Ingredients:
1 1/2 pounds large shrimp (about 16 to 24)
1/3 cup butter
4 tablespoons minced garlic
1 leek, sliced in half, then thinly sliced crosswise and well rinsed
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 tablespoons lemon juice, fresh if possible
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper, to taste
Preparation:
Hull, clean and rinse shrimp and set aside. Heat butter in large skillet over medium heat. Cook garlic 1 - 2 minutes or until softened but not browned. Add leek; cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add shrimp, wine and lemon juice; cook until shrimp are pink and firm, about 1 to 2 minutes on each side. Do not overcook. Add chopped parsley and salt and pepper before serving. Garnish with lemon slices and parsley sprigs if desired.
Makes 8 first course servings or 4 main course servings when served over rice, (of course in my house, it serves two!)
Dairy and Wine Free Variation:
Just omit the wine altogether and substitute extra virgin olive oil for the butter.
Shellfish Free Variation:
Substitute leftover chicken for the shrimp.
In my house, I have 3 pans going - one for my husband and I, Dairy and Wine Free for Ronan, and Dairy, Wine and Shellfish Free for Leila. There were no leftovers!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Sunday, March 1, 2009
What DO you feed him?
I get this question a lot. Actually, I cannot remember a time where I have stated my son's known allergies and not received this question in return, in nearly that exact phrasing and influx.
My son is allergic to wheat, barley, dairy, egg, peanuts, tree nuts and a particular type of mold that grows in undisturbed mulches. I usually leave the last one out, as the list is long enough without having to explain why that last one matters. (It goes something like this: playground, mulched surfaces, post rainy days, little hands touch ground and mouth = reactions). My son doesn't have small reactions to anything. They are more like big bad explosions, and differ depending on the specific offending item.
The learning curve in food allergy is huge. I was a bumbling idiot on this subject before I had my son, and I now know all too much about the matter, which means I also don't know enough yet. No one does. We have more questions than answers when it comes to food allergy.
I was aware that we were at risk, as my husband had allergies as a child, so I did what they recommend you do. I breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months before introducing solids. I nursed him until he weaned himself. I made all his food from scratch. I introduced one new food a week. I steered clear of the top 8 allergens for the first year, as well as other foods that can cause problems for those under two, (berries, corn, etc). Blah blah blah. Did it make a difference? I don't know. Could it be worse? Well, as my grandfather would say, it could always be worse.
Once he turned one year old, I fed him one teaspoonful of plain white yogurt. (Yogurt is supposed to be easier to digest than straight up cow juice.) What followed cannot be described accurately with mere text. In a nutshell, he vomited for nine hours, and we paid an exorbitant co-pay for a visit to the ER, where they finally decided he was milk allergic. I say finally because at first, they accused me of feeding him strawberry yogurt. Plain yogurt, I say. No berries, I say. Single ingredient: milk, I say. They didn't seem to want to believe me, but eventually they realized I wasn't a liar, or an idiot. Or maybe they just didn't care. Or got bored. Who knows.
Well then my mind snapped back to a day when my son was about 7 months old, and reacted to the heel of the bread. It's an Italian tradition to give a baby the heel the the bread when teething. Its supposed to be good luck. When an Italian family member gave him the heel of the bread, it was in his mouth before I could protest. I figured, we'll watch and we'll see. Projectile vomiting and hives ensued, but there was a delay to this reaction. A delay that was long enough to keep this allergy novice from really putting it together. "Could have been the bread" I thought. But I couldn't really know which ingredient in the bread was the problem. Could also be viral. I dunno. Hives continued for the next day, and then he was fine.
So here we are, almost 3 years from that day, and the list has continued to grow. I am hopeful it will shrink. I say hopeful, but I am also realistic. Many times, I have been told, "test scores look good, might have grown out of X". Alas, the test scores were not good enough. At this point, we have failed two challenges for two different foods, but that is a story for another day. For right now, I choose to remain hopeful, and keep my little boy on his caveman diet.
My son is allergic to wheat, barley, dairy, egg, peanuts, tree nuts and a particular type of mold that grows in undisturbed mulches. I usually leave the last one out, as the list is long enough without having to explain why that last one matters. (It goes something like this: playground, mulched surfaces, post rainy days, little hands touch ground and mouth = reactions). My son doesn't have small reactions to anything. They are more like big bad explosions, and differ depending on the specific offending item.
The learning curve in food allergy is huge. I was a bumbling idiot on this subject before I had my son, and I now know all too much about the matter, which means I also don't know enough yet. No one does. We have more questions than answers when it comes to food allergy.
I was aware that we were at risk, as my husband had allergies as a child, so I did what they recommend you do. I breastfed exclusively for the first 6 months before introducing solids. I nursed him until he weaned himself. I made all his food from scratch. I introduced one new food a week. I steered clear of the top 8 allergens for the first year, as well as other foods that can cause problems for those under two, (berries, corn, etc). Blah blah blah. Did it make a difference? I don't know. Could it be worse? Well, as my grandfather would say, it could always be worse.
Once he turned one year old, I fed him one teaspoonful of plain white yogurt. (Yogurt is supposed to be easier to digest than straight up cow juice.) What followed cannot be described accurately with mere text. In a nutshell, he vomited for nine hours, and we paid an exorbitant co-pay for a visit to the ER, where they finally decided he was milk allergic. I say finally because at first, they accused me of feeding him strawberry yogurt. Plain yogurt, I say. No berries, I say. Single ingredient: milk, I say. They didn't seem to want to believe me, but eventually they realized I wasn't a liar, or an idiot. Or maybe they just didn't care. Or got bored. Who knows.
Well then my mind snapped back to a day when my son was about 7 months old, and reacted to the heel of the bread. It's an Italian tradition to give a baby the heel the the bread when teething. Its supposed to be good luck. When an Italian family member gave him the heel of the bread, it was in his mouth before I could protest. I figured, we'll watch and we'll see. Projectile vomiting and hives ensued, but there was a delay to this reaction. A delay that was long enough to keep this allergy novice from really putting it together. "Could have been the bread" I thought. But I couldn't really know which ingredient in the bread was the problem. Could also be viral. I dunno. Hives continued for the next day, and then he was fine.
So here we are, almost 3 years from that day, and the list has continued to grow. I am hopeful it will shrink. I say hopeful, but I am also realistic. Many times, I have been told, "test scores look good, might have grown out of X". Alas, the test scores were not good enough. At this point, we have failed two challenges for two different foods, but that is a story for another day. For right now, I choose to remain hopeful, and keep my little boy on his caveman diet.
A Knitting Disaster
I toiled and I strived and I lost a lot of sleep to finish a scarf for myself before our big trip to England. And I loved it! I wore it nearly everyday, with pride, for the two weeks our trip was supposed to last. Then, people started turning up sick, flights were cancelled, and being that I was well, I was stuck cleaning up the vomit and catching up with the laundry. Not the kind of vacation extension I had in mind. Meanwhile, I was furiously trying to finish the baby sweater gifts I neglected while finishing my own beloved scarf. These baby sweaters were gifts for the babies we were visiting, and I was determined to finish them before I left. When it came time to wash them, the day before our rescheduled flight, I mistakenly tossed my beloved scarf in with them. Now, I had washed my scarf in my own machine, cold and delicate, and it came out fine. I hadn't taken into account that this washing machine, a front loader, was in the kitchen, where my children had access to it and all its dials and buttons. Well, my scarf is now a fairly thick, felted belt, with zero stitch definition. I cannot be sure if it was the increased agitation in the machine, or a inability to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit in my sleep deprived, over worked stupor, or that my daughter had potentially changed the settings on the machine, but it doesn't matter. My scarf is not more. I have reordered the yarn. I will remake the scarf, and a hat and gloves to match. It will be even better, and just as gorgeous, and all mine... when I get to it. In the meantime, I have decided to cut the thick, felted belt into squares, and use them as coasters. Not a total loss I suppose.
PS: The baby sweaters were cotton, and survived the dreaded felting machine beautifully.
PS: The baby sweaters were cotton, and survived the dreaded felting machine beautifully.
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