Park City Plates

I spent the majority of this month traveling. This usually equates to living off oatmeal, nuts, and cheap salads. Oh boy!

I was in Park City, Utah last weekend for a film festival, armed with my almonds and oats, as always. Surprisingly, I found things I could eat.

Spinach salad with strawberries

Crudité at one of the receptions

Rice noodles with tomoato/garlic/basil seasoning. Made by us in the teeny hotel microwave with some ingenuity. We only exploded one wine glass (wasn't by me, actually!) and nobody got burned!

More banquet food

and I also had a handful of strawberries before one of our screenings, which I promptly vomited all over the sidewalk outside the theater (I have a photo if anyone wants to see the mark I left on Utah). Not so Bren-friendly, after all.

Aside from the strawberry incident (hey, it happens) and the forecast changing from "mid 70's and sunny" when I packed to "29 and snowy" while I was there, I got plenty of sleep and had an easy trip...

...then, I came home and tried to re-learn how to ride a bicycle. More on that coming!

I went to TX, and didn't starve!

Growing up in the grand ole state of Texas, my diet consisted primarily of beef, dairy, casseroles, and baked goods. I thought guacamole came from a packet of powder that you mixed with water. Vegetables came from a can or a freezer bag. I had never had hummus, avocado, Thai food, or brown rice. I didn't know what gluten or Vegan meant. I had heard myths of Vegetarians or Lactose-Intolerant people existing, but like Sasquatch, had never actually caught sight of one. My brain wouldn't have been able to comprehend cheese coming from cashews or milk from rice. Most of my meals came from a drive-thru or a mircowave tray.

Five years ago I moved to California, and was exposed to a world of organic, free-range, fresh foods. I explored Farmer's Markets, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's. I learned how to use a rice cooker and how to steam vegetables. I introduced edamame, tofu, and kale to my vocabulary and my palate. I stopped microwaving things. I fell in love with Thai, Mediterranean, hummus, Agave, and goat cheeses. I traded in Guiness, Bud Light, and Keystone for Fat Tire, Stella, and PBR. I still ate a LOT of dairy and baked goods. I went home to Texas for barbeque every chance I had.

I used to plan my trips home based on what and when I would eat. Breakfast at Cracker Barrel, followed by lunch at La Madeline's, topped off with dinner at Spring Creek Barbeque. I planned my life around The Texas State Fair and made sure I would be home during the winter months when Blue Bell puts out its peppermint ice cream. Life was simple. Life was grand. Life was about to take a backflip.

After I was diagnosed, I didn't go back to Texas for two whole years. Why bother? I wasn't allowed to eat anything! My sister had to go and get pregnant to get me to come back. Smart move, Sis! Oh, and there was that whole recovering from surgery thing, too...

While I was home for nearly three weeks, I was certain I would starve to death or be living on almonds and carrots which is usually what happens when I travel. This time, I learned a Whole Foods has opened near where my parents live, so we took a family excursion over there. Minds and wallets were blown, interesting stocking stuffers for the whole family were acquired, and Bren-friendly food was found. My Mama made it her mission to ensure I wouldn't starve, bringing me something to eat approximately every 27 minutes:

Fried egg, bok choy, tomato, brown rice, black beans with corn


Rice crackers, cucumber, hummus


Black beans and corn, chicken, rice noodles


Fresh raspberries


Stir fry


And of course, there were the pancakes that she perfected the recipe for!

She even packed my lunch when a friend picked me up so I could visit another friend in the hospital. (That's almond butter in the container, btw)


I was even so nice as to decorate cookies for my family, (while elevating my foot, no small feat). I think my tears added something extra special to the taste.





Much to my surprise, Texas and my Mama did me well.

It's a date!

I got to drink this tonight!

A "smoothie" of rice milk, almond butter, vanilla bean, and dates :)

Back in July, the results of some tests led to me being ALLOWED to eat certain amounts of butter and dates. My excitement rivals a little girl's 1st trip to Disney, Y'all!

In August, I tried butter, resulting in less than desirable results. Barf

I've had some amount of butter since that day, but had yet to try dates until tonight.

Shockingly, they've remained in my person and have yet to make a reappearance...

*Side note: I now have 2 years sober. Everything I said last year still rings true*

Where in the world is Carmen Bren-Diego?

I just got back from a week away- and boy what a week it was!

I spent a few days in Chicago for a fan event for the soap opera All My Children's 41 year final airing. I got to meet and hang with some great people; including celebs, fans, press, fundraisers and promotors; as well as explore the city. It was an amazing experience.

Then I jetted out to NYC for a musical opening. Again, I met and hung with some really great people; including actors, producers, composers, fans, and a friend from college. I always love the time I spend in NYC. I also got to see live opera performed in Times Square, which was amazing. The musical was better than I expected and it getting rave reviews. It's called Effing Hipsters and it runs until Oct 8th. If you're near NYC go see it!

Traveling on my diet is often difficult and depressing, but this time I was so busy I hardly even noticed. I pretty much have my diet down to the point that it's becoming old hat to me. I brought raw almonds and my special oats with me, scoped out Bren-friendly restaurants, bought a bunch of veggies, and things worked out just peachy.

Heck, Mayor Bloomberg even bought me a drink! My that was some fabulously fancy water! ;p


I'm exhausted but I am so glad I was able to do this. I had amazing experiences. It was so nice to be away from reality for a hot minute: No doctors appointments, physical therapy or pokes; No children to corral. I did spent a lot of time and mind-space dealing with the aftermath of the robbery/identity theft, but thankfully with some ingenuity and help from great people I worked it all out.

I did my best to rest up as much as I could, but there was so much going on! After I finish this post I'm actually going to head to bed for the day/night (yes, it's only 1:30pm). The last thing I need to is to get sick right now.


Update:I had my 2 month jaw post-op appointment today and things look really good. I go back in a couple weeks for my permanant bridge placement and then I'm hopefuly done with the jaw/teeth debacle.

Tomorrow I start my clinical trial and new experimental meds. I'm nervous and excited and dreading and finger-crossing. And away we go...

Enslaved by ensalada

I eat a lot of salad these days. That's an understatement. Have you ever eaten salad without dressing? Right, why would any mentally intact person choose to eat rabbit food without some sort of buffer. Enter me: I have no choice. Ugh.

So I've had to come up with some alternatives...

Quinoa with black beans, chives and corn atop chopped cabbage soaked in sea-salt water.



Shelled pumpkin seeds, soaked with rosemary and sprinkled with sea-salt on cabbage drizzled in olive oil and lime juice.



Assorted greens with avocado, pear and slivered almonds.




"Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” -Edward de Bono

Pâtissierie pheromones

This weekend two of my dearest friends got married and I brought all their things home with me so they could whisk away to their Hawaiian Honeymoon. Included in these wedding items was the remnants of their cake. Three. Boxes. FULL.



Thus, I was left alone in an empty condo with 20lbs of contraband. The only thing keeping me from having my own honeymoon and making sweet love to that beautiful body of sweetness was the memory of throwing up at the wedding after having a little bit. Yes, I snuck some bites, I'm not gonna lie and say I learned my lesson a few weeks ago. At least this time I was able to limit myself (probably because my friends were there telling me I was making a horrific mistake) and promptly slipped away from the festivities ("I need to pee") to take a nice brisk walk through the moonlit vineyard (aka: high-tailed my ass out of earshot and tossed my cookies on some grapevines)

I took one box to work Monday and fed a chunk of it to the kids ten minutes before I left. It was win-win, really; I got rid of the goods and got the satisfaction of knowing their sugar frenzy kicked in as soon as my car rounded the corner. I pawned another box off on my women's group last night and the last box went to the other kid today. I'm glad it's all out of my hands because I don't trust myself to be alone with it for another day. The chemistry between us is just too much to bear and I can only be good for so long.

Nanner-nanner-boo-bread

1c oat flour
1c rice flour
2c almond meal
1.5 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (I used Kosher, sea)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
dash cinnamon
1/2c nuts (macademia)
3-5 ripe bananas
1/4c oil (grapeseed)
juice of half a lemon
1 tsp vanilla extract(pure, non-alcoholic)

-Preheat oven 400degrees
-Mash bananas in bowl with fork.
-Chop nuts.
-Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, blend well.
-Mix wet ingredients in a bowl, blend well.
-Mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients
-Pour mix into bread pan and bake about 30 min (25-40 depending on oven)

*I came up with this by combining a few different recipes and by subsituting things I'm allowed to eat.

I'm not sure the grapeseed oil was the best choice, so I suggest trying a different one.

Also, mix the salt in really well, otherwise you'll have salt-bombs in your mouth, which we found to be an unpleasant surprise.

Wait, you mean to tell me I was allowed to eat that all along?!

-In case you were wondering, Vegas has two Whole Foods and three Trader Joe's...and most of the people who live there have no idea that Trader Joe's is a grocery store.

In case you were wondering further, The Bellagio Cafe has Organic, Free Range Chicken and steamed veggie options.

In case you were wondering even more, they sell raw, unsalted almonds in the airport.

You're welcome.

-I managed to turn a picky-eating, non-healthy eating friend(who asks not to be named as to preserve her reputation) onto hummus. I found this exciting and fabulous up until realizing I am now going to become one of those Health-Preaching Hippies.

*My. Nose. Didn't. Get. Horribly. Burned. (Don't ask me about my thighs or chest if you know what's good for you)

-In other news: My roommate made barley last night and I tried it for the first time. I was cleared on this grain over a week ago, but having no idea how to procure or perpare it, I'd been holding off...A somewhat different experience from when they cleared me on oats and I ate 4 bowls that day(that's oats + water, plain, if you're wondering, and it was one of the best days of my life)

*I also learned that I AM allowed to have cashews, when all this time I thought I wasn't allowed. Vegan cashew cheese here I come!