my near death experience

so it has taken about a week to recover and get to the point where I can recount this story to you. It was all very sudden and... (who am I kidding, the only reason that I am writing this now, if ever is that it's finals week and there is no better time to procrastinate). Now back to my story.
I was making dinner for myself last Sunday. Veggie tacos in case you are curious (kale and beet greens to be exact, it was yummy but I will spare you the recipe as I probably just grossed a few people out). The veggies were all set to go as a filling to my tacos, all that was left was to heat up some corn tortillas. I don't know about you, but I really like to heat up tortillas over the stove's flame (that is why a gas stove will always be superior to an electric). So I turned on the neighboring burner, but a pot lid was kind of close to it (I have a bad habit of leaving pot lids on the stove because I don't see them as dirty enough to warrant washing, but not quite clean enough to put away, man the digressions are getting out of control). I decided to move the lid after the fact, and I am sure you may be able to guess what happened next. The entire sleeve of my brown cable knit sweater caught on fire! Now this is where it gets a bit troubling. What did I do, you may ask? Stop, drop, and roll? No. Run over to the sink to douse myself in water? No. Before I go on, I must preface this with a disclaimer of sorts.
You see, my limited exposure to fire is: 1. candles 2. birthday candles 3. the fireplace 4. bonfires at the beach
How do I normally put out these said fires? 1. blow it out 2. blow it out 3. let it smolder out 4. let it smolder out
So you can safely assume that I wouldn't let myself smolder out. So instead, you guessed it-- I started blowing on my arm to put the fire out.
When that (obviously) didn't work, I hit myself with the tortillas I was still holding in the other hand. That also didn't work. Finally, my roomie who was just a few feet away saw the flames travelling down my back and came to my rescue. She hit me until the flames went out :)
Oddly enough, when everything was over my sweater was still intact, and the fire had travelled the entire sleeve and back of my sweater in 10 seconds. Our theory is that there was a hair hanging down from the sleeve that caught on fire as I reached over the flame and it burnt up other loose hairs and general fuzz on the sweater. So those of you girls who "shed" alot, let this be a lesson learned.
We ended the night with some much needed drinks at a wine bar for my birthday. I still do owe the roomie a drink for saving my life....

stuffed but still healthy

The bell peppers at Henrys are always super cheap so I have a feeling I am going to be making this recipe often. And really, you can just throw whatever you have in the fridge into a pepper and bake it-- this recipe definately lends itself to some flexibility. It is also a healthy alternative to the normal stuffed pepper that is full of ground beef. And for my vegan friends, it can certainly be made vegan friendly! One suggestion though, rather than cut the tops off the peppers, I think it is best to cut them in half. More crispy goodness to enjoy. We stumbled upon this suggestion because I generally don't use all the produce I buy in an efficient manner and there was a bad spot on one of the peppers. Thank God for old food in the fridge!

Couscous Stuffed Peppers

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

servings: 4-5

time: 30-40 minutes

• bell peppers of any color (depending on size 3-4)
• 2/3 cup couscous
• 1 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 2-3 zucchinis, quartered and thinly sliced
• 1-2 tomatoes
• half a can of chickpeas
• half of an onion, chopped
• 1-2 precooked chicken or turkey fancy sausage, quartered and thinly sliced (I used Trader Joes chicken pesto sausage)
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper

Half the bell peppers and clean them out. Spray a baking sheet with Pam, and cook bell peppers in 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prep the veggies and cook the couscous (bring broth to a boil and add couscous, let it sit for 5 minutes then fluff). Saute onions and sausage, then zucchini with herbs, salt and pepper. Add couscous some parmesan cheese to taste. Stuff it all into the bell peppers. Add some more parmesan on top. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes.

Jess: "The stuffed peppers were really good...next time cut them in half to get more crunchy topping. Also, I'm glad we used parmesan instead of feta, no fennel and no tomato paste (see the original recipe). Nicole should cook dinner for me every night!"

David: "The couscous added a nice light texture to the stuffed peppers. The only thing I would have added is a bit of tomato paste. Oh yeah, and fennel!"

Antony: "The peppers were great. I liked it cut lengthwise- more crunchiness! The couscous without the tomato paste made it light. A little more sausage wouldn't hurt. Thanks for cooking."

In a haze

If you haven't heard yet, it seems that all parts of southern California are on fire. San Diego is currently battling six fires. Between the two largest fires, The Harris fire and Witchcreek fire, 700 homes have been destroyed and 100 commercial properties.

This is a picture of what I saw yesterday out of my bedroom window. The smoke would be from the Harris fire which is southeast of us.

And this is a map of the Harris fire. The little yellow dot is where I live, so as you can see still quite a bit away.

My allergies and asthma have calmed down a bit through the night (yesterday they were really bad), but are getting worse again this morning. Lots of sneezing and what feels like a restricted throat. And the smoke outside my window has now dissipated into a haze.

On a happier note-- school is still closed today! So it gives me a chance to be productive and get a paper written that is supposed to be due tomorrow. I am looking forward to going to a coffee shop to work in a bit: I have yet to leave the house in the past 24 hours so it will be nice to get out!

playing catch up

I've got way too many school related things to do this week (and tonight for that matter), so what does that mean? a blog post of course. One would expect no less, since this blog was birthed out of a moment of procrastination-- that it would be in fact the entire life of said blog relies on such procrastination.
So I think my last post consisted of my wondering of my clinic assignments and eager anticipation of what lied ahead. Unfortunately I cant get into much detail, for confidentiality and HIPPA's sake. What I can say is that I got 2 cute 'clients' this semester that I am working with. That means I will have adults next semester (or so the rumor goes). It has really been such a blessing quite honestly. There was a difficult week in the beginning where I was dealing with two cancelations and having to scratch the plan and start over three times. But one client finally stuck and it has really been a great experience. I am actually looking forward to working with adults next semester though. I was really apprehensive about the idea at the beginning of this year, before we all got our clients but now I see what the other 'clinicians' (or so they call us) get to do with their adult clients and it looks so fun! So all and all it has really worked out for the best.
I had my first diagnostic on friday, so besides a midterm and brief paper this week, I also need to write up a diagnostic report. I thought it wouldnt be too hard at all considering I had written a bunch of assessment reports back when I worked at Cal PsychCare. But one of the hardest things here is that we can't take any identifying information out of the clinic, so its really hard to get any writing done at home. Or at least that is what I am telling myself tonight after a generally unproductive attempt at writing that diagnostic report. An early morning at the clinic will remedy it all.... hopefully.

back in class

But not in the LBC any more! This is just a quick update for those out of the loop, but I am back in San Diego to finish school at San Diego State. I am very excited about the amazing opportunity that I have been given at this program, there are some great bonuses that are available (including finishing a year earlier than if I stayed in Long Beach, woohoo!). The whole thing from the program to the dear friend that I get to live with has all come into my lap as an amazing gift from God that I did not expect and that I am so grateful for.

I am getting more and more excited (an less nervous) as each day goes by. The program is pretty intensive, which means we started class a week early in what the faculty like to call "speech bootcamp". And they aren't exaggerating really- six hour of 2 classes a day for 2 weeks straight. Then I get my first clinic assignment and start seeing 2 clients (on top of starting 3 other classes). I wonder who my clients will be, children or adults and what my clinic supervisor will be like.... On top of it all, I am part of an autism project (which I meet with tomorrow) and will be going to do field observations this semester, looking at what it looks like to collaborate across professions to best meet the needs of the child.

Can you tell I am excited? I go between excited and anxious/overwhelmed serveral times a day at least... It seems to be the pattern among my cohort, so at least I know I am in good company...