So, I decided to take a mental health night tonight and stay home from school.
Truth be told, I am completely exhausted and was running late anyways because I went to the gym and got all caught up in watching Oprah (with Sex & the City girls on it!!!) on the cardio machines. I ended up doing 10 minutes running on the treadmill, 10 minutes on the elliptical, and 15 minutes power walking on a steep incline on the treadmill again. By the time I got back upstairs I technically could have rushed and gotten to school on time but instead I decided to just relax. I’ve never missed a day in the whole program and figured I deserved it. My day has gone so wrong it’s almost funny—-turns out I am allergic to the Jamaican cilantro plant I bought today and my hands have felt like I poured burning oil on them!! I took 2 benidryl, which seemed to help at first…but now they burn again. Moral of the story is that I’m pretty worthless. Who can decorate a cake when it hurts to touch anything?
Anyways, to back up a bit and explain to you the burning hands incident, when I found all those peppers at the market today I knew instantly that I wanted to make homemade salsa with them! I’ve never made homemade salsa before but when else is a better time to do it than when you can find a whole bushel of jalepinos for $1? So, when I got home from the market and the car accident and the bank robbing incident, I set out to make homemade salsa. I followed this recipe (link isn’t working–of course–here it is: http://vegncookingandotherrandommusings.blogspot.com/search/label/Lentils) but added in some crushed tomatoes and, instead of using dry cilantro, I used my new lovely jamaican cilantro leaves (bad idea. bad idea). The salsa turned out great but super super SUPER spicy, and I love spice! A little really does go a long way!! By the time the salsa was done my hands were starting to tingle but I attributed that mainly to chopping jalepinos so I disregarded it.
After the salsa was done and the gym was done I came back to make tacos for dinner using my new salsa! I followed another recipe on Jennifer’s blog (which I am obsessed with, btw) for Lentil and Potato Tacos. These were great!! VERY messy with the lentils and guacamole going everywhere, but the flavors really worked well together and I enjoyed it thoroughly. I will be making a lot more Mexican food now that I found Jennifer’s blog–everything she makes looks so good and I already am planning on making her Sweet Potato and Quinoa tacos sometime next week!
After I ate dinner (+ salsa with cilantro) my hands really really started to burn. I decided to take a bubble bath to calm down and that made it 100 times worse! My neck was burning, my hands were burning, my thigh was randomly burning…what else to do than call your mom and cry? She told me to take 2 benidryl (sp? I’m loopy enough after taking 2 of these….) and drink some water so I did and the pain subsided for a little bit (just long enough for me to bake a batch of Super Charge Me cookies!) but now it’s back full force. I think the only safe place for me to go right now is my bed, with Dexter and a book. Goodnight!
Sarah
May 2, 2008 at 12:17 amAww…I’m so sorry to hear about your rough day! That burning sounds absolutely horrible. 🙁
I hope you get a good nights rest and feel better in the morning!!
Ashley H
May 2, 2008 at 12:19 amWow! Thats pretty crazy!! I found out that I am allergic to lime lately! haha random!
I have been wanting to ask you about the SCM cookies. I just made them and they came out perfect my batch made 16 and I was interested to find out how many calories they each had. just for fun. I estimated about 150 each. Do you think that sounds right and if so I feel like one doesnt fill me up very much for that many calories. What are your thoughts? Thanks 🙂
jenna
May 2, 2008 at 12:24 amAshley,
I’ve made them larger and smaller before. I used to like to make them smaller (a batch of about 21) but then I realized I was always eating 2 of them to fill me up so now I make a larger batch and tonight I yielded 11, just like the recipe says. I honestly don’t know how many calories there are per cookie. I’ve never taken the time to find out and I don’t really care because they are so jam packed with healthy energizing ingredients! Did you do the math to get 150 calories each? If I had to ballpark the ones I just made I would say 200 because they are larger and denser. I would make larger cookies next time if one doesn’t fill you up!
ibex hk
May 2, 2008 at 12:32 amawww man, I’m sorry, doesn’t sound like the best day for ya, you’re such a good sport, glad you took the night off from school. You deserve an early night, for once 🙂 Hope the allergic reaction subsides soon, sounds uncomfortable 🙁 All the best!!
Ella
May 2, 2008 at 1:01 amJenna,
I’m soooo sorry about your day. A similar thing happened to me when I lived in Calif. My parents just got me a C300 and I had *just* finished finals and was playing Madonna “hung up” and thennn I bumped into someone. And the lady was driving a barely-running car, uhh. Such a disaster. Nothing ever came of it, which is usually the case! I’ve been run into too and didn’t make a big deal of it…I totally agree with the person who mentioned ‘car’ma 🙂
Tomorrow will be better! Hope you get a good night of rest! All your food today looked fantasmo. Farmers markets are the best!
Nadia
May 2, 2008 at 1:03 amsounds like a tough day. don’t worry…tomorrow’s a new day. thhat’s what i keep telling myself. My day wasn’t the greatest to put it mildly and i have atleast 3 friends pissed at me for ditching them because i honestly cant get myself to leave this apartment after all the crap that has happened today. oh well. c’est le vie.
babycakes
May 2, 2008 at 1:29 amawww Jenna, this was the last thing you needed tonight! I’m so glad you decided to stay home and rest though. Definitely a good decision. I really hope you wake up refreshed and feeling better tomorrow. We all have those days where nothing goes right. “This too shall pass” as the saying goes. Hang in there!
Cassie
May 2, 2008 at 1:45 amWow you had a long day! You deserve the night off!!!! Rest – tomorrow is a new day….
I saw that Oprah too – it was fabulous
LT
May 2, 2008 at 2:12 amSHEESH! you better have a run of good luck pretty soon to make up for all this poopiness.
caitlin (in FL)
May 2, 2008 at 2:40 amohmigod jenna poor thing!! what a horrendous day. watch that allegric reaction… it might get worse!
good luck tomorrow! i hope it goes better.
Courty
May 2, 2008 at 4:08 amO Jenna… you need some sleep sweetheart! So glad you took the night off from school; I hope you get some rest and feel 110% better tomorrow! Hang in there 🙂
Julz
May 2, 2008 at 4:34 amAww you poor thing!!! Maybe put some icepacks in your hands? I feel SO bad for you! I am ULTRA HYPER SENSITIVE so I’ve totally been there! Take care of yourself! If my Mommy wasn’t with me and I was having that type of a day, I’d be BAWLING my eyes out! LOL… I’m such a sucker for mi mama, what can I say? You should get some popsicles in you girl! Cool that little soul of yours down! Feel better <333
Monica
May 2, 2008 at 5:46 amJenna, that sounds like a super crappy day. Feel better tomorrow.
karla
May 2, 2008 at 6:08 amwow, amazing that you still had the positive attitude and managed to make the supercharge me cookies with your allergies!!
you are such a trooper!
everything you went through today is probably because the rest of the week will be amazing….good job staying home, sweet dreams!
Monica
May 2, 2008 at 11:27 amHi Jenna…. Poor you… I hope you feel better and don’t feel too behind on Monday…. It is never good feeling sick! BTW–do you remember the name of that ‘healthy’ Mexican resturant you posted about earlier this year? i think it was a chain with organic type ingredients? I remembered seeing that it was in my area and wanted to check it out this weekend…. I think it was like a Moes/Chipolte?
Maggie
May 2, 2008 at 11:28 amBe careful eating that salsa!!! If you have a true allergy to it, its not safe for you to injest either.
I had a similar thing happen with soy sauce (and I worked at PF Changs for almost 5 years… ha). If it gets on my skin I break out in hives and/or rashes and my hands go crazy red!! But I could eat it just fine. My derm told me it was a “contact dermatitis” but not a true allergy. Hopefully that’s all you have too!!
Tina
May 2, 2008 at 11:29 amHope you feel better, Jenna. What a day!
Casey
May 2, 2008 at 1:08 pmWhat is the name of Jennifer’s blog?
Anne P
May 2, 2008 at 1:38 pmOh my gosh you poor thing!!!! You seriously have the worst luck! Yeah I was going to say if your skin is allergic to it, was eating it okay?? Hope you feel better 🙁
pepper
May 2, 2008 at 1:53 pmHi – Long time reader, first time poster. Are you sure it was the cilantro, rather than the jalepenos that hurt your hands? If benadryl isn’t working, then it sounds like it might be from the capsaicin in the jalepenos rather than an allergic reaction.
I work at a restaurant where I make salsa and chop hundreds of jalepenos. If I don’t wear gloves, my hands end up burning for days. Capsaicin is fat-soluble, so if you think this may be the cuplrit then wash/scrub your hands with rich (fatty) soaps, or even olive oil.
You blog is fantastic, and I’m so sorry this happened to you. I hope you feel better Jenna.