Belly about House (33-34)

Marty at 32 Weeks

Vacation

So Marty and I have this thing where we both wake up constantly all night. Marty's been an insomniac since I met him. And I'm pregnant, which fucks with your sleep patterns (in case you didn't know). And so now we have this sort of horrible thing we can share. So what we do is we turn on the lights and read in bed and we call it Vacation. Last night we took a nice long vacation. I went to The Book of Words (a weird novel by German writer Jenny Erpenbeck [whose last name sounds like a huge Saxon burp]) and M went to the uncorrected galleys for a new Celine novel DAP is publishing in the Spring. Now I'm so tired I can't even think of what I'm supposed to be doing here at work. There's a list in front of me (I make a list of what to do every night before I leave) but I just keep staring at it like some dead habit.

Stollen Moments

M's first-ever attempt at a Riker holiday tradition. It had cherries in it.

Thirty weeks

A leetle bigger

Twenty-nine weeks

Big

Four years since that day a cat named Jacques said "Meaow" in the middle of our vows

Mmmm

My God People

Is nothing sacred?

First Snow

New Pictures

Here

Make and you will not be sorry

Chewy Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Note: It’s good to make the dough the night before you intend to bake these, if you can. (It needs to be chilled prior to baking at least 2 hours)

1 ½ cups plus 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 ¼ tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground cloves
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 Tbsp. freshly grated peeled ginger
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
½ cup unsulfured molasses
1 tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. boiling water
7 oz semi-sweet chocolate, cut into ¼-inch chunks
¼ cup granulated sugar

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, and cocoa. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and fresh ginger on medium speed until lightened, about 4 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat until combined. Add molasses; beat until combined.

4. In a small bowl, dissolve baking soda in boiling water. Set aside.

5. Beat half of the flour mixture into butter mixture. Beat in baking soda mixture, then remaining half of flour mixture. Mix in chocolate chunks, turn onto plastic wrap. Pat out to a 1-inch thickness; seal with wrap. Refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or overnight.

6. Preheat oven to 325 F. Roll dough into 1 ½-inch balls; place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Chill 20 minutes. Roll in granulated sugar. Bake until surfaces just begin to crack, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. Let cool 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely. Cookies are best the same day they are made (ESPECIALLY WARM WHEN THE CHOCOLATE IS ALL MELTY!!!), but can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 5 days.

M on a friend

Here

Second Planet Anyone?

See here.

This week - eighteen weeks (or nineteen?)

Fourteen weeks, rocking the ankle boots

Two and a half months (ish)

I'm back

I took a little vacation from the blog and almost everything else. As you probably know, I've been pretty sick the last few months. But feeling much better now. I also promise to post pics very soon. I just need new batteries for my camera. These little life chores have never been my strong suit, and now that I'm pregnant they seem to slide even further down the priorities pole than every before. But I'll hop to it.

In other news, Marty is in Dublin right now. Actually, right now he's sleeping in Dublin. So far, he's said it seems smaller than he expected. He had a very nice bowl of stew.

PS - I'm actually a month and a half pregnant in the pic below this post. So, see, I have posted pregnancy photos after all!

My mom sent me a dress in the mail

And it fit!

Spin

Interesting

Kitchen Update

Well we had the lady from New Prairie come out to give us an estimate. It was, um, a little high. Like nearly ten times what we wanted to spend high. So, yeah, on to DIY.

Our lovely neighbor, Pat, this weekend took us to her friend Sarah's house, to introduce us to Sarah and her husband who had done a lot of work on their old house themselves. Well, Sarah had. She's amazing. She made me feel like a total loser, actually. She's one of those people who knits, and has a rain barrel, and makes her own ice cream every week, and, oh, I don't know, put in her own dry-wall. So she gave me lots of ideas (and a bowl of apple crisp with homemade frozen yogurt). I'll let you know how we get on with improvements . . .

In other news: we're trying to be vegan. It was a decision based, in part, on M's cholesterol report. So, anyway, if you have any fantastic vegan recipes, send em my way! Thanks, Sara, for the vegan lasagna. I'm trying it soon. Tried vegan french toast this weekend. That one needs a little tweaking.

And speaking of kitchens and food . . . check out my insanely talented little brother here - the "Daring Danish" entry blows my mind. My brother made that! Once upon a time, he wouldn't eat food that touched other food on his plate!