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We nearly reached 50F/10C one day last week. Of course it was a work day so I did not get to fully enjoy it. Nonetheless when I left work it was sunny and drippy still. I did not have to zip my coat or wear gloves and my scarf was lightly draped around my neck. The air felt fresh and humid from all the melting snow. And then, in intimations of things to come, my allergies flared right up and I spent the rest of the evening enjoying itchy, burning eyes. While the week ahead will not see 50F, the forecast for each day is at or a little above freezing and then dropping below freezing each night.

Spring seems to be making an attempt at an early arrival. I had best find my bottle of allergy medicine. Sigh. In the good old days I used to be able to make it until early to mid April before taking antihistamine every day. Then I’d get a break around mid-June for a few weeks before having to take them again through frost. A couple years ago my June break disappeared and I had to start taking them at the end of March through frost. I hope this year is a fluke and I won’t have to start taking them in February especially since frost is coming later and later every year. I might have to eventually break down and see an allergist to — I’m not sure what — reassure me that taking over-the-counter loratadine for months on end is not going to cause me any kind of harm. If you don’t have seasonal allergies consider yourself lucky. That I do and that I also love gardening and cycling and being outdoors in general creates a special kind of misery that will only continue to get worse as the climate gets warmer.

But enough complaining and feeling sorry for myself, there are plenty of other people with problems worse than mine.

On a happier note, I seeded peppers in sprouting pots today. We are doing cayenne, paprika,

pepperoncini, jalepeno, orange bell and a mini red bell. Last year we had no luck at all with the peppers. Most of them didn’t sprout and the ones that did were weak and tiny and died shortly after being moved outdoors. Hopefully we will have much better luck this year. Long-term weather forecasting is suggesting our summer might be a hot one. Perfect pepper weather, though not so great for the humans of the house.

I had to make more paper pots for the seeds so while I did paper pot origami, Bookman worked on the baby blanket he is crocheting for a coworker and we watched the final episode of History of British Gardening. I learned that I have been mispronouncing Gertrude Jekyll’s name since forever. I’ve been saying “Jek-ill” and it is apparently “Gee-kill”. But then the Brits pronounce words in weird ways in general like how do you get “ho-kum” out of Holcombe and “lester” out of “Leicester”? There were so many words in this series of garden shows that I could not comprehend, mostly place names but not always, that at times the host might as well have been speaking something other than English. Do those of you in the UK ever feel that way when you hear Americans speak or do you think we have just gone and ruined a perfectly good language?

Dickens decided to help me make pots. Lucky for me he did not feel compelled to help for long.

The leek and onion seeds I planted last Sunday have already begun to sprout. Next weekend it is tomato time.

Friday I picked up Richard Mabey’s newest book The Cabaret of Plants from the library. My turn has finally come and oh, it is going to be such a treat. Here is a little something from the introduction:

[We have] mostly sublimated our interest in the existence of plants into pleasure at their outward appearance, and the garden has become the principal theatre of vegetal appreciation. Plants in the twenty-first century have been largely reduced to the status of utilitarian and decorative objects… We tend not to ask questions about how they behave, cope with life’s challenges, communicate both with each other and, metaphorically, with us. They have come to be seen as the furniture of the planet, necessary, useful, attractive, but ‘just there,’ passively vegetating. They are certainly not regarded as ‘beings’ in the sense that animals are.

It is Mabey’s goal in the book to challenge that view. Does it make me odd that I find that really exciting?

Filed under: Books, gardening Tagged: allergies, Gertrude Jekyll, Richard Mabey

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What can the history of medicine tell us about food allergy and other medical conditions? An awful lot. History is essentially about why things change over time. None of our ideas about health or medicine simply spring out of the ground. They evolve over time, adapting to various social, political, economic, technological, and cultural factors. If we want to know anything about the health issues that face us today and will face us in future, the very first thing we should do is turn to the history of such issues.

The post What history can tell us about food allergy appeared first on OUPblog.

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Dixie Wants an Allergy

by Tori Corn & Nancy Cote, illustrator

Sky Pony Press      4/01/2014

978-1-62087-991-7

Age 4 to 8      32 pages

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“It’s Dixie’s first day of school, and some of her classmates are sharing about their allergies. Bridget tells of her wheat allergy and how she gets to order a special meal from restaurants, Dixie thinks that must be a really special meal! And Charlie had to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance once due to his dairy allergy. Dixie thinks that must have been thrilling! Dixie races home and begins to eagerly search for the slightest sign of an allergy. After many failed attempts, Dixie discovers she is allergic to something after all. But is getting what you wish for actually as exciting as it once appeared?”

Opening

“On the first day of school, Dixie got to know her classmates. Some of them said they had allergies.”

Review

Have you ever wanted something so much you would do almost anything to get that thing? Dixie feels that way about having an allergy. Her kindergarten classmates talk about special bracelets, special restaurants meals, special school snacks, and even special rides in an ambulance, all because they have an allergy. This all sounds grand to Dixie. She goes home and begins searching for her allergy.

Dixie crawls under her bed and sniffs week-old, rank socks and dust bunnies. Nothing happens. She sniffs fresh flowers and waits. Nothing happens. She eats handfuls of pistachios and waits. It works! She gets a stomachache. Mom says she just ate too many pistachios. Oh.

Are you laughing yet? Dixie is a cute little girl. Of her six new friends, three get special treatment because of an allergy. I doubt Dixie understood an allergy is like being sick, and it is definitely not fun. None of her new friends were complaining about their allergy or saying it was a bad thing to have. Maybe Dixie should have asks some questions as she admired the allergy bracelet.

I do love her ingenuity when giving herself spots. Dixie must have a little understanding about allergies. Of course, those red spots do not itch or raise up into a welt. The illustrations use backgrounds of blue and yellow. Even the sky is yellow to represent a hot day. If Dixie had noticed the pinpoint eyes on her classmates, she would have noticed the allergy kids—except for special restaurant meals kid—were not happy when telling of their allergy.

Kids will enjoy Dixie Wants an Allergy, but it is best suited to kids with siblings or friends that already have an allergy, as a way of explaining the disease. According to the World Health Organization, nearly half of all school-age children have an allergy. To help explain the “special treatment” of some students, teachers of young children can read the kids Dixie Wants an Allergy.

I really love the illustration of Dixie marking herself with a red marker, hoping a fake allergy would be as much fun as a real allergy. I don’t have that spread to show you, but when you do see it, it will give you a belly-ache-laugh, especially if you have kids. The author doesn’t leave the story just yet. Dixie goes to school and tells her new friends about her allergy. Then comes a twist. A new thing to be jealous of and wanting for yourself. It’s always something, right? Here is a hint: it involves a photograph.

I like Dixie Wants an Allergy. The story will hold children’s attention, it will make them laugh, they might learn to be careful of what they wish for (as they might just get it), and the twist will start up a new topic of discussion—laughs and smiles included.

 

Buy Dixie Wants an Allergy at Amazon—B&N—Sky Pony Press—your local bookstore.

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Learn more about Dixie Wants an Allergy HERE.

Meet the author, Tori Corn, at her website:  [http://toricorn.com/

Meet the illustrator, Nancy Cote, at her website:   http://nancycote.com/

Find more books at the Sky Pony Press website:  http://www.skyponypress.com/

Sky Pony Press is an imprint of Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.

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Also by Tori Corn

 

 

 

 

 

Also by Nancy Cote

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Filed under: 5stars, Children's Books, Debut Author, Library Donated Books, Picture Book Tagged: Allergies, children's book reviews, Inc., Nancy Cote, picture books, Sky Pony Press, Skyhorse Publishing, Tori Corn, watch what you wish for

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I've been working on my advertising page for the Directory of Illustration. I decided to do all new art work…here's one of the paintings I finished for the directory. 

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Welcome to the South! But beware – we have some surprises for you. If you are just passing through on the way to the beach, leave your car parked in Chik-fil-A’s parking lot long enough to get a sandwich and you’ll find it. The yellow nightmare that welcomes spring here every year: pollen.

 

 

We are used to it. We don’t love it, but accept it as one of the few drawbacks of living in God’s Country. I wonder what the Union soldiers thought of the yellow cloud in April of 1864. Did it slow them down or just shock the troops and make them sick along the way? I can’t imagine muskets are easy to aim anyway, but I’m guessing more than a couple Southern soldiers escaped the bullet because of the itchy eyes and runny nose of the enemy.

Despite our ideological divide, the Confederacy was short lived and we are united. This unity allows many Yankees to set up residence here when they get sick of the cold weather and frosty attitudes up north. I’m told they were called ‘carpetbaggers’ back in the day. We have nicer names for them now (when they are in earshot). We sell them our cow pastures at over-inflated prices and say things like “Bless your Heart”, which they think is nice but is actually a veiled insult.

Just kidding (except about BYH) – everyone is welcome here.

I had a humorous run-in with pollen at our first home. It was a cute little starter home that had one issue – when it rained, the run-off from the street came down our driveway and off into the side yard to a retaining ditch. You can never see something like that unless you happen to be visiting in the rain before the purchase. We weren’t and the community real estate agent didn’t share that fact. He was from Connecticut. Anyway, the first time it rained in April, our entire driveway and yard was painted yellow with pollen run-off. Being an inexperienced home-owner and relatively dull anyway, I marched up the street in the rain to confront whoever was spilling yellow paint into my yard. I figured it out fairly soon.

Now I have a new boss moving from New Jersey. He seems like a really nice guy and I look forward to working with him. I wonder how he and his family will feel about Johnny Reb’s revenge. They will mostly likely wait to move until after school is out and will miss it this year. So the question is, should I warn him?  Or let him enjoy the surprise in 2015…

 

 

♦

Photo credits: “I Heart Pollen !” by Brooke Novak & USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Laboratory from Beltsville, USA

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Pancakes. I took them for granted when I was a kid. Now that I am all grown-up with adult onset allergies to both egg and gluten, pancakes could have become a product of my past like so many other foods I previously enjoyed.

I’m telling you all this because I want you to know I’m not on some vanity diet. No, I really do have to get creative making meals due to my allergies. So cooking, for me, has developed into a creative, culinary exploration in both sustenance and science. All that said, if you are vegan, gluten-free, or egg-free…these pancakes are for you! Even if you’re not deploying a similar diet, I’m betting you like my latest creation, “Upside Down Day” Gluten-Free Vegan Pancakes. My pancakes involve two meals: lunch and dinner.

For Lunch:
In your juicer, juice two large handfuls of chilled, fresh organic kale, two stalks of celery, two green apples, two large basil leaves, and two large bunches of grapes picked off their vine. Serve the juice with a refrigerated celery stalk to keep it cold, or drink it down. Preserve your pulp in the refrigerator for your pancakes you’ll make later. Run to Whole Foods and buy the King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Pancake Mix and Egg Replacer. 

For Dinner:
“Upside Down Day” entails serving breakfast for dinner. Hubby is never home when we celebrate “Upside Down Day.” While he is a fairly good sport, I’m pretty sure he would suck all the life out of the occasion and dangle his fabulous homemade tacos in front of our kids’ noses instead. (Plus he’s not invited because it’s imperative he never witness my slothfulness firsthand). If you haven’t figured it out already, “Upside Down Day” translates to “Lazy-Mom-Doesn’t-Really-Feel-Like-Cooking-Tonight-Day.” We used to celebrate the event more frequently when my daughter was little and I’d serve up bacon and eggs for dinner. “Upside Down Day” is a rare, special occasion in the Gould house now that I can no longer eat eggs due to my allergy. I can’t even cook eggs without itching…something about airborne allergens and what not. Who knew?

Anyway, I digress. Back to making “Dinner”:
Mix the gluten free pancake mix following box instructions, except substitute the egg for the egg replacer (following those box instructions as well) and also substitute the cow’s milk with VANILLA Almond Milk or VANILLA Soy Milk. Mix in the leftover pulp (where all the fiber is) from your lunchtime smoothie. Add more vanilla soy or almond milk to play with your desired thickness. Pour your batter onto a HOT, lightly greased griddle. I used canola oil because I was out of rice bran oil, my new “go to oil” because it cooks at high temperature points. You know your griddle is hot enough if a drop of water dances off of the surface. Pour your batter onto the griddle. My pancakes poured thick and imperfect, and I quite liked them that way even though they took longer to cook. If you like yours thick too, avoid burning them by turning them frequently once the batter has set. Use a tablespoon to scoop out the batter if you have OCD and prefer a perfectly round pancake. My husband’s banana pancakes are always perfectly round. Again, it’s your night to be a sloth, because you’ve kicked your husband out so you can make my pancakes.

I served ours the conventional way, with Earth Balance natural spread from Trader Joe’s and a hearty drizzle of Canadian maple syrup. My twelve-year-old son loved them, and he’s fairly hard to please, plus he got servings of both fruits and vegetables. I got to be a sloth and he ate his greens. It was clearly a win/win. If you try them, be sure to check back. Oh, and Happy Upside Down Day!

Enjoy!

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A gluten-free birthday for me and a new picture book for you!  My latest book, "A Gluten-Free Birthday For Me!" is now available for pre-order at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Indie-Bound. Written by Sue Fliess, this is a sweet story about an all to common situation where one party guest feels left out because of their dietary restrictions.  Anyone who knows someone with celiac disease, food allergies or any other food sensitivity will be able to relate to the characters in this book.  

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. Malcolm Finney Medical Detective – The Case of… Itch and Rash by Erika Kimble illustrated by Laurel Winters Bandages & Boo-Boos Press 4 Stars Back Cover:  Malcolm Finney, Medical Detective Series: The Case of Itch and Rash, is an adventurous story that explores the skin disease called eczema.  It is a book that teaches …

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Our son's camp has a new policy this summer: no nuts, period. No peanut butter, no Nutella, no trail mix with nuts, etc. They are Not Kidding Around. Kids who bring any food with nuts will see their lunch confiscated and tossed.

Let me hasten to say that I get it. Nut allergies are a very serious thing. Without policies like this, some kids might not be able to go to camp at all. 

(I do wonder what's going to happen when some of these kids grow up and head off to the corporate world... are nutfree policies coming soon to an office park near you?)

Anyway, facing a summer without hot school lunches and Uncrustables to feed my child was a very daunting prospect. I'll admit it. We're not the most ambitious lunch makers for our kid. Nor is he the most adventurous lunch eater.

I tried googling for lunch ideas and found such helpful suggestions as making my child a gourmet cherry-Asian-chicken salad (oh yes, THAT will go over big) or using a nutfree peanut butter substitute like sunbutter (tried it; hated it; moving on). There aren't any microwaves available to warm up lunch, nor is there refrigeration available, of course (thank goodness for ice packs). Pair that with my inconsistent but insistent worries about food additives (my latest freakout is nitrites, so forget lunchables) and we had quite a time coming up with lunches.

So, I'm listing a few of the lunches "main dishes" that have been a big hit with our incoming second grader. Hope this is useful to a few other parents too. 

• Hard-boiled eggs along with garlic popcorn we buy in Wegmans (sounds weird but he LOVES it, and the popcorn is a whole grain, riiiiight?)
• "Stackers" made of Jimmy Dean reduced-fat turkey sausage patties and (defrosted) frozen waffles. I use a biscuit cutter to make the waffle size match the sausage patties size. If I'm careful I can get two little waffles out of a normal-sized one (and the leftover bits are a good start to my breakfast).
• "Stackers" made of nitrite-nitrate-free salami (thank you Applegate Farms) and colby-jack cheese, paired with Ritz crackers. I use the same biscuit cutter to shape the salami and cheese. Leftover salami and cheese scraps go great in a breakfast omelette.
• Bagel spread with a thick layer of cream cheese
• Pasta salad made with the Betty Crocker Suddenly Salad Classic mix. This is getting oddly hard to find in grocery stores, but he LOVES the stuff and it cooks up in ten minutes. One box will buy me two days' worth of lunches.

What nut-free kid lunches are a big hit in your house?

 

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This is from a while back. I haven't looked at if for a while, and I forgot how much I liked it.
I'm thinking of doing something with this idea for licensing. Except that this piece took forever to do, and this style, done this way, wouldn't be practical. I do love the brightness of the watercolor though, and hadn't realized how soft my colored pencil work is by comparison until I, well, compared the two.

I used ink, watercolor, AND colored pencils on this. Yikes.

I've been fiddling with my website, reorganizing my art (the new version isn't published yet, so don't bother going to look). I decided to do a little detail of each piece in addition to the whole piece, so that means doing a whole separate html page for each piece of art. I know, I'm conking myself on my head. But I know that when I look at people's sites I like to see details, so I'm doing details.

Today I've sneezed about 12,000 times. Seems I'm allergic to something or other. Staring at a computer screen, coding html, and sneezing ~ doesn't that sound like a fun way to spend the day? Hey, maybe I'm allergic to my computer. Now there's a thought.

There's nothing earth-shatteringly interesting to post about. I have a bunch of stuff half ready to show, but I can't seem to gather my thoughts together properly and also do adequate photos or scans. Some days you just can't get it together, and that's all there is to it.

I can't get Michael Jackson songs out of my head. They're just permanently stuck there now it seems. Sigh.

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My little guy has nut allergies. ALL NUTS, that's: tree nuts, peanuts, soy, sesame, no mango's for this guy allergic, scary swelling allergic. Yep, he is one of the children in an ever growing epidemic. As part of a society that has quickly become safety crazed with car seats and helmets, gates and guards, monitors and alarms, one little nut could prove to be lethal. So as I prepare to send him off to preschool this fall I wanted to make some t-shirts for him to wear so his teachers can more easily identify him.
This is the first attempted design. I will post more as I have time.

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What a find! I recently stopped by an estate sale and found this 1890's Ladies Home Journal filled with victorian illustrations and articles.

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