could sneak them in without me knowing??? Not sure how that works...but, I'll probably forget they're in there by the time it's cooked for 30 minutes!!!




Talking about using ingredients up: next time you make potato soup, add a couple of big "globs" (cooking term) of red pepper hummus. WOW! It thickens the soup and really adds a great flavor...the garlic and the red pepper...ymmmmmmm!!!