I'm alive!

Well, barely...

In my last post I mentioned that I was in the hospital. That was an adventure... Well, I was diagnosed with optic neuritis and they needed to give me an IV of steroids for three days to help with the inflammation of my optic nerve. So I got out and was taking steroid pills until yesterday. Apparently, steroids increase you chances of picking up infections b/c it decreases the body's ability to fight them off. So I now have acute tracheal bronchitis. I have almost no voice and can't stop coughing for the life of me. But I'm on the Z-pack and some other stuff, so hopefully, I'll be better soon... But in the meantime, I am bored out of my mind since I am not allowed to go to work... I made an Oreo cheesecake (yum) this week and making cookies today... Pictures and recipes will be up soon.

Thank you all for the prayers and wishes for good health! As soon as I know more on what is causing the optic neuritis, I'll let you know!!!

I'm in the hospital

This really sucks.

My head

So, as a follow up to the last blog... I went back to the ophthalmologist today. She did some more tests, dilated my eyes... The optic nerve is inflamed. Based on that and a few other symptoms, she felt that it would be best for me to consult w/ a neuro-ophthalmologist.
When I asked her what she thought, she said that she felt that it would be best to rule out some of the biggies.

Before I move on to the biggies. Let's focus on the small stuff. The least worrisome thing this could be is an idiopathy. Meaning a set of symptoms that don't lead to anything and aren't related or caused by anything, it is just a sudden onset of symptoms that will go away over a couple months of time. Which, in all honesty, if it is that, I'll be the happiest camper ever. Granted, I'll be dealing w/ blurred vision in my left eye and horrible pain for a couple of months, but compared to what else it could be....

So here we go onto the rest. First, it could be fluid build-up causing pressure on my brain, which in turn is causing inflammation to the optic nerve.
If it isn't that, it could be a mass behind my eye on the frontal lobe of my brain. By mass, she meant tumor. Cancerous or not, she couldn't say. But if the MRI shows a mass, the next step would be to biopsy it. Hello, oncology!
The one thing I never in a million years would have thought this could be was the very next thing she said. Multiple sclerosis.
She seemed to latch on to that one more than the rest. And that is the one that scares me more than the rest. There is NO KNOWN CURE for MS. So yeah, I'm scared now.

She really didn't give me any more hope for anything else. It seems like this could be nothing or it can be SOMETHING BIG. No in between there. No infections, no simple diagnosis followed by simple treatment and live happily ever after.

And who knows, maybe there are other things it could be. Maybe there are some things hiding that the neuro-ophthalmologist will find that will change everyone's course of thinking. I don't know. I'm trying to be positive, really, I am. However, I can't help but prepare myself for the worse.
And I don't want to hear it'll be nothing from everyone. I don't know I could handle everyone in the world telling me it's nothing so much so that I believe it and it ends up being something. I need your prayers and support, that's all. And if you don't believe in God, then cross your fingers for me ok? Whatever this is, it will be fixed. I'm not ready to leave this world. I've got too much baking left to do..

This is really becoming a pain in my EYE!!!

So I have spent the last few days, not baking like I wanted to be, but in immense pain. I don't know what is wrong. My ophthalmologist doesn't know what is wrong. I am putting eye drops in my eye that is causing blurred vision, burning and even more pain.

Let me tell you a little bit about what has been going on....

Last Tuesday, Dec 30th, I started to notice an uncomfortable headache forming behind my eye. I didn't take anything, of course, and it lingered on... Annoying, but not particularly painful. I'm used to headaches since I get migraines fairly often.

So Sunday night/Monday morning, I started to notice that the pain was a little more intense. And now it was when I turned my eye. If I looked any which way other than straight forward (even w/ my eyes closed), a searing flash of stabbing pain would occur. Still right behind my eye, more like underneath the lid where the eye meets the bone. My eye itself was fine. I saw clearly. My contact wasn't dry, I couldn't even feel it in there, like normal. It was all right behind the eye and lid.
So Monday it was bad. I kept getting shooting pains, probably a 6 on 10 scale. I went to the soup kitchen that night, I could still see clearly; it was painful, but not affecting my overall mood. I was popping Excedrin at this point and drinking Dr. Pepper for that boost of caffeine that usually helps too. Nothing.

Tuesday, I'm at work. My head is pounding. I can't even move my eye a slight bit b/c there is shooting, stabbing pain. I am MISERABLE. I call the eye doctor and make an appointment for right after work. I still work, albeit I am one cranky biotch at this point.

So I go to the doctor. We popped out my contacts and walked my legally blind butt to the exam room. Where the doctor (whose name I don't remember) did lots of tests. Which all required me to move my eye. And while my right eye is leaving tear streaks down my cheek, it occurs to me that my left one isn't doing a damn thing except be in pain. Bastard. So then she puts drops in my eyes that make them yellow so she can see stuff. I don't just mean pale yellow. Like bright neon yellow. Freaky... So after all these tests she concludes that I do not have glaucoma, cataracts, nerve damage, fluid pressure buildup, infections, swelling, etc etc etc etc etc.....
So what next? She hands me a prescription for Tobradex which is an eyedrop that contains a steroid to prevent swelling (which I didn't have) and an antibiotic (um, I thought no infection???). The she tells me to come back Saturday so she can see if it works.

That stuff stings to all holy hell. I mean ALL HOLY HELL people! And it's supposed to make me feel better? Ha!
So, I have spent the last two days even more miserable than ever. Except last night when I slept from 5-10:15, then from 10:30 to 5am. Apparently, a couple months of tossing and turning eventually catches up with you... But I decided that I was going to "House" it and toss back pills like they were candy. Don't worry, vicodin scares the living daylights out of me... I have gone thru about a half bottle of ibuprofen in the last 48 hours though. It has helped dull the pain slightly...

But this is going somewhere... I called the doc office this morning b/c the pain was unbearable for a while and I started to experience blurred vision in my left eye. I called at aprx 11am. I left the girl w/ my cell number and her promise that when the doc (my normal eye doc, not the one I saw Tues) comes in, she would have him look at my file, and let him know that the pain is getting worse and now I was experiencing blurred vision and asked him to call me re: should I still be using these drops and see if I could come in tonight instead of wait until Sat?

So just now, I get a call from my doc office. First, they call my home. Not a big deal since I'm here. But second, they call me 8 hours later. I am miserable, ready to hunker down in bed and watch my only chance of pleasure, a new Grey's Anatomy, and shut off the world. Do they even acknowledge my earlier call? No, they are calling to remind me about Sat appt. AM I LIKELY TO HAVE FORGOTTEN THAT APPOINTMENT? No.
So I point out to the girl (different one from this morning) that I was supposed to receive a call hours ago and was displeased that no one apparently cared enough to let me know that the doc was busy, or maybe the doc himself forgot to call. Regardless, I am their patient, in complete agony and they simply put me aside like I am no matter to them whatsoever??

So I needed to vent. If anyone has an idea of what is going on w/ my head and eye, please let me know. I will take any sort of direction since no one else will give me any. Also, please pray for my sanity. I think I'm losing it...

On to Oreo's and Grey's Anatomy. I heart McSteamy. He'd make the pain go away, I'm sure of it.

I plan on using the 2nd bag of Oreo's I have to make Oreo cheesecake this weekend. I am hoping to make a carbon copy of Cheesecake Factory's Oreo cheesecake since it is my most favorite dessert ever. We'll see how it turns out!

Happy New Year!!!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year!!!! I hope that 2009 brings lots of love, joy and happiness!!!

Red and Green Cookies

I am a cookie kind of girl. I like that you can make tons of dough ahead of time and just pull it out whenever you want and bake.
I made these cookies to take to my friend's house for our usual after Christmas walk down memory lane. I basically took my staple chocolate chip recipe and took out the chips and added dried cranberries and pistachios. Yum.

Red and Green Cookies
Makes aprx 3 dozen cookies

3 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
1 cup coarsely chopped pistachios

Preheat the oven to 350 degree F.

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl until fluffy. Add both sugars and beat until blended. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Slowly add the dry ingredients and beat until just blended.

Using a spatula, fold in the cranberries and pistachios.

Drop dough onto your prepared cookie sheets. I wouldn't recommend using non stick spray b/c that will cause the cookies to spread too much. Place the cookies at least 1 1/2 inches apart.


Bake the cookies until just golden, about 18 minutes for larger cookies, or about 15 minutes for smaller cookies.

You can definitely make these ahead of time as well. Just make sure after they've cooled completely to store them in an airtight container, like the one I used in my top picture.

You can also add chocolate chunks to them. White chocolate would work well with these for the whole xmas theme of the red cranberries and green pistachios, but in all honesty, I am not a fan... I would probably just coarsely chop a bar of chocolate, whichever you prefer, but I would definitely go with milk chocolate, and fold that in with the berries and nuts.
And any variation of dried berries and nuts would work with this, like macadamia and blueberry or cherry and almond.

Merry Christmas to all!!! And happy double chocolate cherry pistachio cookies!!!!

So I have been craving cherries and pistachios lately. So I bought a few bags of dried cherries and a huge bag of pistachios. Yum... Well, then I realized there was a heck of a lot of them and I remembered some double chocolate cherry cookies I saw on an Ultimate recipe showdown on Food Network. So I went searching... And found them! I made the recipe the way it was online, except I added a half cup of crushed pistachios and used a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of dark chocolate chunks. I checked out the reviews, and while there weren't many and they weren't all that great, I thought I'd try them anyways. I would definitely use a bit more flour next time.... And probably use a nice tart juice instead of red wine, if I use any other liquid at all. I had to bake them longer than the 10 minutes max. I took them out after 10 minutes, they flattened and after they cooled off, I tried to take them off and they fell apart... So I put them in longer.... They flattened out again but they came off the pan easily and they tasted great.

After they were completely cooled off, I kept them in an airtight container. The reason why I would probably not use red wine again was b/c even though they tasted great, every time I opened the container, red wine scent wafted from the container. I wasn't keen on that smell, which is why I didn't eat any after the first time I opened the container. So, yeah I'll probably sub that for some Pom or cherry juice or something.

The pistachios were a nice addition. Pistachios are my fav and they added a great crunch.

This was how they looked the first time I took them out of the oven, after about 5 or so minutes. I should have know they weren't done b/c they were still shiny.
The next picture was how they looked a few minutes after I took them out the second time. It looks like it might be pretty dry, but it def wasn't. Very moist for sure.


I took this next picture the next morning to see if they were still soft. They were. That was when I got hit w/ the strong wine odor.... I probably should have waited a bit longer to put them into the container. The ones on the bottom stuck together a bit. But then having to eat two cookies stuck together is so much better than just having one!

Athena's Xmas party

So when you get an invite to a small get-together, you think that it is just that. The girls you always hang out with, maybe a couple of extras you haven't seen in a while... But you're Greek and the person's house you are going to is Greek, what are you thinking? Of course there are going to be 500 people there. Of course you shouldn't eat anything all day long b/c there is going to be 5 tons worth of food there. And of course it's going to be good. Of course you shouldn't actually bake anything b/c who is going to eat it when there are 15 other desserts, but duh, you're Greek and you don't go anywhere without something edible. Right? Yep, so I brought an apple pie. Yeah, look at all this food. Catered by Pops.

This was a really yummy bloody Mary dip (above). Athena's friend, Laura makes and sells these mixes. I'll have to find out the name...tSome spinach artichoke dip and tzatziki sauce from Costco's. Olive Bruschetta

Dolmades

Georgia made an eclair cake, same recipe you can find here. It doesn't look as pretty, but it was still good. The only difference b/w hers and Kraft's is that she lets it sit longer than 3 hours. She usually makes it two days ahead of time so that the graham crackers get really soft. Tastes so much better that way.

My apple pie... mmm.... It was good, but it was wet... Apparently I should have let the apples drain some more before I put them in the pie to bake....

The crust recipe I used is the same one we used on school. I liked the crust so much, I have used it since then for other pies and it is still great. Here is the recipe:

Ruth Wacker's Never Fail Pie Crust (From the Congo Cook Book, 1961)

4 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt (I used only 1 teaspoon b/c I used salted butter)
1 1/2 cup of shortening (or lard or butter, I used butter, very cold butter)
2 eggs
1/2 cup cold water (or more if needed)
1 1/2 tablespoon vinegar

Combine flour and salt. Cut in the shortening.

Beat the eggs, water and vinegar in a separate bowl. Add to the flour mixture.

Form the dough. If it is a bit dry, add some more water. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill it slightly before rolling out. I made the dough the night before and kept it in the fridge overnight. I let it sit out a bit before rolling it out, but I don't think I'll do that again. It was kinda hard to roll out....

For the inside, everyone has a different way of making their filling. I used 3 lbs of Granny Smith apples, sliced in half and then in thin slices. I tossed them with 1/2 cup flour, a few teaspoons of cinnamon, 1/4 cup brown sugar and a few squirts of lemon juice. I tossed it all together, put it in the crust, dolloped some butter on top and covered it w/ the remaining crust.

I think that it was runny b/c I had the cut apples soaking in cold water and lemon juice so they wouldn't brown. I think that I should have drained them better. Or cut them after I rolled out the dough so they wouldn't have absorbed so much water... The excess liquid I drained out tasted just like apple juice though, so at least it didn't taste bad. :) And as you can see, there wasn't that much liquid. You live, you learn!

I hate snow.

So this is what it looked like out my windshield driving home today.... Notice the time at the bottom right of the pic... No? Well, it says 5:53PM. Do you know what that means? That means that after leaving my office at 3:30PM, I was still on I-294 going home 2 1/2 hours later. This was about 1/2 mi before my exit, which is about a mile away from my house. Wanna know how long that 1 1/2 miles took me? 30 more minutes. Which is 5 minutes less than the TOTAL time it normally takes me to get to and from work.
Yeah, so I probably wasn't being safe driving and taking pictures at the same time, but it's a digital camera and I was only going 5mph at the time. See, a picture to prove it:

No joke though, it seriously sucked. I mean it was horrible. Driving in this made me feel like a fist was tightening my stomach, squeezing it tighter and tighter, especially every time I fishtailed. Ugh.
AND!!!! My wiper blades accumulated ice chunks on them, so I only had a 4 inch streak to see through as the blades went back and forth. Thankfully, that four inch streak was right at near eye level. You can see it if you look closely in these pics:
But here I am, home at last. Granted I've been home for about 1 1/2 hours, I had to make something for dinner b/c I was starving. I made some plain buttered noodles b/c I think that was all my stomach could take. But I'm annoyed b/c I was going to make cookies tonight and now I am too tired. Boo!!!

Baby Georgie pictures!

World, meet little Georgie!!!! Isn't he adorable?

Mommy Rita w/ baby Georgie and Big Sister Gabby. Me with little Georgie after dinnerHe is the sweetest little baby ever. He looks more like mommy than daddy, so that's a good thing! He has lightened up a bit; he's now only 7 lbs. He is close to being jaundice, so the docs have a very specific feeding schedule and has to have formula after being breast fed, so we're all keeping our fingers crossed he gets better. Gabby was jaundice when she was born and that was scary enough!

He has the quietest cry too. Gabby was a loud one (still is!!!) but Georgie has a lower toned scream, which I am sure is more pleasant for his mom and dad. And Gabby happily ignores him, staying in her own little world most of the time. Rita did say that at one time, Georgie was crying and she tried to put the pacifier in his mouth, ever so gently and carefully.