nekked teef

yes, I've got them, as of Saturday, October 18, 2008.  That day will forever be branded in my brain...along w/ April 3, 2008, they day of my orthognatic surgery, and April 10, 2006, my first day at my first real job, and May 15, 2005, my graduation from Duke, ...August 25, 2008? my first day of law school?  maybe not.  I did want to quit everything and curl up into a fetal position and ask to be admitted to a hospital or a group home.But, as per usual, I digress...I should post the pictures of my buttery sheens right now.

The Close-up:

        And another w/ the essix retainers...

The debracification wasn't so bad.  The brackets popped off fairly easily and I didn't notice the first half of the lower coming off b/c I anticipated more pain.  But when the rings around the back molars came off, there was a slight stench...it's been 2 and a half years, my friends!!!

The part that was painful was the grinding away of the glue...my front teeth are sensitive and

 the assistant had to hold my tongue back b/c apparently it was getting in the way and my dentist was afraid of cutting it.  I still spat out blood and grit when they told me to brush....it was scary brushing w/out braces for the first time in over 2.5 yrs.

My teeth and gums hurt still when I brush them...it's been 3 days now.  Oh well...I'll learn, right?

I want to use some whitening strips, but my fr

ont teeth, especially the lower ones, are very sensitive right now.  Will it be bad?

Oh, and my panoramic and profile x-rays looked really good on the screen.  My chin's gotten longer, even w/out the genio.  They didn't print anything for me this time.  I wanna get a hold of my chart from my OS or my OD...I think they share the electronic records.

W/out my braces, my teeth look longer and the overall effect is an elongated lower face.  The surgery did a good bit, but w/ the braces, my lower face still looked a little on the small side (no complaints b/c it's 200% better than before!) but I was wondering if I should've had the genio.  In April was glad they didn't go for the genio b/c it would've been more bruises, more pain and more swelling.  But until this weekend, I started wondering if it would've been better.  Now, I'm 100% sure a genio would have bordered on over-kill.  My naked teeth makes my smile/mouth look longer, and adds to 

the longer jaw to make my face look kinda longish.  I have a very round face, or did, but it's now more oval, I think.  

...to be honest, I actually was motivated to post b/c I just had oatmeal, w/ gooey, melted cottage cheese and a small dash of blueberry kefir.  Soooo delicious!!!

So it was 1 packet of organic mixed berry oatmeal (from Costco) moistened w/ just enough milk to 

moisten all the oats, microwaved for 1 minute.  Then boiling water is added until it's softer, stirred and nuked for another minute.  Then a little more boiling water is added to a soft consistency and nuked again for a minute, in 20 second spurts...the top will be a little glossy-looking.  Then, about 3 Tbs of cottage cheese is thrown on top and stirred in...it gets all gooey like melted cheese!!!

I topped it w/ maybe a couple tablespoons of low fat blueberry kefir, and it was extra good, and cooled the mix down a bit for me to devour.  Yum!

What am I doing making oatmeal at 10:30 pm?  I'm on antibiotics again...I peed blood on Sunday night like the hour I got to my apt from the airport...and called student health.  The on-call doctor told me I needed to have my urine tested, either at the emergency room b/c it was like 9 pm or 1st thing in the morning at 8 am...I had an 8:30 am class and didn't feel like missing it (again, tho I had a legit reason this time).  So I went to the emergency room on Sunday night...the on-call doctor had to give me directions to it.  And was there pretty much all night...got home past 1 am.  I have a bladder infection...I've never had a  UTI before.  I'm on drugs that make me pee orange now, and the ER doctor prescribed some antibiotics called Nitrofurantoin-Macro.

But them bad boys didn't work so I had to go to student health again this afternoon.

Fortuitously, there were some med students who came to study in our library and one of them was in scrubs.  I had just gone to the bathroom and my lower back was killing me...so bad it took me a minute to stand up straight and walk out of the stall.  My back hurt last night as I was trying to sleep/read contracts, but I thought it was b/c I was carrying heavy things around.  The med students said that if I've developed kidney pain and a day and a half of antibiotics didn't make me feel better, then I need to go see a doctor again, soon.  They convinced me that I don't want to go to the ER again so I went to Student Health, called on my way and got an appt on an emergency basis, again.  

The nurse practicioner I saw today is sending my urine sample to get some lab work done.  Apparently the ER didn't really do that.  They noted that there was alot of white blood cells in my urine on Sunday, and the nurse today said she saw lots of bacteria in my urine today.  But then she said b/c my sample wasn't great today (I gave all I had, but it was only about half a cup of dark orange-brown stuff) if the lab thinks too much surface bacteria got in, they'll throw it out.  I'm now on Cipro and I'm going to have to see her again on Friday morning, and if things get worse, before Friday.  I hate this.  I hate going to the hospital/clinic...I hate seeing doctors, unless it's my OR or OD b/c I'm so used to them and their offices that it's not stressful at all.

In happier news:

I'm learning to use my front teeth...the upper ones don't work very well.

I'm scared I'm going to knock over my teeth when I brush...

My essix retainers (yes, I have both upper and lower) are squishy...and I'm supposed to wear them 24-7 for 3 months, then every night for the next 6 months or so...then every other night for the rest of my life.  And, I can't even drink warm water w/ them on b/c they'll melt, or anything other than cool water b/c it'll stain.  I'm not allowed to brush it.  So, I did what someone else said they were doing and bought some effervescent denture soak...but the water turns blue and I'm scared of having blue-tinted retainers.  :)  I think I talk funny w/ it on, but my friends say only some words are lispy.

AND, my grandmother moved to the States again!!!  We saw each other for the first time in like 6 yrs...it was sad having to say good bye again.  Her hand shakes now b/c she's had two brain surgeries in the past 10 yrs to drain abscess in her skull...then to replace the piping.  She also shrunk a little more.  

Here's my fav. grandmother and me, I tower over her and I'm only 5'2"...she's so funny; she said I grew taller since the last time I saw her...I told her how short and small I am compared to the rest of the world and she said it's been a source of pain all her life to be so short.  She understands me. :)

this time next week...

...I'll hopefully be in bed (most likely not) smiling in my new essix retainer with my slimy, naked teeth.  But I'll probably just be up trying to understand Contracts, possibly some UCC rule or frantically reading and trying to grasp the point of some long-winded case.  Or, trying to read legal methods, trying to make sure I have something substantive to say when I'm sitting in a class where the meaning has been lost on me.

but at least I won't be metal mouth anymore.  I'll miss my rubber bands.  I eat one every other day it seems.  I don't bother to take them out when I eat b/c I eat too often, and usually it's grosser to take them out, and I have no where to store them while I'm eating.

My jaws hurt more these days.  I think probably stress.  My skin is terrible.  It looks like I've been stung by every harmful bug on this planet and I've been left with welts and scars, and some sort of mini plough has run through my face and upturned the smoothness...all from lack of sleep and stress?  Maybe.  I also think maybe some of the chemicals from the surgery (now 6 months and 10 days since I went under) and all the extra doxycylcine hycate and morphine and ammoxcilin, tylenol w/ codene and other crap that was injected into me hasn't completely left my system.

I hope I won't need a splint after the rubber bands come off...I hope I don't ever grind my teeth anymore.  I hope I don't even clench, but I think I do.

I noticed today that I can stick my lower jaw out really far now...but I still bite down to the side instead of straight down.  Don't know what that is, but it's kinda annoying.

In good news, I started using my front teeth to bite into things.  It's still not perfect, and usually it hurts, but I'm trying it out on softer things.  I still can't eat stuff like nuts (unless it's slivered and on the icing of a cake so I can see that I'm eating it and anticipate it.  if it's inside the cake, then it gets dangerous).  I'm generally excited about loosing these brackets.  I still get sore, torn tongue sides and over-rubbed parts inside my mouth.  

Oh, a couple weeks ago, I test drove a Vespa...I have my eye on a yellow Vespa LX (I think that's the 50 cc one for which I won't need a motorcycle license in this state).  But I want to take classes before I purchase and if I'm going to take classes I might as well get the license and get the 150 cc size.  Those things are heavier than I thought and I'm so short that either I get custom seats or have to be on tippy-toes when not in motion and even then it can very well fall on me if I'm not careful.  I'm not strong enough or heavy enough to handle the weight.  But I really want a scooter.  I think I want that yellow Vespa badly, but it can't be my first.  It's too nice to ruin and I'm sure I'll drop it as a newbie.

  I also want to learn on a cheaper, smaller scooter...something like a Honda Metropolitan, which is also a 50 cc engine.  But that's still about 1.5 times my body weight (probably more) and although it's about 3 inches shorter than a Vespa, it may still be a bit heavy for me.  But then these are motorized vehicles and probably won't be any lighter.  I may start off w/ a no-name scooter that's small and light.

  A guy in my class told me where he got his and said I can probably find a small one to fit me.  We'll see.  I think maybe next semester, b/c I'm running out of funds already this semester and the weather's getting wetter and colder...which isn't really scaring me b/c winters are so mild here compared to Chicago.

In other news...law school is still whooping my butt pretty bad.  I have a 'practice exam' in torts this coming Thursday and I haven't gotten around to outlining for it.  And didn't even look at the practice question my professor passed out over a week ago.  And I still haven't visited my contracts prof and still fear nausea and possibly throwing up if I find my name up on the board to be called on in class that day.  My prof picks 2 ppl from the seating chart or roster per class and picks on those 2 throughout the entire class...and we're half way through the semester and I haven't been called on...I feel like throwing up just thinking about being called on in that class.  I was called on in every class but Contracts and Civ. Pro.

  I'm not too scared about being called on in Civ. Pro. b/c our prof is hilarious and super entertaining, and it seems like he harasses (in a good way) the guys more consistently than he does the ladies.  And, I read the horn book...and sometimes skim the case book and he talks about every point in the horn book, so I should be able to follow along...and every Friday, we get these clickers and he gives us multiple choice questions to "vote" on and go over the answers.  I'm getting better at it.  In the beginning I would get nervous and just choose a letter/number and send it w/out understanding the question or the answer choices, even though everything's anonymous.  But now I'm getting the concepts more and answering more of the questions correctly.

Oh, and the asian american law students association (hereafter, AALSA) finally got out the 1L outlines compilation and the only class I can use any of those outlines is in Civ. Pro.  Sad.  Not a single outline for my Torts, Contracts or Legal Methods classes.  My Contracts prof is new so it's natural that no one has had her, but my profs for Torts and Legal Methods are old timers here...I'm saddened.  I have to study that much harder now, and I'm a bad student.

and to procrastinate, I retook a dumb quiz on line on what kind of guy is the best fit for me...last time it was a tie btwn the gentleman and the geek.  this time, it's a sensitive guy...I don't know which really is the best fit for me.  I think I'm too eclectic for any stock answer to fit me perfectly.

...law school is killing me

and maybe my new jaws.

I used to do what my doctor called "cheating" w/ my jaw, sticking it as far out as I could to try to look normal/see if my teeth were going to come together.  And maybe stress is making me do that again.  I'm wasting energy being stressed out w/ my legal writing assignments and not understanding my casebook readings and just general 1L angst.  Despite the fact that I know that I'm doing this, I continue...and I noticed something last night.

My front teeth were hurting and I couldn't figure it out.  and I think it's stress-related.  I think I'm pushing my lower jaw forward, not b/c I need to, but b/c it's what I used to do to deal w/ stress before my surgery.  Before surgery, my front teeth never had a chance at touching so my teeth never hurt, but since almost all my teeth touch now (yipee!!!!) my lower teeth back up straight into my upper teeth and by my pushing my jaw forward, the pressure makes my teeth hurt.  I was actually a little excited at first, thinking that all of a sudden my wires got tight in my mouth and my braces were working really hard to that final push to debracification.  But no.  I'm pretty sure all my old dealing w/ stress tricks are now causing auxiliary issues now.

Great. so law school is causing damage to my spankin' new jaws.  Awesome, just awesome, isn't it?  I'm hoping really, really, really hard that I don't start grinding my teeth again b/c that'll be the worst case scenario, b/c I really don't want to go back to splints and mouth guards.

But this too, shall pass.  As will my 1L year and all of law school...in 3 years if I'm good and follow the plan.  ugh.  following plans suck.

But debrcification is cool!!!!  One more month and I'll see my buttery sheens (which will be turned back into bright bites in due time) all naked!  :)  I'll miss 'em rubber bands, but won't miss these metal clunkers.  ...okay, focus on notes and class now. :)

long hiatus...but good news!!!

Hey all!  I've been gone for a long time.  But in that time, a lot has happened and I've done many things:

1. Quit my job (July 18th was my final day)

2. Moved to Atlanta, GA (sometime around August 14th or 16th or thereabouts...drove all Thursday w/ parents and two cars full of my stuff, found an apt on Friday, signed the lease and moved in on Sat.)

3. Started law school

4. been back to Chicago for a follow-up w/ my OS and a adjustment w/ my OD

And, the good news is...no, not the law school part, although it should be great news...I LOOSE MY BRACES FOR GOOD ON OCTOBER 18th!!!!!  I set up a 9:30 am appointment w/ Dr. Kusnoto and he'll remove my braces and make me an Essix (sp?) retainer that same day so I can fly back to Atl w/ my new, clear retainer the next day.  :)  BIG SMILESSSSS!!!!  So I get to see him twice that day...once in the am, and then in the afternoon to pick up my retainer and get it fitted, etc.  Soooooo EXCITED!

And, my OS doesn't need to see me for 6 months this time!  It'll be March 2009 before I see him again...unless something happens and he'll hear from me.  And he said if the plate and screws in my lower left jaw keep on hurting and bothering me, he'll remove them.  I wonder if I should go for it...and ask for the upper left plate by my nose to be removed too.  I get slight puffiness about 3 times a week in the morning on my left cheek still.  I tend to think it's b/c of the plates that are by my nose b/c they were a cause of some concern earlier on...but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it!  B/c now, I get to be happy about progress, and I mean P-R-O-G-R-E-S-S! (trying singing Arethea's classic hit and filling in progress for respect...doesn't work)

DEBRACIFICATION will finally happen to me too!!!

  And right on schedule too.  I had asked him when I'll be done at my first or second post-surgery meeting w/ him and he had said 4 months.  And October will be 4 months.  :)  Very happy that this time my teeth are on time.  I was very stressed out about my teeth being about 6 months behind schedule when getting ready for the surgery.  And really, the only reason why he couldn't take my braces off last Thursday was b/c there's a tiny gap btwn my two lower front teeth, and he filed down whatever was between them little ones, some gritty hardness/buildup or braces glue.  AND, he doubled up my power chain so that it'll be ready for sure...he also said that even if it's not ready, the retainer will finish the job, which made me hilariously happy.  Yeah, I think I was giddy at the thought then and I'm giddy at the thought of losing these metal tracks after 2 years and 6 months (and a couple weeks, once the come off)!

  The only things I'll miss are the hooks that I loop my rubber bands around.  I'll miss those bands that help me find my bite.  I still feel a bit lost w/out them and start to dribble when I'm not paying attention or get excited in conversation.  I also spit a little more than normal during speech when I lose them bands.  But once the braces come off, no more bands for me, b/c I won't be getting those screws drilled into my gums.  I think I'd much rather take braces w/ surgical hooks than the option of screws in my gums...yeah, if I had to redo this whole thing and they said I didn't need braces, I'll still opt for them, just for the surgery and the post-op banding.

  So I am going to be aggressive about my rubber bands.  I have 2 half-used bags and 2 new bags to go though in the next 6 weeks...and I'm not going to be stingy w/ them any more.  Dr. Kusnoto, my OD, gave me 2 new bags of bands to last me for the home stretch but in all honesty, I've been depriving myself of them since I moved to Atl b/c I didn't bring that other new bag down here w/ me and I was afraid of running out.  So no more.  My teeth/jaws will get full-strength bands twice a day!  I'm scared of my jaws not knowing my new bite w/out them strong bands to help guide them shut.  But can't have naked teeth and rubber bands too, so I'm gonna suck it up and be big girl...at least I can be a big girl about losing my rubber band guides, even if I'm a whimpering kiddy at law school.

I'm so happy I can't wait!  I'm so excited that I can't write my Rule Explanation part of my closed memo, due at 9 am, sharp, tomorrow morning.  I have about 12 hours to get that written and do the dreaded Contracts reading for class....ugh...I hate being a 1L.

I'd rather go through orthognatice surgery again...I didn't even have to get up to pee in the ICU!  And that morphine pump delivered small packages of bliss amidst my delirium...and no one cared that I looked like an angry sea monster who got stung in both cheeks and lips by the world's most poisonous wasps.  I got pity and care instead...

...so yeah.  Law school's where I've descended to.  In one year, I'll be a 2L and I'll be happier, or maybe I'll have started an MBA program by then, or maybe I'll be learning aboriginal fly fishing in the straight of Gibraltar.  Who knows?  Life is full of surprises.

Oh, and boys still suck butt.  Not literally...well, maybe literally for some boys but that's an icky thought, esp. sitting in a carrel in law school library.  So back to my legal writing assignment.  I'd love to hear what you all are going through now, and how much progress you've been seeing, etc!

Ciao!

btw, I'm at 22.5 weeks and regaining some sensitivity in my upper teeth...right side is coming along better than the left.  Left half of the roof of my mouth still has little to no feeling and the left upper teeth are still like little lost boys of never-never land.  And surprisingly, the lower left quadrant of my jaw/left chin and lip are still not fully back.  I'm thinking that my other nerves are just learning to compensate for the possibly, maybe semi-permanent nerve damage.  I also tend to touch my upper front teeth w/ the tip of my tongue alot...w/out knowing why.  I really should stop procrastinating....:)

whoa! almost week 14!

it's been 3 months...on July 3rd. Amazing how time flies, and I think I'm about 95% back to my normal activities and energy levels. Totally psyched! I skip and run and hop around the office on occasion again. (maybe to some others' dismay)

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July weekend! Even if you're not in the US of A, hope you had a fantastic weekend. The weather in Chicago was a little chilly on the 3rd, pleasant on the 4th, absolutely heavenly on the 5th and can't remember the 6th. :)
I skipped the Taste of Chicago again this year. I probably wouldn't have been able to eat anything anyways...even my usual bag of bing cherries from the Dominick's tent. Maybe some other year. I was so close the whole time! I could look out the south windows of the office and look down at the Taste, and was in Millennium Park on Sat. but we decided to get Jamba Juice and watch Kung Fu Panda. FUN!

I don't have much to report, other than that I jump and skip and run now. I was never a good runner so that's not coming easily, but ballet has been fun, tho surprisingly, the turns are harder to get back into. Something about not being able to spot and being deathly afraid of getting dizzy for fear of falling is keeping me back more than usual. The jumps aren't as intimidating, surprisingly enough, but I also try to land very carefully through the toe-ball-heel motion as to kill any jarring up my knees and head. I also keep my tongue between my teeth to cushion and hard landings. So overall, my jumps are better b/c I'm so careful not to hurt myself.
I'm also eating ground meat and over-boiled veggie soups. Still no chicken or steak or slabs of meat or crisp veggies. It's been nearly 14 weeks! It'll be week 14 tomorrow. So overall nutrition consumption is getting better...however, in a TMI sorta way, bowel movements are not doing so awesome. I think the lack of fiber is attributing. I always forget to supplement my fiber w/ powders. It's not that I'm not regular, it's more that it's painful coming out and even difficult...and it's a lot less than what it was before, even since the surgery.
The odd part is that I'm not exactly ballooning back to my pre-surgery weight as I had expected I would once I can start ordering off restaurant menus (stuff like Shepard's pie and grilled fish w/ rice or soft rolls are what I go for). I think I gained some mass but the poundage is still hovering around the -10 lbs mark. Maybe I had lost more than 10 lbs and I was just in denial...and actually gained some back and now can read the scale more accurately so think I'm the same. I'm scared of gaining everything back. I want to loose an extra 10 lbs from now, and I think by now it's safe if I do loose some. But since I'm only 5'2", I may have to take it slow...like do it over 4 months instead of 2.
I lost my butt and I'm not happy about that. I don't know how to get it back, other than gain tons of weight but that would make me look fat and the rest of my body will also gain weight. I don't think I can keep up w/ stuff like lunges b/c I'm not a huge "exercise" person. Which is why I dance, b/c I enjoy it and it improves my posture and loosens my tight back/neck. And dancing increases my understanding of the human physiology in an organic way and helps me to appreciate the arts. The exercise is like a plus side to it...but anyways, yeah.

I'm getting ready to move down to Atlanta in August. For law school!!! I'm also on the wait-list at a school here in Chicago, which would be nice if I could get in, but it's a less fun school. On the other hand, law school is more about learning and getting ahead in that specific field than about fun, unlike undergrad, where fun/networking/friendships/social was just as important as academic pursuits and development towards a career or field. So keep your fingers crossed for me and remember me in your prayers, everyone!
As part of going away to law school, I will be quitting my job. I tendered my official letter of resignation from my first-ever real job on Thurs, July 3rd. They knew I was quitting and even knew the date, but asked for an official letter so I wrote one in about 5 mins and submitted it before heading out to the long weekend. I will miss this firm and the ppl and the contacts and the regularity...even though the regularity is fastly becoming tedium for me in recent months. July 18, 2008 is my last day here. Wow...it would have been 2 years, 3 months and 1 week (8 days, but a week is close enough) since my start date, which is a week after I got my braces to start this orthognathic correction process. I'm happy it all happened, tho I would've enjoyed more of a bohemian lifestyle for those right-after-college years. I'm glad I got to see that I'll survive the corporate world, and maybe even come out of it w/ my initial crazy spirit intact.

So that's my update. I still want to find more no-chew recipes. One of my very good friends is gonna have her tonsils removed in early August and she was told that she'll be off solids for 2 weeks!!! So I fully intend on giving her some tips on liquid foods...I'm almost an expert now, right? hahaha....


....my lower left jaw hurts right now. Like right where the metal plates are. The right side doesn't hurt at all. Making me a little concerned. It feels a little harder/larger and a bit warmer than the other side. Argg....my metal plates haven't hurt much for the past week and now this is making me nervous.

gastronomic updates

Back a while ago, when I could barely swallow the mush that made it into my mouth, I loved yogurt w/ mashed bananas and yogurt w/ applesauce…both w/ cinnamon or nutmeg or pumpkin pie spice. Well, I’ve moved up in the chewability scale and I’m living the hard, rough-and-tumble life of cottage cheese. Yes! I can now eat cottage cheese! I remember when it was like grating sand against my palate, but I’m making myself actually “chew” and it’s been a good week. I’ve chewed cottage cheese, and tho most still end up in my braces or hidden under the brackets against the sides of my molars, it feels good…like I’m eating again! That said, I think I’m beginning to regain some weight…I don’t want to. I want to loose more, to be honest, but not in the unhealthy post-major-operation way. I wanted to loose about 10 lbs more (believe it or not, I’ll still be w/in a healthy/medically acceptable BMI range).
And I’ve been feeling lots more energy…still a tad bit down from before, but I’m working on it. This week I’m def. gonna force myself to do more exercise. I do have 9 dance classes I’ve paid for at the Lou Conte dance studio home of (Hubbard Street Dance) and I’m determined to take at least 2 classes per week! I also want to squeeze in regular floor barre classes at Giordano Dance Center, I miss Fury Gold and the ladies I’ve taken class w/ for the past 2+ years. Maybe w/ more exercise I’ll feel more energetic and less…‘buggy’…don’t ask me what I mean.
I continue to have digestion issues b/c I’m impatient and just swallow food I can’t chew. It can’t be good and I def. feel ill alot after such meals. But I’m such a little bugger.

I cooked today! I finally made the minestrone that my friend passed on as her mom’s recipe. It was supposed to be a veggie-only soup but it called for a veggie stock cube and I didn’t want to use anything w/ MSG or artificial flavoring so I used 3/8th lb of lean ground turkey to help flavor the soup. It turned out to be more of a veggie-heavy stew. Here’s the original recipe my friend Jessica L. sent me:
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 large stick of celery1 leek (use only the white part)2 carrots2 large potatoes1 lb. fresh green beans
2 zucchini1 vegetable stock cube (available in the Hispanic section of grocery stores)Heat the oil in a large pot. As it is heating up (keep it at medium heat), cut the fresh vegetables in roughly 1 inch pieces in this order and add each ingredient to the pot as soon as you are finished cutting: celery, leek, carrots, potatoes, green beans, zucchini. Stir in between veggie additions. Add the stock cube and enough water to just cover the vegetables completely. Let it simmer until the potatoes are tender. Salt and pepper to taste. Then just blend it and eat!
But I sautéed a little over a quarter pound of lean ground turkey in the olive oil and b/c I had no celery, I dumped in the remainder of my legendary beans-and-grains veggie sludge slow-cooked for days. [I think I figured out why it was so difficult to eat to begin with. It’s too heavy with the aromatics—onions, garlic, celery, carrots—it’s the best explanation I’ve come up w/ so far…the others were that it was brown and mushy, and it was too much root-vegetables.] I then chopped the pre-prepped veggies into about 1-cm pieces/cubes instead of the recommended inch-pieces. And I took my sweet time w/ it all so things cooked down while I chopped and added and stirred. I also added about 1/5th of a head of cabbage that was drying out in the vegetable box in the fridge. After I covered the veggies w/ water, I turned up the heat and walked away…and returned to stir every 10 mins for about an hour until I was sure all the veggies were mushy. It smelled pretty good. I made my brother eat a bowl.
I decided to freeze a couple quart-sized freezer bags of it. I added a cube of Korean curry-block to half the soup, not enough to be like a thick curry served on rice but just enough for a good, curry-spice flavor. Before it was a hearty and clean-tasting stew and now I have a bag of curry soup and a bag of what I’m calling Vegetarian Minestrone w/ (Ground) Turkey. I can’t possibly eat a large pot of stew by myself so the freezer will help me bring it back in a few weeks. I pureed a bit of the soup pre-curry, and it was good. But I think it can be “chewed” b/c all the veggies were cooked down so much. I’m still happy w/ the results. I learned that meat adds flavor as does oils/fats and cooking ingredients in certain orders adds/alters flavors too.
So now there’s mashed bananas w/ cottage cheese, papaya w/ cottage cheese, applesauce w/ cottage cheese and even oatmeal or cream of wheat w/ cottage cheese!

I also had ETHIOPIAN at Demera in Uptown, and I couldn’t eat the drumstick in the doro wot, but had bits of the egg and had some special kitfo (well-done, w/ home-made cottage cheese) even though it was hard to eat. The injera tasted so good and the texture was great and perfect for me! I also had my fill of kik alicha and tikkel gomen. I didn’t get any misir wot…b/c we chose a 2-veggie and 2-meat combo thing. I liked Demera, but I don’t know if it’s better than Queen of Sheba. I have to give it another go w/ more ppl and order more food when I can have some tibs.
That’s my gastronomic update.

Quarter-Century Lived

Hey all,
I feel old. Quarter-century old, to be exact. Yeah. Thought I'd say something but words escape me. Wow, what a rarity. But worry naught, verbiage will visit me again soon.
I wanted to go down to the farmer's market in our building's plaza today to buy some eucalyptus for my new office to mask the icky new varnish smell from the new furniture, but I was literally slammed w/ too much work today. Yesterday I was blowing imaginary bubbles and trying hard to look busy and today I didn't sit for 10 minutes in silence. I was constantly asked to come look at something, called on to update the progress of projects and start new indicies and given advice on future choices. Wow, it's been a full day at work. But I don't even have a slice of cake or a scoop of ice cream to welcome me into the second quarter century. I've been given a few cards...including the mandatory birthday card from the Chicago office head, P. Suse...and several dozen facebook wall scribbles and messages and e-mails.
I have to go to a DCC meeting after work...they may want to buy me a drink at the bar we'll go to post-meeting. But I sorta want to go to my first movie night at the residence of some boy I do not know yet, but I know other regulars of the movie nights and I'll go meet the host boy and see my dear friends. I hope this isn't an omen about how my life is going to be for the next 25 years...full of busy work and unmanageable and unpredictable projects. I hope it'll be more fun and relaxing than the first 25 years have been...at least I'll have functional teeth and jaws to work with!
I was not planning on really celebrating my birthday this year b/c I thought back, and in the past it's always over some great food. And since I can't really eat, there's no point...but at the request of some friends, I'm planning my own b-day dinner. I want Ethiopian, and I want a bunch of my gals to come together...I haven't restricted it as a girls' night yet, but I may. I don't know of any guys interested in coming to my b-day dinner anyways. And Tigist says she knows of a new place that's even better than the Queen of Sheba and I'm eager to try it out! :) And hopefully they'll roast some coffee beans when we're done and let us waft the aroma and drink mini tasses of sweet Ethiopian coffee.
That's my wish. I asked my parents to take me to Sweet Tomatoes for my birthday and my mom refused. She said, "and pay for a buffet when you're going to drink broth and can't touch any of the salads?" I retorted, "I'll eat the soupy parts of the soups and some of the breads and some of the pastas!" And my dad chimed in, "you can go have the frozen yogurt." Then he digressed to new Red Mango locations opening around Chicago and the suburbs. I want to go try it out...I just want some cake and ice cream. It's my birthday, afterall.
-Grace