Why Christmas And Surgery Don't Mix

I had SUCH a good holiday at home in Minnesota. I saw so many of my friends and family. I got to meet my new niece, Evy, and spend some quality time with my 2 yr old niece, Charlotte. I ate lots of good food. I got some great gifts for both Christmas and my birthday. It was just really nice.

Well, it was all nice except for the whole wisdom tooth extraction part.

That's right, I decided to combine my vacay and a medical procedure. WEEEE! Here's the thing -- when I started my current job last January, I compared the two dental plan options and the HMO seemed better than the PPO. (and by "better", I mean "cheaper") But what I didn't realize is an HMO plan really restricts which dentists you can do to. You can read about my experience with a local dentist on my Yelp review. Clearly I wasn't going to let these people perform surgery on my face. But every dentist in the DC metro area that accepts my HMO plan was shady or just plain awful (based on reviews)! So I looked at my options in MN - as a long shot - but found that Metro Dentalcare, a chain across the Twin Cities, in fact accepted my Cigna HMO! YES. So that locked it in -- holiday break it was.

I scheduled the procedure for Dec 23rd - to give me some time to enjoy myself at home beforehand, but to get the surgery in early enough to be fully recovered before the Jan 1 drive back to DC. Bad choice. I ended up getting dry sockets (when the blood clot doesn't form over the hole, so you have exposed bone) and didn't sleep for three nights due to the THROBBING inner-ear pain. It was reminiscent of the aftermath of my tonsil removal back in 2003, for those of you who have experienced that joy.
Finally at 6am on Christmas morning, I paged my oral surgeon who, in turn told me to increase the vicodin and take it simultaneously with the ibuprofen. Let's be honest, he just wanted to go back to bed. But that worked. Christmas day was pain-free....from what I remember. Between my sleep deprivation and narcotics, I hit really high highs, then really low lows (aka I passed out about every 30 mins). MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Oh well, it's done and over with and I'll never have to worry about having my wisdom teeth removed again. And I'm on the PPO dental plan at work this year. 2011 is already lookin' up!

I'll share more about my time at home, some pics and an AMAZING cake recipe in my next post!

Baby Nieces and Potato Pancakes

I'm an Auntie again!!!! My sister gave birth to sweet Evy Marie last week! I'm so excited to meet her when I drive to Minnesota NEXT WEEK!! She's 2/3rds the size that my sweet CharBaby (my first niece, Charlotte) was when she was born. We've nicknamed her "Baby Gigantor". :) But Evy is a wee baby and I can't wait to get her in my arms next Friday night.

Her name is very special. We called our great-aunt, Evelyn, "Aunt Evy". She was my grandma's sister and just a wonderful woman. She passed away many years ago, but I guarantee she's smiling down at her little bitty namesake. :)


Well, after that big news, some potato pancakes are pretty unimpressive, but that's the recipe I've got today. :) With the start of Hanukkah last week, I saw a lot about latkes on Facebook (which I learned is another name for potato pancakes), and learned that they are traditionally eaten during Hanukkah because "the oil for cooking the latkes is reminiscent of the oil from the Hanukkah story that kept the Second Temple of ancient Israel lit with a long-lasting flame that is celebrated as a miracle" (from Wikipedia).

Potato pancakes remind me of my childhood best friend's house. Jasmin is from Germany, so her mom tended to make different things for dinner than my mom did. So it was always fun to eat dinner at her house. (I remember how impressed I was when they busted out the Nutella for breakfast one morning! SIGN ME UP, SISTER*.) And one of the things she would make is potato pancakes. I remember loving those and always finding reasons to stay for dinner the days I knew Elvira was grating the potatoes. :) Normally, these have eggs in them, but I think the vegan version is delish and you wouldn't even miss 'em!

Vegan Latkes (Potato Pancakes)

• 

• 1 pound white potatoes, peeled (I used 4 large Russet potatoes)
• 1 medium onion, grated
• 1/4 cup flour
• Ener-G Egg Replacer equal to 3 eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Vegetable oil for frying

Grate the potatoes. Put them in a strainer and rinse under cold running water. Let the water drain from the potatoes, press them down and pat them dry.

In a large bowl, mix the potatoes and grated onion. Add egg replacer, salt, pepper and flour. Stir well.

In a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat, pour enough oil in to cover the pan to a 1/2-inch depth. When the oil is hot and shimmering, drop the batter into the oil 1 heaping tablespoon at a time and use the back of the spatula to flatten it out.

Cook pancakes until the edges brown, about 5-6 minutes. Using a spatula, carefully flip them. Fry for another 5-6 minutes or until browned on the other side. Remove from oil and place on paper towel-lined plate to drain. (I also kept a plate in the oven at 200-degrees to transfer pancakes to, to keep warm.) Add oil to pan as needed for additional pancakes. Serve with applesauce, ketchup or vegan sour cream. I prefer them with applesauce!

*Sadly, I don't believe Nutella is vegan. :(

I'm with the Bride

Busy lady!
I've had a hectic couple of weeks. Not only have I been doing a lot of babysitting (which I enjoy and makes me money, so no complaints!) and running, but I was also in Minnesota for 5 days for one of my friends' weddings. I was honored to stand up as a bridesmaid in Shannon and Ryan's wedding - alongside some of my other wonderful friends. I'm so thankful that I've maintained these friendships since high school - these girls have seen me at both my best and my worst....and stuck with me! :) Shannon made a beautiful bride and it was one of the most fun nights of my life. I'm just sad it's over!


As far as my running, things ain't lookin' as bright. I'm in A LOT of pain lately. I am fairly certain it's plantar fasciitis - so the swelling of the thick band of tissue (the plantar fascia) on the bottom of the foot. It's causing me pain in my arch, my heel, my knee -- just bad news. I tried taking a week off of running (which coincided with the wedding, when I knew my miles would be low anyhow) and it didn't seem to help at all. I still woke up every morning, barely being able to put weight on my right foot. And as soon as I started running again, same issues. The only positive thing about this particular injury, though, is once I get a mile or so into my run, the pain goes away and so I am fine during the run. It's after the run - esp the next morning - that is brutal. So I'm not worried about my ability to run 26.2, but my training is being tailored back a bit. It's always something, right?

I've been doing WAY too much take-out and frozen/boxed meals lately. So no new recipes to share. Although, I'm enjoying some homemade hummus in quesadillas as we speak. But since I didn't have pitas or roasted red peppers, I used flour tortillas and tomatoes. Always ways to make it work with whatever it is you have on hand!

Like Mother, Like Son. Wait....no.

I just have to share these pictures, because weeks later, they continue to make me laugh outloud.

I flew to Minnesota a couple of weeks ago for one of my high school friends' bachelorette party. I was able to see a lot of people who I haven't seen much since my move out east. It was a great weekend, filled with lots of friends. Here, let's take a look at some of the pictures.

I spent Thursday night going out in downtown Minneapolis with friends from my former ad agency, Carmichael Lynch:



And then I spent all day Saturday with my niece, Charlotte, my mom and my sister (ain't she precious!?):


Then Saturday night was the super fun bachelorette party with some of my favorite high school girlfriends:


Jakers - as with most weekends I'm traveling - spent his time at doggy daycare. I LOVE the place I take him. It's called Dog Paws 'n Cat Claws University (I mean, it's like going off to college -- weeeee!). They treat the dogs so well, he doesn't have to be crated at night, there are lots of staff to give the dogs love AND they get daily walks - which a lot of daycares don't offer or charge extra for. So he really is in a great place. And there are tons of dogs there, so a *normal* dog would have a blast making friends and playing with companions. Here are some pics from their Facebook page of my bundle of joy LIVING IT UP at daycare.

I call this first one "where's the party at?":


Then you have him, clearly seeking out some fun activities with the group:


And finally, making the fellow dogs feel loved and welcomed:


My sister thinks he acts this way to make me feel guilty. Which would be really clever for a canine, right? And it works. But I gotta say, it's not very much fun comparing photo albums after my weekends away.

Thus is the life of a single pet parent...

(Oh yeah, and as you can see, I dyed my hair red! I'll talk more about that in a later post!)

Never a Dull Moment

April is a crazy busy month for me. Vegas was A BLAST. I survived the bathing suit. :) Then this past weekend I flew to Minnesota for my niece's 2nd birthday party - which was also A BLAST...in a different sort of way. This coming weekend, my mom and sister are flying out to stay with me. So much going on! And with that, I haven't been grocery shopping because I can't stand to throw out produce, but I can't get through an entire bag of spinach or an entire bunch of broccoli in under a week. So, I'm making due with what I have in the house already.

Tonight I'm waiting for my roasted potatoes to come out of the oven while enjoying some delicious biscuits. I found these biscuits on another blog, through VegNews - a great magazine. They are super duper simple - I made them, start to finish, in under 15 minutes. They remind me of KFC biscuits, which I loved as a kid. I now realize KFC is an evil empire, so am glad to find a vegan and delicious replacement for their goods! Give 'em a try - they're a great supplement to any meal or a stand-alone snack! Besides, now that Vegas is out of the way, we don't have to be quite as stressed about carbs, guys. :)

5 Ingredient Biscuits

1-2/3 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup non-dairy milk

1/3 cup oil

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add milk and oil, and mix until just combined.
2. With a 1/4-cup measuring cup, ice-cream scoop, or your clean hands, drop dough onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until bottoms are golden brown.
3. Top with non-hydrogenated margarine, syrup, jam, peanut butter, gravy, or anything else that you could possibly put on bread. Devour!

Check out the Savvy Abby blog for some fun twists -- I can wait to try the garlic/cheese version of them!