on the menu

Many Mushroom Buns
Originally uploaded by Saltygal.

Many Mushroom buns

chop chop chop

The cooking continues

chop chop chop
Originally uploaded by Saltygal.

Saltygal shop update

Well we are days away from "early summer" when I predicted Saltygal would reopen on the web. I don't think I will reopen anytime soon. I am almost fully recovered from my surgery and able to stand and sew, but right now, I just have no interest, and that's not the way to run a business. Lately what's interested me, is food and the garden.
I've always been an avid gardener, but last summer I injured my foot, then knee and it kept me out of the garden almost all season. That was a good news bad news situation . Good, because most of the garden was established enough to get by in spite of my neglect. The bad news was that some didn't survive and left gaping holes where weeds took over. There is plenty of work for me in the garden this season. What a joy to return to the earth and compost , birds and butterflies. I hope to have my garden certified as a wildlife habitat this year .
The other interest which has been taking up much of my time lately is food. Before my surgery I had read about some possible side effects following a Whipple procedure. The most frightening to me was a loss of taste and appetite. I spent the weeks before my surgery treating myself to a long list of favorite foods . For the first month of my recovery, while taking the heavy painkillers I couldn't concentrate enough to read much so I watched TV, mainly the food network and PBS cooking shows. What torture! Eating wasn't easy in the beginning , well eating was OK digesting was a different story. I had to eat small meals to keep the pressure off all the internal stitches , but I has lost my sense of taste and would eat and get full but have no satisfaction. I kept making progressively spicier foods trying to get the flavor, to no avail. I thought this was a side effect of my particular surgery but apparently it happens to many people after any type of surgery under general anesthesia. Now my taste buds are starting to awaken , but Naomi who is only 3 weeks post op is going through the same thing. Spicy spicy spicy , that's all I'm cooking and eating these days.
In our household we celebrate birthdays with food, I make the dinner and cake of choice for the birthday boy or girl.This year I was sick for Naomi's birthday. I promised her I'd make it up as soon as I was able to. This coming Tuesday she's having her friends and coworkers over for a dinner of Dim Sum.It's sort of a re birtday after her surgery. I have been cooking since Saturday. I have enjoyed it so much. Today is a big day, I'll be making potstickers and mushroom bo (buns) I am made the dough and fillings yesterday, so today it's an assembly line of rolling and filling and tucking and pleating . I'm trying to remember to take pictures , so I can post more pictures. I'm pretty sure that unless the sewing bug bites me again this blog will be more about food and less about crafts .

Priority Shift

I know I've been quite and gone for a while. I promised updates but I wasn't sure if and when I would be able to return to work and reopen my shop. I was waiting until I was sure of a date. My surgery went well. I was in the hospital for a little over a week and was able to come home under the care of a visiting nurse.
I had a minor setback two weeks after my discharge and had to be re hospitalized for 4 days due to an infection. Once that was behind me I decided to take it a little slower and follow doctors orders to a T. I had fallen into a cycle of "I feel great !" then working on a project or playing with Bella, then spending the following 24 hours with a heating pad and pain pills.
I wanted to get to my 6 week post op when I would receive my final test results and pathology reports . I had to have another ct scan ( my 4th) and something called an otreo scan where you are injected with a radioactive isotope and then scanned. My tumor was a neuroendocrine tumor the oncologist said the otreo scan would show if any cells from the tumor had traveled elsewhere.
The day before my post op visit I took my daughter for an ultrasound. She had been losing weight , yet her abdomen was growing larger, almost as if she was pregnant. The ultra sound revealed a large cyst. So the following day after my visit with the oncologist , she had a visit with a surgeon to see about having it removed.
Last Thursday she had "Edgar" ( as she and her surgeon named it) and a smaller "Gertrude" removed . The surgeon told us that "Edgar had been growing inside her for 10 years.
Yesterday was her first full day at home and now we'll wait for her biopsy reports.
So much upheaval in our lives. My tumor was found by accident after a serious intestinal infection last November revealed a "hazy " area on my pancreas. My daughter has had many vague, mild symptoms. She had been to the doctor many times and had numerous exams and tests, none revealed anything, until the ultrasound.
Needless to say, we both have a new lease on life. My tumor was found before it could do serious damage to other organs and while I miss( most of) my pancreas I have enough left over to see me through. Now that my daughter's tumor is gone she already feels better without the pressure of Edgar pressing on her organs.
She will be ready to go back to school in the fall, until then we both plan to enjoy the summer , go places and do things we didn't have the health or time for before. My husband has been amazing through all of this and I'd like to spend some time taking care of him. I may start Saltygal back up again, I may not , I think I need some long walks on the beach to think about it .

taking a break

I closed my Etsy and Artfire shops this week, hopefully just for a month or two.
I'm having some health issues and have had to close shop several times since November.
I'd sewn like a demon in October and November to participate in a couple of craft shows and have a nice full shop for the holidays.That didn't work out I missed the show and had the shop closed most of December.
When I was feeling better in February I decided to try out Artfire and put some things in there. Just a week after that I got sick again and finally found out the problem. I'm going to have some surgery next week and will need a month or two to recover so I won't be around much. I miss it already . I have so much beautiful new fabric and bunch of new designs, but they will have to wait. I'll keep you posted, hopefully by summer both the economy and I will be in better shape.