I Love My Mommy

We pick on my mom. A lot. It's fun! And I think she likes it sometimes. Until we make her cry. Well, we made her cry yesterday. She insisted that I not post this story to the blog, but she knows that I will anyway.

I had my second chemo yesterday, and it's always a task for me to keep the children in line while we're at the doctor's office - said children being my mom and husband. My mom likes to get therapy sessions from the nurses and doctors by asking questions to which we already know the answers, and husband likes to make sure to take care of the business end of things. Anyway, when I finally get them to sit and play Blowfish and Brain Tuner on their iPhones, all is good. (Except when my mom thinks it's funny to call the game Brain Tumor instead. Not really appropriate at a Breast Cancer Center.) But once it's time to switch rooms, the chaos picks back up. So, yesterday it was time for me to get settled into my chemo recliner cubicle. (I would also like to mention that I'm the only person that travels with an entourage... most patients are either alone or bring one significant other that behaves well in public places.)

So, I took my seat, and there were no other chairs in the room just yet - meaning I was having a hard time keeping them in line. My mom in all her nervousness opted to prepare herself a decaf coffee across the way. Since my recliner has a little side table, she put it there. But, the bottom of the styrofoam cup wasn't sitting flat (it was likely warped from the coffee being too hot). So, she picked it up to look at the bottom, except she did this with the coffee dangling just about over my chest area. I reprimanded her for thirty seconds about the dangers of hot coffee spilling onto chemo patients, and we gave her a chair to sit in. A minute later a perplexed look hit my face and I said, "Mom, you don't even drink coffee! What are you doing?!" and she started giggling. She didn't know. I think she was just trying to keep busy. So, she started playing with her iPhone again.

Then she came up with a better idea to pass the time: "Celal, I want to check the level of your head!" He still didn't have a chair, so she stood up and took her iPhone in one hand, leveler app open. How this makes any sense, I do not know. She was having a good time, but we were both wondering what the hell she was doing. Then in a split moment someone flinched. And the hot coffee that was in her other hand poured down Celal's right side - his hair, his arm, his shirt, his iPhone (which was broken for a good two hours), all over my purse and the wall behind, some on my leg. Celal said, "you burned me!" My mom insisted that she didn't burn him and that the coffee wasn't hot. I told him to go to the bathroom to rinse with cold water. After the nurse gave us some towels to help with the mess, my mom came back in and said to Celal, "I think I burned my hand."

The coffee was hot and shocking, but neither of them was burned. Somehow, I got blamed for making my mom nervous, so I aptly apologized for having cancer. Then she cried about how we always pick on her. Mom, you know we love you just the way you are.

Banana Bread

The banana bread was edible, and somewhat good! I need to work on the recipe a bit because I overcompensated in the adjustments of the butter / flour when I added the agave, and it ended up drying out and browning too much. I am also not used to using a dark loaf pan (I use glass) so that may have contributed to the browning. I am still hopeful for the next batch! If I ever perfect it, I'll be sure to post the recipe. For now, here is the original recipe in all it's buttery sugary glory.

Banana Bread

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 1/8 cup sugar

1 cup mashed overripe (or ripe) banana

2 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 325F (162C). Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, and whisk together. Butter a loaf pan. Set aside.

Cream the butter in a large bowl for about one minute. Add the sugar, and continue to cream for two minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix for about two minutes so the eggs get a little fluffy. Mix in the mashed banana until well incorporated.

Add the dry ingredients to the banana mixture, and stir by hand until just incorporated. Do not overmix. Pour the batter into the loaf pan, and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The bread will have a dark brown crust. Let the banana bread cool overnight before eating.

45 Minutes in Istanbul

My aunt sent me this video she found, Lonely Planet Six Degrees: Istanbul. It's 45 minutes long, but a good glimpse at some great sights around the city. There's a crazy taxi driver, the ubiquitous plastic shoe covers a la quarantine... I'm still watching, but I have a feeling it's going to be interesting. Enjoy!

Jen's Favorite Things

My diet is under serious renovation. And it's not easy. I was one of many women with breast cancer that had an estrogen-positive tumor, meaning it was feeding its grimy little cells on all the estrogen it could get, including food sources. (This is quite a controversial subject in the scientific community.) The likely number one food source enhancing my tumor growth was SOY. Yes, the conniving soy. If I had known, I wouldn't have eaten all that delicious Chinese food! And edamame! And spicy tuna rolls dipped in wasabied soy sauce... and the list goes on. Frown. Well, I have read my food labels for too many years now, and I've never been too wary of soy ingredients, because, hey, soy was my friend. Soy is healthy, right? That's what I thunked. And it was wrong, for me. That's not the end - soy is just one of the many plants that has natural estrogens... there's an exhaustive list of foods including tomatoes, garlic, apples, carrots, olive oil... I really would have to cease eating to avoid estrogen. But it's not only estrogen foods that affect me ... There is this other important friend I have: sugar...

We try to eat organic and cook at home from scratch as much as possible. But it's not feasible to do 100% of the time. We don't grow our own vegetables. We don't live in a hippie commune. We're quasi-lazy. So, we sometimes eat out (gasp!). And we eat refined and packaged foods (double gasp!). The doctors told me to avoid excess soy. I read this as avoid soy at all costs!! So now I'm the self-proclaimed head of the Anti-Soy Commission (a branch of the Nonclinically Insane Institute). If you're one of those people that reads labels, then you might be aware of the infiltration of soy into our food supply. Soy is the "Made in China" of food. It's everywhere, and you can't avoid it. And I'm not going to place all the blame on soy. Because the other half of the battle is my nearest and dearest: sugar. Without sugar, there is no joy in life. But I've had to compromise and cut back. My sugar addiction is a bit of an exaggeration - I don't sit around all day eating Krispy Kreme. But I have had to considerably axe a lot of sugar from my diet. My newest weapon and favorite new thing is Agave Nectar. Oprah's already got this one covered by Dr. Oz (who is Turkish! Yay, Turkishness!). I was skeptical. I thought it would taste like a barfy maple syrup honey goo. But I was floored when I tasted a little drop on my finger. It tastes like simple syrup! Sugar! All I have to do now is learn how to use it as a replacement in cooking. And as I write, there is a (notably organic) loaf of banana bread baking in the oven, made with agave nectar and a dash of love. I hope all of my dreams come true. Agave, don't let me down!

The Other Day

The posed pirate look

Inspiration

I'm almost bald, blah blah blah... what I really want to post is this great interview with our wedding photographer, Bartosz Jastal. If you hadn't followed our wedding blog, you might not know that I was fanatical about finding the perfect wedding photographer (of course within a reasonable budget!). In my hours of research, I found a great resource -- the WPJA -- which consists of some of the best wedding photographers out there. Somehow, fate brought us to work with Bartosz and he flew in from Poland to shoot our wedding. We had the perfect day, and we were very happy with the pictures. (They only get better in time.) Of course, it being our wedding day and all, we didn't have much time to hang out and get to know him personally (as I would have loved!). So, it made me really happy tonight to have seen this lengthy and informative interview with him. He gives insight into his style, process, and inspiration, and he even mentions our wedding shoot!

The Interview

Bartosz's Gallery Site

Bartosz's Blog

Cheese

My mom begged us for a few photos, and we made sure they were extra cheesy!