The Journey Continues

About a month ago I relaunched my quest to get diagnosed with Lyme disease. I finally found a PCP who listened to me, after years of being ignored, and this morning I embark on part two of my journey: specialists.

I've come back to the blog both to process my own experience and to help others learn a little more about this controversial and complicated disease. I will post more as time goes on but I wanted to start by sharing this comprehensive article by the president of the International Lyme and Associated Disease Society (ILADS). There's some medical language to parse through but it's still very useful and includes a symptom list that I found both haunting and magical. I was surprised to learn that some of the things I've been experiencing for years can be attributed to Lyme.

http://www.lymenet.org/BurrGuide200810.pdf

GF Chocolate Banana Cookies

I just made this gluten free cookie recipe. I used almond meal, quinoa flour and added banana slices. They are a little crumbly but holy crap they're delicious.  Originally posted here on Cookieandkate.com. 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup almond flour or almond meal, firmly packed
• 1/4 cup coconut flour, firmly packed
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
• dash cinnamon (optional)
• 1/2 cup butter or coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup real maple syrup (preferably grade B) or honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 ounces dark chocolate, chopped, or 1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Pour in the melted butter (or coconut oil), maple syrup (or honey) and vanilla extract, and mix thoroughly. Stir in the chocolate.
3. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes so the coconut flour can absorb some of the excess moisture (or let the dough chill in the fridge for 10 minutes if you want fat cookies, like those shown here). Scoop dough, one tablespoon at a time, in mounds onto the baking sheet, leaving a couple inches around each cookie.
4. Bake for about 11 minutes, until golden brown.

Shake it 'til you make it

It's been almost five weeks since I left my day job but today was the first day I felt able to relish my new freedom. The chilly but sunny bike ride from Southie to Jamaica Plain after yoga this morning was simply delightful. I forgot that one of my favorite things about not having a real job is the opportunity to enjoy the city in the weird hours when most folks are at work. The streets and sidewalks are clear, save for the dog walkers and delivery folks. It's dreamy.

Life in general is treating me well. If it wasn't for lingering illness and drama amongst some of my favorite people, I would be stupendous. Since finishing yoga teacher training, I know now that I can separate that crap from who I really am and dance like the happy hipsters in this video, and that is an especially liberating feeling.



I've never thought of myself as a dancer. I took ballet as a child, probably for less than six months. Actually, I think I stopped because I wasn't allowed to wear a tutu during practice and I thought that was bullshit. Why else would one do ballet? Later in life, my friend Suzanna told me something like, "I love that you have absolutely no rhythm but you dance anyway. It's great." I decided to embrace my role as the goof ball dancer. At some point in teacher training this past month, my yoga teacher decided I was a dancer. I looked at him cockeyed and confused. Me? A dancer? Are you sure? I was even more surprised when some classmates told me they were impressed with my moves and urged me to include dance in my sequencing.

Perhaps it's three years of Afro Flow Yoga or the endless string of kitchen dance parties at 34 Robeson, but it seems I'm not JUST a goof ball booty shaker anymore. I'm going to run with that as long as I can.  Pretty or not, it makes me feel alive and helps me forget all the bullshit in my body and my struggles to change the world.

As David Longstreth says, "There is an answer. I haven't found it but I will keep dancing until I do." 

Banging Little Soup

When I Googled "soup" this picture of Obama and Al Sharpton sharing soul food appeared. 

I found myself home sick yesterday without anyone to bring me chicken noodle soup. Also, I've been trying not to eat meat and I'm gluten free. Using what I had in the house, I was able to whip up this tasty little ditty and wanted to share.

What you need:
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can garbanzo beans
- red pepper flakes
- yellow curry
- handful spinach
- handful kale
- vegetable stock
- water
- olive oil

Gettin' 'er done:
Heat up some olive oil with the red pepper flakes and curry. Once it smells good, add the onions and garlic. When those get squishy, add a few cups of vegetable stock (depends on how much soup you want). Bring that to a boil, let it boil for a few minutes, then add the greens and beans, and salt and pepper. Simmer for 10 minutes. Once you let it cool a bit, use a hand blender, regular blender or food processer to smooth it out. Good stuff and seems to be even tastier the next day.