I don’t want to sound whiney but fact is fact. It is not that difficult to prepare two meals and specially brewed drink for a cancer patient. But it is a bit stressed out when I also need to prepare meals for my own kids. If I can help it, I don’t want to overly stress myself and we normally tapau or go out to eat. But it won’t be fair to stop cooking altogether either. The problem is the number of stoves I have, i.e. occupied with the slow boiling of the meals and drinks. Sometimes, I use the slow cooker and sometimes I use the stove, hence, I have lack of space for regular meals.
There was this one day when my family was ready to go out for some pasta and western foods but it rained cats and dogs. My son was already craving for creamy pasta. So, in between cooking the ‘cancer meal’, I squeezed in this recipe.
I have some leftover corned beef and thought it will make a nice bolognese pasta sauce. I fry some chopped onion and garlic, add in the corned beef and some chopped tomatoes.
Then, I lay the sauce at the bottom of my casserole. I boiled some farfalla shape pastas and pour it on top of the corned beef/tomato sauce.
Then, I boiled some cheese filled sausages and make a cream sauce with lots of cream and milk. Pour it over the pasta. I grated the cheddar and mozarella cheese and was about to pop the casserole into the oven to make a pasta bake.
But the kids were already screaming…”Ma….we are hungryyyyy….we are starving to death…..How long are you going to take?”
Since I had boiled everything through, including cooking the sausages and boiled the milk and cream, I decided to forget about the extra touch of baking the cheese to make it melted and brown. I just shoved the whole casserole to them and no one notices that the dish is supposed to be a pasta bake. They gobbled everything, so who cares if I missed a step?
That’s why it is call my stressed out pasta. I am totally stressed out! It is the school holidays now and that means, an extra meal to prepare/find for them to eat. So if you don’t see anything special on all my food blogs, it simply means that I am still honoured with taking care of my relative. I do not mind doing it but there were days when I feel am not contributing much and there are days when I know they couldn’t do without the meals. It is a roller coaster ride, emotionally.
Hm your experience reminds me of my mom. Well, the only difference is she had to cook for the cancer patient because no one else is cooking 😛
Try boiling some beef tendon for ur relative. I heard its usefull because it replenishes the loss of protein (body cells) due to cancer. You cannot boil it over high fire else the nutrient will be destroyed. Its suppose to be a concentrated soup.
Actually if your relative can afford she should try Amway products. Not that I am the sales person but from what I heard is our body will never get enough nutrient through food, so supplement is need. But be careful because not all vitamins or minerals are good. Some actually encourages the cancer to spread even more :S
Hope this helps.
nooo…i din put that smiley!
Jian – It’s ok, it puts a smile on my face. Actually…I tried the beef and they were pretty ‘taboo’ about beef being toxic. On the first day I gave him, with their approval of course, he needed morphine. So, I have stopped making beef altogether. Now, he is refusing foods so I am temporary lifted off my duty. 🙂
hang in there! you’ve been doing a really great job, cooking special foods for a cancer patient (with sooo many taboos, this kenot eat, that kenot eat) . on top of that, cooking for your own family as well. it takes a lot of time and effort which many people don’t realize. your family is lucky to have you. 🙂
Omg!!! You have to get the person eating ASAP!!! Health deteriorates because the person is not eating. That’s when the cancer kicks in more :S
I wonder if the method in Desperate Housewives works…Neh, the episode where Lynette battling with cancer. Her mom drugs her food just to get her back into eating…
It’s easier said than done 🙁 How many ppl can actually be positive at times like this? But if the person could actually do it, they could be still in the long run for the better. Good luck!