Snack Mountain Blog

So I hope you all had a great holiday weekend wherever you may have been! I was a busy bee because Steve was here visiting me!!! We hadn’t seen each other (aside from FaceTime) since the end of May and back then I was in a lot of pain and low on energy. But that is clearly not the case these days! The question isn’t what we did, it’s what we didn’t do! Hahaha. We walked soooo much including Central Park, Cobble Hill area, over the Brooklyn Bridge and more! To maintain our stamina we indulged in nut butter and jam sandwiches!

The night before Steve arrived I whipped up a batch of the Hazelnut, Almond Coconut butter I had made back in April because he loved it so much. His birthday is tomorrow so I wanted to add an additional surprise for him when he arrived. And then he brought me two flavors of the best jam in the universe from SQIRL. Speaking of Steve’s birthday, I had been feverishly working on many presents for him and I had to be secret about them to both him and to you! First, my brother and I went to Color Me Mine in Tribeca where I hand painted a couple bowls for him. I made one of Alf because we both love his hilarious antics and had been watching the show on Hulu when I started feeling bad back in March or April.

And then I made this one which is an inside joke from this guy who tried to sell us his music CDs in a restaurant when we first met!

They both look more glossy now after the glaze but I forgot to snap a new photo! I also made him this insane birthday card with images I printed and cut out! Here’s the front, center and back of the card!

While Steve was here we ate soooo much good food (as any diligent pair of foodies would while in New York). We went to one of my fave spots from when I used to live in Greenpoint where I got the classic Acapulco Breakfast!

We also ate at a classic restaurant from my childhood called Cafe Fiorello. They have the most amazing thin crust pizza there. I made an another animated GIF of Steve’s reactions to it’s deliciousness.

After indulging in this pizza and chocolate mousse (served tableside!) we went to see this amazing movie called 20 Feet From Stardom that Steve is an extra in because he mixed one of the live recordings in it. It’s an amazing documentary about backup singers! I highly recommend seeing it! Then we went to watch fireworks along the west side but I couldn’t even last for all of them because my legs had given out from all the walking we had done (which for that day was probably over 5 miles)! The next day we went out to Fire Island where I made this colorful salad with food I had picked up at the Union Square Farmer’s Market.

I also found some colorful finds at a local tag sale!

The colorful eating trend hasn’t ended. Check out this amazing lunch I ate today! Rachel is here cooking up amazing food as I write!

I bought some purslane yesterday at the market and she had just finished this Roasted Purple Cauliflower dish with golden raisins, celery, parsley and walnuts. Mmmmm…I’m going to be eating well this week! Which is good because I get my fourth chemo treatment on Thursday! It amazes me how much time has flown by! On the 18th I am getting imaging done to see how the treatment is working. I’m feeling like it clearly must be working but I am anxiously anticipating knowing what’s really happening inside me. My dream would be for them to say that it’s all visibly gone. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Once they do the imaging, my doctors will tell me how many more rounds they want to do. I’m hoping for 6-7 so that I can go back to Los Angeles because I miss it so much! Cross your fingers for me!

So Steve left last night and it was pretty sad walking back into my building alone after spending 5 consecutive days together. But I am thinking of planning a trip to LA next month so that will be rad! And tonight I am hosting an amazing little event at my house! One of my best friends from growing up, Amanda, knows a girl who is a make-up artist so she is going to come and teach us how to apply make-up. I really want to learn about eye make-up in particular! Stay tuned for pictures and details! Rachel made this amazing Kale Salad with Sweet Potatoes and a Tahini dressing and I am going to order pizza from this place in the neighborhood called Farinella that has Roman Style pizza so that should be deeeelish! Ciao!

So this weekend I went back to Fire Island and let the creative flow continue. I picked up where I left off with these shells I painted with gouache many weeks ago. The technique is called “Gouache Wash-Off” and you basically paint many different layers of gouache, let each layer fully dry, and then slowly drizzle water on them to blend the pigments. Check it out!!!

I also painted giant wooden beads that I am going to make into necklaces:

It looks like earth on acid! Hahaha! Or Lisa Frank-ized! Hahaha. Right after I finished these we went for a walk on the beach and I was blown away by the giraffe-like pattern/texture the high tide and left all over the sand.

It literally felt like walking on a giant painting or installation but it was made by nature!!! I was super bummed that I forgot my fancy camera so I just took tons of pics with my handy iPhone. This one really looks like a long giraffe neck but many of the shapes looked like alien blobs or muppets to me.

I could seriously post 10 more pics but I have many other visual inspirations to share with you! For example, check out this amazing sign I saw on my first bike ride (!!!) in ages.

Any doctor that uses googly eyes is OK by me. Hahah. For reals, we all know humor is the best medicine. Speaking of healing and medicine, my friend Vera gave me this inspiring book on Thursday:

Vera is doing a practicum of the class taught by the author Saki Santorelli at UMass this summer so she thought I would get a lot out of the book. The class is part of the Oasis Institute. Vera even said I could come to a class if I wanted to. The book focuses on the healing relationship between patient and practitioner and often blurs the line between the two. Here’s a line that I found particularly relevant to me at this time and my interest in healing. “Outwardly, we direct our efforts towards restoring others, but somewhere maybe we know there really is no other.” Many of my doctors/therapists have been commenting on what a good job I am doing of taking care of myself by eating well, staying active, getting massage/acupuncture, etc. so maybe my focus on taking care of myself (which is something I practiced for many years before I got sick) will allow me to be a powerful healer. The book also talks about not running away from the pain or scary moments/events and this seems like a good thing to practice because as good as I feel and as positive as I have been lately, it’s not easy to accept all that’s happened to me over the recent months and the implications it holds for my future.

Well…that got kind of serious and I didn’t anticipate writing all of that. I guess I will segway now to the delicious food that I ate this weekend at Fire Island. I love the way my food photographs come out at the beach. It must just be the salty air that adds a filter to them that isn’t available in Instagram. For example, I whipped up this chicken tortilla salad with leftover chicken that Rachel made last week with a perfectly ripe avocado:

And then for dinner, my parents grilled some soft shell crab. I felt so bad I couldn’t help with dinner because the fatigue that never came last weekend caught up with me around 5:30pm and I found myself immobile on the couch. But look how cute the crabbies are!

The shells were actually a little hard and not easy to eat. I guess it’s the end of the season. But the insides were deeeeelish! Crabs are by far my favorite shellfish, both aesthetically and to my tastebuds!

Back to visual inspirations, check out this unbelievable present that my besties in LA, Maura and Abe, made for me!!!!!!!!

I am so impressed with their craft skills! And it’s so spot on and in three-dimensions. Plus, he’s sooooo soft!!! Tonight is going to be a serious snuggle-fest with this guy! Hahaha. Man, I am a lucky duck to have so many good friends. And my friend Dawn sent me this amazing necklace and bracelet! Watermelon is my favorite thing to eat these days and I’ve always loved them visually. Just like crabs!!! Watermelon and crab salad coming up! Hahaha.

Well, it’s way past my bedtime but here’s one last visual inspiration I wanted to share with you. Check out this amazing label from the wine my parents were drinking at dinner.

In the case of the wine, I can’t enjoy the flavor but I can enjoy the label! The flowers are embossed so it almost feels like its embroidered. Isn’t that amazing? This is a real theme I am picking up on, the confluence of visual and sensory taste!!! Do I sound like a liberal arts graduate or what?!?!?!? Hahahaha. Ok, I am really going to bed now. Ciao!

Here I am looking like a major dork this morning as I went to hang out with my dear friend Rachel who is in town this week. We went for a nice walk in the park and I ran around the reservoir after. I’ve still been full of energy and feeling good so I couldn’t resist going for a run! But to be honest, right now I’m so tired and my brain feels like mush. So if my writing seems off, please understand. I’m about to go get some acupuncture and take a nice nap there. Haha. But before I go, check out the delicious food that a different Rachel cooked for me this week!

It’s so nice to have good food on hand! The quinoa she made is amazing. It has chickpeas, sugar snap peas and sunflower seeds in it. A winning combo for sure! Then she roasted some chicken breasts with fresh herbs! Yum! The green soup is a cauliflower, kale and dill puree! Then there is a white bean, chard and potato ragout and a fennel, apple, spinach salad. Yes! So amazing! I told her to take next week off because STEVE WILL BE HERE!!!! OMG. SO EXCITED. Sorry, caps had to be used for those sentences. Hahaha. Finally, look at my lovely plant set up in my room! My mom lent me a nice Vera tea towel to use on top of the side table. I truly believe that visual inspiration is part of the healing process.

I never used to be that into orchids but the more I look at this one my friends Matt and Jenn gave me, the more amazed I am! Alright well, gotta run (not literally, I’m done for today…)!

Dude. I cannot believe how normal I felt this weekend. I’m serious. Compared with how I felt initially after the first two rounds of treatment, it was a whole new experience. I did everything I planned to do and hardly missed a beat. Sure, I got tired at the end of the day but I felt mostly like myself. It’s pretty amazing. Maybe tomorrow I will crash but hopefully not! On Friday I spent most of the day with my friend Tamara and her new adorable baby Eva! Then on Saturday, I went to Rus and Aude’s wedding at Rus’ parents house in Bedford, NY. Here I am with the amazing bride and groom!

There were these lovely flowers just near where we were standing.

The ceremony was lovely and very simple. I really admire Rus and Aude for making the wedding minimal and elegant.

When I first got to NY during my illness, I had asked Rus if his dad could propagate some plants for me because I knew that was a huge hobby of his and I believe that being around plants is good for the spirits. (I like to name and talk to my plants although I am still a novice at taking care of them). I remember visiting Rus’ parents house a few years ago and he had a whole area of the garage devoted to cultivating plants! So at a quiet moment I asked Rus about the plants and his Dad got so excited and was so glad that I reminded him! Look what he made for me!

The plant on the right is an Aloe and on the left is a combo of I think Jade and this other very unusual looking succulent that Rus’ dad described to me in great detail. He said that if  you broke off any of those little purple buds on the leaves and placed it in soil, it would generate a whole new plant! How cool! So whoever wants one should come over to my house with a pot and some dirt! Hahaha. Also, here I am in front of Rus’ sweet ride!

I have to admit, I woke up today with a pretty bad headache that took a few hours to pass. But when it did, my parents and I hopped in the car to Williamsburg where I got to catch up with my college friend Annie and also visit with my good friend Chen at her booth Late Greats!

It was pretty hot and sweaty out there but that didn’t stop me from enjoying some pizza from Pizza Moto and Van Leeuwen ice cream on the way home!

I have one explanation for why I felt so good this weekend. My friend Leah asked my favorite Kundalini yoga teacher Tej to have her class (which usually has over 100 people in attendance) to pray for me and she said would do it! Leah emailed me on Friday night with this information. Against my better judgement, I read this email in the middle of the night when I got up to pee and then I couldn’t fall back asleep for two hours because I was so excited. Leah and I used to attend Tej’s classes as much as possible last fall while she was still at Golden Bridge. She is an amazing teacher who has a devout following because her classes are simultaneously inspirational and hilarious. I’ve laughed as hard in her class as I have at some of my favorite comedians. She clearly has a powerful healing energy which draws people to her. When she left Golden Bridge in January, I followed her new impromptu classes which fell under the name Nine Treasures Yoga wherever they would hold class (which was initially at this tiny TV studio room in Hollywood because Tej is close with Russel Brand and his show was filmed there). Anyway, whenever I was in her class I noticed how often we would send healing power to sick people and I always enjoyed the healing chant called “Ra Ma Da Sa” that we used for sending healing energy. I’ve actually been doing this on my own recently (you can send yourself healing power too!). Anyhoo, I feel so honored and blessed that Tej and her class sent me healing energy! And I think it’s really helping! Amazing! Thank you!

I was pretty psyched yesterday to break out my new Lisa Frank muscle shirt that I ordered from Urban Outfitters. I also got some posters to hang in my room! Hah! I spotted this amazing car with Garfield in the backseat and it seemed like an appropriate spot to strike a pose! I even went to yoga in this outfit and felt kinda out of place around the other white turbanites at Kundalini Yoga East. I’m sorry but that place just doesn’t fit my vibe. This dude behind me was belching loudly the entire time and he was clearly a regular. I just think that’s inappropriate and rude. I know some people can’t help but let a fart out in yoga but you can definitely stop yourself from burping 20 times. Right? I mean maybe I’d let Garfield get away with it…I’ll give the studio another chance since I bought the unlimited monthly pass but I’m probably gonna go to Golden Bridge most of the time since it’s so lovely.

Today I got some pretty exciting care packages! First, another giraffe from my Cousin Cathy!!

Let’s close our eyes and picture him in Lisa Frank colors….Taaadaaaa!!

Uh-oh, in searching for that image I just stumbled onto a website of vintage 1980s stickers that I made need to place an order from…

The other care package was from my friend Jocelyn who sent me some amazingly colorful yarn. Totally Lisa Frank colors!!!

The yarn comes from a company called Fairmont Fibers where it’s hand spun and dyed by women in Uruguay! Jocelyn is going to come teach me to crochet and maybe knit too. My grandma was a crazy crochet lady and she taught me once but I don’t remember. Nana used to crochet so many blankets that we had to start donating them on a weekly basis to the Ronald McDonald house in the neighborhood. She was a one woman factory! I’ve got a bunch of her classic blankets that I cherish. She would often use some pretty crazy colors too! My friend Jocelyn has her own yarn business too called O-Wool that you should check out! Her website has tons of patterns! She is so rad!

Another package I opened today but arrived a month ago was from the Integrative Nutrition program I enrolled in!!

I am psyched to start reading all the materials and learning about all this stuff!! And then I can share it with you! Hooray.

Speaking of good eating. Today, a chef from The Smile that Melia introduced me to came to cook for me as a trial. Her name is Rachel and she is super nice! Here’s the items she cooked for me today: Millett and Fig Muffins (which blew my mind), Quinoa with Mushrooms and Arugula, Lemon Poached Salmon, Squash and Red Lentil Soup, and Israeli Cucumber Salad! Here’s a pic of the muffins and the cucumber salad:

Rachel and I were talking about how much we love Martha Rose Shulman from the times and I was telling her about Martha’s article today in the dining section about how she is a secret pastry chef cookbook author and that she makes tons of desserts at home despite being known as the healthy food columnist.

Well, I’m off to chemoland tomorrow so if you don’t hear from me for a few days, I may be sleeping or resting (in Lisa Frank colors of course). But I got acupuncture today so hopefully I won’t be too tired in the next week. I’m going to try to go to my close friends wedding this weekend in Westchester if I’m feeling OK. Plus, the Renegade Craft Fair is this weekend in Brooklyn and I’d really like to check it out. My friend Chen will be selling her amazing Late Greats dolls and I want to see her shining face too! I used to sell my goods at the fair ages ago so it would be fun to see what people are crafting these days!! Maybe I can set up a bootleg Radio Flyer wagon and sell some of my painted shells and lemonade. Hahahahahaha. Ok ciao!

The other day at 6am I got an idea. I remembered when Rachel was sick her boyfriend’s family made her 1,000 paper cranes for healing. So I looked it up and learned about the Japanese tradition. The tradition says you can make the cranes for yourself as a wish for healing and longevity! I bought a couple kits/books and made my first practice crane last night! I am very excited about this project! Typically you string the cranes in rainbow colors onto garlands and group them all together! This will be a great project to work on during treatment this week or post-chemo when I am sluggish and don’t want to get off the couch. Here I am (posed as my favorite bear Rilakkuma) holding up the kit I got.

I’ve actually been sluggish today and I’m not sure why. The other day in yoga at Golden Bridge we did this one posture where you had to stand up and clap over your head and then touch the ground 108 times and ever since my hamstrings have been incredibly tight! I can barely walk!! Nonetheless, my dad and I went to get me some new running shoes! Check em out!

And then on Sunday my dad and I went for a short and very slow run around the reservoir in Central Park!

Over the weekend we also cleaned out my grandma’s apartment across the street. She passed away during Hurricane Sandy. Crazy timing! She took care of me and my brother pretty much everyday when we were growing up. I found this amazing card I made for her thanking her for taking care of me. I am really into my illustration style! Thumbster!

I want to use some of these techniques in new illustrations I am going to make! We also found this amazing photo of her working at the diner in Brooklyn! I have no idea what year this is but probably the 1950s?

Man, do I wish she was here right now. Whenever I was sick growing up she used to sit with me and comfort me. That’s pure healing right there. I found a scarf there too and I’ve been wearing it today. It still smells like her so I’ll take the healing power of scent for now! I also found this cute button of me and my bro!

Finally, I felt inspired to make another animated GIF from the other night when I went to Meatball Shop with my friends Amanda and Mike. I couldn’t resist it. Chocolate chip mint ice cream sandwich. It was so cold and really hurt my teeth and first! The ice cream had real mint leaves in it. Mmmm….

Ok dudes, let’s send healing power care bear style. Remember when this is all over, I will be a healer. You can be one too!

Hello! I feel like in the past few weeks I’ve had a lot to post about with crazy pictures and GIFs but all of a sudden this week seems somewhat less eventful and more calm. This is probably a good thing! I’ve continued to feel a lot better (yay!) aside from some annoying pain medication side effects (yuck!). I don’t even need the pain meds anymore but I have to taper them so I don’t go through withdrawal since they are narcotics (yikes!). One exciting thing is that I’ve been venturing out of the neighborhood more. I even rode on the subway (yeah!) and went to the Union Square farmers market where I bought these delicious veggies (yum!). Ok, I’ll stop with the parenthesis now…

My cousin Adrienne has been here visiting this week which has been really fun. She has been showering me with tons of gifts throughout my illness and its sooooo sweet. She’s given me great socks, stationery, a lovely scarf, toys (including a giraffe stuffed animal) and then last night she gave me another amazing present! She told me she bought these crystals at a fair held at her sons school many years ago but didn’t really know why she bought them other than they looked really cool. She figured one day she would find a purpose for them and said she wanted me to have them since she knew I loved crystals so much!

I love the shape of the crystals because they feel very old as if they were carved by a crystal afficionado in the 17th century! They even came in this embroidered satchel! Oh and she gave me that lobster claw pen in the photo above which is highly entertaining! The claw clicks open and closed as the pen tip retracts. For some reason, I enjoy hooking the claw on the septum of my nose. Yes, I admit I am a very strange person. Being sick is seriously like having a birthday that never ends! It’s pretty nice to be showered with love and presents all the time. I really can’t complain. Thank you Adrienne!

Another daily gift that I am grateful for is from Steve’s dad who has emailed me with jokes every single day since May 8th! It’s pretty amazing! I’ll share a few of my favorite with you here:

Two cannibals are eating a clown.  One says to the other:  “Does this taste funny to you?”

Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married.  The ceremony wasn’t much, but the reception was excellent.

I just learned that all the toilets in New York’s police stations have been stolen.  The police have nothing to go on.

Hahahaha. So good. Today when I was walking to meet some friends for dinner I was thinking of my own funny sorta joke that I could maybe tell if I was a stand-up comedian or something. Here goes. So I was thinking about how there is some sort of human tendency to relate to people who look like you so when I see a bald man, I can’t help but think, “Hey! One of my people!” but then I remember, no, that’s just a bald guy. Now that I’ve written this “joke” down I’m not sure that’s actually funny. Maybe it has to be told verbally with a Seinfeld-esque intonation (which is how it sounds in my head) for it to be funny. Hahaha. But seriously, I do feel camaraderie when I see beautiful bald women at Sloan. They are my people and I send them my love!

Finally, the t-shirts I designed for my dad’s firm arrived yesterday. Sadly, the race was cancelled today because of the crazy rain. What’s with the weather New York? Can’t you be more like your sister LA?