a peek inside the fishbowl

Piper’s had some health issues lately, poor thing, but she’s on the mend.

It’s a long story, so I will share the short version. Piper has a ragweed allergy. For the past three years she’s been on medication called Vanectyl-P that we give to her during summer/fall season. A few weeks ago we started winding her down, lowering the dose until she was off of it completely. Last week we noticed she had these little scabby pimply things on her back. They didn’t seem itchy, but they didn’t look great, so we brought her to the vet’s.

He wasn’t sure what it was at first. He suggested a round of antibiotics and a skin scratch test just in case she had mites. The test came back, and guess what, she had mites! (As an added bonus I got to see what they look like under the microscope and I can say with certainty that it is truly a repulsive parasite. Do yourself a favour and do not do a google image search.)

Some mites are a normal kind of thing, but Piper was hosting her own Demodex population explosion. We think that the Vanectyl-P was the cause of this, but the vet can’t confirm this. Anyway, all this to say, she is on two different medications, a special shampoo, and will be going back for another scratch test in the month. And then another one the month after that.

You can only imagine how much money we’ve had to shell out so far, but if there’s a silver lining, it’s this: the mites are not contagious, nor can they be transferred to people, and Piper doesn’t seem to be overly bothered.

I wonder if she’s been enjoying the extra attention lately?

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything about our home or reno. The quick and dirty update is this: (1) our basement still looks awful (2) the flagstone patio first mentioned here is done (3) we are still looking for a new couch and I think Mark’s patience is starting to wear thin because I’m very choosy (4) there are still certain areas of the house that need a bit of help.

This is one of them:

This is the view up the stairs to the bedrooms if you happen to be standing just inside the front door. The painting at the top of the stairs is a lovely piece by Alison Fowler. (That’s actually not the part that needs help, that’s one of the few redeeming things about the upstairs landing.)

The problem, is the view looking down the stairs:

Yes, that’s the bannister I mentioned in this recent post about the history of our house!

The view is BO-RING. And there’s definitely something missing.

In hindsight, I wish we’d given this area a bit of thought before the workers left and everything got a coat of paint. There could have been a really cool light fixture installed in there or something, and now it’s too late. So here’s my question Fishies, what could I put there to spiff up the space? I’d like it to be something interesting that really fills it up. It’s a bit dim in there, especially on a grey day, but I know if we put our heads together we could come up with something.

A mobile? A web of crystals? A wall hanging? WHAT? It just can’t require an electrical outlet. Help!

Awhile back I had no groceries or lunch ideas, so I decided to check out the big salad bar at Farm Boy. Have you ever tried it? It’s pretty darn good. I went in with a strategy: to skip the leafy green offerings and sample my way through the grain and veggie dishes instead. My instincts were correct, because I ended up trying had a bunch of really good little salads, which you can see here. One that stood out was called “Detox Salad.” And of course, I had to look it up.

Farm Boy posts the nutritional information of its prepared dishes on their website (here’s the PDF for Detox Salad), and I quickly saw how easy this salad was to make. It hardly had any ingredients: Broccoli, cauliflower, raisins, Farm Boy Lemon Garlic dressing (lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper), carrots. It’s vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free too. (Yay!)

I did another search for Detox Salad and came up with this recipe over at Oh She Glows. It has a few things in common with the Farm Boy version, but it’s not quite the same. I will say this, both versions should be called “VIRTUOUS SALAD,” simply because you won’t believe how good you’ll feel after you’ve eaten it.

I made my own version and it was awesome. Look how bright and gorgeous it is:

I didn’t have carrots, but I did have a yellow pepper, so I added that. And I used cranberries instead of raisins. I made my own lemon-garlic salad dressing too. And it was REALLY GOOD. And you know what? I was really happy to have this for lunch this weekend, especially after all of the Halloween chocolate I ate. (But let’s just pretend that never happened, ok?)

The whole shebang only takes a few minutes to pull together too.

Andrea’s version of Detox Salad

• 1 small head of cauliflower, separated into florets
• 1 small head of broccoli, separated into florets
• Whatever other crunchy vegetable floats your boat (diced carrots, peppers, whatever!)
• Lemon garlic dressing (make your own – here’s the recipe I used – or buy prepared)
• Handful of dried cranberries
• Handful of raw pumpkin seeds

Using a food processor, pulse the broccoli until it’s in very small pieces. Dump it into a large bowl. Do the same with the cauliflower. Don’t overblend, just pulse until it’s well chopped. Combine it with the broccoli in the bowl. Add carrots or peppers, if using. Toss the mixture with lemon-garlic salad dressing. Top with cranberries and pumpkin seeds if you’re serving it right away. That’s it! Do note, this salad tastes great the next day too. (And the next… if you have any left by then!)

Let me know if you try this recipe. I’d love to know if it made you feel virtuous too. :)