Nursery Reveal

I am 38 weeks pregnant.  Are we ready? I'm not sure if anyone can ever really be ready for a baby and the extreme life change to come, and besides, the answer in our case is a definitive "no".  Oh you think I'm joking.  While having your nursery all set up is not necessarily indicative of how prepared people are to raise a baby, it's a nice benchmark that shows that you've...well, put thought and effort into the endeavor.  At some point, during one of my haphazard and aimless wanderings into the nursery, I completely abandoned the notion that we would be ready in this regard.

Admittedly, I have been organizing and making lists of things that need to get done (like learn how to strap a baby into the carseat).  Some may call this "nesting". I don't think so. It's more like "basic shit needs to get done so why don't you finish eating that cookie and get to work".

So here are pics of our nursery, the state of which directly correlates to and quite accurately depicts my frame of mind and preparedness for the impending baby.

Hallway leading into nursery.  At some point, I'm guessing soon, this table, which will be used as a diaper changing table, will need to move into the actual nursery, although there isn't room for it now because of the following...

Some people put up wall art, bookshelves, and mobiles in their nursery.  We have decided that "boxes" is a fine theme for decor.

Kevin did set up the crib. This is the crowning achievement of our nursery.  It's the Gulliver crib from Ikea.  Like you care--this isn't exactly the type of nursery from which pinterest posts and inspiration are derived.

This is what the baby will be looking at from the crib.  We want our baby's first word to be "clutter" or "junk".  That crib railing there? That was the defective one that I managed to get Ikea to replace after a cumulative 1.5 hours on the phone (99% of it on hold). Behind it is a shipping box for 12 bottles of wine. We thought that was appropriate for a nursery.

And there you have it.  I hope this post makes you feel better about your life.

Oh, and here's a picture of me last week at 37 weeks.

2012 Cookie Tins

You get a double dose of recipes today--cookie recipes, to be specific.  And you thought today was going to be like any old day. I realize that by making that comment, I am taking the slight risk that I overestimate the impact of this blog post on your life. I'm not a Leo for nothing. Please don't burst my bubble, because I'll just come up with another delusion to make myself feel better.

Hm, after all that, I looked back at my blog and realized that I already shared one of the cookie recipes with you. So, it is just a single dose of recipe today. I imagine you are devastated.  If not, please see above note about keeping me in ignorance.

Anyway, a few years ago I got in the "habit" (if doing something two years in a row counts as a "habit") of making cookie tins for some family members.  The first year I made 5 different kinds of cookies.  The next year, I made 3.  This year, I trimmed it to a very sleek and slim 2 varieties.  I highly recommend this to myself for any future cookie tins.

I made molasses spice cookies again, and rugelach.  Both cookie recipes are from Dorie Greenspan, and can be found on the internet or in Dorie's Baking: From My Home to Yours.

I love rugelach--so tasty, and so festive in appearance.  Perfect for a cookie tin.

I made this recipe twice.  The first time I followed the recipe as is, putting all the filling ingredients into each cookie.  The second time, I made half with the jam, cinnamon sugar, currants and nuts, and the other half with a brush of egg wash, cinnamon sugar, chocolate chips and nuts. You can play around with this recipe.

Ingredients

For the Dough
4 ounces cold cream cheese, cut into 4 pieces
1 stick (8 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

For the Filling
2/3 cup raspberry jam, apricot jam or marmalade
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup chopped nuts (I generally use pecans for any baking that calls for nuts, unless the recipe calls for peanuts, in which case I use peanuts--I won't get into this now)
1/4 cup plump, moist dried currants
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips (or 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, but the mini chips are so much easier)

For the Glaze

1 large egg
1 teaspoon cold water
2 tablespoons sugar, preferably decorating (coarse) sugar (I forgot this)

Notes: I like to make the dough, form the cookies, and freeze them at least a day beforehand just to break things up. If you freeze your cookies before baking, add a few minutes to the baking time (no need to defrost).

To make the dough, place the flour, salt, butter and cream cheese in a food processor.  

Dorie says to pulse the dough 6 to 10 times, scraping down the sides as you go, then processing continuously until large curds form. I didn't scrape the sides down, just pulsed and then processed. I think it turned out okay. You don't want to process it so that it forms into a big ball--that's going too far and bad things will happen. Divide the dough in half, form each half into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day (or freeze for up to 2 months).

When ready to form the rugelach, take out 1 disk of dough and let rest on the counter for about 10 minutes. Mix the cinnamon and sugar together.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the disk into a 11 to 12-inch diameter circle.  Thinly spread half of the jam onto the dough circle.

Then sprinkle half the cinnamon-sugar mixture, currants, nuts and chocolate over the dough.  Take a piece of wax paper (or plastic wrap) and gently press the filling ingredients down into the dough.

Rugelach pizza!  Using a sharp knife or a pizze cutter, divide the disk into 16 wedges (start by quartering the pizza, then halving each quadrant into 8 pieces, and then halving each piece for a total of 16).  Starting from the outside of each wedge, roll up tightly, ending with the tip tucked under the bottom.

The one on the right rebelled against the whole "tip under the bottom" instruction.

Place the formed rugelach onto a greased baking sheet (a greased/nonstick surface is important because some of the jam will seep out) and place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes (or, you can freeze them, lightly covered, for up to 2 months).  

Repeat with the second disk of dough.

Whenever you are ready to bake the rugelach, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix together the egg and water, and brush the tops of each cookie with the egg wash.  If you remember (which I didn't), sprinkle the 2 TBS sugar over the cookies.

Bake the rugelach for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back midway through, until the rugelach are golden. 

Remove each rugelach to a cooling rack.

Cameo by molasses spice cookies.

For packing the cookie tins, I bought some red and green packing filler from World Market and placed it at the bottom of the tin, and then nestled the cookies into muffin wrappers.  For the larger molasses spice cookies, I flattened out the muffin wrappers into disks.  I covered the whole thing with parchment paper before putting the lid on and sending the tins on their way.

Hail the cookie tin! Ta-da!

Chocolate Gingerbread Cake

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a great holiday season.

I have a suggestion for post-holiday blues: post-holiday baking!  That suggestion may have been borne from the fact that I am late in posting some recipes. But now that I've made the suggestion, I really do think it could work.

I first made this chocolate gingerbread cake years ago and decided to revisit it this year.  Before I begin, I have a couple of things to tell you.  First, this recipe is from the lovely Dorie Greenspan. I get to call her "lovely", implying a sense of intimacy with Dorie G. that I completely lack, because I once saw her on a subway platform.  I didn't say anything at the time, but you can be sure that afterwards, I found her website, and left a creepy comment asking if it had indeed been her standing on the platform, and how I should have said hello (because that would have been less creepy, of course).  Because she is indeed lovely, she actually wrote me back and confirmed that it was her, and I forget how exactly the next part came about, but she emailed me her recommendations of places to eat in Paris, a city that I had mentioned we would be visiting in the next month. So see? I get to call her "lovely", because she is.

Second, I am going to show you how to make this cake, but I made one huge mistake with this recipe this time.  I inadvertently used blackstrap molasses instead of regular molasses (the recipe specifically states that blackstrap molasses should not be used, and if you do some research--although don't because I'm going to tell you--you'll see that blackstrap molasses is generally not used for baking because it's so damn freakin' strong). As with most things that go awry in my life, I blame this on someone else.  Specifically Whole Foods.  The only molasses on the shelf said "molasses" on the label. Nothing about blackstrap. I figured I was safe.  After making the cake, I wondered why it was so much darker and sharper than the previous cakes I made.  I looked at the ingredient label on the "molasses" bottle, and the first ingredient was "blackstrap molasses". What the hell gives.  Kevin compared the taste to tar. Thank you sweetie. I made a tar cake.

Anyway, the method is the same, but your final product will be much lighter in color and hopefully in texture as well if you use regular molasses (like Grandma's Original Molasses commonly found in grocery stores).

Oh, there is a third thing to tell you--the original recipe has a chocolate icing. I skip that.  If you want the chocolate icing, see the link above.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons finely chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon sugar
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate—2 ounces melted and cooled, 4 ounces finely chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (5 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
1 cup buttermilk (I used a cup of whole milk and 1 TBS of lemon juice)
1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger in syrup (available in Asian markets), optional (I did not use this, but I imagine it would be very tasty)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch square pan (which I do not have, so I used a 10-inch springform pan) and set it on a baking sheet.

Prep your chocolate (both the melted and the chopped) and fresh ginger.  Mix the ginger with 1 TBS sugar.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and dry spices.

Beat together the butter and light brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).  Crack in the eggs one by one, beating for 1 minute after each egg on medium speed.

Add in the molasses and mix on low speed until blended.

The batter will probably look a little curdled at this point. That's okay.  Carry on. Add in the melted chocolate and ginger-sugar mixture and mix until blended (low speed again).

Still on low speed, alternate adding the dry ingredients and buttermilk in 3 parts each (i.e. dry, buttermilk, dry, buttermilk, dry, buttermilk).  Stop when just incorporated--you don't want to overmix because that develops gluten.

Using a spatula, fold in the chopped chocolate.

Pour batter into prepared pan, and place the pan (which is still on the baking sheet) in the oven for about 40 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Place pan on cooling rack for about 10 minutes, then unmold the cake (place a plate upside down on the top of the pan, flip the pan upside down so the cake is upside down on the plate--remove the pan and then flip the cake back onto the cooling rack).

When completely cool, slice and serve.  This was part of our Christmas dinner, which was served with this chocolate pecan tart (which was the most complicated version of pecan pie I have ever made, which is of course why my sister put it on the menu, because her culinary skills know no bounds) and whipped cream.

As I said, yours will be much lighter than this "slice of tar" (which Kevin would call it). Ta-da!

Prenatal Workout DVDs

Some of you may be wondering how I've maintained my active and healthy lifestyle during pregnancy.  If you were wondering this, I'd like to know who you're confusing me with.

I (or anyone, for that matter) would not describe my lifestyle as "active" or "healthy"--probably just "moderate". In any case, I did want to exercise a bit during the pregnancy as I heard that helps you bounce back faster after delivery.  The other benefit is that you feel a modicum of justification in eating that sleeve of Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookies in one sitting.  Or the entire box of chocolate covered pretzels.  Or the "trail mix" that is mostly chocolate, the pieces of which you pick out so that in reality, it's like eating a bag of chocolate chips.  Which of course brings us to the actual bag of chocolate chips. Mixed with a generous heap of peanut butter.

Anyway, I've been going to a weekly prenatal yoga class, but I would not call this "exercise".  Well actually I do, to make myself feel better, but it's really not.  We spend about 20 minutes at the beginning doing breathing exercises, another 20 at the end in relaxation pose, 10 minutes in a "sharing circle" (where we give updates on our pregnancy and talk about that week's topics, like using vocalization to help relieve labor pain), so that we're left with a little over 20 minutes of actual movement which takes place at the pace that one would take if almost completely paralyzed. I love it!

Otherwise, about twice a week, I choose among various DVDs.  None of these give a serious or intense cardio workout--they do get the heart rate up (some more than others), but overall the intensity is like what you would get from gentle to moderate pilates and calisthenics. I'm not saying you'll start snoring through them, but these are not your CrossFit/kickboxing/spinning type of activity.

My prenatal workout DVD collection includes:

Haha I am kidding.

For real...

Summer Sanders' Prenatal Workout

This DVD gives full-length and express workouts for each trimester.  I have primarily used the first trimester express workout, which is about 30 minutes.  I found that I was comfortable doing it as my pregnancy progressed, so I haven't bothered trying the other trimester workouts.  Oh, I tried the full-length routine once, and the main difference was more sets of the same exercises (not new exercises), which got me all bored so I stuck to the express.  You go through standing warm-up exercises (squats and lunges), then there are arm exercises and sit-ups, and a short stretch and cool-down session. Overall I like this--it's short and peppy.

Long & Lean Prenatal Workout

I guess I didn't read the description carefully because I thought I was buying a yoga DVD (because of the pose on the cover), but this is not a yoga DVD, it's more pilates.  There are three segments, and I usually do all of them (skipping the relaxation at the very end of the last segment), which takes about 45 to 50 minutes.  She starts with standing/moving poses, then floor work, then stretching. Some of the exercises seem a wee bit ineffectual to me, but I try to concentrate on my core like a good girl. I like this about the same as the Summer Sanders workout--it just depends on how long I feel like working out.

Jane Austin Prenatal Yoga

I held off on buying this for a long time because at almost $18, it was more pricey than the other DVDs which I had been able to buy for cheap on eBay.  But I have two friends who recommended it, and in the interest of adding some variety to my workouts, I purchased the DVD.  The entire routine is about an hour long (I fast forward through certain portions so make it about 45 minutes).  I really like the production quality of this DVD.  There are the instructor and 4 students, and the instructor's real-time cues (as opposed to a voiced-over narrative) helps it feel like I'm in a real class.  Again, this isn't a cardio workout, but I felt the poses were effective for strength and flexibility, and there are some hip and pelvis opening positions that I may try during labor (that, or I will be screaming for an epidural). 

Power Yoga: Total Body

This isn't a prenatal yoga DVD and I don't recommend it if you haven't done yoga before.  I was and am no yogi--I've sporadically taken yoga classes at the gym and practiced at home for the past 10 years.  Hm, 10 years sounds like a long time, but I would emphasize "sporadic". I would say that I am advanced beginner or intermediate.  I had used this yoga DVD before the pregnancy, and a few weeks ago decided to try it with modifications because I wanted a little more of a challenge.  The whole routine is about an hour, but I cut out certain sections to make it about 45 minutes and I modify a lot (i.e. instead of upward facing dog, I get on all fours and arch my back with my eyes towards the ceiling; standing with my legs apart and bent for forward bends; doing half bridge pose instead of full bridge pose; saying "fuck it" to the exercises that just won't fly). 

Shiva Rea Prenatal Yoga

I've only tried this once so far. It is very mild, which is a drastic change from her Yoga Shakti DVD I used before getting pregnant when I wanted to get a really good flow yoga workout that got my heart rate up.  I may try this again if I'm feeling really chill and just want a mellow yoga workout, but since I have others to work from that I like, I don't feel much desire to use it.

Complete Prenatal Vinyasa Yoga and Short Forms

I was excited about this DVD because of all the different-length practices (ranging from 15 to 75 minutes) and I thought it would give me the same kind of "flow" experience that I liked pre-pregnancy with Power Yoga and Yoga Shakti.  However, this DVD didn't work for me. She does move quickly, but in a way that I felt was too rushed.  It wasn't that it was hard or challenging, but the poses felt a bit perfunctory and I couldn't get much out of it. Lots of people on Amazon love this DVD though, so I'm in the minority.

And that, my friends, is how I spent money on something to be used for only a few months in my life.  We won't talk about how much I've spent on maternity clothes. It blows my mind.

Chicken, Tomato and Olive Sauce

After a blazing hot and humid summer, it's been nice to pull out the slow cooker and get back to these "set it and leave it" recipes.  The long slow cooking process also helped get rid of the smell in our new apartment, a scent which we ascribed to the previous tenant leaving a dead body somewhere between the studs in the walls.

Okay it wasn't that bad, but we didn't like it either.  A few days of baking and an essential oil diffuser have seemed to do the trick. Actually, it's probably just passage of time and displacing the previous owner's smell with that of our stinky pugs.  I knew those two would come in handy one day!

For a while I was using America's Test Kitchen recipes a lot. This time was no different.  Isn't it nice to know that I can drop off the face of the blogging earth and return totally unchanged (except for growing a parasite inside me)?

This slow cooker sauce is nice because the acidity of the olives balance out the richness of the chicken.  It is a very hearty sauce, really thick, so a small serving goes a long way. Not that we do small servings in these parts.

From America's Test Kitchen Slow Cooker Revolution

1 onion, minced
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 TBS olive oil
1 TBS minced fresh thyme of 1 tsp dried
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine
14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
15 oz can tomato sauce
2 TBS Minute tapioca
1.5 lbs skinless chicken thighs (I got bone-in and discarded the bones after cooking, but you can use boneless to begin with)
1/2 cup chopped pitted Kalamata olives
1/4 cup minced parsley
salt and pepper

In a microwave-safe bowl, mix together the onions, garlic, oil, thyme and red pepper flakes.  Heat for 5 minutes in microwave, stirring occasionally.

Place the onion mixture into the slow cooker, and stir in the broth, wine, tomatoes, tomato sauce, and tapioca.

Salt and pepper each side of your chicken thighs.  Place chicken into slow cooker, and try to submerge those suckers.  

Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. Gently pull out chicken thighs, and shred the meat using two forks. The meat should fall off the bone and shred quite easily.  Discard the bones.

Stir the shredded chicken back into the sauce, along with the chopped olives and parsley.

Cook pasta according to package directions, and serve with sauce.

Ta-da!

The Past 6 Months or So...

It's been a while. Slap on the hand for me.  I've been keeping up with all of your blogs but have been woefully remiss on updating my own.

Here's a quick recap of what has happened in the past 6 to 7 months:

1.  Shortly after my last post, I experienced sensations that I can only describe as "death cramps" that led me to the emergency room and hospital for surgery and a two-week stay.  I will spare you further details.

All better now!

2. I lied about sparing you from further details. There are some details I want to tell you about.  When I checked into the emergency room, they asked me the standard question of whether I was pregnant.  I said "maybe"--in fact I had been planning on taking a home pregnancy test in a few days.  They initially thought I could have an ectopic pregnancy or ruptured ovarian cyst.  My heart sunk at the thought of either, but particularly the ectopic pregnancy.  A few minutes after taking my blood, a doctor came by and said "So, I'm confused, did you not know you were pregnant when you came in today?"

Cue ugly cry face on my part.  In my mind, positive pregnancy test = ectopic pregnancy.

Strangely, despite ugly cry face, what he said didn't quite sink in fully the first time. He continued to talk (about what I don't know) and I had to interrupt and ask him to confirm whether: (1) he had seen the blood test results; and (2) that the test results showed that I was pregnant.  He said yes, I was pregnant.

Cue ugly cry face Part II.

He looked to Kevin and asked what was wrong, I told him I was worried about an ectopic pregnancy, he said it wasn't necessarily an ectopic pregnancy, blah blah blah.

Despite a lot of doubts regarding whether the pregnancy would last, turns out that I was and am healthily pregnant.  I spent the next month or so recovering from the surgery, which also conveniently allowed me to isolate myself while I experienced a few annoying pregnancy symptoms, namely mild nausea and raging acne.

I am living proof that if you don't eat anything during the first two weeks of your pregnancy and just survive on IV fluids, it is possible to have a healthy pregnancy.  I'm not advising this (I hope that's obvious), it just happened that way.  Also, morphine is my friend. 

Here is a picture of me around 20-something weeks.

3. We moved. Again. This time to Virginia. My New Year's resolution for 2013 will be not to move.  We have a small balcony now, which the pugs thoroughly enjoy.

4.  We took some hikes and visited an orchard in order to explore our new area.

5. We visited friends and family in NYC, Portland and San Francisco.

At craftbar in NYC 

 Tasty treats from the most magical place in Portland, OR--Voodoo Doughnuts

.

While in Bay Area, we went with my sister and brother in law to help out with a grape harvest in Sonoma.

6.  We took a babymoon to St. John--yipee!!!

Bump at 30 weeks

St. John was wonderful, and definitely a place that I'm glad we went to pre-baby. While I did see other families there, let me just state for the record that I would not make the flight to San Juan, 3-hour layover, flight to St. Thomas, 40-minute drive to the ferry terminal, and ferry ride to St. John, for a total of 12 hours of traveling, with a baby. Hell fucking no.

So we're all caught up! I want to get back into taking pictures of my cooking/baking adventures--it's so easy to fall out of that groove.

A few last things: I'm due in January and the pugs have an announcement:

In case you can't see the picture, we're having a boy.

Finding out about the pregnancy happened in a weird way so I figured we'd do something cute to announce the sex of the baby, and get a big honking sugar cookie out of it.

I hope you are all well, and it feels good to blog again!