Dermographism

In the spring of 2010 I was going through a really stressful time at work and I was coping by jogging 4 times a week, something I'd never done before. I was feeling pretty good, aside from the overwhelming stress at work until I started having strange allergic reactions to the new detergent we were using. At least I thought it was an allergy to detergent. I got super itchy from head to toe every night and broke out in hives. I would have to take three to four Benadryl just to go to sleep.
Obviously I immediately switched off of that brand of detergent, but the itchiness lingered. I thought that perhaps it was the fabric softener, so we found a dye free fragrance free softener... Still no improvement. I washed all my sheets and blankets like 10 times, just in case there was some residue.

A couple of months later, I decided to start eliminating things from my diet that might be causing the reaction- I already am pretty much dairy free and very low gluten, but I started playing around with eliminating artificial sweeteners (I was drinking a lot of Crystal Light). I noticed some improvement and could usually sleep with only one or two pills, but still the itchiness lingers. The doctors I've spoken to seem to have no idea what is going on, and kind of just gloss over it. They told me it was probably just an allergic reaction.
It's been about a yer and a half now, and although there has been some improvement, pretty much any time my skin gets brushed or scratched, it swells up like a bee sting and gets itchy like a mosquito bite. It's not too terrible, but it's really embarrassing when I brush mascara off my eyelid and look like I've been punched in the face five ute later, or when my seatbelt touches my neck and then I have to walk around for an hour looking like I have a hicky.

Last week Luis wanted to watch a documentary that was suggested to us on Netflix. It is called 'Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead,' and it chronicles two men's journey to cure themselves of a disease known as Urticaria Vasculosa via juice fasting. The shocking thing to me was that their symptoms sounded eerily similar to my own weird skin thing, so I did a little search and my bizarre disease has a name- Dermographic Urticaria. Here's a link.

The mystery is finally solved.
Now the question remains, what to do about it?

I think I need medication. Or a nap. Yeah... probably just a nap.

So if you don't know what Shazam is, you should check it out. It's pretty much the greatest app known to man. Basically, when you hear a cool song on the radio or on tv or playing in the background at a store that you don't recognize, you can Shazam it, and the app will tell you the title and artist of the song and tag it for you.
I have been Shazaming things left and right, and today, I reviewed my list of tags. Apparently all the music that catches my attention and warrants the effort of finding my phone, unlocking it, opening my apps folder, selecting the program, and then tagging the song fits the same pattern. Out of 20 songs gathered over a period of four weeks, 18 of them were love songs in a minor key with heavy guitar tracks. EIGHTEEN. One of them was a song by Beck. The other was a techno dance beat.
I wonder what that says about me? That the Beatles left an indelible imprint on me at an early age and that's all I like to listen to now? That I'm depressed? Sleep deprived? Maybe cold weather makes me moody?
Anyway, in honor of my apparent psychosis (yet to be determined), here is the one song on my Shazam list that I'm currently obsessed with. Normally I'm not a fan of remakes of Beatles music. They are pretty much sacred to me, especially George Harrison (whom I am secretly in love with), but this one is just so good.

Epic

My fourth period class starts precisely at 11:10, Tuesdays through Fridays. Today, after the bell rang, my class began a countdown from 70. When we got to zero, we all made a wish. That means today on 11/11/11 at 11:11:11, my entire fourth period class and I made the most epic wishes of our lives. What did I wish for?
I can't tell, or else it won't come true.

Phyllo Dough FTW

So on a whim I purchased a box of Phyllo Dough on a recent expedition to the grocery store.
I did this because it sounded like something a foodie would buy (or make) and I think I'm turning into a wannabe foodie. I say wannabe because I really like good food, but I'm also much too lazy to make gourmet food for myself every day, and sometimes I still eat hamburgers. Mmmm.... beefy.
Anyway, back to the story at hand.
About a week ago, I gave my Tia Delia a ride home from a ward party. She rewarded me by giving me a bag full of apples from the tree in her back yard. Since my wannabe foodie instincts told me that organic apples straight from the tree would be a good thing, I readily accepted them and took them home.
Then they sat on my counter for a week while I tried to figure out what to make with them.
There weren't enough to make apple butter. There were too many to make caramel apples. And I hate Apple Pie. Yes. I said it. I despise it. Something about crust plus apples activates my gag reflex. I know. There must be something wrong with me.
I then remembered the phyllo dough in the freezer. Acting upon instinct I quickly assembled the following:
1 stick butter (the good stuff, not margarine)
1/2-2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
Dash of salt
Juice of 1 lemon
I threw those ingredients in a skillet with the thinly sliced apples, reserving about 2 Tbsp of the for later. I cooked everything until the apples were tender but not smooshy. Then I spooned the liquid buttery juicy stuff off of the apple mixture and dumped it into a bowl with the remaining 2 Tbsp. of butter, which I had melted. Yes. I'm pretty sure that "liquid buttery juicy stuff" is a technical term.
Then I laid out about 10 sheets of phyllo, lightly brushing every 2-3 sheets with butter. I spread about 1/3 of the apple mixture onto the dough, then rolled it up cinnamon roll style and placed it onto a baking sheet that I had covered with tin foil. Wax paper would work better, but I'm always too lazy to remember to buy it. If I had thought about it, I would have pinched the ends together to keep butter and apple from oozing out, but I was hungry and I'm not a details person.
I repeated this 2 more times with the remaining dough and apple mixture. When I was done, I had three rolls which I garnished with some paper thin apple slices and then brushed the butter/juicy stuff mixture over the whole thing.
I baked them at 350 for about 45-50 minutes.

I sprinkled the top with powdered sugar and served them with a dollop of whipped cream.
SO much better than apple pie. Rather than being stuck with the overpowering dry, flavorless, crust mixed with bland, mushy apples, I had a crispy, delicious, buttery, light as air tart.
The crispiness of the phyllo mixed with the rich flavor of the butter and the sweetness of the apples really make this work.
Remember, whenever you cook with apples, add some acid (unless they're green) and some salt. Otherwise, you end up something that tastes like hot, flavorless applesauce.
Also remember to make at least three rolls, because if you're anything like us the first one will disappear a few minutes after you take it out of the oven.