To Plant or not to Implant (personal journey to Mexico for dental work)

 TO PLANT OR NOT TO IMPLANT?

  ‘my personal journey into Mexico for my dental work’

 

 

 The sound and feel of the  dentist drilling into my tooth  was to much to bear and I ended up BITING HIS HAND! He sent me home with out finishing and eventually I had the tooth pulled. My mom was not impressed ...I was 9 years old and didn’t care.

 

 .....and so began my journey to  being toothless ...well I am exaggerating,  but when pull came against drill... I had them pulled every time , now have bridges ....just another bridge  to cross when dealing with my teeth. Well that is until one bridge broke off.  I had so many teeth pulled  (they didn’t have ipods back then to drown out the drilling) that I was running out of teeth to attach the bridges to.

 

  So here I am in Mexico ,where I had my original two bridges done four years ago  by a young dentist that I went to interview and see if I felt comfortable with him. He managed to gain my trust ...well.... his wife worked there too and she held my hand while I cried. Yes I am exaggerating... but I do cry ...well my eyes are like water buckets and I feel like I am going to die when  lying back in that chair ...and yes she did hold my hand, and sure,  I recede back into childhood when I enter a dentist office.

 

  He did a lot of work in my mouth back then (putting in two bridges) and now he was scolding me for not having my teeth cleaned twice a year! Are you KIDDING me???? GO IN TWICE A YEAR to a dentist office!!! OMG ...willingly...Jesus .... Poor tooth took either too much of a beating in four years or it was not cleaned properly and it decayed under cap (bridge ) and broke off (second excuse is likely cause). It abscessed over xmas and I was in my own special hell.

 

 Sooooo ....this is my third trip to Mexico in as many weeks ...antibiotic regime for abscessed broken off tooth is taking it’s time to heal. So far I have not bought a Micheal Koors purse and have resisted all the silver jewelry ...well except for this one little ring ...ahhhh. Oh ..and...and...two metal flower sculptures that are absolutely stunning and will look great on our buffet tables (in the catering business) as centerpieces (and easy for our artistically challenged staff to put out with out too much effort......and you know who you are... : )

 

 ....and in the end the problem tooth has  a fracture and cannot be saved ...hmmmm ..dam... that teeth cleaning twice a year maybe wouldn’t have been so bad. My favorite and gentle dentist ‘Dr. Arturo’ has suggested two implants , one going into hole made by problem tooth being extracted and another by my back molar, seems you can’t attach a bridge to a ‘live ‘ tooth and an implant. So off I go for a CAT scan to see if I have enough bone for second implant.

 

 Back home we have a waiting list to get a CT scan done...here I go next door and pay 75.00 cash and have it done right away. I should also mention that I have had so many  xrays (digital) taken of my head that my friend says I’m going to grow another head and I reply ‘oh great...then I’ll have TWO mouths to feed!’

 

  All the xrays are free and I don’t see lots of big beautiful offices here in Mexico (they are clean, small and efficient). They do have a lot of assistant's that are in training and also dentists that are dedicated root canal specialists , and I really like that! I have had two root canals this visit and the female dentist was so gentle , thorough and fast that I wanted to hug her forever when she finished....I hardly felt a thing and she was nudging me telling me it was done...really ! Mexico also has travelling root canal specialists ! They come to the dentist office and do it right there on the spot ...had two done four years ago ...they know their stuff and make having a root canal not so bad.

 

 Ok... so root canals notwithstanding , I still have that inner turmoil that will never go away when visiting a dentists office. The implants are not on my agenda and in the end all the stress and turmoil won out and I only got one implant...two root canals and a three tooth bridge, one crown on the bottom molar, that was the other anchor for the bridge that broke off. Bottom bridge that broke off... will stay off... and I am FINISHED.... with one implant in and healing.

 

Total cost is less than 3,000.00

 

The removal of problem tooth and subsequent implant is painless and fast ..an hour and a half! Dr. Arturo  really knows his stuff and he is very gentle with me and god knows how I appreciate that! I fill his prescription for yet another round of antibiotic's and narcotic? for pain and swelling that mysteriously does not appear. The implant site is not even swollen!

 

 So moral of the story is  ’FOR CHRISTS SAKE DON’T BITE THE DENTISTS HAND WHEN YOU ARE A KID’....  get your teeth cleaned regular...uh huh (and I WILL be doing that at least once a year...so ok ...we need to compromise here)  I only come down here once a year, .and although I don’t cry , and don’t need my hand held anymore, when I am sitting in that dentist chair with my head back...... I still feel like I AM GONNA DIE!!

 

end of story

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from Windows Mail

 

sex and love

what can I say about sex and love .. two different activities ... although they look very much alike to the casual observer.  Animals (and I include our species here) have sex.  Sex is for the purpose of creating the next generation.  somewhere deep in our brains is the drive to create life and perpetuate the species.  and that drive will not be denied.  well it wont , until the brain decides to turn off "the need to breed" signal.  But as long as that signal is active ... well.. sex will need to happen.

but making love .. ah that's all about the self and a higher level of brain activity .. its all about the need for closeness and feeling protected.  Its a way to relax the vigilance that is required to stay alive in a hostile environment ,,,  is a break from always having to be aware of your surroundings .. it allows us to re-create that feeling we had when we snuggled into our mothers and knew that she would protect us from the world ... its about sharing and trusting and relaxing and just going to a happier place than the world normally allows ... and we humans emerge on the other side of love making feeling refreshed and energised and ready to take on the world.  Very few partners in our lives that we ever reach that level of intimacy with. 

Ecerpts from a 'happy cooker' part two

Tensions were high and the  air was blue..... ”I have more knowledge about barbequing in my little finger than you will ever accumulate in your whole life!” shouted the brother-in-law as he stood shaking his finger in my exs (his younger brothers) face.......ah ...family..... seems we didn’t learn the first go round with him when we moved back from Alberta to go into partnership with him in a semi-truck repair business. (what ever made us think we could partner in this food business?....geeze)

 

 

Well ....this catering adventure was taking a decidedly different  route, parting ways with a partner can sometimes be difficult, especially if that  partner has the equipment that we just about destroyed on our last  job (a bbq that rotated a whole hog...surface wounds only thank god, nothing fatal ) well brother-in-law also got greedy and wanted to cut me out anyway , so no loss.. I really want to caution against going into business with  partners ...esp. family...and I’m sure there are exceptions.... na....just don’t do it ..! We decided to go it alone because I could ‘feel’ the potential (having made some serious money on the few bookings we shared as partners) I knew we had what it takes.... to do this (my god I can’t believe how naïve we were back then). 

 

 

 Now I have to say here that my then husband ( we  divorced over three years ago) being a welder by trade and me being  a hairstylist , owning three salons in my first life ....didn’t prepare us in any way , shape or form for what lay ahead! But as all dreamers will attest to... that was just a minor detail.... I mean like how hard can it be ? Everyone knows how to cook and besides,  I found a place that made salads wholesale and in bulk , right in our own backyard. All we needed to do was barbeque the meat , order the buns and salads and serve the meal ....easy, right?

 

 

 ..... and so , flying solo, I booked our first job for a seed company that wanted to feed their customers a lunch of boneless pork loins carved onto a bun with potatoe salad and coleslaw. Oh...and did I mention it was for 500 people and our barbeque was still on the drawing board! But hey, we had a good month to get that sucker built (when I say we , I only had the vision....I’m a hairstylist remember... not a welder) so HE had to build it and my job was to book it and look after the ‘easy’ stuff...hah!

 

 

  A very good friend of ours, an engineer,  had a big shop and let us use a little portion of it, He also designed the bbq along with our  vision ....it had to be big (bigger than the brother-in-laws) and we needed it to fit on the back of a 3/4 ton truck ... we needed it to be mobile . Now picture this big behemoth ...a huge barbeque that can rotate three market weight hogs , or six small ones or 18 hips of beef with three rotating cylinder cages.... we named this beast “The Grizzler”. Now Jack it up five or six feet into the air  to get if off the bed of the truck box ... it weighs  a kazillion tons ...sitting in the air on four flimsy jacks (that have to be lifted and lowered evenly) until we can get the truck clear and carefully ‘jack it down’ onto the ground....no MEAN feat! Talk about heart stopping moments. We eventually put that beast onto a chassis (several years later)so we could tow it but not before we developed ulcers  worrying about that sucker crashing to the ground every time we used it. 

 

 

  Coming out of a bankruptcy (a failed tire shop during the high 20 % interest years ) we didn’t have  much capital (a fancy way of saying we were broke) , so our friend gave us credit until we could get established and pay him back. He believed in us (I want to say he believed in me , because I talked a good game , and I was sooo excited about all the money we were gonna  make in catering with this big bbq) and as it turned out ....he wanted to make a fortune himself, on manufacturing big barbeques.... let me tell you , I was choked ! ...that is until he ran into all sorts of trouble getting his barbeques to pass CSA approvals (Canadian safety association) and that was the end of his mass manufacturing bbqs dream and....  I believe the resulting competition that would have competed with  ours. I have to say here that I do believe in Karma and I try to live my life as such....that is my older self talking , and I’m sure this business helped the aging process along......

 

 

 ....and so back to building the barbeque , another friend helped build it in the evenings when he had time....hmmmm ...speaking of time....it was running out , this big job was racing up on us! In fact it  was the day before the  big job and although I was ready (hard part ordering salads and buns...lol) ....the barbeque was still not finished...oh hell...ex and his friend worked until 2:00 in the morning to get this thing far enough along so we could at least pull off this job.

 

 

 This was so last minute that there was no way to test it before we took it out to this event to feed 500 people! First off, we pick up the boneless pork loins from the butcher (no marinating or seasoning here ...uh uh , this is easy , remember) . We get to site early so we can get these loins rotating and cooking and wtf? how come they are still frozen....? omg....this is not good !! This easy money business is slowly turning into a nightmare. Ok...calm down, they are not all frozen, but we need to get  cooking them right now! We light up the barbeque and everything is rotating and working and we breath a big sigh of relief which lasts exactly three minutes ... before all the flames die out and now we have no fire ...again wth?

 

 

 Oh my god , this nightmare is not gonna end and now my mind was racing ahead to figure out a worst case scenario ....hmmmm Kentucky Fried Chicken pops into my head ...how can I get enough for 500 people , what time do they open, do I order from every store , and can they do it? Now I  need to mention here that in the ensuing years of this crazy business ...for some strange reason...this has always been my back up plan that has  played out in my head more times than I care  to admit to...although it has never happened ...omg touch wood... 

 

 

 Turns out the propane fire was ‘starved’ for oxygen and fortunately the ex figured that out with-in a short time and rectified the problem (I think he opened up a door to  let in the air), needless to say I do know he cut a couple vents in the top of this huge behemoth when it went back to the shop and he made it so he could control the openings. 

 

 

 Ok back on track and we have everything ready to feed 500 people (we are leaving pork loins on till last minute and take off the ones that were not frozen first). Well.... turns out only a fraction of these 500 people show up... I think it was maybe 100? We have sooooo much food left over! After giving some to client ( those were the early days and I think client was a little upset he couldn’t have all the loins ....but they weren’t all ‘cooked’ through and no way was I giving him half cooked ones) . All our staff and a few relatives got to  eat pork, buns and salads for a few weeks after. (our two kids grew to hate buns “why can’t we have real bread like the other kids?” to which I gave the standard mom answer ...’if all the other kids jumped off a bridge...yada yada.'”) 

 

 

We charged the client , the big seed company , for 500 people ( you pay what you book for)  times 5.00 a head....The barbeque went back to the shop to be finished ...with vents to let in oxygen! Look out everybody we are ready to make our millions in this great business called catering.......... oh ....and ...and... will ya look at what we built everyone...you too non-believer brother-in-law...ooops I think that was my outside voice.

Eating Ice cream for breakfast

eating ice cream for breakfast

 

my night thoughts were

spreading like a plague

 infecting each night with seemingly

never ending nightmares

I awoke each morning

more  exhausted

than the last

I was feeding masses of people

 and coming up short

saving friends and family

 from unknown perils

running or escaping
  from unseen predators

and always...always falling

 and most traumatic...
  frantically trying
to cover my naked body
while out in public

with just my hands 

 

as I slowed my pounding heart

my partner turned to me and said

“maybe you should start eating that ice cream in the morning ...instead of before bedtime?”

 

 

Breaking down a dream ...excerpts from a happy cooker

Windows Mail

 

 

Breaking down a Dream........ (excerpts from a Happy Cooker)....... part one

 

 It was a recurring theme...in the scheme of things. This really unique place for everyone to come and order a fantastic, great meal that only we could produce.The world was missing out on this particular gastromical delight because we were limited in our distribution ...not having a store front location.  I figured once we had the logistics solved then the world would be our oyster (move over Mc Donalds ...there is a ‘Real beef’ sandwich  in town)

 

 We, being my then husband, and our two kids (our first...’work for food’... employees) , child labour was not such a big issue back then...in fact we just did what we had to do to pay the bills. We were not poor but we did have to overcome some setbacks from an ill-timed venture that we invested in when the markets were at 20% interest rates. That the venture was a tire shop (competing with Canadian tire) was a mute point.

 

 We sorta fell into the food business by accident....isn’t that how all good businesses start? We were broke and beaten from the tire shop and brother-in- law had a homemade barbeque (I think everyone knows someone that has a big barbeque that can cook everything from huge chunks of meat to whole animals...lol) . Well this one cooked whole hogs on a rotisserie and was much in demand. Since we had a whole lot of time on our hands and no money and  brother- in-law with lots of money and not enough time , he  hired us to go barbeque this whole hog in some godforsaken place up north.  

 

 Off we go in our camper overnight to spend the next day barbequing this hog for a gift opening . It was boring as hell and we were hard pressed to fill our time while this thing was cooking (8 to 10 hours in those days). The guests would wander over and ooh and aah at this whole hog sizzling on the spit. The end of the day (we didn’t even have to carve it!) we made over 500 dollars !!!! ...and at that exact moment this boring little job turned into a million dollar business ( I was just dreaming then).

 

 ....and so started our auspicious career in catering and notice I said OUR...! Because as it turns out... it is not only your family , and I am talking parents, aunts , uncles, cousins , siblings and anyone even remotely related as well as your friends (this is where you find out who your real friends are) all come into play....(work). Sometimes even anyone with a pulse gets snagged ...and don’t be surprised when you show up at an event and we put an apron on you....it is necessary sometimes.

 

 We got rid of the brother- in- law when he got greedy and wanted to cut me out ...had nothing to do with us almost burning his barbeque down to the ground. We built our own and we (well not me cause I can’t weld) built it bigger  and better than his. We could cook THREE whole hogs at once in ours !!! Oh ya...we were gonna show him! and so our  adventure into catering began . 

 

...anyway ...back to where I started , this recurring dream to open up a real storefront... turnkey operation that will be ,  not the next Mc Donalds ...cause we are going to serve ‘real’ down home ‘best you ever tasted’ delicious food that will give Mc Donalds some true competition! The people want ‘real beef’ in their bun....beef that is barbequed for 4 to 6 hours ‘slow roasted’ on a rotisserie barbeque and hand carved onto the bun!! Yep...no cutting costs or corners here....

 

 You all know the movie  where the theme is “if you build it .....they will come?”  Well I think there is a lot of that in all of us dreamers and entrepreneur's and I certainly wanted to build it. I made up drawings of what  the building  would look  like and I even bought an old  property on one of the busiest streets in the city (rented it out till I could realize the dream). I only needed to  find an architect that would work for nothing (and a piece of the pie) and then I had to fight  with City Hall about something called zoning and having enough parking stalls.... well all I can say about that is, thank god I had renters ...that is until they skipped out on the rent and all that traffic going past the front door was not conducive to getting good renters anyway......hmmmmmm.

 

 Then something magical happened, a Swiss Chalet on a real busy intersection closed down....and the building was for rent...omg.... IT WAS PERFECT ...well...almost. I needed to figure out how to rotate big roasts of beef in there and  not chickens. The location was really busy but only one side of the highway allowed the traffic in ...but that was no big deal cause our food would make turning around and going out of your way to get some .......that much sweeter!

 

 The rent was a little steep though....10,000.00 a month (that was 15years ago!) hmmmmm ....it was a lot of money but it was also a prime location and my dream was pretty big. I could hardly sleep and I had all sorts of plans ...and...and... I needed advice. So I called the one and only Catering Guru I knew...that taught us so much over the years. We met him at a yearly conference of classes and lectures and hands on teaching , called Catersource. Mike Roman was THE MAN and I put him on speakerphone for all of us to hear what advice he could give us to make my dream a reality.

 

 After my gushing ...glowing report of what a perfect location and building and the count of how many thousands of vehicles pass there a day..... he asked me TWO  questions , how much was the rent? .....and the second most devastating question of all....” let me ask you Cherylle , how many ‘beef on buns’ will you have to sell to pay the rent?”

 

 Now lets just break this down  hmmmmm 10,000.00 divided by 4.00 would be 2,500 ‘beef on a bun’ divided by 4 would be 625 a week ...which would be approx. 100 a day....hmmmmm that would be just to pay the rent . Lets see... 2500 beef on a bun would require that many buns at 3.00 a dozen then there would be the cost of about 800lbs of triple A Angus beef  (certified yet!no cutting corners here) and then the propane costs to barbeque it , don’t forget the wrappers and the condiments ...hmmmmm ...geeze forgot about the cost of staff (well that would be free cause we would be running it....) , now this is getting real complicated.... and why do we have to pay taxes on the property when we don’t even own it?

 

 Well needless to say when we got off the phone it was not pretty. Didn't matter how we cut it, diced it or mixed it ....how much product we needed to sell to pay expenses, was the deal breaker !!

 

 Some dreams are worth pursuing and some aren’t ....some are realistic and others are best laid to rest. I never gave up on my dream, I just put it on the back burner to simmer and I still bring it out every once in awhile when I see an ideal location or a perfect building or...or...or........ 

THE MEXICAN CONNECTION

The Mexican Connection

 Everything is as how I remembered.....although I don’t remember the Indian casino having a big hotel and swimming pool. The casino is huge and fairly clear of too much smoking although they still allow people to smoke cigars inside, what is with that anyway? The hotel rooms are really nice and big and the beds are really comfy.

 We are in Arizona outside of Yuma on Algodonnes rd (the road leading to Mexico just a short mile away), having just come from the dentist there. I am two root canals down and one to go (it is packed with meds and I am on antibiotics for the abscessed tooth). The dentist has also put in a couple posts on the new root canalled teeth....lovely reading right?

 We are going into our second week and the weather has been so co-operative. The pool has also been inviting us in for some delicious lolling about  in the water and the sun. Walking in the mornings, bright and early (eightish...ok so it’s bright and early for me....)just feels so good, especially knowing we can’t do this at home, at least not without looking like a yard apes.

 Mexico is as predictable as always, the usual beggars and the too pushy hawkers wanting to guide you to whatever you want and then some. It is hard not to be polite but geeze it is so annoying ! Things are looking up in Algodoones, some of the sidewalks have been tiled and the stalls where they  sell their wares are looking decidedly cleaner. The Prada and Gucci purses are scarce because Micheal  Koors seems to have taken control of the market. Now who the heck is Micheal Koors? Meanwhile a Gucci purse soft as a babys bum catches my attention....I absently ‘stroke it’ but reluctantly resist buying it , even after she came down to my price. Now I feel bad and maybe I will buy one of those oversized MC bags for my beach stuff.... my Calvin Klien bag is getting decidedly shabby.  Her name is Heidi and I tell her I will be around for awhile because of my dental work....whew ..... made a clean get away! ....god that leather was soft on that Gucci purse.....

 I have never been a fan of sunglasses thank god but there are a ton of em here. Another new phenomena, they have been shopping in China..... (I only know this because that is where I bought my stash of watches) Rolexes and Guccis and and...oh hell....., ok so I try some on ...what can it hurt? and...and... EVERYWHERE there is jewelry and omg....that is sooooo hard to ignore. I don’t even wear any jewelry to Mexico because I can say ...no, no...senor’ no can wear ...see..... I am allergic to jewelry! BIG..... BIG lie ....I hope I don’t burn in hell for that one.

 The real handmade stuff is sooooo beautiful , the wall hangings and the carved and painted wood figures. The lamps and ceramics , the metal pieces made into everything you can imagine ...now that is my downfall...that and purses and shoes ...and of course I have turned into a recent jewelry slut from the cruises. But this Mexican metal artwork is calling my name and I am picturing ways in my mind to bring it home in my car.....if I don’t run out of money first. There is this unique gorgeous floor lamp that would look perfect where my other one is and I’ll move that one  into the bedroom...yep.... oh hell ...like I need another lamp?

 My dentist has moved up since my last visit , he is now on main street and has two more dentists working with him. His wife Angelina is on my facebook and she is expecting her second child ...another girl...she informs us. I say they need to try again and he says with another woman and she says ‘with another man’ hahaha. They make a good team and I feel comfortable getting my dental work done here.

Postcards from my plate

There is always a scene in most movies or books about this quaint little Italian place that is so romantic and serves up such great food. Well I just happened to visit such a place and let me tell you it was sooooo cool to actually have that experience. The place is called Cucina Italiano and it is in San Diego  in a little strip mall of all places.

 The evening is a little cool but the linen covered  tables outside are inviting and  sporting covered umbrellas with  propane infra red heaters , along with the candles (you know ...the ones with the flickering battery powered flames...ok so not everything is perfect..). Inside it is dimly lit with just the perfect amount of light to add to the ambiance. The waiter tells us all about that nights special ...flattened veal wrapped around spinach and stuffed with some exotic cheeses. My friend and his son order it but  I opt out for the filet mignon with cracked peppercorns and a red wine reduction glaze of some sort which turns out to be soooo yummy I want to lick the plate. The creamy garlic whipped potatoes and exotically spiced vegetables make this meal even more delectable... and how is that possible?

 The paintings on the walls remind me of the paintings in Cuba and I want to take them home and hang them in my condo. I don't want this meal to end ...so I order the crème  brule  and three spoons... it arrives in a heart shaped dish and it is delicious .... my tablemates only take a taste and leave the rest to me...... I lick the dish....ok I exaggerate .... but I  wanted to lick it and I also wanted to take home the waiter (he is so handsome , dressed impeccably in all black with a long black apron wrapped around his waist ) but he is much too young....ah well....isn't there a saying about licking your plate and having the waiter too....hmmmm .... too bad.

to be continued

postcards from my life January 2014

So I am headed for Palm Springs , I want to explore the southern states and find a place to nest for awhile. Interstate 15 will take us into Salt Lake city on a Friday afternoon at rush hour so at the last minute I make a snap  decision to go through Jackpot Nevada which has me turning at Pocatello .

 

 After spending the night at a quaint little motel casino , we make our way to Las Vegas and decide to spend at least one or two nights in sin city. While I was there last year at the Catersource Conference I signed up for the players card at the Mirage and got a lot of use out of it (never missed a class though...haha) I actually came out a little ahead on the gambling.

 

 While trying to decide which hotel to try this time (Sams Town always has great rates) I pull into the Mirage and check into the players club and see if I can get a room comped for the  night. Well .....not only do I get a room (choice of a suite ...smoking...or a regular room ...non smoking) I check out suite, omg!!!! it doesn’t smell of smoke....and...and...we get it for TWO nights!! and....and....500.00 room credits to spend on shows or food or????

 

 Now this suite has not one...but TWO bathrooms that are bigger than the  broom closets on our Caribbean cruise. Nicely appointed living room and the best bed!!! Pacific coast pillows ...no less (these are two hundred dollar pillows ...trust me , I know).  We get tickets , VIP seating for The Beatles ..LOVE... a Cirq’ show and it is even better the second time around (maybe because of the better seats?).  the room divider has a tv that is on a  remote and comes up out of a wooden dresser...hahaha , we don’t know this until we are ready to check out and dropped something behind it and need to move it.

 

 Well .... so far this little holiday is turning out quite lovely. We take in Jersey Boys at the Paris the second night but just don’t have enough time to do the downtown strip. I find out that I have a couple more promos coming my way from the Mirage and I may just use them if I go to Catersource at the Paris this March.

 

 Palm Springs is just theeeee most beautiful setting to spend the cold winter months and we do a couple  relaxing days there with my friends brother and his wife. I definitely want to explore my options in Palm Springs! We move on to San Diego and are spending some time at my friends son’s house overlooking a  canyon.  I can live like this......hmmmmm..... I am living like this....don’t anyone pinch me , I don’t want to wake up.

 

to be continued....