Shortening, buying a house, cat favoritism, and test questions

Hello, hello! We’re having a Q&A session today, so let’s get into it.

Shortening

Before we get to some questions, I wanted to say something random. In the comments, you guys were recently discussing shortening options regarding a recipe, and here’s a nerdy baking fact: shortening got its name because it literally shortens the gluten strands in the dough.

That’s why when you want a soft, not-chewy product (like a cake or a biscuit), you use lots of fat.

But if you want a sturdy, chewy result (like a baguette), you use little to no fat. Lots of gluten = a stretchy dough and a chewy end product.

And this is one reason that yeasty doughs with a lot of fat in them take a long time to rise. All the fat is interfering with the gluten strands, and stretchy gluten strands (which holds the air bubbles that yeast produces) are essential for helping dough to rise.

Anyway, things like butter, lard, or Crisco could all be used as shortening.

Relatedly, this is why gluten-free baguettes are usually more terrible than gluten-free muffins; muffins don’t need that much gluten, but baguettes do! So you miss the gluten more with a baguette.

And it is why low-fat cakes/muffins (remember the 90s??) tend to be more tough than tender. Not enough fat to cut the gluten!

You’ve mentioned a couple of times that you eventually want to buy a house instead of continuing to rent. Your rental house seems nice and seems like it’s located in a good area. Just wondering if there’s a reason why you’d rather buy them continue to rent.

-Laura

Oh yes, my rental house is lovely and it is in a very good area (especially because it is so close to my college).

I would eventually like to own a home again partially because it could make sense financially. I rented this house when I had both Lisey and Zoe living here, but if I buy once I’m an empty-nester, I can downsize and get a small, affordable little house for myself.

I could probably pay it off in not too long since I have a hefty downpayment (due to getting a payout for half the value of my marital home.)

Also, I’d like to own because I would love the freedom to modify the home as I like. For instance, if I owned this home, I would replace the cloudy windows in a hot second!

But for now, renting is good because other than the fact that I will graduate from nursing school and go on to get my BSN, my future is sort of a big question mark.

How long will Zoe be with me?

Will I stay in this area once she moves out, or will I land somewhere else?

Will I get married again? (for the record, I am not dating right now because PLEASE WHO HAS TIME FOR THAT IN NURSING SCHOOL?)

So because there are some question marks in my future, the flexibility of renting feels right to me.

Even though it is a little painful to keep making that rent payment every month!

What is the recipe for the shrimp, bacon, cheese, you posted on the site? It looks so good and I would like to make it. I am not sure if it has creamed potatoes in it or not.

-Karen P.

Unfortunately, I do not have a recipe for that. It was one of those meals where I just decided to wing it. It does not have bacon in it, but that would be a tasty addition!

I made a base of mashed potatoes.

While the potatoes were cooking, I patted some shrimp dry, seasoned them with salt and pepper, and sauteed them in a very hot stainless steel skillet. I removed them from the skillet, then sauteed some chopped jalapenos and some halved cherry tomatoes.

When those were cooked, I added a little broth and some half and half to deglaze the pan (scrape up all the browned little bits as they loosen) and make a sauce. I added the shrimp back in, mixed it all together, and poured it on top of the mashed potatoes.

Zoe hates cooked tomatoes, so I only do this when I’m on my own, but man, I think they taste SO good and they add a nice depth of flavor to the sauce.

I know this might seem like a lot of work for a single-serving dish, but I usually make enough mashed potatoes for a couple of meals for myself.

And the veggie/shrimp/sauce part is honestly so little work. Just saute, saute, deglaze, and season if necessary.

Also, as I always say: I am worth feeding!

I think we tend to imagine self care is all massages and facials, but fueling myself and eating yummy food is also a good way to take care of myself. Even if it is just me feeding me. 🙂

Is the Martti app the approved translation service at your facility? We have phone interpreters (and some in-person interpreters for more commonly spoken languages like Spanish). I don’t love the phone interpreters–some are fantastic, some aren’t, and many interpreters work from home so you hear the inevitable background noises. And when I have patients who are confused, it would be helpful to have an interpreter who has visual cues. Anyway, just curious about how other facilities address this.

-Kris

Yes! It’s approved by my hospital and installed on the patient iPads.

I can definitely see why the Martti app is superior to a phone interpreter; so much of communication is visual. Also, the Martti app allows for ASL interpreters, and obviously, that would not work over the phone.

Plus, with the video call, you could show a treatment, device, or medicine, or point to a body part.

Petition for Kris’s hospital to get a Martti account!

“Emotional support cat” – but what about Shelley?? She might need an Emotional Support Human.

-Jana

Haha, DO NOT FEAR. Shelley is Zoe’s velcro cat, and Chiquita is mine.

In fact, when Zoe lays down on her bed, Shelley almost always lays down on Zoe’s back. Ha.

a blurry Zoe/Shelley selfie!

Is Shelley supporting Zoe, or is Zoe supporting Shelley? Who knows? It is probably a symbiotic relationship. 😉

Anyway, this is why you see more pictures of Chiquita than of Shelley; Chiquita is the one who is always around me, so she’s the one who gets photographed more. If you looked at Zoe’s camera roll, the opposite would be true.

This question reminds me of when my kids were all younger and my camera memory cards had a proportionally high number of Zoe pictures.

Experienced moms know that you do not let preschoolers out of your sight for long and because Zoe was the preschooler at the time, she was almost always by my side.

If you hang with the photographer, you get photographed more. 😉

Kristen, did you have an inkling of the questions you missed while you were taking the test? And do you get to see which ones they are and find the right answers? It used to really bug me (prolly before you were born) when I didn’t get to see the correct answers, because how else can one learn??

-also Jana (ha)

There are some questions on a test that I know immediately I got right. Then there are others where I’m pretty sure.

Annnnnd there are always some where I am super unsure if I chose the right answer (those are the ones I tend to google after class!)

Usually my sense of how I did after a test is pretty accurate; the two times I felt the worst were when I got an 80% and an 86%. I knew I didn’t feel A energy coming out of those!

There have been persistent cheating problems at my nursing school, so we are never allowed to see our tests. This is extremely frustrating to me because seeing what you get wrong is such a helpful learning experience.

They do offer exam review sessions for the class and in those, they go over some general concepts that a lot of people got wrong.

I attend these sessions almost every time, but it feels like the questions I get wrong must not be the same ones everyone else gets wrong, because they are rarely going over the topics I struggled with!

Let it be known: I have a pretty bad attitude about the cheating that happens in school. Other people’s choices to cheat have resulted in a seriously negative consequence for the rest of us, and that feels unjust.

Also, I think it is pretty short-sighted to try to cheat your way through nursing school. How are you going to pass the NCLEX? And even if you figure out a way to cheat on the NCLEX, how are you going to be a competent nurse?

Oh well. I am doing fine despite not seeing my exams, so I guess that is what matters.

All the topics are up for discussion, but I’m guessing you guys will mostly have thoughts about the rent vs. buy topic. Have at it!