tomAtoes, tomAHtoes.

Tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes. I love them. Especially fresh-from-the-vine, still-warm-from-the-sun, home-grown Cherry Tomatoes! MmMmMm! Headed out yesterday and in 30 minutes picked this bin of yumminess. The plum and cherry's are doing great, but our big tomatoes are getting eaten by worms. Oh well, atleast they haven't gotten to our cherries!

Cherry tomatoes are... Fat free, saturated fat free, cholesterol free, low in sodium, an excellent source of vitamins A and C and a good source of vitamin K and potassium.

My favorite way to enjoy them... in vegetable curries, salads, and just plain!

Outback Aiparies

Dude dropped off some homemade honey this morning!! He's been raising bee's for a while now, and I'm so excited to have some of this sweet stuff!

FYI: My parents lifelong friend Tom Bandy, aka "Dude" or "Elf E. Dude" is also the father of my best friend Julia (who lives out in Seattle).

Infusions and Isaac

This is Isaac. He sat next to me at Dr.J's today during my infusion. He had heaps of stories...about the war, about life, and about his 6 sons. Also, today I learned that my blood type is A, and that there is a certain diet I should follow in order for MY body to feel the best it can. Heres a brief outline for bloodtypes...

Eating For Your Blood Type:

Type O: the hunter
-High protein diet

Type A: the agrarian
-Diet emphasizing vegetables, free of red meat. Predominantly vegetarian.

Type B: the nomad
-Strong immune system, flexible digestive system. The only blood type that can thrive on dairy products.

Stormy Night.

My friend Kyle took this picture this evening, a little after 7pm. The sky offshore where I live was definitely looking pretty wild, but this is downright scary. All hell broke loose by 730, but it's already subsided....

Nana's Here!

The Callahan's are awful at keeping secrets...but somehow they managed to keep the surprise! My 89 year old Nana was supposed to arrive with PopPop (91) in New Jersey in September. They wanted to be close to Dad, so they rented the same condo on the beach in OC for two months. Well- Nana couldn't stand being Away from her Paul, so here she is, a month early. Everyone except Dad knew- so when his mother walked through the door he almost died of shock. Nana was crying, he was crying and they held their embrace for nearly 20minutes. They held hands through breakfast, and I know that Nana will be here as much as she can over the next three months. We are glad to have her here, and dad is particularly excited.

Sisters and Swine

I've noticed that the past few blogs have mentioned Nellie and Kelly, two of my dads (seven) sisters. Heres a funny photo from back in the day, about 20 years ago. We named our pigs after his sisters, then my neighbors, and of course- after my preschool teachers. Some might not have understood at the time, but a pig being named after you was a sign of affection....

Attack Chickens!

Making their way into our pool area....

I woke up at 6am this morning to start a catering order. Cissie was not far behind, coming downstairs to have a cigg outside, and to demand one of my (world-famous) coffees. Shortly after stepping out back for a smoke she came dashing through the door, hair flying like a crazy lady, with fright in her eyes. "ATTACK CHICKENS", she screamed. Well I looked out the kitchen window and sure enough, there was a flock of chickens. They were fat bastards too, but they didn't look like ferocious man-eaters (as Ciss had described them...). I went outside to get a better look at them and then they waddled off to terrorize the innocent old lady next door...

Fleeing the house....

Coffee Queen

I'm always up for a coffee challenge, because it's a tried and true fact that I make the best cup of coffee ever. Hands down. Fact. So when Kelly complained about the crap coffee served up at the diner, I said "I'll make you some coffee when we get home, I make the best." "Oh no no no, uncle Rick makes the best", she replied. Ha. We bet a dollar and shook on it. Tonite, when I asked her what she thought about the coffee I crafted her, she silently reaches into her purse and then handed me a buck. Ha! Victory! I am the queen of coffeeeeeee!!!

Loud Family.

Kelly, Dad, Cissie, Nellie and Sarah @ Marge's Diner.

The Callahan's...also known as the "Loud Family", and rightfully so. I have met many loud families in my day, but we take the cake - by several decibels. Right now Aunt Kelly and her daughter Sarah are visiting, along with my Aunt Cissie. This morning, we all went out for breakfast - and Jesus H. Christ was it an event! At the restaurant I just kept shooting apology smiles to our very patient waitress, and tried to shake off the rest of the restaurant go-ers, who were staring at us like we were animals in a zoo. I'm pretty sure that they initially looked our way because we were so goddamn loud, and then continued staring at us because of the obscene amounts of food on the table, wondering if all of that food was just for us. My Aunt Kelly and Aunt Nellie both have M.S., a truly awful disease. Kelly just finished up chemo a few days ago, and Nellie finished about 2 weeks ago. Dad is currently half way through his. So here we were, chemo-ed up and steroid-filled, laughing and talking over one another...telling many funny, and totally inappropriate stories. And instead of being embarrassed like most sane people would be, it filled me with a great sense of pride. All of my fathers family might be completely insane, but they are good people with lots of heart. They love, and hate, fiercely - but it's their passion that I admire. Their constant enthusiasm. Particularly that of my Aunt Kelly. She has been suffering, and I mean it in every sense of the word, for over 15 years now. MS has kicked her ass from here to kingdom come, and then back again - but she never complains, and she manages to smile and laugh her way through her sickness, which I don't think is always easy to do. And that's just like my Dad -- never a boo-hoo, poor me. I may have gotten my loud voice and fat ass from the Callahan side...I got their tendency to interrupt and talk-over....I got their habits of over-indulgance...but goddamnit I also got their heart and passion that is larger than life. At times like this, it's family that gets you through, and I'm grateful to have such a noisy bunch in my corner.....

The 10 Loud and (at-times)Obnoxious, (but always) Totally Epic Callahan's:

1. Thomasine

2. Cissie

3. Mary

4. Nellie

5. Paul

6. Michael

7. Kate

8. Megan

9. Kelly

10. Sean

My Family.

My family: Mom, Dad, Me and LP (Little Paul...because my dad is big paul).

Honestly, I don't know what we'd do without him. LP adopted us when he was about 18. That was 14 years ago. He has since spent birthdays and holidays with us, gone on family vacations with us, and is usually at the house for our nightly family dinners. He drops me and picks me up at the airport, he shovels out my parents driveway during blizzards, he let's me cry on his shoulder- and it's the one person who mom will break down and cry to. He's fixed things at the house. He's put on our roof, put up our pool, and has stacked our enormous wood pile. He takes me out on date nights...fancy dinners always followed by drinks. He opens the door of the car for me and never let's me pay. He is more than a friend, he is a brother- and I usually introduce him so. More than anything he knows how to just "be" with my Dad. They sit on the couch and watch Cops, or Repo. There's some small talk, but mostly they just sit. LP GETS it. Life without him would just be impossible. My parents didn't give me any biological siblings, but in my heart- LP is my brother. I couldn't have wished for a more understanding, accepting and wonderful human being to adopt us: someone who I never have to apologize to or explain myself to. We love you LP, and I know I speak for mom and dad as well when I say that each day is made better by you being in our lives.

"Are you upset little friend? Have you been lying awake worrying? Well, don't worry...I'm here. The flood waters will recede, the famine will end, the sun will shine tomorrow, and I will always be here to take care of you. -Charlie Brown to Snoopy."

H2O2 for your Health!

I've been seeing Dr.Jonuzi at the Integrative Medical Center in Pleasantville for a month now. The Ayurvedic centers that I want to go to are in Kerala, India-- so since I'm Jersey bound for a while, and have heaps of free time because of my knee injury, I've decided that treatment here will have to do. Since the second I walked in Dr.J's office I have been super satisfied with the treatment I've received. Dr. Jonuzi is a naturopathic doctor. He went to med school but didn't buy into all that they were saying, and that sent him to naturopathy. There's an MD in the building who writes your scripts and because he's here, everything done here is covered by my health insurance. My main reason for coming is to treat my Lymes Disease. It has fatigued me and affected me for far too long now, and since "regular doctors" refuse to treat me (they don't know how to make $$ off it yet)- I've decided to take my mothers advice and become my Own Advocate. Dr.J is treating the Lymes and also addressing the overabundance of Candida yeast in my body. The cleansing for these will also clean out any other random shit that's in my body (that isn't supposed to be), as well as cleaning out any and all parasites that I've picked up abroad. Side note: I eat everything, anywhere. Street food in Cambodia, in a remote village?! YES Please. Hence, parasites.

My treatment consists of IVs twice a week, and regular colonics. Yep, colonics. I was going to write a blog about just the colon hydro therapy- afterall I Always include my poo-capades with all of you- but it's better for everyone if I just work them into This blog entry. The titles I thought of ranged from; bum gun, pooped out, holy shit, so on and so forth.... Anyways, colonics. I'm such a sissy. I dropped my pants and then Drena pushed the "bum gun" up my bum. I'm sorry- but when something's up your ass, everything inside of you is saying PUSH. It's a tough sensation to cope with for the 35minutes youre on the table. My hands were clammy and I rambled through the whole treatment, I can't help it- the more nervous I get, the more I ramble. After the treatment Drena told me that she was going to remove the insert (bum gun). I was so nervous and I said "bah! Are you sure?" After having FORTY GALLONS of water entering and exiting my ass I thought for sure there would be some remains. She assured me that I WOULD make it to the bathroom, and I made her pinky swear- saying that I'd be devastatingly embarrassed if I didn't make it the 3 feet to the bathroom. Ha. Drena always looks at me with a look that says "ha, this crazy little fucking white girl, full o' parasites. Ha. Scared of needles and scared of guns up her bum!". She loves me. Really. Anyways- I SURVIVED. I thought I was going to faint a few times when I was on the table, but I made it. And then I did it again the following week. At this point I feel like a seasoned pro...clean and healthy and Cambodia-street-food-parasite-free!! Drena's the best, and I'll never trust anyone but her with my backside...

The IV. The IV's less interesting, and therefore comes without a funny story. The needle is administered by the amazing Monica. She's awesome. Mon works the desk and also works in the office. She's very gentle and makes the whole I'm-deathly-afraid-of-needles thing bearable. I put on my iPod, and for nearly three hours I sit in a comfy lazy boy reclining chair and get a drip of 3 bags. 1: hydrogen peroxide. 2: a bright orange bag of vitamins. 3: antioxidants and a flush. Monica makes me a cup of ginger tea, because she's amazing, and then I'm on my way.

I have to say- im already feeling better. The fatigue has gone away, and for that I am SO thankful. Hopefully the upcoming weeks of treatment leave me Lymes-free! So next time you have a cold or backache- don't head to your MD, head to Dr.J, you will not be disappointed...

Dr. Jonuzi

609.641.9009

201 East Blackhorse Pike, Pleasantville NJ

Pie Cry.

I love to cook- especially when I'm happy, and also sad. It's a bit of therapy. I can take a handful or raw materials and create a delicious dish...one that I share with my family and friends. So cooking, for me, is very rewarding. Its something that I'm good at. And though baking isn't really my specialty (you have to FOLLOW recipes, not CREATE them...and you have to use exact measurements, bleh!), I've managed to have great success with fruit pies and key lime pie. So, when I was picking up some ingredients for dinner and saw the cover of this months Bon Appetit magazine, I figured 'what the hell!'! A Blackberry Lime Meringue pie!! I could do that...it's a combination of my two favorite things to bake- key lime and berry pie. Easy peezy. Or so I thought...

On a side note, I've been crying alot- but this is pretty much reserved for the car. It's nothing crazy, but lately the sadness And stress of our current lives situation needs a release. I cry, and then feel a bit of the sadness and anxiety leave, and the weight in my chest gets lighter.

I had a good cry on the way home from the supermarket, but was prepped with my Bon Appetit magazine and a list of yummy things to make for the hoard of family and friends that were at our house- so my feelings were optimistic. I whipped up a bunch of amazing dishes (read the blogs below), and then- the pie. The fucking pie. The insanely-impossible-suicide-inducing fucking pie. You need to be a rocket scientist to decipher the recipe listed in the magazine...and I (naively) attempted. Recipes like this should come with a warning: only to be attempted by expert bakers and people who are 100% emotionally-rock-solid. The kitchen was in shambles, I was covered head to toe in flour and egg, and my arm aches from "vigorously whipping" my lime curd over a "steam bath" for 20minutes. Tired and frustrated, I abandoned my curd and turned my attention to the crust. As I rolled out the dough and laid it in the dish, I began crying. Then sobbing. Then convulsing, buckets of tears poured out of my eyes, caught by my beautifully constructed pie crust. This went on for some time before I got it together and went on to finish this (stupid-goddamned) pie.

Well, it didn't turn out looking ANYTHING like the cover of Bon Appetit, but it tasted alright. The moral of the story is that sometimes ya just need a good cry. Whether it's in your car, or into your pie crust- holding in stress, anger, sadness or any kind of negative emotion will only make matters worse. So cry it out, and then enjoy a happy meal with the people you love. Oh yeah- moral #2: don't attempt any pies in Bon Appetit, no matter how enticed you are by their beauty....

MY Blackberry Lime Meringue....

Bon Appetit's Blackberry Lime Meringue.

FYI: Here's a much easier, and just as delicious way to make this pie (minus the frustration):

Cailin's Suicide and Swear Free Blackberry Lime Pie (meringue optional):

• pie crust (i made mine from scratch, but you can use store bought) *if you want a crispy crust, bake the crust for about 10 minutes @ 350
• at the bottom of the pie crust toss in 2 containers of blackberries (bout a cup and a half), then drizzle with agave nectar, depending upon their tartness
• top the crust and berries with this mixture: 5 egg yolks, 1 can sweetened condensed milk, 2/3 cup lime juice
• Bake in oven at 375 for 25 minutes.
• If you want to put the meringue on top, be my guest, but as far as im concerned meringue can kiss my ass....I'd just top it with some delicious whipped cream! garnish with blackberries.

Sweating, and Singing and Sweating.

Every Sunday night in the summer I play at the (private) Stone Harbor Golf Club. It's a great gig: I make great money, I play for a wonderful crowd, they feed me delicious food, I sing mellow acoustic music for three hours and the people that work at SHGC are absolutely amazing. It's a weekly gig that I definitely look forward to playing. Anyways, I got a call from them earlier this week, asking if I'd play at one of the men's golf events on Saturday night. Obviously I said "absolutely!". Well, as much as I love the club- I have to say that tonites gig doesn't go down in history for my most favorite gig ever. Ha. I played out on the porch, in 98% weather (with 85% humidity). And the icing on the cake were little black flies! Those bastards were relentless! Bah. Thank God I chose a short, thin dress with a slip- because one song into the set list and I was already dripping sweat. I don't need to go into detail about my sweat-factor two hours later, but it certainly wasn't pretty. Hopefully it'll be a bit cooler for tomorrow's gig....

FABULOUS...Bite-Sized!

Figs, stuffed with goat cheese, wrapped in bacon...drizzled with a balsamic reduction...BOOM!

I cut a dozen figs in half, scooped out a little bit of the inside, stuffed it with some goat cheese, and then pushed the halves back together. I partially cooked the bacon, and then wrapped bacon slices around the stuffed figs. I secured the salty-pork-goodness around the fruit with a toothpick. I put them under the broiler for just under two minutes, then drizzled them with a balsamic reduction before we all devoured them. FYI: you can purchase pre-made balsamic reduction, but it's easy to make on your own. To make, simply pour 1 cup of balsamic vinegar into a sauce pan over medium heat, and let it cook down until there's about 1/3 cup left...the remaining bit is a thicker, sweeter tasting balsamic!

Roasted Pepper + Raisin Dip

When you read the ingredients in this dish, you're going to be a bit puzzled, but I assure you- I swear to you- that this easy-to-assemble app will rock your world.

Ingredients:
-6 red bell peppers
-1 cup of golden raisins
-Small handful of fresh oregano, chopped
-1/4cup E.V. Olive Oil
-3 tablespoons of SALT-PACKED capers, rinsed well
-Tiny sprinkle of salt
-Splash of red wine vinegar

1. Roast the peppers over a flame, or under the broiler. You want the peppers to be completely charred, if they don't look burnt all over then you won't be able to peel them. If they look like the ones I posted in the picture- then the skin will come off in TWO seconds. Easy peezy.

2. When peppers are done roasting, set them aside and let them cool.

3. Peel and seed the roasted peppers. Put them in a food processor and pulse a few times.

4. Now add raisins, EVOO, capers and oregano to the processor, pulse some more.

5. Enjoy!!

I highly recommend slicing a cibatta loaf thinly, drizzling with EVOO, putting under the broiler for minute- flipping it- browning the other side, and then scooping this amazing deliciousness onto the toast!