I seriously abused my body today, quite on accident, and am trying really hard not to ralph right now.
I went to the mall to get some "maternity essentials;" while I was there I had some frozen yogurt. Then I decided to go to a movie (by myself, because Matt was working) so I ate some popcorn.
Normally, after eating a big, late breakfast (we made big omelets and had toast and fruit this AM) I could totally get away with eating froyo and popcorn for lunch. Not while pregnant. I am now trying to force-feed myself an apple with peanut butter and every bite makes me feel nauseous. Normally, being hungry would make me feel hungry. Pregnancy. Wow.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Ma(tt)y's Tortas
Here is what you should make for dinner tonight. It's super fast and easy and delicious.
These tortas are inspired by Manny's Tortas in Minneapolis, which my fetus has been craving for the past week. Years ago, Matt introduced me to this little hole-in-the-wall joint (ok, by the looks of his new website, Manny has recently expanded a bit beyond traditional "hole-in-the-wall" status) in the Mercado Central mini-mall on Lake Street. Our favorite has always been and will always be Manny's vegetarian sandwich, despite the fact that we are no longer vegetarian (although I inadvertently eat mostly vegetarian anyway). Manny's bread is toasty and buttery, and these sandwiches are so amazing that I'm sure that even the pickiest of meat-eaters would fall in love. I crave it every time we visit my homeland, and now you will, too.
My thrown-together, experimental version received quite a positive review from my husband tonight. He's a tough critic. So I'm using Manny as an inspiration and nicknaming my version after my homeboy.
Ma(tt)y's Tortas
Whole-wheat burger buns (Manny uses some kind of amazing French-type or submarine sandwich bread...I wanted to go a little healthier)
Earth Balance spread
Cheese (I used shredded Mex blend...cheddar works)
Sour cream (Manny uses "chipotle mayo")
Refried beans (I used veg black RB's)
Onion, thinly sliced (none on mine, please)
Tomato, thinly sliced
Avocado, thinly sliced or mashed
Jalapenos (of the briny, jarred, sliced variety)
Lettuce (I used romaine)
Slice up all of your veggies (avocado last - put it in a little bowl, toss it with a little drizzle of lime juice, and leave the stone in there with it to prevent browning!).
Butter the buns (grilled cheese style) and place them, face-down, in a pan. Toast them to your liking. Meanwhile, heat your beans in a pot or in the microwave - make sure they're VERY hot. When your buns are done, remove from the pan. Immediately cover the bottom bun with a thick layer each of cheese and then beans (the beans will melt the cheese - if you're using thickly sliced cheese, you can also throw the bottom bun + cheese under the broiler for a minute or two). Spread some sour cream on the top bun.
Throw on the rest of your ingredients on top of the beans. I mashed the avocado on there and then stuck the jalapenos on top of that so everything would stay together, and then top it all with the tomato, onion, and lettuce.
Manny's tortas can't be beat - I don't know what his secret is - but these pleased both myself and my husband (I was worried - Manny's is pretty much his favorite sandwich and one of his all-time favorite meals EVER). I served them with tortilla chips and a little homemade tomato salsa that I made in the blender (make to taste: tomato, fresh jalapeno, onion, a bit of garlic, lime, cilantro, salt - blend). Delicious, and the fetus approved of my offering...hopefully we can both move on to a new craving now. And, fetus, it would be GREAT if you could try craving something that I can get in my own zip code.
These tortas are inspired by Manny's Tortas in Minneapolis, which my fetus has been craving for the past week. Years ago, Matt introduced me to this little hole-in-the-wall joint (ok, by the looks of his new website, Manny has recently expanded a bit beyond traditional "hole-in-the-wall" status) in the Mercado Central mini-mall on Lake Street. Our favorite has always been and will always be Manny's vegetarian sandwich, despite the fact that we are no longer vegetarian (although I inadvertently eat mostly vegetarian anyway). Manny's bread is toasty and buttery, and these sandwiches are so amazing that I'm sure that even the pickiest of meat-eaters would fall in love. I crave it every time we visit my homeland, and now you will, too.
My thrown-together, experimental version received quite a positive review from my husband tonight. He's a tough critic. So I'm using Manny as an inspiration and nicknaming my version after my homeboy.
Ma(tt)y's Tortas
Whole-wheat burger buns (Manny uses some kind of amazing French-type or submarine sandwich bread...I wanted to go a little healthier)
Earth Balance spread
Cheese (I used shredded Mex blend...cheddar works)
Sour cream (Manny uses "chipotle mayo")
Refried beans (I used veg black RB's)
Onion, thinly sliced (none on mine, please)
Tomato, thinly sliced
Avocado, thinly sliced or mashed
Jalapenos (of the briny, jarred, sliced variety)
Lettuce (I used romaine)
Slice up all of your veggies (avocado last - put it in a little bowl, toss it with a little drizzle of lime juice, and leave the stone in there with it to prevent browning!).
Butter the buns (grilled cheese style) and place them, face-down, in a pan. Toast them to your liking. Meanwhile, heat your beans in a pot or in the microwave - make sure they're VERY hot. When your buns are done, remove from the pan. Immediately cover the bottom bun with a thick layer each of cheese and then beans (the beans will melt the cheese - if you're using thickly sliced cheese, you can also throw the bottom bun + cheese under the broiler for a minute or two). Spread some sour cream on the top bun.
Throw on the rest of your ingredients on top of the beans. I mashed the avocado on there and then stuck the jalapenos on top of that so everything would stay together, and then top it all with the tomato, onion, and lettuce.
Manny's tortas can't be beat - I don't know what his secret is - but these pleased both myself and my husband (I was worried - Manny's is pretty much his favorite sandwich and one of his all-time favorite meals EVER). I served them with tortilla chips and a little homemade tomato salsa that I made in the blender (make to taste: tomato, fresh jalapeno, onion, a bit of garlic, lime, cilantro, salt - blend). Delicious, and the fetus approved of my offering...hopefully we can both move on to a new craving now. And, fetus, it would be GREAT if you could try craving something that I can get in my own zip code.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Goldfish with gas
The other night, I felt the baby move. I'm certain of it. It felt like a tiny fish fluttering around in the front of my lower abdomen...quite different from gas but, I suppose, easily mistaken for it. Matt said it was probably just gas. I said no, it was definitely a fetus. Matt said maybe the baby had gas.
Friday, July 16, 2010
A funny story that will eventually end in a baby.
I got pregnant in Laos and then, ignorant of my condition, proceeded to enjoy the various beers of Southeast Asia for the next couple of weeks during our Laos-Vietnam road trip. After a few weeks, I woke up in our hotel in Saigon with strange symptoms and pains that convinced me it was time to take a pregnancy test. The weather was a miserable 95 degrees F with 100% humidity or something, so we planned to go to a movie that day and enjoy a few hours' respite from the heat in a nice, air-conditioned Southeast Asian movie theater (on a side note: they do movie theatres right in that part of the world.) So we stopped at a little pharmacy and bought a couple of tests on our way to the movie, which I planned on taking when we got back to the hotel that night.
About 1.5 seconds after we sat down in the theatre, Matt turned to me and suggested that I go ahead and take the test in the bathroom so that we could stop freaking out about them. Vietnamese pregnancy tests are of the pee-in-a-cup variety. Yes, I peed in a cup while balanced over a western-style toilet with eastern-style footprints on the seat...and it was positive. Of course, I immediately took the other test as well - not an easy task, balancing and all, while convulsing violently with adrenaline. By the time I went back into the theater, I was officially a pregnant lady and I had missed about 10 minutes of Ironman II - not that it mattered or that we could pay attention to any of the rest of it. We were pretty distracted, anyway...but Mickey Rourke's face will always take me back to that special day...
The little old lady who ran the pharmacy was SO excited when we returned to her shop that night to purchase prenatal vitamins.
My first bouts of morning sickness started on a ferry boat from Phuket to Ko Phi Phi. The worst day was the day we decided to take a morning snorkel trip - I didn't know yet that I needed to carry food and eat every hour or so, so I got horribly nauseous, and there was no respite (nauseous in water, nauseous in boat). The snorkeling was still pretty awesome, though. Around this time I suddenly became repulsed by the idea of Thai food of any kind. I spent one of our very last days of vacation lying in bed in a yucky budget hotel room and only woke up to force-feed myself some pizza that my sweet husband managed to get for me.
I was finally able to eat Asian food again just the other night - about three months later.
Moments after taking the test:
Oops, I was pregnant and didn't know it:
Morning sickness during and after the snorkel trip from pregnancy hell (AKA "all I want is garlic bread" or "hurry up and take this picture before I vomit off of the side of this longboat"):
About 1.5 seconds after we sat down in the theatre, Matt turned to me and suggested that I go ahead and take the test in the bathroom so that we could stop freaking out about them. Vietnamese pregnancy tests are of the pee-in-a-cup variety. Yes, I peed in a cup while balanced over a western-style toilet with eastern-style footprints on the seat...and it was positive. Of course, I immediately took the other test as well - not an easy task, balancing and all, while convulsing violently with adrenaline. By the time I went back into the theater, I was officially a pregnant lady and I had missed about 10 minutes of Ironman II - not that it mattered or that we could pay attention to any of the rest of it. We were pretty distracted, anyway...but Mickey Rourke's face will always take me back to that special day...
The little old lady who ran the pharmacy was SO excited when we returned to her shop that night to purchase prenatal vitamins.
My first bouts of morning sickness started on a ferry boat from Phuket to Ko Phi Phi. The worst day was the day we decided to take a morning snorkel trip - I didn't know yet that I needed to carry food and eat every hour or so, so I got horribly nauseous, and there was no respite (nauseous in water, nauseous in boat). The snorkeling was still pretty awesome, though. Around this time I suddenly became repulsed by the idea of Thai food of any kind. I spent one of our very last days of vacation lying in bed in a yucky budget hotel room and only woke up to force-feed myself some pizza that my sweet husband managed to get for me.
I was finally able to eat Asian food again just the other night - about three months later.
Moments after taking the test:
Oops, I was pregnant and didn't know it:
Morning sickness during and after the snorkel trip from pregnancy hell (AKA "all I want is garlic bread" or "hurry up and take this picture before I vomit off of the side of this longboat"):
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
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