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stouffville suhtrimne viiirsday nov 3 2005 5 still alive and ticking thank you very much 1 m above the green another miracle in the field of modern medicine after 17 years of indecision i finally underwent quadruple heart bypass surgery in southlake regional health centre at newmarket my date with destiny was oct 17 it was 1988 when i first experienced excessive chest pains i vividly recall taking a breather on a stouffville main street bench then continuing my trek to the newspaper office where i worked at the time stress tests that followed indicated a form of angina a condition that i felt could be controlled through pills and sprays controlled but not cured as time passed the situ ation steadily worsened prompting dr janice li of the stouffville medical centre to advise immediate action she whisked me off to markham stouffville hospital and then to newmarket all responses were summed up in one word critical in recent months even weeks weve all heard criti cisms of ontarios health care system some perhaps justified but you wont arouse censure from me appointments examina tions and followups were carried through with dexter ity and skill at the same time the personal touch was never lost dr joseph minkowitz of markham stouffville han dled my cardiac angiogram dr richard bauset of southlake was my heart bypass surgeon fortunately i knew sever al close friends all of whom were willing to explain the surgery procedure in advance and its affect on them ill be forever grateful to stewart wideman jim bartley cliff dunkeld rogers gardham and others for offering me their expert ise i had a concept of what was to come regardless no amount of telling could totally prepare me for the inevitable even today as i write this column the reality hasnt set in in some ways its a dream in others a nightmare the lurid occurred two days following surgery accompanied by an orderly i entered a hallway wash room for a quick shower to my dismay the stall was soon transformed into a chamber of horrors there was blood everywhere on me around me under me fortunately assistance was immediate i was wheeled into xray hoping to determine the problem then back to my room roaming around with jim thomas everthings fine the surgeon assured itll just take a little time but i needed more i needed guarantees this promise came in the form of nurse susan a human angel who took me under her wing put your hands in the hands of god she said he will see you through without wishing to sound irreverent at that particular moment hers were the hands of god i was an emotional wreck what both the surgeon and nurse susan had declared turned out to be true by next morning the condition had cleared all was right with the world yes i still have a long way to go but every day i feel a little stronger and every night i sleep a little longer admittedly im not a pretty sight my chest right leg and groin have all the inner markings of grand central station however since im not planning to enter a charles adas contest at next falls markham fair this is no concern my diet consists mainly of aspirin prune juice tylenol and prune juice specialty servings include oatmeal porridge baked beans apples pears and oranges if im really good my host will toss in side orders of low fat yogurt low fat ice cream skim milk and cottage cheese what really hurts is the fact that for a period of six weeks im prohibited from doing most forms of house work including vacuuming scrubbing laundry and win dowcleaning digging hoe ing and raking are also frowned upon dusting arid girlwatch ing are all ok the latter my female physician warns should be practised over periods of not more than ten minutes and only after con suming liberal doses of oat meal porridge and prune juice jim tliomas a stouffville resident has written for area newspa pers for more than 50 years whats for inner from our entree freezer well be featuring doreens chicken supreme its made with chunks of air chilled chicken breasts which are poached jsbk jfflflf in white wine and served in a velvety white srm w vj cream sauce with mushrooms reg 1795 ea serves 34 off this week these are now available if youve been patiently waiting for one we have them in the 9 size as well as the individual personal size ps sausage rolls are now available as well minestrone red tato egg salad during the summer months our kitchen crew flatly refused to allow me to feature this salad their big fear was that they wouldnt be able to make enough through an ordering glich all my fault we have way too many red potatoes so this what were doing give me a hand folks and buy lots of this salad this week its really delicious too reg 109100g rice this week a long time ago i wrote what i thought was a great ad for this soup and whenever wed feature this soup id use that ad because i didnt think i could improve upon it things change and i started to get some pushback on it from the staff who called it boring so for my second try at describing this soup im going to tell you to just read the ingredient list on the back its the best reading and its far from boring reg 599 w woff 900ml jjm 11 otjr pperette these are a longer leaner version of pepperoni with a little more spark than usual we make them with pork and beef on the lean side then we hang them to dry and smoke them enough to fully cook them at the same time you need one of these hi one hand a beer in the other to keep the heat down reg 129 100g off this week lemon blueberry loaves weve made these forever it seems very often the breakfast of choice on ad writing day is one of these because the overnight girls make these and theyre the pefect texture when we get to work lemon loaves on their own are good but when you add literally a handful of wild blues its elevated to very enjoyable culinary heights m m i off reg 450 each jl j co n week well be making shortbread again starting next week in all the flavours and this the week we start with our amazing gingerbread muffins exciting times svsfi o chicken oausages with rosemary wine syrup the wine syrup we use to season these is from malivoire winery in beamsville its available in the store with a recipe card attached but our kitchen guys used some to season these sausages which came out just great a dinner sausage m hutfe extraordainairc 10 5 ib this week actually these are not square theyre 4x3 rectangles of decadence they come in many flavours as well double chocolate cream cheese brownies nanaimos rocky road squares pecan lemon coconut iced lemon and rice crispie ive made a study of these much like all of our desserts and these must be enjoyed at room temperature never straight from the fridge no matter the temptation reg 199 s f to 249 ea gg ff j this week what s happening outside just like air abhors a vacuum so i abhor vacant space out front of our store but i am assured by anne marie that stuff will be arriving momentarily that will fill the sidewalk once again keep an eye out lags v jirocer oil ality foods specials in effect until closing sundiff november 6 hours mon 1100700 tuesthurs 900700 fri 900800 sat 900600 sun 1000500 548 carlton road unionville 9401770