AND THE DOCTOR SAYS...

I've got a mild case of food poisoning. Pretty much what I suspected the whole time. So why did I let it the symptoms go on for so long? Well, like I said, it's a mild case and pretty much like all the other sicknesses I've felt for the past little while, I thought it would go away on its own.

I'm now on a course of electrolytes (darn no Vita Coco around):
and Gaviscon for the abdominal cramps:
Plus some prescription cream for my hand rash. Just finished off this glorious platter of strawberries:
and am digging into this bowl of egg congee with BBQ pork:My dad made it with organic chicken broth so there's a little bit more oomph than usual.

I'm catching up with all my favourite food blogs (ie: all the ones I've got bookmarked which is shockingly close to 30) and then I'm probably going to lie down and take it easy. News alert: just read the ingredients on the box of my Gastrolyte and it contains aspartame ("as sweetening agent") so I will definitely not be consuming that. I'm on the search for Gatorade which we will probably not have in this house. Oh well. I hope that the almond milk I'm downing now will help replenish my fluids.

Earlier in the day I had a small handful of kale chips (yum!) and half a banana, in the car while heading to the doctor's. I'm still getting stomach upset after I eat so I'm trying not to overdo it but I have lost about 1.5lbs overnight so I'm trying to put some of that back on. I haven't really been feeling hungry though--a miracle, for sure--so it's been slow to start.

KALE CHIPS MAKE EVERYTHING BETTER

It's a little bit before 8 in the evening and can you believe that it's 27C or 81F? That's just f'ing insane. I am not down with this weather. My cheeks are red and feel like they're burning and a heat rash that began from yesterday's chemistry prep is starting to blister. Not cool. I feel miserable. I feel completely and utterly miserable. I've felt sick all week long.

I also have a migraine. No surprise there. I don't know whether it was someone's horrendous use of perfume or what, but midway through the workday, the migraine came a callin'. UGH!!!! Frustration does not even begin to explain how I feel. From the stomach cramps to the nausea to the migraines to the overall body aches--it's just plain ridiculous now. Granted, I know I'm living on "borrowed time" but c'mon, will someone just give me a break already??

Anyway, in more awesome food news, I made kale chips tonight! I followed a mixture of Kath's recipe found here and Smitten Kitchen's recipe found here. I made two batches, baking both at 300F for 20 minutes. For the first batch I used garlic salt as the seasoning and for the second batch I used ground Parmesan cheese. I would have also used fine sea salt but I just plum forgot. Actually, it was the migraine but whatevs.

After 20 minutes, I took both pans out of the oven and let them cool slightly before popping one into my mouth. Mmmm...kale chip heaven! Then I popped another and another and another. I stopped myself before my "taste testing" got out of control and let the kale chips cool completely.

Then I stored them in my trusty Christmas tin:
And of course, I noshed on a few more before heading out with my dad to print some old photos of Sean. I'm trying to get caught up on our photo albums and am currently working on September of 2007:


Check out that chippy goodness one more time:
Seriously, these are so addictive. They're so light and airy and who the hell needs the pre-packaged, overpriced crap at Whole Foods (sorry WF), when you can make your own for $1.99 a bunch? Aaaaand, even better news, the batch that I made was only half of the bunch! So I've still got half a bunch of kale waiting in the fridge just anticipating the moment they get to be turned into yummy chips.

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Elina over at Healthy and Sane is hosting a giveaway for 1 of 5 items from CSN Stores. All you have to do to win is of course, head on over to her blog and enter the giveaway! The prizes range from a cookbook holder, a crockpot (what I'm vying for), a digital food scale, a George Foreman grill or a chip and dip bowl. All fantastic prizes and one of them could be yours. Definitely head on over to Healthy and Sane for your chance to win. Also, be sure to check out some of Elina's other blog posts as she is definitely one of my top three daily blog reads.

RESTAURANT REVIEW: HOOF CAFE (PART 3)

May 1st. What better way to start the new month than a visit to Hoof Cafe? Well, heck, there isn't any! After a ridiculously early morning (I still can't believe that people get up at 6am!), Sean and I treated ourselves to a breakfast at Hoof Cafe.I already knew exactly what I was in the mood for the moment we sat down to a table in the center of the small restaurant, but as I glanced up at the menu, it was nowhere to be seen:My precious buckwheat pancakes with duck, where were you?? Instead, they had been replaced with Blood Sausage & Crepes. Hmph. A few other changes had been made to the chalkboard since our last visit in late February (for my 27th in fact). First of all, what the hell could a Healthy Salad be at Hoof Cafe, land of all that is pork? I couldn't even remember what it had replaced except for maybe some kind of pasta dish that I never embarked upon during my two previous visits. I was glad to see that the french toast with optional foie gras was still available but knew that I wasn't in the mood for that. I was intrigued by the sound of risotto of wild ramps and pancetta. Could this be something I replicate at home with the leeks sitting in the trunk of Sean's car? I then thought to myself, is this something I could order at 10 in the morning? I wavered between the blood sausage and risotto but my decision was made simple since Sean decided to go with the blood sausage.

Our meals arrived and looked fantastic, as always--Sean's blood sausage & crepe with goat cheese, a little date and brown sugar on top of the sausage.
And check out my risotto of ramps and wild pancetta with fried scallions:Both dishes at Hoof were great. The risotto had a little bit of heat due to some red pepper flakes which I think were a great addition. This was my first taste of ramps (also known as wild leeks) and I didn't really know what to expect beyond their onion-y flavour but this was quite pleasant. I was excited about the ramps now sitting in Sean's trunk!

We also got an order of bone marrow and strawberry donut holes to-go for Sean's parents but they only ended up eating two, one each. We were left with four so Sean and I split the rest: At $5 for 6 holes, I think this is the priciest foodstuffs I've ever bought. I think they might be pricier than macarons because look at how tiny they are:See, giant fingers and tiny beignets! I swear the first time Sean and I ordered these they were bigger. It seems like they keep shrinking in size or my hands are getting bigger--which I kind of doubt. Hmmm...

Hoof Cafe never disappoints. Well, except for those beignets. I really don't think I can justify paying $6 for those anymore, no matter how good they are. I could possibly replicate them at home--though I doubt I would bother trying. Plus, I'm not really a beignet-type of girl, let alone a sweets fan. They're a luxury, that they are, but would I rather indulge in something more scrumptious at Hoof? Yes. Like perhaps that Hay Ham or Pork Belly Pastrami that I have yet to try. Oh well, there's always a fourth trip.

MIGRAINE DEPRESSED

I give up. I've had a migraine for more than 48 hours now and I don't know what to do. I'd rather have any other ailment than a migraine. Give me stomach cramps that feels like stabbing pains that last hours into the wee hours of the night or acid reflux or clavicle pain (which I had this morning anyway). Just give me anything but this damned migraine. I've had migraines for more than a decade now and it's ridiculous considering I'm only 27. Almost a year ago I got together with three of my girlfriends to celebrate one of their birthdays and one of them mentioned having a migraine for the first time in their life. They told me it was a kind of pain they had never felt before in their entire life. They then "commended" me because they never wanted to experience that kind of pain ever again. She should only be so lucky. I think back to the time when I had 11 migraines in two weeks. That was just plain ridiculous.

In less than 48 hours I have gone through 3 IcyHot Patches (I thought maybe it was just muscle pain leading to a migraine), four different types of medication (including two types of migraine medication, Robaxisal and Advil XS), B&BW aromatherapy roll-on for headaches and the Magic Bag around my neck, in hopes of relieving some of the neck and shoulder pain I've encountered on top of the severe migraine. I have not been in this kind of pain in months. I honestly don't think I've felt this bad since last October or thereabouts. I'm seriously at my wit's end.

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Onto today's eats...I woke up around 1pm and while I really didn't have an appetite for anything, my dad said I should eat a banana. Not one for bananas and a little bit paranoid that I had a staph. aureus (a form of food poisoning) or salmonella or botulism (which is really unlikely) from some possibly bad chicken on Sunday, webmd.com told me that my best bet would be to follow my regular diet. So I opted for a full breakfast for lunch instead. I had two eggs (sunnyside up) with two slices of whole wheat toast, three slices of tomato (I really just wanted to use up half a tomato in the fridge) and two slices of Halloumi cheese. On the side I had a bowl of fruit (a pear, blackberries and three strawberries) along with a mug of Traditional Medicinals Chamomile with Lavender (to relieve tension and sooth a sore stomach) along with some organic 2% (which I didn't drink):That's definitely what I'd consider a full lunch. I grazed on the above for a long time though so it kept me satiated for quite some time. The migraine pretty much did me in too, so my mind wasn't really focused on food.

Dinner wasn't until five hours later. (See, the food really was consumed over a long period of time. Normally food like that eaten in a short span of time would only keep me full for about two hours, tops.) Dinner was basmati with free-range chicken, mushrooms and snap peas:After that I wanted something sweet and opted for banana soft serve but since I couldn't find the blade for the Magic Bullet, I just ate the bananas semi-frozen and also had some strawberries:Call me ridiculous, but I like strawberries when they're shaped like hearts. I'm a sap like that.

I spent the rest of the evening making Earl Grey tea muffins using the recipe from justbento.com, which can be found here. I didn't have any buttermilk so I used the milk and vinegar method. I also used vegetable oil as my fat and decreased the amount of sugar for my dad who is watching his sugar intake. My muffins were a lot more airy than the ones shown on justbento.com. I have no idea why as I was extra careful not to overmix and even decided to incorporate the tea leaves before the dry ingredients were properly folded into the wet ingredients. No matter because my dad really liked them. My batter resulted in 24 minis and 2 regular-sized muffins and I baked them exactly as instructed on justbento.com. With the decreased amount of sugar, they will be perfect with a bit of jam. I can't wait to try them out in the morning with jam or heck, even coconut butter. It's been quite some time since I've dabbled into that jar.

Now I'm sipping on a mug of hot earl grey with honey before I call it another early night. I'm hoping to wake up to a migraine-free morning since I MUST go to work tomorrow; I can't afford to take another day off work.

Oh by the way, the muffins are fabulous! The slight hint of bergamot is addicting, which I think, is why my dad loves them. I love them too. I already ate both regular-sized muffins along with three or four mini ones. I kind of lost count...oops.

FOREVER BEHIND

I'm home with a migraine today. I've been asleep for the better part of 14 hours. I just got up now because my stomach is hurting. Cramps. Horrible cramps on top of a migraine and serious neck pain. On top of that, I'm just not going to excuse myself for my lack of posts anymore. My social life has gotten in the way. Clearly hanging out with Sean is more of a priority than blogging. I think you all understand ;) Anyway, let's get caught up!

10th...Monday
First breakfast was a leftover pancake truffle:and second breakfast was instant oatmeal with the usual fixin's. Monday's lunch was courtesy of MeVaMe:Three lamb chops with my dad's leftover rice and baby carrots. Delicious! Along with some fruit: strawberries and what looks like a bunch of pear:In the evening Sean and I had plans to go to Greek town (in the Danforth area) for some good Greek food but prices were more than we had anticipated so we decided to hit up Arepa Cafe instead, for our free meal. Photos to come.

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11th...Tuesday
First breakfast was a cup of 2% milk and second breakfast was oatmeal. Lunch was half courtesy of Arepa Cafe and half courtesy of my freezer. First up with Arepa Cafe's fish empanada with guacamole:Along with a bunch of ramp and goat cheese ravioli:Fruits included grapes and pear:Dinner was ribs with some kind of Chinese veg and basmati rice:
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12th...Wednesday
Breakfast was another cup of organic 2% and second breakfast was some more oatmeal. My breakfasts have become pretty standard lately especially when I have a giant 4L bag of milk to finish. Lunch was pretty rockin' though. I had a prosciutto and cucumber sandwich on a sesame bagel from MONTREAL (!!!) courtesy of my brother who had gone there last weekend for a wedding:Along with some red lentil soup:
strawberries, grapes, apple and pear:
Dinner was a homemade combo from Famous Sam's taken to-go and eaten at Sean's house. Notice my little pickled beet at the top:
While I ate that, Sean ate this:Clockwise from top: smoked cheese (can't remember the name of it), blackberries, mustard, pickled fish, onions, carrots and capers on pumpernickel and pickled beets.

Quite a contrast, don'cha think?

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13th...Thursday
More milk and oatmeal for first and second breakfast. Nothing terribly exciting or new so let's move along, shall we? Lunch was actually more of the same fare. Montreal sesame bagel with prosciutto with cucumber slices:along with black bean soup:Fruit was grapes and strawberries:I left work early on Thursday to attend (with Sean) what I thought was Janice boyfriend's art exhibit but there was a bit of miscommunication, so it was actually an art exhibit of someone else and his part was hand-making the artbook. Anyway, I had half a Bliss Bowl from Freshii and then went out to dinner with Sean, Janice, her BF Tony and a couple of his friends. We ended up at the Harlem Underground, which I which I had taken proper photos of because the food was fantastic. I'm sure Sean and I will end up there again so I can do a proper review.

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14th...Friday
Milk and oatmeal for the morning. Luckily I had Harlem Underground leftovers for lunch. I present you with their mac and cheese:followed by candied yams:
and grapes and strawberries:Dinner on Friday was an egg and tomato sandwich that Sean made me at his house. Later in the evening we ended up watching episodes 5-8 of Glee and while watching Rachel and Finn eat pizza, we wanted some of our own so we headed to the town's Pizza Pizza and grabbed a whole medium pepperoni for only $5! Ridiculous! I can't believe how cheap whole pizzas have become. I think an extra-large was only $9.99.

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15th...Saturday
The morning was spent making cupcakes which turned out to be an epic fail. I don't know if it was the chocolate that I used (which wasn't the usual 70% Lindt) or overbeating (is that possible for cupakes? apparently so) but they just weren't cupcakes that I could present to my old co-worker as a pre-wedding batch. I'm making 100 cupcakes for her wedding in June (less than a month away!) and I wanted to show her what they're going to look like in-person, since she's only seen them in pictures.

After major baking failure, I felt kind of defeated so I really didn't want to eat anything, let alone cook anything. In the end, I'm glad I ended up cooking because I feasted on this:I planned on making an omelette for lunch but as I was cooking the onions and leeks, creativity struck me and I decided to make a kind of spaghetti carbonara/primavera. I cooked up an onion with half a leek, four shitake mushrooms (sliced) and one slice of prosciutto (chopped). While the veg was sauteeing I was preparing the egg mixture. I cracked and beated two eggs and to that I added about 1/4 cup of grated parmesan reggiano and some heavy cream. I cooked the spaghetti al dente then added it to the pan with the veg and prosciutto. I stirred everything around and then took the pan off the heat. I added the egg mixture to the pan and mixed everything quickly. You must do this to ensure that the eggs do not cook. After a quick stir I had the most glorious late lunch.

The rest of the day was spent hanging out with Sean and food included a large cup of steeped tea from Tim Hortons, fish and a half serving of sweet potato fries from Stouffville Fish 'n Chips. We also watched Sleeping Beauty, which I had never seen before.
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16th...Sunday
It was a "No Photo Sunday" instead.
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17th...Monday
First breakfast was nil. I woke up feeling a little sluggish and not really in the mood to eat anything. I had big plans for second breakfast though. Instead of my usual hot instant oatmeal, I whipped up this vegan overnight oatmeal, courtesy of Angela, from Oh She Glows. I followed her recipe here, subbing her Amazing Grass protein for the hemp one that I currenly have. Here's what mine looked like after a night in the fridge:I meant to complete the recipe with the banana soft serve part but completely forgot about the bananas I had left in the freezer. Oh well. Anyway, I realized that I don't like protein powders--any of them. They're too grainy and I can't "taste" them. I had to choke down the overnight oats and still couldn't finish it off--even after I had added juicy strawberries to the green goo. I'm going to remake them--because they were delicious and a great substitute for hot oatmeal during the hot weather--but next time, I'll skip the protein powder.
Lunch was kind of random. I made a mushroom and tomato omelette:but then also had a Montreal sesame bagel with prosciutto. Where's the cucumber slices, you ask? We didn't have any :(Sad times all around. At least there was fruit to cheer me up:Too bad this wasn't quite enough food to keep me full. I ate all that food in 30 minutes and still felt hungry. I had a cookie that was who-knows-how-old in my lunch bag and actually ended up eating it. I was still hungry after that. I had a migraine all day long and was feeling pretty cruddy and was hoping that some food was all I needed. Unfortunately, it was not :(

So after my random lunch, I felt a good dinner was in order. Actually, I just wanted some meat. Good thing, meat was on the menu! The original plan was for fried beef but the meat my dad had bought was so tender that he actually ended up making impromptu "steaks" for everyone. I used my meat in a D'Italiano Tuscan Herb sandwich thin along with some veg and kidney bean soup:along with some really great berries and a cup of tea:Great way to spend a Monday. But I also had a migraine so I went to bed hella early, 10:30 as planned.

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And now I'm finally caught up. Wow.

MOTHER'S DAY RECAP

Following a breakfast of Pancake Truffles, my family (sans David since he was in Montreal for a wedding) headed to our fave dim sum place for lunch. Since it had only been about an hour since I had eaten I was crazy hungry but the 30 minute wait helped make some space in my stomach.

The usual suspects were eaten including these pork, shrimp and chive dumplings (none for me, evil shrimp!)Tripe (I wasn't in the mood for any):Pork dumplings (which unfortunately, this place makes with shrimp, evil, evil shrimp):Stuffed bean curd (it comes stuffed with bamboo, pork, shitake, etc):
My favourite rice dish with dried sausage and sliced pork belly (so bad but so good):And baby pork ribs?We also ordered a separate rice noodle dish. I thought rice noodle with beef and vegetable meant a plethora of vegetables but they weren't kidding with the singular vegetable spelling as this is what we got:The rest of the day was spent constantly on the go. There was a short trip to the mall, a jaunt to the cemetery and then we were off to MeVaMe for dinner for four. Oh and a 60+ minute wait. Yep, that's right. We arrived 45 minutes later than my dad and I had initially planned and because of it, our wait was more than an hour long. I kind of half expected it and thank goodness for the Kashi Dark Chocolate Coconut bar in my purse. It definitely came in handy. It saved me from having to gnaw someone else's arm off--phew!

Ordering didn't take very long and once we informed our waitress that we had waited over an hour (not in a demanding way), she brought us our salads, pita and pickles/peppers pronto:I even remembered to get the dressing on the side this time and I'm really glad I did once I saw my dad's platter sans salad; his had a small pool of dressing left--blech! I got my usual, lamb chops (medium), but this time with a side of fries:

My mom got the lamb skewers with fries:Dad got the stuffed rainbow trout (stuffed with mini shrimp, mushrooms and some other "crap"--his words, not mine), with a side of rice (unpictured):And brother #2 got the schnitzel with mashed potatoes:The photos are kind of crappy and I forgot about taking them before everyone could dig in so everyone's food has kind of been dug into already. What can I say...waiting more than an hour for food does that to people.

Anyway, I was not satisfied with my fourth dinner at MeVaMe because my lamb was seriously overcooked. I had asked for it medium and there was not one sight of pink anywhere to be seen. I ate one and a half of the chops and called it a night. I picked away at my fries and ate most of them while my mom ate one of her skewers. Her lamb wasn't as overcooked as mine but it was still a little overcooked. Anyway, our waitress eventually showed up, after at least 30 minutes, to ask us how our dinner was and my mom mentioned our meat being overcooked. After checking with her notepad, our waitress offered to see if she could get the uneaten portion of our lamb recooked. Well, I was certainly chuffed. I kind of wished I had done that in the first place but I'm always a little bit afraid of what the chef might put into (or spit into) my newly-made dish.

A little while later, my mom's new lamb skewer arrived and my plate of four new chops arrived cooked to medium perfection. It was great. It kind of made up for the fact that we had to wait over an hour, that we always have to ask for our water to be refilled, that our waitress didn't come back to ask us how we were doing until 30+ minutes later, etc.

Honestly, I kind of wonder why I've been back to MeVaMe so many times but then I remember how much it costs to eat the exact same meal at another restaurant (easily $20 plus) and then realize that perhaps all the aggravation is worth it. But then maybe I just eat there because 3 out of 4 times, I've never really had a say.