Umani's

Last night we were going to go to our usual kosher Chinese place in Pikesville, David Chu's. Instead we learned about another one just down the street called Umani's. It's set a little back from the road, and I never knew it was there. Our friends Robin and Steve had been there before with another of our mutual friends, so they suggested it. Wow, it's really worth it. The prices were a little higher, but the food quality was also much higher. The place is very small, and it was packed. In fact, reservations are recommended, so we were lucky to get in last night without one, but I suspect that was because we got there at 5:15. Within an hour there were no empty tables and a waiting line out the door into the cold. It also has a liquor license, which David Chu's does not, so Mark enjoyed a whiskey with his dinner. We enjoyed our night out very much, and I would recommend this restaurant to anyone.

Ha Ha!! I think that's a first for this blog: a restaurant review.

It goes without saying that getting together with Robin and Steve was a lot of fun, too, because we had not seen them since mid-June. In fact they were among the first to know that I had found the lump. We were all so sure it would turn out to be nothing back then. Sigh.

I thought that I was going to go out every day this week because a quick glance at my calendar shows something on it every day. It was only late last night that I realized that I'm not going out today. I have to make two important phone calls to insurance companies. I hate that because it's always so difficult. The last time I tried to make one of these calls, after negotiating a lengthy process to get to a person, I got cut off. I was so frustrated that I didn't bother trying to call back that day. Now is the day. I have to do it. Also Mark is going out to lunch with a group of his former co-workers. This is an established group of guys who have been going out to lunch one Monday a month for years. I have no interest in crashing that crowd. Mark was afraid to leave me alone for this, but I convinced him that I'll be fine if he leaves me alone for a few hours to go have some fun with his buddies. I think he needs the time off!

I did buy most of the foods that I set out to get, including the dreaded sauerkraut. I had a piece of sourdough bread with raspberry jam for a snack last night. Ooo, that was delicious! This morning I had hot oatmeal, blueberries, and a yogurt. Delicious. Mark and I talked about the weight I'm gaining and the strength I'm losing. It's terrible, but I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to fight C Diff right now, and if that means eating higher calorie foods for meals and snacks, then so be it. The Flagyl kicked in quite well to slow the process, but I really worry whether or not it truly gets rid of the problem. The best thing it does by slowing the process is make it easy to keep up with possible dehydration. I learned the hard way that by having 10-12 stools a day it is not possible to drink enough to keep up with it. Flagyl keeps it to a more reasonable 4-5 stools a day. It's easy to drink enough at that rate. What it isn't doing so far is curing it and making everything normal. I'm hoping that with the right foods and a third course of the drug that this will be the magic charm, the final time. We'll see.

Enjoy the last day of "fall." It hasn't felt like fall around here for weeks, and I know some of you feel the same way. It looks like another cold, snowy winter for the Maryland area.