A Bird's-Eye View

Today, I was talking with some of my co-workers about a bird's nest that was made right outside our window. There was a mama crow guarding her eggs and relaxing in the cool shade. That little bird reminded me of a incident that occurred a couple weeks ago.

I was riding the 66 bus downtown to catch my transfer when I got off at Stewart and
9th. I proceeded to walk down the street, passing a huge group of people waiting for their buses. I looked down for literally 2 seconds to change the song on my iPod and when I looked up, a pigeon was coming straight towards my face! There was no time to react! The pigeon flew straight into my forehead!! I began to scream and wipe my face off frantically. Everyone at the bus stop starting laughing and pointing at me! After I stopped freaking out, I looked down to see the little flying rat that hit me and to my surprise, it was totally deformed. One leg, one eye and missing more than half of its feathers! GROSS!!! Needless to say, that was extremely embarassing and I will now keep my eyes forward downtown : )

The power of poultry

As a vegan, I very rarely have meat in our house. But I have noticed that when I decide to cook chicken, the dogs turn into addicts. They immediately smell the chicken and flock to the kitchen where they begin to stalk me. Even after the meal, they attempt to knock over the trash can and get into the chicken bits. Basil will stand on the kitchen rug for hours hoping that maybe, just maybe, a piece of chicken will magically fall onto the floor. I guess that is just animal instinct.

Reality Check

Let me start this post by saying how much I love my brother. He is the most caring and gracious person I have ever come across. He gave us the biggest scare on Friday and I will never forget how I felt.

I started my Friday kind of bummed out because I wanted to take the day off and go to the ocean with K and S but someone already had the day off. Things were super crazy at work in the morning...so I was all over the place! I was on the phone with a patient when I noticed my mom was calling my cell phone. I figured I would let it go to voicemail and call her back after I finish up with my patient. I then noticed she sent me a text, 911. Something was seriously wrong. I immediately called my mom back and she was screaming and crying something about my brother. I told her to calm down and tell me what was happening. She told me that Ryan (Yes, I have two very important Ryans in my life) was in an accident. He apparently had fallen off a 15 foot roof at a jobsite he was working and was unconscious and in route to Harborview. A wave of panic flowed through my veins. I told my mom to calm down, there is nothing she can do right now. I dropped everything at my desk (I even left my computer logged on, lights on and the phone on) and ran over to my boss and told him I was leaving. My fantastic coworkers swooped in and covered me.

I think it took me all of 2 minutes to get to Harborview from south lake union (I don't even remember driving). When I parked, I decided to call his girlfriend Heather. She was very upset and told me she needed to come down there. I flew to the ED and immediately demanded to see my brother. The lady told me that he was still on his way...I couldn't believe I beat the ambulance!! While I was waiting, I started to get my brother registered with Harborview. She was impressed by how much I knew about him! I knew just about everything besides his blood type! (Thank you, Thank you). I felt my mom walk into the ED and got up and hugged her. Right when she walked in, the social worker called my name, he was here, FINALLY. The social worker took us back to see him and as we walked towards his room, there were about 20 medical staff running around in the room. We started to panick and the social worker said that a trauma just came into his room and we needed to wait a little while longer to see him. I was happy to wait because I was relieved that wasn't him.

As we were escorted to the waiting room again, I notice Heather had arrived. We hugged and I told her what we knew. The social worker promised us that we could see him now and that he is awake and talking. As we approached his room, I braced myself for the worst. I needed to be strong for him and my mom. The curtain was closed and we could hear him screaming "Owwww!! OWWWWW!!!" My mom started to cry... Finally they let us in. He was strapped to a back board with a neck brace on. I rushed to his face, he was awake. I began wiping his tears with my hands and telling him everything is going to be fine. He looked up and me and said "Jess...your freckles are coming out already." This totally made me cry! My mom and Heather said hello and showered him with kisses. He repeatedly thanked us for being there for him (like we wouldn't). He is always thinking of others.

I did my best to make him as comfortable as he could be. He was so concerned about work and demanded that he finish his job. He didn't want to create more work for dad. I wetted his lips with water and dusted all the dirt off of his face, the whole time never letting go of his hand. He is absolutely SCARED of blood and needles so this was an experience for him. The RN needed to take 3 different hemoglobin draws to determine if he was bleeding internally. This could not be done by IV, it needed to be different pokes. He was brave through the whole thing, I tried to comfort him and distract from the anxiety of the draw. Soon, dad arrived. I don't think I have ever seen my dad so upset in my life. He kissed my brother and let him know everything was going to be ok at work and that he shouldn't worry.

Finally, he was ready for his imaging. My family (and hopefully him) wanted me to go with him because of my radiology experience. First stop, CT. He started to get nausea because of the morphine...I told what to expect and what to speak up about. The techs let me go into the control room while they scanned him. THANK GOD I payed attention while in CT! After every scan (head, cervical spine, tspine, chest, abdomen, pelvis) everything was looking ok. RELIEF! Next stop, general xray. They tortured him by adjusting his arms back and forth (he was complaining about his L collar bone the most). The RN came in a gave him more morphine to make it through...he did great! I looked through all the imaging and didn't see anything! Could my brother have fallen that far and done nothing to himself??

We return back to the ED from imaging and it is just me and him. Still holding hands, he begins to talk about what happened. Apparently, he remembers starting to slide down the roof of the house, panicking and thinking "OH MY GOD!". He doesn't remember hitting the ground, or the ladder (which was on the roof) fallen on him. The poor thing. My family comes back into the room, including Ryan (husband). We are then greeted by the admitting clerk. Admitting?? We haven't even spoken to the physician! We requested her to find the physician and figure out what is going on. Shortly after, the attending walks in and tells us the situation. Ryan had broken the bone under his collar bone, bruised his L lung and the fall created a pocket of air between the chest wall and lung that they needed to watch. This pocket could increase and might collapse his lung. Scary.

He is finally looking a little more relaxed and doped up. I had to go back to work and close everything down for the weekend. It was so hard to leave him...I wish I could have just curled up next to him on the bed. I told him my plan of finishing up at work, going home to change and eat and coming back down. He seemed ok with that.

Later, I arrived back at the hospital to find my brother alone in his room, throwing up and scared. Apparently he had told his nurse that he was sick and was paging her over and over again with no response. Throwing up certaining hurt him because of the broken bone. He finally decided to use the morphine machine and was a little more happy : ) He is now comfy at mom's house and has had several guests. I'm so glad he is ok. I don't know what I would have done without my little brother. He is such an important part of my life. I love you Ryan

My stab at Creole Food

Because my classes were in full swing, I decided to make a large dish that we could eat off of for the week. After going through my recipe books, I noticed that I have never made creole food. I love spicy and tangy food, so a recipe for Vegan Jambalaya sounded delish (Kate-I coined your word). It turned out AMAZING!

1/2 cup Earth Balance
1 cup vegetable stock
1 1/2 green bell peppers, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
1 large tomato, chopped
1 cup mixed fresh seasonal vegetables, cut in chunks
2 cups tofu, tempeh or seitan
2 tsp seasoned salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbs. vegetarian "chicken" flavored powdered seasoning
8 cups cooked brown rice
1 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup chopped scallions

In medium pot over low heat, melt margarine. Add stock, peppers, onion, tomato and mixed fresh seasonal vegetables. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Add tofu (or tempeh etc.) and seasonings; cook 5 more minutes. Stir in rice and tomato paste; continue stirring until mixture is thoroughly blended.

Serve hot garnished with carrot and scallions and crusty french bread or even cornbread. Makes 10 servings of about 1 1/2 cups each.

Bacon Wrapped Bay Scallops

So for my dad's birthday, he requested I make Bacon Wrapped Bay Scallops. At first, I was a little grossed out by the idea of wrapping an animal with an animal but my dad really wanted this dish. I put my bias on the back burner and started making the dish.

Prepping the scallops was easier than I though. They were extremely slimy and fishy smelling but after rinsing them, they were easy to work with. I cut the large scallops in half then wrapped each scallop in a half a strip of bacon and secured it with a wooden toothpick. I used hickory smoked bacon for a bolder flavor.

Next, I sprinkled the bacon wrapped scallops with a little salt and pepper and added a touch of butter to both sides. I then arranged the scallops in a deep baking dish. I then sprinkled chopped yellow onion, parsley and green peppers over the scallops and drizzle them with with EVOO (extra Virgin Olive Oil) before broiling. Them turned out amazing!!

12 large sea scallops (cut in half)
12 pieces of bacon (cut in half)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp lemon pepper (optional but gives contrast to the hickory bacon)
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 cup EVOO

Bake at 425 degrees turning once for 20 to 30 minutes or until done! ENJOY!!

My first blog

Well Kate. You win. I'm starting my first blog about a few of my favorite things in life: Cooking/Baking, Friends, Family and training for the STP. As you know, I live a vegan lifestyle. But recently, I have decided to starting cooking a few meat dishes for my friends and family. I'm very lucky my husband eats vegan at home but sometimes, I think he deserves a nice meat dish.

Throughout my blog, I will include pictures and recipes of my food. Almost every recipe is an experiment! I hope you all enjoy!