Food Parties

There are a lot of things that I am passionate about... if you haven't noticed.

One of these things is cooking/baking.

Ever since I was 18, I would host these parties at my place - be it a basement suite in my parent's former home, an apartment in a new city, our first single-family-home, and even in other people's homes on occasion.
They began as passion parties when I was young, then they would turn into birthdays or backyard bbq's, then Valentine's Day shindigs for all my single girlfriends (where everything was pink or red), and then holiday parties.

I usually prepare my menu at least a month or two beforehand, I plan it out meticulously, and then I always make 10x more than I need to.
I cook and bake for a portion of the day usually for 3-4 days straight, I have signature dishes and punches that are almost always served, there is always at least one new recipe, and the night is spent with friends. We socialize, play board games and video games and charades.
The entire thing.
I look forward to every Food Party as much as I look forward to Christmas or my birthday.

I have always wanted to host a Hallowe'en Food Party, but this is the first year that we are doing this. Costumes, themed food, the whole experience.

Of course, after these food parties, my body usually requires a good two weeks or more to recover.
It is a lot of stress on my body. Which is why it now only happens once a year.
Last year was particularly busy (you know, getting married and all), so I opted for a potluck food party. It was a different experience but SO AMAZING.

This year I am going all out.
I have over 20 dishes and 2 punches I am hoping to make, and a friend is bringing his city-wide famous chili. (It may be more famous than that).
I will have lots of gluten-free options, vegetarian options, even a couple of vegan options. I am busy downloading music to play, we are getting our games sorted out for people to choose from, and we are planning the decorations already.
It's a big deal.

This is one of the only nights during the year when I power through every inch of pain. This is the one night I pretend to be a 100% normal hostess. Behind the scenes, I always need a lot of extra help and I usually require quite a bit more medication to get through it, but it is one of my all-time favourite nights. Well, the whole week, really, when you consider getting the groceries, cooking, baking, packaging, assembling, displaying, etc....
It's a week about nothing but food and games.
And it is glorious.

I cannot do this kind of thing often. To be able to throw myself into an event is rare. The recuperation time alone is staggering. It takes a huge toll on my body and there have even been instances where I have ended up in the ER with a throat swell or to my GI's office because of an insane flare-up. It is absolutely a once-a-year event that takes so much out of me I could not physically do it more often.
However, it is worth every single second.

Passions and hobbies like these ones are part of the reason I can stay so happy. Always looking forward to something, feeling accomplished and proud of what I create, and being able to see friends I don't get to see as often. This is what it means to "do something for myself".

These interests and hobbies are good for the soul.... and when illness invades every second of your life, soul food becomes a necessity.

After the party I will share pictures and recipes for anyone who is interested. For now, here are some photos of dishes from previous parties, and some of my favourite new recipes that I have tried: 

Red Velvet Cookies with Raspberry Cream Cheese Filling

Pumpkin Spice Trifle

Food Party Menu 2018

Individual Apple Crisps

Mango Curry Skewers

Stuffed Mushroom Caps

Garlic Biscuits

Peppermint Meringue Kisses

Strawberry Lemonade French Macarons

Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Roulade

Stuffed Mushroom Caps

Potato Skins

Strawberry Lemonade Rice Krispies Squares

These are just a few examples.

I love love LOVE when we get to host parties like these. 

Final Goal

In my latest 'Ask Me Anything' post, I had shared my most recent blog about deciding not to have children.
In that post it was clear that our family is complete and that our lives are full.
This question was then posed:

"What is your final goal in your life?"

This is a bit of a difficult question to answer.

Most importantly, I hope I have decades of life before I have only one, final goal.

It is not like I have this list of goals for my life that I am working towards. I have always had pages and pages-worth of small little goals in various areas of my life. You know, there are goals about the house, there are goals for places to see and things to do. I try to focus on the little to intermediate goals, because little progressions lead to bigger goals.

But if you want me to tell you about my BIG life goals, I will try to answer as best I can.

1. I want to always focus on the relationships that I have. Those are one of THE most vital parts of living a happy life (for me specifically). Family comes first. I want to be able to see my brother and his family more often, I want to be able to see my parents and my friends more often, and I plan to start writing old-school letters to friends I cannot see on a regular basis.

2. I would love to become a published author - to have a book deal. To have a book of some sort on the shelves of every major book retailer in Canada.

3. I would love to do something extraordinary with my singing. I know that there is only so much that I can physically do, so I have had to work on this in a very different way, but the goal is still there. I would love to release another cd at some point, perform background vocals for someone exceptional, and I want to sing on a stage again. Not just any stage, but a stage with a huge crowd. The anthem at CFL or NHL games. A background vocalist for a concert. Hell, the LEAD vocalist at a stadium with tens of thousands of fans. It may be far-fetched, but it continues to be a goal.

4. If I am ever able to travel, I would love to see the East Coast, to go to a Seahawks Game IN Seattle, I would LOVE to go back to Europe. I would love to go to Cedar Point and ride every single rollercoaster. I would love to go back to Disneyland, to spend a weekend in Jackpot, Nevada, to see the Galapagos Islands, to go on another cruise, to do a cross-country train trip in Canada, to learn how to surf in Hawaii, to have a romantic getaway in Tahiti, and to visit our ancestral castle in Scotland. These are more wishes than goals... but I am hoping that the East Coast and the Seahawks game are achievable in the future. I plan on experiencing some virtual reality activities to get a glimpse of some of these places and some activities I have always wanted to do but couldn't due to health reasons. (Like scuba diving, hang gliding, etc...)

5. I want to learn. I want to continually cultivate my curious mind and learn all the time.

6. I want to improve my art skills and continue improving them. I would love to be able to make a statement through art and literary works.

7. I am working on my cooking skills all the time. I would love to take little courses in the culinary arts - but if I cannot take classes then I am focusing on trying new recipes on a semi-regular basis. (I just learned how to make chicken roulade AND French macarons, which I need to continue working on). I also watch a lot of cooking shows and then try to make similar recipes.

8. I want to continue kayaking, camping, and practicing yoga. I want to go swimming more often (which is really difficult with a chlorine allergy and living where the lakes are too cold to swim in for 10 months of the year). My goal is to simply increase the amount of time I spend in these activities.

9. I want my husband to travel. This is a big goal. There are many places he has always wanted to travel, so I would really love for him to go even though I would not be able to join him.

10. I would love to be able to help out my family as much as they help me. My health is a burden. There is no getting around this fact. As stubborn as I am and as independent as I can be, suffering with health conditions is a burden on time, finances, goals, and oh so many aspects of life. I would love to be able to return the amount of time and energy my family has spent on me.

But my most important goal, the epitome of life, my purpose, my daily and lifelong goal:

I never want to take love for granted. I want to enjoy every moment, see the bright side of nearly every crummy situation, and remain grateful for everything in my life. Maintaining this grateful feeling and this love is the most important goal I will ever have.

I hope this answer has been satisfactory. :)
Thank you so much for participating in the 'ask me anything' posts. These questions have all been illuminating.
Bring on more questions - especially the difficult ones. The difficult questions offer the most amount of soul-searching.

The Simple Things - Cheesecake Edition

There are many different things that I love to do, try to do, and want to do in a modified way.
Part of what I love about my relationship with RJ is that we both often do little things. It is always unexpected and simple, rarely expensive, and thoughtful in a way that is simple.
He was recently away for work and I wanted to do something for him when he got back - because I missed him! And he wanted to do something for me - because he missed me! So he brought home a caramel apple (something I buy every time I go on any kind of road trip), and I decided to try baking cheesecake.
I had one of those pre-mixed packages that I just had to add the cream cheese, yogurt, and eggs into, then make the pie crust. I have never made cheesecake before, so I figured that a package was the best way to start off.
It is something so simple! Yet meaningful!

I didn't have a spring-form pan, and my cake pans are too shallow, so I opted for individual mini cheesecakes. Of course they are not perfect, and they are not decorated (I just threw on a few sugar pearls on each one for a tiny little bit of flare), but they worked! Above all, he thought they were delicious, and that's all that counts!!

Although I cannot whisk him away on a dream vacation, or surprise him with a brand new truck, or even take him on a random adventure because of my health, I CAN do the little things, like make desserts or his favourite meal, have the house tidied up and laundry finished, or just write him a nice note letting him know how much I appreciate him.

There are many parts of a relationship that are strongly affected by illness. Every decision we make has to take into account my health and various limitations. We always have to have a backup plan if we meet up with friends, I have to carry around several pieces of medical information with me everywhere we go, if we go on road trips we have to ensure that there is a hospital nearby and I often have to take my refrigerated medications along with me -> everything is a big production. When we eventually need new vehicles, we have to take into account my inability to get in and out of really low seats, with getting this home we had to be careful with how many stairs would be included in every day living. It doesn't sound like much, but it does pervade every decision we make, including date nights, food, furniture, closeness, whether or not there is an elevator in the places we go to meet people, even how to organize the house.

The small stuff - the little things that take our minds off of all of the medical nuances of our lives - wind up being the most important parts of our day, and our relationship.
The little things really are the big things. And making mini cheesecakes feels like a big accomplishment that I am proud of.
Simple.
Maybe even boring.
Still good!

#TheLighterSideofMedicine

Pride and Accomplishments

It is amazing how different 'levels' of accomplishments garner a sense of pride at different moments in a person's life.
When you are little, pouring a cup of milk straight from the jug into a real glass was a feat to be ecstatically proud of.
As you get older, your goals and plans and accomplishments become more grand. Before you know it, you feel pride less and less from accomplishments that would have had you fully celebrating for days when you were younger. Soon, what felt like accomplishments at one time now seem like failures.
When something happens, when we become injured or develop illness, we can get so caught up in thinking about what we used to be able to do that we forget to give ourselves a break - and a little bit of credit.

Today I am giving myself credit for what I was able to accomplish today, despite how horrendous I am feeling.
We spent a couple of days with my parents and friends, and although it involved mostly sitting and talking, it was still busy. My pouch is irate with me and showing its anger VERY clearly, my joints are protesting every single position and movement, and I now have a migraine - most likely from the drastic weather changes.
So when we got home, I went IMMEDIATELY to the bedroom and crawled under the covers wishing that I could cuddle away all of the pain and nausea and bathroom issues.
After a three hour sick sleep, I wasn't sure I would get anything done.
But then I thought:
RJ is just as exhausted as I am and he is working tonight. He has a procedure coming up and we both have a busy week. I need to be a good little housewife and do something productive.

So - I rolled myself out of my blanket cocoon, diffused a few fresh-scented oils, splashed water on my face and vowed to get moving.
• I emptied the dishwasher.
• I unpacked both of our bags.
• I put a load of laundry in (and accidentally washed some money which is now airing out)
• I made a batch of Marbled Brownies & Blondies
• I washed all of the dishes that I used to bake the batch of brownies.

Those are really small accomplishments in the grand scheme of things. But the thought that RJ will come home to an empty dishwasher, clean clothes, everything unpacked and organized, and a clean kitchen? Not only that but that having these things done means that we can BOTH sleep in tomorrow - this feels damn good. Add in how awful I really am feeling and I am definitely filled with pride.
My goal is to be a good housewife.
Today I achieved that goal.
💙