Friday, July 30, 2010

Cough cough cough

I've had a mystery cough for... I've lost track of time...I guess it's been 4 weeks now?  Yikes!  I really can't even remember when this whole thing started.  I guess it was the week after 4th of July weekend, so whenever that was.  Anyway - I've been to the doctor and tried allergy medications and tried cough syrups and tried antibiotics and nothing really seemed to do the trick.  The crazy cough is slowly but surely starting to go away and I'm ready for my life to go back to normal!!!  This thing has affected EVERYTHING.  I haven't been able to sleep well or have energy to do 'regular' things.  So frustrating.  Plus being so tiny and having such a violent cough has done some damage to my body.  I'm pretty sure I even cracked a rib!  Eek!  Not good.  Well, I'm headed back in to the doctor today to get the rib checked out.  I guess the cough is going away (ever so slowly) so it shouldn't be too much longer before I am back to life.  I don't know how much more of this I could take before my whole body just pops into pieces or I cough myself inside out.  That could be an interesting sci-fi movie, right?  The girl who coughs herself inside out and has to go through the rest of her life that way.  Hmmm.... okay... time to head to the doctor.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Summer Eats

Sometimes in the summer I feel like it is harder to find things to cook at home. The main reason is because it is so hot! All I want to do is eat ice cream! My apartment, as most New York apartments, does not have central AC. I have a window unit in my bedroom and there is one in the living room, but the kitchen stays pretty hot. Plus it is a small kitchen so the last thing I want to do is have a hot oven roasting something for hours. That just won't work in the summer!

Tonight I was having one of those "ugh...what am I going to eat" moments. I scanned the kitchen to see what I had and was able to throw together a really nice dinner salad. I broiled a salmon fillet which uses heat, but only for a short time, so that worked well. I had been to Trader Joe's grocery store earlier today and bought a salad mix I really like there. Mixed with baby spinach, topped with sliced mushrooms and raisins for some sweetness and we're on the way to something nice! I also bought a can of Tuscan bean salad from Trader Joe's. It looked interesting and I thought I would try it for a side dish, but I got inspired and added it to my salad. It is a mixture of kidney beans and chickpeas with herbs in lemon juice and olive oil. Drizzled over the greens and topped with the salmon fillet. A little balsamic vinaigrette and I'm in business!