#EatCarrotsForBrice - Sunday, April 19th

I read a story that made me smile today.

Photo Credit: Brice Royer via Vancouver Sun.

A fellow Vancouver resident, Brice Royer, posted an ad on Craiglist offering "Unconditional Love For Sale $0". His ad was listed in the real estate section and was seen by many house hunters frustrated by the increasingly unaffordable housing prices in Vancouver.

As I dug more into Brice's story, I discovered that he had founded a website called Gift Economy which encourages people to Pay It Forward. What's more is that Brice has been battling stomach cancer for the past three years which left him allergic to many foods. As a result of Brice's food allergies, he can only tolerate carrots. So Brice eats carrots three times a day, every day.

Brice's kind act did not go unnoticed. A social media campaign #EatCarrotsForBrice was launched to honour Brice.

The only thing Brice wants is for everyone to show a little carrot love on Sunday, April 19, 2015. It all started when his mom took funny pictures of herself eating carrots and this made Brice smile.

Brice wants people to post pictures of themselves eating carrots to raise awareness for allergies during World Allergy Awareness Week which runs from April 13th to April 19th.

So please, show Brice that we "carrot" about him and help raise awareness for those with allergies.

Here's how:

1) Take a picture of yourself and/or loved one(s) eating carrots. Creative submissions are encouraged.

2) Upload your picture to social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Imgur, Google+, etc) and tag it with the hashtag #EatCarrotsForBrice. Let's get it trending on Sunday, April 19th!

Source: CTV News, Vancouver Sun, Gift Economy

Liar Liar

The Internet has exploded in the last 24 hours.

Last night, as I was browsing Facebook, a friend shared an article written by The Science Babe for Gawker. I clicked on the article titled "The "Food Babe" Blogger Is Full of Sh*t" bemused to see what had my friend so excited that she captioned it "This. Is. Awesome."

The Food Babe, wait, that name sounds familiar. I have seen that name recently in the news. She had something to do with Subway Restaurants removing the yoga mat chemical from its breads. At that time, I thought, "Way to go girl!".

I am all for eating whole foods, DIYing and making things from scratch. Well, actually, most of that came as a result of my son being diagnosed with multiple food allergies. I had no choice. I used to love making things from scratch, as a hobby. Now I do this full time, as an allergy mom, to keep my little man safe.

Anyhow, I digress.

As I was reading through the article, still amused, I was craving popcorn. This is the kind of article you read with glee, because it is well written, funny, witty and full of zingers. It's the type of material that has been missing in my life since The Colbert Report went off the air. 

The premise of the article Yvette Guinevere (aka Science Babe) set forth were examples of how The Food Babe does not base anything she writes on factual scientific evidence.

It was all fun and games until I came to the last part written about The Food Babe's advice for her followers (aka The Food Babe Army) on eating out. According to Yvette, The Food Babe apparently gave advice to her followers to "Go as far as telling the server you allergic to butter and dairy, soy and corn."

 

Does The Food Babe know butter is dairy? Read her ramblings here.

I was so curious to see if this was true. So I clicked on the link and I was redirected to another page written by The Food Babe refuting the Gawker article. WTF. Where's the article Yvette was referencing.

Was Yvette lying?

So I searched "Food Babe + Food Allergies" and found the page Yvette referenced.

True enough, The Food Babe tells her followers to lie about having food allergies.

WHAT THE F%#&*$(% IS WRONG WITH YOU WOMAN?!?

Who tells people that?

As a mom of a child who has food allergies, I cannot fathom why anyone with such a mass following would tell people without food allergies to lie. No thanks to her, her 2011 article and The Food Babe Army, they are trivializing food allergies.

Lying about food allergies is not a laughing matter for the 15 million Americans with food allergies. In Canada, where I live, 2.5 million Canadians live with at least one food allergy. Until my little man was diagnosed with peanut and almond allergies, I had no idea how having a food allergy can change one's life. Families with food allergies are always on guard: reading, checking and rechecking labels, calling food manufacturers, monitoring food recalls, making foods from scratch, trying to advocate for the food allergic child(ren), being excluded at social events, and dealing with real a-holes who believes those with food allergies should "Darwin" themselves, among many other things. Many families have watched their loved ones in full blown anaphylaxis and some families have lost their loved ones due to food allergies. It's not something I would wish on my worst enemy.

Oh yes, the joys of living with food allergies! And now we have to deal with dipsh*ts like The Food Babe and The Food Babe Army too? Oh hell no!

So when the Food Babe tells The Food Babe Army to go lie about allergies due to a lifestyle choice, I take offense. In fact, The Food Babe is not the only one who advocates lying about food allergies. Todd Wilbur of Top Secret Recipes (who creates restaurant copycat recipes) boasts faking a food allergy to find out the ingredients at a restaurant. The only difference is Todd does not tell his followers to do so.

This is straight from his About page. No jokes.

I take serious issue with both The Food Babe and Todd Wilbur when tell others they have (air quote) food allergies. This belittles the seriousness of those living with an actual food allergy. Like others pointed out, how many people go around lying about having cancer?

This lying goes beyond the issue of the waitstaff and those in the restaurant industry who may not take food allergies seriously because another Food Babe or Todd Wilbur is lying about having food allergies. It speaks to The Food Babe's and Todd Wilbur's moral character, lack of ethics and their willingness to say and do anything to make a quick buck. Not to mention the most important thing: they are putting the lives of those with food allergies at risk!

Instead of lying, why not CHOSE to tell the TRUTH?

The Food Babe can tell her followers to ask for an ingredients list when they are at a restaurant. Ask the chef if a certain dish contains GMOs, butter, dairy, soy or corn. (FYI: Butter is dairy!) Or even better yet, make your own food at home, like those with real food allergies. Todd Wilbur can ask restaurants for their ingredients list without taking advantage of sympathetic staff who thinks poor Todd has a food allergy, and undermining the lives of those who have food allergies.

My suggestion to The Food Babe, Todd Wilbur and anyone else lying about having food allergies, stop lying already.

To quote The Food Babe, her rule is "If a third grader can't pronounce it, don't eat it." 

Here's my rule: "If a third grader knows it's wrong to lie, you (The Food Babe, Todd Wilbur and The Food Babe Army) should know it too."

The Stolen Vest

My little man and I go to StrongStart (a free program for children 0 to 5 years old at local elementary schools in British Columbia) twice a week. We have been going to the same school since October and absolutely adore the teacher, love the school and like the parents/caregivers and kids who go there.

As usual, we went to StrongStart today and had a great time. When it was time to leave, I went to the coat area to grab my little man's red OshKosh vest and blue hoodie and noticed the OshKosh vest was missing. Frantically, I looked all over for it and could not find it anywhere in the classroom. Since we were the last ones to leave, I informed the teacher that someone had taken my little man's vest.

The red OshKosh vest

For me, this came as a shock as I was surprised people would deliberately steal a child's vest, in a classroom no less. This type of dishonesty may happen elsewhere but I felt that at our StrongStart, it would be immune to this type of dishonest behaviour. Sadly, it happened.

This vest had a lot of sentimental value as I had purchased it 7 years ago for my nephew. I remember going to OshKosh with my friend A and fell in love with this vest. It cost a pretty penny but my nephew was worth the splurge. Not to mention he looked so adorable wearing it!

When the box of gently worn hand-me-downs were passed along from my brother-in-law to us, I was so happy to see the red OshKosh vest. We wore the vest out frequently and it has kept my little man warm all Spring. This vest is a family favorite and we have had many great memories of both our nephew and little man wearing it.

The loss of this vest was a wake up call that theft happens in the most unexpected places, when we least expect it. It is a sad day when a parent cannot hang up a child's vest in a classroom without someone stealing it. What made this act even more despicable was the person deliberately took the blue hoodie off to steal the vest; while I was in the same room playing with my little man. And this person is likely one that I have had many face to face encounters with.

To the person who stole my little man's vest, enjoy your dishonest act. While you may think you are getting away with stealing my son's vest, know that the child you are bringing to StrongStart is learning from your dishonest behaviour. The consequences you will have to deal with in the future will cost you more than the $40 I spent on the red OshKosh vest.

A Year Later

Exactly a year ago, we found out that our little man was allergic to peanuts and almonds. At first, upon receiving the diagnosis from the allergist, my initial reaction was relief since he was not allergic to wheat as we had originally suspected.

Epinephrine saves lives.

As we drove home, my husband's voice broke and mentioned the implications of our little man having food allergies: cross contamination, dealing with people who do not understand allergies, eating out, traveling and bullying. I started to panic. What on earth was I thinking when I said that I was relieved?

When we got home, I started to research more about peanut and tree nut allergies and my heart sank. Pouring over all the articles, I discovered that the chances of outgrowing a peanut allergy is up to 20% and outgrowing a tree nut allergy is up to 9%. Whereas children allergic to wheat, milk, eggs have 80% chance of outgrowing it. All the websites I have read said that we need to avoid bakeries and most restaurants due to cross contamination and that many foods contain peanuts and tree nuts.

We insisted that our allergist conduct a RAST blood test which told us how likely the little man would react to peanuts and almonds. The blood results for his peanut IgE was > 100 (99.99% chance of reaction) and almond IgE was 12.4 (95% chance of reaction).

Every article I read had a tragic ending where a life was lost too soon. Every email I saw was yet another food related recall. Everywhere I went, I saw peanuts and almonds lurking in the most obscure things, from hand moisturizers to dog treats. I felt defeated.

A Year Later
Fast forward a year, we made a lot of changes: making our own food, educating family on food allergies and using epinephrine, reading labels, carrying epinephrine injectors everywhere we go, just to name a few things.

In the last year, as a family we have learned to manage food allergies on a daily basis. We are learning to trust others to make food our little man: my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law and reputable allergy aware restaurants. (We still do a lot of due diligence in this area like reading labels and asking lots of questions.)

I have also become a better and more efficient home cook, learning to make many dishes from scratch. As a result, we have almost completely eliminated dining out saving a good amount of money. We also started focusing on what our little man can eat, rather than what he cannot. This made us realize that eating whole foods is better for us and healthier too.

We have learned a lot about food allergies and how many families like ours manage multiple food allergies on a daily basis. I have come to realize that many families with multiple food allergies do not stop living a normal life. Seeing this was inspiring for me as it gave me hope and made me realize that many other food allergy families shoulder a lot more than we do.

In the last twelve months, I have also learned to not agonize over every food allergy article. I read the latest research with cautious optimism, the tragic stories of lives lost as a reminder of how to better protect my little man. I have also started noticing more allergy-friendly products on store shelves and hope that with awareness, there will be more compassion for those who live with food allergies.

But the most important thing I have learned is not to take life for granted and be grateful for what we have: supportive family, good friends and an amazing food allergy community.

Trinidad Stewed Chicken

Lately, it seems like everyone I know escaped to Hawaii over the winter holidays. My Facebook feed consisted of everyone boasting about tanning, swimming, reading, lazying about in Hawaii.

Meanwhile, the weather in Vancouver is overcast and hovering around 4 degrees Celsius. I longed for warmth and sunshine.

As I was looking through my recipes for dinner, a tweet caught my eye. The office of Charlie Hebdo was targeted by three men killing twelve people, including journalists, cartoonists, police officers and other innocent civilians. My heart aches for the victims and their families as a result of this senseless and cowardly attack.

I was no longer longing for a sunny beach in Hawaii. I felt shaken as the attack was a direct assault on freedom of speech, which is something I value. It was a flashback to September 11th and when Corporal Nathan Cirillo, a Canadian ceremonial guard, was gunned down point blank. It was not a fair fight.

People all over the world started holding signs that said "Je Suis Charlie" (I am Charlie) and pens (symbolizing the freedom of speech) to stand in solidarity with those who lost their lives in Paris yesterday. Now I longed for everyone to have the right to freedom of speech, without fear of retribution or violence. I longed for disagreements using words rather than violence to resolve differences.

View image | gettyimages.com

As I was making this Trinidad Stewed Chicken, I thought of my friend Tina, who gave me this recipe 5 years ago. Our friendship was a unique one as we are polar opposites in many respects, except when it came to food. The aroma of the chicken simmering on my stove reminded me of a happier time and filled my house with warmth. Though the chicken stew was delicious and enjoyed by everyone, it felt like a dark cloud was hovering above us. I am still sad and confused over how satirical cartoons can be a death sentence for 12 innocent people. It continues to baffle me.

The slain editor of Charlie Hebdo, Stéphane “Charb” Charbonnier, infamously said "I prefer to die standing than living on my knees". I strongly believe the best way to memorialize the 12 victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre is not be afraid and to continue to exercise our right to freedom of speech. Je Suis Charlie.

View image | gettyimages.com

Ingredients
3-1/2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs (cut into 1 inch pieces)
3 tbsp minced green seasonings (chives, green onions, cilantro)
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tsp salt (I omitted this)
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 tbsp brown sugar (loosely packed)
1 cup chicken broth or water
2 medium tomatoes, diced
2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp hot pepper to taste, dried chili, red chili pepper or habanero (optional)
1 tbsp butter, added for flavor (optional)

Directions
1. Season chicken with green seasonings (I only used green onions), garlic, onion, salt and pepper. Mix. Cover and allow it to marinate for 30 minutes.

2. Heat oil in a pot over medium heat. Add brown sugar and melt.

3. Add chicken and brown all over, tossing continuously until the liquid dries out.

4. Pour in 1 cup chicken broth (or water), tomatoes, ketchup, soy sauce and hot pepper. Mix. Cover pot and simmer on low-medium heat until the chicken is tender (about 15 to 20 minutes).

5. Optional: Once the chicken stew has finished cooking, add in a tablespoon of butter. Stir and serve over rice, noodles or with a crusty loaf of bread.

Source: Tina HC

8 Ideas to Prevent Kitchen Burnout

In most households, the cooking duties generally defaults to one person. In our household, that task falls squarely on my shoulders. It has been this way ever since my husband and I got married.

Up until my son was diagnosed with nut allergies, we would eat out on nights when I am too tired to cook. For many food allergy moms or people with food allergies, this is generally not a viable option.

In December of 2014, after over half a year of non-stop cooking, baking and making almost everything from scratch, I felt burnt out. Products I used to purchase were off limits as they often had "may contains" and my kitchen has now turned into a mini bakery, stocked with every possible kind of non-nut flour imaginable. I still loved to cook but I knew that I needed to ask for help or find other ways to alleviate the stress of meal preparation. I thought long and hard of other ways to find a balance between feeding my little man safe foods and keeping my sanity.

Over the Christmas holidays, I had a period of two weeks where I was no longer the main provider of all the meals. This allowed me some time to recharge and think of ways to prevent kitchen burnout in the future.

I have come up with eight ideas to prevent kitchen burnout for those with food allergies or those looking to get a break from the kitchen.

1. Ask Other Family Members to Help (ie. Spouse, Partner or Kids)
This can be the hardest thing to do for some of us. In our household, my husband is in charge of weekend breakfasts. In addition to his breakfast duties, he is also the backup chef in this house. This means pitching in to make a quick meal when I am busy.

Here are other things your spouse/partner/kids can do:

• Food preparation: peeling potatoes, washing vegetables, getting ingredients out of the freezer to thaw
• Setting the table: my little man (under 2 years old) and my husband have been tasked with setting the table for dinner each night. Sure the forks are all in one place when the little man is setting the table, but hey, it is one less thing I have to do.
• Kitchen cleanup: kids as young as 18 months old can take their plates to the sink after dinner. Older kids can help clear the table, load and unload dishes in the dishwasher.
• Eating area cleanup: kids can wipe the table after dinner, sweep (we are working on this!) and vacuum to make sure the table is clean and ready for the next meal.

2. Big Batch Recipes: Eat Over a Few Meals or Eat and Freeze

• I love doubling or tripling recipes so I have dinners for a couple nights.
• Try these recipes: Easy Peasy Beef and Macaroni, Chunky Veggie Spaghetti, Chicken Chow Mein,  Kimchi Fried Rice, 40 Minute Whole Wheat Rolls and Homemade Frozen Pizza 

40 Minute Whole Wheat Rolls

• If your family hates eating leftovers, find recipes that freeze well and freeze the leftovers for another meal.

3. Make Ahead Freezer Meals

• Make ahead freezer meals are great because it essentially allows you to shift the prep work to when you have more time and energy. Even better is that it allows you to take advantage of sales when you can purchase foods at a discount. 
• I will be trying some of these recipes from Two Under Two and this Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole. $5 Dollar Dinners offers a great meal plan each week that solves the dinner dilemma.
• If your family loves pizza, try this 35 minute pizza recipe which can be made ahead of time. Make a few extras and bake when you need a quick dinner.

35 Minute BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe made from scratch.

4. Dining Out at Safe Restaurants

• This year, one of my resolutions was to find more allergy aware restaurants. We recently added Red Robin Gourmet Burgers to our list of safe eats (see my post here). I am looking forward to trying other allergy aware restaurants in the future.

Interactive menu at Red Robin

• Things to look for when selecting a restaurant:
• Has an allergen menu
• Has knowledgeable and courteous staff who take your concerns seriously and explains their protocol for food handling and preparation
• Manager or chef is accommodating and knowledgeable, answers questions
• Has a special food preparation area for people with food allergies
• Notes allergens upon delivery of food items
• Good reviews from other allergy families (Check Allergy Eats for some restaurants near you)

5. Finding Allergy Friendly Shortcuts

• There are a growing number of allergy friendly products where they have a nut-free (or other allergen free) facility. Some allergy aware brands now list both "contain" and "may contain" statements. Based on the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Food and Drug Administration recalls, you have a good sense of which companies are reliable.
• As much as I love making foods from scratch all the time, I also like using shortcuts here and there. In my 10 Minute Pulled Pork Tortilla Pizza recipe, I used store bought flour tortillas as my pizza crust.
  

10 Minute Pulled Pork Pizza recipe

6. Allergy Aware Family Members or Friends

• We are very lucky to live near my sister-in-law who is becoming more nut allergy aware. She generally invites us over for dinner once every few weeks. After dining safely at her house a few times, we feel comfortable enough not to bring food for our little man. She cooks mostly from scratch when we visit and happily lets us rummage through her kitchen to check for ingredients.

7. Cooking one protein and using it in different meals

• For those who like variety, try cooking a protein and using it in different ways: served over various carbohydrates (potato, rice, pasta, tortilla), in sandwiches, over salads or in stir-fries. I love these recipes which saves me a lot of time on meal prep. Roast Chicken, 2 Ingredient Slowcooker Pulled Pork, Baked Ham and Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork.

Roast chicken dinner. Leftovers used to make this 35 minute pizza.

8. One-pot/Slow Cooker meals (Prep and Go)

• I refer to this as Prep and Go meals. This wonderful for those nights when you have no time to stand over a stove. You would prep the ingredients, turn on the stove/slow cooker and allow the food to cook on its own. 
• Give these recipes a try: One Pot Spinach and Artichoke Fettuccine, 2 Ingredient Slow Cooker Pulled Pork and One Pot Tomato Basil Parmesan Pasta 

One Pot Tomato Basil Parmesan Pasta

Above all, no matter where dinner is, always bring the epinephrine injectors (Epipen or Allerject), ask questions if you are not the one cooking, and check the ingredients if you are. After all, food is supposed to be enjoyable. Give yourself some grace as everyone needs a break now and then from kitchen duties.

What do you do to combat kitchen burnout? Leave your comment below or let me know via Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Instagram.

Dining Out With Food Allergies: Red Robin Restaurants

I have been a loyal customer at Red Robin Restaurants for a long time. At one point, my husband and I frequented Red Robin once a week. It was almost a second home for us.

When my little man was diagnosed with nut allergies (peanut and almond), that was a huge change for us as dining out was no longer carefree and must be planned with extreme care.

One night, as I was reading the forums on Peanut Allergy, I discovered that many food allergy families recommend Red Robin Restaurants. I was so elated to read that this restaurant chain takes food allergies seriously.

Based on the recommendations of fellow food allergy parents and visiting Red Robin's website (which lists an Allergen Menu), this gave me the courage to dine out at Red Robin.

Here's why Red Robin will be a second home for us again.

Visit #1 (North Vancouver location) - September 2014
We visited Red Robin for dinner after a fun (but exhausting) day at the Fair at the PNE. Since we were unfamiliar with dining out with food allergies, we brought our little man's food (just in case). Our server was extra patient and explained they had an allergy menu (on an iPad) which allows you to select the allergens to avoid and based on that, it recommends menu items. She also explained that they have a special dedicated area to prepare food for people with food allergies. Moreover, staff wash their hands and the food preparation area is thoroughly cleaned to avoid cross contact.

iPad with an interactive menu

A manager visited our table and explained their process for food preparation and handling. He also answered all of our questions and took our concerns seriously. We felt pretty elated to hear Red Robin had strict protocol in place. With that, we ordered our little man some chicken fingers, milk, seasonal fruit and ice cream (which we ate). The manager personally brought out our food and made a special note of the allergy restrictions on the little man's meal.

Kid's menu. Best $6 I have spent dining out.

We gave the little man a small bite of the chicken fingers, waited 10 minutes before feeding him more. As we had expected, he ate the food without any reactions. We tipped generously and vowed to go back to Red Robin soon.

Visit #2 (North Vancouver location) - January 2015
After a fun day at the Vancouver Aquarium, we decided to dine out at Red Robin's North Vancouver location again because my awesome brother gave us Red Robin gift cards for Christmas.

As we sat down, I notified our server of the little man's nut allergies. The exact same great service was provided, the iPad with the allergen menu was given to us and the little man's food was delivered by a special server (who I assume prepared the food). This time, the server announced the allergens to us: "No Peanuts, No Treenuts, Red Robin Cheeseburger with Broccoli". We were all quite impressed by the consistency. Again, we gave him a little bit of his cheese burger which he ate without any issue.

We will be back
We have had two great visits to Red Robin's North Vancouver location and look forward to visiting them again. In particular, I liked how Red Robin:

• Has an online allergen menu
• Has an interactive allergen menu (on an iPad which they give you)
• Has knowledgeable and courteous staff who take your concerns seriously and explains their protocol for food handling and preparation
• Has a special food preparation area for people with food allergies
• Notes allergens upon delivery of food items

So from this Allergy Mom, thank you Red Robin for making my life a little easier. It's nice to know that dining out is possible when you have a second home to go to.

Date Night Sticks (in a Jar) and 50 Date Night Ideas at Home

Parenting is hard work. Someone once told me that in order to raise happy kids, you need a happy marriage and your spouse/partner should be your first priority (your kids are second). They also mentioned how hard it is to make time for each other when everything else is competing for your attention: work, kids, chores and other commitments.

Reflecting on my own marriage, our date nights are not quite the same now as it was before having our little man. Weekly date nights previously would include heading out to a restaurant for dinner, followed by either dessert, movies at a theatre, random drive to a beach or exploring a new neighbourhood. Nowadays, our date nights are once every three months when we go to the movies while my wonderful sister-in-law babysits the little man.

Those who have kids can attest how expensive and hard to come by good babysitters are. If you are lucky enough to live close to family who offer to babysit, count your blessings!

Last year, I saw this idea for Date Night Sticks in a jar. I thought it was a great way for couples to spend some quality time together at home and reconnect with each other after the child(ren) go to bed.

Materials
Blank craft sticks (you can buy them from the dollar store)
Jar (I reused my Better Than Bouillon glass jar)
Pens/sharpies

Directions
1. Write down each date night idea you have on the craft sticks.

2. Set a date each week/month for a date night. For those date nights you do not have any plans, draw a stick from the date night jar. Since some of these ideas require a little planning, you can draw a date night stick a few nights beforehand so you have time to purchase the materials/ingredients.

TIP

• We used the other side of the date night sticks to write Play Date ideas for our little man. Here are a few select ideas we had:
• Find a new playground
• Build a fort
• Make a craft

Here are 50 Date Night Ideas at home

1. Dance to your favorite songs
2. Order in take-out from your favorite restaurant and have a picnic in your living room
3. Give each other a massage
4. Take a bubble bath
5. Camp out in your living room
6. Watch home videos
7. Plan a trip
8. Work on a jigsaw puzzle
9. Play a two-person board game (Blokus, Pandemic, Carcassonne, Dutch Blitz)
10. Play a card game (Rummy)
11. Play a children's board game (Connect 4, Guess Who, Twister)
12. Play chess or Chinese checkers
13. Learn a new language
14. Create a scrapbook/photo book of special moments
15. Share a late night snack and chat about the week that ended/coming up
16. Watch a movie (Library, Netflix, or Redbox) and eat popcorn

View image | gettyimages.com

17. Record a video of how you met (similar to When Harry Met Sally type interview)
18. Make a fort in your living room and chat
19. Find a plant/vegetable to grow in your garden
20. Read a book aloud to one another
21. YouTube Karoke (I'm currently obsessed with "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?")
22. Build a snowman (bring a baby monitor if you have really young kids) and bring a thermos filled with yummy hot chocolate

View image | gettyimages.com

23. Collect ideas on home renovations/dream home
24. Bake a dessert
25. Try a new recipe and dine by candlelight

View image | gettyimages.com

26. Make smoothies or milkshakes
27. Sit in the backyard and gaze at the stars on a clear day
28. Have a cheese and wine pairing
29. Plan a picnic
30. Watch a sunset (great in the summer when the sun sets later)

View image | gettyimages.com

31. Binge watch a new show (I'm personally looking forward to Downton Abbey Season 5!)
32. Create new Date Night idea sticks
33. Paint (on canvas, paper) + wine
34. Invite another couple over for games night (if they have kids, have the all the kids over for a sleepover while the adults have some fun)
35. Create a scavenger hunt for each other
36. Plan and play a prank on someone (keep it safe folks!)
37. Write a story of a memorable moment you shared
38. Cuddle
39. Play a video game (Tetris, Wii games, etc)
40. Set up a String Laser Maze
41. Make a felt story

42. Listen to an E-book together
43. Watch a sports game on TV
44. Blindfold your spouse/partner, feed them various foods and have them guess what it is
45. Watch funny YouTube videos
46. Dress up and take silly pictures of each other
47. Have a theme night (Italian - antipasto, pasta and gelato. Add in a movie like The Italian Job or Roman Holiday)
48. Chocolate/cheese fondue - need I say more?
49. Make a homemade pizza (try my 35 minute pizza recipe from scratch)
50. Learn to make cocktails/mocktails

Source: (Date night sticks) Celebrate Every Day With Me

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links 

New Year Resolutions

2014 ended off in the tamest manner possible. If you read my post from yesterday, I wrote about how we ended 2013 with a bang and my wish for a quiet way to celebrate the end of 2014.

Luckily, my wish came true. We had a nice and relaxing New Years Eve playing card games (Oh Hell and Thirty-One) with my inlaws while I stuffed my face with various snacks. Judging by the way I was eating, you would never have known that we had a huge feast of prime rib and many delicious sides (all made by my mother-in-law) just hours earlier.

Sadly, the fun had to end. We came home a little heavier, a lot more tired (from bed sharing a double bed with a toddler) but a whole lot happier that we got to spend some quality time with our families. We visited my maternal grandfather, who at 84, is in good health and walks faster than I do. It made me so happy to watch him carry my little man in his arms at his age. It was also pretty amazing to realize that we had four generations under one roof!

Now that we are home, I am looking forward to trying to shed all those pounds I gained while visiting family.

This brings me to New Year resolutions.

View image | gettyimages.com

2015 Resolutions

Here's what I have resolved to do for 2015. Do you make New Year resolutions? Why or why not? Let me know in the comments below!

Personal Resolutions

• Spending more time with my husband, my little man and our families. This means inviting our families over to visit or traveling to visit them and being more present when we are together (ie. limiting use of electronics)
• Hosting more get togethers with friends at our house so we can ensure our little man has safe foods
• Eating at least 6-10 servings of vegetables and fruits daily
• Cleaning my house on a daily basis
• Conquering my fear of eating out with my nut-allergic little man and finding allergy-friendly/aware restaurants
• Finding a weekly exercise class for some cardio and "me-time"

Resolutions for FrugalAllergyMom.com

• Posting more allergy and budget-friendly meals that are tasty and quick to prepare
• Adapting more ethnic recipes with nuts as key ingredients so it is safe for those with nut-allergies
• Sharing tips on saving money, DIY projects and new ways to do things quicker and better (ie. deseeding a pomegranate in under 5 minutes)
• Preparing more make ahead recipes (ie. freezer meals)
• Creating weekly meal plans that will reduce the temptation to default to standby meals

Merry Christmas!

Nut-free cookies for Santa (It's Dare Maple Leaf Cream, eh?)

For Christians around the world, Christmas is a time to celebrate the birth of Christ. For those who celebrate Christmas, it is also a time to spend with family and gorge on a never-ending supply delicious food. This year marks the first nut-free Christmas for our family since the little man was diagnosed with peanut and almond allergies in March.

While I cannot say that this year has been without its share of difficulties and challenges, I feel blessed by the support we have received from family, friends, fellow food allergy bloggers and the food allergy community. As a result of everyone's support, we learned the importance of carrying and administering epinephrine, allergen avoidance at social gatherings, the need to always read labels and educate others on the seriousness of food allergies.

On the other hand, there have been many good things that have resulted from us being a part of the food allergy community. I have met some incredible and supportive people (through online and in person), made a conscious decision to stay at home to raise my little man (and watch him grow before my eyes), started this blog (meeting some amazing food allergy bloggers in the process), and learned that I am a good cook (from what I'm told). We are eating healthier (most times if you don't count my love of butter and cheese), saving money (from not eating out at restaurants) and supporting one another through challenging times (my husband rocks at this!). Moreover, we learned that while food plays an important role in most of our social gatherings, it does not have to be the end all be all for gatherings to be enjoyable.

So, on this special day, I want to count my blessings for what I have and give thanks: to God, to my wonderful husband, my amazing little man, our families, old and new friends and amazing companies who support the food allergy community. Merry Christmas everyone!

Stanley Park in Vancouver is our oasis when we need a break from everything.

The Importance of Communication (When Your Child Has Food Allergies)

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This is my 100th post! When I first started blogging I imagined it would be tough for me to crank out posts and find topics to share. After 100 posts, apparently, I still have a lot more recipes, thoughts on allergy management and frugal tips I want to share with you.

Those of you who read the byline to my blog know that I have a little man who has a nut (peanut and almond) allergy. Part of the mission of this blog is to share our experience in allergy management.

Texting Versus Calling
I was a late adopter to texting, as I preferred to call someone if I was running late or needed to chat. Soon after I got a smartphone, I preferred texting my friends and family over calling. After all, it's quicker and simpler to text 5 different people carrying on 5 different conversations than trying to call everyone.

Think about it, communication is an important part of our daily life. It is how we share our thoughts, needs, wants and feelings. When your child has food allergies, communication becomes even more critical when you leave the safety and comfort of your home. Play dates, parties and other social gatherings can throw you off your routine and introduce situations you are not familiar or comfortable with.

"PB&J Incident"

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Several months ago, my husband and I were invited to a potluck at a friend's house. We see/talk to these friends once a year at their potluck dinner. The last time we saw them, (which was last Fall) our little man had not been diagnosed with any food allergies.

When my husband RSVP'd to the party, I asked my husband to tell the host about our little man's food allergy so that the other guests can refrain from bringing any nut-related items to the potluck. The little man was just shy of a year and half years old at that time but still constantly puts things in his mouth. My husband assured me that he had let the host know via a text message.

Fast forward to the day of the party, we were having a good time until my husband noticed the host's child eating a peanut butter jelly (PB&J) sandwich. He calmly asked the child if it was a PB&J sandwich and the child nodded happily saying it is their favorite. My husband quickly grabbed the little man and left the room; looking in search of the hostess. After the child finished eating the PB&J sandwich, my husband quietly pulled the hostess to the side and explained that our little man has a peanut and almond allergy. He kindly asked if it was possible for the child to wash their hands to which the hostess obliged and apologized profusely for not having known about it as her husband had not passed along the message. I was a little shaken up but things like this happen and I thought we had handled the situation well.

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The little man was walking around and out of nowhere, he threw up. This was unusual for him and at that time, I did not think much of it. In hindsight, this could have been one of the signs of an allergic reaction.

Sadly, this story does not end here.

Another guest, whom we've met once before, brought in a Thai salad from Whole Foods, with peanuts. One of our friends, L, said in a low voice to my husband "Hey man, there are peanuts in this salad, just so you know."

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I was about to cry.

How on earth did all this happen? All of this could have been prevented had we clearly communicated with the host, hostess and the other guests. We knew almost everyone attending except for the couple who brought the Thai salad. Had we contacted everyone by telephone instead of texting the host, this whole situation could have been prevented.

I felt that my husband did not want to inconvenience his friend by asking for special treatment. In the end, we were very lucky that the worst that happened was our little man had a rash on his chest and vomited. Was it worth putting other's feelings ahead of the safety of our child?

As we drove home that night, we brainstormed ways we can try to avoid this situation again. Here's what we came up with:

RSVP Stage

• Contact the host and hostess by telephone (and other party guests if it is a potluck) and remind them about food allergies
• Ask the host if they can avoid serving the allergen at the party or substitute it with an alternate food
• If the host shrugs off your allergy concerns by making light of the situation, make your own judgement call whether you should attend. Personally, for us, if we cannot guarantee our little man's safety, we will just not attend. After all, I feel it speaks volumes about the kind of friend they are more than about you.

Day Before

• Contact the host and remind them of your child's food allergies. Ask if there is anything you can bring to the party. Separate out a portion of the safe food for your child to avoid cross contamination.

Day of Party: Before Leaving The House

• Pack at least two epinephrine injectors and map out the route to the nearest hospital
• Memorize the address of the party and best ways for an ambulance to get there
• Pack safe foods and snacks for your child. If they are old enough, remind them that they should ask for your permission before they eat anything.
• Pack hand wipes and Lysol wipes to wipe down eating areas.
• Eat a small meal at home so your child can focus on having fun instead of worrying about which foods they can and can't eat.

Arrival at the Party

• Arrive at the party early and ask what is in certain foods to identify allergens. This would prevent the PB&J incident as hosts have a lot of things on their minds on the day of the party.
• Help to set up and inquire how they made certain foods and ask to read ingredients (if you are comfortable)

During the Party

• Designate one parent to watch over the child at all times
• Ensure your child washes their hands before and after eating
• Inspect the foods and plates for allergens
• If at any time you or your child feels unsafe, leave. Be polite and let the host know you are leaving, thank them for the invite.
• Tell your child not to accept food from anyone except you.
• Keep your safe food and snacks stored separately; bring your own plates and utensils.

Post Party

• Discuss with your significant other (or child if they are old enough) what part of your allergy management plan went well and what could be improved.
• Reward your child for good behaviour for positive reinforcement

We definitely learned our lesson with the "PB&J incident". The following are three social gatherings we attended shortly after.

Lesson Learned - Example 1
At the family Thanksgiving party, we implemented the above action plan. My husband called the day before and asked his sister not to serve anything with peanuts and almonds. This call had proved to be useful as my sister-in-law had planned to serve a salad with almond slices. She volunteered to omit it from her menu because we reminded her. To my sister-in-law's credit, she avoided serving all nuts altogether.

The day of, we packed both epinephrine injectors, hand wipes and safe food and snacks for our little man. When we arrived, we inspected the foods served (hey, it's family!) and caught a Trader Joe's roasted sunflower seed that was toasted in peanut oil. My husband calmly asked his sister if she can serve something else. She was genuinely embarrassed that she missed that. It is hard to hold others to our standard especially when it is not a routine habit.

We also asked family members not to give our little man any foods unless it came from our safe food stash. We designated my mother-in-law as our helper to watch over the little man to make sure he remained safe. It was the first time after the "PB&J incident" where I felt relaxed and had a little fun.

Lesson Learned - Example 2
We went over to a family friend's house for dinner. Our friend L knew about our little man's food allergy from previous two visits with them. I also reminded her that we will be bringing the little man's own food. On the day of, our friend L made sure there was no nuts served in her dinner menu. We had a fabulous time and the little man was thrilled to play with their two adorable kids.

Lesson Learned - Example 3
My husband's friend J, invited us over to her house for a US Thanksgiving feast. Since they see each other every week at volleyball, my husband talked to J about our little man's food allergies. J was extremely accommodating, stating that she will not be serving any dishes containing peanuts or almonds but there will be other nuts there. We really appreciated her telling us that so we can make an informed decision whether to attend.

Since we know the hostess is quite allergy aware, we felt comfortable knowing that peanuts or almonds will not be on the menu. As always, we brought the little man his own drink, food and snacks. On the day of the party, J pulled us aside and told us which dishes had other nuts (pecans and walnuts). I was very impressed she took our concerns seriously.
 

3 Points to Remember

1. Communicate (call, in person, video chat) with the host about any food allergies
2. Bring Epinephrine and know where the closest hospital is
3. Ask the hosts about allergens in dishes

Don't be afraid to decline party invitations or hurt other's feelings when your child's safety is at risk. Frankly, no friendship is worth sending my little man to the ER. Remember that the difference between a good friend and a great friend is that a great friend takes your allergy concerns seriously and make accommodations. We are clearly very blessed to have great family and friends!

In Memory of My Late Grandmother

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I still cannot believe it has been 7 years since my maternal grandmother passed away suddenly. She was 76. I know most people would say that she lived a long and happy life, but with most people now living to their 90s, and some to 100, I wished she could have been here on earth for even a few more years.

Most people who knew my late maternal grandmother will remember her by her generous nature, kind words and big heart. She was a huge believer in hard work and discipline. These were the fundamental rules to my upbringing.

When I moved to Vancouver, she would often make me my favorite foods when I went home to visit. She was also an amazing cook, her dishes were always perfectly cooked and there was always ample enough amount of food to feed three times the number of dinner guests. Her humble nature never accepted compliments easily and her reply was always, "Grandma loves to hear you love her food. If you like it, grandma will make it for you again".

My last conversation with her was on Friday, September 28th as she had called me to chat. We did this often as my grandmother became my direct line to every crisis, big or small. The next day, I had gone shopping and stopped by a friend's party and missed numerous calls from my brother. I did not find out until Sunday that my grandmother was rushed to the hospital. I went home straightaway to see her but she was already in a semi coma.

We were initially told she would make a partial recovery and need to be in a nursing home. She was scheduled for physiotherapy on October 2nd when her condition took a turn for the worse. The night before, on October 1, right before we left, I teased my grandmother like I always did. I said to her "Grandma, we are leaving now. I love you. If you love me, you better say it too!". Despite being in a semi coma, her last words to us were "I love you too".

On Tuesday, October 2nd, she passed away in the early afternoon around 3:34pm when they unplugged her from the ventilator. This was the most devastating event in my life thus far which I hope never to experience again anytime soon.

With each year, the pain lessens a little but on every anniversary of her death, it feels like the wound reopens again.

I feel her presence quite often every time the sun shines or flowers blossom. Sometimes I dream of her but those dreams do not come as often anymore.

If you love someone, tell them you love them every day and every time you speak to them. Treasure every moment and live graciously and bless others like my grandmother did. Though she may not be alive on earth, she lives in my heart and I will never forget her and I will always love her.