Terrifying Tuesday: Yemiser Wat

First I need to conduct a little business here. I'm going to take a blog link off the side. I'm not sure why, but whenever I exit Megan's Munchies and try to get into another blog, I get thrown into this weird Internet Explorer loop. I don't even use Explorer! I use the AOL software! So I'm gonna take down her link. I'm a little scared to visit her site, and that's sad because it's a neat blog. But I need to figure it out before my laptop explodes.

Okay, so last night we went international. I got this recipe through a regular on Weight Watcher's. Who got this recipe from another regular, who got this recipe from a vegan website who got this recipe from a vegan cookbook. LOL!

This is the link to the recipe. http://www.fatfreevegan.com/beans/yemiser.shtml As you can see, it's Ethiopian. Which sounds so exotic!

This is the link to the lady who created the recipe: http://www.bryannaclarkgrogan.com/page/page/579094.htm I will post more about that after I review the recipe.

recipe notes:
First, don't be intimidated by the list of ingredients. They are mostly spices. I practically had to pull out all the spices out of my cabinet - or at least a whole lot of them! Second, the recipe called for you to saute the onions in a non-stick pan. The pan I used was not non-stick, so I opted to add some canola oil. And thirdly, the recipe has a flaw - it doesn't tell you what to do with the lentils after you boil them! So I drained them, and then added them when I added the tomatoes and broth.

verdict:
One thumbs up (me), two thumbs down (the kids), and a 1/2 thumb which turned into a 3/4 thumb from the hubby. It actually is pretty tastey, oddly sweet (but I think that's due to the spices like nutmeg and ginger). Gary gave it a better rating after he tasted it with the brown rice (like the recipe calls for). I think the kids didn't like it because they are kids. It makes a huge amount. It was fairly easy to make and not hot at all. (I only used a 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes) Actually, the more I ate it, the more I like it. But I didn't have the leftovers for lunch today because I had other leftovers to eat. We'll see tomorrow...

I don't know how filling it would be as a meal itself. Because I fixed it with pork chops. Is that wrong? To fix a vegan recipe with grilled pork chops? Shhhhhh. Don't tell anyone!

I am so very fascinated with the vegan/vegetarian thing. I love the look of some of the recipes, but often wonder if they would fill me. Sometimes I fix stuff with the fake meat, or with beans or tofu (which I love), but it just does not satisfy. If you add a little meat, then wah-lah, satisfaction. Yeah, I've been reading about umami - the "fifth taste". I dunno.

Anyway, I spend too much time on the internet reading vegan/vegetarian blogs - wondering what it would be like to eat like that all the time. I get stuck on the practicality aspect. It just doesn't seem to translate into MY life. And causes me stress just thinking about it. Plus I don't have the convictions against eating meat. BUT, if I get one more cancer - I swear something has to change. Drastically. (I do not think meat causes cancer, but I do need to eat more nutritious foods)

Meanwhile, I continue to experiment with meatless recipes. I also eat meatless breakfasts and lunches (for the most part).

One side benefit that I did not anticipate - Gary's reactions to the foods. He's pretty picky. There aren't a whole lot of fruits and vegetables that he eats. He's a meat and rice man. NOT potatoes! Before Terrifying Tuesdays, he MIGHT taste something that I made that was not normal. And then pick out the offending bits. But now, he WILL taste the recipe. He realizes that the boys really emulate him, so he doesn't complain or make faces or segregate bits out of his food. And he takes an honest taste test. And I believe he's loosening up a little. The man has the pallette of a child, but maybe we'll grown him up a little. :-) I don't know if I can wait for his taste buds to dull with age.

walking again

Boy am I out of shape! For my "sport". My exercise of choice. Walking.

I have been wanting to do one of my routes for the longest time, but Saturdays have been too busy - so I chose to do it today. I wasn't really sure of the distance (didn't check it) but I knew I'd need to carry water. I'm glad I did because Mr. Sun decided to pay a visit and it turned out to be a two hour walk. It was 8.2 miles. So I guess my time wasn't all that bad considering I haven't done much walking in the last 4+ months. After about an hour my legs told me they were going to take a nap. Yeah, it's wierd how my legs talk to me. At 1 hour 40 minutes they woke up briefly. I really felt my stride - then lost it again when I was in sight of my house.

Yeah, go figure you can get out of shape for walking. I've reallly not given myself enough credit for what good shape I was in. But now I know. Plus, I was a lot thinner than I thought I was. Because when I put on the water belt - yikes it was tight!

But I'm back in the saddle. I have that want and drive to get back in shape. It's very self-esteem boosting to feel strong and fit. I will not let my stomach pooch get in my way. I cannot allow myself to think about it. You have to work out regardless of how you look (or SMELL!).

I came home starving and tired. I had planned to drink a chocolate milk (recovery food of champions!) - but I saw the tiramisu in the fridge and ate some of that instead. Yikes!

Took a shower and had to lay down before I could dry my hair. I was tired and crampy. Finally worked up the energy to dry my hair and tried to move to the kitchen to fix lunch but I was still satisfied from the tiramisu and took a nap. I just couldn't keep my eyes open. Then I made a salad and had a little leftover white chicken chili.

I really need to be reviewing the recipe for tonights terrifying dish. And I really need another haircut.

BTW, my scar is almost invisible. It's just a little raised, but not red at all. It's really quite amazing. Especially considering my history with keloids. You can see that the rash is all gone. I'm still numb above the scar line and tender at the scar.



There's the bad hair cut to deal with. My new hairdresser only works 2 days a week - so I need to get on the ball and call her. But it's time to go pick the boys up at school. I'll try later...

my new present and the end of the movie

This is my beautiful new (and early) mother's day/birthday/anniversary present! Yippee! I talked Gary into buying it for me tonight. I knew he was going to get me one (I've been wanting one for years) and have been torn between the KitchenAid and Cuisinart. I'm sure they are both equally stellar products, but the KitchenAid comes in colors and we found this one in RED tonight. Had to snatch it up. Why wait? I'll just get to enjoy it now rather than later. My first attempt I think will be hummus. Hummus is reallly hard to make in a blender. Frankly, everything is hard to make in a blender that is not liquidy.

Today I took my kids to a birthday party and saw a movie by myself. Gary was planted in front of the tv because of "The Sporting Event of the Year". The NFL draft. *yawn* The kids went on the Atlantis, which is a "submarine" ride where you can view the wonders of the ocean right off the shores of Waikiki. Very cool, they saw a shark.

Anyway, to the movie part. I went to the Nicholas Cage movie "Knowing". I made the mistake of getting a large Diet Coke. I HAD to leave the movie at the very end. I just could NOT hold it in any longer. I missed the last 5 minutes. If ANYONE saw the movie and is willing to share the ending, PLEASE DO!!!! I left after the kids "departed" and Cage was driving through the city through the chaos. No major event had happened. Did anything happen??? I NEEEEEED to know.

Terrifying Tuesdays: BBQ Salmon

The Recipe:

BBQ Salmon
1 1/2 - 2 lbs. salmon
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. fresh orange juice
2 Tbsp. ketchup
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. grated orange rind
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
1 lg. garlic clove, crushed
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. pepper

Put the salmon in a large baking dish. Whisk the remaining ingredients together in a small bowl and pour them over the salmon. Marinate at room temperature for 45 minutes or in the fridge for 2 hours. Grill or broil the salmon for about 8 minutes a swide, or until it's as done as you like it. Serve immediately.

This recipe is from the cookbook "One bite won't kill you!" by Ann Hodgman. Love the title, don't you?!

We all loved it - but we all love grilled salmon anyway - yes, even the boys. Forget that fishstick business. But, but, but...... you couldn't really taste the marinade. So, what's the point? I usually just put a ready-made rub on my salmon and a squirt of lemon which is a thousand times easier. (probably could do without the rub too!)

We also had a new french fry, it's by Alexia and is organic and no trans fats. They were good. And since I don't do the french fry thing much, it's worth the higher cost. I had read in someone's blog that the tater tots were good, but the commissary didn't have any.

And, to feed into my cookbook addiction, I went to Target today and bought the new "Hungry Girl 200 under 200" book. I'm not sure why I bought it, since there is the website, and a lot of the food is "fake". But sometimes you just need a fast to fix recipe that isn't fattening. It takes time to make everything fresh and sometimes you run out of fresh stuff at the end of the week. (I'm trying to justify buying yet another cookbook!)
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I go to get my stitches out tomorrow. I'll be glad. I think he did a great job and it'll heal up beautifully. The rash on the other hand, it's a mess. You can literally see the rectangular area where the bandage was. This picture was taken just now. So it's 6 days after the surgery. Oh, well. You can also see where they cut my hair. LOL! not a big deal. could've been much worse.

moving dates and still itching...

First the whining. So I called the derm. office - I knew the doc was out of town. Well, the nurse said that I didn't need to wear a bandage anymore - I'm not! Then, get this gem of wisdom, "use vaseline, maybe it will help soothe the itching". I take it she's never had an itch before. Then she said something about not being able to ask the doc since he was out of town for the week. ?? Don't you think the doctor would want to know when the patient is having problems? Of course, I didn't say that to her. I can't afford to alienate the person who is going to pull my stitches. She asked me who my dermatologist was (weird question since her boss is my derm!) - oh, she wanted to know who did the biopsy. My pcm. So I'm supposed to call my pcm. Not likely. Every time I think about what I'm going to say, it just sounds ridiculous. Hello? My derm. nurse asked me to call YOU to help with a derm problem. Yeah, dumb. So, I'm not doing anything. I've been putting on benedryl cream when the itching is unreal, and I may take benedryl after lunch. If I don't touch it, and pin my hair back so it doesn't tickle it, then I'm okay. That's about all I did for my itchies from my other surgeries. But I expect better info from the people who specialize in skin ailments!

vaseline, unreal!
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Now to the fun/sad stuff. Gary had his transportation appointment yesterday and we have dates. Packers come June 15/16 and moving day is the 17th. We fly out the 21st. We have the few days in there to say our goodbyes, clean the house and ship off the van. They estimate our household goods arriving in Atlanta on Aug. 13. So the boys might have started school by the time our stuff gets there.

It's becoming more real. Hard to keep denying it. I need to do something with my friends so we can say a good "goodbye" and not let the date come and go. I don't have any ideas yet.

Itching, chore charts and wedding memorabilia

Augh!!!!

I totallly forgot about my adhesive allergy and so I didn't mention it to the doctor. So naturally, by Saturday night the itching began. Just a little bit. By this morning, the itching started to be sincere. I took the bandage off before my shower. I itched all through church. You can see how red my ear is in the picture. The bandage was stuck to that little corner of my ear and it's paying the price. The rectangular perimeter where the sticky parts stuck are the itchy parts. It's also raised and bumpy. You can kinda see that in the picture. Looks like I have an acne outbreak (I've never had an acne outbreak like this!) I've been putting on some benedryl cream. I don't know if that's okay, but I've used it before for itchiness from adhesives. It kinda temporarily halts the major itching frenzy. I'm going to call them in the morning to find out what he recommends. So anyway, you can see what the stitching looks like.

I have to think of a good story to go with it. We ate at a little place we go to fairly often and the waiter asked me about the stitches and I just sat there speechless. I'm not fast on my feet and I was trying to think of something appropriate for the general public. I didn't want to say it was skin cancer, Gary suggested I say I had a little something removed - ew, that sounds gross. I'm thinking either a tragic surfing accident or an encounter with a shark. Make it outlandish enough that it's intentionally unbelievable. I figure a good laugh would alleviate any awkwardness.



Do you see those two pictures (to the left of my huge nose) that are kinda wonky? Yes, those are the same two pictures I showed here over 2 years ago when the earthquake hit and made those pictures crooked. I keep them like that just as a reminder. That earthquake happened the day before my mastectomy.
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We have set up a chore chart for the boys. They have been begging for an allowance, and it's my philosophy that they need to do chores to earn it. They sorted through books today - a keep and a 'get rid of' pile. We might have a yard sale and they will keep the proceeds on them. The living room looks a lot better! Why didn't we think of this before?
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Also in the process of sorting and tossing, I went through a bunch of old wedding stuff. I read all the cards we got and read some of the letters I wrote to Gary before the wedding. We had a long distance relationship the 2 years before we got married. (dated 3 years total - 1 year of that was engaged) I feel like a stalker because I wrote him every week. I think he wrote me every week too though. His letters to me are stored somewhere else.

I finally gave myself permission to throw some things away. Gasp! I threw away the index cards I had made that listed a name/address/gift/thank you date on each. I threw away the little gift tags. And I threw away the rsvp cards. That's a lot! Particularly for this pack rat. But we've been married almost 21 years and really, I'm not keeping tabs on who gave us what. I thanked everyone, and have used everything to death. It has all been appreciated. The guest registries are there to list who attended what and that should be enough. I kept everything that had a personal note or was from someone special.

Everything made me smile. That's why I hold on to a lot of stuff. But really, those index cards did not make me smile. All it made me think of was writing those thank you notes! Good riddance!
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edited to add for Pam's sake that on Friday, my dermatologist also called my spot a tumor! At least I had prior warning by you, so I wasn't shocked.

Pictures! pineapple and other...

This is the latest photo of my little plump beauty. Very exciting!




I've included a picture that is set back a bit so you can see the whole thing. It's tilting at a severe angle because of all the winds we've had the past couple of months. One time I found the base OUT of the dirt, so I just piled some more dirt on top. It seems to be okay. I assume it'll be okay since I assume pineapples were designed to thrive in this weather.


Warning: exit now, ye of squemish heart.

I'm posting the pics I promised. Really, they aren't bad - the grey hair is quite horrible. And yes I have spotty, sun damaged skin along with the skin cancer.

Okay, first picture is a closeup. This is not a bad pic. It's practically healed compared to how it looked in January. Back then it was a bloody, crusty painful mess. You can see the cancer is the red round patch. That is the face of cancer. Remember it. Don't ignore it if you see the same on yourself or a loved one. The brown speckles are nothing.



This next picture is just there to give you reference as to size and location.




I had the procedure this morning. It didn't take long at all. They numbed me up really good, for which I am grateful. I didn't feel a thing. I had to wait about 20 minutes and then they came back and numbed me up for the next step (and cut more hair! yikes!). He said that he got it all the first time, so he was going to close me up. He had to make another cut in the "crows feet" line (I don't have crows feet!) (okay, I have one, I see it up in the previous photo) I was told that there'd be swelling and bruising and I have to come back in a week to get the stitches out. He said he disagrees with my squamous cell carcinoma diagnosis. He said he saw baso-squamous cell carcinoma. Which he said was like a hybrid of the two. But mostly basal. Which is good, because he can say the surgery cures the basal, while with squamous I'd still have a 5% chance of recurrence or spreading. At least that was my understanding.

So anyway, this is what I look like now with the bandage. I can see a little blue poofiness beside my eye - so that will become an ugly bruise.



The funny thing was when I walked out of the office, I had to go potty and I wanted to check things out. It felt funny, like my eyebrow was being dragged down by the bandage. Well, that's exactly what it looked like! It was so odd. I couldn't raise my left eyebrow because it had been numbed up. I always wanted to be one of those people who could raise one eyebrow! I feel much more normal now. But it's starting to ache a little. I refused a narcotics prescription and took a tylenol about an hour ago. I might just regret refusing that later on tonight. Hmmm. I might have some prescription strength tylenol left over from other surgeries. I'll need to dig through my cabinets.

Lordy, I need a haircut and color - can't do that anytime soon!