DF 1: Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Here we are, Day 1 of the Challenge!

Normally, if I want to buy a book, I just order it from Amazon. It's usually cheaper than at my local bookstore, and since I'm a Prime member, I get free 2-day shipping. However, since I needed some info on non-dairy baking and cooking immediately, I made a quick trip to B & N. Actually, not that quick, since I had a whole list of books I wanted to look at and I browsed them all carefully before making my selections. While browsing, it became quite evident that

Cheese. Is. Going. To. Be. A. Problem.

I can already see that's going to be the biggest challenge of going dairy-free. Just to clarify, when I say "dairy-free" I mean no milk products, cow or otherwise, like milk, cream, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, and yogurt. After today's experiment, I'm thinking I may still use butter, at least in some recipes.

I grabbed a few vegan cookbooks to browse through and realized that they will be helpful mainly in the baking area. As far as creating dairy-free versions of other dishes, I may be on my own here. This is because not only do I have to watch it with the dairy, I also have to take it easy on simple carbs that have a high glycemic index value, like rice and potatoes. So a macaroni and "cheez" dish consisting of pasta, rice milk, nutritional yeast flakes, water, potato starch, and veggies is gonna send me zooming to the moon sugar-wise only to crash and burn severely in about 40 minutes. I was so excited to find a recipe for creamy tomato soup (my favorite!) only to realize I could never eat it because the creaminess was created by the addition of more than a lb. of potatoes to the soup, a sure recipe for a crash and burn.

Whereas dairy milk and cheese in a standard mac and cheese recipe bring some protein, calcium, and most importantly, FAT, to the party. For my body, fat is a good thing, because it slows everything down and keeps the carbs from slamming into my bloodstream like a rocket. The protein helps balance things out too.

From experiences in the past with low-fat diets (remember Susan Powter and Stop the Insanity?) I am only too aware of a dreary underworld of pseudofoods, created solely to taste like something else. E.g., fat-free salad dressing. Non-dairy cheese also falls into this category. Sometimes, a "pseudofood" tastes good and provides a good nutritional value. Soysage, for instance. I love it-- prefer it, even, to real sausage because it isn't greasy. It's loaded with soy protein and "good" fat.

But I just have to wonder about the benefit of some of the other pseudofoods that are out there.

To make the delicious cupcakes below, I used two products new to me, coconut milk yogurt and vegan cream cheese. The recipe calls for soy yogurt, but at the store, vanilla and plain soy yogurt was only available in a huge vat, which I didn't want to invest in. One reason being the dr. told me to avoid highly processed soy products. The coconut milk yogurt was available in vanilla in a single serving size, so I decided to try it for the recipe.



Compared to regular yogurt, coconut milk yogurt is a bit watery and "thin," but it tasted fine. It did NOT taste like yogurt, but it did taste sweet and vanilla-y. It also worked fine in the recipe. It even has 6 active and live cultures, according to the label.

But check out the ingredients: water, coconut milk, vanilla, evaporated cane juice, pectin, chicory root extract, dextrose, natural flavors algin (kelp extract), magnesium phosphate, tricalcium phosphate, rice starch, locust bean gum, agar, culture, carrageenan, guar gum, dipotassium phosphate, vitamin B 12. The primary ingredients are water, coconut milk, and sugar. Plus emulsifiers.

Checking the nutrition label, I see a carton has 150 cals., with 50 of them coming from fat (so 33% fat). There are 22 grams of carbs, 19 grams of sugar and 2 grams of fiber. I gram of protein. It provides no vitamin A or vitamin C, but does provide 25% of the daily value for calcium and magnesium, as well as 30% of your B12 and 8% of your iron.

Let's compare that to my usual yogurt, Fage 2% Greek yogurt. It also has 150 cals per serving, with 40 cals from fat (26% fat). There are 9 grams of carbs and sugars, but of course, this is plain and not vanilla so it should be lower. No fiber, but 20 grams of protein. No iron, no vitamin C, 2% DV for Vitamin A, and 25% calcium. (Magnesium and B 12 aren't listed.)

And here are the ingredients for the Fage yogurt: milk, cream, and active cultures. That's it.

Clearly, the Fage is a cleaner and more natural food, and has the advantage of providing a significant amount of protein in addition to the calcium. I'm not saying the coconut milk yogurt is bad. If I had soy and milk allergies, the coconut milk yogurt would be a godsend! I'm just saying because something is "non-dairy" that doesn't automatically make it nutritious. In fact, the health benefits to me in the Fage yogurt might mean it's a food I would not eliminate, but would try to eat less of.

The vegan cream cheese is gluten free, has no trans or hydrogenated fats, no cholesterol, no preservatives, no dairy, and no sugar. It seems to consist primarily of palm fruit oil and soybean oil, with some chicory root extract, agave syrup, lemon juice and rice starch thrown in. Like regular cream cheese, it's mostly fat, with 90 calories per serving, 70 of them from fat. But obviously, this is a much healthier food than regular cream cheese.


Which brings me to the other issue with "pseudofoods." Taste.

I understand that something that is NOT dairy cannot be made to taste exactly like its dairy counterpart. However, for me, it has to taste reasonably similar, and it also has to taste good. The texture can be totally off, but if it tastes good, it works for me. WF carries a vegan chocolate mousse. Does it taste like real chocolate mousse? No, but it has a similar texture and certainly does ring my chocolate chimes, and is delicious besides. Someimes I even deliberately buy IT when I'm in the mood for something chocolate.

But the vegan cream cheese?? Not so much. While I wouldn't call the taste unpleasant, it unfortunately tastes an awful lot like mayonnaise. DC tasted it and agreed: mayonnaise. Which means I'd have a hard time eating it spread on a bagel. I'd be wondering where the rest of my sandwich went. The prospect of putting it in the cupcake frosting alarmed me, but since this is the first time I've tried these cupcakes, I wanted to follow the recipe as given. And surprisingly, it turned out ok.

If this tells you anything, DS, who hates cream cheese and cream cheese frosting with a vengeance, had 2 cupcakes and licked his fingers. Actually, we all did. They really were quite tasty!

Here is the recipe, from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World:

(Vegan) Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

12 standard cupcakes

Ingredients:
2/3 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 t. baking soda
1/4 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground ginger
2/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1/3 c. soy yogurt (plain or vanilla)
1 t. vanilla
1 c. finely grated carrots
1/4 c. chopped walnuts
1/4 c. raisins

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake papers, and spray top of tin with nonstick spray.
2. Cream together the sugar, oil, and vanilla.

3. Sift together the dry ingredients and combine well. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until combined.
4. Fold in the carrots and walnuts.

5. Fill the tins 2/3 full, and bake for 26-28 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
6. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn cupcakes out onto a rack to cool completely.

Vegan Cream Cheese Frosting

1/4 c. non-hydrogenated margarine, softened
1/4 c. vegan cream cheese, softened
2 c. confectioner's sugar
1 t. vanilla

Cream the margarine, cream cheese, and vanilla together. Add 1 c. of the powdered sugar and beat well. Add the remaining sugar in 1/4 c. increments, until you are satisfied with the texture.

Pipe the frosting on the completely cooled cupcakes.

The authors suggest rolling the edges of the frosted cupcakes in 1/3 c. chopped walnuts, but I didn't bother.

MY REVIEW:
The cupcakes were delicious. However, the recipe could use a little tweaking. I barely got 10 cupcakes out of the batter. I think I will increase the flour next time to 1 c. I'm also going to be sure to pack the carrots down when measuring. Also, I doubled the amounts on the cinnamon and ginger, and they came out tasting great. I think they would be bland as written.

I'm a little puzzled about the ratio of baking soda to baking powder, since the soda is the more powerful leavener of the two, usually use less of it-- the amounts almost look reversed! However, the one problem with the cupcakes was that they didn't rise much at all. And then they sank as they cooled. Next time I'm going to experiment with adding an egg. Which will make them non-vegan, but fine for me!

Oh yes, and the other thing-- 26 to 28 minutes baking time?? Yikes! Mine were done at 20. Proceed with caution.

The frosting: I mentioned I had reservations about using the vegan cream cheese, since it tastes like mayonnaise. Which might be ok inside the cake, but not on top of it! However, I was pleasantly surprised that the combination of ingredients created a tasty frosting.

Now, the frosting WAS tasty, but the flavor was definitely kind of strange. Not unpleasant, just weird. Obviously, it wasn't weird enough to keep us from eating seconds! I don't know how to describe it, it just had an "off" flavor. I think I might try using butter next time instead of the margarine to see if that improves the taste. (Again, I know that will make them non-vegan.)

Bottom line: we loved 'em, weird frosting and all!

The 30-Day DomesticMuse Dairy-Free Challenge!!

Life continues, with Bell's Palsy. I'm feeling a whole lot better! This is Day 15 for me. I am so grateful for everyone's good wishes, supports, prayers, good vibes, and great mojo you are sending my way! I'm here to tell you, it's working!!! So thanks, and please, keep it coming! It takes most people up to 3 months to recover completely (some more, some less of course).

At the point where most people with Bell's Palsy are still getting WORSE, I am about 50% recovered. I've regained a lot of movement and symmetry. And joy of joys, my left eye closes and blinks normally, so I no longer have to sleep with a patch!! Hooray!!! If you want to see the gruesome pics, they are posted on PhitDiva. I'll warn you, I am definitely not winning any beauty prizes with those photos. On the plus side, I figure, this is as bad as it gets!!

I have learned an incredible amount about Bell's Palsy over the past 2 weeks (gee, somehow it seems longer... ;) ) and really want to give a shout out to the Bell's Palsy Network for keeping me sane. I don't know what I would do without their support and knowledge about this strange condition that even most drs. know little about. I am grateful that my recovery is going well, and I've had minimal pain. The biggest issue (besides the obvious disfigurement) for me has truly been fatigue, which is overwhelming at times. But that is getting better too.

After a lot of research and listening to other people's stories, I learned that acupuncture can be very helpful in treating Bell's Palsy. So this week I decided to go for it, and scheduled an appointment with a licensed acupuncturist/Doctor of Oriental Medicine in my area. I had a treatment for the BP, which really helped a lot-- we noticed a lot more movement after the treatment. The treatment itself was a piece of cake-- not painful and actually very relaxing.

The dr. did a thorough evaluation of my overall health and in addition to treating the Bell's Palsy, is also going to address and treat some of my other longstanding and related health issues.

The biggest one for me is allergy and sinus problems, which I feel directly caused me to come down with the Bell's Palsy, so it's all related. Conventional medicine hasn't been able to do much for me except to put me on allergy meds, and I immediately get sick if I don't take them even for a day or two. I'm tired of the endless cycle of medication, sinus and ear infections, and antibiotics several times a year, and of course MOST eager to avoid getting Bell's Palsy again.

The dr. explained to me that according to Chinese medicine, I am showing a pattern where the liver and spleen are in disharmony (I can't recall the actual name of the diagnosis) and producing a condition of too much "dampness" in my body, leading to the production of phlegm, which in my case has thickened and is causing sinus problems. (This is consistent with what my regular dr. tells me-- that my sinus/ear fluids are too thick to drain properly and cause infection.)

Anyway, to finally get to my point, part of the treatment plan is to eliminate dairy products and sugar from my diet. The phlegm is apparently an allergic response to these elements in my diet. I actually was not surprised to hear this, as I suffered from extensive food allergies as a child. However, I must say, I was not thrilled to learn that 2 of my most favorite food groups ever have got to go. Cheese. Yogurt. Ice cream!! I practically live for the stuff!! And come on people, I am from the South-- a HUGE sweet tooth is my birthright!!! A world without cheese and dessert?? A world without sunlight!! A culinary wasteland!!

After my initial shock, I decided I CAN and WILL do this. My health is important. I should at least give this a try. Other people, people who love food as much as I do, have been able to make this kind of thing work. We've all seen the terrific gluten-free blogs out there! (Not that I have to eliminate gluten, thank God!) What's more, I'm going to take my dr.'s suggestion and try it for 30 days.

However, not wishing to completely lose my mind, I am going to do this in stages. First, I'm going to work on getting rid of the dairy. Then I'm going to work on REDUCING the amount of sugar in my diet significantly. Say, by 90%. I really don't think I can totally eliminate that, because it's in just about everything, including restaurant food. And I am not planning on giving up eating at restaurants! And it is just not realistic to think I will NEVER eat the many sugar-containing foods I love. But I CAN work on eating less of them, less frequently.

So, here goes!!! I'm going to undertake the first-ever DomesticMuse 30-Day Dairy Free Challenge. I will post every day for 30 days about my experiences and include dairy-free recipes for all of the delicious new food I'm going to learn how to cook. The first thing I have to do is pick up a couple of cookbooks and probably stock up my pantry, so I will probably have a couple days of prep before I am ready to go dairy-free. But if there's anything DomesticMuse loves, it's a challenge!!

Who wants to join me??? C'mon, this will be fun!

JOIN THE CHALLENGE!!! Win A Fabulous Prize! It's easy and fun.

Here's how YOU can participate! Prepare ONE dairy-free meal during the month of August and post it on your blog. Link your post to this one. Send me the link to your post and a photo to DomestickMuse at Gmail dot com, and I will post a round-up at the end of the month. We will vote on winners, and TWO lucky winners will receive a FREE copy of Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.



That's it!!! Hopefully we'll collect lots of great recipes and have some fun. If any of you are interested in guest posting, shoot me an email (DomestickMuse at gmail.com)

So come on, people! Let's get movin' and groovin' on the DomesticMuse 30-Day Dairy-Free Challenge!

Orecchiette with Sundried Tomato Alfredo Sauce and Mom's Pattypan Squash

In the interest of EVER getting this post published, I am putting it up without the photos. I have a newer post I am working on and want to share that with you asap. At some point, I will probably add the photos, but we're going minimalist for now.

Thanks to all for your support, patience, cheerleading, and friendship!! You are the foodie friends anyone could ask for!

I hope you enjoy this no-frills post.

I was thrilled to get back into the kitchen last night and even created a new recipe, for Orecchiette with Sundried Tomato Alfredo Sauce. I was really pleased with a) how quick and easy it was and b) how well it turned out. I picked up some salmon burgers to try and needed something to serve along side them. Having cooked mostly vegetarian for a number of years, I'm used to "one-pot" kind of meals so often find having to dream up real side dishes a pain.

But this pasta is a good one, simple, quick and yummy!

My son loves pattypan squash and the price was really good on the locally grown ones at WF, so I also decided to try my hand at my mom's recipe for squash-- which I've had mixed results with over the years. But I think I finally figured it out! Hers is just a very simple, good old Southern veggie dish, which I thought you might enjoy. Both dishes went well with the salmon burgers.

Orecchiette with Sundried Tomato Alfredo Sauce

I'm calling this "alfredo" for lack of a better name, though I don't think it really is an alfredo sauce, but it has some of the same flavor and texture notes. I'm sure Reeni or any of you other fabulous Italian food geniuses could clue me in on what goes into a real alfredo! DC loves alfredo, so my goal was to produce something similar.

First, get your pasta cooking. I cooked about 1/2 lb. of the pasta, and we have at least 1 serving left over, so I would say this serves 4-5. Of course you can use any kind of pasta you want, but I chose the orecchiette so it would really sop up the sauce! To make my sauce, I used the following ingredients:

1 c. heavy cream
1/3 c. julienned sundried tomatoes (dry, not packed in oil)
Pinch of salt
Fresh ground pepper to taste
2 lg. cloves crushed garlic, or more, to taste
3/4 c. freshly grated parmigiano regggiano cheese

Put the cream, sundried tomato strips, pinch of salt (you don't want to add much at this point because you are going to reduce this sauce and it could quickly get too salty) and pepper in a small, heavy bottom sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Turn the heat down and simmer until reduced by about 1/3, sitrring occasionally. This took about 7-8 minutes. Add the crushed garlic, stir to combine, and turn off the heat.

Drain your hot cooked pasta and toss with 1 T unsalted butter and 1/4 c. chopped Italian parsley. Back at the saucepan, stir in the grated cheese and add more salt and pepper to taste.

Pour the sauce over the pasta and toss thoroughly. That's all there is to it! It was a big hit-- DC and DS loved it!

Mom's Good Old-Fashioned Southern Squash
My mom's recipe is actually for yellow squash, but I substituted the pattypan instead. For pattypan, Mom usually battered and and pan-fried it, but I have yet to try that-- but, oh, it was sooooo good that way. We didn't get to have it often, because you couldn't buy pattypans at the store back in those days-- we got ours from a neighbor with a garden. The recipe below is a more typical Southern preparation for yellow squash, but is just as delicious with the pattypans.

I bought about 4 pattypans, for the 3 of us, because squash always shrinks down when you cook it. Again, we had at least 2 servings of leftovers, so this would probably serve 4-6.

Wash the pattypans and cut off the stem and blossom ends. Dice into 1" pieces, and set aside. Heat 2-3 T olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Meanwhile, peel and halve 2 medium onions and slice thinly. I forgot and diced one of mine, but I think sliced onions make the finished dish sweeter and tastier. Add the onions to the hot skillet, and season generously with salt and pepper. The black pepper is one of the keys to the great flavor of this dish, so don't be shy. I think I used at least 1/2 -1 t. overall.

Cook the onions until they are getting pretty soft, but do not brown-- 8-9 minutes or so. Turn up the heat to medium high, and add the diced squash, along with more salt and pepper. Saute for about 5 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium and cover. Cook for 5-6 minutes and check for tenderness. It should be just about right, not too hard, not too mushy.

Now, here is the real secret to getting that old-fashioned flavor: stir in 1-2 T unsalted butter. You won't believe what a difference it makes! I learned this trick from my friend Nathan's delicious recipe for Calabacitas. Taste and add more salt and pepper as needed.

It tasted juuuuust like Mom's squash used to, so I felt really triumphant!! I think I have at last cracked the secret to making her recipe.

Back to Basics with Bison Burgers!

Well, this is day 5 for me with Bell's Palsy, and very fortunately, I am already starting to see some small improvements. I have learned from reading a super-helpful forum on the subject that 50% of people with BP recover completely in 3 months or less, an additional 35% recover in a year or less, and 15% don't fully recover. A lot of people don't see any improvement at all for 6-8 weeks, so I feel like I am making fabulous progress. I can now close my left eye and drink out of a glass without spilling, and my face is getting more symmetrical. I KNOW this is due to all the positive vibes and good wishes from all of you out there, so THANK YOU, and keep that good energy coming for a speedy and complete recovery!

I am feeling ok, though I am very fatigued. I've pretty much just been resting in bed the past several days. I have been advised to take it easy for the next two weeks, as the nerves in my face begin to regenerate. I went out today to the dr. and the pharmacy, picked up a few groceries, and then had lunch with DC, and was completely exhausted. I guess 3 hrs. of activity was too much! So I took a long nap, and feel much better. So much better, in fact, that I actually cooked dinner tonight!!

This is not really what I would normally consider a "blog-worthy" meal, but under the circumstances I am so excited I'm going to share anyway. We've been subsisting on take-out food for the past week or so, and I really wanted to find a way to get us out of that rut and into some healthier and tastier homemade food. So I am totally cheating this week with some help from my friends at Whole Foods.

I bought some pre-made bison burger patties for dinner tonight, along with some sweet potatoes and microwave-in-the-bag pre-prepped veggies. In order to make all this prefabrication palatable, I figured I would focus on oomphing up the flavor with condiments.

I know I have shown these before, but they are a huge family fave and really easy to make and so tasty and healthy. So here is a quick look at my

Sweet Potato Oven Fries
Preheat the oven to 400F and line a baking sheet with foil. I also like to spray the foil with nonstick spray. Peel 3 sweet potatoes. Garnets are my favorite, and I also really like the locally-grown purple sweet potatoes, which are very high in antioxidants. So today I used a mixture. Slice the potatoes into steak fries. Put them in a really big bowl, toss generously with some olive oil, and add the seasoning of your choice. We love cajun seasoning mix, and sometimes, but not today, I add some generous splashes of Cholula hot sauce. Dump the potatoes onto the prepped baking sheet and spread out in one layer. Bake for 20 minutes, or until tender. I like to turn the oven off and then leave the fries in the warm oven to crisp up for 10-15 minutes while I prep the rest of the meal.

Whoo, that was one hot oven! It totally fogged up the camera lens!


"Lemon-aise" Sauce for Steamed Veggies




DC isn't a huge veggie fan, but I have been able to tempt him to eat reasonable servings of veggies by dressing them up with various condiments. This simple sauce is also a huge family favorite, and is extremely tasty on plain veggies. It couldn't be easier to make!

Squeeze the juice of one fresh lemon into a bowl and whisk in mayonnaise to your taste. Add tamari or Pickapeppa sauce to taste. Crush one clove of garlic into the mixture, and add salt and pepper to taste. Taste again, and add more garlic, lemon, or mayo to suit your taste. Spoon over steamed veggies.

Sweet-Hot Pepperjack Bison Patties

I purchased 3 pre-made bison burger patties and as you know, I love my food spicy, so a sweet-hot combo sounded good to me. Bison tastes similar to ground beef (in my opinion, is actually even tastier) yet is much lower in fat. DC had never tried bison, so I decided to give it a go. I heated up my trusty griddle and sprinkled it with a thin layer of kosher salt, to give the burgers a nice crust. I think these weighed in at about 8 oz. each. I cooked them for 5-6 minutes on side 1, adding a bit of salt and pepper to the tops.

Then I turned them and cooked them for another 5-6 minutes, again adding a little salt and pepper.

Next, I brushed the top of each burger with a delicious product we have just discovered that is locally made, called Num Num Sauce. It is indeed nummy!! Isn't the little bottle cute?

Our WF sells it, and we just love it on salmon. It's a little like East Carolina BBQ sauce, but thicker and sweeter. It comes in Mild and Hot (I always go for the hot, natch!).


Then I added a slice of Pepperjack cheese to each patty and let them cook for another 3 minutes or so. I guess the fact that the cheese didn't totally melt should have clued me into the fact that they were still a bit rare when I pulled them off the griddle at that point and served them. DC liked his as it was, but as I have no desire to complicate my life further with food poisoning at this point, I popped my patty into the microwave to cook it through. Next time I'll know to either flatten the patties out or cook them longer. DC loved his bison burger!

At that point, DS returned home from having dinner with his dad and immediately came into the kitchen to ask what smelled so good! He has really been missing my cooking since I've been feeling sick. It has broken my heart, but lately every night around 9ish, he pokes his head into the family room and asks hopefully, "Dessert?" Well, tonight he didn't have to be disappointed. He even had a choice! WF had Ben and Jerry's ice cream on sale 2 for 1, so I bought some vanilla and also the Cinnamon Bun flavor DS has been wanting to try. I also bought some vanilla cupcakes. Frosting vs. ice cream?? The cupcakes won, hands down! Even though I didn't have the energy to make a homemade dessert, I still managed to put a smile on DS's sweet face.

Here is our very simple, yet delicious meal of Sweet-Hot PepperJack Bison Burgers, sweet potato oven fries, and steamed broccoli and cauliflower with lemonaise sauce:



It felt SO good to get back into the kitchen, even if I didn't really "make" the food!

It's Been A Quiet Week on DomesticMuse

But it has NOT been a quiet week in the life of Karen, the DomesticMuse!!

LOTS of stuff has been going on behind the scenes.

DomesticMuse has been having fun!
Recently, I reconnected with an old and dear friend, Cynthia, whom I had not seen since our high school graduation. The funny thing is, she has been living right here in the Triangle for the past 20 years, and our paths have never crossed! I am so glad to have Cynthia back in my life, and it has been wonderful having a real girlfriend.

DomesticMuse has been getting ready to open her Etsy Store!
I've been having a blast making jewelry for DomesticBliss, which will open soon. I will be selling my handmade jewelry, and some homemade body pampering products, including chakra-balancing aromatherapy body oils, and body mists. I hope to expand my jewelry lines and also offer some bling for the home. Lots of behind-the-scenes stuff is going on! Stay tuned for the big announcement of when DomesticBliss will open!

DomesticMuse is getting a makeover!!
SherbetBlossom Designs has been working on a new blog design, which will be up shortly! I love the new design, and hope you will, too!

DomesticMuse has been traveling!
I recently attended the American Library Association Conference in Chicago, IL (where I lived briefly in 2007/2008). It was a fabulous conference and I learned a lot, reconnected with my library-land homies, and even got to have a little fun. My plans to post every day while in Chicago were foiled by technical difficulties. Highlights of the trip included a visit to one of my big Chicago faves, MojoSpa. Photos coming soon!! I also got to eat at a couple of great restaurants, Roy's (Hawaiian fusion cuisine) and Brasserie Jo, which I hope to write about soon. And, treat of all treats, I got to see one of my bestest friends ever, Janet, who lives in Chicago. We spent an absolutely magical evening in the beautiful garden of an Irish Pub, eating delicious food and listening to Janet's friends play live Celtic music until the stars came out, amidst masses of flowers and plashing fountains. It doesn't get much better than that!

DomesticMuse is SICK!!!
I've been under the weather since my return from Chicago last Monday. I caught the conference crud, which morphed into a raging eye and sinus infection by Friday. Had fun at Urgent Care Friday night, got put on 2 antibiotics. But wait!! There's more!

I have a new addition to the list of Strange Afflictions I have Suffered In My Life. I noticed Friday evening I was having a little trouble drinking with a straw at my post-Urgent Care Indian Restaurant meal with DC. However, having been fighting off the onset of a dreaded cold sore for a couple of days, I figured my lips were just puffy from that. Mentally cursing myself for having forgotten to ask for some Valtrex to stave off the cold sore, I took my new meds and went to bed Friday night looking forward to an end to the sinus headache that I had been suffering all week.

Saturday morning, I noticed I was having some trouble drinking from a glass and things seemed a little "off" when I smiled. I dropped DC off at work, and headed to the beading class I'd been eagerly looking forward to for weeks and did not want to miss. At lunch break, while browsing the store, I caught sight of myself in a mirror and realized that only HALF of my mouth was smiling, the right side. The left side, where the sinus and eye infection are, was NOT MOVING. Left arm, hand, fingers, leg, foot, toes?? No problem. Left eye? Not closing.

So, more fun at Urgent Care!! And I missed half of my bead class. It turns out, I have Bell's Palsy, and the left side of my face is now paralyzed.

It appears the herpes virus from my developing cold sore got bored and attacked the facial nerves on my left side. I am now on a 9-day steroids taper, and massive doses of Valtrex. Supposedly, this is a temporary condition, and supposedly, MOST people recover from the paralysis. But there is no cure. The dr. said since I started treatment within 24 hrs. of onset, I should see a big improvement in the next 2-3 weeks. And it should resolve gradually over the next couple of months.

Oh good. I'll only be looking like the Phantom of the Opera for a FEW MONTHS. And I am scheduled to visit a client on-site in Maryland next week!! But I am grateful, as the runner-up diagnosis was a stroke. Since my diagnosis, I have heard of people having Bell's Palsy for 3-4 months, 8 months, a year, and forever. (Yikes!) And I still have the headache.

Please send me all your good wishes, good vibes, prayers, even say a novena for me if the mood strikes you, for a SPEEDY and COMPLETE recovery. Thanks to all of you!

I hope to have a chance to cook, and post all my new stuff, soon! So stay tuned for more adventures with DomesticMuse! Thanks, as always, for all your support!

WINNERS!!!!!

We have winners for the birthday bash giveaway!

First, the luscious lip balms from Mojo Spa:


The Strike It Rich lip balm winner is: Reeni!!


The Sweet Success lip balm goes to: Heather aka Girlichef!


The winner of Gloria Chadwick's Foods and Flavors of San Antonio is: Shaye aka Momma Miller!


The winner of the apron set from Handmaiden's Cottage is: Ginger!

And finally, we had TWO winners for the Harmony Necklace: Natasha aka 5-Star Foodie and Gloria Chadwick! Gloria and Natasha, please contact me so we can decide which chakra necklace is best for you.

Winners, please email me your shipping information at domestickmuse at gmail dot com.

SPECIAL OFFER
Since so many of you expressed interest in the Harmony necklace, I would like to extend a SPECIAL OFFER to you. I am happy to custom-make a necklace for you and will also offer you a 20% discount. Each necklace is made with an authentic semi-precious gemstone that is especially chosen to balance or heal a particular chakra, and is attuned to that chakra's vibration. Each gemstone is carefully charged using sunlight, moonlight or other appropriate element, and each is also purified with sage.

Thanks again to all of you for your encouragement and support of DomesticMuse!

What Happened to DomesticMuse???

Dear foodie friends: you are the best, and I have sadly neglected you over the past few weeks. Many exciting things have been happening, which I will update you on shortly.

AAAAAARGH!!!!! I just realized I have my camera with me, but forgot my magic cable that puts the photos into the computer. Oh well, I'll think of somethin'!

I am writing to you at an altitude of 30,000 feet in the beautiful skies somewhere between NC and Chicago. Yes, there is Interet access on the plane-- how cool is that???

I am on my way to the biggest library event of the year, the American Library Association Annual Conference, which is in Chicago. I will be here in the Windy City until Monday night and plan to submit short posts of my gastronomical experiences each day. It should be a great conference and chance to reunite with friends I have not seen for a long time. There will be 20,000 librarians attending the conference-- look out, Chitown!!

I am also planning to announce the winners of my BD BASH GIVEAWAY tonight.

You all are the best friends anyone could have-- thanks for your continued support of DomesticMuse!!

Lots of love and light,
Karen, the DomesticMuse