18 weeks - it's a...

 GIRL!

This week was pretty exciting. We found out we are having a girl, and more importantly, that she couldn't be healthier. She has every organ that she's supposed to, and all of her bones are growing the right length. The appointment for the anatomy scan was not at all like everyone told me it would be. First of all, they asked me to pee before going in. I was surprised, but relieved (pun intended). Also, the ultrasound tech performing the scan was really difficult to understand through an incredibly thick accent. I barely understood anything she said other than, "all healthy," and "it's a girl."

3 days later I had a regular check up with the baby doc. Good news - she gave me the all clear to eat soft cheeses, including goat cheese and blue cheese as long as they're made with pasteurized milk. Yay! There are 3 schools of thought on the soft cheese front; that you can't eat any soft cheese, that you can eat it as long as it's made with pasteurized milk, or than you can eat any cheese as long as it's heated to boiling. I'm so glad that my lovely counselor went with the easiest of these 3 choices. Bad news - I've gained too much weight. 12 pounds total. She informed me (for the first time) that I should only gain 25 pounds during this pregnancy, and 12 pounds is a lot to have gained so far for not even being half way there. Her suggestion was to simply quit eating so many carbs and not to drink my calories. Easier said than done, lady.

Other than that, the weird food cravings haven't ceased. This week was brought to you by:
- Keebler sugar wafers
- Apple cinnamon cereal bars
- a tomato sandwich (white wonder bread, tomatoes, mayonnaise)
- fast food fish filet sandwich (say that 10x fast)
- orange hi-C
- corn in a cup*

Not as many as last week, but they're just getting weirder as time goes on.

You might be happy to know that Ryan and I resolved our differences in regards to the dishwasher situation. I've decided to just relax about it and let him load and unload when he gets the chance. Why was I fighting about doing the dishes?

This coming week looks like a lot of rain. I'll be staying indoors mostly, eat low-carb soup and watching the presidential debates. What about you?

*OMG, corn in a cup. There is a phenomenon you may or may not have heard of yet called "Mexican Street Corn," or sometimes, "Elote." This entails a grilled ear of corn on the cob, rubbed with mayonnaise, rolled in cotija or queso fresco crumbles, then drizzled with lime juice and sprinkled with cayenne. SO DELICIOUS. At our local weekly food gathering, Smorgasburg (get it? a smorgasbord in Williamsburg?) a genius family took it upon themselves to scrape the kernels off the corn, and mix all of the ingredients in a cup so that you can eat it with a spoon. Ryan still prefers his on the cob, but I enjoy the uninteruptted bites I can shovel in with the freed corn in my hand. If you don't have corn in a cup near you at any street festivals, I highly suggest you find the nearest Mexican neighborhood and get some Elote on the weekend. It will change your corn eating habits, I promise.

17 weeks! Tomorrow is the big day!

Well, not the big day, but the day we find out if it's a boy or a girl! At first, I didn't want to know, I wanted the surprise. I wanted the baby to be born and hear Ryan yell, "It's a...!!!" Also, if you don't know what you're having, people will give you gender-neutral baby items. If you have a second baby that's the opposite gender, your boy won't have to use a My Little Pony blanket or your girl won't have to wear a coat with trucks and hammers on it. EVERYONE else in the world has encouraged me to find out. The surprise just comes 5 months earlier. If I don't like the way I feel after I find out, we can keep it a secret for the second baby.

So tomorrow's appointment is called an Anatomy Scan. In addition to finding out if the baby wears bows or bow ties, the ultra sound technician will make sure the baby has 2 lungs, 2 kidneys, etc. I'm told I need to show up with a full bladder, as if my bladder wasn't full enough already ALL THE TIME. I never drink anything at work after 3 P.M., so that after I go to the bathroom at 5 P.M. when the workday ends, I can ride the 2 trains I take home without peeing all over the other poor riders. It's especially torturous if the trains are crowded and I have to stand. I can't wait to show enough that people offer me their seat. I digress. When we show up at the doctor tomorrow, and if I feel like I'm going to geyser right there in the office, I'm allowed to ask them to check all the parts that require a full bladder, pee, then come back for the rest. This is the longest ultrasound we'll have in our pregnancy. If I had my way, I'd get an ultrasound every day. I love watching the little potato kick and punch me from the inside. At the last ultrasound, 4 weeks ago, it looked like he or she was pumping it's legs like it was on an exercise bicycle. I still can't feel it yet.

I've been craving things like crazy. Nothing too weird yet, like pickles and ice cream together at the same time, but just really strong, hungry urges for certain things. You know when you're hungry and you get a taste for something? Like, when it's almost time for lunch, and you think about what you're going to have so you start counting down the seconds until you get to eat it? It's like that only times a thousand. When I was a Weight Watcher, which I had to quit because they don't allow pregos, it's unhealthy, I learned tricks to deal with cravings. When I wanted ice cream, I would eat yogurt. It's cold, smooth and sweet and when I'm finished eating it, I've forgotten about the ice cream. Now, that ice cream is down the hatch without giving yogurt a glance. Other times, when I craved a cheeseburger for lunch, I would eat a healthier sandwich. Now, if I manage to actually eat the healthy things first, I don't so easily forget the thing I really wanted. In no particular order, here is, shamelessly, the things that sounded really good this week:
- grits
- breakfast sausage
- shrimp scampi
- cafe latte
- nacho cheese sauce (the fake, neon orange kind, a la stadiums and movie theaters)
- pumpkin pie
- chili cheese dog from the roach coach
- sauteed mushrooms
- cherry danish
- fried mozzarella sticks
- peanut butter
- cheesy bread from papa johns
- cheeseburger
- zeppole (never had one, but it was described to me and it sounded great)
- olives
- Golden Grahams
- strawberry ice cream

I've noticed some bizarre mood swings, too. I got upset with Ryan because he puts dishes in the dishwasher incorrectly. It's not his fault. He didn't grow up with a dishwasher. I get weepy at sad commercials. Technically, I always have, but now I have real tears falling down my cheeks when I see ads for adopting puppies and children from 3rd world countries who don't have clean water. Friday night, we attended a lecture my Melissa Harris-Perry, my favorite TV journalist whose show we watch every weekend morning in our pajamas on our futon. Just seeing her so close to us made me swell with joy. Of all the celebrities I've seen in person in NYC since moving here, she's by far the best yet. I also had a dream that at birth, the baby weighed 13 pounds, and our OB "suggested" that we have a C-section. "Suggest?!?!?!?" Ugh, my poor va-jay-jay actually hurt when I woke up to the thought of a 13 lb. progeny.

I've also been tired. I scarf down my lunch on my 20 minute break, then sleep for an hour at lunch. It actually works out really well.

I'll be sure to let everyone know tomorrow what the verdict is!

The Devil

in sugar form

Confession time.

I love diet food. I hate diet food. I love that diet food makes me thin. I hate that it mostly tastes like bark & fungus. I love finding good stuff that has no Weight Watchers Points Plus and tastes like real food. Yes, I just called soda a real food. I've been meaning to try stevia sweetened soda for a long time and finally picked some up today at my favorite local grocery store, The Garden. This one was Dr. Pepper knock-off flavor and it was so good that I'm going back tomorrow for the rest of the flavors!

What are your favorite fake foods? Any gems?

Saturday

 Fur babies & Carbs. Sleeping until 4 P.M. on Saturday and spending money on ourselves. We love adulthood.

Exploring NYC

This weekend, one of our best friend's Charlie told us that his girlfriend was going to be in NYC for a conference, and would we please spend a little while with her. Oddly, I didn't take a single picture of any of us that went out, but I took lots of randoms of the stuff we saw!

 Trailer Park Lounge in Chelsea is one of our favorite places to take out of towers. Since Marla is from Florida, she felt right at home. She introduced me to X-rated liquor, which is pink grapefruit flavored, pink, and delicious.

 This lady guards the cans of PBR & bottles of High Life in a tub of ice.

 Elvis pours the beer.

 Home, sweet home.

 I might have to drunk ebay one of these mirrors.

 The ashtray outside.

 Tuck Shop! I've been wanting to try this place since I saw the Chelsea Market location, and was thrilled to find out that there was one in the East Village.

 Look at those!

 I had Guinness steak & mushroom. It was fantastic.

 Hop Devil Grill. Had a crazy amount of taps, like 24 or something. Met the owner, Markus, who was really nice and eager to make all the customers happy.

 Who would throw away such a great coin organizer?

 I want this cab to pick me up!

Sassy table tops at Yaffa Cafe.

I was amazed when we got home and realized that it was 4:30 A.M. These old fogies haven't been out that late in forever.

Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls

 Oh, Plain Chicken, you are a never ending supply of of delicious ideas. This weekend we decided to try out the Blueberry Cinnamon Rolls. Instead of orange rolls, we used the Pilsbury Reduced Fat Cinnamon Rolls.

 I was pissed when I found out that they weren't actually "rolls" that could be unrolled. I carefully cut each one in half with a serrated knife.

 Dry blueberries on a paper towel so that they don't make the rolls soggy.

 Place 5 or 6 blueberries on the cut side of the bottom half of one roll.

 Cover with top half.

 Place in an 8 or 9 inch cake pan. I always like lining everything I bake with parchment paper. I'm too lazy to scrub pans.

 They smell amazing.

 And taste amazing.

There are 8 Weight Watchers Points Plus in two of them.

Bubble Up Enchiladas

Thanks, Plain Chicken! We loved these and can't wait to try the pizza version. We baked half of it and froze the other half. I'll let you know how those turn out after I've thawed & baked them next week!

Caramel Cookies, Weight Watchers Points Plus 2012, 1 Points Plus

These are delicious. I made them this evening for Ryan to take to work tomorrow for Hump Day and he has just run out of the kitchen with an entire stack. They are super thin and crispy. Ryan suggested adding cocoa and making some buttercream frosting so that we can make our own Oreos.

Caramel Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar*
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all purpose flour*
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour*
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, egg and vanilla. Add remaining ingredients and beat thoroughly.

Scrape dough out of dough and onto a large piece of plastic wrap. Roll dough into a log, about 2 1/2 inches wide; completely wrap dough in plastic wrap** and refrigerate until firm, at least 20 minutes or up to overnight.

Cut dough into 1/8-inch-thick slices and arrange on several large ungreased** cookie sheets about 1 to 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned around edges, about 8 to 10 minutes.***

Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for about 1 minute and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Yields 1 cookie per serving.

* I didn't have enough brown sugar, so I had to use 9 tablespoons of dark brown sugar and 7 tablespoons of white sugar. I also didn't have enough all purpose flour and didn't have whole wheat flour at all. I used 3/4 cup of all purpose flour and 1/2 cup of cake flour.

** Because I didn't use enough flour, my dough was really sticky. Next time, I won't roll it out into a log. I had to drop the cookie dough onto the cookie sheets by the teaspoon full. I was also afraid to use ungreased cookie sheets, so I used parchment paper.

*** Too long. They will burn. 7 minutes was perfect.

Enjoy!

Things We Miss: Part 1

Ryan and I have been having a really good time getting to know the fun things there are to explore here in New York City that are new to us, culturally and culinarily. We've eaten at fun restaurants from world cuisine that we didn't even know existed. There are, however, a few things we miss about Cincinnati that we will be stocking up on on our trip there soon. Some things we'll stock pile to mail home, and others are perishable, so we'll have to eat as much of them as we possibly can while we're there. Some of the things have decent equivilants here, but they just don't taste as homey and the same. I've been compiling a list of what we'll be stuffing our faces with, and what will be giving the Postal Service our business with.

Snow Cream

Image via Calorilicious

Snow cream is hard to describe. It's primitive ice cream, for the most part. It's made of cream, sugar and vanilla (some brands do not include vanilla.) You would think it would be like plain ice milk, but it's whipped into a frothy concoction that is foamy and light. Think frozen Cool-whip, but without all the gross chemicals. (and we all know how much I loves me some Cool-whip) I love the taste and texture, and love it's low fat & calorie content even more. Of course, being a frozen item. We'll have to eat it while there at someone's house. My childhood BFF, Lucy, has stepped up to the plate to gather some up for us. It's mostly only sold at Christmas, so timing of it's acquisition is crucial!

Goetta

Image via Cincy Favorites

Image via Queen City Sausage

Image via Roadfood

WTF is Goetta, you ask? I think Jane & Michael Stern, of Roadfood fame, describe it best as "Cincinnati's Offal Hash." But to get more specific, I'll let Wikipedia lay it out:

Goetta is a breakfast sausage of likely German-American origin that is popular in the greater Cincinnati area. It is primarily composed of ground meat (pork, or pork and beef) and steel-cut oats. Pronounced gétt-aa, ged-da or get-uh Americanized pronunciation, this dish probably originated with German settlers from the northwestern regions of Oldenburg, Hannover, and Westphalia who emigrated to the Cincinnati area in the 19th century. The word "Goetta" comes from the Low German word götte. However, some believe that goetta originated as a haggis substitute, brought to Ohio via Scots-Irish migrants by way of Kentucky.^[1]

Goetta was originally a peasant dish, meant to stretch out servings of meat over several meals to conserve money.

The modern popularity of goetta in Cincinnati has led to it being called "Cincinnati Caviar". Glier's Goetta, the largest commercial producer of goetta, produces more than 1,000,000 lb (450 metric tons) annually, around 99% of which is consumed locally in greater Cincinnati.

To say that Goetta has a flavor that's an acquired taste is an under statement. You just have to be from CIncinnati to understand it. Our favorite place to eat it out is Proud Rooster on Ludlow St. in Clifton.

Image via Cincinnati.com

Our favorite brand is Wassler's, which you can buy at Kramer's in Villa Hills, KY on Buttermilk Pike.

Image via Kremersmarket.com

My Mother-in-Law is quite the Goetta fan & critic, so I can count on her to make for us for breakfast the couple of days we'll be staying with her.

Cincinnati Style Chili

Image via Free Republic

 What's that? you say. It's bolognese sauce on spaghetti with orange cheese. Well, yeah, basically that's what it is. Cincinnati style chili is a thin, soupy chili of ground beef and spices. The most popular way to eat is on spaghetti with finely shredded orange cheddar. It's called a 3-way. He he. Step it up a notch or 2 to make a 4 way with onions or kidney beans or a 5-way with both. Skyline is the biggest franchise for the chili, but there are a few others worth checking out, a great one being Camp Washington Chili, which is open 24/7, and if you really wanna do it all Cincinnati-like, also serves goetta! I personally like my chili in chili-cheese sandwich style, which is like a coney dog minus the hot dog part. They make dry mix packets of Cincinnati style chili seasoning, which I'll be buying at Kroger (another Cincinnati original) and bringing home to make with 99% fat-free ground turkey! I've asked a few people to mail them to me, but they keep forgetting. 

Husman's Chips (Sour Cream & Cheddar, specifically)

Image via Husman's

There is absolutely nothing special about these. I haven't even bothered to see if there is a good supplement to them here. I just like them. When my friend Karlen drove up to visit in September, she cleaned out her local grocery store and brought me 6 bags. They were gone in 2 weeks. I think they're extra salty, thick and each chip is really big and substantial. Ugh. I'm gonna gain so much weight on this visit home.

Ale 8-1

Image via Kentucky Farmhouse

Ale 8-1 is a ginger ale from Winchester, KY that Ryan introduced me to when we first started dating. It has caffeine in it, so I actually know people who drink it instead of coffee for breakfast. I personally love it with Bourbon & lime juice. Yeah. I'm getting thirsty...

Opera Creams

Image via Facebook

I'm having a hard time finding information about these on the internets, but they are a cream cheese-y tasting confection sold at Easter in gas stations and corner stores. The original flavor is almost like a mild cheesecake shaped like a little egg and covered in chocolate. They also make flavored varieties and my favorites are pineapple and maple nut. I'm hoping the first week of February will be close enough to Easter that we'll be able to find some. 

And there you have it. Some of these foods don't seem so weird, but we never knew they were native to the 'Nati until we moved away and couldn't find them! I can't wait to go shopping for them! If we ever go to Cincinnati in a car, then I'm really gonna clean Kroger out. I'll stock up on Kim's Magic Pop, 35 calorie bread from Aunt Millie's and Kroger brand diet grapefruit soda. When it all comes down to it, I really miss eating in the town I grew up in!