Joyeux NOEL

Dr. Oz

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How can you not love this man!  I did not know he is allergic to bees!

a piece of green m&m

Noel: "mama, do you remember what happened when we were in the aquarium?"

Mama:" we were NOT in the aquarium."

Noel: "yes, we were, long time ago, and you got mad at me?"

Oh my goodness, Noel is talking about our last trip to the aquarium, almost 6 months ago.... how could she still remember it.

The trip started out so well, we looked at fish, big one and small ones, we looked at turtles, frogs, crabs, sea horses and the beautiful jelly fish...etc!  Until....I caught the sight of Noel bending down, tired to picked up a pieces of (what seems to be) crushed green m&m.  Parents of children with peanut allergy know, m&m is a big no no, even the plain ones.  I screamed literally a second before her finger touched the "dangerous" item : "STOP IT!"  Noel did, but she was shocked, and scared, before she got a chance to say anything, I could not help but continue to yell: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?  THAT THING COULD HAVE A PEANUT IN IT, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? "

This is so not me, but I become so helplessly scared and defensive when it comes to this peanut issue.  As a matter of fact, I angered and lost some friends and family because of it.  They think I am way too over reacted.  Well, I am a careful person, and I am not risking my child's life over some people who are not worth to be around.  Anyway, back to the subject, yes, with peanut allergy, you do not need to ingest it to get a deadly reaction, contact reaction just can be as scary. 

After a few awkward moments of quietness.  I came to my senses, knowing this is so unlike Noel's normal behavior - we are talking about a kid  my babysitters look at in amazement; at age one, she could hold and draw with crayons so well instead of putting them in her mouth.  It's odd at age 3 she would try to pick up a piece of candy on the floor (and tried to eat it?)

So I asked: "Noel, why did you do that?"

Noel looked at me with her big teary eyes : " I am sorry mama.  I was trying to pick up baby turtle and bring her back to her mama."

All in a sudden it hit me, my God, the crushed green m&m looks just like a baby green turtle.........

I remember how much my little girl loves me, and how much she enjoys matching up "mama and babies!" (those stuff animals do not come as sets!!!! Noel managed to dig through her toy boxes and match them.) 

because they taste different

Ask any Taiwanese who live outside of the island the question: " what are you looking forward to the most when visiting home?"  You will definitely get the answer : "FOOD..... I am going to eat and drink like there is no tomorrow.... and yeah, see my family too."
That used to be me.
But now I am taking with me a 3-year-old who is allergic to peanuts, visiting a country that peanuts are used commonly in foods; and even more troublesome - a country where people just don't know and will not get the idea of peanut allergy. 
I was extremely confident that I can manage that in spite of the difficulty, Noel loves milk and yogurt, and they are good sources of many nutritions, so pack up some mac and cheese and cereals, we would be in good shape!
This particular post is about Noel's diets in Taiwan, so we will skip many details and move on along......in short, Noel and I are probably the only people from America visiting Taiwan for over two weeks and lost the totally of 6 pounds together (Noel 2 pounds and me - 4 pounds!)  
My little princess simply refused to eat since day 1.  It turned out that she's sick (details?  wait for the later post.)  But days later, she still would not eat or drink (milk.)  Guess what she lived on when she was in Taiwan?  Water, she drank plenty of that, chips and cookies I brought from the US, some apples and jelly on the breads. 

We were able to find bakeries that is peanut free for Noel.... and really, children's taste buds will not lie, the breads are sooooooo yummy.  Seriously, American bread, Italian bread, even French bread?  Stand aside, you cannot even compare.  But really, a sick child cannot live on bread alone.  How about some milk? 
Noel took a sip of the milk, and handed it over :"no."
"Why?"  I was upset, worried and exhausted from taking care of her.
"Because they taste different....."

Need I say more?  Again, a child's taste bud will not lie!

My poor mother would not give up.  She went to countless stores and brought at least 10 different brands of milk for Noel to try.  Nothing works.  Noel's stubborn about her milk.
So here you have the short and stress-free version of her diet in Taiwan.  But in reality, there is a reason I lost more weights than she did.  I was worried, super worried.  How could a little body handle a month of jelly bread and water? And with her allergy, we could not take any chances of letting her try new and "weird" food.  The only solution is to call the airline, we are coming home early.

Needless to say, we are now drinking gallons of milk and eating like we had been starved for decades.  Is there a way to ship milk oversea next time?

idea? idea? idea?

Dinner menu:
White cheddar shell mac & cheese with baked Salmon and soybeans.  Pear sticks and string cheese on the side, and a nice cup of whole milk!

Not bad for a 3- year-old.  And my sweet daughter finished 90% of the dinner within 10 minutes all by herself. 

By now, I know, I am the envy of many moms already.

But I do have my worries and concerns.  As many of you already know, such menu can only be offered from our own kitchen (due to her peanut allergy), and I am definitely NOT a cook, nor do I like to cook (as a matter of fact, I would rate cooking as my top 5 most hated!)

But we are off for an international trip soon, and the flying time, hmmm, over 15 hours. 

My carry on will not be short of snacks, but does that mean my little girl will go for a day without any hot food?  My heart aches just thinking about it. 

So we need your idea of safe air-travel friendly and "real" food.

Tonight I did my first experiment.  You know those EASY Mac and cheese from Kraft?  The one that comes in a cup and requires 3 mins of microwave?  Well, I pour hot water in it instead of microwaving it, come on, airline will definitely have hot water, right?  The result - it worked!  The noodles are not as puff, but it's okay, soft enough to make a meal on board.

What else?  Give us your idea, and please do not ask why she cannot eat any airline food (even if they tell you it's peanut free) - No, FAAN made it clear, very clear, rule number 1 in food allergy is avoid airline food. Cross contamination is a big problem and if it happens, you are in the middle of the ....hmmm, air.

So make it a project, and think of a food for us!

news.....so fresh out of the oven...

New York Times

We remain cautiously hopeful, very hopeful.

NPR

And, the most "technical yet, interesting one is here on

LA Times

another reason to love - chef Ming Tsai

Did you read this month's People magazine?
I guess since it's brand new, so I cannot find the article online.  If I quote it right, he said in an interview : "...... when David (Ming's son) was diagnosed, it's like an unfunny joke from upstair...."  He is talking about his son's severe multiple food allergies.  And think for a minute, here is a world famous chef cooking up a storm for everyone, especially with his East meets West spices; but not for his own son.
For a while, I know of Ming being an advocate for food allergy and I know his restaurant Blue Ginger is an allergy-friendly restaurant.  We dream of the day we can dine there.  But what I did not know,  is what this man had done for people who suffer from food allergy, READ it up here.
Just dealing with regular every day people, I know how frustrating and how much efforts he had put in to make this happened -  Food Allergy Law passes in Massachusetts!
Thank you Chef! 

so, no peanut for you either, eh?

I just ordered a few of these buttons and ironically, remove the "I'M ALLERGIC" now everyone's got to wear one!

No, I am not being sarcastic, after reading the latest headline, it took me two days to decide whether or not I should be writing this.  When the entire America worries, we people suffer from peanut allergy, for once, get a break.

Truly, I think the outbreak of salmonella is terrible and people who suffered from it is a tragedy, just like any health issue, it should not be ignored.  But at the same time, I cannot help by raise the question : is this a doubt standard thing here?"  When the peanut (butter) is contaminated with salmonella, the news is taking it seriously, but when it "merely" is just an allergen, hmmmm, let's go ahead and make fun of it.

Many people misunderstand that people like us are strongly against others consume peanut products, but the matter of fact is NOT.  Have all the peanuts as you wish(just not now unless you want to get sick!) but be considerate, when you are around people who are deadly allergic, don't eat it.  That is all.

I can go on and on, but better not.  I, fortunately, have met many friends through this blog who are very supportive of this issue, and a few are, fighting the allergy just like us. 

So, no peanut for anyone, for now!

let the TRUTH prevail!

Article from LA times

READ THIS, PEOPLE!

Article from Chicago Tribune

I am unlocking my blog so people can read about this article, one article at a time, one day, people will really get it.  For now, I don't care if you read the entire article, just one page, one paragraph, or even just one sentence - food allergy is serious.  You are making a difference and help in finding a cure for kids suffer from food allergy.
1 in 25 kids, my God!  If people don't take action now, when?

love you tiger!

This photo reminds me how affectionate Noel is.  She is never shy about expressing her feelings - anger, sadness, frustration...etc.  I have seen them all.  But when Noel loves, she LOVES all the way.
Those little figures were from McDonald's Happy meals.  And as I type, I can see question marks popping out from everywhere - does Noel love her happy meals?  Well, I don't know.  Noel never have a happy meal.  Her mom ate the happy meal and brought the toys home as "surprise" presents after work.
Am I really that health conscious?  No, as a matter of fact, I wish I could bring Noel to McDonald once a week.  But eating out with her peanut allergy is really not an easy task, I can tell you the few times we did that, every single time, I was on the edge of a panic attack.  NO JOKE.
Suppose to be a love and kiss post, so I will not go too far on the peanut allergy here.  By the way, McDonald is supposed to be a safe place for people with peanut allergy, we just have not tried it yet.