GIVEAWAY: V8 SOUP!

Hi!

Recently I was contacted by Campbell Soup Company about a *new* Campbell’s V8 Soup, Garden Vegetable Blend. In addition to a couple samples of soup, I received a pedometer, a health log, and a grocery bag!

Campbell’s Garden Vegetable blend is rich, loaded with tons of veggies, and only 120 calories per serving! What I love about this soup is how much it didn’t taste like it was out of a can or box – it actually tasted homemade. I did toss in some fresh spinach for picture purposes.

Nutritional Highlights:

 

• 120 calories per one cup serving
• 3 g dietary fiber
• 5 g protein
• 30 % daily value of Vitamin A

I really love soup, its filling and warms me up! I absolutely loved this soup and I bet you will too! Thank you so much for letting me try it, Campbell’s!

Now you have the chance to try it too! Campbell’s Soup Company is offering a Sweet and Fit reader a gift pack of the garden vegetable blend soup, pedometer, health log, and a shopping bag to take grocery shopping.

Here’s how to enter the giveaway:

• let me a comment about our favorite soup
• link back to this giveaway (and leave another comment)
• add me to your blogroll (then come back here and leave me a comment)

Giveaway ends December 4th at midnight =)

 

 

PS – Anybody from Pennsylvania? 

Foodbuzz Festival: GreenLeaf Warehouse and Farewell Brunch!

I can’t believe Its taken me an entire week to recap the jam-packed fun weekend at the First Annual Foodbuzz blogger festival in San Francisco. Over the course of the weekend I took almost 300 pictures! Not hard to believe considering how much food there was to eat at every single meal =)

Where did I leave off??? After the afternoon taste pavillion, Ashley, Quinn, and I went for a bit of shopping before getting ready for dinner. Once we got back to the hotel, we realized we probably won’t be able to catch the bus to dinner – so what did we do??? well, Danica got us a limo! Yes, thats right! Danica is seriously one of the sweetest people I have ever met – I can’t thank her enough!

left to right: Danica, me, Janetha, Quinn, and Allison

here we are outside the GreenLeaf Produce warehouse, left to right: Danica, Allison, me, Quinn, Ashley, & Janetha

GreenLeaf was full of gorgeous fresh produce – including a wide variety of mushrooms! This was a really interesting location to host the dinner – interesting, but really prefect when you think about it – this way all the produce is guaranteed to be fresh and local. The menu was korean-inspired and incorporated a lot of veggies from local farms.

Once the other bloggers arrived, I took the opportunity to talk to some of my favorite bloggers =) I finally met Tina of Carrots n’ Cake, she is an absolute sweetheart and an amazing blogger – she won not one but THREE foodbuzz blogger awards that night! congrats!

I also had another chance to talk to Brittany of Eating Bird Food – who was a Nature’s Bread ambassador from her award-winning recipe: Healthy Veggie Stuffed Hummus Sandwiches

Course 1: Ahi tonnato on pain de mie with gochukaru and parsley.

the first course was paired with 2008 Ca’ del Solo Albarino

there were roughly about 250 place settings for all the bloggers at the dinner – we sat with the other group of healthy living bloggers at the event

Course 2: Mushroom dashi, maitake, shimej, enoki mushrooms. I loved this course! Dashi I believe is a type of mushroom broth, which was poured over a mixture of fresh mushrooms – amazing!

After the mushroom soup came this beautiful dish of Udon, grilled Monterey calamari in a browned butter ponzu reduction, cucumber, kaiware, frisée & yellow pear tomato with chojang & sesame vinaigrette; paired with 2007 Le Cigare Blanc. I tried this dish with an open mind because the only type of calamari I have truly been able to appreciate in the past was deep-fried. I loved the combination fresh calamari with chewy udon noodles. This is also one of the first spicy dishes that I loved too!

Course 3: Salmon baked with dashikombu, fried garlic, and japanese curry powder. The salmon was so fresh and didn’t taste the slightest bit “fishy”. It was also served med-rare, which surprised me at first but after trying it, I realized it was prepared just right.

served with the salmon in the third course was a mushroom risotto with koshihikari rice, crispy maitake mushrooms. Now this was amazing! The crispy mushrooms on top were like candy – I never thought I would say that about a mushroom.

  

Course 4: Soy braised beef cheeks and oxtails, baby carrots, and fingerling potato, OB Beer and denjang demi. Usually red meat is not my thing – at all, but in spirit of trying new things and learning to appreciate various cuisines, I tried this dish with an open-mind. Once again, to my surprise, the meat was very tender and tasty. This was a twist on the traditional meat and potatoes dinner, now if only all dinners were this decadent!

to go wth the beef cheeks and oxtail were these roasted brussel sprouts, ponzu fried garlic, guanciale, bonito flakes – paired with 2005 Le Cigare Volant. This was probably my favorite dish of the night, the brussel sprouts were incredible, I don’t know how they did it – I have never been able to do a justice to how tasty this veggie can be.

Dessert Course: Koshihkari rice pudding, cookie crumble, and warren pear; served with 2008 Vinferno. After all that, can you believe there was still dessert?! I loved the cookie crumble and warren pear, but I didn’t like the rice pudding itself – I guess I expected it to be sweeter. The pear on the otherhand was from Frog Hollow Farm – no wonder is was so delicious!

afterwards, we all headed to Hotel Vitale, some people celebrated their awards that night with more dessert and drinks, I got treated to a really good chai tea + soy from Danica and Jay…umm, I think it was my turn to treat them!

At that point I was in a serious food coma, I mean all the courses were ridiculously amazing – so much that I couldn’t stop eating, seriously it was crazy! So how do you get over a food coma?? what did we do the next morning? eat again, of course! (hehe, not seriously – but, yes, there was a farewell brunch the next morning)

We headed over to Lulu restaurant for brunch, which was sponsored by Nature’s Pride.

What better way to start your morning than with vegetable juice – in a bloody mary that is. I didn’t have one, but there was a bloody mary bar at the brunch, sponsored by Skyy Spirits.

First up at the breakfast buffet was Panzanella with Nature’s Pride 12-grain & Country White, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, olives, baby lettuce, & Kerrygolf Iverina cheese.

Next, I spotted a Pear and Bleu Cheese Salad made with Frog Hollow Farm Pears, frisée, walnuts, champagne vinaigrette, and Kerrygold Bleu cheese

my breakfast plate: Panzanella, Pear and bleu cheese salad, and a slice of mushroom fritatta. I also had a frog hollow pear =)

whew! what a crazy busy weekend! It wasn’t over yet, this concluded the foodbuzz sponsored events for the weekend – but the girls still went out shopping in the afternoon. Overall it was an experience I will never forget. Words cannot describe how thankful I am for everyone who made this weekend possible and also to everyone who made it an unforgettable experience – Thank you!! <3

xo,

Jasmine

Foodbuzz Festival: Taste Pavillion

After indulging on Friday night, I was very excited when the other girls suggested going on a walk Saturday Morning. There were so many hills! I really should have thought about that before setting out to go for a walk with girls that run all the time!! My legs were hurting! keep in mind I’m not well enough for physical therapy yet, so walking uphill was like an intense physical therapy session for me! whew!

Later that morning Janetha, Quinn, Allison, Ashley, Danica (+ her hubby Jay), and I headed off to the ferry building for breakfast and to walk around the market. By the time we got the breakfast, there were only grapes left – fortunately I was still stuffed from the night before so I just figured I would wait until lunch.

Janetha and I came across this big cuddly dog at the market, her name was Luce or Lucy??

\

The dog would just roll over so Janetha would rub its belly – too cute!

At the market, we saw a lot of different interesting vendors. This asian-inspired tea/potsticker stand caught our attention…

Danica was sweet enough to buy some potstickers to share.

  

I came across a place that only sells MUSHROOMS!!! one of my FAVORITE foods!

there were various types of fresh and dried mushrooms, I was very close to bringing some home with me.

I wish I could have spent more time at the farmer’s market, but it was time to go to an Olive Oil Tasting with chef Mark Tuophy!!! He even has his own blog called frontburner – LOVE IT!

Once seated, I spotted a bottle Olio Nuovo, Fresh California Extra Virgin Olive Oil, a good house olive oil (I was told). Each person who attended the olive oil tasting received a bottle to take home!

We tasted six difference olive oils… from all over the world: California, Spain, Italy, and France. I learned that most olive oils are made of a blend of more than one type of olive.   I was able to decipher some different flavors in the olive oils, including grassy, peppery, and fruity.

1. a mild tuscan blend
2. from CA, Oilio Nuovo
3. from Spain
4. Olio Verde from Italy, made from black olives
5. from Provence, South France, a blend of 4 olives
6. another blend of 4 olives

Do you know the right way to taste olive oil? …Swirl, Sniff, Slurp, and Swallow!

It was really interesting to learn so much about olives and olive oil – did you know that the United States only accounts for 5% of the world’s olives? Most of that being from California.

Next, a big group of bloggers walked over to the afternoon Taste Pavilion for even MORE tasting…and, oh yes – lunch!

ready for lots of delicious pictures???

Fuego with beautiful seafood ceviches…

Vibrant Flavors with maple bacon pretzels!! the flavor of these were seriously incredible! They also had some dry dips, I wish I had gotten a chance to try them as well.

As most people know, I am a sucker for sweets – which explains why I gave up a career in medicine to go to pastry school!! So its no wonder that I spent most of the afternoon checking out the sweets/chocolate!

Gateau et Ganache – available for sampling was their La Passion bon bon, white chocolate ganache blended with passion fruit purée, enrobed in rich, dark chocolate, completing the balance between sweetness and acidity. … sounds amazing, huh? It sure was! There really was a perfect balance of denseness, sweetness, and most importantly flavor. Later I found out they also make handmade marshmallows in a variety of unique flavors, including pumpkin spice – I feel like I missed out! There was just so much food and samples available to try that it wasn’t possible to try everything.

Au Coeur Chcolats with Caramelized Hazelnuts and Almonds. How beautiful are these?! soooo good too! yes, I just called caramelized nuts beautiful =)

  

here is The Ultmate Peanut Butter Candy Bar by The Bon Bon Bar – once you try this, you’ll never want to try a Reese’s again!

NeoCocoa with Creamy Apple Wood Smoke Sea Salt with almond butter truffles! These were so incredibly smooth and creamy, they didn’t have that hard outer covering – HEAVEN!

Then, Danica and I found her favorite baker, Annie the Baker that is! for those that love cookie dough more than the cookie

I tried one of her Toffee Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies – it was like a ball of cookie dough melting in my mouth. I just looked on her website and realized that I can’t order them! But it looks like you are in luck if you live in the San Francisco area, Annie the Baker dough balls are available at two farmer’s markets.

Madécasse chocolate in 63%, 67%, 70%, and 75% dark madagascar chocolate…

amazzzzing smoooooth and creamy chocolate – the difference between a really good high quality chocolate is one that doesn’t become grindy/sandy when you eat it – this is definitely one of the best!

delicious gluten-free snack mix/granola from Karmic Health. They focus on products for people with specialty diets such as gluten, dairy, and casein.

  

Then, it was time to go to the White wine tasting, where I tried four different sparking wines…my favorite?? #3, I can’t remember the name, but I do know it was about $45/bottle

   

Lastly, I came across a table from Frog Hollow Farm, a 133-acre organic farm in Brentwood, CA. I spied this flyer about their 2009 Olive Festival with a Thomas Jefferson quote on it, <3 Virginia

I tried a piece of their fresh pears – oh my goodness! soooo fresh, juicy, and flavorful!!! In addition to pears: Frog Hollow Farm produces 25 varieties of peaches, nectarines, cherries, apricots, pluots (!), plums, and grapes !

I also tried some of Frog Hollow Farm’s granola – which was very good!! This had to be the best granola I have had in a veryy long time, if not ever.

I had such a wonderful time at the Afternoon Taste Pavillion – it was like a playground for foodies. Thank you so much foodbuzz! This has definitely been an experience I will never forget!

next up: Dinner on Saturday night and Farewell brunch

PS – sorry it has taken me a long time to post the recaps from this past weekend, I have been in treatment all week and just feel wiped out! I hope to get my energy back soon enough though!

Foodbuzz Festival: Part 1: Cocktail Party & Street Fare

Hello! I am still recovering from an incredible jam-packed weekend hosted by Foodbuzz – The First Annual Foodbuzz Blogger Festival . This weekend went by sooo fast – I feel like by the time I got there and was adjusting to the time change, it was already time to leave.

I stayed at the Wyndhym at Canterbury in San Francisco with Danica (+ her hubby), Ashley, Allison, Quinn, and Janetha – but not all in the same room! thanks to Danica, she is one of the sweetest and most generous people I have ever met. Barely ever having talked to Danica before, she offered her timeshare to us so we wouldn’t have to pay for the hotel in San Francisco. Danica and her husband, who was just as sweet and friendly, are also coming up on their first wedding anniversary this month! Congrats!

I was supposed meet Ashley at the airport to take a cab over to the hotel together, since her flight was scheduled to arrive an hour after mine, but it was cancelled due to “technical difficulties” and she didn’t arrive until 11 pm! I made my way over to the hotel and with the help of Allison, Quinn, and Danica – I checked into this amazing room, the hotel was BEAUTIFUL!!! It even had a little kitchen – perfect for food bloggers =)

Allison, Quinn, and I checked in with Foodbuzz at Hotel Vitale, where we picked up our name tags and amazing swag bags – which were filled with amazing goodies, including spatulas, espresso beans, a cappacino frother, a knork (!), olives, pesto, and sooo man other great things – I’ill post more pictures soon.

Afterwards, we went back to the hotel to get ready for Cocktail hour at Hotel Vitale. Danica’s husband, Jay, was nice enough to drive us all down to the hotel. arrived to this beautiful view.

I had a great time chatting and getting to know Danica in person – after spending some time adjusting our cameras, we mingled with some other bloggers and checked out the food/drink offerings.

I didn’t get anything to drink, but I think Danica tried one of their featured cocktails from the Skyy bar.

I got to meet some bloggers and then we headed off to dinner – San Francisco Street Food Fare.

First stop – Mission Minis…

adorable mini cupcakes in a variety of flavors, including Ruby Red Velvet, Pumpkin Spice, Chocolate, and Swiss Almond Coconut.

Kath, Danica, and I decided to share a few different flavors so we could try them all – they were amazzzzzing! My favorites were the Red Velvet and Pumpkin Spice.

Throughout the night, I also managed to try BOTH the vanilla bean and coffee organic ice-creams from Straus Family Creamery. I loved the vanilla bean specks in the vanilla flavor, but the coffee was my favorite.

Then, I came across tasty tacos from Tacolicious – I tried a couple bites of this braised beef taco, and believe me – its even better than it looks.

One of the really popular items of the night were these mini pies from Pie Truck. I tried part of this *hot fresh-out-of-the-oven* Steak and Gruyere pie, and oh my goodness was this delicious! They even have a blog too.

Another really popular item was this Porchetta Sandwich from Roli Roti – Gourmet Rotisserie, they had the longest line of all the places that night! It was obvious that Roli Roti really knows what they are doing when it comes to rotisserie and and making incredible sandwiches.

Another one of my favorites of the night was from an organic, vegan, and raw restaurant and caterer called Alive. I tried a bite of their lavender blueberry cheesecake – can you believe this is raw?!?!

Flaxseed flatbread with cashew cream, tomatoes, & avocado and the other with a raw marinara basil and olives – wish I could find something like this in a restaurant near me, I just loved how crispy, light, and flavorful there are

salad of red & golden beets – cooked perfectly! I even convinced Allison to try it, I think she changed her mind about beets =)

The most bizarre thing tried was a raw oyster! can you tell it wasn’t my favorite item of the night?? I still tried it with an open mind though!

best part of the night??? getting to meet other bloggers! Here I am with Danica, Janetha, and Brittany – everyone was so sweet and welcoming. Honestly, at first I was really nervous, but everyone was so nice and friendly – it really didn’t take much for me to come out of my shell, being the introvert that I am.

Thank you so much foodbuzz!

Welcome to San Francisco

Hello from San Francisco!  

look who I had to say goodbye to this morning… It was really hard just leaving her on my bed this morning, she kept looking at me like why are up up this early???

Right now it’s a little chilly and rainy outside – hopefully it will clear up soon!  I have been running around these past few days trying to get ready for my trip … between packing and running a million errands, I finally managed to get all packed up and ready for San Francisco! I’m really excited to be here – I’m going to meet other food bloggers, try new types of food, and overall I think I’m going to have a wonderful time at the Foodbuzz Festival =)

Here are some of the things that have been keeping my busy these last few days…

Wednesday

I got a package in the mail from a giveaway I won from Amanda @ Run to The Finish. 

The giveaway was for some gluten-free cookies from Gilbert’s Gourmet Goodies by Liz Gilbert. The cookies came all wrapped up in this bright green gift bag…

Inside were three different types of cookies! …Sensational Sugar Cookie, Super Dooper Snickerdoodle, and Chocolate chip paradise.   These cookies are delicious!   I don’t think anyone would be able to taste the difference between these and regular cookies.  One thing I like best about them is how they are portion controlled – each cookie is about 40 calories.

Later that say I found a lost dog! this is the 2nd shih-tzu I have found within the last couple years… It was scratching the door of my mom’s preschool so I let her in and checked out her collar.  I was worried she was going to get run over by a car because there is a lot of traffic at that time in the afternoon.

I took her into the office to read the tags on her collar… there wasn’t a phone number or address, but there was a 1-800-number for a company called “luckypet” – I called them and they couldn’t get in touch with the dog’s owner since the phone numbers on file were disconnected.  Eventually I got a call back and within a couple hours the dog’s daddy came to pick her up… I found out her name is Sally.  For a second there I was really worried because as you can see, she obviously hasn’t been brushed or groomed recently and her hair was in her eyes

I was glad I could help reunite Sally with her owners =)

Thursday

I really started to get busy packing – it was an allll day affair, I definitely packed enough clothes for at least a week.   At some point during the afternoon I snacked on a new (to me) larabar that I haven’t seen before… Chocolate Coffee

It was definitely more coffee-flavored than chocolate-y, I guess I didn’t know what to expect – it was good but not nearly as sweet as the coconut cream pie, apple pie, or pecan pie – my favoritessss.  

I had to pick-up my dad from the airport and then I took alllll night to finish packing – how much clothes does a girl need for just a weekend? I surprised myself… at the end I was trying to take stuff out of my suitcase, then I just gave up and brought a huge suitcase full.

I didn’t get to bed until after 10 pm – which is early for me, but late considering I had to wake up at 4/5 AM the next morning!

Friday

Bryan I woke up realllly early this morning and he dropped me off at the airport to catch a *non-stop* 7 AM flight to San Francisco for the Foodbuzz festival =)

here I am before my flight – a very blurry iphone picture…

I got a much-needed tall-sugar-free-hazelnut-iced-coffee to get me going because I can never sleep on an airplane.

alongside another seasonal clifbar flavor… spiced pumpkin pie!  I really loved the flavor and the “icing”/yogurt frosting on this bar, but for some reason clif bars have been giving me heartburn after I ear them – does anyone else experience this???

I really didn’t know what I was in for with the flight – it was a looooong 6 hour flight, they played Julie & Julia, which kept me entertained for a while (even though I’ve seen it before).  

After I landed in San Francisco, I was supposed to meet Ashley at the airport and then head over to the hotel with her, but her plane was having “technical issues”… now she is stuck in Atlanta for almost 10 hours and won’t get in until 11 PM!!!! 

I was really bummed not being able to meet up with her right away, especially because she is the person who made this whole trip happen for me – I seriously wouldn’t have been able to go if it wasn’t for her. Hopefully we will still get to go out tonight for a drink when she gets in.

Unfortunately, I’m having some issues with my hotel room right now…. I should be able to get everything cleared up before I need to get to bed tonight =)

Registration for the Foodbuzz festival begins in less than an hour! I’m off to get changed and go to Hotel Vitale.  

I’ll be back with a recap of tonight’s festivities – not sure when that will be, probably tomorrow.

hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Halloween weekend fun

Hello!

I had such a fun and exciting weekend, I finalized my plans to attend the first annual foodbuzz blogger festival this weekend!!! I am soooo excited! special thanks to Ashley for really making it possible for me!  San Francisco here I come!!!

…AND it was my cousin’s birthday =)

lets go back to the Friday before Halloweeeen…. I found this seasonal clif bar at the store the other day and I just had to get it…it is amazing, chewy, delicious – and coulda fooled me for a iced gingerbread cookie

it is amazing, chewy, delicious – and coulda fooled me for a iced gingerbread cookie.  I also got a seasonal pumpkin pie spice clif bar, but I haven’t tried it yet

Friday night my sister had everyone over for dinner – it was pretty boring so Bryan and I got home early and I passed out!  I got plentyyyy of sleep and had a busssssy Halloween!

I started off by baking some pumpkin muffins from a trader joe’s mix…

I saw Meghann made these recently and mixed in some chopped pumpkin Hershey kisses - I didn’t have any hershey kisses, but I did have butterscotch chips so I topped each mini muffin with a butterscotch chip =)

I ended up with almost 48 mini muffins from just one batch!

next, I made breakfast from Bryan and myself… I knew I wanted to try out this bread I received from Food buzz as part of their tastemaker’s program.  I received two loaves of 100% Natural Nature’s Pride bread – 12 grain and 100% whole wheat.  

I figured I’d seize the opportunity to make some banana french toast, I hadn’t made this for Bryan since last December when we were in the Bahamas!  I love french toast and really don’t know why I don’t make it more often, probably because its always easier to make some oats.  I used two slices of the whole wheat (left) and one one slice of the twelve grain (right)…

I chopped up a banana on top and decorated with a couple freshly baked mini muffins…

the bread is really good – I love how it held up to well after being dunked in the eggs and cooked.  Personally, I liked the 12 grain more than the whole wheat because of all the little chunks of visible whole grains – this is a really wholesome and filling bread.  The 12 grain seems more suitable for a sandwich or would be best for making a grilled panini, whereas the whole wheat could be used for just about anything. thanks foodbuzz!  

 

back to my cousin’s birthday…we all met up at Rosa Mexicano for dinner, the one in DC – looks like they have locations all over, from NY to CA…

they all ordered a huge bowl of guacamole (made tableside) for everyone to share…but Bryan and I couldn’t resist their marinated shrimp/tuna ceviche… it had huge chunks of raw tuna and a few whole shrimp mixed in

Bryan ordered the  chicken tacos with came with beans, some type of corn salsa, and mini corn tortillas – it seemed more like fajita-style to me

I went with the vegetable enchiladas, but with the spicy sauce on the side – inside the tortillas were spinach and wild mushrooms – for some reason I was still starving afterwards…

I came to the conclusion that Bryan and I expected the portions to be larger – especially for a mexican restaurant, I guess we are just used to Chili’s and Chevy’s – but the food was incredible!

 

….and just for the sake of getting on top of things in my life, I decided to do things a little like Fittingbackin – she always lists her monthly goals and reviews the previous month’s goals

November Goals:

• finish complete closet organization – I’ve already been working on this past month!
• blog 2-3x weekly
• gym at least 1x weekly (i know this doesn’t sound like much of a goal – but I am still  managing walking like a “normal” person, so starting going to the gym at least 1x per a week would be a mini accomplishment for me)
• bake at least 1x per week
• cook more – eat out less, would help me financially and is probably better for me too!

 

I seriously need to focus on getting packed up for the Foodbuzz festival this weekend in San Francisco – I already know I am going to just overpack a ton because I have noooo idea what to wear – I’m sooooo excited! Can’t wait to blog all about it =)

IVIG therapy… take 1

I have just successfully finished my first course of IVIG therapy (intravenous immunoglobulin – what a mouthful it is to say!)

The Weekend Before…

I’m not going to lie, the idea of having a human blood product infused into my body really made me nervous – I know the blood donated is thoroughly screened/checked/filtered, but STILL – with my luck, who knows?!?! 

Needless to say, I was somewhat of a nervous wreck the weekend before I started the treatment. To somewhat “celebrate”, Bryan and I headed out to Choices again to sneak in another good meal because we had no idea what condition I would be in after the treatment.

We started out with the same chicken tostadas as last time (gluten free!) and Bryan got the angelhair pasta again for his main course, but I tried this amazing crab and corn salad. 

the salad came with a generous portion of fresh crab meat – definitely something I don’t see offered on many menus.  It came with a really interesting zest lemon-basil dressing that was very good as well.

On the way out, Bryan and I made a stop by the pastry case to check out their current gluten-free offerings – when he suggested getting a couple things for the next week, I couldn’t exactly find the willpower to say NO…. lets just say that they have the BEST carrot cake I have ever had, you would NEVER be able to tell that it was gluten free unless someone told you.

We got a slice of carrot cake, a chocolate zucchini muffin, and a chewy oatmeal cinnamon cookie – I didn’t like the oatmeal cookie at all, it tasted really stale – and my dad, who doesn’t like chocolate, ate the chocolate zucchini muffin and told me it was the best muffin he ever had… lets just say that I wasn’t a happy camper after coming home from sitting in an infusion chair for 7 hours to find that my dad ate my muffin, haha – but I got over it.

IVIG DAY 1!

I was SOOO nervous!  I was very lucky to find this infusion center called Tysons Therapeutics, because not only do they work with my insurance company – but they also are just about the only place to carry the IVIG in Virginia – the major hospital system (INOVA health system doesn’t carry it because its about $200,000 for the week, thank goodness for insurance!)… the only other place within driving distance is Georgetown hospital, which would be a miserable drive during rush hour.

Anyhow, I checked out their website and was really impressed by how personal and caring everything seemed. They have free wi-fi internet, amazing comfy infusion chairs, a snack/refreshment bar, coffee, personal DVD players + movies, etc …. I just stuck to the blankets and free internet =)

One of the first things my amazing infusion nurse (Marco) did was briefly go over IVIG therapy to me, he warned me about the potential adverse reactions – but I already knew everything I needed to know (thanks to the world wide web)… 

so here it is – after signing the consent form, we got started right away!

I was so nervous the whole morning – the first reaction I noticed was that it makes me VERY VERY drowsy… I basically sat there dozing off the entire time, which I guess it a good thing because it took over 7 hours the first day!!! We got there around 8 AM, but by the time we signed the consent – went over some more paperwork and got my IV started, it was already after 9:15 AM…. we didn’t leave until after 3 PM =(

I’m very blessed that it was a government holiday, meaning my mom didn’t have to work, so she as able to stay with me the entire day.

I was really nauseous the first day, the only thing I could bring myself to snack on (after breakfast) was this new bar I picked up at Whole Foods over the weekend… by Envirokidz

It was *gluten-free* too!  It tasted just like a peanut/chocolate-y rice crispy treat… but more like a candy bar

I went home and was in bed shockingly early – around 9:30 PM!

IVIG DAY 2

My Aunt from Denmark has been in town for the last couple months and offered to keep me company on Tuesday – she is absolutely one of the sweetest little woman I know! She is also just as loving and comforting as my on mother would be – so it was a real treat to just be able to spend some time with her. I brought us a couple honeycrisp apples I picked up over at Whole Foods over the weekend – I have seen them all over the blogworld and finally caved.  Honestly, it was really sour – I’m not sure what the hype is all about, maybe I just got a “bad apple”…

IVIG DAY 3

Bryan was off on Wednesday, so he offered to drive me to the infusion center and stay with me the whole day. It was nice to spend time with him (not the ideal place, but I guess I have to work with what I got), it was also good for him to come to the infusion center so he could ask questions and just get a better understanding of everything.

Another woman that was being infused last week finished on Wednesday, so she baked peanut butter chocolate chip cookies for everyone – I did the polite thing and took a cookie, and later gave it to Bryan. The looked amazing though! I heard this woman even wrote her own cookbook, I made sure to exchange contact info so we could keep in touch =)

Bryan and my infusion nurse (Marco) got along really well, there may even be some talk about Bryan joining his soccer team sometime… I took advantage of the spare time and caught up on blog reading, and came across The Real Meal Challenge over @ Rose’s blog, On A Lobster Placemat. 

Lately, I have had absolutely no energy and find myself relying on quick foods and take-out – very much like what Rose coined as a “fly-by-night fashion“.   In an effort to start eating more “real food” – I need to try and plan-ahead to make my life easier and hopefully get a few nutritious home-cooked meals out of it – maybe this way Bryan and I can stop relying on going out to eat so much as a staple of our diet, yeah we love going out, but lets face it, its expensive and not really healthy.  I’m hoping to start *challenging* myself this weekend to make *real meals*.

IVIG DAY 4

not much to say about Thursday, aside from the fact that I started feeling REALLY sick – good thing nobody was with me because I basically slept straight through the day…the infusion nurse had to keep waking me up to make sure I was OK. I started having a really bad stomachache and my headache was starting to set in.

IVIG DAY 5..FRIDAY!

By the end of the week, my infusion nurse heard so much about Lilly that finally he asked me to bring her in briefly with me on Friday – I couldn’t resist =)

She was really skeptical of everything – she growled at the nurse everytime he got close to me, haha – she has a protective/guard-dog streak in her.  Lilly stayed with my dad for about 15 min, and then they were off and I passed out for most of the day.

My head and  stomach really started to ache that morning, by the afternoon I really couldn’t get out of bed – I slept all afternoon at my grandmother’s house, went home and got a visit from my niece… it seemed as though she knew I wasn’t feeling well and needed some love.

she is really such a happy kid =) 

Friday nights Bryan and I usually go out to eat, but I knew there was no way I could sit through a dinner out at a restaurant.  We both figured p.f.Chang’s would be a great take-out dinner – I got the cantonese shrimp scallops with sauce on the side… one of my favorite entrees from chang’s

It was a nice relaxing night that ended with a much needed early bedtime =)

Saturday & ….

I couldn’t take it anymore – I went to the doctor Saturday morning and found out that I had a sinus infection and some type of stomach flu/virus.  My stomach hurt so bad I could barely eat or move from the couch.  It’s been a crazy past few days, the first antibiotic didn’t work really well so I ended up getting a different one – hope this one works!  Its taken me forrrrever to write this post…and I didn’t even get to write about everything I wanted to. ..till next time!  Sorry about the sporadic posting, I really am trying to post more regularly – I’m getting a little better =)

 

Off to read some blogs! 

xoxo,

Jasmine

 

Gluten-free Cookie giveaway @ Run to The Finish !!!

September in Review…

Hi there! September was really a crazy month for me… I really missed blogging, and as much as I wanted to take pictures and put together a new post – *life* got in the way. 

Here as some highlights from the past month…

Sept 13th:    My 23rd Birthday!

yes, I am now 23!!! crazy, huh? I definitely don’t feel like I’m 23 – it has surely been a crazy 22nd year of m life.  I went out to small dinner at pf chang’s, with just my parents and Bryan – It was really nice to just go out to eat as the 4 of us… my family usually has really large get togethers for birthdays – but honestly, I know this probably sounds somewhat self-centered/selfish, this entire past year I have been very sick and I almost felt as if I didn’t even want to celebrate my birthday because I’ve had such an awful year – but on the same note, I’ve exceeded expectations as well – my doctor said I’d never be able to walk without a walker or be without wheelchair (yes, at 23!), but here I am…walking and hopefully one day I will be running again =)  Anyhow, there wasn’t any birthday cake and I didn’t even take any pictures of the dinner – but it was great being with three people that have helped me survive the past year.  Hopefully this next year will make up for the last!

Sept 17th:   Johns Hopkins Myositis Center

I finally managed to be seen at the Johns Hopkins Myositis Center in Baltimore, MD.  I had been waiting for that day for what feels life forever.  It was wonderful being there, however at the same time it was such a long, painful, and tiring day – but in the end it was all very worthwhile!

I had an EMG (some type or neurological needle test), an MRI, and a cat scan – then I was seen By Dr. Lisa Christopher-Stine and a rhuematology fellow/post-doc sudeny.  I talked with the rhuematology fellow for at least an hour, going over my extensive medical history – in excruciating detail.  Its crazy how well I remembered everything from the top of my head.  I did make some notes to share with them about my history, but I ended up not even needing them.  

At the end of my visit – my previous diagnosis of myositis was confirmed, although its still uncertain as to whether I have polymyositis (+lupus) or dermatomyositis…. most importantly, I also got a *new* treatment plan:

1. start taking Imuran (an immunosuppressive agent typically given to people who receive an organ transplant)
2. 2 weeks of Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) therapy, once every four weeks for 5 days
3. re-start physical therapy once my blood chemistry and muscle enzymes begins moving *towards* normal

It may take an entire year to feel the effects of Imuran, but I should be able to notice a difference from the IVIG therapy within days of finishing the infusion.  I have been taking the Imuran for a couple weeks already – I’m definitely not happy about the fact that I may have to be on this medication for a long period of time – but it also gives me some hope to get tapered off prednisone sooner (a toxic drug that depletes your bones of calcium).  So far the only side effects I have noticed is that it reallllly upsets my stomach, so I may not be able to tolerate it for too long.

I know this part of my life may seem somewhat irrelevant to my blog, but its a HUGE part of my life.  Everyday I deal with the limitations of this disease and try to discover new ways to enjoy life, despite fighting to just survive each and everyday.  If there’s anything I’ve learned from this whole experience, its to be more thankful and appreciative for each and ever second of my life that I do have =)

Sept 20th: broken camera and iphone!

Anyone that knows me also knows that I don’t go anywhere without my pink 0.5 L camelbak water bottle.  This water bottle is probably the only way I can manage to drink so much water everyday, and I never had to worry about spilling any water in my purse… or so I thought.

Just as I do everyday, I put my camelbak in my purse and headed out of the house. I left my purse in my car for not even an hour, when I came back – I saw that my previously completely full water bottle was empty and now all that water had spilled all over my purse, soaking my new iphone and my sony camera

Luckily I bought the accidental warranty package from Sony a couple years ago when I got the camera, but the downside to that is that I have to send it out to sony and wait for them to repair it, or send me a new one (hopefully they just give me a new one!).

My iphone on the other hand… I had to buy a new phone.  The water damage sensor/indicator or something was on and the people at the “genius bar” told me the only choice I had was to buy a new phone at a discounted price – which was still $199 =(

*New find! Restaurant Choices by Shawn*

Bryan and I recently found this amazing restaurant thats just a few miles away from us – I have driven by it countless times and never even known it existed!

Bryan and I were really excited to try this place out after glancing over their menu online – I had my eyes on the Shrimp and Rice Salad.

I have been told countless times that I need to be eating a gluten-free diet for two reasons – it will tremendously help my stomach issues and it will maybe even help manage my polymyositis (both celiac disease and polymyositis are autoimmune diseases – its actually common to have more than one autoimmune disease)

….anyhow, their food can best be described exactly as they describe it: as Classic American Cuisine with A Healthy Twist.

best of all, the allergy-sensitive menu includes gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and vegetarian options =)

Bryan and I called ahead to see if dogs were allowed on the outside porch, I was pleasantly told that I could bring my small dog, Lilly – of course! As soon as we were seated, the waitress brought us and Lilly some water! Its nice to find a dog-friendly restaurant that even has small bowls just for dogs.

Bryan and I had the hardest time deciding on what to order as our appetizer – we couldn’t decide between the Avocado Bruschetta or the Chicken and Vegetable Tostadas.  

Thankfully, we ended up ordering the Chicken and Vegetable Tostadas, but next time I want to order the bruschetta. 

the tostadas were amazing!!! The chicken was very tender and the filling was absolutely delicious!

For my entree, I ordered the Shrimp and Rice Salad (Cold marinated shrimp and long grain rice, infused with turmeric and coriander, with carrots and raisins)… this was really delicious as well.  I loved the combination of the spices with carrots and raisins; it was perfectly tasty and filling.

Bryan ordered the Angel Hair Pasta with Shrimp and Asparagus (lightly sauteed with tomatoes, mushrooms, garlic, fresh herbs, and fresh parmesan cheese), which actually came with his choice of a side (sauteed mixed vegetables), but I can’t seem to find the picture.  Bryan loved this pasta – he was very pleased that it actually came with a generous amount of vegetables, not to mention the incredible sauce.

after all that food I didn’t have room for dessert…. until I saw they had gluten-free carrot cake on the dessert menu!!! Carrot cake is my absolute favorite dessert, but I usually feel sick after eating it.  Bryan and I made room to have some of this carrot cake, and we are sure glad we did because it was just what I had imagined carrot cake to be – there is no way to tell the difference between this gluten-free carrot cake and a regular carrot cake. Bryan may have also gotten some homemade banana pudding ice-cream – but I stayed away because I don’t really do well with too much dairy =/

Lilly was even served some complementary ice-cream while Bryan and I had dessert!

Overall, it was a wonderful dinner – I can’t wait to go back there again.  It’s nice to finally find another place to add to out list of restaurants that we usually go to.  We will probably end up eating there again this weekend, to somewhat celebrate the start of my new treatment (IVIG) that I start on Monday =)

***********************************************

this was a monstrous post! It has taken me such a long time to write it too, I just kept finding more and more pictures to add. 

This next week I hope to get caught up on reading all your blogs and also start posting much more regularly… I think with starting the infusions next week, I will have a lot of free time – so the least I can do is get caught up!  I am also itching to bake something soon too – maybe more blondies?? perhaps I will mess around with some gluten-free flours…

Any advice for gluten-free baking???

I just want to say how thankful I am to be part of such an incredible blogging community – you all have touched my life and been such an invaluable source of support – thank you =)

 

xoxo,

Jasmine

Foodbuzz Festival anyone??

hi there! not sure if I even have any blog readers left – September has been an absolutely crazy month! Between health issues, my hopkins appt, my mom’s birthday, my birthday, breaking my iphone, and breaking my camera…. I am finally picking up the pieces, but I still don’t have a working camera, I think Bryan is going to let me borrow his camera in the meantime =)

I am working on a big catch up post (September in Review), but I wanted to take a quick minute and see if…

anyone was attending the Foodbuzz Festival in San Fran???

I just got off the waitlist and will hopefully be going if I can figure out hotel arrangements =) !!! so excited!

Like Ripping off a Band-Aid…

as weird as it may sound…. returning to the bloggyworld and the gym felt like ripping off a bandaid… corny, but true.  As time passed, I felt more and more guilty for not blogging regularly – and that made it harder and harder to write a new post – that and the fact that I was seriously slacking in the blog-stalking/commenting area.

About the gym – I haven’t been back to the gym ever since I gave water aerobics a shot…. then last night I started to think about how much I enjoyed running (way back before I got sick), so I made a promise to myself to just get to the gym today and just do something…anything! …you know what???? it worked!  I did an easy 35 minutes of walking on the treadmill…. I think i’m one of the only people crazy enough and so addicted to caffeine that I chug sip sugar-free-hazelnut-soy-iced-coffees while on the treadmill…

walking on treadmill with iphone = blurry pic

…and afterwards I felt like an entirely new person – sooo amazingly refreshed!  I was instantly reminded of something the fabulous Jamie and I talked about during our dinner at Hook in georgetown some time ago… we talked about exercise and how it doesn’t matter what you do, just as long as you find an outlet for your negative energy…and thats exactly what it was for me, it wasn’t like I ran a 10k or anything, I just found a way to let go of whatever it was that I needed to get rid of =)

speaking of Jaime… that night we also talked about her interest in the Kabbalah… funny thing is that we are both half jewish… anyhooow, she was so sweet to send me a couple amazing books so I can learn more, thanks so much! I can’t wait to get into these!

theres so much I want to say in this post….. so bear with me, this definitely isn’t my most organized post… last night Bryan was really craving those avocado eggrolls, so we ended up going to The Cheesecake Factory.  I’ll let you guys in on the best kept secret at The Cheesecake Factory…. they are known for their amazing cheesecakes, ridiculous portions, terrible nutrition facts, and of course – I kno that they have amazing carrot cake!!! …. but I found the most amazing salad on their 50-page menu under the appetizer section, its just called their vegetable salad – and, yes, this is an APPETIZER portion, I barely ate 1/3 of it… it was huge, and it was filled with tons of great veggies, including roasted beans, green beans, edamame, asparagus….

enough about my amazing salad….while bryan was chowing down some deep-fried avocado eggrolls, I have one of these Vietnamese summer rolls – I really wasn’t even hungry, plus I have been having unbelievable stomach issues, but I still managed to eat one roll and 1/3 of my salad.

soooo…..what else have I been up to??? WORKING!!! I am so thankful to be able to work at my mom’s preschool, it really keeps my mind occupied so I end up not having spare time to think about my illness and get depressed for no reason.  It actually feels good that I can contribute to the preschool in some capacity.  My parents have been so incredibly supportive of me, especially recently, so I’m glad I can at least help them by working at the preschool in the afternoons.  I have been so ridiculously busy trying to stay awake and do a good job – it means so much more now that I am working for my parents…. Last week the older children went on a field trip to the firestation, I even managed to take a picture .. it was nice to see the kids have so much fun, not to mention the other girl chaperone didn’t mind chatting with the cute firemen either, although I let her do most of the flirting chatting

gosh..this has gotten to be such a long post…. I hope you are still reading!!! i have some AMAZING NEWSS!!!

remember how I was upset that my appointment at Johns Hopkins wasn’t until Oct 16th??? well, I made a request to the Doctor to see if she would see me any earlier because I am in a lot of pain…and she AGREED!!! They moved up my appointment an entire month!!! I’m now going to Baltimore on Thursday September 17th! I’m going to have an MRT, CT scan, EMG, and then an appointment with the doctor..so exciting! y’all have no idea what this means to me, I seriously started crying when I found out my appointment got moved up =)

so sorry again for the lengthy post – I’m going to attempt to make a dent in my googlereader, start thinking about what to get my mom for her birthday, and start reading The Red String Book =)

xoxo,

Jasmine